Monday, July 30, 2018

Sandhill Weekend....and Bountiful Other

Last week, Thursday afternoon I believe, Peg mentioned that there had been a pair of Sandhill Cranes out in our hay field.  Typically and in year's past, I've only seen them further south, Wisconsin further south.  We've only seen them once before on our farm as far as I can remember.

Friday on my ride I saw 2 pair in grassy pastures and yesterday, I came upon a pair with twins almost in the road.  Quickly slowing down, they split up.  Pop took for the far side of the road, mom and the kiddo's stayed on my side and casually began walking deeper into a hay field.  Now fully stopped, I was able to photograph mom and babies....


Meanwhile, I was being craftily deceived.  Father was on the other side of the road, unwilling to move very far, making himself as large and known as he possible could.  My photo didn't catch him at maximum wing spread, but he was trying to convince me that he was the better target, injured and helpless.


The big news this weekend was our family Reunion Gathering, honoring mom's 90th, a couple of 50 year anniversaries, other anniversaries that were multiples of 5's; Peg's and mine included.  I gave a speech, a toast and everything, dodging the ripest red fruit successfully.



 Mom, we love you and again, thanks for everything!!

On another subject much closer to home, Peg found a fermenting crock (a crock for fermenting) in Poland; our cabbage won't be ready until early August.  Until then.....Bloop.......Bloop.......Bloop....Other vegetables can expect to be fermented in the future and they have now been warned.


The Himalaya will be taking me on a couple trips over the next month and tire planning/scheduling needs to be accounted for.  Now at ~3500 miles, 6/32" tread left on the rear.  I'm actually quite pleased with these MT-60's but some other tire may be next.


There were various rides this weekend...Thursday evening, Friday morning, Friday evening, Saturday evening and finally, most of the day Sunday.  The GPS wasn't always along but I can still subtract and add; there were a bunch of miles covered.  I won't worry about the total until end of season but there were almost 350 on Sunday.






Lunch in Stone Lake...


Desert didn't happen until Rice Lake, a proper span of time later.



I was in Cumberland at 3:15, Sunday closing is 4:00....the place was hopping.  Lots of Twin Citians load up on their way home from cabin weekends and they WERE loading up.  My stash of sticks at home was gone so a stop was mandatory. We shall not go without.


I promised Peg that I'd be home by 6....a picnic and campfire was scheduled in the State Park.  I was actually home by 5:30, mostly dry after an intense 10 minute shower south of Baldwin.

In the park around 7, there weren't very many picnickers and by 8, we were all alone.  It was almost 9:30 when we came back home; a wonderful evening, a great weekend.




5 comments:

  1. What a nice end to the day. We have had an open air fire ban on for much of the month here, no campfires, fire pits or burning of any kind. We have ha a couple of down pours, but they haven’t done much to quench the earth, though i’ve heard some areas around the county are lifting the ban.
    PS Good looking pie too.

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    1. A good weekend all the way around, full of good things. The pie was tasty, though probably not the very best that I've had. It's getting late for rhubarb around here, that alone was enough to make it special.

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  2. So, what’s in the crock? I have never ventured past sauerkraut and kimchi.

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    1. Plain old cabbage this time. There's a big recipe book of Fermented Vegetables on the table. This isn't the end of it.

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  3. Sounds like you guys had a great time... (and lots of cake).

    Fire ban in our neck of the woods, too. We haven't had rain in eight weeks, very unusual.

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