Coop's Corner: Another Turn On The VStar

Monday, October 4, 2021

Another Turn On The VStar - 2021/10/03

The justification? How many more warm weekends can there possibly be?!

Yes I have been doing a lot of riding, out every afternoon or evening last week, days too beautiful to sit at home and admire from the deck. Saturday was rainy off and on, a few of the stacked up chores were seriously considered. Sunday was the VStar's turn for a loop.

It wasn't bright sunny...

I took the drone along, hoping and expecting to see some harvesting to photograph, my hunch though was that a lot of harvesting has already been completed and it's still early....farmers may have just figured they could afford to take a Sunday break. I saw one farmer chopping corn but he wasn't photogenic enough.

A dozen or so cars from a local car club above Durand.

Some special color outside of Plum City...

The trout in the pond seemed as contemplative as I was...

I hadn't been on R51 for awhile and it had been even longer since I ran it from east to west.

I met a big Ol' Buick once at this steep, sharp corner beside the cliff.

First water crossing of 4....

Fourth water crossing of four....I'm on the leeward side. Note the disturbed silt where I'd just crossed.

Also note the very uncharacteristically shiny motorcycle.....

Pay particular attention to the very uncharacteristically shiny Coop....

Stopped in the Maiden Rock City Park, Point-no-Point in the distance over in my home State, part of Frontenac State Park. I'm less that 3 miles as the pelicans fly from home but I'll need the bridge in Red Wing to get there. I can occasionally do puddles, not yet accomplished at rivers.

Brought the Trangia 27 along to do some Souped Up ramen and coffee but wasn't hungry enough for noodles. I'm always hungry enough for some Fresh Ground though.

Everyone's asking about the Girls......we used to have daughters, it seems our new girls have feathers.

They all have names now.....Pistachio and Marshmallow I know upon sight. I'm still learning the others.

We are having way more fun with these creatures than we should be.

Harvest continues, more salsa, tomato paste processed and vacuum sealed, I cooked up 3 varieties of squash Sunday evening to see which was my favorite. These Delicata are Sweet and will be planted again!!

Crook Neck was pretty good though nowhere near as flavorful.

I guess I forgot to take a photo of the Spaghetti Squash. Least flavorful but we use it as a substitute for pasta and they grow well.

Eric and Curt took advantage of Slimey Crud and sent a couple of photos....thanks Eric!

No bikes have been put away, the tents are loosely stored and ready when I am. Expect some cold weather, bike-less camping in the weeks ahead.

8 comments:

RichardMOctober 4, 2021 at 8:45 PM
A Land Rover low-rider! Now I’ve seen it all…
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redlegsridesOctober 4, 2021 at 10:24 PM
Some nice Fall Colors Coop!
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EricOctober 5, 2021 at 11:26 AM
Looks like a big day! How many miles?
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MikeOctober 5, 2021 at 6:21 PM
Those are sebright Chickens?
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)