Learning new skills!`

Sunday was a big day in which I learned to drive the skid loader and spent some quality time with a chain saw.
It was Clean Out the Barn day and I got back from a quick trip to town to find Joe already working in the barn. Plan was to clean out the crap that had piled up over the years. Old tires, plywood, boards, miscellaneous old feeders and waterers. Joe rolled his eyes every time I wanted to save something (like the old pig waterer).
"Whatcha gone do with that?"
" Plant flowers in it."
"HA!"

Joe's got a way of saying "Ha!" that belongs in a sit com. He'd be Ricky to my Lucy.

I told him the story about how, as a teenager, I turned Dad's antique forge into a front yard flower garden. I thought it looked great; the forge was about 4' high and made of iron. I planted nasturtiums and geraniums in it and couldn't wait for Dad to see it. He pulled in the driveway and said something like "why is my forge in the yard with flowers?" I couldn't believe he didn't like it. Harumph. (yes, I took it apart and planted the flowers in the yard instead).

I wonder where that old forge is these days. It'd make a nice planter...

Anyway, he saved the old wooden feeder and I'll figure some spot to put that thing.

So I practiced with the skid loader by moving some of the manure pile around. Then I got full of myself and decided to drive it into the barn to pick up the next load of junk. I was going in perfectly straight when I got to the edge of the barn floor. Apparently, when you go over something like a ridse the front end gets squirrely. I had the bucket partly extended and when i went over the edge the bucket whipped over to the right and caught the barn support beam. It shook a bit and Joe's eyes got big but the beam held just fine and no damange done. Joe is about as patient as a person can be and he kept on loading like I hadn't just driven the skid loader into the barn beam.

So of all the wood we found in the garage there was some good pine boards that I chopped up with the chainsaw. While I'm getting adept at the chainsaw, I can't say I like it much. It's loud (I hate loud noises) and it scares me. Guns and chainsaws I can do without but they both have their uses.

Speaking of guns, I was back in the pit the other day and saw the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle in action. Remember the old pig feeder that we moved out of the barn? It's now being used for target practice. It's got a few targets on it and it's got a whole new life in the pit.

Ah yes, recycling. Country style.
b
PS: To Cathy: Rosie and Beep send their good thoughts and wish you extra strength.

Dining in Columbus

Too many highlights of this weekend to write about but here's a few natable ones:
Teammate Kate came out Saturday to spend a day on the farm. We took the horses out for a bit then went for a bike ride. It was a perfectly windy, sunny day for a ride and we worked up an appetite. Dinner was at some place in Columbus and that experience is worth a restaurant review. This is my first attempt at a review so bear with me.

James St. Dining Company
This place looks promising from the outside. Old storefront painted a tasteful green with cream trim, fine lettering and nicely landscaped. We walked in about 6pm and were invited to sit "wherever we liked." We picked a window seat with a few of James Street. Turned out that was the best spot in the house for watching the full trucks rumble by. Trucks carrying corn or hay or whatever. It was a reminder that this is working farm country.
Our server offered us appetizers so we picked bruchetta. This was my first clue that we were in for a fine dining experience woven of the greatest culinary ambition coupled with a healthy upbringing on Lutheran casseroles.
Normally bruchetta I've had or made is on small rounds of french bread, say, about 5 cm across. but this is Columbus. Our bruchetta was about the size of individual slices of bread, only round. The tomato pieces were piled high to falling off. Ditto for the lifeless mushrooms. I've also tpyically served bruchetta warm with a few bits of goat or other cheese, perhaps a bit of olive with a bite to contrast flavors and stimulate the appetite. In James Street, they don't want flavor getting in the way of filling you up. These were served cold too. Ah well, we were hungry so we scarfed them down.
Our salads brought back memories of church camp in central Wisco. A fine mix of spring greens, sprinkled here and there with tiny pretzels (perhaps they forgot to make the croutons?) and topped with shredded cheddar (not the good kind either...tasted like it was out of a bag). We were starving so we ate that. The dressing was fine...nothing inspirational, just ok.
Our meal was most interesting. I opted for chicken and that was decent, as was the new potatoes and the vegetables (which mysteriously seemed gluey with something but tasted ok, just bland). The piece de resistance though was the cachon of BAKED BEANS in the middle of my plate. Baked beans?? And these were of the canned variety. I've made my own beans for 15 years and there's no mistaking the flavor of canned pork n beans.
Kate's ravioli was ok, it had plenty of garlic so that passed muster. We decided to go for a dessert and were not disappointed; we got 4 slabs of chocolate looking cake thingy and a glass full of some gooey topping. Another close miss...
All in all we had a great time listening to the other server try and describe the food. He was tending to the table behind us and we heard him say "and it's served with a cream of broccoli soup but it's not like a can of cream of mushroom or anything like that.." I turned around and caught the eye of the diner and swear he was trying not to smile.

It was all I could do not to go into the kitchen and take over. Good thing I hav emy hands full or I'd start working at the restaurant just to get it in line so I'd have a nice place to eat out.
Anyway, out of 5 stars I'd give James Street a 1.8. I could have gone higher but the prices were that of a much finer restaurant thus, they get the score they got (below average).

Next time I want to eat out I'll head to the grocery and get myself a steak and cook it outside on the grill.
That's all for now..
b

L'Escape du Farm

Beep, the red pony was the ring leader in the jailbreak on Saturday. I left for a cyclocross race and while I’d closed the gate in the barn leading to the aisleway I didn’t latch it. Beep knows how to push the gate open and has bolted out twice already but she didn’t get far as the main door was closed. This time though I not only didn’t latch the gate but left the big door open about two feet.

So I’m tooling home from my cyclocross race and I stop at Tractor Supply to get some more bedding. I shoved four bales in on top of my bike and as I was driving home I get a phone call. It was my old neighbor, Myranda, who had come by the farm with her husband. “Did you know your horses are across the street in the alfalfa field?”

Yipe! (say that like Scooby doo).

We had a bad cell phone connection but managed to communicate that yes, I would like her to catch the horses and yes, put them back.

I had no idea how long the two of them had been munching on fresh alfalfa but I don’t think it was more than an hour. I saw their tracks in the field and they weren’t that far in. Even better, they were in Joe’s front yard, more or less and no one noticed there were two equines out front.

So now I know; that pony is sneaky and crafty. I can just see the two of them crossing the street. If they could talk it’d go something like this:

Beep: “One two, hey, it’s open! I’m outta here.”

Oz: “Wait for me!”

Beep: “Alfalfa’s over here.”
Oz: “I know how to cross the street..follow me.”

Beep: munch munch

Oz: snurf, snorf crunch crunch

Hour later: Human voice: “Oscar!!”

Oz: “Busted, whoa, gotta go! Oh hey, an apple!”

Human: “Sucker”

That’s all for now.

b

Mr .& Mrs. Liggett Visit the Farm

It's not everyday that you get the "voice of cycling" dropping by your farm but today was a special occasion. It's the Bike Federation of Wisconsin's annual Gala and Phil Liggett is here to speak, all the way from his home base in the U.K. He traveled with his wife, Patricia and they are amazing, lovely people. We spent an hour grazing the horses on the lawn. They met Joe and got a tour of La Bella Vita. Tricia is a great photographer and she took lots of photos of the horses, the landscape and the outbuildings. Aside from taking photos, Tricia is an outstanding evaluator of human musculature movement. She's spent a lifetime observing and correcting posture and has done wonders to correct people's posture on a bike. I think my spring project will be getting Tricia back to the states for a seminar. She's super fit and you can tell she has a dancer's physique; she's light and powerful. What wonderful people they are.

Here she is, getting a photo of Oscar's blue eyes.
It was fun having them here and I sent them home with Dairyland jerseys and some cowirl coffee.

I took them back to their hotel and now have to do a costume change and head back downtown for the party tonight. My best date for VIP occasions, my wonderful brother, Brian, is on deck to assist tonight. I think the last time Brian was my date we went to the Mayor's inaguration party but first, Brian had to put a new battery in my car. We were all dressed and ready to go only to find my car battery had died. We zipped over to Farm and Fleet, got a battery and Brian installed it and off to the party we went. Hopefully Brian will get to enjoy himself this time w/o any surprises.

Tally ho for now,
b

The Perfect Weekend?

It might be hard to see here in this photo, but it's sunrise over the arena. Oscar got a workout there on Friday night and he went very well for me. Beep, for her part, rolled on her back and ran around all happy. I think she was taunting Oz but I'm not sure and to his credit, he ignored her and kept his mind on his work. He learned how to do a half pass and a turn on the forehand and he did them well too!


I had a few visitors to the farm over the weekend, most notably my nephew, young Master Simon. I'm still waiting for those photos to get sent over 'cause there are some cute ones of Simon on the pony.

Beep got a nice walk under Simon on Saturday and again on Sunday with Antonia, the daughter of a friend of mine, Rita. Here is Antonia and Oscar. Oscar knows she has a carrot in her hand and he's more-or-less politely asking for it.


Beep seemed to like getting exercise and attention too. Here's a photo of Oscar and Beep eating some well earned hay last night.
And that's about it for tonight; my satellite dish must be overloaded 'cause it's taking too long to upload these photos!
enjoy..more soon,
b

A beautiful day

I took my camera on my rounds this morning. I got this photo after I'd fed the chickens and was walking with Gabby to check out the arena. It's looking south, between the trees. I had a cup of coffee with me and a bag of tomatoes. I'd picked 6 ripe maters off the vine. I gave a couple to the hens and started walking.

I came upon stone henge..this is a lovely spot to sit and contemplate things such as cutting down more branches so I can ride my horse through here without getting whapped like I did yesterday.
Anyway, these benches are tree stumps with pavers sitting on top but they are nice to sit on and ponder stuff.

I walked through the back yard and then came upon the newly fenced arena. The sun was coming up and I had to laugh as I saw the arena. "I did that??"

Where do I come up with these ideas?? Anyway, I LOVE the new arena. It ended up being a tad smaller than I wanted but it's still a great size: 135x65. Plenty of room to work two horses, jump or just mess around.

Now all I need is some footing. There must be a massive run on arena sand right now 'cause I can't get anyone to call me back. Well, I'm sure there's someone out there who needs the business so I'm no worried and I can't wait to get Oscar back to work. He's a little fat right now.

And here's a photo of the arena gate. It' s a nice gate and it even had a ding in it so I don't have to worry about putting the first ding in.

So tonight my friend John is coming over to help me design the "Farm Cross" race that I'm having here in two weeks. It's a cyclocross race for Trek marketing staff and any other fool that thinks they can do a very difficult course. The race will feature Joe and Mitzi's gravel hill, a barricade to jump over--in the barn--(barn is also a beer stop), a pass through the thicket (up a hill) and a trip to the pit and back. One lap should take about 2 minutes and being that it's halloween, "goblins" will be moving the barricades around. Farm Cross 07....stay tuned for that entry.

I just heard Joshua Bell is in town --one of my favorite violinists. I'm thinking I'll take myself to the symphony tomorrow. I've known Joshua going back to my days in NY; he played at our hall every year . He's from Long Island and I last heard him play in Milwaukee when Mom and I went. It'll be good to see him again and get some culture to boot.

Well, time for my once-every-three-or two-years doc visit. It's the "check under the hood" visit. Blech.
ciao,
b

Heyyyyyyyy, macARENA!

I don't know the words to the Macarena song but that's what's going through my head because today the arena was getting built! I know the photo looks like a bunch of posts, but notice how straight they are. Ahhh, lovely. Nothing makes a lady farmer happier than a straight fenceline.

I gave the arena a name: J. Skalitsky Arena, in honor of my best mate, Joe. Where would I be without Joe?? One sorry farmer that's for sure.

I rode home from work today and saw the posts as I cruised down the hill on my bike and got kind of excited. Turns out we needed a gate so Joe and I went to Tractor Supply and got a gate. And some stall bedding. And a nice wheelbarrow. And a new pocket knife. And some tools and a toolbox....and some other crap that totaled $400 and I figured that was getting out of there cheap.

Best part there was Joe let me drive the diesel truck. It's a six speed so we were tooling along on Hwy 19 and Joe said "do you like that 5th gear 'cause there's an overdrive if you want it." I thought that was a mighty sweet way of pointing out the 6th gear. Last truck I drove only had 4 gears so it was nice to hear about the sixth gear. Joe also pointed out that he was a bit of a "pig pen" with his truck. I told him that was ok since he had a very tidy farm.

I'm all about a tidy barn. My laundry might not be folded but damn, my hay bales are straight.

So I lugged the bedding into the barn and noticed that Gabby had rolled in something offensive so I took a few minutes to wipe her down. Then I noticed that Oscar had a snarled up forelock. I have to go on a burdock search. He must be catching the burdock near the fenceline.

Speaking of Oz, I took a photo this morning but the light wasn't good. Tried again tonight to get a good photo but discovered my horse has a giant ball of burdock in his head. Not attractive. Beep looks good though, thanks to her thorough brushing last night. Anyway, here's a photo of the two of them this morning, waiting for some hay to fall over the fence. Note: Oscar did not like my coffee which I set on the fence post to take the photo.

He turned his nose up at it. Beep didn't care; she was busy nibbling on the grass next to the fence. The two of them kind of remind me of when my dog Gabby gets together with my brother's dog, Bekett. The two dogs have opposite shapes but similar coloring. Beep has the best little white spot on her right shoulder. You can see it in the photo.


Now I'm in for the night, having some wine and soup and writing about my farm. I love this place. It'll take dynamite or bankruptcy to get me out of here. I think I have an afterwork function tomorrow and another on Friday which is annoying. I'll have to try and ride Oscar in the morning tomorrow and see how that goes.

Tally ho for now,
b