One Potato, Two Potato

Say Farmer Spud grows potatoes that eventually end up at McDonalds as French fries but due to an economic downturn, Farmer Spud has to give up potato farming. 

Gee that’s too bad, people say, and they don’t think any more about it…if they think about it at all.

They don’t think about the other people who will lose either some income or a job because Farmer Spud is no longer growing potatoes. 

Like the seed salesman, the agronomist, the implement dealership, the mechanic, the fuel company, the insurance company.   Being a farmer myself, I also know that there is an accountant and a lawyer in there somewhere.  And a banker. 

Then there is the trucker who hauls the potatoes from the farm to the processing plant, they guy who fixes his truck, and the fuel company HE buys diesel from.  There are the people who work in the processing plant and the people who maintain the equipment in the processing plant.  Hell…what about the people who designed and manufactured the equipment in the processing plant?

There is the marketing expert who had to come up with the packaging for the French fries.   There is another trucker who takes it from the processing plant to McDonalds. 

At McDonalds there are workers who depend on selling French fries for their paycheck.  There are the people who design and manufacture the equipment to cook French fries.  There is the company that makes and distributes the oil used to cook the French fries. 

If I were to use a livestock operation as an example, we could then add in the vet, the feed salesman, the guy who mixes the feed at the elevator, the trucker who delivers the feed, the trucker who hauls the milk to the processing plant…and so on. 

Then there are the jobs or industries that are impacted when farmers have to tighten their budgets due to crappy market prices.  Believe me, farmers on a budget don’t go to the movies, buy new vehicles, update wardrobes, remodel homes, take long vacations, or go out to eat…all things that provide a living for the people who provide those services. 

People need to know not only where their food comes from and how safe it is but how many people it takes to get it from the farm to the grocery store or restaurant for them to buy. 

The fact that people just don’t seem to care about the loss of production agriculture infuriates me.  I saw a T-shirt one time that I wish I knew where to buy because I would wear it every damn day.  It said Don’t criticize farmers with your mouth full.  ‘Nuff said.

No, it’s not ‘nuff.  I’ll say this.  Farmers bust their asses so the rest of the world can sit on theirs and eat safe, economical, healthy food. 

Now I’m done.   For now. 

Images used:

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https://antarisconsulting.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/food-traceability.png?w=640

https://www.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/WHO-EARNS-WHAT-Business-4.jpeg

https://vangogh.teespring.com/shirt_pic/10765765/12518437/2/2122/480x9999/back.jpg?v=2016-12-06-01-14

Hide and Seek

Who remembers playing hide and seek as a kid and not being able to find that last person hiding so you had to holler "Ollie, Ollie, oxen free!" to get them to come out?

If only finding a geocache were that simple!  Remember I said I wanted to learn how to geocache?  Well, I'm getting a start on that. 

In the interest of full disclosure, I really thought when the geocaching website touted this activity as a "treasure hunt," I thought to myself how hard can X marks the spot be?

Yeah...kinda hard, actually.  Color me corrected. 

My personality is one where I get an idea and I run with it without truly getting all the details or instructions.  Very gung ho. 

So I downloaded the geocaching app onto my phone and created an account.  The app proceeded to show me a map of all the caches near me.  Holy treasure chests, batman! 

There were literally hundreds within 20 miles, but of particular interest was the one just under a mile south of us on the gravel road.  I dragged Captain along with me because he is going to enjoy this adventure with me whether he likes it or not. 

I turned on the GPS on my phone, and we drive south.  It was right on a 90-degree curve in the gravel road, and there were two arrow signs pointing out which way the road traveled. 

On a side note, or backing up, each of these caches has a name.  This particular cache was called "Stuck In The Middle With You" which should be familiar to any true Nitty Gritty Dirt Band fan.  To me, this meant the container--which I envisioned as the size of a shoe box or bigger--would be between the two signs.  Makes sense, right?

Not so much.  The GPS said we were within 3 feet of it but no luck finding it in the ditch grass.  Plus there was a patch of wild parsnip in one spot and a patch of nettles in another spot, so we gave up and went home. 

When I mentioned this failure to a coworker who is an avid geocacher, she offered to spend time with me on Saturday showing me some of the basics. 

She and her husband picked me up on Saturday morning, and I was telling them how we had tried to find one a couple of nights earlier, so they took me there first. 

It's not surprising Captain and I didn't find the cache because it was a film canister tucked into the road sign.  So my first misconception of looking for treasure chests bit the dust. 

They had a list of several caches in Pine Island to give me a taste of it.  One (and I can't give too many details as spoilers) was the size of the first knuckle on my pinkie finger and camouflaged to blend into the structure where it was hidden. 

I call unfair!!

The second one took me to someplace I didn't even know existed in my own town.  Shameful of me, I know!  I should have realized it, but I just never put two and two together about it. 

The third one they showed me was missing it's cache due to whatever reason, so they replaced it with supplies that they carry in their car. 

Throughout the search, they told me little anecdotes about geocaching, and I learned a ton of stuff!

Like the fact that some caches are hidden in a hollowed out book in a public library.  How cool is that?  Depends on your point of view.  If you like those logic puzzles in the variety puzzle books, these would be right up your alley.  If you are like me and just need the "x marks the spot" approach, puzzle caches would only make you cry. 

On the flip side, people who hide caches sometimes have an off-the-wall sense of humor.  The container is easy enough to find/spot, but then it takes some work.  Like the people who put a container out with 100 plastic eggs in it.  One egg had the cache while the other 99 had a slip of paper that said "neener, neener"!  Ha!

I headed into the outing on Saturday with just my cell phone's Google Maps app.  I found out quickly how sadly lacking that plan was.  There are GPS thingies with a compass built in that basically lead you by the nose to where you need to start looking.  Well, not really.  It will get you close but you can't always depend on the accuracy of it.  Sometimes you just have to LOOK for yourself. 

A serious geochacher should also carry pliers, tweezers, wire, various types of empty containers, one of those reacher/grabber things you get after joint replacement surgery, and possibly a ladder.  I don't have to worry about that last one because I don't do ladders.  If something is that high up in a tree or whatever, it can just stay there and I will skip getting the happy face on my app. 

Anyone can actually hide a cache so long as they don't trespass on someone's private property to do so.  I wish I was as creative as the people who write the clues for the Rochester Fest medallion hunt.  Like a DaVinci code quest.  I'm just not that smart, sadly.  I'm going to add it to my bucket list to hide a puzzle cache with a crazy cryptic clue.  That's my new goal.  I will never be this cryptic, however:

Still, I'm glad I know a little more about how geocaching works so that when we are completing our bucket list of visiting state parks, we can find the geocache that is in each park.  Plus, I think it will be a good way to explore more of our own "back yard" as well.

For instance, there is a cache on the outskirts of the town where our daughter lives, and there is one between Mensing's and Weis's on 75th Street.  That's the next one I'm going to look for, so Lori Weis, please don't call the sheriff when you see me wandering around out in the ditch! 

Believe me when I say I will certainly take you on our adventures or at least tell you about it when I'm done. 

Images used:
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Goals Are Good

I can't believe June is half over already!  It seems like I was just making a list of all the things I wanted to do this summer, and now I look at my list and think, "I don't have enough time to do all that."

I narrowed it down to three things.  Well, three things in addition to the regular summer stuff of camping, festivals, and fairs.  I decided I would join the breast cancer survivor dragon boating team, I would re-learn how to ride a unicycle, and I would learn how to geocache.

I'm making some progress.  I've been to two dragon boating practices and haven't caused any injury or mayhem.  I haven't tipped the boat over and dumped 22 people into Silver Lake, so that's a good thing.  These practices are open to the public, so anybody could come down on Wednesday night from 6:00 to 7:00 and watch us cruise up and down Silver Lake. 

I know what you're asking...what is dragon boating, right?  Well let me tell ya, it isn't like the canoeing trips I did with my Potsdam peeps back in the day.  That's a whole other blog post that will involve intentionally capsizing people, floating bars, and getting tangled up in trees or on the rocks. 

It also isn't like the rowing competitions you see college or Olympic teams doing.  Those are the equivalent of a marathon, and dragon boating is more of a sprint. 

There are dragon boat races and festivals from March to late into the fall from Canada to Texas.  In our area, there are races in LaCrosse, Dubuque, and Fort Dodge plus some in the Cities. 

Each team consists of 22 people:  a drummer/cheerleader type person in the front (optional), a stern operator (captain and coach) in the back, and 20 paddlers (ten rows of two) in the belly of the boat. 

Whereas canoeing uses a J-stroke at about a 45-degree angle to the water, dragon boating paddling is straight down into the water, straight back, and then straight up out of the water.  And we do that 45-50 times per minute. 

If you want to see it in action, watch this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCrTQ5BG00E

Sometimes a person wants to compete at an event but the rest of the team cannot, so that person can be a sub on another team.  This is referred to as a Boat Slut...willing to jump in just anybody's boat!  Hmmm...not sure if that's good or bad!

Our team will be competing in Dubuque, Iowa, on September 8 and 9 if anyone wants to travel to watch.  We will also be marching in the Plainview Corn on the Cob Days parade in August.

Which brings me to another goal.  I am no stranger to the Plainview Parade.  It was an annual event during my childhood, first as a spectator and later as a part of the parade with my unicycle posse.  And then that one year as Goat Queen attendant, but that's another blog post entirely. 

I haven't been on a unicycle since before my children were born, and the unicycle I had got destroyed in an unfortunate tractor versus unicycle incident so I'm not even certain I could even DO it anymore, but I think I could with some practice. 

Herein lies the problem...there are no used unicycles out there.  Believe me, I've looked!  So I"m going to have to break down and buy one if I really want to reach this goal.  They are expensive for having only one wheel.  Wouldn't you think they'd be half price of a bicycle, but no, they are not. 

I"m still pondering that little issue and wondering if I really want to spend over $100 on a whim that may turn out to be an EPIC disaster but then again might turn into the funnest thing of my golden years.  We'll see. 

That brings us to the last goal for the summer, and that is learning how to geocache.  This is basically a big old ongoing treasure hunt.  As long as you have the GPS coordinates to a nearby geocache, you can do this anywhere in the world.  I thought I'd start with Pine Island and surrounding area and work my way out.  It would be a good option for those lazy weekend days when Captain says, "What should we do?"

I get that the gist of it is that there are caches, or treasures, out there that people have stashed.  It could be as simple as an old RochesterFest Button or it might be a Superior Lake agate.  Hard to tell.  Each cache has a logbook that needs to be signed, and then you have to log into the website and log that you found that cache online. 

I guess you can swap treasures also, although I may have that particular tidbit wrong.  But say I want that Lake Superior agate.  I would have to leave something of equal value in its place and I suppose I would have to tell the Geocache Master, whoever that is, what I did. 

I just thought it sounded like a fun way to explore our immediate neighborhood and also be able to explore further away from home if we want.  Plus it gets us out of the house and into the great outdoors.  We like that kind of stuff. 

I hope that you have fun plans for the summer and that you maybe try something new and different this summer.  If you do, I'd love to hear about it!

Images used:
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