Thursday, August 23, 2018

Garden Harvest


Canning season has begun here at the Brogan Ranch!  Captain had planned to make sauerkraut, but the day that the cabbage was ready, he had to leave at 7 a.m. to finish spraying fungicide on the soy beans.  His parting words were, "You'll have to make the sauerkraut.  Just watch the video with Gardener Bob."  And off he went.

I would just like to interject here that, first of all, Captain has tried to make sauerkraut for three or four years in a row with EPIC failures every year.  I'm not sure why he thought this year was going to be "the year" it all worked, but whatever.  Second of all, I hate sauerkraut so the fact that I got stuck making it was sort of comical.

At any rate, I harvested four nice big heads of cabbage and took them to the house.  We had to borrow a 3-gallon stone crock from Gammy that also came with a wooden tamper-downer thing.  I got the cabbage all cleaned up and rinsed off before going to the computer to watch this dude, Gardner Bob.

Fast forward through 25 minutes of pure frustration because there is no such creature as Gardner Bob. 

Turns out it's Gardner Scott.  Captain, that was vital information that you biffed up!  Yeesh.

Anyway, Gardner Scott explained the whole process that, while not exactly rocket science, still required some precision on the ratio of cabbage to canning salt.  Side note--table salt is not adequate here; it must be canning salt.  At any rate, the ratio was five pounds of shredded cabbage to 3 tablespoons of canning salt. 

Image result for shredding cabbage for sauerkraut

Now how the heck was I going to determine if I had 4.75 pounds of cabbage, 6.15 pounds of cabbage, or 5 pounds of cabbage.  This seemed very math-esque to me which gave me the heebie-jeebies.  Obviously, a food scale would be the answer here, but we don't happen to have that in our arsenal at the moment. 

I could hold a five pound bag of sugar in one arm and the cabbage in the other arm to see if they weighed the same, but that seemed a little imprecise for what I needed.  Eventually a light bulb went off when I remembered how the elevators determine how much grain is on a semi.  They weight it full and empty to compare. 

Eureka!  I grabbed my dishpan and headed to the bathroom scale to determine the weight of me and the empty dishpan.  After I had shredded a good amount of cabbage into the dishpan, I went and repeated that process.  Nope, still 2 pounds short.  Shred some more cabbage, re-weigh and hit it on the head at exactly 5 pounds.  Was I smart or what?!

Image result for wooden tamper for sauerkraut

Gardner Scott explained that the canning salt would cause the cabbage to release moisture that would mix with the salt and make the brine but it would take some time.  As in 10 to 15 minutes of standing at the table with what amounted to a sawed-off baseball bat, compacting the shredded cabbage in the crock to get it to release enough water to get the brine over the top of the cabbage.  Talk about an upper body workout!

Image result for sauerkraut crock

Eventually I was successful in getting enough brine to cover the cabbage.  Now to store it for three to six weeks while it fermented.  Gardner Scott stressed that it had to be in a room where the temperature did not get below 65 degrees (has he ever been to Minnesota in August?!?!) or above 75 degrees (again...same question).

At our house, the only room that fits that requirement is my office.  Oh goodie, I get to share my work space with a pot of stinky slaw for a month and a half.  The things I do for Captain...

As my office is carpeted, I found a tarp to put down first in case the sauerkraut decided to go mutant and explode all over everything in the night.  I weighted it down with a zippered bag of pie weights covered by a gallon-zippered bag with brine in it. 

When Captain came home hours later to ask how it went, I took a few seconds to point out that he got the dude's name wrong in the video and then proceeded to brag about how I'd been so smart on weighing the cabbage. 

Men, I'm going to give you some unsolicited advice here.  If your wife comes to you and says, "I did [insert task].  Wasn't that smart?"  Do not tell her she should have or could have done it a different way unless you want to limp for two days from where she kicked you in the shin.  No; the correct response here would be, "Honey, that's amazing!  Good job!"  Just ask Captain.

For the next several weeks we would check the status of the sauerkraut about every other day.  After three weeks when it had stopped bubbling around the edges (the indication of fermentation), it was ready to can. 

Gardner Scott did not cover this aspect in his video so we went back to the Ball canning book which said to simmer the kraut until it was warmed through and then put the hot kraut into hot jars and water bath for 15 minutes. 

We watch a lot of cooking shows around here, and they all say "If you're looking, it ain't cooking."  This is a rule that Captain just cannot wrap his head around.  If we have stuff in the crockpot, he can't resist taking the lid off and poking at it a half dozen times.  Same with the kraut.  Lid off, stir, complain that it isn't hot yet. 

Dude, leave the damn lid on the pot and let it get hot!

Finally, the kraut was hot enough so I got five pint jars into the canner.   Fifteen minutes later, Captain took them out of the canner for me, and the jars started pinging almost before he had them set on the counter.  Those pings are so darned exciting!!



Since that was such a success, I now have another crock full of sauerkraut sharing my office with me.  Hopefully we will get another four or five pints to share with friends and family. 

Images used:
https://www.seriouseats.com/images/2016/12/20161212-sauerkraut-vicky-wasik-1-cutting-cabbage.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91mh83nepdL._SL1500_.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWVSy9OHzqNc4imz77wE41zLBWrPmTNnZSX1zDlmKrhvXJ1Y3xVQD02mqnUKWoCh5Z69IZV39FeuU3wrbDOtK7VWiaZC4giFtWVyt72_peVhuO7dyw9P9B96WwucKCRNZQNuSeDPxzzw/s1600/IMG_4910.JPG

Monday, July 30, 2018

Dog Days





Hello all, Dipstick the Dog here!  Mrs. Captain is so busy these days with her job at Hy-Vee and with all the flowers and other gardening that I told her I'd take care of this today.

Things are hopping around here at the Brogan Ranch.  Captain is feeding more baby calves than he has in months.  I heard him tell Mrs. Captain, "This is almost like work!"  What did he think it was...playtime?  And he says I'M dumb?!

I know Mrs. Captain has talked about elder care and her mom.  I'm kind of worried about my mom, Dayzee, too.  She will be 14 years old next month, and she is showing her age.  I didn't think it would ever happen.  Dayzee is the one who taught me how to chase cars...my favorite sport!  But now she can't hear anymore at all, so she doesn't know when there is a car coming down the road until she sees me take off on the chase.

My worry is that she will be taking a nap in the driveway and not hear a truck or tractor start and will get run over.  I probably shouldn't worry because the Captains are very good about looking around everywhere to make certain we are all out of harm's way.

She still has all of her feistiness, though.  She got accidentally shut up in the garage last week, and she was so mad and wanted to get out so bad that she chewed through the garage door opener wire.  You go, Dayzee!

Speaking of harm's way, did any of your dogs have to deal with that awful wind a week or so ago?!  I thought we were all going to blow away.  I was lying under my favorite pine tree in the front yard and all of a sudden the wind separated the flag pole into three pieces and tossed two of them into the tree I was lying under.  Almost scared the fur right off of me!

We--Dayzee, me, and my dad, Bear--like to go with the Captains in the evening after supper to check the garden and then visit with Gammy Captain.  You ought to hear them complaining about the bugs that are out.  Fools, they should wear fur coats like we do! 

I saw a major argument between the Captains at the clothesline the other day.  Captain usually does the laundry and hangs the clothes on the line.  I think this is a nice thing to do to help out Mrs. Captain.  One day, Captain must have been really busy because Mrs. Captain brought a load of laundry out to the line.

I guess she didn't like the way Captain had put the clothes on the line because there were several pieces of clothing on each of the four lines instead of all the clothing on one line at a time like she does it.

Here's my question:  does it really matter?  The clothes are going to dry no matter where they hang on the line, right?  Again...they say I'M the dumb one here.

You should hear their philosophical discussions on the deck every night after coming back from Gammy Captain's house.  You'd think world peace depended upon their opinions.  It's rare that they agree on a viewpoint but they manage to exchange ideas without bloodshed.

Well, it's almost time for me to start the nightly patrol and barkfest.  It's been nice catching up with you all.

Mrs. Captain will be back soon, I"m sure!

Hugs,
Dipstick the Dog

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Little Red Hen

Image result for garden meme

When I had the day off on Monday, Captain and I spent some time in the garden pulling weeds.  We had gotten a nice rain the day before, so the quack grass and lambs quarters came out easily.  Usually this is a job Captain ends up doing by himself as I am working.  He has compared himself to the Little Red Hen who does all the work and then has to share the bounty. 

Don't waste much sympathy on him because I do my share of the work later in the process when it's time to do the canning and preserving.  I don't get off Scot free by any stretch of the imagination!

Individual work ethics aside, our garden is doing very well this year.  We were worried about the green beans as they got spritzed with herbicide when Captain sprayed the soybeans, but it looks like they will recover from the minor damage. 

Image result for garden meme

For some reason that no one is quite sure of, we have seven cabbages planted this year.  Contrary to popular belief (including mine), Captain says he is not intending to try and make sauerkraut again.  Thus, we have gotten a freezer coleslaw recipe from his mom and will try that once. 

Last year we had volunteer spaghetti squash everywhere in the garden.  This year it's a cherry tomato plant that sprouted from last year.  We also planted six or seven new tomato plants so we'll have plenty of those to make juice, chili sauce, and salsa.  I'm going to show a couple of friends how to can tomatoes this summer if our schedules all work out. 

Our little lettuce patch was overtaken by weeds this year.  I think next year we may do that in a container to keep the weeds and grass out of it.  Mike's mom is the one who uses that the most so we'll find a pretty little deck container she can have right outside her door. 

We finished off our row of radishes already.  When it gets more into August we will plant another row as they don't like the heat of mid summer. 


The beets are just starting to be ready.  We have enough for a meal tonight...greens and all.  It was an adventure picking them because our dogs decided to do their business right on top of the row of beets.  Thanks, Dipstick.  I'll remember that the next time you want a num-num. 

I am most excited because the cucumbers are starting to really ripen so I can make pickles pretty soon.  My favorite project of the summer!

Then of course there are the giant pumpkins.  We have counted 14 of them so far...9 on one vine alone.  This is bad growing policy for giant pumpkins, as the literature says to have one pumpkin per vine if you want them to get to be a half ton.  Since we don't truly want one that big, we'll leave the nine on there and get some that are several hundred pounds each instead.  This is Cubby's favorite thing to look at when she's here.  "Gramma, they are HUGE!"

On the flower front, the war I have been waging against the ditch lillies is over and I am victorious.  It was a vicious and bloody campaign, but I prevailed.  Take that, ditch lillies!  I will have to divide some of my hostas this fall as they are getting slightly out of control.  Lucky for me it's almost as hard to kill hostas as it is to kill ditch lillies. 



The mutant whiskey barrel has some volunteer pinks from last year's Old Fashioned seed mix I planted plus two others that I haven't identified yet.  There are also the zinnias I planted out there this year.  I am thinking I will never have to seed that pot again; these will just keep coming back year after year.  Nothing wrong with that. 

My dill patch didn't survive from last year.  I'm thinking it needs to be in a container rather than in amongst the quack grass along the corral.  I'm glad I have friends who have established dill gardens that I can pilfer!  Will trade pickles for dill!!



The hollyhocks (a biennial--grows every two years) two years ago got a rust infestation and only two or three of them survived.  I have a white one and a magenta one.  I have seeds to replenish the flower bed, but I can't plant them until next year as the germination time is 365 days!  Next year's hollyhock crop--which was not affected by rust last year--will be all white and pink. 

I love this time of year when the potential of everything is just beginning.  Ask me again how I feel about it when I've been on my feet canning six nights in a row!


Images used:
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d8/e0/d2/d8e0d220d13eb723fb00f5c535abc37a--ketchup-tomatoes.jpg
http://vroulife.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/new-funny-garden-quotes-33-best-garden-quotes-images-on-pinterest.jpg

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Free Spirit


I am an extrovert and do not apologize for it.  If I wasn't an extrovert...I wouldn't be doing this blog, now, would I?  Riddle me that!

Captain is not an extrovert by any stretch of the imagination.  That's okay.  He is who he is and we love him for it.  However, he can be uncomfortable with my outgoing ways.  Actually, my whole family can be somewhat put out by it.

For instance, if I am driving along and I notice an interesting or unique aspect of someone's landscaping, I have been known (ask Molly) to whip into the driveway and knock on a complete stranger's door to ask what that plant is out there or where they got that statue.  Molly was mortified!

My theory is, if you don't ask the question, you will never get the answer.  Can I get an amen?!

The other trait that has dominated my life in the last year is what Captain describes as being a free spirit.  I had it come home to me hard last summer that you are not promised tomorrow in any way, shape, or form so if there is something you want to do or say, you better do it now or might not ever get the chance.

Thus the whole bucket list thing I talked about earlier and how I wanted to learn about geocaching.  You wouldn't believe the flak and ribbing I've gotten from those near and dear to me about this new pursuit.

Case in point:  yesterday Captain, Millie, and I were going to meet Captain's brother and wife for lunch in Rochetser but on the way, Captain wanted to stop at the field that used to be my Gramma's so I could take a picture of him in the corn that was more than knee high on the Fourth of July.

I was perfectly happy to do that because I like doing the crop tour drives in the summer.  An added bonus was that there was a cache just down the road across the road from where my Gramma used to live.  I thought that was pretty dang neat so I made him stop.

Captain helped search...sort of...while Millie watched.  I found the cache and was most excited about it.  Nobody else was and I detected a definite smirk on Captain's face.  Again, that's okay.  This is outside of the box where he is comfortable, and I can respect that.

When I registered for the free basic membership at geocaching.com, I was bamboozled by the sheer number of finds within minutes of my house, as depicted by the map below.  This is CRAZY, say I!!



All those green dots were way too much for my little brain, so I tried to narrow it down some.  I accidentally stumbled across a series of 100 caches all within Olmsted County that were all placed on or near road signs.  The name of the series was Everywhere A Sign and then there was a number from 1 to 100.  The number in the cache name connected to the road sign it was placed on or near.  For instance, Everywhere A Sign 14 was on a sign on County Road 14.  Everywhere A Sign 74 is on a sign on County Road 74.  Get the pattern? 

The other night, Captain had to milk and I had time on my hands, so I went on a search.  I ended up making a loop from the junction of County Road 5 NW and 75th Street NW and ending up right back there by way of Pine Island, Oronoco, and Byron.  BTW...I can drive in a straight line; I just can't draw a straight line!


That loop that I made netted me four or five finds.  The rest of them are out there, if you look at this map that the Geocaching website nicely put together for me.


I guess the geocaching thing for me is going to be like ice fishing is for Captain.  He doesn't ask me to go with him, and I won't ask him to go with me!  We'll both be happier I think.  

I hope that you let your inner free spirit out once in awhile and do what is in your heart!

Image taken from https://pics.onsizzle.com/whatever-is-good-for-your-soul-do-that-free-spirited-14525382.png

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

One Potato, Two Potato

Image result for don't criticize a farmer with your mouth full

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. 

Related image

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. 

Related image

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. 

Image result for from farm to table

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.

Don't Criticize The Farmer With Your Mouth Full White T-Shirt Back

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:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/37/15/be/3715be21bc4d796623a9fe685a8772b5.jpg
http://www.biotech-now.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Ag-Employment-2014.png
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

Monday, June 25, 2018

Hide and Seek

Image result for geocaching funny meme

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. 

Image result for geocaching funny meme

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. 

Image result for geocaching funny meme

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. 

Image result for geocaching funny meme

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:

Image result for puzzle cache

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:
http://blog.ivman.com/wp-content/
.jpg
http://media.pinterest.com.s3.amazonaws.com/236x/b5/80/58/b58058809ae5a9fe085418cf1250a46f.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4k79LXhdtsKUBkbbtYUPCRnpgWi-zj2rPPjG_WkJNm3IUWg-m2j1OHvZqjO6MPy2jphRSHBo5WGUIvDFlUOJ-I1852JFK8w3oLx-7xadkWH5JBIt6RkZ-Lh7J_bCcb4K0a1c_N8MEySyj/s640/FB_IMG_1500496489061.jpg
http://cdn.funnyand.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/If-You-Listen-GPS.jpg
http://slideplayer.com/219344/1/images/34/Mystery%2FPuzzle+Caches.jpg

Friday, June 15, 2018

Goals Are Good

Image result for setting goals meme

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. 

Image result for dragon boating

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. 

Image result for unicycle

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?"

Image result for geocache

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:
https://metabolicmemory.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/meme-you-can-do-it.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Dragon_boat_budapest_2010.jpg/400px-Dragon_boat_budapest_2010.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-sftY5-bGlgg9H3kK3g5_RFYY7QIIiT3nbhHOXUoDI9Ur0Xkv
https://www.prainc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/geocache-398017_1920.jpg