A few photos to get you started.  Rich posted a lot more photos in the Gallery Section of the site.  We’ll update with more details in a bit. . .

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The barn (not the corn crib) was destroyed in the storm last night.  RAGBRAI is here today, so I won’t be able to mourn it’s loss for a few days.  Many more details will follow. . .

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So, if have not paid attention, our summer so far has been taken up by planning for RAGBRAI.  It is RAGBRAI 24×7 around here.  I can’t even remember what else there is to talk about besides RAGBRAI.

It’s Friday night, RAGBRAI starts on Sunday, and will be here by Monday morning.  What are we doing?  Right now.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zilch.  Zero.  Most of our respective plans are done.  As far as hospitality goes, we are waiting until last minute to finish the decorations.  We wouldn’t want them to blow away or anything.   For you RAGBRAI riders out there, Jefferson: All the Bells and Whistles, will be having all kinds of bell signs hidden around the main route with local attractions and trivia on them.  If you see those, we did it.

I never thought I’d fit in riding RAGBRAI this year.  Nor would I have any energy to keep up to it after it passes.  But I decided to ride.  Wait, I’m not going to ride, I want to EXPERIENCE it.

You see, in the last two years, we never really took it all in.  We brought most breakfasts foods in our vehicle or RV.  And we would ride, just ride.  If the day was over 55-60 miles, we would stop for lunch.  Pastafari was a favorite, and Mr Pork Chop was required of course.  A few times we picked up goodies like burgers and corn in pass-thru towns.

This year, I’m riding RAGBRAI style.  Too bad I’m taking the good road bike.  I almost want to ride something wacky.
Tuesday morning I will get up, have some 53×11 Coffee (Check the big expo in Mo. Valley) and head to the Jefferson Fairgrounds were our swim team is hosting the Cris Cakes stand of the day.  From there it should be 3 miles to the Little Farm Coffee stand.  We have visted them almost every day of RAGBRAI we have been on.  Then I will search for the Farm Boy Breakfast burritos.

We never had breakfast on the road.  This year, I’m finding it all.  For some reason 300 people would line up for those breakfast burritos every day.  Now I am going to find out why.  Same reasoning for the Cris Cakes.  The coffee hits will be required for sure.

Hopefully, all this will be before or in Grand Junction.  That is the first town out, approx 10 miles away.  From there I plan on taking my full belly South to Rippey, swing by Cooper, and ride the Raccoon River Valley Trail back to Jefferson. Anyone joining me?
Once home, I will sleep for two days.  Talk to you next week!

PS:  The 53×11 Coffee is an obvious plug.  There will be a 53×11 stand at the MO. Valley Expo.  Yes, I happen to ride for them too. 

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I got the idea for this post from my friend Karen in Colorado.  Here is her blog on homeschooling.

My 3 favorite things regarding homeschooling:

1. Game Time:  I am one of the biggest haters of the roll video games play in many children’s lives.  However, we did step over to the dark side last Xmas and get an Xbox 360.  Mason gets 20 min of time to play on weekdays and 1 hr on weekends.  This is his biggest motivator in getting schoolwork done.  The sooner it’s done, the sooner he gets “Game Time.”  Maybe it is allowing the games to have more “power” in his life than it should, but whatever gets our stubborn guy on the right track.

2. Buddhist Stories Book, by Anita Ganeri: Mason loves to read anyway, thankfully.  However, I brought out this book so that we could introduce him to Buddhism.  I have never seen him so fired up about a story before!  The book itself is beautifully illustrated (there are more on other religions) and the stories are meaningful without being too over your head spiritualism.

3. Freedom! :  The freedom to travel.  The freedom to not have to answer to a teacher or a principle every day.  The freedom to let my son learn what he is interested in.  The freedom to turn everyday events into learning opportunities.

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Post title sung to Aerosmith’s Back in the saddle again.

Last weekend was a good weekend.  I love getting work done.  Maybe you don’t consider getting 12 feet of sill plate installed and/or replaced exciting, but I do.

The cool part is, that the new section of sill plate was across the back of the new slab of concrete.  Not only is it something new, but I had to cut old rotten sill plate at the major corners, jack up the barn again (see last year) and shove the new wood underneath.  We even got the main electrical panel and meter socket installed.  We’ll have electricity in no time.
I have another great thing to report.  Although we got into this situation in the first place, we reclaimed the garden.  The front PTO on the mower seemed to burn out, so I need to fix that.  The flood producing rains and warm weather caused everything to grow.  Grass, weeds, and vegetables all grow with water and heat.  I used both a weed-eater, and the push mower from the house to trim out the gardens.  Then used the trail-mower to  clean up everything else.

We did claim some zucchini, squash, cucumbers, a large onion, and more lettuce out of the garden so far.  We are eating good.  The taste is unbelievable.  Yum!  One of the cukes, is sitting in some leftover pickle juice.  We’ll make some proper ones later, and hopefully avoid any kerosene cucumber references.
Next, Order some 10′ 2×6’s and frame in the East end of the corn crib.  I found a huge 38×42″ double casement window for that wall at the Habit for Humanity Restore in Des Moines.  That, and some siding…..oh boy!

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