Two Barn Farm is starting to turn, after a long winter hibernation.  We have a basement full of vegetable seeds, on heat mats under timed lights.  If the neighbors were watching, they’d call the cops thinking we were growing something else.  We’ve been talking of tilling, and of bio-char this year.  FYI: Bio-char, adding charcoal remains to garden beds.  Yes, we have plenty to burn off.  However, the ground is defrosted only an inch or so.
Today feels like spring.  Warm, clear, sunny, yum.  I had the urge all afternoon to go get some brats and start grilling.  We sent the morning working on house projects.  The kitchen has molding, some more in the bathroom, and I finished off some flooring transitions.  Score a few more items from the to-do list.  Reagan loves crossing items off.  We often add new tasks to the list, just to cross them off right away.  My gratification comes from creating new, clean to-do lists, slightly shorter than the last one.  We did both today.
We also burned our brush pile at the in-town house.  This was a small one.  Yes, we can burn in town.  No, we were not the only ones today.  Yes, there is a bonfire like no other waiting at the farm.  Yes, it used to be called a barn.  Bonus, I moved coffee roasting operations to the garage today.  No coffee smell in the house.  And I cleaned out the garage a little as well.  I might do this more often.
Today was also a good day to catch up with friends.  In small towns, you run into them when you least expect it.  Winter seems to hole us up too much.

I did add in a few bike maintenance projects today too.  Over the winter, I ended build a new tubular wheel.  I mounted a tire on it, and took it for a spin today on the TT bike.  I wanted to make a LSD ride out of it.  (Long Slow Distance.  ie, low heart rates)  I got 22 miles off OUTDOOR trail and road riding done.  I must say, that my first all-tubular ride left me amazed.  These tires really do have a better ride quality.  However my heart rate kept creeping up.  It was far too much fun and excitement to be on the road, hitting 35mph and seeing how long you could keep it.   Every time I sat up and rested, a car came.  I ended up diving back down on the bars and making it look good.
Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy.  Until next week, true believer.

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So what are we up to.  Bits of everything.  There is some more siding on the corn crib.  The section from between the corners and the doors on the West end has been filled in.  I’d like to fill in the last bit above the doors and get a few more courses up on the East end as well.  We also burned quite a bit of barn roof in our trusty fire pit.  It is littered with nails.  I’d like to get one of those magnetic sweepers and see just how much is in there.  We still have a little bit of roof, and the back wall of the barn to clean up.  Whatever wood I saved is started to get tucked under what remains of the barn.

We have been going pretty gung-ho on the house in town.  Just after we finished the kitchen, the dishwasher sprung a leak.  And you guessed it, removing a floor and a layer of plywood before replacing it with hardwood flooring did bring the floor height up about 1/4″.  Exactly how much room it takes to remove the dishwasher.  We ended up removing a untrimmed piece of laminate from the front edge of the couters and cut out the offending overhang of the counter to get the old one out.  Reagan happened to be in Des Moines and found a Kitchenaid dishwasher at the Habitat for Humanity store for $200.  Our dishes have never been this clean.  I love the thing.  It does hold a little less, but it’s solid stainless inside.

The bathroom and kitchen got all the walls textured and painted.  I even hung up curtains while Reagan was out for the weekend.  The back entry still needs to be done, and a little bit around the front door.  Then moulding, everywhere.  We are running out of to-do items here.

I have used the super nice weekend weather to get out for some bike rides.  You might say late season rides, I’m calling it early season rides.  In November and December, we start packing in miles on the trainer so we hit the Spring-fresh roads with speed.  I’m just getting a head start on my base mileage right now. There is always an upper body workout to be done, with all these leaves on the ground.  Oh, I rode to the farm the other night, and found carrots.  I had forgot about them.  I pulled one up about 6″ long, with a little left in the ground, and it must have been 2″ wide.  Free snack!  Super sweet and wonderful.

We finally figured out what Two Barn Farm is for.  Iowa has a new LLC registered, and we have been getting ready.  In fact our first prototype was created last night, and made this morning.  There is a fine line between a hobby and obsession.  Some hobbies turn obsessive, some obsessions turn into hobbies.  Which ever way it is, that’s usually a good sign of drive and passion.  More to come!

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With appallingly few children that wear helmets in Jefferson, I found this article to be especially interesting.   With mandatory helmet laws for children under 18, death rate DO decline!  Besides, there are some sweet looking helmets out there these days.  Long gone are the days of looking like you have a giant ping pong ball on your head!
The Bicycle Helmet Debate is Over. Really. : TreeHugger

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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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