And the meter starts at zero, I want to go plug something in.

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Coasting on your bike through sleepy small town neighborhoods, wind at my back, crunching on the scattering of fall leaves.

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Somehow, I nearly forgot that we had a garden at Two Barn Farm.  It was a nice, warm, fall-feeling night, and I was itching to work.  We had 90 minutes of light left after work, and I intended to do something.

I took Grampy down there, and we got some trim and insulation hung up.  Grampy also pre-cut a few pieces of siding.  It was getting dim, but I got the first 3 pieces of siding on the East end of the crib.  After we picked up the tools, I thought about checking the gardens.  There might be some lunker of a zucchini hiding over there.

Tomatoes.  I nearly filled a 5 gallon bucket with bright red tomatoes.  Reagan has already canned sauce, diced tomatoes, garden relish, salsa, and a few other things out of the garden.  We have storerooms and freezers full of peas and onions too.  Now there is another batch of tomatoes to deal with.  Maybe we should check into Carla’s soup recipie…..

The whole canning process has gotten me into a fury as well.  I had to put up some barley and hops of course.  My hop vines only grew about 8 inches this year.  I used my business trip to St Paul as an excuse to visit the homebrew store that I usually order from.  Somehow, I came home with enough grain for 2 more batches of brew, even though I had that much at home already.

I started with the oldest first, which was something called “Big Honking Stout”  I realized that my power drill can replace the handle on this thing labeled the “Barley Crusher”.  It took care of 12lbs of grain in a minute!  Much better than cranking by hand.  I have quite the setup, and have started doing all-grain batches last year.  So there was a huge production of interconnected coolers and tubing and hot water sprinklers, and pots all over the kitchen.  Crazy to the untrained eye, but it was much more manageable than normal.
That batch is sitting in one of my large conical fermenters.  Next on deck for tomorrow is a Belgium Dubbel.  Next week might entail an Irish Red Ale followed by a Strong Dark Belgium Trappist Ale.  Notice that nothing seems to be labeled as American style?  Yes, there is a reason for that.
Hopefully this warm streak will continue for a few more nights and into the weekend.  I might get some more corn crib work done.

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Rich installed a shiny new bamboo floor today! YAY! Now, we have to keep the kitchen floor clean. DANG!  I’ll miss the days of having a floor that doubles as a dropcloth.  However, I will enjoy the feeling of the nice new floor under foot.

Well, if you’ve been in our living room in the last 6 months, you’ve seen the floor.  It’s been in boxes behind the couch waiting for us to have time to install it.  Being the thrifty gal that I am, I had decided that bamboo would probably be the best option concerning price-wise and still be made from an easily renewable resource.  Costco offered a solid bamboo floor for less than $3 a sq ft if I remember correctly.  Meaning the floor would cost us around $350.

However, one day while perusing Craigslist, I found someone selling their bamboo project leftovers.  I got 150 sq ft for $150!!  Of course, I didn’t get to choose brand, carbonized or not, species of bamboo, etc.  But you can’t beat the price.

I would have preferred non-carbonized, as I have read that it is harder than carbonized.  I know that some websites tout bamboo as a hard material, but the carbonized kind really isn’t.  We already have a few dents in the floor, but we figure it will add a nice patina over time.  If you aren’t interested in “patina”, I would highly recommend against this type of floor.

This is the second type of kitchen floor we have installed.

We previously installed cork.

Pros: I loved the softness of standing on it.
The color was a nice contrast to our existing hardwood.
It didn’t have a grain which made it just different enough to not look “matchy-matchy”.
It wasn’t “loud”.
Price.  I got it on clearance at Nebraska Furniture Mart for less than $3 sq ft.
Cons: It was a little difficult to install the “click system” under toe kicks.
It was soft (the refrigerator left dents).
The color faded in a strange way where we had a rug in the dining room.

Overall: I liked it, but I wouldn’t do it again.  There are too many other experiments to try!

This time:

Carbonized Bamboo

Pros:Easy install, we did have to rent a flooring nailer.
Price. Bought someone else’s leftovers for $1 sq ft.
Made from a quickly renewable resource.
Nice color and texture.
Cons: Dents Easily.
Others TBD, I’m sure!

So, that’s why we call this the “practice house.”  We are using it to find out what we really like for our next adventures.

I’m currently working on the subway tile in the shower.  Hopefully, I will have an update on that soon.

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We took the dogs to the Doggie Paddle at the Jefferson Swimming Pool.  It was a bit chilly for people, but the dogs didn’t mind.  A.P.E. does this every year before they drain the swimming pool.  It’s a lot of fun for the dogs and their owners.  The cost is $1 per paw, which means the humans get in free.

Our friend, Tammy, and her Jack Russell Terrier/Heeler mix, Arlo, just happened to be visiting yesterday on their way back to Colorado.  We call Arlo a “superdog” because he fetches, catches frisbees midair, and actually listens to commands.   He had a great time in the baby pool running to catch the frisbee.

I brought Tieta over first this year, since she loves laying in the kiddie pool we put in the backyard for them.  She was a pretty decent swimmer, but she soon became preoccupied with the other dogs, so I had to bring her home.

Next, it was Ozzie’s turn.  To keep him corralled, we stayed in the baby pool area where he played with an adorable West Highland White Terrier named “Max.”  They ran around and around and around.  Ozzie would take a dip in the baby pool every now and then, but he really isn’t much of a swimmer.  In the 3 foot deep section of the big pool, he just stands on his hind legs against the wall so his head stays above water and gives me a look that says, “Why aren’t you saving me???”

Always a great time, we look forward to this every year.  A.P.E. does a great job of expanding knowledge about spaying and neutering your pets, yes, even your “barn cats” and “farm dogs” should be spayed or neutered!  Check out their programs on their website to get ALL your pets spayed and neutered. 

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