FARTAB Vol. 6 (Part II)

By late morning/early afternoon, the sun had broken through.

This made me happy- so I thought that I would document it.

Dogg and Kaptain Krunch seemed to be entertained no matter what the weather. Which is nice... Though I have to admit- I was always afraid that they were up to something, so I tried to keep my distance...

This year we skipped our normal lunch spot by the horseshoe falls and kept going, deciding to stop further down river. It was already well past lunch time so that might not have been the best course of action considering the time allocated towards the -ADAB portion of the trip.

This also gave me time to take pictures of the old broken down mill parts that line the river. Every time we pass one of these spillways it drives me crazy that there is not some kind of turbine capturing the water power. Seems to me that either the dam should be gone or should be used. One or the other. The parts of our past era as an economy when we actually made stuff is beautiful and kind of depressing...

From here on out, lots of rafting up was the call. It was nice that the river was so high- it allowed for us to make good time distance wise on the river with very little effort. And it made it easy to pass beverages off, too!

Just the way FARTAB should be. More F'ing (floating) less paddling and exertion!

FARTAB Vol. 6 (part III)

The prolonged period of rafting up and actually floating meant that there was an extended period of time for slaking thirst, listening to music and talking. The good part: it is fun! The bad part- it does tend to increase the chances of TMTD. This session lasted for a good portion of the afternoon so that by the time we got to the last 'portage' and were ready to load our gear, not even Darth Vader himself could slow our mood or stop us from running the last dam. Check out Darth in the first pic:

(Flat Tires is NOT scared of Darth)

(CTLP is...)

The definite downside was that a loss in coordination which was directly responsible for the major issue of the trip: Canoe sinking:

The first victim was an accidental torpedoing of Dogg and Kaptain Krunch's canoe by 40. Definitely unintentional- as there is no way that 40 would have soaked the transmitter on purpose. The FM transmitter's use was toast for the rest of the trip, but it is ready for a return performance... 40's bellow could be heard from miles away as he dragged the converted ibucket out of the river. Meanwhile, Dogg and KK were busying themselves with trying to save the food and other assorted items... Kudos to them for good scurrying. And if anyone finds a camp chair in Westerly- it belongs to Dogg.

From that point on, canoe dumping became fashionable. Sleepy and GUDG had to follow suit! I was pleased that I had pretty much all my stuff loaded onto my kayak, which certainly helped keep my stuff dry! The sun was starting to go down, and with another 40 oz mile to go (read: another hour or two of paddling) we started to get motivated to get to the camp site.

I went cruised through Burdickville alone to make tracks to claim our spot. No one was there and we were able to set up camp and enjoy a great camp meal prepared by BBW. That guy can make some camp chow... Thanks!

After Flat Tires got the fire raging, I looked up and noticed that it was barely 10:00 and everyone buy myself was in bed. I was not about to waste a good camp fire and crawled into Tent Suburbs a while later



After a nice leisurely breakfast and camp breakdown, the trip out was uneventful and very enjoyable. Nice bright sky (almost too sunny) and a calm pace made for a nice finish and a great wrap to FARTAB Vol. 6.

See y'all next year!

The End!

Literally...

Growlers

Growlers of Berkshire Brewery Steel Rail Rocks!!! I really can't wait for their Oktoberfest beer. I know it's early, but it's probably my favorite beer of this time in my life (my tastes change over time as most people's do) and I hope it stays my favorite for while. It will probably be a good thing that it's only available during the fall....hence the Oktoberfest name....and here's some history for those of us who want to learn. Unfortunately it's only available in CT, MA, RI and VT, so those of you not in New England are outta luck....like there's any of you out there.

BTW, there's rumors of a homebrew for RAMHADAB, but if not I hope for another Berkshire Brewery beer even though we had one last year.

I may also start for a poll for a BOTADAB (Brewery Observation Tour And Drink Alotta Beer), but it may be tough to coordinate because no one wants to be the driver, plus all the little ADABers on the way. But if we get it started, I would like to visit all the local brewery's in all the local area's as a group.

Busy again.

This time of year things become a blur between getting ready for FARTAB, working on the garden, and work-work.

I tend to overdo things.

Instead of just building a couple more gardens this year, we converted the whole front yard.

Instead of trying to start some plants from seed, I decide I need to start everything from seed. Multiple varieties of plants, multiple plantings, and start some from friends too. When my sister came over and went on and on about how cheap already started plants where I thought, WTF, but whatever. I didn't waste a single minute of time tho, how are you going to learn how to start plants unless you practice?

And now, for FARTAB I've been scrambling to refurbish and heaviliy modify the original ibucket for a very specific FARTAB-a-rific mission. I just finished about ten minutes ago (12:45am) and have to say I'm pleased with it. It is fully functional, sounds decents, is still portable-ish, and looks like someone made it from recycled everything. Freaking Faaaaantastic.

So, without any order, here are the pics from the last week.

New raised bed. 3'wide, 16' long, dug down 1+ft, and built up 1 ft. That's alotta soil.


Just in time too. The middle bed is now full of early and over-wintered plants, the one of the right is 1/2 full. I'm going to try Square Foot Garden planting in this one. My sister, Mrs Kaptain got the book this winter, the theory makes sense! Here is where the potatoes were planted last year. We grew about 3 bushels here. I found a handful of bonus spring potatoes when I cleaned it up and turned in the winter mulch. They seem fine even though they were in hibernation all winter out there.

Next up, FARTAB, then it's time to plant the main garden. I'm going to try to grow corn for the first time... should be interesting!

Potatoes

Last year I planted potatoes. It was pretty satisfying to dig up and eat home-grown potatoes. Almost as much fun as clamming. The only drawback of traditional hilled-up-rows they take up alot of space, and you need to give the row a break from other plants for a year. That is a long time to have a bed sit idle for a garden that has something growing in every square foot all year long.

This year I'm trying to plant in Towers. I read about them here. I used leftover T111 from the shed project, and some 2x3 studs. The first comment people make about the garden is "Oh Man you should have used Pressure Treated!". Well, I know they don't use arsenic in PT anymore, but the new stuff still doesn't sound that much more appetizing. So, I'll let this wood just rot into the ground every 5 years and not worry about poisoning the family.

Supposedly you can grow 100lbs of spuds in 4 sq ft of space. I kind of doubt it, but it's worth a shot.

After telling everyone how great homegrown taters are, I convinced a couple other people to plant some this year. I had some extra seeds so I went over to CTLPs tonight to help setup their potato bins. They have enough room to plant in traditional rows, but we planted in bins. Here I am with my new tool, an Azada. Believe the hype... this is a great tool for digging and garden preparation. Beer is also great tool for digging and garden prep.

CTLP and his bin made from scrap wood found in the yard.
One week till FARTAB! Next thursday night we kick it off at B.R. with some riding, then to visit the owls for wings!

-40