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

Second River Trip, Why 'out' of season is the best season

First, Snoopy says Hi.

Second, this weekend a top-secret river has been floated! I've been eye-balling it for a few years now, but there hasn't been conditions that lined up where we had lots of rain to fill it, and good weather to walk through it if needed. This weekend the stars were aligned, and Kaptain Krunch, Mrs Krunch, and I took advantage of the situation and tried it.
Here is Mrs Krunch loading up her solo canoe. That is hardcore. The first 1/4 mile or so was moving water, some bumps from the bony bottom, but it was NICE. Then, we hit the lift-overs. Here is the 77th out of 1Million and Nine. It was a biggun: Kaptain says F*ck Lift-overs.

After that, the secret river turns into a swamp, and so grown over we were laying in the bottom of the boats pulling ourselves along. Blow-downs in there sucked, because it was, well, a swamp, and if you got out of the boat you sunk up to your armpits in ice cold mud.

But, once the swamp widened out... it was some of the cleanest water I have ever seen, and it was pretty amazing to paddling through an area that very few people have ever been through.

At the beach and swimming hole and we decided to take a pit stop and refuel.

From there on out, it was easy paddling, unreal.

Later, we went to the east beach boat-beach. Here is what it looks like around here in the 'off' season'. See that beige strip of sand? That is the beach. In a month and a half there will be so many freaking NYers, Mass-h*les, and whatnot sloshing around that you won't even be able to see it.
While we were fishing we watched an obviously inexperienced tool try to cross the sandbar in a DEEP V hull, with 375 HP sucking down the stern, not once, But TWICE, and get stuck. Seriously, this machine was probably $75k-100k easy. And its this guys FIRST BOAT. WTF. When he got free the second time, we hollered to tell him where the channel was (it was obvious, its the DARK water), he got pissed off and went over to take this monstrosity out of the water. Only 6 more weeks till we have plenty more of those around here, I'll be hiding out on the weekends till their gone.

Don't forget, we are just TWO WEEKS from FARTAB!!!!

In case your forgot what happened the last five years:

Check out the last few years worth of pix:
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

CTLP's Perspective of the highly successful Vol 4:
Volume 4 Post 1
Volume 4 Post 2

and of Vol 5. I didn't have the stomach to sort through the seedy pix, so CTLP did it for us.

Volume 5, Part 1
Volume 5, part 2

First River Trip

Hey, I started today pretty early working in the garden. By lunch it was 76 degrees and figured it was time to take a break. I loaded up my new(to me) kayak and headed down to carolina. Since I hadn't planned ahead, I didn't have the ever-important shuttle back to a put-in. I started at carolina on 91 and paddled upriver for a while. There is plenty of water in the river right now with all the rain we had, and paddling upriver was a bit slow going. The new boat is pretty slow when you are slogging upstream, it is a full 4' shorter than the other kayak, so I'm not surprised it doesn't paddle as easy. After an hour or so i stopped for a cerveza, went swimming at a great spot for a rope swing, then turned around. It floats just fine downriver.It has a great cupholder, so it'll work great for FARTAB Vol 6. The ibucket fits on the back pretty well, and once i get the cockpit sorted out it'll be just fine. Its small/light enough that i can pick up the boat, the ibucket, paddle, etc up off the car and carry all of them down to the launch ramp in one trip, greatly speeding up the launch/retreival process. Yeaaaah.

There are still plenty of trout out there, and on this stretch of the river I saw zero fisherfolk. I really need to get a license asap and catch some.

I can't wait for FARTAB, May 15th!

iBucket ver 4.0

The ibucket has been around for a while.

Ver 1.0 was born to go fishing and bring beer. I needed to be able to carry beer, tunes, and fishing equipment out in the boat or on a bike. This version had hooks to clip onto a bike rack like a pannier.


It was a hit the first summer down at the lake and out on the outer banks windsurfing for a week. The problem with it was, well, it's a kitty litter bucket with some all-season speakers bolted to it and a car amp stuffed inside with a heavy lead acid battery. The main drawback was the amp was too inefficient to have inside a cooler(or a bucket) and all that wasted power meant it needed a heavy battery. It simply made the beer too warm. I still use it a few times a year for fishing, drinking, and partying in boats mostly for nostalgia, but i've upgraded to the current amp design. Here's the original wiring. Its ugly, but it worked!



Ver 2.0 was much slicker. A very efficient amp that could be sealed in a tupperware container, a battery now could be small enough to hide in with the amp, and the whole deal could be jury-rigged into a cooler. This made it's appearance at snoe-down , worked fine at the hot tub, but was quickly retired because it only held a six pack. I can't find any pictures of it at the moment, and am too lazy and tired to go back out to the barn tonight to take pictures.

Ver 3.0 is the iBucket we all know and love. A whopping production run of five or six has generated buzz in at least three towns across the state. It holds 18 cans, is very durable, portable, yeah blah blah blah. The only problem is it doesn't fit well on the BFB, and it sometimes is a little bulky.

Ver 4.0:
After hours of R&D, I finished this up. Similar rigid frame to versions 2 and 3, but 1/2 the depth of ver 3.0:

The length and depth are perfect to tuck into the free-loader bag of an XtraCycle (BFB). I think it will work much better as a disc-golf bag too.

Cargo capacity is a 12 pack. Yeah. That'll do.

-40.

Work Days Part 2

Here is how the front yard looked before we started today's projects. The stakes are the end of garden beds/paths. The spacing is very scientific. The beds are just narrow enough so I can step over them, and that paths are just wide enough so a dual-tire wheel barrow fits between the beds. That works out to 36" beds, 30" paths.

Here's the beds after the first pass with the backhoe.
The plan was:
1) scrape off topsoil with backhoe, set aside. There was very little.
2) dig up stump and big rocks. There were plenty
3) dig down about a foot or so, set aside crap sand/gravel/clay
4) get manure from across the street
5) dump manure in the holes
6) fill in the rest with the loam/compost.
7) Finally I'll move rocks around the beds, like terraced/raised beds.
First manure dumping. This is about 6-8 month old Poo from some very pampered pets. It is basically accelerated compost.

Beds with about 8-10inches of manure. Ah... Gardening!

Here's the beds filled with the loam/compost mix. I still have some work to do cleaning up the extra rocks, etc, but you get the idea.

Dogs love dirt! At least maggie didn't pick the manure pile to take a nap in!

The swamp yankee way to straighten a woodpile...Use the 'Hoe!
It was a very successful day... in 6 hours we did what it would have taken me 6 weeks or more to do. Each of these deep-dug beds is very time consuming to dig with all the rocks we have around here. Now if only I had some seeds to plant.... hmmm.

-40.

Beermuda Triangle workday #1

So we've got a good thing going out here in the beermuda triangle. We take turns going from house to house and work on projects. Last weekend we headed up to Northwest connecticut to help BBW move into his new 'crib'. I just realized I didn't take any pix last weekend.... Probably because there is no cell coverage, I didn't have my cellphone in my pocket all the time. It was a blast, but you'll just have to take my word for it. MIBBADAB (Move In Bald Boy And Drink Alotta Beers) was a success! (even if I am a little out of practice on the -ADAB part...) Mrs 40, Lil 40 (would that be a 22oz?) and I will take a road trip up there in the convertible before the summer so she can check it out herself.

Anyhow, back to work weekends: most jobs go much faster with a little help. Today we did some backhoe upkeep, chainsaw sharpening then some firewood harvesting over at the Flattires' compound. A couple monster trees too close to the house had been damaged during excavation for the new house, so they had to go. Here we are using their patented "Push it with the 'hoe and hope it doesn't hit the house" method for felling very large trees.

Before:

After... with the Double Deuce!
To give you an idea of the scale of the operation:
Unfortunately CTLP couldn't join us today because their house got struck by lightning last night, most likely wiping out the well pump and who knows what else! Time for some lightning rods, and whole house surge suppressors.

This morning while waiting to go to the dump I pulled the cold frame off the carrots and beets that I covered in leaf mulch last fall. They look fine! So, in this part of RI carrots and beets can survive a very hard winter in just mulch and a cold frame.


I planted some broccolli transplants out there in the cold frame today. Supposedly you can plant them outside now without any kind of protection, but I don't believe it. Wouldn't hurt to have some glass over them to protect from frost and wind.

Tomorrow, we're digging up the front yard to increase the amount of garden beds by about 100%. Finally should have enough room to grow corn! Sweeeeet.

More updates tomorrow.

-40