I've been working on our land pretty hard lately. Not just riding around on the tractor, but getting on and off it picking up rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. I was looking forward to a couple of days off and we were supposed to go horseback riding with friends, but something came up at the last minute and that fell apart. Being cruisers, Pam and I understand schedules and last minute changes of plans, so we simply did the next best thing. Something different.
We decided to take a ride. I've always enjoyed just taking a ride. Get in the car and head out. We first have to head off the mountain, of course. Everything is downhill from here, and there's only three ways to go actually. North, south, and east. We can't go west because there's a mountain in the way. Once off the mountain, we drove to Saratoga Springs where we stumbled onto a farmers' market. These things are getting more and more popular as people get more concerned about the quality of our food. The place was packed. Pam bought some honey based balsamic vinaigrette and made mental notes about selling at farmers' markets.
From there, we took roads I hadn't driven on in decades, down to Mechanicville and then to Waterford where we stopped at the Canal Center to see if there were any boaters there that we knew. There weren't. But we chatted up a nice couple who, like everyone else there, were waiting for the canal to reopen. There is a damaged dam by Amsterdam that needs to be repaired, so everything has stopped.
Want to experience life on the water? You can rent canal boats like this one.
At this point, you might be thinking WTF? I came here to read about life on Bleecker Mountain, and I'm seeing boats. And no Bleecker Mountain. Well, you'd have a valid point, I guess. But like my Drift Away blog, which wasn't a cruising blog nor a liveaboard blog, this is a lifestyle blog. It is what our life is like as we build our little farmstead on the mountain, but also what we do off the mountain. It is background information about us so you can understand things like why we don't flip out when plans suddenly change. If someone hands us lemons, and we make lemonade. Unless it's fatal, it's no big deal. Insert any other cliche' of your choice here. Or better yet, in the comments section down below.
We hit up a few antique stores in Waterford. Pam bought some kind of glass jar thing, and I scored an older grinder for only $30. If you haven't figured this out yet, I really like antiques and old stuff. It's better made, and has a history behind it. It's only a grinder, but it's heavy and will last forever, unlike the cheap Chinese made junk you find at the Walmarts and Home Cheapo. Pam and I intend to spend a lot of time in antique stores, garage sales, and Craig's List over the next year or two looking for deals. Bessie the Tractor was a Craig's List find, for example. Why spend $20,000 for a crummy new tractor when you can spend $3,000 for something made to last for the next 100 years? In addition, Bessie has decades of experience to compensate for my incompetence.
Afterwards, we had family over for a BBQ. As God intended, it was pouring rain when it was time for me to cook. And yes, it stopped immediately after I was done BBQing. That's just how it is. But I'm a cruiser, so I roll with the punches.
See this little guy, second from the left?
That's Nate. He's three. He loves tractors. He loves to ride on his dad's garden tractor (that would be Eric, to the right) and was looking forward to riding on Grandpa Dave's tractor, Bessie. The rain had finally stopped and so we all hied ourselves over to our property. Nate's eyes grew wide... two tractors! No Nate, Bessie is a tractor. The other is a backhoe.
So I fired up Bessie, and Eric passed me Nate and we rode around for about fifteen minutes, Nate on my lap. I asked Nate, "So how do you like it?"
Nate pointed to the backhoe and said "I want to ride on that tractor!".
Sigh. But being a cruiser, I roll with the punches.
We decided to take a ride. I've always enjoyed just taking a ride. Get in the car and head out. We first have to head off the mountain, of course. Everything is downhill from here, and there's only three ways to go actually. North, south, and east. We can't go west because there's a mountain in the way. Once off the mountain, we drove to Saratoga Springs where we stumbled onto a farmers' market. These things are getting more and more popular as people get more concerned about the quality of our food. The place was packed. Pam bought some honey based balsamic vinaigrette and made mental notes about selling at farmers' markets.
From there, we took roads I hadn't driven on in decades, down to Mechanicville and then to Waterford where we stopped at the Canal Center to see if there were any boaters there that we knew. There weren't. But we chatted up a nice couple who, like everyone else there, were waiting for the canal to reopen. There is a damaged dam by Amsterdam that needs to be repaired, so everything has stopped.
At this point, you might be thinking WTF? I came here to read about life on Bleecker Mountain, and I'm seeing boats. And no Bleecker Mountain. Well, you'd have a valid point, I guess. But like my Drift Away blog, which wasn't a cruising blog nor a liveaboard blog, this is a lifestyle blog. It is what our life is like as we build our little farmstead on the mountain, but also what we do off the mountain. It is background information about us so you can understand things like why we don't flip out when plans suddenly change. If someone hands us lemons, and we make lemonade. Unless it's fatal, it's no big deal. Insert any other cliche' of your choice here. Or better yet, in the comments section down below.
We hit up a few antique stores in Waterford. Pam bought some kind of glass jar thing, and I scored an older grinder for only $30. If you haven't figured this out yet, I really like antiques and old stuff. It's better made, and has a history behind it. It's only a grinder, but it's heavy and will last forever, unlike the cheap Chinese made junk you find at the Walmarts and Home Cheapo. Pam and I intend to spend a lot of time in antique stores, garage sales, and Craig's List over the next year or two looking for deals. Bessie the Tractor was a Craig's List find, for example. Why spend $20,000 for a crummy new tractor when you can spend $3,000 for something made to last for the next 100 years? In addition, Bessie has decades of experience to compensate for my incompetence.
Afterwards, we had family over for a BBQ. As God intended, it was pouring rain when it was time for me to cook. And yes, it stopped immediately after I was done BBQing. That's just how it is. But I'm a cruiser, so I roll with the punches.
See this little guy, second from the left?
That's Nate. He's three. He loves tractors. He loves to ride on his dad's garden tractor (that would be Eric, to the right) and was looking forward to riding on Grandpa Dave's tractor, Bessie. The rain had finally stopped and so we all hied ourselves over to our property. Nate's eyes grew wide... two tractors! No Nate, Bessie is a tractor. The other is a backhoe.
So I fired up Bessie, and Eric passed me Nate and we rode around for about fifteen minutes, Nate on my lap. I asked Nate, "So how do you like it?"
Nate pointed to the backhoe and said "I want to ride on that tractor!".
Sigh. But being a cruiser, I roll with the punches.
Once again Dave-- Another FAB Blog!! I think I'll start bringing my Laptop into the bathroom with me in the morning and read your blog while I sit...
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