67 Degrees in January!

Hard not to ride a bicycle on a 67 degree day in January.  It was windy, but I managed to keep it at my back for most of the ride.

When you see the flag straight out, and the far edge is facing you, you know you have some difficult miles in front of you.  At one point I was coasting at 15 mph going up a small rise.  Later I was in low gear and peddling down hill. There is just not much to block the wind once the farmers have taken the crops out of the fields.....

It is a pretty time of year!  Of course I like about all weather, except the heat of summer.  I like the green of spring, the fall colors, the snow, and the fallow fields...and can find something interesting about anytime I am outside on a bike....even in the rain! 

It is easier to see the trash along the road in the winter, after the grass has died back.  On the positive side there is a lot less trash now than there was thirty years ago.   Partly because we have stretches being picked up by a variety of community service groups.  Mostly because I think people are more aware of littering after millions of dollars of advertising directed at changing behavior.  Still on the back roads that do not get picked up the trash accumulates.  About the only thing that would reduce it is the summer mowing program.  Most of this stuff does not breakdown very quickly, so it remains for years.  I am amazed at the degree to which litter is a catalog of our vices.  Mainly beer cans and cigarette packages.  An amazing amount of stuff from McDonald's even when the nearest McDonald's is many miles away, and not a direct route.....most of the stuff are things your mother does not want you to consume.  It does not fall in the vice category, but there is a significant amount of children clothes, particularly shoes....which does make you wonder what the parents thought when they got home....on occasion you see a child's stuff animal, and I sure hope that a parent did not follow through on the threat to throw it out the window if the child did not quiet down....I found a stuff animal one time, it was obviously recently dropped.  I put it on a fence post, and hoped it would be found.   I wondered if some hawk was surprised by the lack of taste in the meal they had found....for what ever reason I did not see it the next time I rode by, but weeks had passed.

A good day to cut wood!

A nice reasonably cold Saturday!  Cold enough to cut wood, warm enough that it is not unpleasant.  I had cut a number of loads over the past few weeks, but it has been so warm and the ground still wet enough that I could not get it out of the land near the creek.  With temperatures in the 20’s for a high the ground is stiff enough I could go in with the tractor and dump trailer.  Each load is equivalent to a pickup load.  I don’t know how a pickup load relates to a cord, but I assume it is close.     One year I did 22 loads with the dump trailer, most years I am closer to 10.  I actually have enough wood to last for a couple of years, even when I am supplying Earl and my daughter.  

I can’t say that I actually heat with wood.  I burn wood to raise the temperature in the house.  I depend on the central heating system to ensure the house stays at least in the sixties. I am too lazy to get up in the middle of the night to feed the stove which means the heater comes on after midnight until I get a fire built the next morning.  The heater also comes on when I am at work.  In years like this when the temperatures are very mild it does not take much wood to heat the house.  Most days the heater comes on only a couple of times during a 24 hour period.  The rest of the time the wood stove keeps the house in the low 70's.

My house is set up to heat with wood.  I have a Wonderwood stove in the basement.  There is a hole in the ceiling above the stove that allows the heat to go to the main level of the house.  I spend a lot of time in the basement.  My computer is in the basement, as well as the bedroom where my wife and I sleep.  The dogs and cats love it when the stove is going and I let them in.   I have thought about getting an outside wood stove, but I do so love the direct heat of the stove.

Bandanas BBQ

I treated myself to Bandanas BBQ (2336 Missouri Blvd, Jefferson City, MO 65109) yesterday.  It was the start of another semester, and I thought it was a good way to celebrate.  There was a time that I felt Bandanas was my favorite BBQ. At the time it was on Providence Road, close to I70 in northern Columbia.  The Columbia location has since changed to Clark Lane, (an area that I go to only under duress (or to get White Castle)).  I have gone to the Clark Lane location a couple of times, but the traffic path to and from is so horrendous that I usually choose to go somewhere else.  The Providence location was always busy and easy to get to.  I do not understand the decision to move.  I can’t believe that it would have the same level of business in its present location….but then they would be crazy to take my opinion on anything.

I guess I have eaten in Bandanas Restaurants in St. Peters, Lake Ozark, Columbia and Jefferson City.  Columbia was my favorite. I am amazed at how much variation there is between the different locations.  They cut the meat differently, and that or the smoking procedures result in considerable variation in the flavor of the meat.  I would have assumed that there would be more similarity enforced by the parent company. Each location has its own decor, while retaining a franchise atmosphere.  Each location had great service, friendly and very fast.  The sauces are the same, or at least the Original, which is my favorite, was available at each location.  It is by far the best BBQ sauce in my opinion.  It is a mustard base, and very flavorful.  I have bought bottles to bring home over the years.  I have tried to find others that I like more, and frankly have not found any that are close.  Yesterday they did not have the original on the table, I had to ask for it.  I was told it was kept in the “back” I assume because it is not as well liked as other types.  Goes to show my tastes are not in the mainstream….

As I said I was in the restaurant in Jefferson City yesterday.  I had the brisket and the sausage platter.  It was very good.  Very strong smoke flavor in the meat, to the point I did not really use very much sauce.  It was almost like they had used liquid smoke (I am sure they did not, or at least I hope they did not)  In the Jeff City location they cut the meat more in slabs.  It is not thinly sliced like most BBQ places, and it is not small pieces like the other Bandanas locations.  I just do not like the way they cut it.  At one time I liked the small pieces, but of recent I have gravitated toward the thinly sliced.  Still the service was excellent, the fries great and the slaw fresh.    

Burnt Ends BBQ, Lake Ozark Missouri

I had the opportunity to eat at Burnt Ends BBQ this past week (1263 Bagnall Dam Blvd, Lake Ozark Missouri).  I was in the area for work.  It was the second time I eaten there, the first time was a couple of months ago.  It is definitely a bar like atmosphere, with most of the seating  being the tall bar stools with backs.  I don’t like to eat on tall chairs, I always feel like I am slipping out of the chair.  The few regular chairs were at larger tables for larger groups.  It is a limited menu.  I looked at it relatively quickly, but it did not seem to have shredded pork.  It had did have brisket, and the burnt ends where a restaurant specialty (makes sense).  The brisket was excellent.  The sweet potato fries were good and the slaw was fresh.  Service was quick and pleasant.   The biggest disappointment was the BBQ sauce.  I do not not know if they had options, but the house sauce (served on the side) was KC style sweet.  I would have liked some options.

I was told that the smoker that the restaurant uses was the one used by Johnnies Smokehouse formerly of Rolla Missouri.  I do not know if that is the truth, but it made a nice story, and sent me looking for the restaurant.  I had eaten at Johnnies a number of years ago, and liked it.  My memory is that the meat was good, but the sauce was not all that great….it had a buffet arrangement that was relatively unusual.

There was a funny situation while I was at Burnt Ends.  There were a couple of guys trying to install a shade on a door.  They were having quite a time of it.  I did not understand why they were having problems, but they worked on it the whole time I was there.  It was hung when I arrived, and they were trying to adjust the length of the shade.  One of the few regular tables was in back near where they were working so I sat there.  There was considerable discussion and evident frustration.  One would work on it, get frustrated and go out for a cigarette, and then the other would work on it.   Minutes later the first man would come back and work on it some more.  I left and they were still working on it when I left….  

The old strip at the dam seems to be making a bit of a comeback.   There were a number of new businesses (mostly bars) and not many empty or vacant stores.  I have been to the lake a couple to three times a year for more than 40 years.  I have observed the transition of businesses over this span of years.  The strip seemed to be in a relatively slow but steady decline over this period.  I am happy to see that it has started to turn things around.

A Ride in January

I like to read about the hardy souls that ride their bikes all year round. Especially the ones that ride in the northern latitudes. I can remember when I was in college, I had dispensed with a car, and for 3 years rode my bike year round.  As of late that has not been the case.  I do get out in all months of the year.  Occasionally I have ridden in the snow.  Somehow the call of my rollers is louder than the road bike on those cold days in January and February.  Today was the exception, more like an early spring day rather than the 6th of January.  With temperatures hitting 60 degrees it was time to get the mountain bike out.  I have a nice route of slightly more than 10 miles that is part gravel road and part pavement.  It has some short steep hills, but a lot of long flats.  There is traffic on only a short stretch, which has a wide gravel shoulder, hence the mountain bike.....

It has been relatively dry, so that means the road crews have been out blading the gravel.....nice for the cars, not so nice for the bike rider.....it is easy to get off in loose gravel and fall, so I need the wide tires of the mountain bike.

Riding in winter is fun because with the leaves gone you can seen back into the trees to see houses that you did not even know were there.  There are some stretches of road that I ride in the summer, thinking I am miles from people, only to find in the winter that there are a number of houses just off the road, with access coming from a different road so not apparent to me.

The nice thing about this particular route is the lack of dogs.  There is one old lab that would tear me asunder of he could get through my bike to get to me.  It is interesting that he is no less intense now, six years later than he was when we first met.  He is owned by a couple that use to work with me, with a cordial but not particularly positive association.  I figure they are showing pictures of me to the dog each evening while they beat him mercilessly....

Today I came across a lady who had brought her house dogs out on the pretty day.  The combination of this fast moving thing the likes of which that they had not seen before, along with this wild world of wind and sun spurred them to a vigorous defense of their owner.  The main danger was from the traffic.  Of course the pleadings from the owner to come back to her did nothing but spur them onto greater valor.  In the end we were all able to tactically remove ourselves, with no one hurt.  I am sure for nights to come they will dream of their heroic defense....I hope their owner gave them special treats.....

There is an interesting farm along the route that raises multicolor cows......

All in all a nice day....the forecast is for reasonable weather for the next several days, hope I can make time for a ride.  It is wood cutting weather, and I need to get next years wood supply in.....