Category: Life

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Life

Update on the Downed Barn

Just a short update on the downed barn.

The entire thing has been buried and today should be the last day for leveling off the whole area with the dirt from the hole that was dug. From here things will move a little more slowly but this it the general outline:

  • Remove the attempted vineyard starting this weekend. This requires manually clipping the tension wires and removing all of the wires and posts before the disk (or plow) can be taken through and the ground prepped for next spring’s planting.
  • Last night the discussion revolved around how to orient the new machine shed on the property. The main issue is that we don’t want put the new shed over the top of the (deep) hole that the barn is now buried in. There is going to be quite a bit of settling over the next years and we do not want a new machine shed to be sinking into the hole. So, figure that out and get started on the new building will take a few months.
  • Harvest is coming … I guess.

That’s about it at the moment. Having a large-enough machine shed will be a huge upgrade for the place and also set us up for expansion in the future. One thing I would like to do is map out the new building a little bit and maybe get a site plan started for what the future might bring.

That’s for next time.

Categories
Life

Barn Down

While the building hadn’t seen a dairy cow since 1976 (or so), the building has stood and been used for many years since then and was a centerpiece of my childhood. It was a big, red, wooden, and now falling-apart dairy barn and while it is now gone, the memories made in it, either working or playing, will not fade away.

Many a day was spent feeding the myriad of animals housed inside at any one time be them pigs, calves, beef cattle, sheep, goats, or cats. Many an afternoon was spent unloading hayracks filled with alfalfa, straw, or road ditch usually freshly baled right before rain. More than a few pigeons were shot with air rifles and tossed down to the waiting felines below as they waited for the latest meat to go along with their dish of milk replacer from the morning’s chores. While they were not all good memories at the time (that was one stuffy hayloft when in the heat of summer with no ventilation), now they all seem not-quite-so-far-away and all the more sweeter than before.

However, the past makes way for the future and (hopefully) a new machine shed to house the new machinery that is needed for a modern farm. While the barn had served quite admirably, and more than just a tiny part of me would have loved to see it stick around, the future needs the space and so we bury an old friend so that we might make the farm stronger and keep it around for future generations.

Thank you, old friend, for the memories. You will not be forgotten.

Categories
Life

Coldplay in Concert

Coldplay In Concert

For our fifth anniversary, I purchased two tickets to see Coldplay perform at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lucky enough, my lovely wife decided to take me along for the experience.

I’m still trying to process the whole thing, but to label it an “experience” would be a gross understatement. The whole show was simply amazing and truly beyond any single event I have ever witnessed. It hit all of your senses and just didn’t let up the whole time.

This was the first major concert I had ever attended in my life. Before this I had attended some at our county fair and a number of orchestral and choral concerts over the years, but this is such a different beast I really have a hard time describing it.

The two of us are still talking about it and I have pretty much every song from the concert running through my head.

What an awesome date!

Categories
Announcements Life

My Hiatus

I’m hoping that I’ll get back into writing soon, but the past month has been filled with two things:

  1. Vacations
  2. Yard work

With the first birthday of our son coming up, things should slow down a little bit to allow me to write a little more. Until then, you can catch me on This One Podcast every week with two of my long-time friends.

Categories
Life Technology

My Podcast Playlist

To start, This One Podcast is still going strong almost a half-year into our first episode! We’ve even added a third host along the way, a long-time friend of Phil and myself, Jonas Leyrer!

So, please, go listen.

Now, onto the meat of this post. I listen to many podcasts during the week, and I’ve listened to many different shows over the years. It really started with This Week in Tech many years ago and I’ve been listening to podcasts since then. I have not kept up with Leo and the gang, but I’ll acknowledge where I started.

However, this is my current playlist in the wonderful iOS app, Instacast:

If you count, that is only five total shows that are not on 5by5.

There is a lot of tech up there and then some more general shows, but it mostly revolves around technology and the culture around technology.

Currently, The Talk Show is the most in danger of falling off of the list. It used to be my #1 show every week, but since the split I haven’t been able to really get back into it as easily. Hypercritical with John Siracusa easily fills the top spot now (since TOP is my own show) along with Build and Analyze (with Marco Arment) and Back to Work (with Merlin Mann) are the only three shows I feel the need to listen to every week.

I’m excited to see what comes of Big Week (since it has not launched completely yet) and also I keep hoping that The Pipeline comes back (since it was a favorite of mine as well … Episode 57 with Aaron Hillegass is still my favorite podcast episodes of all time (from any podcast).

The big change for me has been my increasing need to trim the list down periodically in order to free up some time … otherwise I can find myself listening to podcasts all day.