Mower Fail

This is the time of the year when we have a lot of mowing here on the farm and a mower break down can really put a kink in the mowing schedule.

 

Last week a blade pulley on the Kubota mower broke.  

This is the second pulley in a couple of years that has snapped at the spindle attachment point.  Aside from the aggravation of having a mower out of commission, replacing the pulley isn't a major task.  What is hard to understand is why these pulleys are so poorly designed.  As seen on the new pulley, they are made of aluminum (failure point #1) and the attachment nut is welded only on one side (failure point #2).

At a cost of $75 for a new pulley the built in failure rate is too much to absorb.  Further adding to the frustration is the snail mail USPS shipping of a week to 10 days.  Suppliers don't want to pay the added cost to ship FedEx, which they would tack onto the cost of the pulley anyway.  

No matter what we have shipped here to the farm USPS is bar far the worst.  Rather than ship direct they sent the product all over the country for days on end and watching it on tracking languish in their system day after day is maddening.

Nine days later it's time to get the new pulley on and get back to mowing.

Reviving The Craft Beer Quest.

Now that spring is officially here it is time to get the camper out and revive the ongoing quest to find the best craft beers.  My wife and I did just that.

Brewery #1 - Scratchtown Brewery in Ord, Nebraska

 

Scratchtown always pleases and concentrates on conventional brews without added flavors.  While they do have some flavor added beers (have to cater to the young folks you know), they always have a selection of the traditional brews, including the dark lagers, dark porters and dark stouts.

Ord is about a two hour drive from the farm and taking the camper makes it all worth the trip.

Brewery #2 - Highway 14 Brewery in Albion, Nebraska

Highway 14 Brewery has a good selection including Ales, Lagers and Stouts.   It is a popular facility with the locals and while they don't have food everyone brings in a pizza or Arby's sandwich.   

The wheat and stout were especially good and on par with other craft breweries.  

Albion is about a 90 minute drive from the farm and a perfect place to take the camper and enjoy a few brews.

Brewery #3 - Laughing Sun Brewery in Bismarck, North Dakota

Laughing Sun Brewery in Bismarck is popular because of the variety of craft beers and the BBQ.  Who doesn't like BBQ and a good craft beer?  They had a nice balance of flavored and traditional craft beers.

What really made the visit special was the BBQ meal.  Kudos to Laughing Sun Brewery for having the right combination.

Brewery #4 - Stonehome Brewery in Bismarck, North Dakota

While in Bismarck we used Uber to get from the campground to breweries. Stonehome Brewery is what can be best described as upscale.  It is located in a bank building and while it does craft beers it seemed like it catered more to those wanting food.

Stonehome Brewery had a good selection of beer and we enjoyed the wheat and dark lager with our pizza.

It was a comfortable brewery, albeit a bit cosmopolitan for me and I can't get used to having a gazillion televisions all around on the walls playing nonstop sports.

Brewery #5 - Armour Brewing Company in Armour South Dakota

Armour Brewing turned out to be a nice surprise in a town of 700 people.  The owner is a middle aged guy who returned to Armour after being away for a number years and decided to open a craft brewery.  Besides brewing good beer he is a really nice guy.

https://theexchangesd.com/after-decades-away-armour-native-returns-to-brew-beer-and-happiness/ 

What was especially pleasing was his nice selection of beers.  Enough so that we found the right beers to make up a flight, ultimately settling on a pilsner and stout to have with our pizza.

Armour Brewing is a relatively new craft brewery in a small rural South Dakota town whose success will be the requisite community support.  Armour is a little over 3 hour drive from the farm and we will certainly stop again at Armour Brewing if in the area.  With a number of craft breweries on the route to Armour we may have to plan a trip up there again. 

These are the craft breweries visited in the past few weeks, all in the quest to find the best craft beer.  To be continued... 

Uncle Peanuts

 We are in Bismarck, North Dakota for the funeral of my uncle, my mother's brother, who died at age 91.

Including my mother he had five sisters, all growing up during the "Great Depression."

Vernon, who everyone in the family knew as "Peanuts", reminded me so much of my mother, soft spoken and affable.  After serving in Korea and he returned to North Dakota where he spent the rest of his life.  Because of the distance from Nebraska to North Dakota I seldom saw him in later years.  I regret this.