Back to the farm. The problems of readjusting to the drudgery and suffering of everyday life after jetsetting around the world (WARNING Contains selfies)

A week ago I was in Italy. Farming was just a vague dread in the back of my mind. Yesterday I was walking across a field to get my pickup because of a breakdown. 

 

Look at me on Saturday afternoon! Happy and optimistic and ready to get to work. 

 

Someone pulled the pull rope off the air compressor and the battery was dead and I had a flat.

So I hiked...

It wasn't at 10,000 feet, but the view wasn't the same either.

 

This is me yesterday afternoon. Super happy to be hiking across a field and absolutely ready to get work done! Farming is not so much a profession as a lifestyle and I am truly living the life!

I have a field of hay that got rained on, I have somewhere between one and six ton of feed to make depending on which customers have already ditched me, there is 200 acres of annual ryegrass to plant, and I only managed to plant 3 acres of Timothy seed. Apparently, I did not blow out the small seed tubes and while I can't get Teff to grow when I actually plant it in dirt, it will sprout and grow three inches in that little bend in my small seed tubes...

 

So it is only 7:30 pm and getting dark. The drill plugged up every 50 feet. The kitchen range failed Sunday and the part arrived Monday. My wife texted me to come fix it so I did take a wee break from cleaning seed tubes every 100 feet. Finally I checked the seed rate and decided just not to plant in the dark. Plus, after being exposed to COVID day one and never getting more than my usual allergetic sniffle on the trip. I come home and get sick... (not the WuFlu, just the usual summer cold, grumpy and tired and a constant headache...)

 

One of the arguments for the trip was, why worry? Your work will be here when you get home... Yes, and that was my argument against. My work is in fact still here, but my motivation is not... 

But, the trip was great and I don't remember wondering if I would make it up the hill. I just remember how happy I was to be at the top!

Have a nice day... I will probably post more about my trip tomorrow. I got distracted today.

 

 

Now here is something you don't see everyday on the farm!

We take a wild bus ride to Lago Di Braes and see a beautiful lake and then start climbing... Dolomite adventure, Sept 11, 2026

Summer Rain in the Dolomite mountians in summer is just like rain the rain we have been having in Oregon. There were downpours at night but light drizzle during the day.

September 11, we had the usual great breakfast at Hotel Villa Trieste, we packed our extra bags into their storage room, and we were off.

Took the bus from San Vito town bus stop to Cortina, then began a series of bus switches to get to Lago di Braies which was the starting point of our AltaVia one misadventure.

The bus ride is of course terrifying if you are sitting where you can see the road. At one point the bus driver actually pulled to the side and deftly maneuvered his right side mirror into the window of a building close to the road to miss a concrete ledge sticking out of the building.

We soon discovered that we were hiking on the last week of the season. Regular bus service had stopped that very day and there was a complicated online system for getting tickets.  

Of course I was completely mixed up. I soon discovered that I can't remember words I can't pronounce. I usually try to compensate by "taking a picture," in my head but that also failed me.

I fell back to my usual coping strategy of just being an idiot and sticking with someone who knew something.

This worked surprisingly well as the trip was made up of generally enthusiastic problem solvers who loved to help anyone who would say "thanks."

We found the bus which was packed to the gills. I was standing holding the rail when a younger fellow motioned me to set with him. We both had backpacks but he wedged his to the inside.

My one great regret is I didn't get his instagram. He was from Portugal and was going to backpack AltaVista One same as us. But, he couldn't afford Rifugio's and was going to camp out. There is a 250 Euro fine for doing so but he was pretty confident.

We started talking farming and motorcycles and WW2. Apparently WW2 is not forgotten between Portugal and Italy. It sounded like his grandfather was involved and did not like Italians and Germans and the feeling that came to be mutual at border crossings.

Then we started sharing phone photos of motorcycles and cars. Had a great conversation. His Grandfather grows carob trees. Carob is used in gum and as a sweetener, and I think also grows Esparto, which is used for rope.

After another bus switch, and a fair amount of  confusion, we reached Lago Di Braies. This was a nice hotel and is generally the starting point for the AltaVista One part of the Dolomite hiking trail.

I could ramble on but Jose' just pulled up to the shop for coffee and if I don't go out he will make endless jokes about me staying in the house and practicing self abuse....

 

I was admiring Lake Braies. It is a beautiful blue-green lake surrounded by mountains. I kept looking for a path through those aforementioned mountains... Yeah, you are looking at it...

 

There were a lot of tourists taking selfies. The selfie phenomenon has made tourism much more entertaining. Again, you have to realize, our path was over those mountains.That low spot may look like a pass but it actually turns and runs along the second lowest peak in the middle of the picture.

 

I return home from my Dolomite Adventure and describe the start of the trip in a rambling and incoherent manner

I am back from my life adventure...

Of course I caught something in New York City and am exhausted. I returned Thursday evening at 9 p.m. Friday I attempted to reintegrate myself into farm life. It has been raining. I drove around and looked at fields, cleaned out my pickup, tried to come up with a plan. Saturday I raked wet hay and attempted to make feed. Have found it a bit difficult to get focused.

 

 

Who says you can't go home again? But do you want to go home again... Here I am driving my Fiat tractor raking hay. I saw several of these Fiats in Italy. Lovely shade of Orange.

My previous post from the Dolomites was day three I think. Today is more of the set up for the main hike. I have to note that the pictures are loaded in reverse order so this post is confusing as usual.

There turned out to be something like 24 of us. We are all somehow connected to the trip organizer. By the end of the trip people called us the "Bretts," but said it with a charming Italian accent, accompanied with a chuckle.

There were five of us over 60. A couple college friends of Brett, a couple friends he met when he spent a season in Antarctica, four people from his block in NYC, and other random guys who have various connections. It was a determined lot, but everyone had a pretty good sense of humor.

We all met up in San Vito. It is a mountain town with a population of around 1900 residents. It is stretched out along the SS51 Alemagna road. We were doing the Alta Via One trail through the Dolomites so it is a pretty well established and famous route.

The plan was to say at a local hotel, (Hotel Villa Trieste) to get organized do the hike, then meet back up at the hotel and go off in our various directions. 

The first problem was actually finding a restaurant that would hold all 25 of us. Our wonderful receptionist at the Hotel Villa Trieste called around and found an event hall that would make us pizza. She said it used to be a disco and they had turned it into an even center.

"I was there for a wedding and I went in to the restroom and all of a sudden I remembered when I was young and it was a disco, (the restrooms are exactly the same), she exclaimed. (this is a paraphrase as she talked super fast)

So Brett and I hiked a mile and a half in the rain to find it. Great people. They were getting ready for a wedding but opened up our kitchen for us. Turned out it was the owners daughter getting married. We congratulated the groom. A great time was had by all. Pizza bill for 24 people was like $90...

 

Everything is scenic in San Vito. This the view out of our hotel room.

 

The day of the hike we woke up to rain. As an Oregonian I was not daunted, plus I had rain gear. Where would I rather be? Being rained on in Oregon worrying about if I was going to get the annual ryegrass planted and the Teff baled or in Italy wondering if I was going to die on a slippery Dolomite goat trail?

 

The local grocery store had a nice selection of Chocolate. Chocolate bars do not hold up well in a backpack when it is 80 degrees in the sun. We packed a lunch for our first day of hiking and used the local grocery store for supplies. It took a bit of communication but Italian grocery stores are set up pretty well for fresh vegetables and bread. 

 

 

 Most hotels and Rifugio's we stayed at provided breakfast. Bread, ham, Spec (which I don't really understand), boiled egg, coffee, plus yoghurt and cereal. We stayed at Hotel Villa Trieste which would also cook you eggs to order. 

 

 

This is Clift... He proved to be a bit of a character. An old friend of my friend Brett. We were part of the small group of past 60 adventurers. He tended to stop often and exclaim about the view and then take a picture. At this point he is exclaiming, "well will you look at that! We gotta take a picture! Isn't this something else!" He maintained that enthusiasm though out the trip...

 

Sad to say my pictures loaded in reverse order and I was too lazy to fix them. This is the location of the hotel we stayed at in San Vito. Hotel Villa Trieste is about a half mile or so from the bus stop. Simple, and not real expensive, but with an awesome breakfast. The nice girl in the kitchen (her mom runs the hotel) will fix you eggs to order and speaks English very well. It is quiet and friendly and the staff was happy to help, finding restaurants when everything is closed, finding transportation, info on local attractions, AND they were willing to store our extra bags while we were hiking. (Trying to keep packs under 20lbs.) I had planned on checking the weather and if we had a good 10 day forecast I was going to store my rain gear. Since it was raining that very day, I opted for the weight at the convenience of staying dry. I used my rain c 

This is the view from the bus stop in San Vito di Cadore. We arrived in comfortable Oregon conditions. Too warm for a rain coat, and wet enough to get a shiver. 

This is the bus trip to San Vito. Imagine the narrowest mountain roads in Colorado and Oregon, but paved and with steady high speed traffic, busses, cars, motorbikes, bicycles all driving at breakneck speed. The horn is almost as important as brakes!

 

My friend Brett and I arrived in Venice, Italy September 9. We found Brett's friend Clift sitting on a cement block waiting for the bus. Clift is a nice guy. He is a dentist in real life. We all took a bus to San Vito di Cadore. San Vito is a small town in the Dolomites at over 3,000 feet. It started as a lumber and agricultural town but has become more tourist focused. There is skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer with nearby lakes, and WWI sites. We found our hotel, which was a bit of a walk from the bus stop, met up with some fellow travelers and looked for food. 

There was one little pizza place open. I wish I would have gotten a photo of the lady who ran it. She was older and wiry and a certified "firecracker." Very little English and we have very little Italian, and she tended to yell at people. But, we had some very excellent pizza. This is all thin and crispy crust pizza. Hawaiian pizza is greatly frowned on. Clift kept very politely asking for napkins and more water. Our proprietress completely ignored him. 

"How do you get a water around here?" said Clift...

And every completely ignored him... 

There was a cooler and the locals just took whatever drinks they wanted out of the cooler and it all seemed to work.

I believe it was called the Ristorante Pizzeria Paradiso 

 

Dolomites adventure quick report

Italy third hike 

Blogging in Italy is hard to do. I didn’t get the T-Mobile international plan so no data.

I  doing everything on WiFi.

Hiking is boring and exhausting.

We did 3,000 ft in 4 miles day one. That was tough.

The Refugio had good food. It was dormitory style.

Beautiful sunset.

Day 2 was 4,000 ft in 8 miles. Today was 3,000ft in 8 miles I think.

Should have trained more.

Met interesting people.

The Lazy Farmer Arrives in NYC

 I made it to NYC. My friend has COVID and I ended up navigating to his apartment in Brooklyn via subway. 

I was a little worried but I had directions from my friend and CoPilot.

I was befriended by a very tall and determined Chinese lady on the flight. She wanted to take me to the address in her company’s town car. 

She did not think I should take the subway.

I helped her find her driver. After a heated discussion in Chinese it was determined that it was too far out of the way, but his friend had a Taxi! 

Apparently they were headed to New Jersey.

I opted for the Subway, but thanked them for their kindness.

I still have my kidneys.

It was only a couple subway changes and a half mile walk. NYC blocks are huge. Google Maps sent me the long way around the block which was weird. Was not helpful with the subway either.

Just hanging out and smoking a blunt… just like Oregon 

Off to Italy! This is going to be the best adventure of my life and I will be inspired for at least the next decade!

 I leave for New York City tomorrow morning.

Apparently, if you visit people in New York they don't pick you up a the airport because of traffic. So I am taking the AirTrain to Jamaica Station, then transferring to the E line towards Manhattan then the G line to Brooklyn. 

Me, being a regular city traveler, am absolutely not intimidated by wandering around NYC by subway. It will be fun! I was going to ask if it was the Last Exit To Brooklyn but wasn't feeling that chipper... 

My luck I will take Last Exit to Babylon and will be stuck in parallel timeline, which could be better or worse than my current one... This is what I am actually hoping for... 

For the past four months my friend has been telling me to relax, taking a month off won't make any difference, the work will still be there. You just need a reset. I have heard that from several people who are trying to be supportive.

Yes, the work will still be there. 

And Of course, when I plan something, things go sideways.

I had planned to have the last cutting of Alfalfa finished today. But, we got rain... We just found out our shed loan went through and the builder is coming mid September...It rained and I didn't finish planting Timothy, or get the annual ryegrass ground ready, other than 2x with disk.

So what I have left for my nephew has to do by himself when I am gone. 

20 acres of Alfalfa and 20 acres of Teff/Alfalfa hay, 200 acres of annual ryegrass ground to finish (one pass with vibrashank and probably 3 trips with harrow and roller-(fighting constant plug ups from residue.) Managing cleanup to build shed extension, building side racks for his truck to haul silage, plant 10 acres of timothy, deliver hay, haul silage...

When I get back, I can plant the annual, but I also need to make about ten ton of pellets, and do 150 acres of custom planting in November, plus another 100 acres of our own. And I promised my wife I would put new skirting around the house at least a year ago.

Then there are the dead tractors... 2-135 has no hydraulics again, plus a head gasket failing, three speed slipping in direct, oil leak from steering, 2-105 has no transmission lube pressure and I think it fried the PTO during startup because I forgot to put grease on the thrust bearing which became a serious problem with no transmission oil pressure. 1355 needs brakes, Stacker needs brakes, Both 2-155s are leaking oil around the head gaskets, as all three have about the same hours on remanufactured Hercules engines.

That is just a list off things to do right off the top of my head... 

Maybe I just need to start smoking Chronic...

I bet I will comeback from Italy completely happy and refreshed. I will be super enthusiastic and full of great stories and be really encouraged and inspired by the Yale graduates I will get to hang out with. This will be a new and better version of me. No longer will it be the Lazy Farmer, I will be the Inspired Farmer! This blog will rival Zig Zigler in inspirational material! I will be THE motivational blogger!

 

This is a representative image of my past summer and past life. After this trip things like this won't happen because I will have had an emotional reset and all will be right due to sheer positive energy!

I tried a dress rehearsal. I did 1000 feet up and 1000 feet down in 3 miles in the rain. It was sort of like groundskeeping only with no leaf blower and weird synthetic fabrics. I haven't tried the hiking poles yet. Feet still hurt. Mostly the foot I ran through the stacker cross conveyor chain 30 years ago.

Not sure about the man purse. Sort of uncomfortable.

I worry that the attractive ladies who post videos of hiking the Dolomites will lust after me due to my amazing middle aged physique. I wonder if there will be lots of Italian ladies splitting firewood while wearing improper safety equipment. I will take picture if I see them.  Also, attractive Italian ladies making hay on steep hillsides! I am pretty sure that will be my view on this trip. Also, cows. Cows are nice.

Wife says I can't wear my favorite hat...

 

Dolomites itinerary and what i should have done

I am leaving for an epic adventure Monday. 

Yesterday I got another detailed group email from my friend filled with helpful instructions on bus routes and antifungal cream suggestions. Ironically, I was about to reply to a previous group message by noting I had been successful in his request for Amish anti-hemorrhoid cream as a joke, but now I think it would be considered helpful advice. I may just have to bring a small pot. (In a TSA safe amount, of course)

In reality I should have agreed to the trip a year ago and spent the winter researching fun options instead of ignoring it until the last minute and then becoming beset with self-doubt and thinking how Rick Steves would be so disappointed in me and agreeing to go at the last minute...

This is not my thing.

Then... In a moment of frustration I asked CoPilot AI if there were scooter rentals to I wouldn't have to walk the whole freaking way to Venice. 

So I am going to one of the TOP motorcycle riding spots in the world and guess what? I am ducking walking.

I swear this is the story of my life. I almost win the lottery but through some sideways luck I don't quite pull it off.

My wife says it would be incredibly rude to ditch my fellow hikers and join a motorcycle tour. I could actually test drive a new BMW dual sport in the Mountains! It also would cost me quite a bit of money that I do not have at this point in the year. (and won't have if I don't make about ten ton of feed in the next two days, in the rain, which I can't do, so no I can't afford to drop four grand on a motorcycle tour) 

If I could think clearly I may be able to do it still. However my lack of thought clarity makes it hard. I don't have time to enlist daughter or nephew, and wife won't help me think on this issue. Maybe I could make a list. I never thought the final stages of turning into a bug would be this difficult.

Now I must go move stuff around in the rain and clean up messes made this summer.

My Weed and Feed customer whose name I thought was Radiant Pony until she Venmoed me yesterday, and who used to be head of grounds at Linfield College, has been telling me to put my tools away. I told her I would gift her the rest of the pallet if she would organize my shop and put my tools away. She took one look and left, laughing... I feel this might be a meaningful of my near total organizational collapse...

See my discussion with CoPilot below...