A Pleasant Day in Muscatine.

Muscatine on a Cool Morning.

We traveled to Muscatine this morning for our Weekly River Run.  The mornings have become almost chilly lately!   We try to get up earlier so we can enjoy the cool air, because it does not last long.   Once the Iowa Death Sun comes out, the temp shoots back up and makes it tough to do anything outside.

Plenty of Sun.

But at the very least,  the cool air with the pleasant breeze blowing off the Mississippi is enough to make 7 miles endurable for Cheryl. 

Grain trucks are working Hard!

Same for the Barges.

The air in Muscatine during the week smells of fresh baked bread...  All the time!  It is Wonderful!  I imagine... Only if you do not live there.   For the folks who live there,  the constant bread smell might either be annoying or they become nose blind to it.  Either way, I'm sure there are far worse smells out there that city folks might have to endure.  Fresh Baked Bread smells sounds like one I would not mind so much.

Picking Wild Plums.

Right from the tree.

Over the last few days,  we have been gathering fresh fruit from the trail.  More wild plums have been found and we have have been picking them for some fruit drink experiments.   I may have mentioned before that we were trying to harvest some wild yeast for the future.  Possibly for either sour dough bread or possibly future Beer projects.

Fermentation going on. 

Cheryl tests out the Carbonation
Pressure.

But Cheryl found that we can make carbonated soda using just the yeast we find out in the wild.   We juiced up some of the plums and put them in sugar water to ferment.   After 24 hours,  Cheryl bottled up three 16 ounce bottles.  She "tested" one today and discovered that YES!  There is a high level of Carbonation!  ( She made quite a mess.)   The remaining two bottles are currently in the fridge cooling down..  so maybe we will be able to sample one tomorrow.

Amish Watermelon.

Carbonated Watermelon
Beverage!

This opens up the possibilities!   We are currently trying our hand at a watermelon version using the Amish watermelon that we know and love. ( The Local Amish guy grows the sweetest and juiciest watermelon.  Seriously!  I have tried LOTS of watermelon over the years.   We even purchased one from Muscatine farmers market for a side by side comparison. ....  No contest!)  If we can manage to bottle up that goodness into a fruity drink that tastes like the actual melon,  that would be awesome!

Peach/berry pie.

Cheryl's First Latices
crust top.

Other than that,  Cheryl has been baking up a peach pie with a few of the berries we have crammed in the freezer.   It appears our 'hand pie as you go' method is taking too long in moving the berries out.   I guess we are ultimately limited by how much we can eat at a time.  ( Not that I'm in a hurry to eat everything..)   The large pies seem to require more ingredients and less pie crust.  Probably best for our waist line if we do not eat all of that pastry crust.

And finally...  My writing.  I finally finished my 7500 word story that I have been working on since this little "Civil War" we are currently experiencing.  I will have to polish things up a bit, but then..Maybe I will be able to begin work on another story.  My writing seems to cut into my blogging.  Apparently, I can only write one "theme" at a time.  If I blog,  then I won't be able to work on my story and vice-versa.

My goal is maybe.. just maybe..  to make a series of short stories that are enough for a fill a book by themselves.   The theme?   Why,  the Pandemic!  Why not?   There is certainly plenty of inspiration out there.  Along with a bunch of "what if s?"  My current story is about how we "expatriate" a bunch of anarchists who renounce their U.S. Citizenship.  People always say, "If it is so bad, you are free to leave any time..."  Well,  I wondered what that would happen if we actually kicked them out

One of these trees is different.
Can you spot which one? 

Does this mean Fall is coming?

Another long post...  How do I have so much to say all the time?   Cheryl and I do literally nothing all day.   We run and bike in the mornings and evenings.   Sometimes traveling to Muscatine.  How do I fill 2 pages of Blog post on just that?   Ah well,  thanks for stopping in and putting up with my bad punctuation and endless run-on sentences.   I hope everyone is having a good week so far... Judging from the trees in Muscatine... Fall is right around the corner!   Thanks for stopping in.