Small, interesting adventures
When you get a chance to see something new - go see it!
I’ve been out on an assortment of adventures, larger and smaller. And of course I’m a believer in getting outside and exploring things. New things. Things you haven’t seen before. Having adventures and seeing things and learning new things - this is the point to life. This is why we are all here. (Well, there you go: the secret of life! That was easy!)
And I was recently out, trying a couple of new things. These were pretty quick, not a lot to say, but fun! You can try them too!
I’ve been buying cheese from the Redhead Creamery for a while, and really enjoy watching their activities and reading their newsletters. I know that any kind of farming is very tough work, but they make it sound adorable and like they are having fun trying new things!
One of those new thing is Curd Fest! Sorry about this picture (I continue to say all the time). It was pretty rainy and chilly for June, so that part is accurate. But I was trying to get a quick shot of the booths, without being annoying to people by taking pictures of them without asking. So I just threw up my phone for a quick photo, and you are totally missing All The Crowds! Even on a chilly, rainy, muddy day - Minnesotans will TURN OUT for an opportunity to go to a festival. And if there is cheese? Oh yeah, we’re all over that! All the nice vendor booths, the shop with a restaurant and bar and performers - it was lovely! (It was in fact so crowded inside that I nearly had a claustrophobia attack when trying to go to the bathroom. Not there fault - it was clearly a good thing for them to have so many people squooshed in and happy!)
Now, I know once step above absolutely nothing about farming. It’s hard, it’s constant - I’ve got that. But the details, I don’t know that. So if you, like me, envisioned some sort of old-fashioned operation where the farm staff sat on three legged wooden stools as they milked each cow. (Maybe they even give the cow a pat of appreciation when done, and affectionally call her Bossie or Bessie?) And I had some sense that there were dairy farms where people could attach a milking machine to cows, but no sense of that.
So: THIS! This was extremely cool! Sorry, I don’t know if you can read that sign, so I’m going to summarize it briefly. Apparently at this farm they have milking machines that the cows can just walk into on their own, when they feel inspired. And to help them in feeling inspired, the cows get treats for going into the machines and then more treats for staying longer! THIS IS AMAZING! I’m doubtless showing my total ignorance here, but who cares? I was stunned, and so impressed!
Again: it was a cold and rainy day - one in a string of cold and rainy days, so the cow pasture (pasture? home? yard?) doesn’t look very cute here. But I’m guessing that on other days, with fewer puddles, it looks nicer. And I’m also guessing the cows don’t deeply care whether it’s cute or not - they are safe and fed and even getting treats for being milked. What could be better?!
I absolutely love going to weird little festivals, and seeing cool new things. And summer is a great time to do this! Look around for your own interesting festivals, and see what you can discover!
And I got to fly in an old-time airplane! This was an event called EAA Ford Tri-Motor Tour. It is part of an organization that flies people in these old planes as part of an effort for historic preservation. “EAA is founded on people who are passionately committed to nurturing an environment in which innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit soars. The result is a powerful grassroots movement capable of changing opinions, altering regulations, and building "The Spirit of Aviation."“ So me and a variety of other people hopped into the plane to go have a small adventure in the air!
I was sitting RIGHT next to an engine, so that was loud. I looked across the aisle to get the first photo on the right, and you can (kind of) see the paneling around it. I’ve flown in a lot (a LOT) of modern airplanes, and I promise it doesn’t look this nice inside! In the second photo, you can (kind of) see the instrument panel, with the volunteer pilots. They did a fantastic job on the flying, and the landing was beautiful! And that last photo is the Mississippi River, from the air. So lovely!
If you like flying museums, or getting a feeling for old items that are still awesome today - check out this organization!
And my last small adventure was visiting an Amazon Warehouse! Yes, I have mixed feelings about Amazon and their world domination efforts. And also I like to see new things. You can sign up for a free one hour tour - no photos allowed. So you can see the outside of the warehouse in the first photo; I took this walking toward the building. Then you aren’t allowed to get past the little entryway; staff have to tap their IDs to go through some very impressive metal spinning entryway doors. The second photo is in the “allowed” area next to the front door. These are the flags of countries of origin of all the staff working in this warehouse. And you get a nifty headset so you can hear everything the tour guide is saying - it’s quite loud there!
The reason I wanted to go was to see all the cool robotics! This was an allowed part to photograph, so there aren’t any people there or any actual packages running along. But it was so cool to see all the robots and humans working together. This warehouse only handles packages that are less than 25 pounds and (I think?) shorter than two feet. The organizing system for getting items into boxes, labeled, and mailed out is set up to make sense to a mechanical system - not to the standard way humans do things. So it does not look like walking over to a shelf, picking up something, putting it into a box, and putting on a label. Instead all of that happens in different places, with different people.
The part where they fold up a box and throw in the item was so organized! The machine even knows what size box the person is folding, and spits out a piece of tape that is exactly the right length. Robot shelves (square with shelves on all four sides, with wheels) run around the floor, going to exactly the right spot to either pick things up or drop them off. Items and boxes run along these rolling racks to go up and down the assorted levels of this absolutely enormous building.
If you have not had a chance to go walk (escorted!) around a factory/warehouse - give it a try! The technology that makes it all work looks amazing to me; and I’m really impressed by everything the roboticists have accomplished here.
Go out and enjoy some small adventures yourself! If you find interesting, new things in your area - go look at it!