Greg’s Truckload Volume 12

Hello Truckers, thanks for sitting shotgun with me while I ramble on. Time flies when you’re having fun, and my oldest son Marley just turned 24. So much has happened. Like it was yesterday, he was close to his 1^st birthday, September 11^th, 2001; I was working as a chef at Fox Hollow Farm but had a day off; Marley was in his chair staring at the fish tank when I turned on the T.V. and found out what was unfolding at the trade center and elsewhere. Many of us remember that day, and others read about it at school. Memories, you never know when they will come back up. Some are sad, some bad, some you’re glad you had. With Marley being a working grownup, he cannot join us on our adventures as often as he likes, but he is grown and making his own, and I’m proud of him for that. We recently made some memories in West Virginia in the New River Gorge. Wowzers, the boys will never forget capsizing in a class 4 and riding it out. Due to their age, we could not go on the Lower New River section with its bigger class 5 rapids. Still, the tamer Upper New did not disappoint as they allowed us to do this in the smaller ducky boats, which put us much closer to the action, and it was a blast. The boys say they will not do that again as it scared them pretty good, but give it a year, and I bet they will reconsider.

While in the area for rafting, there are so many other things to do. Visiting the most recent addition to the national park system, New River Gorge N.P., is fantastic, and learning about the bridge is a must. If you have time, you can walk the catwalk on the underside, which looks cool. We opted for the scenic drive under the bridge and crossed the original bridge to the bottom of the gorge. There was a thunderstorm, which created a dense fog and gave the views a mystical look. This was a really cool drive. If you visit with kids, allow time for an afternoon at Ace Resorts’ inflatable water park, which has 5 acres of inflatable obstacles, towers, slides, and ziplines. My kids loved it, and so did I. The family favorite was the big launch pillow, AKA “The Blob.” I hit that thing just right, and Elliot went 20 feet into the air while doing a backflip (unintentionally).

Additionally, there are two restaurants and a full bar onsite, one of which has a magnificent wood-fired pizza oven. Luckily, we were there for their local beer festival, which had a dozen local breweries present. This made the decision more complicated than it should have been, but any of the choices would have been nice. Long story short, West Virginia is super fun and has so much to offer; the kids want to go back this winter, and I’m not saying we won’t.

Back at the homestead, there is work to be done. Leaf season is knocking on my door. The trailer and vacuum need to be assembled. The leaf pile must be turned over and relocated to the second-stage decomposing area. I’ve been adding the kitchen scraps to it all summer, so it should be very beneficial in the garden as a top dressing. This year, we will be brought into stage one of the decomposition.

The Saturday after Halloween, we will have the second burning of the donkey. Oh, wait. I’ll rewind and start this at the beginning. Last year, I told Mom about Sammy having friends over for his birthday and that we would build your own pizza and cook it in the wood-fired oven, then sing and have cake.

Mom asked if I would have games for the kids and pin the tail on the donkey. I thought, no, they can be creative and just run around and play. Later on, after the conversation had ended, I was mowing and thinking ( all day, every day) when the idea came to me of a giant donkey made from yard waste; yes, pin the tail on the donkey, then we torch it, sort of a kid-friendly version of burning man. Man, that was a hit. We tacked ballons to its rear end and shot them with a homemade bow and arrow. I knew I would do this again, and when we had a tree split last spring, I saved all the straight limbs. We started building the donkey a couple of weeks ago, and it’s bigger and stronger. This year, the kids can sit on top and get their picture taken. Good thing because it’s going to be so cool that I don’t want to burn it, but burn it we must, as Sara will not let me keep a 10-foot-tall ass made from wood in the middle of the front yard for 1 day longer than need be. In the meantime, I will decorate it for Halloween with lights and a skeleton rider. A sign hanging from his neck will say, my name is Jack.

I’m glad the lawn seed I planted had a super quick germination time and should set in nicely before it gets buried in leaves. You will see much faster germination rates in the fall as the soil temperature is warmer than in spring planting. Soil temperature is a significant factor in germination. The other is obviously moisture. If it’s too cool, the seed will not germinate and will rot. It will not make it through the winter and will later germinate in spring, as some might suggest. If you are still considering planting grass seed, there is still time. Get started soon, choose an appropriate seed for sun or shade, and water frequently. Feel free to reach out with further questions.

I have really been having fun with making videos, especially cooking videos. If you have watched them, thank you for bearing with me, as it’s way out of my comfort zone. I can’t say a speech to myself in the mirror without stuttering. I will keep going and hopefully get better with time; additionally, there is much to be worked on on the editing side, but like everything else, I will enjoy the journey. One way to develop this is to start doing a meal of the month. This will be entirely seasonally themed with the time of year and what’s in season. The first meal of the month will be Octoberfest, as it should. Be on the lookout for this in your inbox, as it will be separate from this issue.

The produce we see at the markets and grocery stores is shifting. Summer squash is now winter squash. Tomatoes are winding down. Green tomato season is quickly approaching. What is green tomato season, you say? As long as there are tomatoes, there are green tomatoes. This is true, but I let all my greens turn red. There is one true green tomato season, and that is the first frost. Yes, that time when you have no choice. Pick them green or trash them. Yea, pick them green and, of course, fry them up.

Additionally, berry prices have increased quite a bit, and I noticed my blueberries switched from Michigan-grown to California. I’m really enjoying seeing all of your fall decorations. I love the mums, gourds, pumpkins, cabbages, and fodder shocks. Creepy Halloween décor is coming out of the attics as well. What a fun time of year

The kids have a fall break in a few weeks. We have plans to visit family in Fort Myers, then St. Pete Beach, and then Helen, Georgia, but with the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene, these plans will likely get scrapped. I would like to get the paddleboards out one more time this year. We will be closely watching the cleanup and rebuilding efforts in those areas. Meanwhile, I’ll do one of my favorite things: scour Google Maps for alternative plans.

What I’m reading is Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia. This is so good. I’ve wanted to start this and finally jumped on it. I’ve heard Attia in dozens and dozens of podcast interviews; some shows have had him on multiple times. Additionally, he has his own podcast. After hearing him so much, I thought I knew all he had to to say, and that’s probably why it took me so long to start the book, but it caught my attention from the get-go. Outlive is written in story form and is a window into Peter’s perspective. It is science based so the terminology was hard for me picture, but the way it is told, you understand it. I can’t recommend it enough.

When I was telling Berry Bloom Agency, the web development company that built the website for Greg’s truckload, what features I wanted to have, one of them was an interactive calendar. I have yet to utilize that, and I plan to dig into it and keep up to date with what’s happening in the area. I want your feedback on what type of local event activities you would like to see in this section. Everyone with a calendar lists music, so I’m thinking more about social and family activities like group hikes, pickle ball, haunted houses, art shows, and plant swaps. Let me know either by call, text, or email.

Till next time, Thanks for riding along. If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter forward it along to them