I am now officially married...again.
On October 12, 2012 I again became a husband and now a stepfather. In the process of gaining a wife, I also gained two lovely young ladies as daughters and another family of very cool people as in-laws. I look forward to a bright future with them.
The wedding was a classic movie theme with black and white clothing for most and a lovely silver dress for the bride. The bouquet and boutaineers were red roses. The cake, a very tasty lemon pound, was in the shape of a film reel with film unreeling from it. A very classy and ironically thin couple danced atop the fondant masterpiece. The DJ did a bang-up job and fun was had by all.
The wedding was small. Immediate family and some very close friends were invited to enjoy the evening with us. We felt very honored to have everyone there. The wedding was well documented by Kirsten Wray and officiated by a very cool pastor one of our friends recommended.
Now comes the part where we move in together and try to avoid losing our shit because our beloved folds towels the wrong way. My wife's new mantra is "I did not get full disclosure!" Apparently I am not exactly the roommate she expected.
That said, I am extremely excited to embark on this next stage in my life. My wife is amazing while still being full of unexplainable rules for living. I personally am very laid back and will do my best to learn the rules so that I can decide which ones to follow and which to ignore. Some part of my brain is screaming "Follow them all you fool!" while the realistic part of my mind knows I am too lazy to do that.
We are feeling our way toward marital bliss while occasionally tripping over big boxes of strife which we then open, examine heatedly and either reorganize, or pack away to examine another day. Since my wife is a passionate, intelligent woman and I am a calm, intelligent man with a very long fuse, it's going pretty well.
The kids are adjusting fine. We look forward to picking out a home with more room and individual bedrooms. I look forward to having a workshop again. Right now I have a corner of the garage for beer making equipment and a few hand tools. I'm making due, secure in my dreams for the future and enjoying the present I am faced with.
Showing posts with label Life skills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life skills. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Cider Can Be Hard!
I'm really enjoying this home brewing thing. I'm on my fourth batch of beer and ready to rack it to secondary. Batch one was a PDG(Pretty Darn Good) Pale Ale from a Great Fermentations kit. It tasted good. It was bitterer than the beer I was used to. There was a nice aroma from the hops. After I let some if it actually carbonate, it even had a nice feel on the tongue. My success encouraged me to stay the course.
I bought a second kit from Great Fermentations called Easy Wheat. The second batch was a mild wheat beer. I was going to add cherry for something similar to Sam Adams cherry wheat. Apparently, I didn't sanitize as well as I thought. Some bit of bacteria slipped into the fermenter and I got serious funk in my beer. All but a half gallon of that batch went to the septic. I have a faint hope the batch will mellow over time like a Brett beer, tart but tasty. It's a very faint hope.
I decided to try again. This time I bought a kit from Tuxedo Park Brewers Supply. They're pretty cool over there. This batch turned out good. The beer was bland but after I added the cherry concentrate, it turned out very tasty. I got some great feedback on the beer and actual requests for more.
About the time I started the second batch of beer, I also decided to dive headfirst into hard cider. It was October and the apple orchard out by Mom's house had fresh apple cider without preservatives. I did some reading, listened to some podcasts and I was ready to go.
I bought a gallon jug of the cider and a packet of bread yeast. I was going low tech. I drilled a hole in the cap of the bottle and fitted it with an airlock to keep that nasty bacteria laden air outside and release the carbon dioxide created during fermentation. I heated the cider to pasteurize and added the yeast, then some corn sugar for extra oomph and yeast food. For weeks, I checked the bottle. It bubbled steadily for a month.
Finally, I couldn't stand it any more. I decided to bottle the cider. I was much more excited than a gallon of hard cider deserved. With a happy heart, I went to the basement and set the cider on the washer. Then I ran back upstairs to heat up some sugar water for carbonating the bottles.
When the carbonating mixture was ready, I skipped merrily down the stairway to the garage eager to add it to the mix and rack the cider into bottles. When I reached the washer, I was devastated to see my gallon of cider on the floor and the clothes washer on the spin cycle with an unbalanced load. Half my cider had leaked out of the cap. Not only was I going to have to clean up the cider, the smell was going to permeate the garage and my dirty clothes for weeks.
I set the cider up on the washer since the spin cycle was finished. With the dirty towels, I started to mop up the cider. Man, I was mad at myself. That was a dumb move. I saved some of the cider but I lost a lot. In my own little world, I kept cleaning.
Suddenly, a bottle of cider fell on my head. Apparently, my clothes washer has two spin cycles. I quickly righted the bottle after losing a little more of the precious elixir. I turned off the washer and set the bottle on top. Then, I inserted a racking siphon into the neck of the bottle. A racking siphon is a rigid plastic tube used inside a container to move liquid from one container to another. I had attached a plastic tube and bottle wand to the end to make filling my bottles easier.
Apparently, a racking cane with a tube on the end is exactly heavy enough to tip a half bottle of apple cider. Yes dear reader, after filling one half bottle, six ounces, the bottle once again fell on top of my head. It was at this point that I went insane.
After waiting impatiently for over a month with joy and excitement in my heart, I had been forced, through my own stupidity to kneel in a pungent apple mixture and then been attacked not once but twice by the very cider I was trying to save. I ranted. I raved. I dented my washer. Not only that but I still have no idea where the bottle from the cider landed when I heaved it out the door and into the woods.
Several weeks later, I saw some cider for sale in the grocery store. FYI even when its not on the label, commercial cider contains an additive to prevent fermentation. At least this time, I don't smell like apples.
Cider can be hard. However, I can't seem to prove it.
I bought a second kit from Great Fermentations called Easy Wheat. The second batch was a mild wheat beer. I was going to add cherry for something similar to Sam Adams cherry wheat. Apparently, I didn't sanitize as well as I thought. Some bit of bacteria slipped into the fermenter and I got serious funk in my beer. All but a half gallon of that batch went to the septic. I have a faint hope the batch will mellow over time like a Brett beer, tart but tasty. It's a very faint hope.
I decided to try again. This time I bought a kit from Tuxedo Park Brewers Supply. They're pretty cool over there. This batch turned out good. The beer was bland but after I added the cherry concentrate, it turned out very tasty. I got some great feedback on the beer and actual requests for more.
About the time I started the second batch of beer, I also decided to dive headfirst into hard cider. It was October and the apple orchard out by Mom's house had fresh apple cider without preservatives. I did some reading, listened to some podcasts and I was ready to go.
I bought a gallon jug of the cider and a packet of bread yeast. I was going low tech. I drilled a hole in the cap of the bottle and fitted it with an airlock to keep that nasty bacteria laden air outside and release the carbon dioxide created during fermentation. I heated the cider to pasteurize and added the yeast, then some corn sugar for extra oomph and yeast food. For weeks, I checked the bottle. It bubbled steadily for a month.
Finally, I couldn't stand it any more. I decided to bottle the cider. I was much more excited than a gallon of hard cider deserved. With a happy heart, I went to the basement and set the cider on the washer. Then I ran back upstairs to heat up some sugar water for carbonating the bottles.
When the carbonating mixture was ready, I skipped merrily down the stairway to the garage eager to add it to the mix and rack the cider into bottles. When I reached the washer, I was devastated to see my gallon of cider on the floor and the clothes washer on the spin cycle with an unbalanced load. Half my cider had leaked out of the cap. Not only was I going to have to clean up the cider, the smell was going to permeate the garage and my dirty clothes for weeks.
I set the cider up on the washer since the spin cycle was finished. With the dirty towels, I started to mop up the cider. Man, I was mad at myself. That was a dumb move. I saved some of the cider but I lost a lot. In my own little world, I kept cleaning.
Suddenly, a bottle of cider fell on my head. Apparently, my clothes washer has two spin cycles. I quickly righted the bottle after losing a little more of the precious elixir. I turned off the washer and set the bottle on top. Then, I inserted a racking siphon into the neck of the bottle. A racking siphon is a rigid plastic tube used inside a container to move liquid from one container to another. I had attached a plastic tube and bottle wand to the end to make filling my bottles easier.
Apparently, a racking cane with a tube on the end is exactly heavy enough to tip a half bottle of apple cider. Yes dear reader, after filling one half bottle, six ounces, the bottle once again fell on top of my head. It was at this point that I went insane.
After waiting impatiently for over a month with joy and excitement in my heart, I had been forced, through my own stupidity to kneel in a pungent apple mixture and then been attacked not once but twice by the very cider I was trying to save. I ranted. I raved. I dented my washer. Not only that but I still have no idea where the bottle from the cider landed when I heaved it out the door and into the woods.
Several weeks later, I saw some cider for sale in the grocery store. FYI even when its not on the label, commercial cider contains an additive to prevent fermentation. At least this time, I don't smell like apples.
Cider can be hard. However, I can't seem to prove it.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Memories, Manifesto, and Apology
The Memories
It was crisp today. The Fall weather is sneaking in around the edges of my awareness. A snap in the air evokes memories of wooded rambles, hunting on the family land, visits to Brown County State Park, and my Grandparents' farm near the hills and gullies of Batesville. Sweat shirted walks on gravel roads and lumberjack paths flit across my inner view screen, transient home movies in 3D with smell and touchovision included.
It has been too long since my last ramble. How did I end up as an indoor pet? I was raised on the edge of the woods. The peace and quiet life of a green and brown world surrounded our home when I was growing up. Now I spend my days surrounded by cars and concrete staring at a man made virtual world. I am filled with wistful melancholy memories of a time spent in the blissful ignorance of teenagers everywhere. I miss it very much.
The Manifesto
I need to go camping this weekend. Maybe it will charge up my reality battery. I'm in danger of accepting this artificiality as typical and wholly acceptable. Someone at work today asked if I plan to build a bomb shelter and wait for the end of the world because I told him I am reading about beer making and raising chickens. It made me laugh. The end of the world I'm reading about is happening a little every day. When we forget the self reliance of our father's, father it dies a little more.
Don't get me wrong, I don't reject technology. I rejoice in the ingenuity of my fellow man. I had better. It allows me to be lazy and useless if I choose to. I don't so choose I reject the easy acceptance of cheap, low quality, objects and services in return for a docile slide into ignorance and torpidity. There is no need to regard a population lost in the bliss of narcissistic self reflection and apathy. The members of that population make no contribution except to the status-quo, raise no objections except to the loss of privilege. I can't take that lifestyle seriously when there is no growth or contribution by the members of it's club.
The funny thing about this type of rant is that I'm doing it on a blog. I am keenly aware of the irony. I suddenly have the mental picture of a man drowning in mud. Moral and mental quicksand are his environment and even though he fights upward to gasp again, he is pulled inexorably to drown in the warm comfortable surrounds he fights against. Sad really.
Tell me there is no validity in skill and self reliance. Make me aware that all I need is at my fingertips with little or no effort. Goods and services are available to be used and immediately discarded with little lasting value. Entertainment is endless, cheap, and alluring. Disregard the fact that over half of it is pointless, mundane, repetitive, and increasingly crass. I will disagree.
The Apology
Got to stop. I apologize. The world is not going to Hell. There are thousands of people who value knowledge, self reliance, personal growth, learning, and activity over ignorance, apathy and laziness. Smart, active, people with the wonder of God's creation abound among my associates. Some days you just want to be clear about what is important and if it sounds like a condemnation, then we probably disagree on a deep philosophical level. As I have said, and I don't know where I got it or if I made it up, "You are entitled to your opinion despite the fact that you are totally wrong." I am looking forward to changing your mind.
It was crisp today. The Fall weather is sneaking in around the edges of my awareness. A snap in the air evokes memories of wooded rambles, hunting on the family land, visits to Brown County State Park, and my Grandparents' farm near the hills and gullies of Batesville. Sweat shirted walks on gravel roads and lumberjack paths flit across my inner view screen, transient home movies in 3D with smell and touchovision included.
It has been too long since my last ramble. How did I end up as an indoor pet? I was raised on the edge of the woods. The peace and quiet life of a green and brown world surrounded our home when I was growing up. Now I spend my days surrounded by cars and concrete staring at a man made virtual world. I am filled with wistful melancholy memories of a time spent in the blissful ignorance of teenagers everywhere. I miss it very much.
The Manifesto
I need to go camping this weekend. Maybe it will charge up my reality battery. I'm in danger of accepting this artificiality as typical and wholly acceptable. Someone at work today asked if I plan to build a bomb shelter and wait for the end of the world because I told him I am reading about beer making and raising chickens. It made me laugh. The end of the world I'm reading about is happening a little every day. When we forget the self reliance of our father's, father it dies a little more.
Don't get me wrong, I don't reject technology. I rejoice in the ingenuity of my fellow man. I had better. It allows me to be lazy and useless if I choose to. I don't so choose I reject the easy acceptance of cheap, low quality, objects and services in return for a docile slide into ignorance and torpidity. There is no need to regard a population lost in the bliss of narcissistic self reflection and apathy. The members of that population make no contribution except to the status-quo, raise no objections except to the loss of privilege. I can't take that lifestyle seriously when there is no growth or contribution by the members of it's club.
The funny thing about this type of rant is that I'm doing it on a blog. I am keenly aware of the irony. I suddenly have the mental picture of a man drowning in mud. Moral and mental quicksand are his environment and even though he fights upward to gasp again, he is pulled inexorably to drown in the warm comfortable surrounds he fights against. Sad really.
Tell me there is no validity in skill and self reliance. Make me aware that all I need is at my fingertips with little or no effort. Goods and services are available to be used and immediately discarded with little lasting value. Entertainment is endless, cheap, and alluring. Disregard the fact that over half of it is pointless, mundane, repetitive, and increasingly crass. I will disagree.
The Apology
Got to stop. I apologize. The world is not going to Hell. There are thousands of people who value knowledge, self reliance, personal growth, learning, and activity over ignorance, apathy and laziness. Smart, active, people with the wonder of God's creation abound among my associates. Some days you just want to be clear about what is important and if it sounds like a condemnation, then we probably disagree on a deep philosophical level. As I have said, and I don't know where I got it or if I made it up, "You are entitled to your opinion despite the fact that you are totally wrong." I am looking forward to changing your mind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)