02/01/11 09:55 - ID#53534

Make beer?

An (e:peep) suggested we make beer, since we like drinking it so much. Here's a recent display of game night beers. And cookies.

But this is what I picture when someone says beer-making...

Grain mill

Food scale

Five-gallon carboy with tap

A stack of books

Yards of plastic tubing

Kettle for cooking, copper tubing for cooling (we forget its proper name and the brewmaster is downstairs)

Basement sink - brewing was banned from upstairs after an explosion busted a dining room window and threw shards of glass into the newly plastered ceiling.

Hydrometer

Kegs and CO2 charger in 1965 GE fridge (freezer on the bottom - great item!! donated by Penn College, refurbished by Lou)

Chemicals and stuff

The stove caught on fire and has been replaced by a propane burner (probably from a turkey fryer)

I hear there are $100 kits available...

================

Icicles at the office

Uncle Dudley and her new cocker spaniel puppy Jude. He's four months old.

Permalink: Make_beer_.html
Words: 177
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/01/11 09:57

Category: home

02/01/11 09:34 - ID#53533

Spotlighting

So usually when you go wandering around the countryside here, you're spotlighting for deer. A and I went rig-spotting instead. We drove from Covington over to Troy, down to Canton, over 414 to Gleason, then towards Fall Brook through County Bridge. We were travelling on little snow covered back roads in my two-wheel drive Dakota.

We passed Fallbrook Road, where we had taken pix last April (e:heidi,51874) and I wanted A to turn around so we could head out towards the cemetery and the compressor station we saw last year.

As soon as he headed toward the berm, I knew we were stuck.

A nice couple comes up in their chevy truck, asked if we had chains. Nope, I don't keep chains in my truck. They say they're headed to the Legion just over the top of the hill and they'd ask if anyone had chains and could pull us out. Another truck stopped, "Got chains?" "Nope."

Next, a frack waste water truck stops. He's got chains and a thick Southern accent. Our local fire chief, who also owns a tow truck (and I have his # in my phone), pulled up behind us. I'm sure Shawn got a chuckle out of it.

A hooked up the chain.

And he towed us out. I should have tried video.

He wanted to tow us to the top of the hill but we said just out of the snow would be fine.

So yeah, irony abounds. Uncle Dudley thinks the out-of-state gas workers have been instructed to be nice to the locals whenever they have a chance.

[A says I should have gotten out and taken pix, the snow was really deep where we got stuck.]

Permalink: Spotlighting.html
Words: 289
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 02/01/11 09:39

Category: home

01/31/11 07:04 - 14.ºF - ID#53522

Tree farm gas well

This is a picture of the gas well drilling rig in the backyard of the Zimmer Century Tree Farm on Cherry Flats Road in Covington, Pa.

Close up of the well

Baby trees

I have lots to say/write about this weekend, but I'm just doing a quick draft edit of photos (over 225) at the moment. I drove by this house five times in different lighting to get this shot.

Here's a map of permitted (green dots) and drilled (red stars) wells in PA.

Don't let this happen in NYS.

Permalink: Tree_farm_gas_well.html
Words: 109
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/31/11 07:07

Category: home

01/28/11 09:47 - 27.ºF - ID#53506

Houston pipe crew

A's new band playing at the wellsboro house, wellsboro, pa. I have been listening to his bands for 8 years now... This is the best one yet. Damn.

Permalink: Houston_pipe_crew.html
Words: 28
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/28/11 10:05

Category: friends

01/26/11 10:18 - 28.ºF - ID#53500

Skye's blanket

My friend Jennie is in the process of adopting a beautiful baby girl and I'm going to the baby shower saturday. It seems unlikely that I'll manage to finish the afghan by then. :-( I have the middles done (five strips) and one round on all, plus two more rounds on one, leaving eight more rounds plus stitching them together and edging everything.The yarn isn't as awesome as Bodhi's last year, (e:heidi,51217) but it's very pretty. Yarn: Plymoth yarn encore 0450 & encore colorspun 7713. I got it at a shop in Snyder, Have Ewe Any Wool? Yarn Shop

Permalink: Skye_s_blanket.html
Words: 104
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/26/11 10:26

Category: pets

01/24/11 06:47 - 19.ºF - ID#53490

Cat on turtle

I don't remember ever seeing china on nisha's turtle, but she sure is cute!

Permalink: Cat_on_turtle.html
Words: 15
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/24/11 06:47

Category: friends

01/23/11 09:21 - -1.ºF - ID#53486

No cheating ;-)

Qwirkle with 4! 204, 82,175, 170

Permalink: No_cheating_.html
Words: 3
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/23/11 09:21

Category: friends

01/18/11 06:58 - 37.ºF - ID#53454

Stupid girl party

Married straight women with kids love to have these stupid parties (variations on the classic tupperware party). This time it's purses and jewelry. Tacky gaudy jewelry. Purses? Ew. How to torture a heidi. However, Jill's new addition is gorgeous. Kelly & i introduced her to ikea :-)

Her husband found this awesome vintage phone booth. It functions as their home phone. The light turns on when you close the door.

Permalink: Stupid_girl_party.html
Words: 73
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/18/11 07:09

Category: friends

01/16/11 03:31 - 22.ºF - ID#53447

An even awesomer game of qwirkle

Close to maximum efficiency. Final score was within 2 points for two players.

Permalink: An_even_awesomer_game_of_qwirkle.html
Words: 13
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/16/11 03:32

Category: pets

01/15/11 09:46 - 24.ºF - ID#53443

Eating habits of the picky poodle

Nisha likes Kibbles & Bits, but only the bits. She'll leave the kibbles in her bowl until she gets _really_ hungry. This is like time lapse photography of her food dish.

Day 1 before feeding

Full bowl

Day 2

tinypliny writes at 02:48:48 01/21/11 - Comment #60276: Hilarious - what is the composition difference between the things she eats and the things she leaves out?

lauren writes at 09:56:41 01/19/11 - Comment #60249: This is too funny, because Ralphie does a very similar thing, except we feed him with this little ball that is hollow in the middle. You put the food in the ball and has to push it around for the food to come out, except he eats all the light brown food and doesn't like the darker stuff, which we think is harder for him to chew on, so there are little black food particles all over my house that he won't eat!

heidi writes at 02:38:03 01/16/11 - Comment #60241: (e:libertad) - I got her kibbles & bits because my aunt had it for her dog and Nisha liked it -I hadn't thought very hard about it because Nisha's not with me much, but yeah, I'm going to get her some good food. I recently switched China Cat's food to something much higher quality and she loves the food, her coat is gorgeous, she lost a little weight, and she's got much fewer hairballs. At A's, Nisha just gets whatever the household buys. A's dog is large so they go through food very quickly.

paul writes at 02:26:03 01/16/11 - Comment #60240: The tortoise used to be like that but now that he is older he is less picky. That and for the last year I started mushing all his food together.

libertad writes at 09:35:45 01/16/11 - Comment #60234: I loved their old commercial, just loved it. I feel like I wrote about it before but I can't remember. :::link:::

Won't she eat any other kind of food? The first two ingredients are corn and soybean meal. An animal protein should be the first ingredient as dogs are primarily carnivorous. There are lots of very decent foods out there that don't necessarily cost a lot. PETsMART has a brand of their own (I hate them) that has corn in their food but it follows chicken, chicken meal and brown rice. :::link:::