normally this wouldn’t be a problem but i’m having carbonation issues with my kegged beer. the hardest part of home brewing is having the self-discipline to be patient. having to wait for the beer to go through fermentation and conditioning is truly difficult to endure. i tried to speed up the process of force carbonating my keg by cranking up the psi and now i have too much foam every time i pour a glass. i should have went to ’slow and low’ method. you learn a lesson with every batch.
the garden was doing well until the other day. got down to 25f the other night. my asparagus look translucent and some are bent over. i covered the gooseberries though. they still look great. lots of flowers. i think i might have 20lbs or so this season. the raspberries are out of control. i think i’m going to have to just dig up some and toss. they are literally taking over the garden. i’m glad though that everything is growing well this year. all the hop planters now have shoots.
damn morels are a pesky bunch. i’ve searched all over and i’ve come up with three. i did find a lot of caps today but i want morels. maybe i will try around the boyne falls area. i really envy the folks that go hunting and come back with a grocery bag full. it’s probably a good thing though that i don’t find a bunch. last year i ate about a pound and got a little sick. it was a wierd sick though. my stomach hurt and had the shits but i was also buzzed a bit. unfortunatly due to the sickness i wasn’t able to enjoy the trip…
the almighty sun has finally come back to save us all from the evil tyrant, old man winter. it’s been a tough battle as the clutches of cold, snow and slush refuse to relinquish power. have no fear though, we all know how this story plays out. signs of new life in the garden are starting to show. i’m really excited to see how it does this season. i didn’t start to see new shoots until mid to late may last year. hopefully i should have enough raspberries to make some jam. homemade raspberry jam would be a great stocking stuffer for the family.
in addition to the garden, this past january i started a new hobby. i would almost call it an obsession at this point. other than baking & pastry work, i’ve never dealt with anything that required as much culinary creativeness as technical know-how. brewing beer is fulfilling to me as i’ve always enjoyed the creative aspect of just about anything when it results in a product that i can share (or show off) with others. and depending on the ingredients used or the procedure followed, you can end up with a completely unique brew that was created to your specifications. i’ve also found that it’s not just what you put in the bottle, but what goes on the outside can be just as much fun. developing labels has been another hobby in it’s own. i’ll be posting some of my work soon.
who knows where these hobbies will end up. maybe i’ll start a brewing company using organically grown gooseberries. it’s very intriguing to think about doing something for a career that you also love to do as a hobby. jim koch, the owner of samuel adam’s said something to the effect of, “i’ve been brewing sam adam’s for 20 years and i haven’t worked a day the entire time”…
well now, where were we? winter is gone and summer is slowly gracing us with it’s presence. last time i checked i owned a motorcycle but i don’t really remember what it was like to ride it… lots of rain, good for the garden, bad for the riding… enough rambling, on to the good stuff. i started a garden at the beginning of may this year. the volley ball court that was in my back yard is no more. twenty five by fifty feet by ten inches deep of sand was excavated out of the yard and replaced with a new hobby of mine. mid april i got the idea to start a garden. i remember living in illinois with my dad and we had a decent size raspberry patch in the yard. nothing better than gorging on raspberries. i started looking around online to find the right varietal to plant. i came across a red, ever-bearing type called ‘caroline‘. with all the space i had i needed a couple other plants to keep it interesting. ‘jersey knight‘ asparagus and ‘invicta‘ gooseberries. should be fun… to watch my progress just click on the ‘garden‘ link.
on a messier note, i had to replace my septic field. to see how to destroy your lawn and pay two grand, click the ‘septic‘ link…
some new things in my life since the last time i was here. i recently received a promotion at work. ‘director of food & beverage’. i’m still the executive chef of the property too. hopefully sometime this next season i will have someone hired to fill that spot. i’m pretty excited, this is the direction that i need to go. this has been a goal of mine for the last 4 years or so. i’ll have to get used to the ’shirt & tie’. that’s ok though, it’s time for change. at some point i needed to make that transistion. not that i haven’t enjoyed putting my time in as chef and not to say that being executive chef isn’t a profession. i don’t know. i can’t just sit and not advance. if i’m not working towards the next step i get bored. anyways, i’m thankful that i have a good work ethic and that i look for advancement.
another big step in my life is that i turned 30 the other day. not much different than 29. got some good gifts, nerdy things that i asked for.
boyne opened up this weekend. looks like we should have a good december. although we thought that last year and it took a shit. we will see…
mid august and still wondering when i can set aside time to go camping. though i am thankful for the global warming which has made excellent riding conditions this summer. the bike is still good and can’t wait till christmas when i can get some ‘go faster’ parts. anyways, my next door neighbor called 911 on me last week. i decided to burn some branches in my stone lined fire pit in the back yard. i was mowing the lawn and had a garden hose next to it so i didn’t think there was any danger. twenty minutes later i had the fire department at my house. they informed me that a concerned neighbor had called them. they said that there is currently a state wide burn ban so they put out the fire with a garden hose. they said the fire pit is ‘approved’ and everything is kosher except for the burn ban. all that my asshole neighbor had to do was come over and say ‘hey, by the way, there is a burn ban right now’. i would have been appreciative of the tip and promptly put it out. BUT NO! they had to call 911 and have a fire truck and 8 fireman show up at my house. how fucking embarrassing! luckily i wasn’t fined or anything but i thought that the neighbors should have had to pay back the gas money and the time that the fire department had to use for a small campfire. the fireman actually went over to the neighbors and talked to them. hopefully they chewed them out. also, with my loose belief in karma, maybe their house will burn down or they will contract west nile virus or something. anybody watch ‘engaged and underage’? just watched a lesbian wedding. guess which one wore the dress? they both did! didn’t see that one coming. did you know that jerry garcia’s kitchen sink is up for bid on ebay? it’s going for over $7000! bob barker had one of his microphones from the price is right and i think it went for $40000. when does it stop? i bet you could sell jessica simpson’s shit for a few grand. i wish my shit was worth that much…
just posted my first ‘how to’. if you look up at the top right hand corner of this site you will see ‘fender eliminator install’. i did a step by step guide with pictures. hopefully it will help someone and maybe the company will send me a t-shirt or something…
wow, been awhile. i guess mostly due to work… u know how it goes. anyways, here is a link to my first bike video. check it out. also i’m gonna have a complete install walkthrough the new fender eliminator.
as a kid, how could you not love going to toys ‘r us? rows and rows of toys! everything bright and shiny! i get that same feeling now when i go to lowe’s. i’m a kid in a candy store. anyways, i picked up some edgers, mulch and trees yesterday and i think it turned out looking pretty good. i’ll post some pics tomorrow…