This is freaking hilarious

Ok, maybe my quirky sense of humor is showing here, but....

Tiki Bar TV

Need Quicktime.

You actually need ITunes for episode 10A (outtakes from 10).

Oh, and despite the disclaimer, the first episode is worth watching.

Thanks to camiimac for the heads up on this.

C4/\/\1, U R 2 fr34x1n c001   R0TFLM40

Almost a Month

It has been pointed out to me by my lovely spouse that I haven't posted to this blog in almost a month.

Actually, I didn't really need it pointed out to me. I knew that -- but it was motivation, nonetheless. Life has gotten a bit busier and you know... sometimes the day to day stuff doesn't seem too important....

But... in the imortal words of John Lennon (who wrote quite a few):

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans

which has been kind of the deal behind this blog. You write the little things down that happen over time and then you can look back and see what you've been up to. As can others.

So, where to begin.... um .. a month ago, we were talking about unfriendly neighbors. Well that's settled down, and frankly, there is some dispute on which neighbor it was -- so we're just going to drop it.

My parents' 50th wedding anniversary party went off pretty much hitchless. Maybe that's a bad choice of words, as it's the 50th anniversary of them getting hitched ;-)

We had a dinner. All of Mom's brothers and sisters showed up. Uncle Eddie showed up with his wife Pat -- and Aunt Pat California Florida WOULD have been there if she weren't layed out recovering from chemotherapy. Damned cancer doesn't have any respect for anything, does it? She called my cell phone to talk to Mom and Dad during the party, though.

Went back and hung out at Joel & Dawn's that night with cousin Dawn and her husband Marty. Played pool in the basement. Drank stuff. Talked. The usual.

Next morning my brother Chris said Mass at St. Mary's Assumption (Society of St. Pius X Church) and Mom and Dad re-made their vows afterward. Then there was a brunch at the School (the old Queen of the Holy Rosary school) with all of the church people and all the relatives.

It was a really big deal for Mom. I think it was a really big deal for all her siblings as well. It was so nice to see all of them again. Several of them went out to Mom and Dad's and stayed overnight (the Mathis' were kind enough to offer their house down the road) and Bettie and Mary stayed until Thursday.

It was a big deal for Dad, too, but he's not one to gush.

Kevin went and picked up Mom-in-Law for Thanksgiving. It was a dream come true for her -- getting to spend 16 hours alone (and that's just in the car) with her grandson. Brian's done it before, but this was Kevin's first trip. Kevin really enjoyed it. "Grammy", as they call her, had lots of old stories to tell.... the kind it's good for grandkids to hear.

We've had some great correspondence with Brian... his digital camera has come in handy, and he's had several missions where he gets to get involved with Iraqi village children and some of their parents. Speaking of that, I started a new blog last night... http://iraqthegoodstuff.blogspot.com -- I have more to put out there, be patient, it's coming in the next few days. I only have one story out there.

He actually called and talked to us (Me, Vicki, and Grammy) for about an hour on Wednesday.

We had gone to Kristin's last basketball game the night before -- she coaches one of the JV girls basketball teams at the school where she teaches. They lost, but hey, they played well. Well, at least in the first game.

Thanksgiving was a small one for us. We typically have more people -- but Ken did come for dinner which gave us a good opportunity to take a family shot for Brian.

We still have a LOT of turkey left over.

I had ordered the ingredients for an Irish Red Ale to make for Thanksgiving as Ryan wanted some to serve... he and Scott (a friend of his) ended up doing the brewing while I was at Mom and Dad's anniversary party. It was a double batch, so we split it, 5 gallons apiece. It's good.

I think Ryan wants an imperial stout for Christmas so we need to get down on that.

I also made shrub for Christmas, and we drank some of the cider for Thanksgiving. It was very dry. Had to add honey.

Thinking about buying a DVR.... stay tuned.

Unfriendly Neighbors

So yesterday on my way home I went to the bank. When I turned back out on the street I got behind a police car and I ended up following it... all the way home.

It parked in the street across from our house. I went around it into our driveway and got changed to go out with Brian's finance and her family. I looked out and there was a second police car across the street, talking to my two neighbors across the street.

High crimes and misdemeanors? I decided to go see what was up.

My neighbors were out talking after getting home from work, having a beer and wiping down Daryl's truck in the circle drive off our street that goes in front of the three houses across the street from us. Apparently somebody had called the police, saying that there were two guys "drinking out in the street" and they were afraid they might "get in a car and drive somewhere" (presumably intoxicated).

The police showed up, probably expecting drunken people staggering in the middle of the street generally being rude and disturbing the peace -- maybe even posing a danger to the neighborhood. What they found was two neighbors who had just gotten home from work sharing a beer in a circle drive off of the main street, well out of traffic on our cul de sac. And probably on Homeowner's Association property rather than city property, but this hasn't been verified yet.

Now we've been socializing with our neighbors since we moved in. I think it's a good thing. Part of what's wrong with America today is that we don't know our neighbors. We don't have the social bonds we once had. We don't look after one another, we don't know one another, and we are, as a result, generally less polite than we once were as a society.

This socializing often involves beer or other adult beverages.

We are not rowdy. We're not loud. We're polite, considerate people. Our mamas raised us right.

However, there is a city Open Container ordinance, and technically one can not have an adult beverage in an open container on public property, which includes sidewalks and streets. Apparently the people who complained said we were always carrying alcohol across the street to each others houses as well. I'm almost positive this law was put into place to give police a tool with which to ticket people who are disturbing the peace. I seriously doubt it was ever intended to keep me from popping open a beer in my yard and walking across the street to socialize harmlessly with my neighbor. And generally, that's not the way it is enforced, either, because most neighbors understand that and the police generally won't go out looking for it if nobody's complained. I think that was the assumption when the ordinance was passed.

The police warned my neighbors about the ordinance and moved on.

But I got to thinking, who would have complained and why? And there is one set of neighbors that sprang immediately to mind. They are renters. When they moved in, we tried inviting them to join us in our little social gatherings, and they neither politely or impolitely declined. At first, we could talk to the mariarch and she seemed a little standoffish but not downright unfriendly. We'd wave, and they'd nod, or we'd say "hi" and they'd say "hi" back.

Ultimately, they were a huge improvement over the previous neighbors who had fairly frequent late night visits from people who had no respect for others who may be sleeping in a neighborhood. However, one irritating thing about these new neighbors is that they would often come home late at night and park ( our bedroom is in the front of the house) with their bass-intensive music blaring, permeating our bedroom and waking us up. They'd even sit there and listen until the last song was over. We never said anything to them.

On weekends, the daughter and her son would often clean and wash their car with their bass-intensive music blaring on their "Kicker®" type car system. You could hear it all the way to the back of our house, and our windows and doors were closed. Not only was it irritating, but my wife was trying to watch TV and went out and asked them to turn it down and they did. We thought that was the end of that.

Within the next week or so we noticed that they would not look at us. We'd say "hello" and they wouldn't look up or even acknowledge our presence. At first we thought "well, maybe they just had a bad day".... but this has continued to this day.

After a few weeks we also connected the dots and noticed that they weren't playing their music loud anymore, when they came home at night or when they were washing their car. So we figured maybe somebody had called the police on them for disturbing the peace and that they may have assumed it was us. Which it wasn't, but I don't blame whoever did if that is indeed the case. What they were doing was rude, selfish, and anti-social. And also against the city noise ordinance.

So I figure this was a retaliation call. Well, fine. They want to play that way, we will have to stick to the letter of the law and see if they continue to harass us. Mean time, we will continue to be polite. I'm sure they want us to get ruffled -- give them a feeling of power. Well, I'm not gonna do that for them.

This is clearly a case of someone using a law for a purpose it was never intended to be used for, but must be enforced on demand because that's the way it was written. When laws like this are written, it is assumed that common sense and discretion will prevail, but a disgruntled neighbor can use it to harrass his or her neighbors if they want to. That's wrong.

Life goes in waves - as do the seasons

I get busier, I get less busy... I've been busier. Mostly just more little stuff to do. So I haven't posted much lately.

It's been an exceptional fall for Mid Missouri. The early turners (leaves) have been spectacular and have lasted a long time. The weather has been nearly perfect for it.

Most people aren't aware that one of the biggest determining factors for fall colors is temperature.

Warm days (50's & 60's ... maybe 70's) and cool nights (30's & 40's -- but not freezing) for an extended period brings out the best in the leaves. The tree stops supplying nutrients to the leaves. The clorophyll disappears, and what's left is some sugars & pigments trapped in the leaves.

We love fall. It's our favorite time of year. We share that with our neighbors, the Williams'. So last weekend we went to Hermann, Mo to the Stone Hill Winery. It was a cool, mostly cloudy day. The drive, even on I-70, showcased some spectacular foliage, and of course the drive down Mo-19 is pretty any time of year -- especially right now. We sat at a picnic table overlooking the town. It's still Oktoberfest in Hermann, and it was pretty crowded. Brought some cheese and crackers and beef sticks and fruit and had some of their "regular" red and a bottle of their Norton (that's some good stuff there). Kristie had a bottle of Seval (white).

A cold front blew in in the late afternoon, dropping the temperature from about 60 to 43 as the rain moved in. Fortunately we had left for home minutes before. We went home and started a fire in the fireplace. Had some hot apple cider, too. And Sunday we made up a pot of soup beans & corn bread and watched "The Frighteners". Halloween you know.

Earlier, on Friday evening, Kristin had us down for a "Warsaw vs Ashland" football party. She is from Warsaw, but she lives just south of us in Ashland. Her parents and some friends from Warsaw were up for the game and we had a bbq. Kevin and Adrienne came over. And despite dire predictions to the contrary Warsaw kind of whupped up on Ashland. It was like 45-3 at halftime or something close to that and the footall fans came back to the party. Kristin even got a new grill for the occasion.

And astoundingly enough, Mizzou beat Nebraska saturday 41-24. Ryan and I had turned it off at halftime as it appeared Mizzou was in the midst of pulling one of its famous self destruction acts. That's probably why we won. Right.

Smashed my finger at Dad's a couple weekends ago cutting wood. Right between two pieces of wood as I was lifting one off the end of the trailer and another piece was tossed right into my left middle finger. Some tendon damage -- not broken. It's healing slowly. Joel, Dad, and I managed a couple of cords of wood, bringing them up to three.

Bart has plaque problems -- or had them. Took him to the vet friday, got him an antibiotic -- and monday he went in to get the plaque cleaned. It's clean. He wasn't able to eat before -- it hurt too bad. I knew the moment he hissed at a treat he had started to eat and ran away that he had some sort of dental problem. Dental. Mental. Coincidence????

Making some cider. Real cider, that is. Got a gallon of apple cider and added some Oktoberfest yeast to it, and an airlock. I thought some Apple Wine sounded good for Thanksgiving. It's going good now. Probably just a couple of weeks.

The mantle clock broke over the weekend. The little dongle the pendulum hangs from broke. Have to figure out how I'm going to construct a new one. I think it will involve strips of metal cut from a razor blade, but I haven't figured out yet how to put it together.

Well, that's about it for now.

Mini Vacation

Ok, to recap the trip....

We took off about noon Friday after packing Molly, Kristie's Ford Escape. With four people, camping and then a trip to Eureka Springs, AR on the agenda, packing light was key. Most of the camping gear was strapped atop the car in a couple of large military duffels (the big 50" one dubbed a "grammy bag" because you can fig your grammy in one). Also our tent and four camping chairs strapped up there.

On our way down we stopped at the traditional Rolla Steak & Shake for a late lunch, then buzzed on down to Salem, where we bought a pie at Mom's Homemade Pies. From there, the rest of the way down to the Alley Spring camp ground, where Ryan and I set to work setting up tents and Vicki and Kristie went to buy some firewood at Harvey's and pay for the campsite.

They came back. I know Ryan's propensity for burning lots of wood, so I started tromping the woods nearby for deadfall. There was a large fallen cottonwood tree, and Ryan and I cut and dragged a couple of smallish branches up to the campsite and cut them up.

We cooked up poor boy packets for dinner -- Vicki and Kristie put them together in foil and we put them on the grate over a bed of hot coals for about an hour. Had beer, talked, and ate as it got dark. We had Mom's blackberry pie for dessert.

Went to bed about 9:30 -- we were all tired. There was a large group about 150 yards away that stayed up talking and laughing -- they were having fun. It wouldn't have been annoying if I weren't trying to sleep. Fortunately, I brought earplugs.

Apparently a pack of wild dogs and coyotes loudly checked out the campsite. Ryan and Vicki heard them -- they were howling and yipping and growling and sniffing all over the campsite. All I heard was one growl through my earplugs and I heard nothing after that. I chalked it up to one of those things you hear in your sleep -- but apparently not.

We slept on an air mattress with a mattress pad and a sleeping bag on top of that, flannel sheets over that, and a fleece sleeping bag and another sleeping bag over us as a "quilt". With our long pj's on, we were quite comfortable except that our faces got cold as the temperature dipped into the mid 30's.

We got up and made breakfast -- scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage -- and Pie.

Vicki and Kristie went for a walk -- Ryan and I went back to the cottonwood tree and got a bunch more wood and cut it up. It got up to about 50 degrees and we hit the showers. The showers have hot water, but the shower rooms are unheated.

From there, we all went down to Alley Spring for the "Haunting in the Hills" daytime activities where we saw furriers, weavers, lean-tos, bows and arrows, a blacksmith, mountain men, the old school, soap making, apple butter making, rope weaving, basket & bucket making, wooden shingle making, moonshine making, butter making, bee keeping and a beautiful afternoon. We had lunch by the Alley Spring branch creek. I collected a little watercress for my home watercress garden out of the creek -- and a few springs of spearmint that was growing along side.

We went back to camp about 4:00 to get a fire going for dinner. I made mint julep juice out of the mint and some sugar. Vicki and Kristie went walking again, and came back and made up poor boy packets which we again cooked over the hot coals. Ryan and I had a couple of brewskis, too.

After dinner, we went back to Alley Springs and went on a couple of the after dark "Haunting in the Hills" tours -- the "Lost Voices of the Ozarks" tour -- which consisted of a walk down a trail with several stops where a lone character would give a speal on what his or her life in the Old Tyme Ozarks was like.

The other tour was the graveyard tour -- in the Alley graveyard, which was again more informational than spooky -- but the lady tried.

Then of course we had to get back and get the fire cracking again for marshmallows & s'mores. We went to bed a little after 11.

It didn't get as cold that night -- only about 42 -- and showers were a little easier. We broke down camp and headed down the road toward Eureka Springs -- a good distance from where we were. We ate brunch at Hillbilly Junction in Willow Springs, and drove the rest of the way to Eureka Springs, AR.

Ryan and Kristie had a spa appointment at the Crescent Hotel at 5:30, and we were to go to dinner afterwards at Ermilio's Italian Restaurant after that. So they dropped us off in old downtown where the shops were closing fast on a Sunday evening. We went to the cheap leather shop and Vicki got a purse and I got a buttpack and a couple of pouches for my pipes. We ended up at Chelsea's bar where this newgrass/bluegrass band "The Jeff & Vida Band" were playing. Turns out they're from New Orleans. They were quite good. Chelsea's appears to be a bar where the locals hang. They only take cash, which'll keep a lot of tourists out right there. We had wandered in there last year and I thought it was kinda neat. It's a bar with an enclosed courtyard with wooden tables and a balcony -- two floors to the bar -- and a small wooden stage for bands to play on.

The locals are a varied bunch. Eureka Springs is a very "diverse" town. It's very gay friendly, it's a biker hangout, there are hillbillies and hippies and artists, etc all intermingling with each other. We had a couple of Guinness's and listened to the band before heading back to meet Ryan and Kristie for dinner.

There was about an hour wait, so we sat in the bar at Ermilios -- more of a "living room" with a bar in it since Ermilios is in an old house up on the hill. The food was good. I decided to just go with spaghetti and meatballs. I figure the best way to test out an Italian restaurant is to see how good their red sauce is. It was excellent. Vicki also had the spaghetti and meatballs. Frankly, I forget what Ryan and Kristie had, but I do remember they enjoyed it.

Back to the Holiday Inn Express to sleep.

Monday we got up and started walking Eureka Springs as the shops slowly opened between 9 & 10. We ate at Geraldi's Pizza -- kind of the high point of our trip, since they have THE BEST PIZZA! Odd to find a New York Pizza place run by a Brit in the Arkansas Ozarks. But Eureka Springs is just that kind of place.

We shopped around at the gift shops, art galleries, tobacco shop, and of course the ladies hit the jewelry and clothing shops -- not a lot of buying, but a lot of looking. We were going to go to the haunted tour of the Crescent Hotel at the top of the hill that night, but we decided $17.50 a person was a bit steep. So we went on a horse & buggy ride instead. The lady knew a lot about the neighborhood and we encouraged her to share with us. So she did.

Then we went and ate at the Autumn Breeze restaurant -- another great restaurant (but we'd like to speak to them about their decor -- it doesn't fit the restaurant's food or name. Looks ""Upscale Kountry" with cheesy wallpaper and curtains. There are a couple of nice archways and the windows are arched as well -- they could really class it up with some paint and perhaps some solid colored window dressings -- maybe do an Autumn Color theme since it is the "Autumn Breeze". The blue & flowered wallpaper just doesn't cut it.
On the other hand, the food is great. I had a filet mignon, Vicki and Kristie had some scallops in a sherry sauce.... can't remember what beef Ryan had -- it was all very good. And we all had chocolate soufflet's for dessert. They are the best there, and hot out of the oven served with a mound of whipped cream.

Tuesday we drove home, stopping at Surplus City in Springfield so I could buy us a couple of military duffels... I could have spent hours in that store. But we had to press on to Lamberts, home of the throwed rolls for the traditional "last lunch" on the way home from Eureka Springs. It was a quiet trip home the rest of the way. We were all full and tired.

And that's the way it was.

Reveling at the Faire

This past weekend was the Mark/Mike/Phil weekend, which was an all-guy weekend that centered on the KC Rennasiance Festival. Mark is working there as the undertaker.... I went as my usual minstrel with the lute, and Mike (who could out-play me any day on a guitar) went as a magician.

We were there from open to close -- ran into Mark (ahem, "Moribond") several times and watched him do his scthick with people -- approaching groups of people and having them select a dead person from among themselves which he then comes up with a ceremony for... with much mirth intertwined.

Mike and I strolled as I plucked at my lute. We watched a magician's show and saw several of the musicians' performances. Lady Nancy, Matty Striker & Pope Loy, and Doug Harvey. We could hear the pirate show across from the Public House on the Wharf, too.

We also ran into the O'Malley sisters, three lovely ladies who work a pirate sort of life. We ran into them in the morning, then saw them in the noon parade. We moved back toward the food and ran into the parade again, this time seeing Mark. The O'Malley sisters basically "endowed" us as "stalkers" for the rest of the day. (That's Skye O'Malley to in the hat there).

I bought Matty's new CD. We sat down and listned to Doug Harvey, (a fellow Rowan member along with Matty -- actually Marianne Carter) and I really enjoyed his warm voice and cittern playing. Just him, solo... so I bought his CD as well. He remembered my lute from last year and gave it a little play. We made a little small chit-chat... they're out of Lawrence, KS -- I Doug and Matty are apparently with KU.

Mike and I figured out that we really have no characters to go into so we really couldn't engage anyone. Too bad, it would have been fun to come up with off the cuff scthick. Mike eventually did a magic trick for a boy in a wheel chair, and I eventually worked up the nerve to sing a song for some silly teenage girls who asked me to. While I played and sang "Hares On the Mountain" they waved their cell phones in the air. I'm so unhip that it wasn't until that evening when Mark and Mike explained it to me that I knew what that was about.

More than anything else, we love the atmosphere of the fair -- everyone playing, letting parts of themselves out that they seldom get to in "real life". So mostly, we just soaked up the atmosphere. I had a couple of Stouts and we smoked a couple of pipes -- and that was pretty much the day.

The rest of the weekend consisted of us playing music together, grilling food, and talking philosophically into the night...

I called Vicki Sunday morning -- turned out her weekend was as full as mine. She hit the Elks Club with Sam on Friday, went to a movie Saturday, then hung with the neighbors for a while and then back out with Sam and his cousin to see his cousin's son's band "Brothers' Image" (who are very good).

We talked about going back to the Faire on Sunday -- tell you the truth I wouldn't have minded. Especially on a pretty day, it's a nice place to be.

More General Living

Took Mom back to Fort Wayne and set her new computer up. It's muuuuuuuuuch better. Bought another K&N filter for Vicki's car. The difference isn't as apparent - possibly because I don't keep track of gas mileage on her car. There was a leg of the trip we got 32 or 33 mpg, though.

We stopped at "Hog Heaven" BBQ in Plainfield on the way back. I've seen the signs forever. Their logo is a biker pig. But we've never been through Plainfield at a good time to stop and eat until this time.

The BBQ was good. Service was very good. 'Course, they weren't that busy at the time. The sides were ... nothing special, but ok. I left suggestions on how to give them a little more "attitude" (well, they asked!)

Monday I worked on one of the old chairs in the garage that I want to use for a computer chair. I know those chairs are probably over 100 years old. One of them -- the odd ball one I'm doing, had been written off as a chair long ago. It even has some saw marks on it where someone used it as a saw horse, and one of the dowell supports across the front at the bottom has been broken and missing for God knows how long. I will replace that. I've got most of the thing stripped, but there's still more to do.

Also working on my renfest bag to carry stuff in at the faire next weekend. I'm making a rough leather bag out of some of the half cowhide I have. Lots of holes to punch.

I finally re-wired the extension to the phone in the basement. Now we don't have to run upstairs every time the phone rings. And I had to replace the dimmer switch for the overhead lights in the kitchen. So that's done. And I ran our carpet cleaner over the high traffic areas in the house that were getting pretty grungy.

We BBQ'ed with the neighbors last night, burgers and brats and onions and listened to Mizzou vs New Mexico -- a game being played 0.5 miles north of us. Brad Smith put in an excellent effort. However, our defense mostly stayed home, and after a close see-saw game we lost 45-35.

Vicki and Kristin and Kristie and I went to Twilight festival Thursday, though we probably spent as much time at Tropical Liquors and Ottos as we did at the "fest". Now that was pretty cool. Me and three pretty chicks. ;-) Vickster and Kristin and her mom are going to a wedding show today at Holiday Inn. I'll probably work on the chair and the bag.

Brian's over in Iraq now. Hi Brian, if you're reading. Keep your head down and your armor on. And help us kick bad-guy ass when it's necessary.

Relatives and Computers and Car Parts, Oh My!

Brought Mom down here late last week to be here for Brian's last pre-Iraq visit. We had him and Kristin (his fiance) and Mark & Gretchen for dinner Sunday -- Kevin and Adriene came over later and hung out.

Got Mom a new computer to replace the P-II laptop I steered her wrong with a year or two ago. It did... OK with XP and MSN and almost OK with the firewall and antivirus on top of that, but the more the software updated itself, the slower the thing got. It got absolutely ridiculously "let's go make the bed and get a cup of coffee" slow.

So I got her a Compaq P-III 733 sans OS and monitor for $80. Not bad. Picked up 15" a flat panel monitor for her (with speakers built in) and moved the install of XP from the laptop to the new box. Part of the old box's problem was the limit of 160 MB of memory. This one has 384. It screams, relatively.

Getting Brian's IPOD all fixed up with playlists before he goes. Put a new battery in it. Got him hooked up with all the power adaptors he'll need. He got a digital camera a couple of weeks ago -- so I got him an NIMH rechargable battery kit, too. And I gave him my Ambico mini tripod -- I've had one for years --- it's been up and down mountains with me. It's smaller (important for soldiers on the go) and much sturdier than those cheesey "Digital" brand ones you can pick up at Walmart for $5. They're getting harder to find, though, I think. Our Target store doesn't have them in stock anymore, but you can get them via Target Online or Amazon (which amounts to about the same thing I think). I ordered a replacement.

Put an older OS on the P-II laptop ... I can use it for a digital picture dumping/viewing machine on the road and an MP3 Library player at home. Cool. Now all I need is a 160GB USB hard drive to hook up to it. I have a big music collection :-) like... 700 CD's.

Got a K&N air filter for the Escort... bumped the gas mileage up by about 1.5 mpg both city and highway. So I'm getting one for the Taurus, too. Sure, it'll take a while to make up the cost, but it'll FEEL better. Plus I get extra power out of it when I need it.

Then I took my car in for an oil change -- $16.95, right? Nope. Broken rear coil spring. Replace those... might as well replace the struts, too, at 65,000 miles, right? $430 (with the oil change, labor, and tax -- hell, the tax was almost as much as the labor).

We'll be going out to dinner the next couple of nights for Brian's send-off -- he wanted to go to the 63 Diner again, and to the Outback.

Have to take Mom back to Fort Wayne after Brian leaves, then we have Renfest coming up, Tom wants to take us sailing, and before you know it October will be here and it'll be time for the Haunted Float, and then on top of that -- there's mom and dad's 50th coming up. So ... we'll be busy.

Well, that's about it for now.

The Drought is Broken

Well, I'd say we've broken the drought. Over 6" of rain in about the last week. Hopefully things will be back to normal. Won't help the farmers much, but anythings good and we do have more than crops to worry about, like trees and water tables.

Went to the Elks lodge Friday evening with Sam for Linda's birthday... we ended up at Cody's where I could show my total lack of eptness for dancing. Sam can dance, so I'm glad Vicki gets to dance with someone who knows what he's doing. I "danced" with the Lindas... one of them ended up on the floor :-( Well, see how good I am?

Saturday we lazed -- watched several movies -- Benny and Joon, some other one, then the last of the Return of the King -- then Vicki whipped out the first two Lord of the Rings movies. In my defense I did get out and work on the rest of the fallen branch, but the effects of the previous night's alchohol and the hot, extremely humid weather made me queasy. So I only did that for an hour or so.

Today I got out in the garage and worked on trying to apply some order to it. I got pretty far, really -- still a couple more days like today out there is what it's going to take. Lot of trash.

We did a cookout with the neighbors this evening. I whipped up a new Boat Drink. I'll call it a "Cabin Cruiser". They were pretty good.

1 blender =
5 c frozen Peach/Strawberry/pineapple fruit mix from Sam's
2/3 c sweet/sour mix
1/2 c frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 c coconut rum
1/2 c dark rum

Blend.

--------------

We finished up the tree debris in the yard. (I say "we" because Ryan and Kristie had come over, drinks in hand to invite us to cook out, and they started pitching in without invitation - what are you gonna do? ;-) )

There's a leak where the neighbor's roofline and ours meet... I've patched it once but apparently it's back --- need to get back up there and check it out.

Oh, and I caught the second raccoon. :-) I also released him down at Gans Creek.

One more to go -- that I know of.

And that about brings us up to date.

Rain!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, until friday afternoon, I think we'd had about 0.8" of rain since early June.

Picked up an inch and a half Friday & Friday night, then another inch Saturday, and we've had a good, steady light rain all night and all day since (frankly, I don't know what the current tally is, but it's good -- at least another inch).

This morning while drinking our coffee, the large crack of a tree structure failing followed by the cracks and whaps and rustles of falling branches -- I knew immediately it must be the old rotted thorny locust tree behind our house. It has a much younger (still probably 15 or 20 year old) shoot growing right up through one side of it -- but apparently it was relying on the rotting structure of the old tree too much for support. The wetness probably weakened the rotten wood and put extra pressure on a large branch structure that leaned out over our yard toward the house, and it's covering that portion of the yard now. I'll wait until it dries out to go hack it up with the chainsaw.

The Return of the Brewmeister

Well, we got home last night and Vicki wanted to go to CJ's. We called the Williams' (neighbors) to see if they wanted to go -- and we hopped in the car and went. The wings, as always, were good -- they're not as hot as they used to be, but they're still the best wings in town.

We came home and hung out on their deck until dark drinking wine & beer. Kristie wanted to go to the 63 Diner for breakfast. They have great food and a neat little novelty "doo-wop" nostalgia niche.

We went at 8, so we could be back by 10 when the brew session was to start. I started packing stuff across to Ryan's place.

As I started to get the ingredients out, it was immediately clear I didn't have enough two-row malt for two recipies. Then... it was also clear that I didn't have enough Munich for one recipe.

There are no real brew shops in town for grain brewers. It was either St. Louis, or Kansas City. Vicki and Kristie were in Jefferson City, and I found a web page for a brew shop there -- so we called them up to do a fly-by since the phone number yielded an answering machine for a different business (often homebrew supply shops are side rackets). But then we noticed the web page was last updated in 2001. So we called the girls back and said "ah, forget it".

We went with the Munich Helles recipe, scaled down to 1 recipe, and used the Munich malt in place of the Vienna, and added a bit of black malt for color and a little "roastiness".

So it's Phrysco beer, after Phil, Ryan, and Scott (a co-worker of Ryan's) -- the three brewers.

I still have a yeast culture for some Oktoberfest.... tempting.

So all in all it went pretty well after that, and I had everything cleaned up by about 6:00. I'm beat. The carboy of fermenting beer is in Ryan's beer fridge, where it will stay for about 4 weeks. We'll rack it into a soda keg after that and carbonate. The debut date will be October 1, before the Mizzou football game -- and we'll still call it Oktoberfest.

Lucky Little Rascal

Well, I heard some thumping out on the deck this morning, and a quick inspection found that I had trapped raccoon #1.

Little guy. Fortunately for him, I didn't have time to ... ahem ... "process" him properly, so he was spared the furrier's knife and relocated to Gans Creek Wildlife Area. Survival out there is up to him... at least he has a chance. I must admit there was a small bit of pity and compassion involved -- very small. I just want them gone.

Two to go.

Global Warming?

Again, I don't get political on this blog, typically. But -- this is not political at its core, really. It's something near and dear to my heart -- climate. Weather.

A lot of you probably know I have a degree in Meteorology and I even did all of the coursework and some of the research for a masters degree in it. I have been exposed to the science behind this. And I have always been cautiously skeptical of human-caused (anthropogenic) global warming. I even wrote one of my college papers on it.

I found a really good website that explains the vast array of problems with the antropogenic global warming theory, and with the Kyoto protocol. Far better than I could explain it, and backed with research that a guy like me doesn't have the time to look for.

If you're interested in reading the side you're not hearing in the press and the reasoning behind opposition to it....

Friends of Science

These are mostly Canadian scientists. It's probably the most balanced summary of the subject you'll ever read. There's even video out there for the attention-span challenged. I reccomend it highly, especially the Science Matters section. Next time someone starts spouting off self-righteously about the U.S. not signing the Kyoto protocols, you might just have a better understanding of the issues.

What can all this mean?

A sink with bleach-water, beakers, scissors, air-locks, and a yeast smack-pack.

A pan of boiling wort.

Beakers of yeast culture.

Yup, after a 4 or 5 year hiatus, I'm gearing up to brew again. Kinda wish I'd done it earlier so Brian could be around for it -- but we'll consider this a practice run for when he gets back.

After going on the Beer 101 tour with Ryan and friends at Flat Branch pub and Brewing, Ryan wanted to brew an Oktoberfest. An Oktoberfest is best lager-fermented and kept cold for several weeks before serving. Mid August is a good time to brew one.

I'm way out of practice. And we're doing it from scratch, meaning all-grain. No extract.

Stepped up the yeast last night. It's goin' down on Saturday.

It's an all-day thing. We'll have to clean and sanitize and arrange equipment -- and get the beer fridge ready for fermenting.

We're going to do 10 gallons. A double-batch.

The most important thing (besides getting the starch to convert into sugar) is sanitation after the boil. That's really the hard part, and you have to be pretty much a stickler about it. Truthfully, you spend half your time cleaning & sanitizing when you're brewing.

But it's worth the end result.

Look Through My Window, yeah

Well, didn't make it out to Mom and Dad's saturday -- Joel called about 5:50 am and said that -- basically, the hay wasn't ready to be picked up. For some reason I thought we were moving it from one barn to another but somebody was wrong or changed their minds.

So, I turned my attention to our own house, where I had two windows on the north side with rotten moulding and sills. I tore off the brick moulding and assessed the damage. Parts of the window frame structure were rotting as well. One sill was unsavable.

I cut away the rotten pieces and replaced them with new wood, which meant about half the sash on one window. Used Liquid Nails and screws to attach it. Painted. Cut out other rotten window parts using the jig saw and a hammer and chisel when necessary. Only the ends of the other window sill were rotten, so I cut good pieces from the first sill, cut off the rotten ends and used Liquid Nails again to attach those pieces to the ends. Once I paint it you won't be able to tell. Then I put new moulding up and caulked the edges. I need to get some new weather stripping for the bottoms of the bedroom windows. And of course paint after the caulk cures. I worked on them most of the two days, running to Lowe's now and then as I figured out how I was going to tackle things.

In the mean time, Vicki got the new color she wanted for between the cabinets and counter and busied herself masking off things and painting. As planned, she carried the color scheme over from the "kitchen" side of the kitchen to the built-ins in the dining room side of the kitchen... the new creamy brown/tan between the cabinets and the counter, and the "plaster pink" on the soffits to the wall above the cabinets. It really warms the room up and brings the dual-purpose area together with a unifying theme.

Then we had an impromptu bbq with the neighbors. I was beat. We came in and watched another Thin Man movie -- the fourth. Vicki got the whole series on DVD at Sam's. We love those movies. Myrna Loy has never been hard to watch, either.

And that was pretty much the weekend.

Sent to me by my goulish buddy Mark

Really, quite entertaining:

When talented people have too much time on their hands:

click here for link

Cwazy Coons!

Well, the raccons finally came back last night, wreaking their usual havoc.

I had a trap set for them (knowing I'd probably only get one at a time).

This morning, the food was gone, and the trap was tripped, but no raccoon.

I've observed these buggers. Its tempting, especially for furry creature lovers, to think that I was outsmarted -- but that's likely not the case. I'm dealing with three raiders who come together. At least two of them probably tried to enter the trap. The first one probably tripped the trap a split second before he grabbed the fish.

The second was probably inside the trap, and the door came down on his back, startling both animals.

As long as the door hasn't completely closed, the door moves freely. Raccoon #2 probably turned around quickly and shot out of the trap, the other hot on his heels. In this case the door never actually finished closing before both were out of the trap.

Better luck next time.

Meantime, today I'm smoking some pork ribs all day out on the deck in the Big Green Egg. They should be pretty well done (11 hours) by the time I get home. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Ribs.

We went to see "Must Love Dogs" last night with Rob & Kathy. Then out to the 'Roni Grill for dinner. Movie was your typical romance. Predictable. Entertaining. Food was good.

The countertop is finally in

We finally had a free weekend to, you know, do something around the house. So the new countertop that's been in the garage for at least the last month finally got assembled Saturday afternoon, and it was in by 10:00pm sans plumbing, which I did in the morning.

For some odd reason, the people who built the house decided that instead of scribing the back of the countertop to the wall, they'd cut a slot in the wall (at least on one side). Then they scribed the back on the short side. So I had to do that. Plus we've had to put moulding above the countertop to cover the rough edge left by the slot in the drywall by the builders.

No sooner was it in than Vicki decided the wall color needed changing -- actually in her defense she had decided that before but once it was in she couldn't resist doing it NOW.

Which is understandable. You kinda want to see it all come together.

So we went and got some lighter terra-cotta paint (once again, with too much pink in it for Vicki's taste) -- fortunately, it's a small area and easy to paint.

So now she wants to go get a still lighter color with less pink in it and go back, Jack, do it again.

I'm sure it will look nice.

The countertop looks good.

Brian swung through on 48 hours leave this weekend to see Kristin (and us). Had Ken and Glenda over for breakfast with Brian and Kristin. Strawberry crepes and eggs & bacon. Good schtuff. His plane trip went much better -- thanks to Southwest Airlines. They even got him on an earlier flight than he was booked on for his connection from Chicago to Kansas City.

Set a racoon trap. Three males tend to visit my deck and wreak havoc at night. Which means I'll have to ... eliminate them ... one at a time. They've ceased to be cute.

Misc update

Ok, what's been going on...

Went to a gathering at the Elk's Lodge for Sam's birthday last Friday - kind of a thing for all Elk Member's July Birthdays. Had a good time.

Then there was the guy/kid weekend from the last post.

Vicki & I tried out a new Mexican Restaurant here in Columbia called Tequilas. Food was good, not expensive. Margaritas were just a mix, though. If I were starting a Mexican restaurant I'd make sure my Margaritas kicked butt. I'd cut down on my profit margin there and be known for great margaritas and good food.

Also misqueued with Vicki on a movie the other day. We were interviewing people and if I could leave at 4:00 I was to meet Vicki at home -- if not, I was to meet her at the movie at 4:30. Somehow I got it in my head that if I couldn't leave at 4:00 it would mean I wasn't going.

Oh well.

Also went to the Beer 101 Brewery Tour of Flat Branch with Ryan and Kristie. Now Ryan really wants to brew. I'd better get some Oktoberfest ingredients.

Bri's coming in for a whirlwind weekend of leave -- going to a wedding with Kristin, then back to Marines camp. He'll be home again near the end of August, too, then it's off to support Iraq.

Hope he has better luck getting here this time.

Guy/Kid Weekend

Vicki went to the Groves' house over the weekend for a girls' weekend for Cami's birthday. Mark brought the kids here.

We smoked ribs in the Big Green Egg, took the kids to the pool a couple of times, played some on the guitars (and mandolin) -- went to the Gelato Cafe for a late night dessert.

Went out to Cool Stuff and walked downtown a little on Sunday. Stopped at Osama's Coffee Zone for a drink and a cool-down.

It's been about 103 here for the last several days. Today we're topped out in the low 90's as a cold front apprroached.

All in all, a pretty laid back weekend.