Such a great weekend

The summer in the Pacific Northwest has mostly been known as the summer that wasn't. We've renamed the months as they come to better represent the weather that we have gotten. Junuary, and Julytober, (Augvember is on deck) but what little summer we have had keeps showing up on the weekends.

For this I am grateful.

This last Saturday was everything that makes people fall in love with the Pacific Northwest, it was about 68°F by 9AM, which was when we decided to meet another couple (also pregnant) to pick the "early" blues at a Blueberry farm up near our homes. In about an hour we had both managed a little less than 10lbs each and made our way to pay. The you pick berries are only $1.80/LB so it was less than $20 bucks for my 8.5lbs of berries and we got to spend time out in the sun before it got "intense". I air-quote intense because the day only got up to 83°F by the end of the day, but it was hot for us. After blueberry picking we followed the couple on an errand and then dropped the berries off at home to be cleaned later and went out to lunch.

Lunch was a quaint little Italian joint with outdoor seating and excellent food for being in the tiny ferry town. On a sunny day eating out on the patio was such a treat, and made it actually feel like summer. After lunch we walked the pier to an ice cream place and watched people fishing and crabbing for a while. In classic Northwest style one couple came out onto the pier for wedding pictures. In all it was a great afternoon. Now if you've ever been pregnant or know someone that was you would know that the pregnant ladies would be nappy after walking in the sun and eating so we went our separate ways for a nap and to clean our berries and other chores and they were coming back later for dinner.

While they were gone and my wife napped I managed to get my beer bottled and kegged (I had one batch that was fermenting in two vessels one for the keg the other for bottling). After that I got to play an hour of Modern Warfare 2 before it was time to cook dinner. Dinner was pork carnitas with fresh Pico de gallo. Just as we were finishing up dinner more friends started to arrive for S'mores. We rolled out to the back yard lit a fire, drank beer and roasted marshmallows while the sun went down.

It was a great day, I deeply with someone in Texas could have been here to experience it.

Beer Brewing

A friend of mine and I have been talking about brewing beer for the last few months, each of thinking that it would be a fun thing to try.  I personally was hoping not to have to purchase everything as the process can get fairly expensive quickly.  Each of us have received gift certificates to a local brew store and last weekend I went in and bought the beginning brew kit to kick-start the process.  I also bought it because the family is all heading out to Eastern Oregon this fall for what we are calling Harvest.  My aunt and uncle have several old apple trees on their property and we will be making cider for all the families, but we also want to try making hard cider. 

After considering several options I also decided that the only way that I can control the temperature of my fermentation process is to purchase a Johnson Controls Manual Thermostat Control Unit.  I looked for quite a while and though there may be some cheaper units from other brands online, this is the cheapest I could find this unit anywhere.  Some brew shops that carried it had it listed for $75+.  This allows you to tightly control the temperature of a fridge or freezer by cutting the power to the unit when the probes monitored temperature reaches the set point on the unit.  I have a chest freezer that has not been getting enough action to justify me buying a new fridge to dedicate to this project.  In the fall my basement may be cool enough to just air cool the beer, but until I get some way to measure the temp down there I have no way to know.

All in for the beginners kit and the temp monitor I am only at about $170 to get started brewing beer, which I don't think is too high for trying out a hobby.

Daily posting, why I cannot

My friend V manages to post something almost every day, complete with an image that relates directly to the post. I do not. I expect my postings to be profound, but given that I lead a pedestrian life it shouldn't surprise me that the I record mundane events.

I suppose the reason so few journal is they don't want to be reminded how dull their lives are. The process of recording requires reflection, and that may be too much to bear. We have been watching Mad Men: Season Two[?]lately, the last one we watched was the episode with Freddie wetting himself. While Donald was talking to Sterling, Mad Men dropped this pearl of wisdom.

..its your life, you don't know how long its going to be but you know its got a bad ending. You have to move forward, as soon you can figure out what that is.

I suppose that can pass for reflection for today.

Bad blogger

I have been at this blogging thing for a while now; I'm not particularly awesome at it, but it helps to pass the time. Now that I have a friend that moved far away she started blogging and is thoroughly kicking my ass at this. Seriously a post a day? It just makes me feel lazy you hear that V, now I feel lonely and lazy.