Last night I had Finn help me transfer a batch of American Wheat Ale from the primary fermenter into a secondary. She was awesome, and I couldn’t have asked for a better helper. I had her stand on her stool at the sink as I explained each piece of equipment, showed her how I wash and sanitize it, then put it all together and siphoned from the first tank into the second. Then we took a gravity reading and I showed her how to find the numbers (it’s going to be right around 4.1% ABV) before cleaning up all the parts and putting everything away. She was fascinated by the siphon, and I was able to hold her attention span all the way up until the end.
This batch was my first blowout. On the second day of fermentation it was at about 69° and foaming heavily; sometime between midnight and 7AM on the third morning the airlock blew off and I got foam down the sides. I was worried it had gotten infected, because the krauzen never really receded (it mainly dried on the upper portion of the fermenter) but a taste test last night proved my fears wrong. It starts out smooth and flavorful, like a heavier domestic but finishes brittle and sharp to my taste. I’m hoping a few weeks’ conditioning in the fermenter will smooth it out before I keg it.
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About a year ago I set up an eBay search for 6×9″ speaker covers for the Scout, and I’ve gotten notifications in my inbox since then. The backstory is that the speakers I got for Christmas didn’t come with covers, so they’ve been installed without any protection for a year. Having shoved three loads of very sharp and brittle brush into the back of the truck this last week, I decided I couldn’t put off purchasing something any longer, so I pulled the trigger on a pair of Alpine covers for $12 with free shipping (about $12 cheaper than the average listing). Here’s to hoping they’ll fit.
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Jen had the cable guy out the other day to check on our wiring, because after a few follow-up moves the set-top box wasn’t pulling a signal at all. He futzed around with it for a while and said something about the barrel connector in back; whatever the case it’s functional again, and that room is shaping up nicely.
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It’s nice to finally be in the mid-70’s after a lot of ups and downs this past month. Today was a glorious 78° or so, which made working outside that much better. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Friday Jen and I hired a babysitter so that we could go see the movie everybody said was amazing and incredible and fantastic: The Hunger Games. We left, two and a half hours later, underwhelmed. The story was handled pretty well, but the director used puke-inducing shakycam for 4/5 of the movie. He also could not direct action sequences for a can of beans. I never knew where anything was, where anybody was going, or what was happening because the camera was MOVING ALL THE GODDAMN TIME.
Saturday started out with a birthday party for one of Finn’s oldest friends. It started at a branch of the Howard County Public Library, which in its sheer size makes our local branch look like a broom closet. They were holding a Children’s Discovery Fair, which was pretty awesome in its size and scope: dozens and dozens of exhibits, displays, and craft tables. Finn made fast friends with the rock lady, then wowed the fur and bones women with her knowledge of fossils and dinosaurs, and then we made a butterfly from a coffee filter, a clothespin, a pipe cleaner, and some food dye. That’s some MacGuyver shit right there. After meeting up with some of the other partygoers, we took in some more exhibits (including balloons, guessing games, and a stuffed porcupine) and then ran a few errands before arriving at the party.
As can be expected, there was food, there were games, there were kids, and then CUPCAKES. Need I say more?
After getting her home and in bed to wind down, I did some futzing around the house and in notime we were walking down the street to meet some friends for dinner at El Nayar, which sadly hasn’t improved in its quality since the last time we were there. Luckily the company was great and we brought in beer. After dinner we walked up and got ice cream, then sat outside and caught up in the evening breeze.
Sunday after service across the street, I busted out the ladders and commenced to painting replacement siding on the east wall of the house, as well as caulking, scraping and priming as many windows as I could reach. After a quick visit from a new friend on the Binder Planet, I got all the siding covered, some repair carpentry installed, and then mowed the back lawn.
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Well, another Christmas is mostly in the books. We’ve still got the second half to go, but the heavy lifting is done—presents are bought, tree is up, Santa has come and gone. I had a week off from work between the two holidays, and I swear to god I have no idea where the time went.
Christmas itself was lots of fun; we gathered at the Lockard compound to wait out the fat man and eat lots of food, and he was very generous to us all. I got some boots that needed to be returned—Dr. Martens in a size too big—and some pants that don’t double as catamaran sails, as well as a new beer kit. Finn made out really well, with musical instruments, a digital camera, and a toy piano among other things. Jen’s composter is on super-backorder but should arrive sometime in the next week or so.
We bought Jen’s dad a dishwasher to replace his ancient model, and I spent the better part of Monday pulling the old unit and installing the new one. After some confusion about hoses and connections, I got everything sorted out, leaks tightened up, and a test load running before we left.
The roof and gutters on the Estate are finally done, and I wrote a Very Big Check to pay for the whole thing on Tuesday. My apprehension at seeing my bank account dwindle was mitigated when it started raining 1/2 hour after the roofers left, and we could see actual water emptying out of the downspouts, as opposed to pouring out of the middle of the gutter on the back of the house. I added some extensions to the downspouts and adjusted a few things, and hopefully that will move more water away from the house quicker. Tuesday was also PJ day for the three of us, and we took great relish in sitting around and doing absolutely nothing for the whole day. Mama and I finally caught up with the final Harry Potter movie after Finn went to bed, and we enjoyed it, but we’re sad to see the series come to a close.
Wednesday I crawled back into the coal cellar and finished installing studs, then insulated the entire outside wall. It feels warmer at the edges of the room upstairs to a pair of stockinged feet (and Tuesday evening’s sub-artic temperature was the real test). I’m glad to have that done—and my back is, too.
Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning the house in preparation for the Unbirthday Party, which was a qualified success. Jen specified Afghan food for the meal, and everyone stepped up to the plate to provide very tasty food. After dinner, we sat in the living room around the fire, drank, laughed, and had a great time with everyone. Saturday was another day of rest after the party, and we stayed in our PJs as long as we could.
Sunday I went back to Chestertown to continue working on the Scout bumper, which is documented in detail here. I also tacked our flat-panel mount together and dropped it off for final welding while I was out there. It’s a 1.5″ length of box steel that stretches from floor to ceiling, and two feet at the top and bottom will provide mounting points. I’m going to cut a hole in the back and at the bottom to feed cabling inside so that it will be out of view.
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What a difference the right cough medicine makes. First I tried the CVS knockoff of Robitussin, which did absolutely zero for my cough, increased my snot output from six tissues an hour to twelve, and made my throat hurt worse. Then I tried Mucinex, which was exactly what I didn’t need. Let’s just say that my nose was not meant to expel that much fluid, ever. I went back to Dayquil, and life is good again.
A few weeks ago, during the height of Hurricane Irene, a big tree landed on our friends’ porch, flattening it. While we were blessed to have escaped the storm with no damage, we wanted to do anything we could to help them, so I offered my back and our truck to get it into a dumpster as quickly as possible.
Saturday morning I loaded up the Scout with the Sawzall and an assortment of heavy demolition tools, and found a group of men discussing strategy from underneath the fallen roof. We lightened the free-standing side by removing shingles, then split it in half with a chainsaw and broke up the clean side.
The heavy side was another problem. It came down and wedged itself between the house and one of the concrete pillars, with the pivot point directly above the door—a beautifully restored Craftsman, surrounded by original stained glass. After some discussion, I suggested putting a rope on it and pulling it off with the Scout, which wound up being the plan.
Five minutes of tying knots, a minute to spin the hubs, a light foot on the gas, and the whole thing pivoted up and on to the pillars. We adjusted the ropes and I pulled it off onto the lawn, where we broke it up and had it into the dumpster by noon.
After finishing up there, I headed home and did some Scout maintenance while waiting for the roofing guy. I installed some snaps on the soft top, wire-wheeled and POR-15’d some rust areas, tried scooting the Tuffy console forward, and pulled the drivers’ door panel off to make sure the linkage was working correctly.
The roofing guy brought his proposal over, and it looks really good. I like this guy, he has a BBB A+ rating, and my neighbor (anal retentive in a good way) recommended him. We’re going for it. I’ll be very, very sad to see the slate go, but happier to have a 30-year roof with a ridge vent in place for winter.
Today I helped another friend move his office out of his basement and into a converted church in Oella; between moving computers and running wire and testing equipment, I spent six hours making sure things go smoothly for him on Monday. When I got home, my girls had returned from Southern Maryland with St. Mary’s County ham, fried oysters, and several sides from the fall dinner, which I’d missed. Thank you ladies!
In other news, my IPA is in a secondary fermenter with the hops, and will be there for another two weeks. Im looking at a pumpkin ale for batch #5, and my neighbor (he of the commercial kegerator) is going to give me his single regulator as well as sell me his C02 tank so that he can upgrade. So I may be able to keg the IPA when it’s ready, depending on the timing.
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Lots of things are happening around here, but I haven’t had time to write them all down. In no particular order:
My sister-in law and fiance asked me to come and take a look at a house they were considering purchasing in the Hunting Ridge neighborhood. A little Google-Fu revealed it was the former house of some acquaintances we’d made through friends who live two doors down the street. It’s a beautiful house from the street, but over a year of being on the market hasn’t been kind to it. Walking in the door, I was immediately faced with debris left behind, which included clothes, papers, books, a drum kit, mattresses, and most hauntingly, piles of toys. Knowing the couple had split up, and that their departure was most likely done in a hurry was depressing. In a more positive note, I was snooping through the basement by the light of my iPhone (I hadn’t had time to go home and fetch a flashlight) and came upon an old Cones and Rods poster with my name on it.
Yesterday, before bed, Jen, Finn and I spent about a half an hour playing with a balloon left over from the birthday party. All we did was play a game of keep-it-in-the-air. Time stopped; she giggled.
I have a new brewing kit ready to go, if and when I get some free time to brew it: it’s called Chinook IPA, and it’s a two-step fermentation recipe. I’m already down to about 18 bottles of the English Pale Ale, which has settled down from its initial molasses-like flavor into something that tastes only mildly caramelized. Brew and learn, I guess.
Due to all the rainfall, I haven’t been in the Scout for two weeks, other than to pull it out of the garage to put the soft top back on. I have to source a new bolt for one of the bow brackets, which disappeared while I was reinstalling everything. I’m also going to buy a pair of pipes to use as sleeves for installation of 3-point seatbelts, which I’ll have welded in when I get back out to Chestertown to have the bumper constructed.
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I drove the Scout into work this morning, during the worst heatwave in Baltimore history (or so the news would have you believe) because the A/C in the Saturn has crapped out. Normally, I’d choose the Saturn anyway because the kindly engineers at GM put heat insulation in between the little DOHC 4-banger and the passenger compartment, while the good folks at IH decided some horsehair carpeting and 1/16″ of foam padding would suffice to keep the blistering heat away from my body. Driving home in the Saturn last night was so hot, however, I decided that if I was going to sweat my balls off in a car, I might as well have the top down.
Going through my Moleskine last night, I made two discoveries: first, I’ve officially been using it for a year as of yesterday. Second, I’ve put a total of 937 miles on the Scout since November 17 of last year (the first record of date and mileage I can find).
Also, I’ve entered all of August and September of 2002 into WordPress, and the post count (including this one) is currently at 2,996.
Daddy Likes: A ’52 Metro Delivery van. This is exactly the kind of industrial design I dream about.
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So it looks like Super Scout Specialists have new manuals in stock, which is great news. Previous printings had images that were were dark and muddy, and for someone as visually-oriented as myself, having clear diagrams and reference is mandatory. They’re having a special on them this month, so I may bite the bullet and get mine ordered next week—just in time to help drop my gas tank.
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I did a 160-mile round trip out to West Virginia in the Scout this weekend, and Peer Pressure ran flawlessly. I’ve never been able to tell what my speed is (larger tires and a speedo with no provenance) but I’ve suspected that it’s indicating slower than actual. I passed several SHA radar signs—the ones that measure your speed and display it to you—and found that 50 mph indicated is somewhere around 60 mph actual. So, there’s that. I also found that I got her up to 60 indicated, which means she’ll do 70-75 mph with no worries. I will say that hitting expansion joints at that speed on Triangle springs is a dicey proposition. Apart from that, and my ladies being in a separate car (one with air conditioning and airbags), the ride was perfect. The outside temperature was warm but not sticky, the sun as at my back, and the roads were mostly clear.
I got one guy who pulled up next to me in an Acura SUV, honked his horn to get my attention, and gave me a huge thumbs-up and a smile. He stuck a camera out the window and shot a picture on the way past.
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Not much new to write about right now; the truck is running really well and I haven’t made any major updates to it since last I wrote. Two small things of interest, though:
I lost my gas cap last weekend while filling up the 1-gallon tank for the lawn mower, so I bought a Stant locking replacement cap.
Super Scout Specialists is now selling updated Scout II service manuals for the low price of $95, which means I can finally buy a set. The old ones were reproduced poorly so that the pictures were useless. If these are anything as nice as the Scout 80/800 manuals, they should be a huge improvement.
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Saturday morning, I rose bright and early, got the ladies fed, and hoofed it up to Mariottsville to help a Scout buddy clean out and organize his workshop. He’s come through for me and my Scout on multiple occasions, so it was the least I could do to spend an afternoon elbow deep in insulation and auto parts to begin returning the favor. I also got to meet and work with a bunch of folks I’ve only read or heard about, which was great, and to top it all off, his mom made us some delicious barbecue for dinner.
Finn and I spent Sunday running errands and reading books together so Mama would have a day off; her reward for accompanying me from boring store to boring store was a final stop at the Toys ‘R’ Us to look for some good hand puppets. Sadly, everything we found was associated with a Major Motion Picture or theme park mascot, so we explored everything else. She spent lots of time in the electric car section (she loves to test-drive), the book section, and the Thomas the Train Engine display. I felt awful when it came time to leave, because we had so much fun playing together.
After dinner, I sat on the couch and read books with her, one after the other, until it was time to go upstairs and get ready for bed. As I left the room and clicked off the light, I said, “Thanks for a great day, Finn.” She replied, “You’re welcome. Happy father’s day, Daddy.”
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