'Twas the night before Thanksgiving...

It was a bit chilly. Somewhere around 68 degrees. I wore a long-sleeved shirt. I am thankful for Florida weather among other things.

Then and Now or: 14 Years and Still Taking the Same Pictures

In 1994 I was taking a photography class at Meramec Community College (St. Louis Community College's Kirkwood campus). The assignment was "Patterns of Light". This was one of my attempts, though not one of my favorites due to the massive amount of grey and lack of contrast:

The glass itself is interesting though you can't tell in the photograph. It's a Winnie the Pooh wineglass just like this set on Ebay.

I only thought to find, scan, and post the above picture when I realized the similarity it held to the below photograph which I took on Sunday.

WSSAle v3.1 2008 (III)

Turns out I'm lazier than I thought.

I couldn't get the Hennepin yeast going and I haven't brewed yet.

I did rack my Cabbage Palm/Mangrove Mead. What? You haven't heard about that one yet? ....

Back just after Mead Day, Sue at In The Spirits had a walk-in beekeeper who offered her 5 gallon pails of honey. It was a combination of Cabbage Palm and Mangrove honey and was pretty wet stuff. The price was right, though, so I was one of four H.A.M.S. club members who bought a bucket each. I divided mine into 3 batches. The first one was 5 gallons at 35brix, the second about 5.5 gallons at 30brix, and the third about 5.5 or 6 gallons at 25brix. I started fermenting them right around the Autumn Equinox and racked them all into 5 gallon carboys over this past weekend. What was left of the 2nd two (since they were over 5 gallons) went into the continuous fermenter which is currently a bucket. The 25 tasted pretty close to dry and a little hot, the 30 was definately sweeter and not so hot, and I didn't taste the 35. That honey is certainly different from the Orange Blossom I had earlier in the year! Not really floral, somewhat spicy, and a bit earthy. I suppose it will make for an interesting and rather unique mead.

If I remember, I'll have to tell you about my Guava Mead sometime.

A Taste of Manatee, 2 November 2008

We went to "A Taste of Manatee" last Sunday mostly because Kevin was playing in his jazz combo and partly because of the allure of FOOD. Firkin and Fox (new restaurant, only been around a couple weeks) had some tasty New England clam chowder and unfortunately I can't remember who had some delicious fish tacos, but they had coleslaw and tomatillos on them and they were GREAT! And in case you didn't know, the jazz was cool.

There was also a custom motorcycle builder...

A tie-dye vendor...

A wine distributor with this tasty wine (a bottle of which I did purchase)...

a guy who's not who I thought he was...

quite a nice waterfront view...

ice sculpturing...

palm trees (don't you just love Florida in November?)...

the aforementioned jazz drummer...

and his girlfriend...

Happy 9th of November to my Wife!

yeah, I know, I used this picture last year.

WSSAle v3.1 2008 (III)

6,7,8 November 2008:

Waiting for something to happen in my Hennepin bottle. Nothing did.

9 November, 2008 (our 12th anniversary!):

Drank a 12 oz. Hennepin, swirled and poured dregs into the inactive starter and then applied the airlock. We shall see. If I get nothing this week, I guess I'll go with dry yeast and get my brewing done with by next weekend.

WSSAle v3.1 2008 (II)

4 Nov. 2008:

Poured out several glasses of Hennepin so as not to leave it open for an extended period of time, then poured into the bottle and the dregs at the bottom of it my DME starter. Topped with an airlock.

Update 5 Nov. 2008:

No action yet. I may just go with dried yeast this year :( .

?

What's there to say that hasn't been said?

I'm exhausted...

WSSAle v3.1 2008 (I)

v3.0 is the extract version, but I won't get into that right now.

I am going to try my hand at documenting this year's attempt at my Winter Solstice Spiced Ale. v1.0 won me a blue ribbon at the county fair, and in my opinion it's only gotten better. Now that I'm gettting into all-grain, I've decided to add that into the (hopeful) improvements.

Fred (from H.A.M.S.) proposed a club contest for spiced winter beers due for judging in January. As I've been attempting and tweaking one for the last couple years, I thought I'd join in.

3 Nov. 2008:
Buy a 750ml bottle of Hennepin. Put it in the refrigerator.
Into a 1pt. Mason jar: 1/2 cup Munton's amber DME, 1 avg. sized Cascade hop pellet, water to 1 pt. Microwave until good and boiling. Sterilize lid with vodka then seal and leave out to cool.

Yep, that's what I've got done so far.

from http://www.nra.org/ :



"I'm Chuck Norris, a black belt patriot...

"If some thug breaks into my home I can use my roundhouse kick, but I prefer he look down the barrel of my gun."



Me too, Chuck.

That's 9mm parabellum.

effigies

Where's the outrage?

note: I do not endorse the sources, I am only borrowing from them.




from http://www.suprmchaos.com/ :

Anti-summit protesters burn an effigy of President Bush draped in an American flag in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Wednesday, June 26, 2002, as they protest the G-8 summit taking place in Kananaskis, Alberta. Photo by Tom Hanson:










Borrowed from: www.atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/ :

A Pakistani woman gestures next to a burning effigy of Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders during a protest against a recent Dutch film that portrays Islam as a ticking time bomb (ironic when you consider the reaction, huh?) aimed at the West in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, March 30, 2008:






from http://www.daylife.com/ :

16 months ago: Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American slogans as they burn an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush during a protest in Srinagar, India, Thursday, June, 14, 2007. Over 500 angry demonstrators carrying black flags and copies of Quran and burning effigies of U.S. President Bush, rallied against destruction of the two minarets of the Askariya shrine in Iraq in a bombing blamed on al-Qaida insurgents, during a protest which, according to a protestor, was 'against the bombing and against the American occupation of Iraq which has led to bombing.' :

from http://www.foxnews.com/ :



"Several locals and tour buses have swung by the house to snap photos of the scene, and some gawkers say it is humorous. Morisette acknowledged to FOX 11 news that had he depicted Barack Obama (instead of Sarah Palin) in the same scene, it would not have gone over as well."

from: http://www.bearpit.net/ :

I guess, in the end, there's outrage about a couple Obama effigies having been hanged at college campuses (This was not political speech. It was simply hate. It was profoundly wrong and deeply offensive," said Beshear[democrat governor of KY] in a statement. "This incident does not reflect who we are as a flagship institution of higher learning or a Commonwealth. I appreciate the university's resolve to investigate this matter and ensure that such actions will not be tolerated.") (U.K. President Lee T. Todd Jr.: "Unfortunately, this morning an effigy of Senator Barack Obama was discovered hanging in a tree on campus. I am personally offended and deeply embarrassed by this disgusting episode. This is not reasonable political expression; it is just malicious. And it is unacceptable. On behalf of the University of Kentucky I apologize to Senator Obama and his family. I will personally assure them that this is not who we are as a University or as a state), but in my search, this is the best picture I could find when googling "obama effigy":

Funny, but when I posted it there was an old Nazi poster of Hitler with his face replaced by Obama. It disappeared within the half-hour of posting and was replaced with this (Hebrew?) symbol.

Oh, well (edit, 9:35 PM), it looked a lot like this picture, but with the younger-Hitler-flip-hairdoo:

Yes, people should be upset that his effigy is being hanged, but why not get upset about it when it's a Republican hanging or on fire?

Good Ol' Princess

Circa August 1995 (almost 1 year old):

Princess; 1994-2008

Goodbye to a great dog.