Happy New Year.

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.

Lampshade.

I’m a little (well, a lot) hung over this morning; I helped my neighbor fire up his first batch of homebrew last night, and we kicked it off with a bottle of something that kicked me. All I remember of the label was that it was 11.9% ABV, which is enough to make me silly; then we shared a bottle of Pearl Jam Twenty, which was tasty but not my favorite. The brew went really well; he has a new floor-standing propane burner and we stood around it shivering in the garage, then transferred it into the fermenter as the Ravens started losing in the second quarter.

In related news, my batch of Dead Ringer IPA is just about ready for a move to the secondary fermenter, and if all goes well I’ll finally have the hose and tank setup sometime this week. I have to buy a jar of commercial cleaner and get my keg washed and resealed for the batch when it’s ready, but that can wait until the week after Christmas.

This is the latest addition to the home computer fleet: a used (and free) Lampshade iMac, circa 2002. I’ve already had it torn down once to drop a new hard drive in, and it will need a new optical drive as well (the unit it came with is not reading discs). It can only run up to OS 10.4, but it recognizes large drives and has a built-in monitor, so I’m going to repurpose it as a music server and swap out the trusty old G4 tower sitting under my desk at work.

Sunday afternoon I started work in the coal cellar putting up studs for insulation. I noticed a huge temperature drop the first time I opened the door, so I know it’s still not sealed up properly. The first order of business was to mix up a bunch of hydraulic cement and plug numerous little holes in the foundation as well as a crack running down the wall from the corner of the coal chute. Once that was done, I installed studs along the east wall and got about 1/2 of the south wall done before I ran out of lumber. I figure about four more 2×4′s and two rolls of new R-19 should do the trick. I also stuffed the coal chute full of insulation and found a sheet of plywood to nail up over the opening to cut off the airflow. Once the wall batts are up, I can put the overhead insulation back in place and call that room sealed. Then, hopefully, the den will stay warm.

Manifold IPA.

Lots of small updates. I was in Chestertown for day 2 of bumper building with Mr. Scout, and I wrote up a report here. I was also trying to make time to get to the steelyard to buy stock for a TV stand, and made it all the way down there with Finn to realize I’d left my wallet at the house.

I’m continuing to enjoy the Chinook IPA I brewed last month. It’s now registered for a local beer competition (“Manifold IPA”, in celebration of successful surgery on the Scout), and have to find a way to get it down to Maryland Homebrew to officially enter it. I also had another fantastic IPA at Brian’s that I think will be my next recipe.

Week 1 of life with my iPhone 4S has been awesome, to say the least. Having the camera in my phone rival that of a dedicated point-and-shoot is worth the purchase price. Having them sync wirelessly is like Christmas in July. I was driving the Scout back from Chestertown yesterday and asked Siri, “Tell Jen I’m over the bridge.” Siri set up a text message almost immediately and sent it off—working perfectly over the whine, roar, and rattle of the Scout at 65MPH. I bought an Otterbox Commuter case for it, and it’s a perfect fit.

Also: this rules.

Demolishing, Repairing, Moving, and Wiring

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.

Random.

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.

The Social Butterfly.

I’m writing this in bed with a cold beer on the nightstand next to me. Jen is downstairs working and the girl is next door, fast asleep after a long day.

We’ve had two very busy days, each ending in late bedtime. Friday Jen and I picked the girl up from daycare and drove to our friends’ house for a lovely backyard barbecue, with excellent food and conversation among the music of crickets and cicada. Finn fearlessly climbed the treehouse ladder and called to me quietly for help when it was time to come down; I must have climbed that ladder for her five times, happy to see she’d made it up there on her own with no complaint (I’d say it was a full story high). Late in the evening, as dusk gave way to shadow, after accompanying her to the bathroom, I followed her back out of the house, smiling wide as she bound fearlessly into the dark ahead of me looking for adventure.

Saturday morning I brought her shopping with me, and in the car we had a long talk about throwing fits when she didn’t get her way. She knew there was a pool party planned and I made it clear that she needed to behave if she wanted to go. She did really well sticking with me in the Target, Old Navy, and finally the Kohl’s, where she got close to a meltdown after running off on her own. I took her to a quiet corner and reviewed the rules, and we came to an agreement after some deep breaths and discussion. From there, we picked up groceries and headed home.

After naptime, I packed her up with a fresh bowl of guacamole and a bag of beach gear and we drove out into a light drizzle to a pool party thrown by my boss; a little downpour didn’t spoil the fun, so we all just stayed inside. Finn’s already met almost everyone there, but it wasn’t until she’d had some food that she finally warmed up to the crowd. And then, there was no stopping her. Four hours later, at the time she’s usually putting head to pillow, she was blowing kisses and making the rounds, charming everyone she touched. There was no drama, no screaming; the worst point was when I had to wave off the third cupcake, and then have a quick chat to remind her of our agreement (a clean plate of real food first and then dessert). All afternoon I kept a close eye on her from afar, and everything I saw looked good—let’s just say I didn’t have to go running to correct anything the entire visit.

We talked about our day and sang to each other on the way home (Eyes Without a Face, She Drives Me Crazy, and I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll were standouts), and when she went down for sleep, she stayed down. I’ll take another fifteen years of days like that, thank you very much.

Wow!

Your humble correspondent, the media star.

…For future reference.

Recap

After a long weekend of driving and family and friends and swimming and wrenching, we’re all safely back home. Mama and Finn spent the day home from life in their PJ’s catching up on naps and rest after a total of about three centuries in the car, and I expect they’ll need at least another month of recuperation before they’ve caught up on sleep. My trip across the bridge was awesome, documented elsewhere on the web. I’d have pulled in through syndication from the other weblog, but for some reason it’s throwing errors and I’m too tired to troubleshoot it right now.

Bushels of Fun.

I wish I had something more to post here other than a picture of crabs, but I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures other than with Jen’s camera. There was much travel, visits with many friends, and the re-arrangement of Finn’s bedroom, which I will let Mama detail elsewhere (being her brainchild).

I don’t know where the weekend went.

4th of July in Pictures.

I’m too tired to write anything about the 4th right now, so enjoy some pictures.