Extra super long weekend

I'm going to take it easy Friday and start enjoying the weekend a day early. Winter and Sarah enjoyed play date Friday. I picked them up with the bike trailer, and we went over to the crowe lot for a picnic, and some freestyle play at the playground.

The fine art of commuting & it's delicate dance

In an effort to save money, and reduce my carbon footprint, I have been searching for over a year to find someone that I could share my ride to work. Thanks to Upper Valley Rideshare it has finally come to fruition. Not only do I have one person to share the ride with, there are two people that I will be commuting with at least one day a week. This is very cool, and cost effective too.
Taking it one step further, I have also started to commute home on my bicycle two days a week. A part of my past has finally been resurrected. As some of you may very well know, before Isabel and I had children I was an avid cycling enthusiast spending a great deal of my free time riding and racing mountain bikes. The impact surrounding the birth of our first child greatly impacted my riding. While some could argue that one could simply rearrange their priorities and fit cycling in, I opted out of that one and decided that being a parent was going to take precedence. So here we are almost five years later, and I'm going to be out on my bike, riding at least twice a week. Life is good, although my coworkers think I'm gay because I'm so enthusiastic all of this.

Haiku Wednesday

Brilliant Solution
Reducing carbon Footprint
Summer cycling Rocks!

I need to check my math

Ten gallons of Pale were brewed in the basement brewery last night. I missed the target gravity by about fifty miles. I'll need to re-check my math and see if I missed somewhere in the calculations. Here are a few other places where I may not have paid close enough attention.

1. The Profile. I am still tweaking the grain bill to match the efficiency of the new mill.
2. The Grist. I am going to need to really get this dialed. Last time I brewed, I ran the malt thru twice, and nailed the gravity. This time I only ran it thru once.
   
3. The Lauter. I was busy eating dinner, and chatting with my In-laws, and not really paying that close attention to it. I may need to DIY a sparge arm or something to mechanize it a bit to increase efficiency.

My target gravity was 1.054, actual gravity was 1.040. I'd probably get fired in a commercial brewery for missing the mark by .014. Screw that, I'm not doing the math to see how badly I screwed up. Back to the drawing board. If this ferments out quickly enough, I'm making more beer this weekend.

Gratuitous Birthday Post

I'm celebrating 39 years of life on the planet today. While my present life has recently survived many ups and downs I'm grateful to have managed to make it one more year.

I work for an awesome company that gives you your birthday off! However instead of taking off today, I'm going to take off Friday and enjoy a super long weekend. I'll be taking my birthday bike ride Friday morning. Tonight I'll be brewing up some Pale Ale, and enjoying take-out from theTop of the Hill.

Pull over I'm going to boot

Saturday night was an absolute hoot aside from my impending case of acute alcohol poisoning. Iz was tired so Gibson and I dropped her off back at the inn at 9:00pm . We then returned to Connie's house to enjoy copious amounts of Yuengling lager. This would prove to be the beginning of my downfall. After most of the party cleared out Connie, Stin, Gibson, Tara and myself enjoyed a few more beers before Tara gave me a ride back to the inn.
I clearly had enough to drink, however for some reason when I returned to the inn I was compelled to enjoy a hot tub and a Storm King stout. Apparently this was going to be the straw that was going to break the proverbial camel's back. The hot tub, a 9.1% beer, and being inadequately hydrated would prove to be a recipe for disaster. I awoke with a slight hangover that got exponentially worse as the day grew on. This would eventually culminate with me booting in the grass at a rest are on the Sawmill Parkway Sunday afternoon. A hard lesson was relearned on the day before my birthday.

Party Favors

Here we are modeling the shirt that Austin designed for Connie's 40th Birthday.

What is Glibbidy doing in my living room?

This is was Connie's initial reaction when he walked into his living room Saturday evening. Needless to say he was suprised. I haven't seen this guy since Austin's wedding in 2002. Woah, how time flies. We got to see some familiar faces from days gone by. It was a treat. Heck, just getting out of town for the weekend without the children was the highlight of the weekend.
On the way down to Malvern we stopped in Bethlehem at the local Homebrew store so I could pickup supplies to make a few Belgian knock-offs, and some more lager beer. Ummmm lager.
We then made our way down to Victory brewing company for a snack and some samples before going to the bash. There is nothing like a Golden Monkey right from the source!

From the Road

We are in Bethlehem this morning visiting Big Dave and Joanne. My dad got a dog recently, and it is a Peakinease. It's name is Pam, which coincidentally is the same name as my older sister. WTF? Pammy is a very nice dog. It's off to the secret party today. Tonight we'll be staying at the General Warren Inn.

Worn out, big weekend ahead

The game was great, Schilling was a little shaky, however Hinske pulled thru last night with an amazing catch, and then sealed the Tigers fate with a two run homer in the 7th inning. Iz and I are headed to a secret location this weekend for a surprise party. It's our first weekend away without any children. Almost 48 hours of pure bliss. Oh joy. Enjoy your weekend.

Off to Fenway tonight

The Sox got rained out last night, so it's a double header today. I'm headed down to Fenway tonight to meet up with Manzo for the second game and watch Schilling work the Tigers. It should be an interesting game.

The final cut

It took me a few days to figure out Microsoft movie maker. After some trial and error I was able to add audio to the video. Hear is what you all have been waiting for... the final cut. Enjoy. I'll be pulling the link to the other video, and inserting it here to preserve bandwidth, and reduce my virtual web footprint. I'd love to hear your feedback on this either here, or here .

Haiku Wednesday

Soft wind on my cheek.
Longing to feel your embrace.
-Endless Summer days.

The crack in the road

Did you ever notice the crack in the road going southbound on route 5 from Bellows Falls to Putney? B mentioned something about it last week, and I noticed it on my bike ride home from work on Tuesday. The crack goes on for over 8 miles. Riding the bicycle home from work sure is a treat. It would be even better if I didn't have to negotiate rte 5 at all, but unfortunately it's unavoidable.

The Hefe is happily fermenting in the basement. Should be a real nice beer. I'm planning on brewing either the simple stout or a pale ale on my birthday next week. In the meantime I'm on to designing the La Maudite clone.

American Hefeweizen

My life has been pretty busy these days, and I simply have not been able to find the time to post much recently. Oh boo hoo right?
I brewed up 10 gallons of American Hefeweizen last night. I manage to nail my target gravity of 1.043. This is a huge success in my brewery.
Next weeks brew will be the Simple stout again.

Tuckermans Slideshow available

I was able to edit the pix that everyone gave me from the TUX trip. I managed to hack together a video without sound. More to come, maybe even supplemented with audio.
Credit and Thanks go to JC, Connie, and Hank for providing additional photographic footage of the trip. Sit back and enjoy the show!



EDIT: This is the final cut, the old video without sound was removed.

Complete field report coming soon

I'm working on the field report from Tuckermans. My camera crapped out, and the spare battery was nowhere to be found. Waiting on footage from JC and Connie. Check back again soon.
This shot was taken up on left gully.

Getting under way

We should be rolling out late tonight for our adventure. I'm headed over to meet Burnsie at Mcneill's for a few pints, and then off to bed for a few hours before a day of big mountain fun.

Putting Tuckermans in Perspective

I dug this off the T4T forum, and thought it might be helpful in putting the pitch at Tuckerman Ravine in perspective. Ha, burly at best is what comes to mind. Ripcord's pitch is around 38 degrees, while White Heat at Sunday River is around 36. It's as steep as it gets in the East.

Beautiful Spring Weather, Hajj coming together.

The avalanche advisory for Tuckerman Ravine indicates it has has MODERATE avalanche danger. With that said things are looking up, and we may actually move up the trip a few hours and leave early Sunday morning. Lot's of sunshine is expected this weekend before the rain moves in again next week

Chickenpox

The girls are presently enjoying the chickenpox. I'm working remotely today while I stay home with the girls so Iz can go to work today. We don't need no stinkin sunshine, we'll make some fun outside even it if it is raining.
Looks like it is drying up outside. We may be able to get that bike ride in after all.

Chickenpox quarantine

The girls are presently enjoying the chickenpox. I'm working remotely today while I stay home with the girls so Iz can go to work today. We don't need no stinkin sunshine, we'll make some fun outside even it if it is raining.
Looks like it is drying up outside. We may be able to get that bike ride in after all.

My mill arrived today

My new mill arrived today. I am totally stoked to use this bad boy, and see what I can do to improve my brewing efficiency. Know I'll be able to make all those high gravity beers that I have been designing for the past three months. Yum, Russian Imperial Stout.

Weather conditions continue to look favorable for Tuckermans. On the other hand, the avalanche danger is still very high. I'll be watching the avalanche bulletins thru the rest of the week before a decision is made concerning our departure. Oh well, I guess there is always next week.

Haiku Wednesday

Moist April showers
Washing away all the snow.
-Bring on the sunshine.

Mother nature is not playing nice!

While the weather is looking primo for a trip to Tuckermans next week, the avalanche warnings are not looking so hot after the variable precipitation that has fallen on Mt. Washington in the past few days. There were two human triggered avalanches this past weekend up in ravine area. So with avalanche warnings remaining high, we'll just have to wait this one out and see what the weekend brings.

Tuckermans

Tuckerman Ravine and Huntington Ravine have HIGH avalanche danger today. It's a good thing we didn't make the trek up North Sunday night. It does look like weather conditions may be shaping up for next week. Here is the extended forecast for this week.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 54.
Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 56.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 57.

The only downside to this is that Son of Inferno is taking place this coming weekend and that means there may be stragglers hanging out for some skiing a few days after the race so who know how crowded it may remain on Monday and Tuesday next week.

Sunday Riding finale at Mt. Snow.

Sunday's riding was like riding in the cream you find on top of Brown Cow yogurt. Since we got a nice dose of snow late last week, and a Nor'Easter was going to be blowing through New England for the next few days Mt. Snow had decided to reopen for the weekend. I met Hank in the parking lot at noon, and we made our way to the lifts for some of the best riding all season. I enjoyed a two hour window with Hank and some ski patrol pals on the north face. We rode all the natural trails we could on the Face before I hit one more run front side to get to my car so I could head home
Wow, Sunday was amazing!

It started raining sideways Sunday afternoon, and doesn't look to be letting up until Wednesday. Flood and wind watch in effect for Windham county Monday.

Chickenpox and Birthday Cake

I slept in until 8:30 am Saturday morning. This was the first in a long time. It was nice to awaken on my own for once, instead of the usually morning pounces, and bounces that I am used to receiving causing me to emerge from my slumber sooner then I desire. Grace dropped her diaper off in the bathroom and on her way to get dressed we noticed a few red spots on her little body. Oh-boy could it be, the pox? Now what? We ares supposed to go to a birthday party, and brunch today

Iz confirmed that Spencer, one of the children from Grace's daycare had chicken pox about two weeks ago. Things started to fall into place with Grace complaining earlier in the week that her belly hurt. She was also acting somewhat peculiar, nothing I could put my finger on, but Iz had noticed it too. So I called Suzanne to advise of the impending quarantine. Unfortunately we had to cancel brunch with the Darlingtons. Iz then called Eve with the heads up about Grace's pox. Eve insisted that Winter come since she was symptom free.

Winty and I attended the party, and enjoyed the better par of the morning munching on Birthday cake, Fruit Salad, and slediding up at Louise's house. I even got to practice my social skills with some of the familiar adult faces at the party.

Pizza and beer

There is never a dull moment around here. The Darlingtons came over Friday night for some homemade pizza and beer. I whipped up several pizza's in the kitchen while catching up with Louise, and Henry, and the rest of the Darlington family while small children ran about, and played nicely with one another. In all I came up with five pizza creations, plus a skin for Pam's crunchy, Freaky, Celiac's pizza. The hit of the evening was the Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza that oddly enough emerged first from the oven as our forerunner. Instead of using the Vin Santo that the recipe called for I simply substituted it for the white we had on hand. For the beer portion of the evening I was pouring my American Pilsner and Altbier. Josh liked the americna Pilsner, while Henry ,Hank, and myself stuck with the altbier.

Luckily the children had napped, so this made for a most pleasant evening. Around 8:45 The kiddo's were showing sign of losing their momentum. A quick exit was prescribed, and we all went to bed.

Friday excitement

The weekend is once again upon us. The whole Darlington family minus Cidney & Dave will be descending upon our house tonight for a Pizza party. Birthday cake on Saturday morning to celebrate our friend Louise's Birthday, Brunch at the Darlington's, skiing Sunday, Noreaster' on Sunday night. What more do we need?

Tuckermans postponed one week

So we got this great storm going on here in Southern Vermont. The falling flakes are quite huge. I checked out the latest extended forecast for Mount Washington, and it looks like nothing but Cold, Rain, and Snow. As a result this upcoming Monday is out, and we'll be bumping the departure back to April 22nd for now.
On a side note Mount Snow will be re-opening for the weekend. I may get some turns in this weekend after all. Heck I might even go with Josh and Hank.
The Michigan Darlingtons are visiting this week, that means all kinds of family filled fun with the old neighbors.

Haiku Wednesday

Winter won't let go
More snow will be falling soon
It ain't over yet!

Tuckermans on the Horizon

Do you have your ticket yet? The window for the annual Tuckermans Hajj is opening. Are you going to be joining us for the most extreme skiing in the East? Presently we have an expedition team of seven people comprised of skiers, pinheads, snowboarders, and one sherpa who has agreed to schlep up the beer and an inflatable for riding over the headwall.

Our first opportunity for departure is Sunday April 15th. With present weather conditions this departure date may pass us due to a combination of moderate/high avalanche warnings, snow or rain in the forecast, and possible rain next Monday-Tuesday. I'll be watching the Hydrometeorological discussions as well as checking in with Trout for weather updates.
Stay posted for additional information and reports here. Some really great news is that the Sherburne trail is open from top to bottom!

Easter, a birthday, and one casualty.

The Easter Bunny paid a visit this weekend and stashed some eggs about the house and neighborhood. What a delight to see Bud, Winty, and Gracer scampering about searching for eggs in the snow. This squirrel also got in on the actions and secured a few eggs for his nest.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner on Sunday complete with a ham. My sister Pammy and Carl showed up along with most of the Rose Family. Hank missed the train, so he was left behind.
I baked a flour-less chocolate cake complete with raspberry sauce to celebrate Pam's Birthday. Happy Birthday Pammy!
After everyone left I retreated to the basement to rack beer. I narrowly escaped injury when I dropped a six gallon carbouy full of water and sanitizing solution on the floor in the basement. The carbouy shattered into a million pieces. At least the basement floor is sanitized. Why, yes I did have my swerve on just in case anyone was wondering.

Saturday at the Mountain & Saturday night at the pint

I wrapped up my last day of ski patrol for the season on Saturday. Woah, talk about going out with a bang. We were still enjoying mid-Winter conditions today. It was an extraordinary day on the Mountain today.
Despite the mediocre beers and overpriced food Iz and I enjoyed a terrific date at the Peoples Pint Saturday night. I must say that I was quite disappointed this timer around, and will likely not go back for awhile.
It's so sad that the season has ended. Next up is the Tucks trip. Stay Posted.

Friday Morning Riding with Thomas

Some difficult decisions needed to be made Thursday night. Was I going to join my ski patrol pals Thursday night or stay in and get some work done so I could spend some QT with Hank and my Brother Thomas? Family time won out, and I abstained from the party only to enjoy some fantastic mid-winter conditions at Mt. Snow. It was a stellar morning of riding, which was complete with some fresh pow. I also managed to make it into the office by 1:00 pm to finish out my work week. Life is good

Haiku Wednesday

Prevailing Snow showers
It's the first week of April
-Four to eight inches tonight!

More Beer

I blew off the ski patrol party, and blew off making beer Saturday night. Heck I even blew off working ski Patrol Sunday. I enjoyed the entire weekend with the family. I'll be brewing up some beer tonight. Tonights brewing session will consist of a new beer. I'm going to be brewing Warrior Red Ale. As it turns out I ran out of Crystal malt, so I'm going to use 1% chocolate malt in hopes to get the color I'm looking for. We'll see what happens. after tonight's brew I'll have 30 gallons of beer in fermenters, and another 10-15 gallons on tap. The American Pilsner I brewed in February has turned out quite nicely despite my initial hesitations about the taste of this beer. I think I'm going to try and save a keg of this for later on in the summer.

On a side note, Iz and I had a fabulous date last night at the Sierra Grille which hosted the Rogue beer dinner. The food was sumptuous and the beer heavenly.

Friday

So the ski patrol party is this weekend, and I'm on a roll with brewing. I can't decide if I want to bail on the party and brew beer Saturday night. Oh, whats a brewer to do?

Moving day

Strange day today, I awoke hoping to get out for a run, but lacked the time to go the distance. Iz had a breakfast meeting at 7:00am and I was in charge of dropping the kids of today. So no run, but I did get some work done at 5:30am this morning. Good thing because I found out at lunch today that my office was going to be moved after lunch. WTF? Good thing I'm flexible.
It's the end of the month so all the typical crazy month end shit is starting now. EEK! Maybe I'll try to swing making some beer in the next few days. It's nice to have my inventory up for a change. Still working on that Imperial Stout. I'm also considering an Amber ale with some nice Centennial, Cascade, and Northern Brewers hops to throw in it.

Haiku Wednesday

Fog eats at the snow
Delicious Spring Conditions
No sunshine Tuesday

Another fine Spring Day

I spent yet another fine Tuesday at the Mountain today enjoying some splendid Spring conditions. Today for a change I was caught on film in the fog.....on Ripcord. This is a video of Sam and I making turns on the cord. Thanks Mooie!

kindergarten registration

This morning we registered Winter for Kindergarten. How exciting is that? We even submitted a letter requesting her placement at the Green Street School. Time seems to be ripping by so quickly I'm afraid to blink.
By the way my new toy arrived today, It's the ice ax I'll be using to earn my turns up at Tucks in a few weeks. Stay posted as that adventure unfolds.

Spring skiing with Winty

Winty and I headed over to Mt. Snow today for some fine homestyle spring skiing, complete with mashed potatoes, and a dummy downhill. This was Winter's fourth day out this season. We may get one more day in before the mountain closes. Who knows maybe we'll make the trip to Killington for some late April fun if time permits. Anyway this will be her final season in the harness. Next year she's off to Snow Camp for the learning experience of a lifetime. I think I have been able to give her the taste she needed to get hooked on this wonderful sport. Next season, Grace will be carving up big turns with the purple/pink harness.
Despite her inability to make the Pizza wedge it was a terrific morning complete with some nice turns. No Manzo sightings this weekend, but I did run into his brother Scott, friend Lanna, and Lanna's son Nikita before cashing it in and heading over to watch the dummy downhill and meet up with Iz and Grace. Did I mention it snowed another 3 inches at the mountain last night? Winter just can't seem to let go, and I'm okay with that.

Got my JooJoo on in the brewery Saturday night

Tonight was an epic night in the basement brewery. I racked 30 gallons of beer in various stages of fermentation all while brewing some Pale ale. I racked the American Pilsner to kegs last night. Now I have them conditioning in my lager chamber. I racked the Altbier that I brewed last week to secondary fermentation. I may end up cold conditioning this beer prior to putting it into kegs. As I briefly mentioned above I brewed an English style Pale Ale tonight. No shortage of hops here either. This baby went into the books with 45 IBU's and 1.5 ounces of Challenger hops at knockout. I fell short on the gravity for this one, which is no surprise lately.
My target was a lofty 1.060, and I ended up with 1.056. Despite my shit for efficiency, it will still be a fine beer. I'm going to invest in a new mill soon to remedy this situation and hopefully improve my efficiency. Right now I'm running at approximately 55%. With a more efficient roller style mill, I am certain that I will be a able to get my efficiency up to 80% which would not only be ideal, but permit me to brew higher gravity brews without maxing out my mash tun.

Taking full advantage of my time in the basement also afforded me a complete cleanup of my gear ready and prep it for the next brew session. I'm already thinking about my next batch. Maybe we'll shoot for a dark beer like a stout just to balance things up around here, as well as bring additional diversity to the beer selections on tap.
Coming to visit us soon? Something you would like to taste? Let me know, and I'll see what I can brew up. haha! Unfortunately no Belgians will be brewed until that new mill arrives.

Grace goes alpine

Grace got her first taste of alpine skiing on Saturday when we headed over to Living Memorial park to ride the T-bar and make her first gravity fed turns. We made three runs and then headed over to the park for some freestyle play followed by a trip to the Chelsea for some strawberry ice cream for her alpine efforts.

Busy, busy, busy

I have been incredibly busy at home and at the office the past few weeks, as a result I really have not had much time for blogging. Here is what I do know. The Spring skiing/riding right now is exceptional here in Southern Vermont. I took off on Tuesday, well um.....actually every Tuesday in March except the 13th to work the rescue gig over at the mountain.
The brewery has seen a surge in production lately. I brewed an altbier last week that I'm planning on racking to secondary fermentation tonight,. The Pilzner's brewed recently hve turned out terrific. I was going to brew a Pale ale tonight, but I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I'll lay low and just do some prep work in order to get the brew done sometime this weekend or Monday night. I haven't seen much of my partner this week either, so some QT with Iz would be nice. I'm also in the process of planning the Tuckermans Hajj.

On a side note I had a great conversation with my friend Dave Watson today, whom I haven't spoken to in ages. He's headed to Newfoundland with Meathead films in a few weeks for some backcountry skiing, getting married to Audrey in May, moving to Minnesota, and planning his third trip to summit Everest. He also gave me some good insight on picking theright ice ax for my trip to Tucks. Thanks Watson, and good luck!

Haiku Wednesday

A brilliant blue sky.
Mid-Winter ski conditions.
-Vernal Equinox

Out with the video camera

I brought the video camera to the mountain on Tuesday. Here is some choice footage of Tony and Chris ripping it up on Jaws. JC and I were also playing in the glades which BTW was hip deep in places.

Haiku Wednesday

Bitter Cold March Day.
Sun is getting high in the sky.
Tuckerman's is getting near.

Trout said...

It was cold today, and I believe him. We were living the dream today with -16f on the summit. Ripcord was ripping, as well as the Rock Garden, and Sap-tapper. WE skied mostly stuff that isn't on a current trail map. Amazing how much snow can actually blow around the mountain and manage to fill everything in. It is estimated that the temps on the summit were -50f with the wind chill. If you see Tony, ask him what he thought of Ricpcord on Tuesday.

Monday changes

So the controller of the company that I work for is officially leaving for another job. I have worked for Kim for 4.5 years, and will certainly miss her. She was a fine person to work with. We celebrated her new endeavor with a field trip to Burdicks for some chocolaty-doccolotty treats, and coffee. I'll wave as we pass in opposite directions down the highway.

Sunday Riding

When my daughter and I left the mountain Saturday morning it was snowing. When we arrived home, it was sunny out. Later on it rained in the afternoon. Sunday morning, I cam to find out while it was raining in Brat, it had been snowing at Mt. Snow. My first run down started with some warm up turns on Freefall into PDF. The mountain was blessed with at least six inches of pow. This did not include all the windblown drifts. Wow, what a day. It actually snowed all day Sunday, until it was time to go home. Another brilliant day of riding. Things did get a little hairy at the end of the down on Olympic. That turned out well for everyone. Whew.

The Harness

We hit the mountain early Saturday morning for some fine turns in the corduroy. Well I made turns while my daughter made French fries. We enjoyed Deer Run, Rusty Nail, and Fairway. Trout and Lila showed up and we all got to ride lift number 3. It was an action packed morning, followed by an even more exciting adult oriented evening.
The Manzo threat came to fruition, actually it was a double Manzo sighting. He, and his brother showed up in VT, along with Scott's friend Lanna. Iz, and I met them all for dinner at Shin-La. While we intended to have sushi, it turned into a full tilt night at Peter Havens, complete with a detour to the wine bar, and seven degrees of separation.

Classic New England Storm Today

Today in Vermont we are enjoying a classic New England snowstorm. This came complete with snow, sleet, freezinain, and just plain old rain. I checked in with my friends over at the summit of Mt. Snow this morning and they reported 12 inches of pow-pow. When I called around three pm It was reported to be raining, and everything was icing over, READ: hard and nasty. It should be switching back to all snow in the next couple hours, so with some creative grooming everything should be in good shape for the weekend, except the woods!!!
It's raining now so I'm bailing out of work early to get home before it switches back to freezing rain then snow. Enjoy your weekend, I know I'll be ripping it up on the slopes, and in the backcountry over the next few days.
I friggin love for this kind of weather.

Racking the lager

I'm going to be working down in the brewery tonight. No brewing, just allot of lager racking. I have twenty gallons of lager in one stage of fermentation or another, which require racking to new vessels. I could stand to do some cleanup down there as well. Perhaps, I'll wrap up the taxes this evening, and put the 2006 tax year to bed after I'm done in the brewery. If time permits I'll also start designing my next beer, which may possibly be a Märzen. woooo, maybe I'll get freaky and perform a triple decoction with this beer.

Haiku Wednesday

Snow just keeps falling.
Daylight savings arrives soon.
George Bush is a mook.

It's not Globus Hystericus

I'm still fighting off these cold and flu like symptoms. Even with the day off Monday I still don't quite feel like I'm running at even 75%, although my taxes are over 75% completed. I did manage to get out for my sister's yoga class which proved to be a minor benefit. I clearly had a difficult time with some of the poses, while other seemed to work out flawlessly. So, while a part of me is clearly out of balance, other parts of me are seemingly in perfect harmony. Go figure!
I'm in the office today playing catch-up, and clearing my throat every 2 minutes. The provisioning department is going to love me today. I seem to be filled with copious amounts of phlegm, that has manifested itself in the back of my throat. Oh, joy. Let's just hope for the best, and I'll do what I can to keep the sputum off my desk. Wow, That was probably TMI. My apologies for ruining your appetite.

Fighting it off

It's Monday, and I have been fighting off sickness since Friday night. I'm taking the day off today, and enjoying some much needed downtime. Iz is off visiting the Miller's in Groton, CT. They are getting ready for their big move to Seattle on St. Phatty's day. So it could be awhile until we see them again.
I was feeling a little sick Friday night, and seemed to recover Saturday morning only to start feeling icky again on Saturday evening after working at the mountain all day. Same thing Sunday, felt fine in the am, and then as the evening wore on I felt worse. I'm totally laying low today except maybe for my sister's yoga class, which may actually help matters. Funny thing is before we had children I never used to get sick other then a head cold every once in awhile. Now I usually lose one or two days a year to being sick other then sick in the head, which is ongoing. I did start the taxes today.

Sunday sliding

Today we got out for some sledding fun over at Living Memorial park.

What's that on your head?

The Mockler Experience

We got to enjoy dinner with one of our very best friends on Saturday night. It's been well over a year since we have seen Mr. Mockler. He dropped off the radar a little over a year ago, and finally surface for dinner with Iz and I. Things usually start out pretty reserved, but ultimately turn a bit zaney as was the case last night.
Even our discussion about the Cat-cow got out of hand. funny how pronunciations can be misunderstood.

It's snowing again

It's snowing today. The snow is loaded with a great deal of moisture which should make for great snowman building. It started snowing on my way home from from work this afternoon. I picked up the girls at daycare and we went sledding over at Living Memorial Park. We ran into Lisa and Elliott who did a few runs with us, and later Tara & Liam showed up. We all had a blast. Liam had his skis with him, and even let Grace borrow them to do some sliding around. We are expecting 1-3 inches total tonight. I hear the neighbors plow already.

A Light American Pilsner

I felt like a bumbling brewer Monday night. If it's not one thing it's your mother. Well, not exactly. My mom had nothing to do with tonights brew. It was all my own undoing.

• First off the gravity of the Bohemian had only dropped to 1.032, so it was clearly not finished fermenting.
• Second I lost about 1.5 gallons of beer when my syphon clogged and got stalled several times.
• I totally missed my gravity on this one. The target was 1.050, and I hit 1.038. As you can see my mill, mills crap for efficiency.
  

With that said I made a really light beer with 100% Pilsner malt. The upside to all of this is that this beer will be an ideal lawnmower beer for those 4 really hot days we get here in Vermont during the Summer.

snow, yes

I have been riding my snowboard allot in the past few days. I'm tired, and will report back soon on the experience.

Haiku wednesday

Epic powder day
Beard is frozen to collar
-Hopping snowshoe hare

Bohemian Pilzner Round III

The brewery is back in operation after a 60 day hiatus. This evening I performed single decoction mash, and brewed up 10 gallons of my Bohemian Pilsner. The basement temperature is holding steady at 50-52 f, which makes it ideal for fermentation using lager yeast. I did a little bit of of cleanup in the brewery tonight, and even defrosted my keg refrigerator. The basic game plan for the remainder of the Winter is to make several batches of beer experimenting with different strains of lager yeast. Naturally this will require a lagering chamber, and since the keg refrigerator is presently void of any beer, it will suffice as the logical solution for lagering since I can fit six cornies in there. This will hopefully get me motivated to get the rest of the hardware to complete the three tap system. Prosit!

Haiku Wednesday

Total Bluebird day.
Brilliant Winter Sun shines high.
-Stuck in the office.

Brrr it's cold

I awoke last night when Grace hopped into bed, and noticed it was quite chilly. Luck would have it the furnace went out because the line on second tank was not opened. What joy to be fiddling around with the furnace, priming the lines at 3:00 AM to get the heat back on. Needless to say it was a challenge to get out of bed this morning, let alone consider running. Temps hovered around 1 f last night. Oh the joys of home ownership amidst a New England Winter.

Slightly worn out from the weekend

It all started with driving to a 50th birthday party in a blinding snow storm on Friday night, I exhausted all of my homebrew for the party goers. I only got to enjoy discussing the redeeming qualities of this beer with fellow party goers as, I was designated driver for the evening. With that said it's time to start brewing again.
Saturday involved another birthday party, only this one was a surprise 30th birthday party for my friend Heath. This bash started at 6:00 pm. Needless to say I had my swerve on by 9:00 PM. This party involved A barn, allot of Red wine, a bonfire, Josh A and Daq sighting, as well as some big cones. Iz and I made it home safely (just barely).
Sunday's Stupidbowl party was by far the most low key event of the weekend. The game was marginally exciting, while the food and beer was extraordinary. My tail was dragging this morning.
BTW way Manzo never showed. He called and gave some story about being ill.

Return of the white blanket

We finally have some snow on the ground after an unusually snow free season. This beats the brown winter of 1979. At least it feels, and looks like winter outside now. More snow please.

Rest peacefully Pat

I just got word this morning that my friend Pat Danahy passed away last night due to a brief illness. He skied his last run at Mount Snow around Christmas this past December. He was in his mid eighties. Pat was a lifetime member of Mount Snow ski patrol with over 55 years of service and was the first man to ski Mount Snow. Heath and Tony proceeded directly to Pat's Pitch and poached it this morning. Get out today and take a run for Pat. You'll be missed old friend.

Manzo Threat Advisory

The present Manzo Threat advisory has been changed to Orange: Presently there is a high risk that Manzo may come to visit this weekend. We have parties to attend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this weekend. I can't tell you the last time my schedule was booked with this many events, let alone the last time I actually made it out to a party. It will be critical that Manzo show up on time Saturday otherwise he'll miss the boat and be stuck at home with the babysitter, while Iz and I are busy tossing a coin to see who's going to be the designated driver.

Got my laptop back

I got my laptop back today. What a PITA that was. I need to buy the IT guy lunch today for all the hardwork he did to recover my data. He even gave me a RAM upgrade to boot. Yipee! Now all I need to do is get a gasp of air before I dive back into my day and make up for losing the last three days without my computer.

Haiku Wednesday

Winter storm brewing
February snow fall
Want some hot cocoa?

Recovery, blogging, and Ben Harper

Despite Friday's disaster with my laptop, I managed to actually stay busy at the office all day with minimal distractions. Enough shop talk. I try to avoid talking about work if at all possible. It's not that I don't enjoy my work, I'd simply rather engage in more interesting topics like beer, cycling, or winter sports. Lately I have been sharing some aspects of my most intimate relationships and the many emotions that come with them.

I'm doing okay most days, managing to get thru each day 24 hours at a time. Some days are better then others. The past 9 months of my life feel like a Ben Harper song. Pick one, any one cause it seems so many of them ring true to some aspect regarding my life experiences in the past 9 months. I even had a dream recently that Ben Harper was a close friend of mine, and he kept coming to me for ideas on new material.
BTW- Finnie was our special suprise guest for dinner last Thursday! Finnnnnie.

Crash and burn

When it rains it pours. My laptop crashed first thing this morning. Seems my hardrive is not being recognized. GULP! Wait, it gets better The company IT specialist is off ice fishing today, and I have not backed up my local outlook files in close to a month. Double Gulp. For now I'm stuck in the billing department working off my roaming profile, and telnetting to the mail server to get my mail. Guess I better download CRT or something to make reading my mail tolerable.
It's shaping up to be a long day. Did I mention it was -1 f this morning, so I skipped my run. In hindsight, I guess I should have ran, and kept on running, or taken the day off and gone to Killington with my brother. My prediction for today is that I will not get shit done at the office. It's a pity I don't have my ski/snowboard gear because my office is only 50 minutes from Killington.
It's another Fucking glorius day!

A visit from Uncle Tommie

My brother Thomas and his friend Larry are coming to visit for some skiing. Tonight we'll be making pizza at the house with the everyone but Iz. She's working tonight. Pizza and beer Yum. Word is there will also be a surprise visitor joining us this evening. Despite the cold temps we'll be skiing this weekend. A posse not including myself is headed to Killington Friday. Saturday & Sunday at Mt. Snow. Winty will be skiing with us if it's not to insanely cold. Sunday will be a ski patrol day for me. Lot's of fresh air and sunshine this weekend.

Haiku Wednesday

Abundant weather
Cold blustery conditions
Let's bake some cookies.

Muddling thru

Today was a very difficult. I found myself hanging on by a thread all day. Many different emotions passed thru me today. Some of them included joy, fear, sadness, and anger. Today was a day of letting go, and it was very hard. Tomorrow is a new day.

Weather fizzle

Trout reports that the weather system that potentially could have provided us a nice dump, has fizzled. It's just going to be cold this weekend. Baa!

Baking cookies instead of practicing my survival skills

Late in the day last Friday I decided to bail out on the Glastenbury trip for the weekend. Temps were going to be way to cold, and the wind. It would have been a miserable endless slog in and out. Instead I went out for a shorter low key hike with the girls, and baked cookies. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to be exact.
Since I was staying home this weekend I suggested to Iz the possibility of dinner guests Saturday night. Christine and Trevor came up with Autumn and Ethan. The children hardly ate a bite by the way. Too much excitement for them. It was great to catch up with Trevor. He finally got to see my brewing operation. Wow, it's been a long time since he's been to the house! It was nice to be hanging out with friends at home, enjoying some nice dinner, homebrew, and good conversation. Christine clearly enjoyed copious amounts of wine, and would surely be in pain Sunday morning.
This week is shaping up to be a really busy one jam packed with work, visitors, and appointments. Thomas and Roddy are arriving for a visit this week for some skiing. I may try to take off Friday and go to Killington if my schedule permits.
BTW I was at the Mountain Sunday, and the temps finally got up to .4 f around 2pm at the summit. This made me think how F-ing cold camping out would have been Saturday night.

Weather discussion for next Thur & Fri

WTF? Here is the current weather discussion for next week. At this rate I'll be able to ski up to Glastenbury. Could be a big event headed our way.

THU AND FRI...

WOW!!! HOW ABOUT THAT 12Z GFS AND 12Z UKMET? A CLASSIC NEW ENGLAND COASTAL BOMB WITH SYSTEM BECOMING VERTICAL STACKED...YIELDING A LONG DURATION WINTER EVENT HERE. ALTHOUGH...WE MUST BE REALISTIC AS THIS IS STILL 6-7 DAYS AWAY. HOWEVER...THE 12Z GFS ENSEMBLE MEAN HAS TRENDED DEEPER AND FARTHER SOUTH WITH BOTH THE UPPER TROF AND SURFACE LOW. THIS IS SIGNIFICANT AND COULD BE THE BEGINNING OF A TREND. 12Z GGEM NOT AS AMPLIFIED AND 12Z ECMWF HAS BACKED OFF FROM ITS PREVIOUS RUN. LOTS OF MIXED SIGNALS AMONG THE MODELS...HOWEVER THE LONG WAVE PATTERN DURING THIS TIME FRAME DOES FAVOR A SIGNIFICANT PRECIP EVENT

HERE IN NEW ENGLAND...WITH A +PNA ALONG WITH A -NAO. IN ADDITION...

RESEARCH FROM THE GOOD FOLKS AT UALBANY INDICATE IT/S DURING THIS TYPE OF PHASE CHANGE...PNA BECOMING POSITIVE AND THE NAO BECOMING NEGATIVE THAT CLIMATOLOGY FAVORS A LARGE PRECIP EVENT HERE IN THE NORTHEAST.

LOTS OF DETAILS TO BE WORKED OUT...ESPECIALLY ON HOW PROGRESSIVE THE WESTERN RIDGE BECOMES AND ITS AMPLITUDE...WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY IMPACT THE CONFIGURATION AND DEPTH OF THE DOWNSTREAM TROF HERE IN THE EAST. HOWEVER ENOUGH SUPPORT HERE TO KEEP CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE FORECAST THU AND FRI. STAY TUNED!

Prudence

1. the quality or fact of being prudent.
2. caution with regard to practical matters; discretion.
3. regard for one's own interests.

With that said...Yet again I'm going to likely postpone my camping adventure. The updated weather forecast is calling for sustained winds up to 50 mph Saturday night, Wind Chill Saturday night around -22f. I may be crazy, but I'm no fool. So yes, postponing this trip would seem to be the prudent thing to do, after all this event should be a positive experience, one that doesn't include testing the limits of my survival abilities. Trout, Bo, and I may still do a quick scramble up Bald Mtn. Saturday.

Preperations for the weekend.

I'm getting all my gear together for Saturday. Trout has been providing weather updates, and forecasts daily. We have been discussing how the weather may play out this weekend. With any luck perhaps a little snow may keep the temps on the warmer side. The unknown variable concerning any snow squalls in the area could be the difference between .5 inches, and seven inches. Hiking in the snow can be allot of fun, hiking in the wind can be a PITA. The other concern is the wind. Forecasts are for wind speeds of 20-25 mph out of the north. I don't know how psyched I am to have that blowing in my face all day.
Murph has a fly that he is going to lend me to set up in the shelter. It's a free standing fly that I'm planning on using to trap in some heat, and some extra, and shelter from the wind.
Trout and Bo have volunteered to join me to the summit of Bald Mtn. I'll use this initial stretch of the trip to gauge whether or not I want to carry on if the weather is too gnarly.

Haiku Wednesday

Gathering my gear
New moon on Glastenbury
~Vision Quest for me.

Racking beer and Drinking Beer

I stopped by the house to pick up a few things, and kill some time before heading over the see Ray last night. While in the basement I dispensed the last bit of Porter into a growler. While it may seem like it was consumed rather quickly (3.5 weeks) this keg actually carried me through several holiday events, not to mention football games. I had five more gallon in secondary fermentation, that I racked into a keg, and put on gas. My beer inventory is getting pretty lean, so after my camping trip I think it will be time to buckle down and get brewing again.
I met up with Ray for some good conversation and some exceptional beer last night. The dead horse IPA is dead on. He's great brewer, a brilliant man, and an awesome friend. I filled him in on my plans for the weekend. Looks like it may snow Friday.
Today is the first Wednesday in months that Iz and I have not gone to see Joe. Wow.
Being separated does pose some logistical challenges, and requires one to constantly rearrange priorities. The space is nice, not being grounded is a bit of a hassle.

The list of required gear

I'm putting my mental list together of the equipment that I will need for my vision quest. I started pulling equipment out of the attic yesterday. Winter camping for me has been a great way to look inward. Going solo this time will hopefully provide me with some insight as well as clarity.

Comes a time
when the blind man takes your hand
says: don't you see?
got to make it somehow
on the dreams you still believe
Don't give it up
you've got an empty cup
only love can fill

taking me to the rack

It's the the third day in a row of rain. Why can't it be snowing? Today we are enjoying Freezing rain. The girls are going stir crazy, not to mention myself. Despite the heinous conditions, We need to get outside. This is going to be essential to preserving our sanity today.
So off we go for our adventure in the freezing rain. This of course will be concluded by some hot cocoa when we finish jumping in every puddle in the neighborhood.
I need to start getting all my camping gear ready for the weekend. Looks like it will be a cold one.

Impromptu pizza party

Distractions, Distractions. Well the Eagles lost Saturday night, shattering their hopes for another visit to the super bowl. They made it a heck of a lot further then I thought they would after Mcnabb's injury laid him up for the rest of the season.
A call from Eve with an invitation to watch the Pat's game at her parents house on Sunday afternoon prompted me to suggest and put the wheels in motion to watch the game at my house. After all, I do have this enormous 52 inch television that came out of my Grammy's house after she passed away a few years ago. Why not watch the game on the bog screen? My quiet evening of watching football with the girls would turn into an impromptu pizza party. Eve and Michel, Henry and Rachael, and then all the children, err....Girls Five of them to be exact. Olivia didn't make it but it was still a house full of young girls running around having a good old time while us adults munched on homemade pizza, and beer. Oh and the desert, yes one cannot forget Eve's sinfully delicious chocolate raspberry squares. So Heavenly.
All is well.

Warm and moist

The skiing was actually pretty good Saturday despite the lack of terrain, the crap weather, and the skier traffic? I really don't like working the patrol gig on Saturday's but it has become somewhat of a essential evil this season only because of scheduling. It does however provide me with the distraction I need right now.

Weekend Plans, not as planned.

It would seem that none of my original plans for this weekend are actually going to work out. Even my contingency plan fell through. My back up to my back up plan? Maybe I'll make some beer this weekend. It's been over a month since the last time I brewed. It's not that my beer situation is in short supply, oddly enough I have cut back on my consumption lately and it feels pretty good.
So I'll be working at the Mountain on Saturday, followed by some Eagles Football Saturday night. Lay low Sunday & Monday with the girls depending on how the weather actually shakes out. Finish off the holiday with some Yoga Monday evening, and a solo sushi excursion.

Taking a Break

I have decided to take break from everything right now to re-examine the vital relationships in my life. With so much running through my head I can't even think straight anymore. It has become my Stop the Madness campaign. I'm doing this in an effort to prevent any destructive behavior that will have only deleterious effects on all of those that I love, including myself. I don't want to ride this roller coaster right now, so I'm taking a break. Under the recommendo of Elk, I think I'll take a walk in the woods for a few days to help sort this out. I'm considering the Glastenbury loop located in the Bennington Triangle. Who knows, perhaps I'll encounter some extraterrestrials that my provide insight on interdimensional travel. Now I just need to make the time to do it. It would seem I could do it without any light under the a new moon or under the light of a full moon.

Haiku Wednesday

Breezy Winter day.
Swirling Eddies all around.
-It's a Jimi thing.

Stop the Madness

It's time for me to take a break and meditate in order to more closely examine my dream. Right now my reality is occluded and this hampering my ability to make clear decisions on my path in this life.
I have been spending time at B's house which is the ideal setting for meditation. No phones, No Internet. In short no distractions. I sat and meditated last night for an unknown period of time. I eventually laid down, and continued until I passed out. I feel that I probably could have gone all night just sitting there, breathing, and being in the moment. Usually I am able to just free my mind of all thoughts the difference with my meditation last night was all the thoughts that came and went, like shooting stars starting so vividly then disintegrating into nothing.

There are things you can replace, and others you cannot.
The time has come to weigh those things.
This space is getting hot, you know this space is getting hot.

Soft moon thru Maple branches

This shot was taken Wednesday night during the last full moon. While it's a more of an artistic shot, I guess? I never really considered myself an artist. It doesn't even compare to the early morning moon setting behind the tower at the retreat, or the moon rising over the hills of New Hampshire on my commute home Wednesday night.

Some wisdom to reflect on

If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was...

This was shared with me early this morning and the more I think about it, the greater the meaning for me in my life right now.

Haiku Wednesday

Full moon at my back.
Twilight on the Horizon.
-Grazed by a car.

Black ice. It must be Winter!

Seems that Winter never really settles in for me until we get a few snow storms under our belt, and I get witness vehicles sailing off the road before my very eyes. It snowed last Saturday, and we got about an inch in town. Right, Whoopee.
This morning on my commute to the office some flatlanders from Maryland zipped by me on the interstate. They seemed to be in control of their vehicle until I saw the brake lights, then that tell tale swerve, followed by them over compensating, and breaking at 75 miles an hour on the black ice. They didn't quite do a donut, but they did get entirely sideways. The driver trying to recover turned the wheel hard in the opposite direction, and almost pulled out of it, but made that crucial mistake of laying on the brakes again, and that's when they crashed off the left side of the passing lane, into the median. Lucky for them the didn't flip, the car came to a rest in the dirt and snow between the north and southbound lanes of 91. I eased off the gas, slowing down and watching all of this unfold before my very eyes. It is always a surreal experience to see vehicles crashing around me as I'm driving down the highway. The irony of all this, is that the fire department and State police were already dealing with another wrecked car almost 100 meters south of where this jeep crashed. Drive safely out there. life is not a video game.

I continue to grieve daily, and wonder where the hell my life is taking me. I'd like to think all is well, but I'm not so sure. Skiing and my children seem to provide the only distraction from falling deeper into more sadness, and pain.

Surreal New Years day

Make mental note to self for the new year. Don't mix beer and wine to excessive levels. I don't no how it happened, but I somehow managed to get totally trashed on New Year's Eve. It wasn't even by design either. I seemed to have most of my faculties when I left Michael's restaurant, but that is when things get hazy...
The first day of the year turned out pretty good. Family days are fun.