Long Time No Post

Hi everyone. It has been a long time since I put up anything. I don't
know if it is because I don't have much to say, am too lazy, or too
busy. Probably a combination of all three.

We are doing well here, though everyone has a cold: Amy just got over
it, Zoe is on the mend and I am in the throes. There are plenty of
runny, sneezy noses, sore throats and coughing around our house.
Hopefully soon we will be over it.

Yesterday Zoe and I went to Medford to have lunch with Nana. We ate at
Rooster's again. I had chicken strips and Zoe had peanut butter and
jelly sandwich, with fruit on the side. We had a great time having
lunch with Nana. Also, we stopped by Costco for some groceries (mostly
fruits and vegetables) and also a shoe store, looking for some racing
shoes (no luck).

Other news around here: we installed natural gas in the house and so
now have a new gas stove and also a gas barbecue; we will never run out
of propane in the middle of cooking dinner again. Speaking of that,
maybe Zoe and I will go get some sausages: iron and zinc help a cold,
right?

I have been running quite a bit lately, and am having a good time of
it. No injuries (knock on wood) even though I have been running five
days a week, and sometimes pretty hard running at that. A week and a
half ago (the 19th of February), I raced for the first time since the
middle of September: the Winter Wings 5K out at Miller Island wildlife
area. The course is a double out and back on flat roads. I ran 20:38,
placing second overall (there were about 8 runners total). The winner,
jumped out to an insurmountable lead after the first hundred meters (he
is a local high school runner, one of the best in the basin).

As for plans, we are looking forward to heading north for Spring Break,
visiting friends in the Hood River area, and the new baby who will be
along in only two months: that is soon! We don't have nearly the
worries nor trepidation that we felt when expecting Zoe: it seems like
just another person arriving soon. But then when we stop and really
think about, we can feel the butterflies in the stomach. It will be a
change, but certainly not as big a change as when we got Zoe.

Take care everyone.

Brewing Day

IPA

7lbs. Light malt extract
1 1/2 lbs. 80L Crystal
1 lb. Victory malt
2 oz. Nugget, 13.6% all the way from the grain sparge
2 oz Nugget, 60 minutes
2 oz Willamette, 4.5%, 30 minutes
1 oz. Goldings, 4%, 10 minutes
1 oz. Goldings, during cooling
Irish Ale yeast, #1084

Half the brewpot was full of hops after the sparge. It should be nice
and hoppy. My goal, I finally realized yesterday, is to fill the
kegs...all of them. We are planning on cheating a little, though,
because we are going to fill two of them with water in case of
emergency.

Next on the list is another lager, possibly our first 10 gallon all
grain batch, if we have the time this weekend.

Also in the works is the very dangerous idea of putting a strong beer
in a keg, and the not so dangerous idea of putting up a Marzen for
Oktoberfest. As we get closer to summer, we will put together a Wit, or
maybe just a Wheat, and some other, more perishable beers.

Cheers!

Ah, Winter Days

Zoe is taking to skiing like nobody's business. She is quickly learning to pick her toes to keep the toe of the ski out of the snow. And she understands that it is easiest to ski in the tracks that her dad makes for her.

We went over to Mimi and Papa's on Saturday and all headed out to the pasture to do a little tootling along. I set down a track of about 200m round trip. Amy and I made some circuits while Mimi, Papa, and Zoe played in the snow. Zoe loves to eat snow, though (hopefully) the novelty is wearing off. We did get her mittens on her hands, so that made it harder for her to pick it up.

We tried to get her to slide a little bit on a steeper place, but she didn't get the hang of it: so far, she is a flatland skier. But that will come. She really is making great progress for a 2 1/2 year old.

After Zoe tired of skiing (twenty minutes or so) she and her grandparents rolled some snowballs in the back yard and made a snowman. After, we warmed up with hot chocolate and tea.

Zoe and I are going to go shopping for a sled today so that we can make a pulk so that when she gets tired of skiing, I can load her in and then get in a workout.

New Skier!

Zoe and I went skiing today! It was so much fun. Unluckily I didn't get
any pictures because I didn't know if she would like it or not. She
liked it quite a lot. We skied down the median and back. Mostly she was
interested in eating the snow.

Yea!

Dinner With Friends

Yesterday, Zoe and I made a busy day. We invited Randy, Sandy, Robert and Isaac over for dinner and decided on lasagne and homemade bread. Then I thought, for dessert, we should have cookies. And, since I took the malt extract out of the refrigerator on Saturday, I had to make beer (our first since Amy became pregnant).

We started off by steeping the grains, then making the cookies. Then we mixed up the bread dough in the Kitchenaid. Then, downstairs we went to cook the beer. It is a German style lager with Willamette hops (we will see how that goes). As far as cooking the wort, all went well.

Here's the recipe:

7lbs. light malt extract
1lb. Munich malt, 11L
1/2lb Caramel malt, 135L
1/2lb Carafoam malt, 2.3L
4 oz Cascade hops, 6%, put into the wort from the first sparge.
Bavarian Lager Yeast, Wyeast #2206

Zoe had a little lie-down and so did I, after lunch. Then we put together the tomato sauce for the lasagne. Then we shoveled off the driveway and the sidewalk. My back has been hurting since Christmas, and you would think that shoveling snow would make it worse, but it doesn't. All the while that I shoveled, my back felt fine. Later, I had a consult with Amy about it and we determined that probably I had hurt my ribs on that side...while sleeping in different beds over the break! How old am I that I injure myself while sleeping?

After shoveling, we put the bread in the oven and it turned out really quite well. Then we put together the lasagne, then got the table ready for dinner. We had a great time with Randy and Sandy. Zoe, Isaac, and Robert played well together. For some reason, Zoe felt that the need to do a lot of whispering. It was kind of strange, but not too. She also led Isaac and Robert around by the hand much of the night. All the kids were quite cute.

Braided Bread (adapted from The Complete book of Breads by Bernard Clayton Jr.)

Mix together in large bowl:
3c. whole wheat flour
2c. white flour
1/4c. wheat germ
2T. sugar
2t. salt
1/3c. dry milk

Form a well in the center and add:
1 1/4c. warm water.

Pour in one packet of yeast and let re-hydrate for 5-10 minutes.

Stir together and add:
2 slightly beaten eggs, room temperature
1 stick (1/2c) butter, room temperature
1/2c spent grains (homebrewing option)

knead; add water or flour until dough is the right consistency.

rise, then cut into six equal parts.

roll three parts into snakes 14-16 inches long.
braid three snakes, starting in middle and working first to one end, then the other.

place on cookie sheet, or perforated French loaf pans.

Bake at 375 for 35-40 minute on cookie sheets or 20-25 on French loaf pans

Makes two loaves.

Cheers!

Case Closed (Ironically, the Picture Shows it Open)

Well, things are going well for us here. Zoe and I have been watching birds at least once a day for the past week and are looking forward to going upstairs, sitting on the futon couch and seeing who is in the backyard this morning. One bird of note that we have seen twice is what we believe to be a male house finch mutant that has white where it should have red or orange. I will take up the camera today (if I can remember) to see if I can get a picture of it

At the right, Zoe is giving Maria a nap. The picture above, by the way, is Zoe with her new tool set. It stays in the shop, and here is why: One day, Amy, Zoe, and I were talking about what you do with tools that she has in her tool box. We told her to ask before she hits anything with the hammer. So, her first question of things that she could hit was "Can I hit the wall?" "No," was our reply. Then she thought for a moment and asked, "Can I hit the windows?" It was at that point that we decided that the new tools, which are real tools scaled down to a kids size, would stay in the shop. She likes to use them when she comes in to help me out as I am working on whatever it is that I am working on.

Speaking of that, Currently, I took two days off, and now plan to return to work. I just finished a case for a client (the picture at the bottom). She will use it for heirloom jewelry. It turned out pretty well, and I finished it blazingly fast for me: I got the order at the Holiday Bazaar, and delivered it on the 10th of January. Plus, during most of December, I was working on the benches for Randy and Sandy. So, there you go.

On another, note, I am readingThe History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage (can you guess what they are?) So far, it has been pretty good, though not brilliant. I feel like it is something that I could write, on a subject that I could write on. And speaking of writing on beer (glass number one) it is just about time for us to brew our first batch in quite a long time (no drinking because of pregnancy, of course). If there are any requests for summer brews, let me know.

Happy Monday

We had a nice weekend, and are sad to see that it has ended. Amy cooked sticky buns yesterday, and man were they good. The dough had just the right amount of moisture, not too dry, but not doughy either. They were good.

Zoe had a cough all weekend, but, luckily, last night she slept like a log (and so did we). Today she is quite chipper, though she does have a little snot still. I am feeling much better as well, so there you go. Also, last night, Zoe slept all night in panties and jammies, no diaper. We forgot to bring one to Mimi and Papa's house last night so after her bath, they simply put her in panties and we went home. On the way, Zoe informed us that she did not want to wear a diaper to bed. She has been dry for a number of days (five?) and so we decided that we would let her sleep like a big girl. She was dry again this morning and so we embark on four months of no diapers used in the house.

I'm not sure that I am looking forward to changing diapers all the time again. We are starting to look forward to having the new baby around. I have felt it move a couple of times, and it kicks Amy all the time. Soon, Zoe will be able to feel it too. Then all we have to do is wait for the big day. It feels like it will be a big change to our lives, but not nearly so big as the change that we experienced when we had Zoe. I wonder what the new one will be like? What will it look like? Will it like to crawl and be on its tummy? We will have to see.

Finally, I thought that I would include a picture of Zoe at her first Christmas. She is so small!

Take care everyone.