Friday, April 18, 2008

brew off day




This is the brew off in San Diego, across from the bay under the flight path of the jets of the airport. Vanessa did all the brewing for me, she is energetic and was very helpful as it took hours to bring the water to a boil, then of course, the brewing. She mentioned that the hops and the brew were happily blowing off all over her refrigerator so the yeast is active and ready to make a strong Double Imperial Pale Ale, which is very hoppy and bitter. My husband should love it.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

WHAT A DAY

My plans sounded so simple; sleep, drink coffee, get out and drive to the homebrew supply store and buy stuff.
Not that that didn't happen. But first, a little back story, about 27 hours ago, when I was in the garage (attached) trying to get Bandit, my big tuxedo cat out of the garage as he is still pretty sick and sneezing so we could go to bed, I noticed a :: smell ::. an odor if you will, like broccoli that was tossed on the compost bin and not turned. Only, there was no broccoli and the composter hasn't been used in 6 months or more. And this WAS the garage. So, I followed my little nose and decided I had better check the freezers. Well, the big chest freezer was all fine and dandy, and stuff was frozen. With extreme trepidation, I then opened the lid, or top of the other freezer, the one that is only about 4 years old and bought for those gigantic fish my husband fishes for, the yellowtail, the Ono, and mahi-mahi and all those dungeness crabs he caught in Washington.........you know where I am going with this, right? OMG.
my gag reflex is well honed after years of acid reflux and stuff. I almost fainted and with my bad knees and stiff joints, couldn't get up the stairs to the house fast enough and while I won't regale you with details, ended up having to also clean the bathroom too.
FAST forward. I had immediately called DH's friend in a far city in San Deigo county who "manned up" and came to my rescue today, after he went to the Army/Navy surplus store for a respirator, and some haz-mat type gloves. After friend got here, he assurred me, with the Darth Vadar voice, to GO and be gone for as long as I wanted to be as "I WILL BE HERE FOR A LONG TIME" and believe me, as much as my heart and mind said, no, stick it out with him, my guts helped me scoop up the car keys and I got out of there ASAP. $200 in home brew supplies later, for the brew off that another Navy wife is going to be helping me with for brewing the beer for the husbands, and then having to stop at Costco for 4 bags of Arm and Hammer baking soda in 12 pound bags, it was eventually time to come home. I had stopped and got fast food, but I couldn't eat it, knowing what was going to await me at home. I wasn't sure about how the neighbors with the houses about 6' or less away from each other felt about this activity, but what awaited me as I pulled into the driveway was about 8 large trash/yard bags all tied up. I had bought those before I left, and one box had 24 odor shield bags, by Hefty or one of the better brands, and he used each and every one. He didn't get into any of the other bags. Now, he is gone, I am still not ready to deal with stuff, but now there is a skunk on the front porch, trolling for the cat food I put out for feral cats. I suspect there will be holes in bags during the night. Right now, at quarter til one in the morning, I don't much care.
...now, to sleep, perchance, not to dream......

Friday, April 11, 2008

another reason not to post

Right now I have 6 cats that have the rhino-virus, and with me not feeling well, not much sleep is occurring. I hope today to drag my lazy self out of here and pick of the home-brew supplies for this weekend. I am going to be making a double IPA with the help of some of my brew club members, most especially another Navy wife. That will give us some brownie points, I am hoping.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Why I haven't been posting; Startitis




Just a very few of the socks in progress I am working on!!

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