Parenting? an update continued

Last night I bottled my brew, got 49 bottles. It had ten days of primary fermentation and twelve days in the secondary. I never did take three days of specific gravity readings, I figured it's been long enough to go ahead and cork away. I did make a stupid attempt to read SG last night, right after I had mixed in the carbonation sugar. Doh. But it wasn't an entire waste, that went down my throat. Yummy.

The carboy had about 8 ounces I didn't siphon out, and not too much trub. I like that second fermentation step, makes the brew much more clear. I shook the carboy around quite a bit to pick up the sludge. Made for a foamy-n-cloudy mixture that Natasha loved over her dog food.

Nap time?

Tuesday is the beginning of another school year, Galen will going to City Montessori once again. This time, rather than starting mid-year, he will start the year with all the other kids. We already know that 3, maybe 4 kids from last year have moved on to kindergarten. This hasn't really sunk in with Galen yet, but it should soon enough. And he won't be the old-timer either, there are several kids older still.

What does this mean? I will have slightly lower blood pressure for one ting. The AMs will be for Liam and me, we'll get one-on-one time to shop, play, and read. Or maybe we'll both just take long, peaceful naps...

Parenting? an update

I transferred my Irish Stout to a carboy for its secondary fermentation. When the wort was first brewed the SG was 1.046. Today, it was 1.017.

On the objective side, if I read the hydrometer right, and if I correct for temperature correctly, and if I got the calculations correct, my brew is currently: 3.79% abv. If the yeast is still active I might eck out a few more points, we'll see.

On the subjective side, the aroma from the primary fermentation bucket was hoppy, wonderful. The brew used to measure SG wasn't poured down any old sink, it went down to my gullet. So far, so good. A little more sweetness versus dryness than my target, we'll see how the secondary works out for us. Plus, I need to have some carbonation to see what I really believe. Stay tuned...

Does a bear $hit in the woods?

Yep. And Galen does the same thing in the neighbor's yard. Ugh.

I though this battle was over, but there are times when he's just too impatient to go home. So he just drops his drawers wherever and let's it drop. Frustrating.

It all started when we were at a park, no commode around, and he had to go. Emergency. Nobody was around so traipsed down to the trees, had him drop, plop, and wipe. Done. I did the doggie-style cleanup and we were back to playing.

Since then he has repeated the maneuver several times in our, and the neighbor's yard.

I know, it's just a phase that will pass. But the theory applies to move than just when to drop one's drawers. Why do certain behaviors become OK in one context, but not another. When is an emergency truly an emergency?

Oh, and my apology to the neighbor that will be wondering if that pile was from their kid or not.

Parenting?

It's been about two years, but I finally got around to making a batch of beer. Irish Stout, using a kit from Midwest Supplies, to be exact. The specific gravity started at 1.046, in about two weeks we'll see about the final SG and alcohol content. The house has a wonderful bouquet, we'll see if Shanna agrees.

While I missed the camaraderie of Mike E. as during our Az brewing sessions, I do have his spirit, and some of his equipment, around now. In the interest of full disclosure, I did not have a beer while brewing this batch. When I started it was only about 1:30 PM, during the kids naps, and a bit early in the day to have one without reinforcements.

Galen wasn't impressed with the taste of the malt extract. He described it as "jammy."

I'm not sure how this ranks up there in the annals of parenting, but it has mega-bonus points for the future potential of keeping one's sanity.

The Frankenstein, and no-bud-e

Age fifteen months, that's when Liam started to walk. I should emphasize "start," because he's not quite their yet. The longest distance travailed so far is about eight feet. And it's a wonderful, clumsy, wobbly set of steps. But the best part? That face all happily scrunched up, hands balled into a fist held at shoulder height, and the nervous giggles. His initial steps haven't supplanted crawling yet, but I would expect him to quickly appreciate his new found skill.

His foray into mobility has an exciting feel to it.

I was told a story the other day. Galen was drawing and asked Shanna how to spell bud, so she spelled it out, b-u-d. She then had a chance to see what he was drawing, he had already spelled out "no" and had added "bud" right after along with a lone "e." He told her he had spelled nobody, know to Galen as nobude. What a beautiful step.

Here's one from a recent trip to Como Zoo.