From Sheridan, WY to La Grand, OR and Back Again

Butte, MT 11/22/06
27.342 gal.
$61.22

Pasco, WA 11/22/06
27.788 gal.
$75.00

La Grande, OR 11/25/06
16.242 gal.
$41.40

Missoula, MT 11/26/06
32.328 gal.
$74.00

Park City, MT 11/26/06
28.385 gal.
$63.55

Sheridan, WY 11/26/06
14.009 gal.
$31.93

total miles: 1935
total gallons: 146.094
total cost: $347.10

average cost per gallon: $2.38
average miles per gallon: 13.245
average cost per mile: $0.18

Ol' Rusty (our huge F150 XLT pick-up) is a gas fiend, once we can afford to replace him we will do so with extreme prejudice.

Baby's First Sweater!

So just about 2 years ago I started knitting a sweater, my first sweater. Tonight I finally finished it, just about… I just need to get a zipped and sew it up the front, but other than that it’s completed! It’s a bit longer than I wanted, but other than that I love it. I’m really excited to put that last final touch on it. Two years to make a sweater, but for the majority of that time it just sat in a bag somewhere. I will probably choose a plainer pattern for the next one I make to speed up the process, that’s what Bea does.

My BLOG Interface is Terrible

I really need to revamp the BLOG section of the site. I don’t keep up with it the way it currently is, I suppose a lot of that has to do with the fact that I don’t have consistent internet access, but it’s still not that convenient to do. Technically speaking, the design isn’t efficient, and remember folks, waste is a thief. I have a hard time motivating myself to do in depth updates because I like having internet access while doing in depth because I can check online sources that help me figure stuff out, but I can’t do that unless I hang out at Java Moon or in the Holiday Inn parking lot, etc.

Pumpkin Beer Specifications et al

Our homebrewed pumpkin beer is almost ready (or I hope it’s almost ready), and I can barely contain myself. We started brewing it on October 15. Here’s some of the specifications for you:

- 9 lbs. pumpkin baked at 350F until thoroughly soft
- mashed 1 lb. crystal malt with pumpkin at 160F for 30 minutes
- combined with 1 lb. light powder malt extract and 8 lbs. 2 row syrup malt extract
- 60 minute boil with 2 oz. Willamette hop plugs
- 10 minute boil with 1/2 oz. Cascade hop plugs
- Original Gravity of around 1.058, but I think I measured it wrong
- Safale US-56 yeast
- Primary fermenter at 60F from 10/15 to 10/21
- Secondary fermenter at 60F from 10/21 to 11/9
- Bottled with 3/4 bottling sugar on 11/9
- Final Gravity of 1.026, so around the low end of 4% alcohol

The stuff should be ready a week from today which is Thanksgiving which we will be spending in Le Grand, OR with the Narlochs, if the weather holds up that is. It’s about 1000 miles to get there…

I went to get a flu shot today, but they ran out of vaccination in 2 hours; I blame the retirement community.

I made applesauce tonight from Granny Smith and some other apple they get out here. It’s not so great. My mom always made her sauce with the peels from the apples still on there which gives it a great color, and that works with good New England apples, but the apples out here don’t even compare. I am excited to make a pie tomorrow with the Courtland apples Mom sent us from Hollis, NH. They’re delish.

Conversational Spanish

Our conversational Spanish class has been going well. I’m still not actually registered for the class, but maybe I’ll get that taken care of sooner or later. I still think it’s pretty ridiculous that I have to go through the whole admission process just to take a 2 credit night class at a community college. Looking at my situation from the prospective of the former job I used to hold at Emerson College, I would consider myself a complete idiot. We had similar things happen all the time, students showing up at the end of the semester telling us that they were in the class but never registered for it and we’d give them hell, but whatever. I completely aware of how stupid this is, and I don’t really care about getting credit for the class or not. The fact is I know my way around Spanish a bit now.

Celiac's Disease

My dad has been diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease, so he can’t have any more food containing gluten. I feel real bad for him, that means no more beer among many other things. I have been doing some extensive research recently on making gluten-free beer. Technically speaking, if going by the German Purity Law put into effect 5 centuries ago, there’s no such thing as gluten free beer, but by that same law, most of the beers on the market technically wouldn’t be considered beer. By that traditional law, beer can consisty of only four specific ingredients: water, barley, hops, and yeast. Celiac beer can be made with grains (corn, rice, spelt, buckwheat, etc.) that don’t contain gluten, but the process takes a lot more steps than regular home brewing, but I think it’s worth a try once I beef up my brewing chops in the future.

The good news for dad is that he CAN drink scotch, whisky, gin, etc. even though some hard liquors are produced from barley, etc.

Vote This!

Yesterday, Bea and I exercised our right and responsibility to vote. We registered at the polls the voted away. Our votes did not end up doing anything towards the grand scheme of Democratic take over through. Gary Trauner ended up losing the House seat to Republican incumbent Barbara Cubin by around 1,000 votes. This is the Barbara Cubin said, “I’d slap you if you weren’t in that chair” to Libertarian candidate Rankin, he suffers from Multiple Scoliosis. Cubin’s campaign did not deny this, she later apologized to the public for being rash, but never apologized to Rankin.