Beautiful

 

Give a Mick a Knife and Some Tubing....

 

Frozen Lines

 

The Day Ted Nugent Killed All The Animals

CK and I rolled up to Seattle and Olympia this weekend, to hang with Flint and Stephanie. Good times, good pizza and sushi, and life size Alien statuary. Dylan is an incredibly well-behaved pre-schooler, and Flint has seemingly infinite patience.
Before leaving on Saturday morning I checked my blog comments. The problem with the internet is that it gives everyone a forum. Constructive or full of shit you can have your say. Read CL Portland if you want to know how worthless most of your countrymen are.
Anyone can make a significant observation on the human condition. Certainly an artist can have as much to say on the nature of being as anyone else. Wally Pleasant can lead us to insight into our souls, but really he's best enjoyed light heartedly with a couple of brews.
Speaking of beer, in order to support my raging pint-a-day habit, I kicked it up a notch. I carved up my fridge and ran two taps through to the freezer. This was necessary to fit all the hoses and connections on the top of the kegs. I then turned the thermostat to 3 which promptly froze the lines, as I had covered the hole to the freezer portion. I turned it down, and if it still freezes I will have to do some more alterations.

Santana's

So I flew into SAN today, it was a decent flight. My rental car was from a no name company, so I had to wait 30 minutes for their mini van to pick me up. We drive downtown and to pick up my shiny Geo Metro from some smart ass who flips me low level shit over renting an economy car. I think the odometer must have rolled over. The transmission is shot, the suspension is non-existent, the bearings/cv joints are making all kinds of wonderful poping noises, the steering is way out of alignment and the brakes are as soft as Wally's head. It even took me a minute to remember how to drive with non-power steering.
This is not how I want to spend my time in CA. Pissed and hungry I roll to the hotel. Another true winner, I wonder how Fodor's missed this one. I don't know why they had a sign warning no guests after 10pm, no self respecting hooker would be caught dead in this place.
No big deal, because it is on Rosecrans. Starving, I made my way to Santana's and soon all angst melted away to the taste of a California Burrito and Horchata. The weather is great, so I sat outside and got all misty eyed reminising about Zach Herzberger and Wally Backman. Tonight I'll go to dinner tonight with the electrician and engineer that hooked up the machines I have to start up tomorrow.

Size is about 56 cubic feet, or 2 cubic yards.

 

Max shown for scale. No current plans to compost him.

Manure is Good for the Soul

CK and I rented a truck for the day. We had a boatload of errands to run. I scored a fridge for beer and a futon off of Craigslist. CK met up with some Lady and fixed her Ipod. I ran over to Home Depot and picked up the materials for my new compost bin. This morning we picked up 2 cubic yards of horse manure. Shelly at Abbey Creek Stables was kind enough to use her front end loader to dump 4 bucketfuls directly into the back of the F-150. This GREATLY reduced load time. I then drove into the alley behind the house and shoveled it over the fence directly into the bin. Tonight I have to get my Corny Kegs cleaned out to keg my housewarming IPA.

No Justice, No Peace

I've decided to put the brakes on any truck purchase. Thinking about it, I decided I hadn't given truck rental options a fair shake. I was at first in a mild sticker shock that Enterprise wants nearly two bills for a weekend truck rental(1/2 off weekends not applying to pickups). Then I realized most of my errands could be handled in 1 day, driving the price down to about 65 bucks.
In much cooler news the old lady bought me a new (to me) ipod. I've been burning CDs to my PC like mad. I also realized that segregation was alive in my house. All of my music is stored on a seperate lower shelf of the CD cabinet, not allowed anywhere near CK's collection. I know there is some classic rock in my collection, but she lets Stephen Malkmus' solo crap intermingle with the Bad Religion and Anti Flag. I demand equal treatment for Yes, Buddy Guy and Booker T. and the MG's.

52 car p/u

Car free living update.
Everything is going fine, but I find myself with a developing list of things I need to go and get:
- Refrigerator
- 1 cubic yard of horse poop
- compost reactor
- lumber for a new desk
- lumber for new vine trellis
- all manner of large yard tool rentals.
This is an incomplete list of just my stuff, the wife has a list as well.
The day to day car free thing is fine, but more often than not I find myself jonesing for a pick up. If I buy a beater ass p/u my liability insurance will be $100/ month. I really don't want the hassle of buying or owning a car, but the need is apparently there. I need some feedback, what to do, what to do?

Home at Last

I've been in NY for the last 2 weeks. What a drag. I would love to live in the city, but as a non-native traveller in NYC it is pure hell. Most difficult city to get around in EVER.
I've got mad work to do today, including racking some beer into my secondary fermenter. I scored 2 cornelius kegs while in NY, with which to store my beer. This also means Ill have to get a CO2 bottle, regulator, tap and a new fridge. The wife is gonna love that!