ROOT BEER

I have been wanting to make root beer for a long time. The last time I was picking up beer supplies I also got some root beer supplies. Brielle and I made some today and bottled it. We ended up with 42 bottles. I wish we had Grammy Bradley's recipe but hopefully this will be good.

Inside and Outside

I have been trying to figure out what to do with our surplus eggs since we have been having a hard time selling any. I finally looked on the net to see if you could freeze eggs and apparently you can! It recommends scrambling them, but not so much that you put air into them , and then putting it in ball jars. I did just over seven dozen and filled twelve pint size ball jars so roughly 7 eggs per container. I'll have to post again when I cook some of the frozen eggs to let you know how it all worked out.

I then spent a large part of the day outside. It was so nice to be out even though it was in the teens today. The sun was out and I was fairly active at first so even though I wasn't dressed particularly warm I felt fine. I have wanted to be able to put out feeders on the deck so we would have some birds around again. Since I replaced the deck I have not put anything up that would hold feeders. I wanted to do something rustic this time so I went into the woods and found a very small Hemlock with what looked to be good strong and plentiful branches. I then got out my antique draw shave and debarked the whole thing. The picture shows it complete with a feeder I recently rebuilt and a bird house that I also recently fixed.

That may be it for today. I was going to make some Cinnamon buns but I smashed my finger pretty good trying to put up the bird feeder holder by myself. Thank's to Brielle for helping to hold it in place while I attached it to the deck.

Beer Brewing

I have had everything I need to brew another batch of beer for almost a year. Friday I finally did it! I am a little concerned that I won't like the final product. When I checked the the specific gravity I tried a sip and it was much too strong for my liking. My first batch I remember thinking it was quite tasty at that point. I did buy another kit of the Oktoberfest that I brewed the first time so maybe next week when I bottle this brew I will start another. It is very active in the carboy. I don't remember the last batch doing so much bubbling and being so cloudy from everything stirring itself about. I hope it will be drinkable, if not for me for someone..Anyone interested?

Soccer and dog sitting

These are actually in the wrong order, we went for the walk yesterday and watched Brielle play soccer today. Her team won all three games today so they have the final on Wednesday.

When we went for our walk we went through the woods to the cemetery below our house where I took the picture of the flowers and flag. We have Ciara's dog Leyla for the weekend. She had a great time going for a walk but she was constantly stepping on my snow shoes because she wanted to walk so close right behind me.

Backhoe seat

Isn't this a pretty picture? This is the seat out of the backhoe that Dad Gave me. The whole thing used to look like the back part. I hope to finish it tomorrow and when I do I will post the finished picture. I am hoping to slowly fix the backhoe aesthetically and mechanically. I still have a leaky injector to fix but I don't know enough about it yet to dive into that. I hope to soon.

Here is the finished seat! I'm pretty happy with it and was able to fix it with stuffing and material I already had.

These are from last year, January 24th. I was going to go cross country skiing with Brielle and my mother but I got stuck while turning around on the lower Gore Rd. Thank goodness Uncle Ralph was logging near by and was a real sport about coming to pull me out.

coin ring

Brielle and I went for a short walk in the woods today. It was nice to get out, even for just a short walk. When we got back I finally finished my first coin ring! It started out as the coin I have it pictured with. It feels rather bulky but I think that is because I am not used to wearing a ring on my middle finger. I got very lucky with the sizing, it is perfect. I don't know what the coin is made out of so it may not be a good idea to wear it much any way. For a proper ring you are supposed to use an old coin that is mostly silver but I don't have any and wouldn't want to waste one on my first attempt. It is fairly easy. I found the hardest part to be drilling out the center and filing it down so that the inside is smooth enough to wear.