L has been learning karate. Today was his test day. We don’t know whether he passed or not, but he performed his punches, kicks, and blocks really well. He wants to be a karate teacher when he grows up.
Big-Budget Commercial
Pam and I were winding down in front of the TV the other day when we saw something that made both of us exclaim. I had just hit the fast-forward to get through the commercials–gotta love PVRs–when we noticed that something was very different. We stopped, rewound to the beginning of the commercial break and then were shown this 3-minute commercial. Wow! I wonder what its budget was. Apparently the target audience for our show is rich suburban females.
Bottles, Bottles, and More Bottles
Saturday was bottling day. After making a quick run to the store to buy some bottles and corks and rent a corker and filter, it was time to take the wine out of the carboy and put it into bottles for long term storage.
We ran into a bit of a snag right away because I couldn’t seem to get the pump on the electric filter primed. After working at it for a bit, I decided that the wine would be fine without being filtered and so we moved it from the carboy into the pail, leaving most of the sludge behind in the carboy. Everyone wanted to have a look as the siphoning was going on. Hopefully no hair found its way into the wine.
Then it was time to put it into bottles and cork them. Everyone got a turn loading the corks and pulling on the handle.
There was a little sampling involved in the process—not by any of the junior winemakers, of course. The jury is still out on the finished product. It will be interesting to see how the taste profile of the wine changes as time goes on.
I Cannot Accept Your Rejection At This Time
Given how I’ve fared on the job market this year, it’s very tempting to send a letter like this to some of the places that haven’t given me a job.
Winemaking 101
As some of you know, Pam gave me some winemaking equipment for Christmas. About a week ago, I disinfected the equipment, filtered about 20 litres of water with our Brita, and added it, along with about 8 litres of juice concentrate, some yeast, some oak chips, and other goodies to my “primary fermenter” (i.e., a large 7-gallon food-grade plastic pail). Since the “must” (i.e., the juice mixture) needs to be at a comfortable temperature in order for the yeast to do its work, I set the pail in L and K’s bedroom—they have a heater in their room so it doesn’t get as cold at night. It wasn’t long before the entire upper floor of our house smelled like a winery. The must starts out heavier than water and ultimately, when the yeast has stopped converting sugar to alcohol, ends up lighter than water. Yesterday I tested the wine with my hydrometer and its specific gravity was in the appropriate range to be “racked” into my “secondary fermenter” (i.e., the large clear-plastic jug). So that’s what we did.
L was fascinated by the siphoning process and I had to explain to him how the liquid could continue to flow through the hose even though nothing was pumping it. It’s too early to tell if the end result will be drinkable, but we’re hoping. Does anybody have some empty wine bottles lying around? I’m eventually going to need about 30 of them, and although I’ve already taken some from our neighbours’ recycling bins, I’m a little reticent to be seen poking through my neighbours’ garbage.
More Christmas
For some the Christmas season is long over. We finished up Christmas in Riding Mountain last weekend so to me it still feels like Christmas. Lowell is back to classes so for him the everyday routine has resumed. I finally downloaded more pics today and thought I would share some with you.
My favourite Christmas presents were a bowl and mug handpainted by L and K (I was a bit teary).
K was happy with her cradle for her babies who have been alternating between sleeping and eating since.
L was very excited to get “what I always wanted” in his present from Santa, it’s wooden pieces that you put together to make a marble run.
One for Lowell’s presents was an apron that I made for him. He had remarked one time too many that he needed an apron to wipe his hands on when he cooks.
I did alot of sewing for Christmas presents this year. I thought that I was on top of things and enjoying my time in front of the sewing machine; I only worked on one project at a time and didn’t commit to another homemade gift until I was finished the current project. Somehow the last 2 weeks just hit me and truth be told I think that if I was given to anxiety attacks I would have had a couple those last few days. Now that I have had a few days to regroup my scattered thoughts I can actually enjoy looking at the photos of my projects and start dreaming of my next project. I got a serger for Christmas so I will confess that I was at the fabric store today, but I was just thinking, I didn’t by anything….yet.
So what was I working on; cousin C got a chef’s hat, oven mitts and an apron, but I didn’t get a picture of her in that. Opening the next present was on her mind. Aunty I has been asking for pajamas with feet. Be careful what you ask for you might just get it.
Aunty C also got an apron and some placemats.
Cousin T got a cloth quiet book. Aunty C and I worked on it together each doing 5 pages. We consulted several blog sites for ideas and then designed our own, just like the blog sites say they aren’t hard to make, but they sure are time consuming. We thought he might get some use out of it in the hospital and in the weeks to come.
Merry Christmas
The weather outside is definitely not frightful. We have been outside playing in the snow in Pansy. L and K discovered a new kind of winter fun; the four wheeler!
It was a hit with everybody, K informed me that she didn’t fall off when she went for her ride.
Unfortunately L and L and K came down with the flu yesterday afternoon and cut their visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s short. Thankfully I am not yet sick, not sure if it is just a ticking time bomb or if I will escape. Finally after L decided to go to the Philosophy Conference he ended up staying home this morning, perferring not to spend his time in Washington in a hotel bathroom.
How Do You Like My Chances?
I received the following email today
Dear Applicant,
Thank you for your interest in the Tulane Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Positions in the Humanities. We have received over 500 applications for our 2-3 postdoctoral fellowship positions.
The Mellon Committee will review the applications and will determine a short list by the end of January 2012. We expect to have a final list by the middle of Feburary. We will contact you if we have questions.
Sincerely,
***** ******
A Cool, Local (and compelling) Rendition of Drummer Boy
You can read the story and watch the video here.
Bonhomme de neige
We have been enjoying the beautiful weather. Saturday morning we built a fantastic snowman thanks to a kit that we recieved as a family Christmas gift last year. Yesterday L went to school and discovered the french word for snowman and now we talk about la bonhomme de neige and look for them everywhere.
L’s favourite tv show is CBC’s Artzooka. They have a contest running right now, the grand prize is craft supplies. L would like to win and I would like it if he did too, the paper drawer is always on the verge of running out. For the contest L had to make a muscial instrument and upload his picture to cbc kids. Of course L’s drum is decorated with a picture of a dragon breathing fire on some unsuspecting knight. Yesterday L wrote and illustrated a book entitled “Dragon”. The narration went like this; “Dragon is breathing fire”, “Dragon is attacking” (here he made a lift the flap, the top is a knight and underneath is a pile of ashes), “Dragon is attacking the castle”. By now I suppose that you are catching on to the theme in our house.