Sunfish Road

Here one day, gone the next ….

Guy — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:01:58 +0000

Well, I guess I was wrong about Winter being here. We got a warm front last night, with a strong line of thunderstorms, and when I woke up this morning, the temperatures were in the 50′s and all the snow was gone. The only remaining sign that Winter had been here is the ice that’s still covering the pond. It’s a muddy mess out there now of course. Unusual weather for unusual times I guess. I suspect we aren’t out of the woods yet though. Ohio weather is unpredictable, and Winter has a funny way of showing up when you least expect it. We’ll probably get 30″ of snow in April ….

Winter finally arrives ….

Guy — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:09:26 +0000

Well, it took a while, but Winter finally made it’s appearance. It’s been pretty mild until now, but with January comes the snow. We’ve had a couple of significant snowfalls over the past month, but this one is the biggest so far, and with the lower temperatures, this one is probably going to be around for a while. The ATV handles it fine, and the plow it came with has turned out to be a real benefit. The backhoe will be great when we get a heavy snowfall, but for these smaller ones, the ATV is perfect for clearing the drive quickly and efficiently. It’s so much more maneuverable, and the angled blade does a much better job of putting the snow where it needs to go. The dogs love the snow of course, and I always like to wander through the woods and see what sort of animal life has been around. It just amazes me how many things we have prowling around out there that we’d never know about if it wasn’t for the tracks they leave in the snow. The spring back by the bridge is really interesting this year … the water coming out is apparently still warm enough to keep some greenery growing, even though the nighttime temperatures have been in the single digits. Here are some pictures from around the ranch …

Now that’s it’s almost February, it’s a pretty safe bet that this will be a pretty mild Winter compared to the past few. Another 45 days and we’ll be headed into Spring. I like Winter up here, but Spring is the best season. We’re looking forward to it …..

Ho hum

Sue — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:38:13 +0000

So it’s nearly Christmas, another year practically in the books. Impossible to believe.

It’s currently 63 degrees outside according to my car thermometer. We had about a half inch of snow last week that was the only snow to really speak of so far this year other than a few random flakes here and there. Otherwise it’s been raining, and raining, then raining some more. Mud is a permanent condition around the ranch. It’s still preferable to snow though so I’ll stop the apparent complaining here. This time last year we’d had snow for a month already.

It’s been a bit of a crazy year, but as is normally the case, it could have been worse. For us and those we love, there were some deaths, some sadness, some health troubles, some bad situations and a lot of stress. There were also some beautiful days, health improvements, fun visits with family and friends and continued successes with businesses and jobs and life in general, so not all bad. It’s always important to remember the good, even when the bad seems overwhelming.

I can’t claim to be thrilled about the holiday season this year but it’s nice to be off work and see family so it’s not all bad. It’s harder every year to be excited about the holidays but I guess that’s normal when you’re not a kid any more and the realities of preparing for and dealing with the holidays can outweigh the fun. Fun may have been left in my childhood and I should probably find a way to be happy with what the holidays actually are instead of missing what they aren’t. Being a grown up is hard sometimes.

I do get to look forward to digging out the Christmas vests for the dogs and torturing them for another year. That’s always good for a laugh or two. They’ve gotten fat eating deer carcass so I hope they still fit in their vests, otherwise I have a sewing project ahead of me before the weekend.

So, that’s pretty much it. I hope everyone reading has a Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous and happy 2012. We will try to do the same.

So proud …..

Guy — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:35:43 +0000

A picture says a thousand words. I knew there had to be some reason why the dogs weren’t bugging me for dinner tonight. I felt so bad making her leave it outside ….

Killer Attack Dog ....

2011 Disaster Ale ….

Guy — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:09:51 +0000

Well, it had to happen eventually. I’ve been having pretty good results with my beer brewing up until now, but something went wrong with my last batch. It was supposed to be a slightly less hoppy clone of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but I took a little shortcut, and tried using a tea infusing ball to infuse the hops into the brew so I wouldn’t have to strain them out later. It wasn’t until after I was done brewing that I discovered that the hops had clumped up in the ball, and hadn’t become saturated. I thought that might not be a problem since I didn’t want it to be too hoppy anyway, but I was wrong. To complicate matters, something went wrong with the fermentation (I didn’t use enough yeast) and the yeast didn’t use up all the malt, so it came out way too sweet. There’s nothing more disgusting than sweet, malty beer with no hop flavor, and that’s what I got. I carbonated it, and tried to get used to drinking it, but I eventually decided it was undrinkable. Rather that throw it away or distill it, I decided to try fixing it. I warmed it back up and uncarbonated it, and then added a tiny bit of a sugar-digesting enzyme to free up some of the more complex sugars, and some alcohol tolerant champagne yeast to get the fermentation going again. Then, I took some nice fruity hops, and made a strong hop tea with them, and added that in an attempt to improve the hop character. The fermentation resumed as planned, and two weeks later, it was finished fermenting. I bottled some of it over the weekend, and kegged the rest of it today, and much to my surprise, I’m pleased to report that it came out pretty darn good …..

I’m calling it my 2011 Disaster Ale. Sue has been busy making Christmas candy to give as gifts, and assuming the bottled version of this ale is as good as the kegged version, I’ll probably be doing the same thing with my beer. Nothing but the best for my friends and family … LOL! I also have a smoked porter in the works too, and it tastes pretty good right now, but it supposedly gets better with age and I don’t want to rush it. If it’s ready by Christmas, maybe I’ll be giving away a little of that too …

Other than that, there’s not much to report from around here. It’s been a pretty warm November/December so far, but very wet. It’s kept us inside a lot, but I guess that’s not a big deal since we have a lot of things to do to get ready for Christmas. We’re looking forward to the holidays, and time with family, but it’s REALLY hard to believe the holidays are here again. Time just keeps flying by ….

Fall is upon us …

Guy — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:53:32 +0000

Fall has arrived, and winter will be here before we know it. It’s been a busy year, and it seems like a blur to us both. Where did the summer go? I don’t know, but wherever it went, it sure went fast. I didn’t even have time to take any pictures or post anything here. I found some time to take some pictures today though. I spent yesterday installing heat cable on our north and west roof eaves. Because this house is so well insulated, and we don’t heat the upstairs much in the winter, ice dams and huge icicles form on the gutters, and fall when it thaws, posing a threat to the people and the roofs below. This should solve that problem ….

We spent today just enjoying the beautiful weather, cleaning up some leaves and getting things ready for the colder weather. I have our firewood supply pretty well taken care of now, so other than a few odds and ends, we should be ready for the snow when it comes. Here are some miscellaneous pictures from around the ranch….

I’ve been busy learning how to brew beer, and I’m happy to say that I think I have a pretty good handle on it now. I’ve gotten away from “kits” and started brewing from recipes, and I must say my latest effort, a spiced holiday ale, was pretty darn good. It’s a lot cheaper to buy bulk materials and brew from scratch, and more fun too. I found a small micro brewery in Columbus that sells supplies to the public at great prices, which is a huge improvement over the internet sources I was using. I have about twenty gallons on hand now, and I plan to brew one more batch here shortly, so we should have plenty of tasty beer on hand for the holidays…

Come visit us, and help us drink it!

She’s a handful ….

Guy — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 04:41:25 +0000

We forgot what young cats were like, and our new kitty is a prime example. Between attacking me, attacking Dusty, and exploring every square inch of the house, knocking things over and rooting through anything that catches her interest, this cat is a real handful. She’s getting along with everyone so far though, and she’s very affectionate, so I’m sure she’ll mellow out a little as time goes on. She wanders into the woods when we let her, but she doesn’t seem to want to go far now, so I think she’s here to stay. Now all we need to do is get her interested in catching mice instead of laying around the house looking for someone to pet her!

Settling in

Sue — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:10:02 +0000

Kitty really seems to be settling in. We had some difficulties along the way so it’s been a long process. A day or two after we started bringing her in the house, she dared to lick a dish I put down for Sam and he didn’t care much for that, and all hell broke loose and she was pretty shaken up, although not injured. We basically had to start the acclimation process over after that happened.

We’ve been slowly bringing her in the house more often, for longer periods. We’re very careful not to let any bad experiences happen again, at least as far as we can control it. Dusty still hisses at her but she doesn’t hiss back and there’s no aggression from either party so that’s promising. Hopefully Dusty will at least stop hissing someday. I can hope for them to be buds but I’ll settle for them to just tolerate each other. Kitty is very curious of Dusty though and really wants to play with her. I feel bad that Dusty isn’t up for it, but again, toleration is all I’m aiming for at this point.

Kitty met me in the bathroom this morning which was a first. She played with a wadded up paper towel in the bathtub, then proceeded to break the soap dish. She left when I started up the shower but when I was done she was laying on the counter waiting for me. She stayed the whole time, walked me to the closet then the kitchen for breakfast. Dusty hissed but they both ate breakfast (in different areas of the kitchen). So, it was a successful morning. This is the first time Kitty has really hung out with me, and she has a ton of energy! I forgot how active a young cat can be. She’s going to need some toys or she’s going to be a handful. Maybe we can start letting her out a little now to burn some energy, assuming she’ll come back.

Still no name. Kitty works for now and that may end up being her name.

Extreme makeover …

Guy — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:51:24 +0000

Our new kitty is doing fine, and she seems to be content, hanging out in the garage and stuffing herself with food. She was pretty skinny when she came back, and she’s obviously hungry, so I’m having my doubts about whether she’s going to be a good mouser. Any cat that knows how to mouse wouldn’t be skinny living around here …

She’s going to need a good makeover too … I checked her for fleas today, and she had a bunch of them. So, she got a flea treatment this afternoon, and in a few days, she’ll be going to the vet for a checkup and all her shots. So much for a low-maintenance cat!

She should clean up pretty nicely though. She seems pretty healthy, and she’s getting along well with the dogs now. In a week or two, she should fit right in here …

She’s back!

Guy — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 23:32:32 +0000

Our neighbor called today, and asked me if we were still missing our cat. I said we were, and she told me one of the other neighbors up on the hill had found one. I stopped by and sure enough, it was our Tiger ….

Maybe if we give her lots of good food, and we can keep the dogs from spooking her, she’ll hang around this time ….