Dream Job...

I think Raleigh, NC could support a cool place like this. Who's got some start up money?

Deus - Camperdown, Sydney from Deus Customs on Vimeo.

I didn't stumble upon this my self but saw it over at motorcycle photo of the day. Great site go check it out.

This Year's Garden

I planted our garden several weeks ago and so far it's been doing pretty well except for the caterpillars on my tomatoes and several of my herbs didn't come up (old seed I guess).
We bought some "Mr Stripey" heirloom tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, straight necked yellow squash, zucchini, acorn squash, egg plant and onions. Since I didn't till up a portion of the yard but instead used an existing raised bed my room as well as sunlight are slightly less than I would like. I'm not sure how the onions will do since they get the least amount of sunlight out of the bunch. It's not shady all the time but it's not full sun all day either.

The Little Garden

Red Pepper

We also planted several herbs in pots on the deck: Chocolate Mint, basil, sage, dill. These are all growing well but the rosemary, oregano, cilantro, parsley and chives all have done nothing. Not sure why but it's pretty annoying. Oh well, what is growing looks good and I can't wait to start harvesting!

Chocolate Mint

Sweet Basil

Sage

Wife..

I bet none of you know as much as I do what a great wife I have! I was just thinking of the crazy first 1.5 years of marriage we've had and also how great it all has been! Wouldn't trade it!

Just look at all this B-day stuff she whipped up last Nov literally days after we moved in !! And she does so much more it's ridiculous!

I love you Molly!!

MMMM...BEER....

So I've been pretty excited about trying some new beers here in Iowa that are not available back east. And as always I'm a big supporter of buying local as often as you can to help promote smaller brewery's and let them now that people are taking notice that they are creating good tasting beer. So I was given permission the other day to run across the street and pick up a six pack and this is what ended up in our fridge. "Iowa Pale Ale" brewed by Millstream Brewing Company out of Amana, IA. I have never disliked pale ales but I rarely buy them, I'm not sure why, but this little guy reminded me that good pales are REAL GOOD PALES. I also liked their play on IPA but instead of India it's Iowa. I also like the trees made out of hops on their label. I don't feel that I'm capable of describing what is going on within the tastes of these beers given that there is such an incredible amount of work that that goes into them and I'm but a novice in this game. So I'll keep my comments to, it tasted great, and I like their artwork. As I become a little more learned maybe I'll venture into describing the flavors and the variety of hops being used in the beers I try but I have a ways to go.

I been eying this bottle in the store now since we moved here and I haven't tried it yet because of the cost. About $5.50 a bottle. So I finally caved (Molly wasn't with me). It's brewed in Scotland in the oldest inhabited home in the country! I gotta say this is the best beer I've had in a while. Brewed with Coriander it takes an interesting taste and is easy to drink even in light of it's 8% ABV. The color was a very pleasant dark cola brown with a very thin white head.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

My wonderful wife gave me a gift for Christmas this year that keeps on giving! It's a TrueBrew Gold home brewing kit!! I know!! So, after I read a ton more and scape together a little cash to buy ingredients I'll hopefully be brewing some tasty stouts and porters. Then when the weather warms pales and wheats... mmmm...
So the kit comes with a 7 gal food grade bucket with a hole in the top for a airlock and a hole near the bottom for a valve, a glass 6.5 gal carboy for second fermentation, a siphon hose with bottling valve, a brush for bottle cleaning, a hydrometer, an adhesive thermometer to stick to the carboy, an airlock and stopper, a bottle caper, cleaning solution and a beginners book to home brewing. So wish me luck and stay tuned to see what comes out of all this...

Calling for Snow...

So they are calling for up to 6 inches which I think we could get if it stays like this. These are the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen!

Finally!!!

For the first time since Molly and I have been married we finally got a decent internet connection! (I'll wait for the whistling and the applause to go down...) Don't get me wrong, we had internet in Charlotte, but it was less than fun walking around the house with the laptop looking for a single bar so that you can check your e-mail. However, this internet connectivity had it's bumps along the way... I called up the company we decided to go with just over two weeks ago and signed up for their DSL connection with no contracts for what I think was a pretty good price, $30 per first six months then up to $40 after that. After about 4-5 days later our modem showed up on our doorstep a letter stating to not hook it up until the internet was turned on, which was going to be that night (Wed) at 5pm. I plugged it in and waded through the instructions of what to do when. I didn't get very far when it was apparent that we had no signal. Hmm, I called our landlord Tom (who is great) and told him that our phone jack in the house had some cut wires and I think that might be the reason. He came out and checked everything out with an electrician and they said that there was a disconnect somewhere outside. Back on the phone with the internet people and made an appointment for the tech to come out on Monday between 8-12am b/c Molly was off that morning. Long story short they never showed up. Called them back on Monday evening and made an appointment for Tues. Never showed. Called them back and made an appointment for Wednesday. You guessed it! Called back again and the lady told me that they did come out on Tues but didn't find anything wrong outside. (I kept asking what happened to Monday or Wednesday and got no answer. So I made ANOTHER appointment for Thursday. The tech guy called me and said that it was disconnected in the box on the pole outside! I said "THAT WHAT I TOLD THEM!" So I have no idea what the guy who supposedly came out on Tuesday did but he certainly didn't check outside on the pole like what was suggested. Oh well that my rant about this whole thing. I'm glad that we have internet now but good grief!