Walking the plank

It's raining now, so I thought a few photos should get thrown up real quick.  We had a lovely weekend that started with putting new brakes and rotors on Sarah's Element.  At some point, Jonas got to go for a swim at the B-dale swimming hole, and we had a nice campfire on Saturday evening.  Sarah and I have been working on some little projects as well, but since none of them are done yet, you'll have to wait on the pictures for those.

I think Jonas turned 13 this year!  Crazy.  Except for the fact that he doesn't run with me anymore, and needs to take shorter walks, it's really hard to tell that he's an old man.  Sarah has been reminding me lately how lucky we are.  She sees a lot of animals younger than ours who are in worse shape.  We ran a bunch of errands Thursday getting ready for the brake job and the weekend.  Jonas was a trooper, so at the end, we walked from Brookton's Market down to the swimming hole and played stick for awhile.  He and I had the place to ourselves.  It was really nice.

There is a long story about how I wound up doing Sarah's brakes, but in the end, it saved us a bunch of money and I got yet another lesson in car maintenance.  If you're ever looking, Advance Auto always has 30% off coupons available (find them on retailmenot.com).  Buy the parts online to use the coupons, then go to the store to pick them up.

I don't feel like writing too much.  There's a story here, but let's leave it at, these springs are really hard to put back together.  Thanks to Erik and Nathan for moral and informational support.

Indy's been doing pretty well.  You can see she's sitting with that leg kicked out a little here, but overall, she seems much happier and in significantly less pain.  It doesn't hurt that we're in the middle of squirrel season; her favorite.

On Saturday Nathan came down from 'Cuse and Erik and Margaret and The Bandit joined us and Jenn, Bob, and Zhora for a cookout.  At some point, the kids started playing with the grown up Lincoln logs we have strewn all over the yard.  I got the idea that it would be fun to make a little jungle gym, so out came the chainsaw.  After a few minutes, we had a respectable little play thing.  El Bandito was happy to have a plank to walk and told a few pirate jokes.

Zhora and The Bandit ran back and forth and jumped off of the logs for the remainder of the night.  It provided a nice diversion for the adults as well.  I tried to give lessons on the "tuck and roll", but no one really understood the importance of a good exit strategy.  Once they've broken a few bones or voted for a few presidents they'll appreciate it more.

Note my expression.  This was an authentic moment.  The Bandit developed an impressive gap crossing strategy on his own.  Man, learning is fun!

Don't blame him... Would you trust that guy?

Keeps the voices out.  Added benefit; keeps strangers away.  Also, the hat went surprisingly well with the beard.

Foil Bull!

On Sunday Nathan helped me go back and grease the caliper slides.  Then Sarah and I crafted for a bit, then we went riding.  Rambo is doing great, old and blind or otherwise.

It was a lovely day except for the bugs.  We had a nice little breeze that helped to keep them down.  When we came home, we worked on our projects a little more, watched a movie, and called it the weekend.  Not bad.

Now we're looking ahead and see our trip to Ohio on the horizon.  Zhora will be coming with us and two of the dogs, I think, so it should be an interesting trip.  We'll be in Ohizzy for 3 1/2 days and have Art in the Park, Drumms, and family time on the agenda, so it'll be the usual busy fun.  Well, the rain has stopped, so I guess I should bet back out there.  Sit vis vobiscum!

Happy summer vacation!

This is a hodge-podge from the past week's events. School finally ended on the 25th, about two weeks later than appropriate.  The kids were absolutely bonkers by the end of it.  Last Monday my truck broke down on the way to school.  Fortunately, Sarah had already gotten to work (her care was in the shop for new brakes), but that left me stranded on a school day.  Erik, being the chivalrous young man that he is, came to my aid and we got to work in time to take the kids to Taughannock park for a field day.  AAA towed my truck to Erik's so that we could work on it later.

Wednesday was a half day.  We spent the first part of the day dealing with chaos at school and the second half dealing with the truck.

 

The good old Hayne's book.

Oops.  New alternator had to be snaked down through all kinds of crap.  We had to remove a bunch of hoses, which went find, but when we reattached them, this one got tightened too much.  The plastic on the top of the radiator cracked right off like it was designed that way.

New radiator: $135.  Plastic pipe and epoxy: :$10.  Will it hold?  Time will tell.

While Erik and I worked on the car and made some grappa, Vinnie dug the dead woodchuck out from under Erik's stoop.  Truly yeoman work.  I was very impressed... also gagging.

So, for some time, I've wanted to have a way to carry my axe and saw and coffee all at the same time.  Obviously, that is one more tool than I have hands.  As usual, google had the answer.  And, as usual, someone else had already done something cool.  Ray Mears sells something like this on his website, but after looking at it, I figured with Sarah's help, this wouldn't be an impossible project.  After making a guard and a mask for the axe, the only thing left to do was to make a backpack.

Fine sewing and carpentry by Keith.

Looks good, but it's supposed to rain all week and rusty tools are no good.

Beeswax from the Farmer's Market.  Next year we'll just go to the back yard and harvest our own.

Mix linseed oil and beeswax, melt and paint on.  Use a hairdryer to melt it into the fabric, and let it dry.

Hands free axe carry.

Oil cloth will keep it all dry.

That's 50' of paracord woven into a strap.

Happy guy.  New toy.  Home made.

Another happy guy with his tools.  This is Erik's kid, the Bandit, with his new hammer and apron.

Vinnie and I are heading out on a canoeing trip tomorrow, so I took the canoe down to the swamp this morning to make sure it floated.

Jonas came along, too.

It was rainy, but beautiful, anyway.

The swamp looks like a rice paddy and reminds me of images of Vietnam.

Just a couple days too early for this flower.

Self portrait.

All packed up and ready to go.

Sit vis vobiscum.

Hopshire's Shepherds Pie Throwdown!

For Steve's birthday (cool dude Sarah works with) (not pictured) and just because it was Thursday, Sarah B, Steve, Erik, The Bandit, Margaret, and I all met at Hopshire Farm Brewery for a shepherds pie competition and to drink some great local beer.  What makes Hopshire special, besides that there beer is awesome, is that they are a farm brewery, which means they grow some stupid percentage of their ingredients right on property!  Hyper local! 

There were four shepherds pies to try and two new beers.  They made a 4.2% stout which is an awesome easy drinker.  10 years ago we were all looking for high alcohol palette wreckers, but now that's so 2000s and we're into the session, farmhouse, and other low alcohol beers with great flavor.  The shepherds pies were awesome, too.  They had a good turnout, but it wasn't out of control, so we all got seconds.

Erik and The Bandit in corral mode.

And then it was the weekend.

New Years, or there abouts

 Saturday I helped my friend Sam move some stuff into storage.  Across the tracks, over a one lane bridge tucked away on a no name street, I found this!  Sarah and I returned later in the day to check it out.

 Inside we met Frederic Bouche who is a fourth generation vintner, and the first to move the operation stateside.  He makes just two ports.  A red and a white.  But he has a beautiful and interesting collection of artifacts from the old winery in France.  Above is a home made smugglers belt.  It would hold 18 bottles worth of moonshine.  We both were enamored by Frederic and really appreciated his time and the incredible port that he makes.  I wish we'd've taken more pictures, but I guess we'll just have to go back again.

 We took a break from running errands to have a bite to eat at the new and improved Ithaca Beer Brewery.  Sarah and I have already begun saving bottles to make a clever up-cycled decorative divider like the one they have.  Yes mom, if it works out we'll build you one, too.

 This is the patio that is going to be so fun and entertaining come spring.  There are hop plants all over out there and the beams, poles, and strings will act as an elaborate hop trellis.

 Sarah enjoyed a flight of their heavier, winter beers, and looked lovely doing it.

 We drove past Buttermilk Falls on the way home.  It is apparently hibernating.

 Ummm... Sunday(?) we went skiing.  It was a lot of fun and already better than all of last season.

 Monday we went out for a little ride.  The horses are unshod and the ground is a little precarious.  I thought we were going to call it quites, but then Sarah saw the sled.

We had a lot of fun working with Rambo.  We remembered from the lariat days that just because the rider thinks the rope is not a snake does not mean the horse thinks the rope is not a snake.  And let me tell you, a horse reacts just like you would if you came upon a 30' snake that was striking at your neck! We got to work with the rope and dallying and pulling and backing and not freaking the heck out and jumping sideways... LOTS of fun!

So as you can see, after a little bit of time, things were going well enough to add a rider to the sled!

 Here is Sarah having a go at it as well.  We started with just the sled, then added the rim for some weight, then added a rider.

 Rambo was such a good sport!  You'd never suspect he was gonna be 30 this year!

 This is Erik's kid, The Bandit.  I think he's been introduced on the blog before, but he's acting more and more like a human being.

 A pretty cute one too.  He really likes my hat and kept putting it on and running around even though it comes down over his eyes.  He didn't scream or poop much while we were over for the New Years dinner and drinks which was cool, too.

 We took a potato soup that Jennifer gave us a recipe for.  Everyone found it delicious!  Sam grilled some moist and flavorful venison and made a great cashew chili.  We also took a bottle of port that we'd picked up for the occasion.

 This is from this morning after the dogs and I went out and played in the yard and brought in some firewood.  Indy had to warm her tootsies.

 So she could go back out and play some more!

 And go for an awesome hike.

This little guy is a common redpoll!  He is at the very back of my bird book and there was a whole flock of them on the feeder that Sarah was watching.  The red spot on their crowns is brilliant!  There were eight of them on the feeder a moment before I took this picture, but you'll have to just enjoy this guy and know that he is the bravest (or hungriest) in his flock.

Looking forward to another great year.