We got out for a three mile run yesterday and checked out part of the Volksweg trail that we haven't run on for a while. The weather was pretty much perfect for running and we even got to see a sunset.
Normally wouldn't break out the Everclear in the middle of a work-day but we ate lunch at West-Market park. I hadn't yet used the liquor/fuel we bought in Moab this past May. I'd almost forgotten where it came from actually, since the state of Iowa has decided that it's illegal to sell here. I'll have to drive to Nebraska or Missouri next time I need more fuel for the Trangia.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Long time with no post again, I'll go with "work has been a zoo and I didn't feel like it". There, I knew this picture would come in handy for something. This isn't a real big zoo though, we just have a giraffe, elephant (possibly goring something?), and a bean-stalk.
Brewing has been going well - this was the third batch and used up all remaining ingredients we had. I now have five gallons each of nut-brown ale, cream ale, and some sort of tarted Belgian ale. There are LOT more steps than wine-making but it all goes so much quicker (no waiting for months and years), plus it's fun to do some actual cooking with it too.
A handy by-product of brewing is the spent grains, which birds seem to be a big fan of. This pile is even bigger now and there definitely aren't enough birds around to eat it. It doesn't seem to be spoiling yet so hopefully it'll last a while.
Plus it just makes you feel good to know that these baby birds are being fed with only the freshest beer grains.
I have no idea what this fungus is. It's been on our garage for a little while now and if ever I might have seen a magic mushroom, this would seem to be it.
Got some video of the out-flow from Red-rock this past weekend. It's about 22k cfs here. Should be at 30k by tomorrow I believe. This is still low enough that none of the camp-grounds or roads get consumed. The forecast looks to be somewhat drier moving forward, so that should help.
Corrine and I had a picnic (Arby's) dinner on the beach Friday night. The weather was about perfect and the sun kept peaking out every now and then. It becomes more obvious to me all the time how much I need outdoors and open spaces. Just this short trip really filled me up and made everything feel great again. I need to make a point of getting out away from town more so I can get some photography inspiration going again.
Saturday morning was cool and cloudy. I left the house with long-sleeves and a coat on, never imagining I'd get sunburn like crazy. We went for a float on the Des Moines with friends and it wasn't far down river before the sun peeked out and temps warmed right up. It turned out to be a perfect day to do this. We definitely had a great time and after finding the tiniest little rapid near the end, the whitewater bug has certainly latched on and isn't going anywhere. First I think we'll find a vessel other than a Sears "Free Spirit" lake raft that I bought at an auction for $2.
Here I am powering the Free Spirit. It really didn't work too bad except that roughly 75% of energy expended goes into directional control and 25% is for forward motion. Do my sunglasses look messed up on my face? Yes, they do only have one temple. No they are not comfortable. I can't believe they made it to the end without falling off in the water.
Using the Free Spirit's cavernous space to take a break from direction control.
This is a retired rail bridge that has been a single-lane car bridge as long as I can remember. One end of it is still held up by wooden pylons. You can see its replacement in the background. The old bridge was still in service until just few years ago when this highway was redone.
The latter half of Saturday was the big day. Brewing time! I've got the new kettle heating up here. Everything was a success thus far and it's fermenting nicely in the house right now. There are a LOT more steps than making wine, but it's really not any harder. It definitely needs more equipment and a larger variety of ingredients though. This was a five gallon kit and I've got two more kits to go after this one. Anyone need lots of beer?
Monitoring a boil.
Storm after storm after storm it would seem. This one rolled through while I was at work yesterday and as I sit here typing this, another fairly severe one is passing over.
We usually have mourning doves hanging around our house but I've never seen them act this tame before. Corrine was working in the backyard and they just stayed right here while we walked around and talked about them. Perhaps they knew the storm was coming - I may have looked for better cover though.
Sunset from last week sometime I think? Saw it left over on the SD card and thought I'd post it.
In startling contrast to the extreme drought and fires out west, we've been having some pretty epic rain here. I'm not sure if the reported 24hr. total for Pella is correct, but the Des Moines area is reporting a pretty solid 5" all over. They even got some 1.75" hail. Fort Dodge got 4.5" which is an area that adds heavily to the river and lake levels here. The current forecast calls for the lake level to jump 7' over the next few days. I'm guessing it will end up being higher than that after the gauges up-river start reporting updated flows.
Imagery and weather data courtesy of Weather Underground and wunderground.com
I would have automatically assumed the 6.42" of rainfall was an error until I saw this on the way to work, and this is hours after the rain stopped falling.
