Covid inaction

We are into week #2 of our new COVID-19 lifestyle. It has been unpleasantly symptomatic so far: 101° fever, loss of taste, aches aplenty and energy shortages.

I was diagnosed at the doctor's office on June 27th, and home tests yesterday (3 Jul) show we both remain actively infected. So we await negative tests +5 days before rejoining the world at large.

We'll never know where we encountered it. Food shopping, drive up coffee shack? We've done so little public stuff that it is a real surprise that Covid found us.

Update - Friday tests (6 Jul) showed my spouse negative but me still positive. Another lost weekend coming up!

first batch!

When celiac disease wrecked my ale-brewing hobby in early 2005, I wasn't sure what to drink, much less what drink to invent. I actually went from the doctor visit that confirmed my diagnosis directly to the brew-shop, where I bottled an ale I wouldn't get to drink. That sucked!

I figured I'd become a wine snob. I liked a few German whites like Müller-Thurgau and Gewürztraminer - but pretending to swish and sniff didn't create a nasal impression that I could casually toss to a crowd. Also, I got wine headaches pretty readily, and don't ask how my wine-tasting night ended in 2008. So wine never took.

Recently I discovered cider. Yummy and versatile, generally with an apple base and lots of room for other fruity improv in the mix. My limit seems to be around 1½ glasses so I'm just an alcohol wimp (well 1½ whiskeys I might manage.. no skip that). In general the process is similar to beer making: get a 5 gallon container, make a large mess around it, then walk away for a week or two before siphoning, then come back later for bottling. Hey I can do this!

Nearly every sibling had a stash of beer gear that they weren't putting to full use, so my brother Larry gifted me a couple of carboys and other items as an early birthday event. His son had created a fine pear-apple mashup (literally!) from the back yard, and the fruit waits for no man - of any gender. So today it was time!

Larry rented us a fine cider-maker, with a power shredder to pulverise the fruit and a screw-down tamper to squeeze the remnants and release the juicy goodness. An hour or more of that, plus a similar time gathering the ingredients, and we had two 5g buckets of must! "Must" in that sentence being a technical term, and "5g" in my case being about three gallons - my wife wouldn't be aiding in the consumption, so I needed to exercise restraint. Yay, I exercised today!

So on to the next steps. I dropped in some sulfites this evening to purge any mutant yeasts hiding in Larry's back yard, and in a few days it's yeast-awakening time. Then after a couple of weeks watching it burp through the air-lock we'll see about bottles. Gosh I used to have so many fifteen years ago; where does the time go? And escpecially, the bottles?

This being the first batch of cider, I had no feel for the process and accepted that pear and apple would be the two fruits in play. Once we see how this develops perhaps more improvisation will come to mind.

And speaking of improv: it needs a name (Mu'ad-dib? nah)! I was really good at that in the past with my ales (e.g. 'Limping' Bitter in 2000 when my L5|S1 disc ruptured), but when dating an elf and Second Foundationer most of my names became of Middle Earth. So whither then? I cannot say.

Praps mirúvor? Hm that's more likely mead than cider, so that should be saved for another adventure. 

Hm, hom. More contemplation needed. Thank goodness this stuff takes its time becoming itself!

storm number one

 The first storm of the new season arrives in two days, and it will impress.

The latest numbers are lower than previous forecasts, yet still massive in many places. The weekend total was closer to three inches at Kelso, now 1.24" is shown. Friday night's official forecast is for 1-2 inches on the hill-top, so this evening was spent scraping off the rooftop moss from last year's fine crop. I'll blow out the gutters tomorrow since they captured most of it.

I also swept the woodstove chimney. It shouldn't be needed as this moist storm will keep temperatures in the mid-fifties Friday night when the greatest moisture dumps upon us. Thunderstorms are reasonable on Saturday.

This deep moisture means it's time to get the grass seed in place soon. No time to get it in place before the storm, and one this powerful would just was the seed into puddles - so gentler storms or strategic sprinklering is planned for next week. 

update/reality: at 10pm Friday we had 0.02" of light rain. An hour later we had 1/3", and nine hours later we had 1¼". Now for the thunder and random heavy showers, which are expected through Sunday.

practicing for the equinox

 The weather has taken a rather cool turn! I'd say showery too, but really just drizzle with a few heavier droplets. We've had a third of an inch this month, and some fell up in Anacortes during our visit. 

The forecast is for sub-80° weather for the next week, so outdoor work is possible. Sadly it won't be happening: a sag has appeared in our bathroom floor, and something is dripping in the area beneath that part of the house. I'm still trying to determine the best approach to the area - from beneath a layer of thick fabric hides the pipes, from the side I'm staring at a metal beam, and approaching from above may be the only sane choice. The water is tepid at best, so it's not hot water being wasted. In the meantime the water is turned off except for brief uses, and a large container holds enough to scoop out for a warm or cold drink.

I guess once it's done it will be time to redecorate the (master) bathroom with new flooring and some nice tile. This place needs work in more than one area, and it's sad to spend much on fixing small items. We do as we must.