Second fermentation

Saturday we poured the beer from the plastic bucket, above, to the glass carboy so it can ferment some more but more importantly, clarify. This is what it looks like now. Who'd want to drink this?

This was what was left behind in the bucket:

Now it's sitting on the kitchen counter, wrapped in a towel to keep it out of the light.

Tonight we plan on bottling. That should be fun. It will involve siphoning the beer from the carboy, back into the plastic bucket. Then using the spigot of the bucket to fill the 40+ bottles.

No, making beer is not easier or cheaper than buying it, but it's fun to make your own things. Right? Right?

First bud

On May 20th I planted the bare root Scentimental rose, posted here.

Now, less than a week later, it's put out it's first bud. It's a leaf bud, not flower bud, but I'm still excited.

The growth hormones will send all the nutrients into the buds. If there's no latent bud up towards the tip of the stub beyond the bud that's growing, the stub will becomed deprived of nutrients and shrivel up. Then I'll come along and prune off the stub. Or I won't and it'll just stay there, being a dead stump and the rose bush will just keep on growing.

Roses really aren't hard to grow, any more than knitting is hard to do, or wine hard to enjoy. These are areas where people can really delve into the complexities and debate the merits of noisettes vs floribundas vs hybrid teas and so on, or cotton vs wool vs bamboo, etc.

Or we can just enjoy the pretty, fragrant flowers growing in the sun, while knitting a garterstitch cotton blanket, and enjoying a glass of white wine that was on sale at the grocery store. It's all good.

Second beer

I had a post all written but it's gone.

Anyway, Husband and I started our second batch of beer, an Imperial Blonde Ale. It boiled over and we got sticky stuff all over the stovetop and down into the triple glass paned oven door. Long story short, we now know how to take apart the overn door and clean it.

It's sitting in a corner away from direct light and in a few days we'll be bottling it. Then it should be ready for sharing with the friends and relatives coming for Fourth of July.

We have a name picked out for it, and will be having labels made. Will post pictures when ready.

A hole in my head and the role of genetics

Had a tooth removed today. The second from the last molar on the lower right side.

A year or so ago, I had a molar, second from the last, removed from the upper left side.

It's going to take a lot longer to eat now, and I already am a slow eater.

An hour later, I had lunch with Brother One. By that time, a big ol' blood clot had formed so I could eat, but half my face was still numb. It was a very weird experience. At least I didn't drool.

At lunch Brother One and I argued for 2 hours about nature vs nurture. He believes that life is 50% nature, 50% nuture. I disagree and give much much less weight to nature. You can have all the talent in the world, but it's society that grants or denies opportunities and your own decisions and choices too that determine how or whether you develop that talent.

After 2 hours, it was clear that neither one would change our minds and so we ended lunch.

It all started because I mentioned that I was having a nerdy day. I've been watching "Chuck" on Hulu and Chuck works as a member of the Nerd Herd that does home visits to fix computers. Then I was listening to the episode "Revenge of the Nerds" on the podcast "To the Best of Our Knowledge" on Wisconsin Public Radio.

The first segment was with Benjamin Nugent the author of "American Nerd: The Story of My People." He mentioned how WASPs would place themselves in the middle of a continuum that started with animals on one end, progressed to African Americans, Native Americans, then WASPs in the middle as "normal" and on to Asian Americans and machines at the other end. Nerds fall inbetween WASP and Asian American.

(As an Asian American, I guess this automatically makes me a nerd. And I am. I have no problem with saying that. Though whether I'm a dork as well is another issue.)

Anyway, clearly there are lots of problems with this continuum and the author discredits it. I mentioned this to Brother One and he started arguing that there are genetic differences between the races that give one race an edge over others in different areas.

That raised all kinds of red flags for me. Nazism and eugenics, the US forcibly sterilizing Puerto Ricans, segregation of all kinds, come to mind.

But Brother One was talking about evolutionary psychology which I read about in grad school but was treated very warily by sociologists. And that's just the beginning of our disagreement. I don't want to rehash our 2 hour argument here. I already have a headache from the hole in my head.

So this is what I have to look forward to this weekend:
1. hanging up some pictures
2. hanging out with Husband. Always nice.
3. Watching Pan's Labyrinth on DVD, which I got from the library.
4. More "Chuck"
5. More crocheting.
6. The Caribbean Festival on Auburn Avenue.

Maybe we will start up another batch of beer. We already have the kit to make Imperial Blonde Ale. We're down to about the last 8 bottles of the first batch and we're expecting 10 of Husband's relatives and friends from out of town for July 4 weekend. It would be nice to have some home brew to share.

Noro Shawl

Two projects done in one week!

This is a basic garter stitch top down shawl, knit on size 9 needles in Noro Taiyo and Furisode yarns. I cut out the colors I didn't like and kept the ones I did like and here it is.

It's just big enough to wrap around the shoulders and pin in front to keep the chest warm. I need to get a shawl pin. I got one in Denver last year when visiting BestFriend, but somehow lost it in the move.

Morning Planting -- Scentimental Rose

This morning, I took 15 minutes to plant the Scentimental floribunda rose that came in the mail yesterday. It came bareroot and I soaked it in water overnight.

It's pretty windy on the balcony. I hope it's still standing when I get home.

Fortress of the White Heron

A few years ago, I took a class on printmaking and this is what I consider my masterpiece.

It's the Fortress of the White Heron in Japan. I loved the picture I saw in a book about architecure masterpieces around the world. It's white with green roofs and I love that color combo.

This one is the second of 2 prints I made because it's such a process to make each print.