I am sitting here writing this from my sister-in-law's home. Since I last wrote we have basically moved in with her temporarily. It is far from ideal for everyone, but it beats the hell out of hotels!
Wrapping up flood related BS, over the weekend I had the joy of trying to find things to salvage from the wreckage of our apartment. You can see the pics of the mess here. It was not very fun. In fact it was probably one of the most depressing things I've ever done in my life. I was especially upset seeing as I had to make a frantic drive from Des Moines back to Coralville. It seems the building inspector people were off by a couple days on when people would be allowed back in. I did however find a good chunk of Ian's coin collection among the few things that could be salvaged in the muck. Seeing him happy was worth the trip and the expense.
We have completed all the necessary forms and are waiting to hear back from the SBA about a loan to buy our household back. It's not that big a rush since we don't have anywhere to put stuff. To that end, we are taking what we were able to put up on the second floor into storage tomorrow. We are renting a 10x10 space that should hold it all, plus they are letting us use their truck. It will be a load off my mind having that stuff safe.
Speaking of keeping things safe, do not let my daughter near anything technological. In the past 5 days she has drowned my cell phone in the clothes washer as well as delivering a death blow by Gatorade to my wife's quite expensive digital camera. That SBA loan will come in very handy indeed.
On to brighter news, I finally got to try my batch of beer that I had bottled just prior to the flood. I am calling it Flood Mud to mark the occasion. I though it especially apropos due to the color of the beer and timing of this all. It is more of a brown porter than the robust porter that I had envisioned, but it is such a wonderful tasting beer that I don't mind. The bourbon is very faint and subtle in the back ground while the vanilla is nice and strong up front for now and should mellow nicely with age. Absolutely no odd tastes in there at all. It is a little light as far as mouth-feel and ABV go, but I don't mind a dark beer that I could drink 4 or 6 of on a hot day!
No quotes for now, I am lucky enough to have a 30% signal off someone in this neighborhood, so I am not pushing it to just idly surf.
ttfn
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Before Video
To contrast the flood video of yesterday, I have posted a video from less than 24 hours earlier below.
We dropped off our dog at the humane society shelter the other day. It was pretty rough on the kids, but it should be good for Tulip. She will get her shots caught up and a checkup and all.
On a good note, we got our temp housing assistance from FEMA today. It will help a ton in making ends meet in the short term here.
Vid:
We dropped off our dog at the humane society shelter the other day. It was pretty rough on the kids, but it should be good for Tulip. She will get her shots caught up and a checkup and all.
On a good note, we got our temp housing assistance from FEMA today. It will help a ton in making ends meet in the short term here.
Vid:
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Flood Video
Here is my video of my place all flooded. It has taken me forever to get a connection that could handle the upload.
Vid:
Vid:
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Floods
We are currently flooded out of our home. All spring I have been concerned about the amount of rain and the generally high level of the river by our house, but that all came to a head last week.
I took off from work early on Wed and we started packing things up. On Thursday I moved most of the stuff that absolutely could not be replaced and other important items up to a vacant apartment on the second floor of our building. About 4 or 5 in the afternoon we checked into the Baymont Inn to wait out the flooding. Everyone kept saying it was not going to amount to much, but I had told everyone that anything below the window level in our apartment should go up higher. There just was not enough time to move everything and we had to get out eventually.
It's a good thing we did. Thursday night the water came up 2 feet in 2 hours. It went from ankle deep to knee deep Thurs night to waist deep on Fri morning. Just before my son and I helped sandbag the local tattoo shop Thursday night, I went back and got the animals out. Later during the night Thursday people on my street had to be rescued by boat. Friday morning, after the water had come up so high and was being forecasted to go another 3 -5 feet, I dodged cops and national guardsman to go move stuff up to the landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors. I also grabbed our wedding album which we had forgotten was put up high in our apt. The water inside was up almost to my neck. Our apartment is a half in the ground apt, so it makes it worse for flooding (but better for tornados)
It was a mess inside. The couch and entertainment center were floating in the living room. My son's TV was floating in his room along with his dresser. My daughter's room was a mess of floating objects since none of her toys made it upstairs. This is where one of the biggest heartbreaks of my life occurred. My daughter is not too materialistic. Yes she likes to get things, but she isn't big on keeping things. She gives away a lot of what she has as well. She has one doll in particular that she treats like a real baby - Gracie. It's a baby shoo shoo doll. It is somewhat expensive, but a really life-like doll in the true size of a newborn. She carts that doll everywhere. Well she had rushed help in packing up her room and it got tossed in with all her dolls in a tote. That tote was floating around in her room mostly full of nasty flood water.
When I came back and told her it was probably gone in the flood, she lost it. All throughout this she and my son have been great, but that just crushed her. It still makes my heart hurt to think of it. She is always so willing to help everyone and give people whatever she can and the only item she really cares about is gone. It just isn't right. God bless her though, she hasn't dwelled on it and everyone has been great to her since. She's had some bad dreams since though and we brought her over to the FEMA councellors. It seems to have helped.
Speaking of our kids, my son has really impressed me throughout this entire time. He had been volunteering with different sandbagging operations since the Monday prior to this. Not many 14 year olds would do anything, much less ask for a ride to go sandbag. After some initially grouching (and what teen doesn't) he really buckled down and did an awesome job getting things up higher in his room and helping with the whole process. He hasn't bitched or whined about being put out. He also suffered a pretty big loss. His currency collection was definitely under water when I snuck back in. He is very anxious about it, but like my daughter, he hasn't been dwelling on it. He been pretty damn stoic in fact. He even wanted to sneak in and help me move things when I went back in on Friday, though there is no way I would let him get in that nasty water. I think we may have done some good things in raising him. He has really made me proud this last week.
I am all set with new shots though. We are in the Baymont 'til Thursday. We'll probably spend a night in the shelter on Thursday night and then head to Des Moines for the weekend or something. The casino is going to cut me a deal on a room for a few days and hopefully by the middle of next week my sister-in-laws road will be dry enough that she can get back in and we'll stay with her for a while I guess.
Until something like this hits, you just don't realize what and who you are truly thankful for. We have so many truly heartfelt thanks to all the folks who have been so great to us, and for all the offers of help. We will probably be taking you up on many of them in the coming weeks. If you've been hit by the floods, our prayers are with you as well.
We love you all.
Linkage - pics and some vids:
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/Flood4
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/Flood302
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/BriCam613
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/FloodPics
I took off from work early on Wed and we started packing things up. On Thursday I moved most of the stuff that absolutely could not be replaced and other important items up to a vacant apartment on the second floor of our building. About 4 or 5 in the afternoon we checked into the Baymont Inn to wait out the flooding. Everyone kept saying it was not going to amount to much, but I had told everyone that anything below the window level in our apartment should go up higher. There just was not enough time to move everything and we had to get out eventually.
It's a good thing we did. Thursday night the water came up 2 feet in 2 hours. It went from ankle deep to knee deep Thurs night to waist deep on Fri morning. Just before my son and I helped sandbag the local tattoo shop Thursday night, I went back and got the animals out. Later during the night Thursday people on my street had to be rescued by boat. Friday morning, after the water had come up so high and was being forecasted to go another 3 -5 feet, I dodged cops and national guardsman to go move stuff up to the landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors. I also grabbed our wedding album which we had forgotten was put up high in our apt. The water inside was up almost to my neck. Our apartment is a half in the ground apt, so it makes it worse for flooding (but better for tornados)
It was a mess inside. The couch and entertainment center were floating in the living room. My son's TV was floating in his room along with his dresser. My daughter's room was a mess of floating objects since none of her toys made it upstairs. This is where one of the biggest heartbreaks of my life occurred. My daughter is not too materialistic. Yes she likes to get things, but she isn't big on keeping things. She gives away a lot of what she has as well. She has one doll in particular that she treats like a real baby - Gracie. It's a baby shoo shoo doll. It is somewhat expensive, but a really life-like doll in the true size of a newborn. She carts that doll everywhere. Well she had rushed help in packing up her room and it got tossed in with all her dolls in a tote. That tote was floating around in her room mostly full of nasty flood water.
When I came back and told her it was probably gone in the flood, she lost it. All throughout this she and my son have been great, but that just crushed her. It still makes my heart hurt to think of it. She is always so willing to help everyone and give people whatever she can and the only item she really cares about is gone. It just isn't right. God bless her though, she hasn't dwelled on it and everyone has been great to her since. She's had some bad dreams since though and we brought her over to the FEMA councellors. It seems to have helped.
Speaking of our kids, my son has really impressed me throughout this entire time. He had been volunteering with different sandbagging operations since the Monday prior to this. Not many 14 year olds would do anything, much less ask for a ride to go sandbag. After some initially grouching (and what teen doesn't) he really buckled down and did an awesome job getting things up higher in his room and helping with the whole process. He hasn't bitched or whined about being put out. He also suffered a pretty big loss. His currency collection was definitely under water when I snuck back in. He is very anxious about it, but like my daughter, he hasn't been dwelling on it. He been pretty damn stoic in fact. He even wanted to sneak in and help me move things when I went back in on Friday, though there is no way I would let him get in that nasty water. I think we may have done some good things in raising him. He has really made me proud this last week.
I am all set with new shots though. We are in the Baymont 'til Thursday. We'll probably spend a night in the shelter on Thursday night and then head to Des Moines for the weekend or something. The casino is going to cut me a deal on a room for a few days and hopefully by the middle of next week my sister-in-laws road will be dry enough that she can get back in and we'll stay with her for a while I guess.
Until something like this hits, you just don't realize what and who you are truly thankful for. We have so many truly heartfelt thanks to all the folks who have been so great to us, and for all the offers of help. We will probably be taking you up on many of them in the coming weeks. If you've been hit by the floods, our prayers are with you as well.
We love you all.
Linkage - pics and some vids:
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/Flood4
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/Flood302
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/BriCam613
http://picasaweb.google.com/zalaster/FloodPics
Thursday, June 5, 2008
My Day Off - So Far
I spent this morning cleaning the kitchen in preparation of bottling my bourbon-vanilla porter. I started at 8 am. After washing and sanititing 2 cases of bottles (and running out to the store for carbonation drops) I was finally bottling by 10:00. At 11:30 I had 4 bottles shy of 2 cases bottled! I lost one whole bottle to a capping mishap. (Somehow I squeezed so hard on the bottle that I crushed a neat line all around the top of the bottle, effectively removing the entire top 1 inch of glass.) I lost at least a couple more beers to spillage, so I was almost dead on for two full cases. Yehaw!
My wife even got adventurous and decided to help towards the end of the process. She wanted to go to the end of the year picnic at my son's school and I think was getting nervous about how long it was taking me to get things done. Then she really shocked me by trying the porter from the half full end of the run bottle. She often says things like - they always smell so good, but then taste so bad - about dark beers. This time however she told me that this beer would taste good once it was cold. Thats about the best I've heard about anything I have made so far.
Before I put everything away I re-sanitized my racking equipment and racked the lilac wine to a one gallon carboy. Heidi thought it was a ridiculously small amount for all the work that went into it, but I explained that it will make about 4 bottles of wine when it is done. I of course did a taste test as well as suckering Heidi into trying it. It's very cidery and vinegarish right now, but there is potential there. I can taste a little of the sweetish white wine flavor underneath. I will probably have to rack again in a month since I got a good amount of sediment this time. I should have paid more attention while I was racking.
By noon I had everything cleaned up and we were out the door by 12:30. Not too shabby.
As a total non sequitur I came across this yahoo list today of the best 25 alternative bands of the 90's. Talk about a load of crap! No Pixies? (They didn't break up til 92-93.) No Jane's Addicition? No Front 242 or Ministry? No Soundgarden? No ska at all? Those are only a few of the omissions. The only Boston bands are Dinosaur Jr. and maybe the Breeders - but only one Bostonian does not make it a Boston band - just look at Weezer. Putting Nirvana at #10, not to mention Sonic Youth at #23? WTF is this guy smoking? It must be a total reactionary piece, just to get people pissy enough to comment or pass it along to others... if that is the case Mr. Rob O'Connor, you have succeeded. Otherwise it is a travesty of musical criticism.
Anyways, thats all for now. It's 2:00 and the kiddos will descend upon me and shatter the peacefulness I am so enjoying in a few minutes.
Final notes on Bourbon-Vanilla Porter: ABV ~ 4.3 - 4.5%; clean, clean, clean taste; 44 12 oz bottles; carbed with coopers carbonation drops; nice vanilla note without being overpowering - the porter character still comes through nicely; no hot alcohol taste at all.
My wife even got adventurous and decided to help towards the end of the process. She wanted to go to the end of the year picnic at my son's school and I think was getting nervous about how long it was taking me to get things done. Then she really shocked me by trying the porter from the half full end of the run bottle. She often says things like - they always smell so good, but then taste so bad - about dark beers. This time however she told me that this beer would taste good once it was cold. Thats about the best I've heard about anything I have made so far.
Before I put everything away I re-sanitized my racking equipment and racked the lilac wine to a one gallon carboy. Heidi thought it was a ridiculously small amount for all the work that went into it, but I explained that it will make about 4 bottles of wine when it is done. I of course did a taste test as well as suckering Heidi into trying it. It's very cidery and vinegarish right now, but there is potential there. I can taste a little of the sweetish white wine flavor underneath. I will probably have to rack again in a month since I got a good amount of sediment this time. I should have paid more attention while I was racking.
By noon I had everything cleaned up and we were out the door by 12:30. Not too shabby.
As a total non sequitur I came across this yahoo list today of the best 25 alternative bands of the 90's. Talk about a load of crap! No Pixies? (They didn't break up til 92-93.) No Jane's Addicition? No Front 242 or Ministry? No Soundgarden? No ska at all? Those are only a few of the omissions. The only Boston bands are Dinosaur Jr. and maybe the Breeders - but only one Bostonian does not make it a Boston band - just look at Weezer. Putting Nirvana at #10, not to mention Sonic Youth at #23? WTF is this guy smoking? It must be a total reactionary piece, just to get people pissy enough to comment or pass it along to others... if that is the case Mr. Rob O'Connor, you have succeeded. Otherwise it is a travesty of musical criticism.
Anyways, thats all for now. It's 2:00 and the kiddos will descend upon me and shatter the peacefulness I am so enjoying in a few minutes.
Final notes on Bourbon-Vanilla Porter: ABV ~ 4.3 - 4.5%; clean, clean, clean taste; 44 12 oz bottles; carbed with coopers carbonation drops; nice vanilla note without being overpowering - the porter character still comes through nicely; no hot alcohol taste at all.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Too many interests, not enough time
So I have a problem, but it is not such a bad problem to have. I have more interests than I have time for. I know we all lead busy lives, but it seems to be more and more true as the years go by.
I would like to brew at least once a month if not every other week, but thats a good few hours out of a Saturday and Saturdays seem to be pretty booked by others in my household. Plus I try to do it when my wife and daughter are not home as they are not fans of the brewing smells. (I however actually enjoy the aroma.) After I brew, at some point there is racking to secondary and/or bottling as well, so there is a chunk of (usually a Thursday since it is my other day off) morning as well. It is time I am glad to spend as the results have been improving. As I contemplate a transition to all-grain brewing I look to add at least a couple hours to brewdays for mashing and sparging and clean up, etc. Still worth it I think.
I am a voracious reader. My google reader must have a couple dozen feeds at least. This and email alone occupy an hour of my day. I am reading one book (and listening to another during drive to work time) at most times. I just downloaded all the D&D 4th ed books, so that will be a good amount of fairly critical reading. On top of all this I have a good number of books on Ireland and the Irish language, PHP, CSS and a ton of other subjects that I never seem to get around to. In the same vein, I love to write, but time always seems to slip away before I get around to it. I do however manage to get each week's gaming prep in, even if it is during breaks at work, which are thankfully plentiful.
I have at least 3 podcasts I like to listen to on a weekly basis and 2 video podcasts as well. My ipod time is usually spent on my audiobooks however. Oh and there are a few movies I have ripped to my ipod as well that I have never seemed to get around to watching.
Lastly there is fishing. The water has been far too high for my favorite fishing hole so far this year, but as the waters recede I will be out there fairly often. Since this is usually late at night and/or by myself, it is also a good time to listen to or watch things on my ipod though. Here's hoping the catfish get really big this spring and really hungry this summer - at least on the weekends that we aren't going to wine tastings and other events.
This isn't a whine post. I am glad to have this issue actually. This last weekend I actually had a great time with my daughter. We went to the farmer's market, to a yard sale with lots of irish things to buy and then I took her ice skating and to the children's museum. It was all stuff she wanted to do so nothing so much for me, but at the same time it was if you know what I mean. So how do you all manage your leisure time? I'll just be off over here buying friends as pets online and reading forums for a bit.
I would like to brew at least once a month if not every other week, but thats a good few hours out of a Saturday and Saturdays seem to be pretty booked by others in my household. Plus I try to do it when my wife and daughter are not home as they are not fans of the brewing smells. (I however actually enjoy the aroma.) After I brew, at some point there is racking to secondary and/or bottling as well, so there is a chunk of (usually a Thursday since it is my other day off) morning as well. It is time I am glad to spend as the results have been improving. As I contemplate a transition to all-grain brewing I look to add at least a couple hours to brewdays for mashing and sparging and clean up, etc. Still worth it I think.
I am a voracious reader. My google reader must have a couple dozen feeds at least. This and email alone occupy an hour of my day. I am reading one book (and listening to another during drive to work time) at most times. I just downloaded all the D&D 4th ed books, so that will be a good amount of fairly critical reading. On top of all this I have a good number of books on Ireland and the Irish language, PHP, CSS and a ton of other subjects that I never seem to get around to. In the same vein, I love to write, but time always seems to slip away before I get around to it. I do however manage to get each week's gaming prep in, even if it is during breaks at work, which are thankfully plentiful.
I have at least 3 podcasts I like to listen to on a weekly basis and 2 video podcasts as well. My ipod time is usually spent on my audiobooks however. Oh and there are a few movies I have ripped to my ipod as well that I have never seemed to get around to watching.
Lastly there is fishing. The water has been far too high for my favorite fishing hole so far this year, but as the waters recede I will be out there fairly often. Since this is usually late at night and/or by myself, it is also a good time to listen to or watch things on my ipod though. Here's hoping the catfish get really big this spring and really hungry this summer - at least on the weekends that we aren't going to wine tastings and other events.
This isn't a whine post. I am glad to have this issue actually. This last weekend I actually had a great time with my daughter. We went to the farmer's market, to a yard sale with lots of irish things to buy and then I took her ice skating and to the children's museum. It was all stuff she wanted to do so nothing so much for me, but at the same time it was if you know what I mean. So how do you all manage your leisure time? I'll just be off over here buying friends as pets online and reading forums for a bit.
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