Monday, August 3, 2015

Fishing: Good, great and even better.

I got invited to go fishing on a rental boat last week. I had been meaning to go. For a couple months now, my 5 year-old has been asking to go. Her first (and second and third) time fishing. My 8 year-old had fun enough, but didn't really take to it.

So, when I got the invite, I asked if we could bring my 5 year-old along. We went out in some fairly rough inshore seas from a moon tide, and had a pretty dismal first hour with 1 sea robin caught.

After that, the seas subsided and the wind stopped gusting. Then, it was nearly lock and load fishing... for everyone but me. My daughter pulled up a bunch of black seabass and scup (aka, porgies). I managed a couple of keeper scup. I did manage to pull in 3 short fluke, but no keepers.

At the end of the day, we went home with 8 good sized scup and 3 black seabass. More importantly, I got a day on the water. Most importantly, my daughter got a day on the water.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Chickens go for a walk

Chickens grow fast. The typical supermarket bird is 8-12 weeks old. That means they go from palm-of-your-hand to a large roaster in a few months. The traditional breeds that we choose are a bit slower growing, but they still grow fast. In fact, they are quickly out-growing their plastic tub.

We decided to let them go outside today. I had some plastic chicken "wire" fencing. I used some sticks and stakes to form an enclosure out on the grass. They spent most of the day outside. They'll probably be outside permanently by the end of the week.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Chickens!

There aren't a lot of options for me when it comes to livestock. In fact, to comply with the letter of the law, I really can't have any traditional livestock. I could breed "pet" rabbits for food, but that's about it. However, there is enough wiggle room that I can safely keep chickens, as long as I don't annoy my immediate neighbors.

For years, I had some Rhode Island Reds. Then, one fateful night, I went to see Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I wasn't home to secure the birds at sunset. A raccoon found his way through the weak point of my run and killed the last of my girls.

Winter was brutal and Spring was late and the we had an out-of-town wedding, so we held off ordering some chicks until late June. We recieved them last week and they are settling into their new home nicely.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Too much thyme

I have posted before about not having enough time. Generally speaking, I'm sure no one has enough. For the first time, I can say I have too much thyme.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Free wood!!!

This post could alternately be titled "Waste not, want not" or "Right place, right time." I recently discovered, unfortunately, that my deck stairs are about to fail catastrophically. Since I'm rebuilding them, I might as well upgrade them. My deck is in dire need of a resurfacing, and I am intending to use tropical hardwood.
Specifically, I'm planning on using garapa. It is cheaper than ipe but more durable than luan(phillipine mahogany). So, since I intend to use garapa for the deck, I might as well use it for the stair treads too.
So, I was at the specialty lumber store picking up my wood. It was the end of the day, so the guys were cleaning up. They happened to get a shipment today of 5/4"x4" decking. That came shipped on 3/4"x4" rough palattes made of mahogany. They started breaking it to fit in the dumpster. I asked if I could have it and the guy told me I could have all I wanted and, if interested, could come back once a month and get lots, lots more. So, for a little work with a hammer to pull some nails, I now have a couple stacks of mahogany which will become something some day. Even if the short stuff is firewood, it's still free!


Thursday, June 18, 2015

Recreation: A fishing we will go...

One of the best parts about living in Rhode Island is the access to some of the best fishing in the world. In my opinion, it is (or should be) as much of a destination fishing spot as any other place. State fishing pride aside, I managed to get out fishing in a rented boat for some fluke (summer flounder) this past week. It was a fantastic outing with basically non-stop action of black sea bass and fluke. The black sea bass season is still closed until July 2nd, but it still kept the trip sporty instead of a slog. We managed an 18.25" fluke and a (my personal best) 26" fluke. Here are some photos:

Friday, April 17, 2015

Politics: Rhode Island's Doom


Rhode Island is interesting from a political science point of view. Historically, we were founded on freedom and liberty. We were the first State to declare independence from England*. It seems a natural fit that we would be a bastion of individual liberty. However, for better or worse, we were also the location of the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. This meant that we were also the place of tedious wage-slave labor. The work was easy, so the pay was low and the hours were long just to barely make a living. Then arose the idea of protecting the little guy from unsafe conditions through labor unions. Unions are not a bad idea. They give power to the powerless, which can be used to protect those powerless people. However, I'm going to throw in one other important historical factor. Prohibition.
 
Prohibition led to the rise of the mob. Need some liquor? The mob can help you. Need protection from the law to conceal your liquor use? Hey, the mob's got a guy for that. Need protection from the mob? The mob can do that too. Wait, what?
 
So, back to unions... Power to protect the little guy is great. Power to abuse the little guy or the big guy or anyone who gets in your way? Not so much. Combine the power of the unions with the power of the mob and you've got a problem. Sure, prohibition ended and the mob was rounded up. However, the culture of corruption and abuse of power remains.
 
The General Assembly in RI has ALL the official power. More specifically, the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader have the power. They usually are elected by less than 5000 people and often by only a few hundred people. In recent years, after 5-10 years in power, they get thrown in prison or are so disgraced that they have to step down. In almost every case they are Democrats. It's couldn't really be otherwise because we have had single-party rule for more than 75 years.
 
Party aside, the real issue with our current political environment is that people who vote, do it for the wrong reason. It's rare that someone votes FOR a person. Usually, the are voting AGAINST the other person. And when they do vote FOR a person, they are usually doing it because of their physical appearance (e.g. Obama's skin color, Hillary's gender, John Kerry's hair, etc.) or some other triviality. Probably half (if not more) don't even know the first thing about their selected candidate, which brings up the worst offense of all... Voting for the letter next to someone's name. People blindly do what they are "supposed to do." If Hillary wins in 2016, it will be because of her gender and the letter next to her name. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't even vote for herself, given how horrible she is.
 
Every election season, I have some hope that things will change in Rhode Island. Every election season I am disappointed. Now that a number of candidates have declared their intention to run for President, it is the start of the new election season. Hence, the new hope rises again. This could be the year. How do Cubs fans do this every year? It's hard enough to do every four years.

* - I was told this all my life, however, there is some debate on the internet over which State was actually first and what it means to "declare" independence. However, our declaration was taken seriously, which is why RI was immediately occupied and suppressed before we could join the Revolutionary War.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Amazon: My first let-down

Well, it had to happen eventually. A great company can only get so big before service starts to suffer. I just sent the following review for packaging feedback on Amazon.

"This was my first and last purchase from Prime Pantry. I was wondering how a mix of canned goods and dry good would be packed without damage. The answer is that they wouldn't. The dry goods were neatly packed and stacked with heavy cardboard separating it from the cans. The cans were just thrown in haphazardly. 8 of 10 cans of tomatoes, 3 of 4 cans of beans and 1 can of Rotel were dented so severely, I will likely have to refrigerate them."

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Fishing: Getting ready for squid

The change of seasons is finally upon us. Meteorological Spring started March 1st. The Spring Equinox was on the 20th. For most people, Spring begins when the weather turns and you can open the windows and the crocuses bloom. We finally have a near-term warming trend which looks like it will hold or improve for the next few weeks at least. For me, this means a lot of things. It means the Spring flowers will bloom and that I need to start my tomatoes and that I can get out in the garden and hoe down the overwintered weeds. It means that I finally don't have a weather related excuse why I can't clean the garage out. Outside projects like filling a couple holes in the driveway and repainting the shed doors and replacing the window trim on the house are all on the horizon. Most importantly (to this post anyway), it is the start of the saltwater fishing season.

I'm not a big freshwater fisherman. A lot of people go nuts over trout, but I've never even caught one. It's one of the first fish you can catch and keep in the Spring, but the idea of waking up at 3 a.m. to stake out a spot on opening day doesn't sound all that appealing. For me, the start of the season is when the squid arrive. They come in sometime between mid-March and early-June every year in anything from small pods to massive ones. Living here, I always wanted to go out squid jigging in the Spring. I would hear stories and see the results of people who would fill a 5 gallon bucket in an hour back in the 80s and early 90s. For some reason, I could never get my fishing act in gear until the main part of the run was over.

Two years ago, I was on the ball, prepped and ready to go with jigs and a rod and bucket in my trunk at all times. I checked the forums, went out early, stayed out late, lost sleep, and obsessively read fishing reports. All of this was for nothing though because 2013 was the Spring-squid-run-that-wasn't. So, last year, I was a little hopeful, but mostly reserved because I didn't think I would ever see a bucket full of squid. However, my reserved hope was more than enough because it was a banner year for squid. In fact, it was probably the best year for squid from shore in a decade or two.

So now, as we approach the start of the new saltwater fishing season, the question remains. Will this be another banner year? It makes some sense. If there were more squid, then there would be more squid eggs. If there are more squid eggs, there should be even more squid. Further, if the weather has been bad enough (it was) to keep the commercial squid vessels in port, then there should be more squid to make it inshore. Lastly, if the weather breaks hard so that it goes from frigid to warm and stays that way, the squid should move en-masse like they did last year. So, all in all, I am hopeful that this will be another good year for squid. Only time will tell though. Fortunately, with the change in weather, that time is near.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Home Repair: It always breaks on a Sunday

Isn't it always the way? You're relaxing on a Sunday afternoon when you discover a critical part of your home has broken and few stores are open and repair people charge triple. In this case, I heard water running when I was doing laundry. I thought I might have had a burst outdoor faucet. The shutoff for that is in my furnace room. Upon turning on the light, I see water all over the floor and my expansion tank hanging down instead of pointing up.


Fortunately, Home Depot was open and had exactly what I needed. This is what $33 will buy you:

It's a fairly simple fix. You spin off the now full 4.7 gallon steel tank. A couple wraps of teflon tape go around the threaded end of the tank. For good measure, I removed the elbow and put more tape on that part. It was a good idea because there was no tape on the threads which were engaged. The new tank spins on and then is adjusted for position. It took about 10 minutes plus another 20 to go to Home Depot. It's good to be handy. 

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Beer Brewing: Phase 1

I brewed beer once before, but most of the equipment belonged to a friend's father. Over the last 5 years or so, every so often, I've had the thought that I would like to do it again. The last time I did it was during the '90s home brewing era. There were about 2 dozen dedicated stores within a 40 minute drive of my house. Now, there are a couple small places 40+ minutes away with limited stock.

Fortunately, my father-in-law has the equipment and got me an extract kit for Christmas. Otherwise, I would still be considering and dragging my feet.

The instructions were great. You start by bringing some water up to 170°. You add the bag of grain and hold the water between 150° and 160° for 30 minutes. 
After that, you add the 2 cans of extract, the package of malt and the bag of hops. You bring it to a boil and hold it there for an hour. 
The final part of phase 1 is adding the mix to the fermentation vessel (aka, a food grade bucket). You add a couple gallons of cold water, dump in the mix and the add enough water to bring it to about 5.5 gallons. A quick trip outside into the snow brought the temperature down to 75 degrees. At that point, I added the yeast, and closed the lid for a couple weeks.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Gardening: The Real New Years Day

To the average citizen, the New Year begins with a turn of the calendar, a glass of champagne, fireworks or a kiss. To a gardener (well, this gardener, anyway), it begins at the start of the growing season. For me, today was that day.

I got some trays of starter soil ready, pulled out my bags of disorganized seeds from previous years, added this years seeds, and pulled out all the things I needed to start. In this case, I need to start onions, leeks, parsely, butterfly weed* and yarrow.

I have been getting better and better with onions each year. I usually do medium to large yellow storage onions. This year, I decided to expand my planting to grow red onions and leeks. Last year, I had great results with my relatively small planting (100ish plants) of Pontiac onions. They were a medium-large onion, uniform in size, that lasted from Aug. to Nov. before we used them up. There were only a handful of small ones despite weeding neglect and none went soft or started to turn black.

I decided to try to have a repeat performance with Pontiac. In addition, I selected Red Bull (a red storage onion) and King Richard leeks. I got one packet each with 250 seed per packet. They have a 75-85% germination rate and I usually get a third of them are too runty to plant. That means I should get 133 red, 133 yellow, and 133 leeks. If I had more space, I would probably plant 5-10 times as many yellow, and twice as many red. But, I work with what I have.

Planting is simple. I filled an open flat 2/3 full of seed starter mix. I made straight rows, 1/2" deep, 1" apart. I wasn't too particular with where the rows start or end with the onions. I made sure to only do complete rows of leeks. I marked them, and covered the flat with plastic. I ended up with 7 rows of onions (finished with some leftover seed from 2 years ago) and 2 full rows of leeks.

Tomorrow, I'll get the parsely, yarrow, and butterfly weed seeds in the dirt. Next week, I might start some spinach, lettuce and peas to put in a cold frame. I usually start both of those too late, so I'd like to get a jump on them this year. 

* - Butterfly weed (aka Pleurisy root or Orange milkweed) is a pipe dream for me. Every year, I try to grow it. Every year, it fails to germinate, dies at transplant, or, in my most successful year, doesn't flower and dies in the Winter. Still, I have hope.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Random Thoughts: Maintenence and Repair

Did you know that you are supposed to have your oil furnace cleaned and tuned every 12-18 months? I did. I'm also really lazy and forgetful when it comes to doing things which require me to spend money and give me little to no return for that investment. Every year in June, I get a call from my furnace people. They leave a message and I intend to call them back. I put it off until the heating season arrives and then I think, well, another few months wont hurt. I'll do it in the Spring.

The last time I had it cleaned was August 2011. I finally decided, "Screw it! I'm just getting it cleaned." It cost me a little over $200 due to the extra labor because the thing was so dirty. Still, it's usually $135 per year, so that's better than the $450 that I would have spent doing it annually. However, that savings was obliterated.

A couple days later, the furnace shut off. I restarted it, but every time it started up, it was misfiring a few times before it finally stayed running. So, assuming something was screwed up from the cleaning/tuning, I called them back. The guy tells me the power venter is shot, and it's shaking the vacuum safety switch, causing the misfires. Oh, and also, the circulator pump isn't working at all. The new power venter is $355 and the new circulator pump is $170 and the labor was about 2 hours. I didn't even stick around for the bill. I made my wife pay it. So, the long term plan is that I am going to put a chimney up and eliminate the power venter entirely. These things crap out every 5 years, and just provide something else mechanical to fail. Since simple is usually best, I opt for simple. Now, how do I come up with a non-hideous installation of metal chimney pipe right in the middle of my deck?

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Random Thoughts: Lost Youth

Recently, I have lost a small piece of my childhood. Well, technically, it was a piece of my barely-into-adulthood. When I was just shy of my 19th birthday, I got my ear pierced. It wasn't an act of rebellion or anything. It just seemed like a thing to do. In addition to the piercing stud, I bought a pair of gold continuous hoop earrings. After the minimum waiting period, I put in the hoop. Between normal wear and cleaning and having to twist it to keep it from sticking, I managed to warp the first of the two hoops. After some amount of time that I can't recall, I switched to the other hoop. I have warn that every single day, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week with very few exceptions. I took it off for job interviews and I took it off when I was working in a factory one Summer. The last time I took it off was probably 7 or 8 months ago.

Well, the other day, I was taking the lights off the Christmas tree. Rather than walking around it, I was tossing the strand up over the top and pulling it around. On one fateful toss, a light managed to catch my hoop, pull it off and toss it into the abyss. OK, not really the abyss. It probably landed in the Christmas tree, although it's possible that it landed in any number of other locations in that corner of my house. All I know is that I shook the heck out of the tree, sifted through the dropped needles, and looked carefully in, around and under anything that could be concealing it. I even went so far as to get out the metal detector to sweep the tree, but it was too small and the rope and chains which hold the tree up provided too much signal to search the bottom half of the tree. I officially declared it lost.

I really haven't though about my earring much. However, now that it's gone, I feel naked and self-conscious and a little lost. I keep reaching up and touching my ear, somehow the hoop to be there. Sadly, it's gone. So, I ordered a new pair of hoops to replace my nearly antique jewelry. The first set lasted 20 years, but the first one had a short life. It is my hope that this pair will last at least until I'm 80. Then, the next pair should take me to 120, and so on.