I got a new furnace and air conditioner installed yesterday and I'm excited about it for a number of reasons.

1. The furnace is 95% efficient. My old furnace was probably about 55% efficient, so I'm looking forward to lower gas bills.

2. It has a humidifier. In the past if I did not keep a humidifier running in my bedroom I would be miserable with a burning nose and really dry itchy skin, but it got to be a pain by the end of each heating season filling it up with water each night and cleaning it every few weeks. Plus the rest of the house wasn't properly humidified. The new humidifier even has an outside temperature and humidity probe so it can calculate exactly how much to humidify the inside air.

3. I opted for a whole-house electronic air cleaner. Their marketing material says it is 8 times better than the best HEPA room filters, and a lot of the on-line reviews say they noticed big differences in dust and pet hair after a few weeks as well as big improvements in allergy symptoms. The furnace is has two heating stages and a variable speed fan. The fan has a very efficient DC motor and you are supposed to leave it running continuously. Running it for one year would cost between $10 and $30 in electricity. The main benefit of this is it will equalize temperatures throughout the house. In the summer my upstairs was many degrees warmer than my downstairs. I would put a big fan at the base of my steps and blow cold air up the stairs at night. That should be a thing of the past. Another benefit is that the air cleaner we be continually cleaning the air.

The installers were really good about putting down drop cloths on the path from the front door to the basement door, but the tile floor in between still got some mud on it. I pulled out my Hoover Floormate and in under 10 minutes the floor was perfectly clean again. I love that thing. Huge thanks to Tim and Lisa again for turning me on to that a year or two ago. I'd replace it again in an instant.

There was an article in this week's Chicago Tribune that had a recipe for making homemade butter. It intrigued me so I gave it a try. This picture shows it this morning immediately after I separated it from the buttermilk. I still have to chill it and then under running water knead out any remaining buttermilk. I think I will salt half of it, and then portion it out in one or two ounce portions and freeze most of it.

It's been forever since I've had liver and onions, and I happened to spot liver when I was grocery shopping yesterday, so sometime this week I will make liver and onions, a baked potato and broccoli.

I have my first pheasant hunt of the season in two weeks. It will be at a state park that is just minutes from my hunting friend's house which makes it really convenient. I still have birds from last season in my freezer. I want to try making corned "beef" out of a goose. I am also thinking about buying a gas smoker like Tim-in-law. I had a charcoal smoker years ago, but is a huge huge pain trying to keep the coals at just the right temperature. I think smoking is the best thing for game.

I put in a fire this morning while I was having breakfast, working on the butter and reading the paper. Nice. I put logs inside the fireplace around the edges so the fire will dry it out and make it easy to start for the next fire. Good trick. I think I am going to have a chimney sweep come out soon. I have never had it cleaned or inspected. I also might have him put a cap on it.

I took Mitch to get his annual checkup and shots. He became a favorite at the vet's when he was in every week or two for his scratched eye. When I took him in this time all the vet techs poured out from the back and made a fuss over him in the lobby. Seriously, there were 5 people that came out to say hi to Mitch. They always tell me to bring him in if we're in the neighborhood just so they can say hi. He's like a rock star there.

OK, enough procrastinating. I got my laundry done yesterday while the furnace was being installed. I got my grocery shopping done yesterday evening. That leaves picking up dog poop, raking leaves and cutting the grass this afternoon before the rain comes in again. TTFN.

$700 Crate & Barrel solid wood buffet for $139 at their outlet store!

I think this shot gives a better idea of how much wood is there.

A little over 2 face cords. More wood than I expected but I'm glad I have it now.

The natural state of the greyhound.

At this point in my gin and tonic career I think this is my favorite recipe for a delicious frosty limey drink:

4 ounces gin
8 ounces diet Schweppes tonic water
Juice from half a lime (about 1 tablespoon)

I take my lunch to work everyday. It saves me money and, more importantly, I eat better than if I went to a restaurant every day. My normal lunch is a sandwich, usually ham or turkey, one or two pieces of fruit, and maybe some nuts. A couple weeks ago I had a craving for a meatloaf sandwich, so I made a meatloaf over the weekend and packed that for lunch everyday. I liked it so much I'm on my third meatloaf made specifically for lunch sandwiches.

I remember ordering a gin and tonic back in my college days and thinking it was disgusting. I couldn't even finish it. Fast forward several years after that, I thought maybe my tastes matured and I tried it again. Blech. A few years ago I had the same thought and did the same thing. Blech again.

A few weeks ago the thought crossed my mind yet again, so I picked up a bottle of Tanqueray gin and a bottle or Martini & Rossi dry vermouth, looked up the standard martini recipe and I liked it! Next I went out and got a bottle of diet tonic water and a lime and made a gin and tonic. Loved it!

I picked up a bottle of Bombay Sapphire last week, and it is really smooth, but I think I like the pronounced pineyness of the Tanqueray better.

This weekend I bought a cocktail strainer and a set of 4 martini glasses. The strainer makes it way easier to make a martini.

Several weeks back I had people in the neighborhood I met that also had a greyhound watch Mitch overnight. When I picked him up the next day I noticed he was severely squinting his left eye. It only took a couple minutes to realize he probably was a bit too curious of the neighbor's two cats. I took him in to the emergency animal hospital (it was Sunday) and sure enough he had a couple scratches on his cornea. After too weeks of antibiotics and pain killer it was not healing up correctly. Mitch's regular vet did an operation where she scratched a grid pattern over the injury to let the healing process start over again fresh. It worked and he is back to normal again.

Took my car to the dealership a while back for an oil change and they asked if I wanted my cabin air filter changed for only $50. I declined. Last week I picked up a cabin air filter at the car parts store for $16 and it took less than 90 seconds to change it.

I am getting ready to start the process of getting quotes for a new furnace and air conditioner to take advantage of the $1,500 federal tax credit.

This is how my meatloaf cooked without a loaf pan turned out.

Trying something I saw on the Internet. I put my meatloaf in a loaf pan and then turned it out onto s cookie sheet to cook. It's in the oven right now.

One of my new martini glasses!

We are REALLY good at this.

Meatloaf!

I had this delicious smoked herring from Lake Superior for dinner tonight.

Big hop!

Mitch sacked out after a long day at the hospital.

I want an ibex now. Make sure you have your sound on.

Done!

I have to interrupt my momentum installing the back-up sump pump because I need to go to the store for another length of PVC pipe. I'm also going to pick up another check valve for the primary pump because I noticed the one on there now is leaking.

Mitch helping me install the back-up sump pump Saturday afternoon.

After accidentaly getting stoned on PVC cement I think this is as far as I go tonight.

What I'm starting with.

It was kind of a big deal to me to punch a hole through my perfectly good house, that's why you are being treated to the step-by-step details. For those of that don't know I bought a battery-powered back-up sump pump and hope to get most of it installed tonight. More pictures to follow as I progress.

Then I went back inside and cut through the inside half of the wood.

Then I went outside with a hole saw and cut through the aluminum siding, and then half way through the wood.

I started by drilling a hole with a regular bit from the inside all the way through the siding.

Mitch hanging his head over the back of the couch.

Mitch

This was part of my breakfast at Rudy's Hot Dog during my visit to Toledo last weekend. Also had eggs and coffee.

Because I'm me I wanted to figure out a way to visualize the sun's position throughout the day. The graphic is what I came up with. It shows from what direction the sun will be shining, and at what elevation, on the hour for my location on May 5, 2010.

The two really small triangles that just look like lines are the direction the sun will rise and set. They look like lines because the angle is only 0.1 degree. I think it's interesting that the sun rises north of east and sets north of west.

The point of view of the graphic is looking to the southwest.

I created the graphic in SketchUp and got the sun positional data from the U.S. Naval Observatory.

This is what the "range" looked like at the archery class yesterday. It is the highest point in the county and I could see the entire Chicago skyline perfectly.

I was like a kid in a candy shop yesterday and stocked up on some good beer. The letter grades are from beeradvocate.com.

Lagunitas' Maximus Imperial IPA B+

Green Flash Brewing's West Coast IPA A-

Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout A

Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout A-

The funny thing is after I got home I only drank my homebrew. I hope to try a couple of them this evening.

Miscellany

I have always wanted to try shooting a bow. A few weeks ago I happened to look in a program guide from the county forest district and saw they had a free introductory class, so I signed up. It is this afternoon and is an hour and a half long. If I like it I might think about looking for a target bow on craigslist.

A few weeks ago I got Google's Android phone the Nexus One and love it. An interesting thing is watching the reaction of iPhone users that try it out. Every one of them was really amazed at the thinness of it, the nice solid feel it has, and how fast and responsive it was when checking out the different apps. I think I will make a post sometime describing the apps I use the most.

At work over the years I've had to occasionally use SQL Server to edit or add a value in a table for an application, export a table to get some statistics on application use, change the value in an existing SQL string, light stuff like that. This week I've had to actually design queries, write stored procedures, and design reports to use in some internal web apps and it's been a lot of fun. Fortunately for me my brewing friend at work is also a SQL developer and has been invaluable in pointing me in the right directions.

So far this year my lawn is looking amazing. I still need to put some work in on my flower beds though. Mostly weeding and recutting the borders. I've decided not to plant tomatoes this year. It's usually more cost and effort than the few tomatoes I get each year are worth. I am going to look for something else to plant that might be a little less temperamental. I have to see if the space I have would work for eggplant. I love eggplant.

The routine used to be once I settled into the family room for the evening to relax and watch TV Mitch would go upstairs to the bedroom and after 10 minutes realize he was lonely and I could hear him whimper at the top of the steps. After 10 minutes of that half the time he would realize the solution would be to come back downstairs, the other half he would fall asleep. To fix that I got a couple baby gates at a church yard sale. I have three paths to get upstairs from my family room. One is sealed off just by closing a set of pocket doors I have from my family room to the living room. I have a baby gate that stays in place by pressing against the door frame from the laundry room hallway to the dining room. The other baby gate is free standing so it is easy just to move around and I keep it in the main hallway leading to the front door.

I bought the 4x4, 2x4's, cement mix and carriage bolts a few weeks ago to make a support for my hop plants but I still have not put it together. I think today is the day I do that. I got the grass cutting out of the way Thursday evening.

When I was visiting the fam a few months ago I tried the FURminator on Mitch that Tim and Lisa got for Cody. It worked so great on Mitch that I ordered one that night from Amazon while I was still visiting. It also works amazingly on Amy's Rottweiler, but a friend at work borrowed it to try on his German Shorthaired Pointer and it did nothing for her coat. They have a list of dogs that it will and will not work for on their website. German Shorthairs were on the will work list but with an asterisk saying the hair within that breed varies from dog to dog and it may or may not work. The list is in the FAQ section of their website. I would link to it but it is a Flash app. Most retail places sell it for about $60, but Amazon has it for $30. Worth every cent.

Probably the biggest thing I missed most about not having a house cleaner come in every other week was scrubbing the kitchen floor. Also thanks to Tim and Lisa I discovered the Hoover FloorMate. There are three modes of operation. First is dry vacuum mode. You do this first to pick up all the dry crumbs, dog hair, etc. You empty out the catch bin and then switch to the wet scrub mode. The brushes lower to contact the floor, and water with cleaning solution is dispensed. Once the floor is scrubbed you switch to squeegee vacuum mode. The brushes stop and lift off the floor and a squeegee lowers to contact the floor and it vacuums up any remaining water. It works really well. For light touch ups I sometimes just use hot water only without cleaning solution. I found the best price ordering from Walmart.com.

Last year I got a new roof. I think this year I am going to get a new furnace and air conditioner. I think there is still a 30% tax credit available from the feds which will be nice. I also want to get an estimate to paint my aluminum siding white, but I don't know if I will do that this year or not. I think it will be about 1/3 of the cost of installing new siding.

I am really excited about the HBO miniseries "The Pacific" that starts tomorrow night (Sunday 3/13/10) at 8:00 PM central. I called my cable company last week and had them turn on HBO just so I could watch the miniseries. It is only $15 per month. I don't know if I will keep it after the miniseries is over. I'll see how much I watch it.

"The Pacific" is like "Band of Brothers", but instead of the war in Europe it tells the story of the war in the Pacific theater. It was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks with Dreamworks.

Being who I am I have already created a Google Earth map with all of the locations that will be in the 10 part series so I will have a better geographical context while I am watching. If you are going to watch it and want the Google Earth .kmz file let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

The Pacific trailer #1

The Pacific trailer #2

I went pheasant hunting for the first time this weekend. I shot 3 of the 9 birds we took. I cooked up two pheasant and 1 chucker for dinner tonight. I just pan fried them with a flour/egg/bread crumb coating. Very good. Like chicken only better.

The picture above is near the end of the hunt and we were trying to look for tracks. The dog did an amazing job of sniffing them out.

Here is the Toyota page where you can enter your VIN number to see if your car is included in ANY recall or service campaign.

I had a tough time reading the one on the windshield in my poorly lit garage. It is also on an easy to read sticker with bar codes in the driver's door frame.

My Toyota is in the clear!

I already had that edgy look at four years old.

Note to self: If I needed to replace my GPS today I would probably get the Garmin Nuvi 1450.

Amazon has it for about $310.

Update 2/24/10: I think I've changed my mind and I still would get the Garmin Nuvi 755T I mentioned last month.

I've been practicing using GIMP to correct the green eye effect dogs get when you take their picture with a flash.

Before


After


You can't just use the red eye removal tool that a lot of image manipulation programs have, like Irfanview, because the reflection from a dog's eye isn't red, and the program is looking for red color in a person's eye.

One of the big reasons I stayed home for Christmas finally happened this morning. The sump pump hose outside froze shut and when I woke up this morning the pump was running continuously. It has happened a few times before when we have really wet weather followed by a few days of really cold weather. It takes a few days for the excess ground water to dissipate.

So before I even had my coffee I was outside in 2 degree cold trying to remove the frozen hose so I could bring it to the kitchen sink to thaw it out with hot water. Of course little bits of dirty ice got on the kitchen floor and counter. I think it took me a little more than an hour before I finally got the thawed out hose reattached.

The dirty ice bits on the floor were not as big a deal as they could have been since I bought my Hoover Floormate. I just used it in wet vacuum mode and it sucked up everything. I use it quite a bit. I mostly use it in dry vacuum mode to pick up dog hair and crumbs on the floor. I've used it a few times with just hot water in the tank for spot cleaning little messes, and I've used it once with the cleaning solution to do the entire floor. I pull it out at least a couple times a week. The wet vacuum mode is great when Mitch tracks snow in from the backyard. Even when the floor looks clean I'm always surprised by the grey color of the water in the waste tank.

I watched X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night and recommend it if you want a fun mindless popcorn movie.

We tried Five Guys burgers a month or so ago. The hamburgers are some of the best out there and the portions are HUGE. I rarely order French fries, but we split an order just to give them a taste. Even splitting them we couldn't finish them without jacking my blood sugar sky high. Amy had a great idea: I froze the rest in a zip lock bag to use later for hash browns. This morning I did just that and it worked out great! I put some Smart Balance in a hot pan and then the fries and cooked those for 10 minutes or so, and then moved them to one side and cooked my eggs. The fries reheated better than I thought. The outside crisped up really nice and the inside was nice and hot.

Even though it is only 4 degrees outside Mitch is panting from getting overheated laying in his sunbeam. The cloudless day has the temperature in my southern-facing family room up a little over 4 degrees.

I thought Mitch napping with his head on Bella's butt was great.

Mitch playing with the squeaky sock monkey Shawn and Kate sent him for Christmas. He LOVES squeaky toys! I love it when he tosses his head back with the toy in his mouth.

For Christmas I planned on driving to Ohio on Christmas Eve morning but at the last minute aborted because of the big ice storm over Illinois and Indiana. It was a huge bummer, and I also missed out on the 5+ gallons of fresh IPA Tim had on tap from Original Gravity Brewing.

Amy was flying to her Mom's on Christmas day and was going to kennel Bella, and since I was going to be here the whole week I saved her some money and am dog sitting. For the most part she is a good guest. When the neighbors' dogs are out I have to put her on the leash in the backyard because she will just run back and forth along the fence and bark.

I didn't have any food in the house because I wasn't planning on being here, so the first thing I did is went to the store to get some fun Christmas Eve food as well as some staples. I also swung by a Redbox and picked up three movies. Amy came over in the late afternoon and helped me make hummus and baba ganoush and then we watched District 9.

Christmas Day I purposely did nothing except lay on my couch and watch movies all day and eat hummus and baba ganoush. It wasn't the same as being with family, but it was kind of a nice change of pace.

I ended up watching seven movies over the Christmas weekend:

District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Angles and Demons
Wrong Turn at Tahoe
Maiden Heist
Tyson
The Hangover

It was a short and quite week at work. Friday is New Years day and I took off New Years Eve day, so I only had three days of work.

Last night I got the movie Up, made another batch of hummus, had a wedge of Roquefort, and a bottle of really good sparkling wine (Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut).

For New Years Day (today) I got a pork loin and sauerkraut that I will start in the crock pot soon, and will of course be watching the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl. As of right now we are four point underdogs against Oregon.

I'm not sure what else I have planned for today. I still have the other half of my French press of coffee to drink, and I haven't brought the newspaper in yet. I may or may not do some laundry. It is very very cold here today. Two degrees right now. I might swing by a Redbox again and get another movie.

Happy New Year!

I let my on-line subscription to www.consumerreports.org lapse for a couple years, but I just renewed it last week. This post is more of a note to myself on what laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and dish soap (for washing by hand) I am going to buy next based on their latest reviews.

Laundry detergent
Tide 2X Ultra for Cold Water
Simplicity Hypoallergenic Non-Toxic 2X

Dishwashing detergent
Cascade Complete with Bleach Hydroclean Action Powder

Dish Soap (washing by hand)
Dawn Direct Foam

Liquid Fabric Softener
Ultra Gain Joyful Expressions

I went duck hunting for the first time last week and have been meaning to make a post about it. Until I get to a full-blown post describing the day's adventures here are a few pictures to tide you over.

Tom setting out the decoy spread before sunrise.


Armed and dangerous.


Our only duck of the day. Unfortunately I didn't shoot it.


Tom let me take the duck home though.


It dressed down to 1.3 pounds and turned out very nice.


Amy came over to help roast it that night, and we also made Alton Brown's French onion soup. It turned out good too.

I get to buy one of these tomorrow!

I took today off from work to make it a four day weekend and to paint my garage door. I started the day by leaving the house at 8:30 AM to have breakfast and read the paper at McDonalds. After that I stopped at the library and picked up the movies Crossing Over and In Bruges.

The main reason for going out was to swing by Home Depot. I had exterior primer and paint left over from painting the trim a couple years ago, so I took it back and had them put it on their paint shaker for me. I also picked up some sand paper.

I got home and set up camp in the driveway. I tied Mitch up in the shade, plugged the radio in, poured a big glass of Diet Pepsi, and set out all of the gear I needed.

I first ran my palm sander over the entire door and then washed it down with a towel and water. After it was dry I cut in the edges with a brush. When that was done I washed my brush and then poured primer into my roller pan and finished up applying the primer.

The primer needs at least 16 hours to cure before applying the top coat, but that's OK because now I am tired.

It is 4:30 PM, I just got out of the shower and I'm trying to decide what to do next. The first Ohio State game of the season is on ESPN tomorrow at 11 AM CDT. I was going to make a pot of chili and corn bread for the game, but now I don't feel like cooking. I think instead I will get a frozen Home Run Inn pizza (my favorite!) and maybe a few other nibbles to have on hand.

I don't know whether to get up and get the top coat on the garage door right away tomorrow before the game, wait until after the game, or just do it on Sunday or Monday. I guess I'm leaning towards doing it first thing in the morning. Maybe I will just cut in with the brush and then wash up. That is the hard part. Using the roller is easy and only takes 20 minutes.

I picked up dog poop and got the grass cut Thursday night when I got home from work, so I don't have to worry about fitting that in this weekend.

After 24 hours of drying on top of the fan my hops went from 5.5 ounces to 1.9 ounces.

I harvested my first season of hops tonight and I got way more than I expected. I was thinking an ounce, maybe two if I was lucky. I got 5.5 ounces!



I expect the weight to go down after they are dried, but I have no idea by how much.

I have a box fan on a stand. I pointed the fan straight up, and then took a window screen, spread the hops out on the screen, and put the screen on top of the fan. They should be dry by tomorrow morning.



After I was done picking the hops my fingers were coated with a wonderfully aromatic yellow sticky film from the fresh resin in all the cones.

Tonight I finally got around to watching The Wrestler. It is the best movie I have seen in a long time. Mickey Rourke was amazing. He deserved all of the best actor nods and wins he got for the role. I can't wait to see his next movies.

I just racked the beer I brewed last week and I think it is going to be very good. My basic recipe now is 6 pounds of dry malt extract, 1 pound of specialty grains steeped for an hour, usually crystal malt, and Safale US-5 yeast. Then I adjust the hops to what I want. This batch I wanted to be on the lower end of the hop spectrum and keep it on hand for people new to craft beers so they won't be turned off by a really hopped up beer. I designed the recipe to come in at 31 IBU's (International Bittering Units). The Safale US-05 is supposed to have been cultured from the Sierra Nevada brewery. It is very crisp and clean and just gets out of the way.

After I tasted a sample this morning I wanted to dry hop it in the worst way, but like I said I want this to be an approachable beer for people just starting out. I think I might brew this same recipe next weekend and just nudge the hops up a smidge, and dry hop it.

This is also the first batch I brewed where I put all of my hops in a mesh paint strainer. This resulted in a very clear beer and I think might help reduce the chances for off tastes.

Also because there were no solids in the beer I could finally see how much yeast was generated. I scooped out 4 cups of yeast hulls from the bottom of the fermentor!! All of that from an 11 gram yeast packet.

Brad's Summer APA
Brewed 7/3/09
IBU's: 31

1 lb crystal malt steeped 30 minutes
6 lbs Light Dry Extract
0.60 oz Cascade [5.40 %] (60 min) Hops
0.70 oz Columbus [12.20 %] (60 min) Hops
1.00 oz Amarillo [8.20 %] (5 min)
Safale US-05

This is what my four hop plants look like so far. I need to figure out a better support system for next season.



This is a little frame I made out of PVC pipe, four elbows and two T's. The T's are what the elastic of the paint straining bag are looped around. I put all of my hop additions into the strainer bag, and then when I am done with the boil I just pull the bag out and I am left with very very clear wort.



I got a package of two bags for $4 at Home Depot. They are made for professional painters to pour their five gallon buckets of paint through before they use it in a spray gun or if the paint gets bits and pieces in it.

For my purposes the bags will be reusable for a good number of times. I just turn it inside out, rinse it really well, wring it out and hang it to dry.

I love this picture of Mitch coveting Bella's Nylabone.

Mitch is 6 years old today!

I didn't tell him, though, so he won't be upset that I didn't get him anything.

I picked up a bottle of Don Miguel Gascón Malbec 2008 yesterday but have not tried it yet. It has a number of pretty good reviews on-line. If I had to assign a letter grade to what most reviewers said about the wine I would say it is averaging around a B+, maybe an A-, and especially for the price.

I was too full from a chicken dinner yesterday and I don't want to open it until I am ready to enjoy it without distraction, so I will wait to uncork it until then.

Went out for some beers last night with some work friends to Two Brothers Brewery. Our waitress was very chatty and it came up that she used to work at a winery. We started talking wine, and one thing she said was that Argentinean malbec's are an excellent bargain right now and very delicious. They have almost become the national varietal of Argentine. I plan on picking up a bottle this weekend when I do my grocery shopping and will let you know what I think. If you try a bottle let me know what you think.