Stuff and Things as of Late

Recently Greg and I had engagement photos taken. We hadn't originally planned on having any taken, but somehow we came around to the idea, and boy what a good one it was. Not only did we get a ton of amazing photos, but it also gave us a chance to hang out with our photographer before the wedding and get comfortable with having him take lots of pictures of us. Our photographer is amazing and does amazing work. So so happy with our choice. Here is the link to his post with a few of the photos.

In other news, we also bottled up the smokey porter this weekend. The smokey-ness has not really mellowed out as we had expected. The recipe said that the smokey flavor was very subtle. Ours is basically the exact antonym of subtle. I guess that would be unsubtle. Or obvious. Or distinct. Whatever the word, it is certainly smokey. We still have hope that it will mellow out while it is in the bottles though. We want to have homebrew at the picnic on the night before our wedding, so it has some time to come around. And we should have time to make one or possible two more batches, and those will certainly not be made with any smoked malt.

Back to Brewing

Greg and I both thoroughly enjoy the brewing process and the brewing results. Unfortunately our schedules don't really allow for that to happen as often as we'd like. Luckily Red Barn Brewing is back in business! On Sunday night we brewed our third batch of beer: a smoky porter. I am hoping it will be delicious, since a porter is generally my most favorite type of beer. Originally I had wanted to do a caramel coffee porter, but once we found the smoky porter recipe, that sounded like a perfectly good option. Signs of fermentation weren't really noticeable until Tuesday evening, as seen below:

Sidenote: In the background of the first photo you can see the super-sweet beer cases that Lisa and Dustin gave us for Christmas! Dustin made them in the woodshop. The each hold 12 beers (they even filled them with label-removed bottles!) with dividers, and have strong rope handles, and have a bottle opener attached. A very classy beer-transportation device, to be sure.

Our Christmas Tree!

Greg and I both recently returned from (separate) conferences in CA (that were occurring at the same time). This year we had a great plan to get a Christmas tree, since we aren't taking any big trips for the holidays. The Coop was selling some nice trees for $40, but we were both pretty interested in chopping down our own tree, so we figured we would see if the trees at the farm just down the road from Greg's had good tree deals. I know you are really supposed to set up a tree only shortly before Christmas, and then keep it up during the Christmas season (aka the 12 days of Christmas, aka the 12 days starting on Christmas day and extending to the Epiphany (I am under the impression that most of our society is confused by this, considering Christmas music is playing now and will stop the day after Christmas)). But once we both got home I just really wanted to go find out tree, so off we went. First we went to the hardware store to buy some rope. We also bought a strand of Christmas lights. For anyone wondering, one strand of 100 lights is probably not really an appropriate amount for a 5-6 foot tall tree.

Then, after wandering around basically the entire tree yard, we found this beauty!

It was the best one in the lot, and we were both really happy about it (despite Greg's face, which is entirely due to the sun shining directly in his eyes).

Greg let me start the sawing process.

And I let him finish the sawing process.

It would have been really fun to let the tree fall over just after yelling "timber!" or something, but I haven't ever been to a tree farm like this, and I kind of doubt that is part of the proper etiquette. So instead I just braced the tree, and then Greg picked it up off the stump.

Then Greg carried it up to the front, where we paid for it (only $30!) and got it baled by this fantastical machine.

We managed to secure it to the roof of the civic, and when we got to Greg's house we were happy to see it had not shifted at all!

See how we were smart enough to tie it through the windows of the backseat so that we would be able to open our doors and get in the car? Physicists in action.


Now the tree is all set up, complete with the manger scene underneath!

The lighting may be minimal, but the smell is phenomenal! You can't tell it from the picture above, but I am happy to introduce you to our hockey & Peanuts-themed tree. I don't know why it surprised me at the time, but I took a quick tally, and it turns out that Greg really only has hockey and Peanuts ornaments. And those are mainly hockey ornaments, thirteen to be exact.

Thanks for making our tree spectacular Mario!

P.S. Mom, if we have a tree again next year, I might be ready to get my ornaments out of storage in your basement. Then maybe the number of ornaments that are non-hockey will be more comparable to the number of hockey ornaments. :D

Wilderness Excursion

This weekend started off right. Not only did it start a day early, but it was a day full of hiking, cabin-dwelling, and cabin-dwelling activities. Meghan's brother and his two friends are currently on a road trip from Wisconsin attempting to see as much of the East coast as they can in the time they have allotted. Naturally, NH was on the list of places to visit. In lieu of the standard visitation activities (see Dartmouth, eat VT cheese, drink NH/VT beer) we adopted to spend the night in one of the several cabins owned by Dartmouth. 

Good hiking trails nearby was a must. No electricity was pretty high on the list. Wood stove was entirely necessary. Our options were quickly limited to a couple options. We settled on one of the two cabins at the base of Mt. Moosilauke. In the end, we had no choice, only the John Rand cabin was available. Turns out this was a great choice. Ole Johnny's cabin was exactly what we were looking for.

At 11:00am, we arrived at the base of the mountain, by the Mousilauke Ravine Lodge. No time to unload at the cabin first, we were going to need to start hiking if we were going to definitely finish before sun down. The hike up was beautiful. Scenery changes occurred every so often - leaf covered muddy ground, followed by non-muddy leaf covered ground, to ground with a bit of snow, then on to ground with a fair bit of snow cover surrounded by snow covered fir trees, and then finally the barren arctic alpine region. 

Adam, Erik, and Mike basically dominated the mountain, needing about 3 hours to complete the round trip. It took them a bit longer since they waited for Meghan and I before summitting. Crossing the barren arctic wasteland that is the summit was pretty awesome. Unrelenting wind, fridge conditions, and snow blasting in our faces. Still, we took time to hang out and take a few pictures while we were up there. To the left is Mike standing behind the sign indicating we were at the summit. We couldn't really tell what it said due to all the snow and ice, but I at least assume it said we were at the summit.

The way down was also leisurely (for Meghan and me), however, team Weird Beards practically ran down the mountain and made the descent in no time at all. While they were running, Meghan was taking pictures! The alpine zone was covered with ice and snow and made for great photography. On the right is a nice image of the snow that had piled up on the tip of a pine tree.

After the 7 mile hike it came time to unload our gear into the cabin. No vehicles were allowed up the road, only foot traffic, so we hiked the gear up. First order of business was getting the wood stove fired up as the temperature had dropped well below freezing. A couple of hours later and the cabin was finally warm! Evening was spent eating, drinking, and playing Pictionary. Oh, and story time near the end of the night. Erik enjoyed that activity the most, I would say.

Morning came quickly. We all slept soundly after the long day of hiking and awoke well rested and ready to hike down from the cabin. The fire had burned out in the wood stove and the dishes were washed with boiled stream water before we turned in the night before. That meant clean up was speedy and we were on the road by 9:30am. Team Weird Beards were off to Maine to see Acadia National Park and Meghan and I traveled home to prepare for this night - potluck and contra dancing!

Red Barn Brewing, Take 2

It has been far too long since we brewed Night Barn, our delicious nut brown ale. As an ode to the end of summer, we thought it necessary to brew another ale. Though it would have been perfect in the mid-summer's heat, the persistent heat of mid-September will prove an equally perfect setting to sip on our newest creation: a Kölsch style ale with a hint of chamomile. Technically, we won't be able to label it as a Kölsch since we are adding the chamomile, but that's okay. Either way, this should turn out to be one tasty beverage.

As I type, the wort is chilling in the sink eagerly waiting for the yeast to be pitched. I'm not sure if the wort is eager, but I sure am. This recipe didn't quite make the standard 5 gallons, it's more around 3 or 3.5 gallons (darn, only 3.5 gallons), but that's quite alright. More updates will be necessary to keep everyone updated on the status (and flavor) of this one.

Oh, and if you are curious, this ale recipe is one step more "difficult" than the last. Instead of using purely extract, we have elevated our brewing skills to the "grain steeping" level. The beers snobs refer to this as "partial mash". I'm sure if a beer snob is reading this and affirm that it is indeed a partial mash (it truly is one), they're likely resenting being called a beers snob. However, think about it. If you know what a Kölsch is and can appreciate the style of the beer and the potential for awesomeness that chamomile adds: you're a beer snob.

The Great Outdoors (again!)

So long to the days of blogging exclusively about our garden. So long to the monotony of hearing about garden destruction. So long to the days of Greg sometimes writing posts:P

We have entered the time of outdoor blog posts!

Last Friday we finally got down to the river and did some canoeing! I was super excited to get back on the river. I hadn't had a Ledyard Canoe Club membership for the last summer or maybe two, so it is good to have my canoe-renting-powers returned to me. Hopefully before the summer is up there will be an opportunity for camping on the island to make this membership really worth it.

We took out the lovely "O Be Joyful" since my favorite canoe was nowhere to be seen. It was a good choice.



I liked matching the canoe, both in color, and state of joyfulness.

I made Greg do the steering.



I figured it would be a great opportunity to give him some practice, plus I was feeling lazy. First he chased down these ducks for us:



Then he paddled us right near a place where a Great Blue Heron was hiding out. It started squacking and flew out and away from us. I don't think I've ever been so close to one of those guys before. Here was his new hiding spot:



Then I took some pictures of these lily pads. I promise I was helping to canoe at some points during this trip.





Fun times in the canoe!

Ascutney photos!

And the photos!



This is me at the first lookout point. I guess there used to be a quarry on Ascutney? There were remnants of huge cables and chunks of cut rock near the trail at this point.



This is Greg at the summit. Or at least near the summit. This lookout was actually on a little trail off the summit. This is also where we ate our lunch. And I saw a contra person.



The view from our lunching point.



This was taken at the top of the fire tower. Watch out for the straw hat, it'll get you every time.



At the bottom of the Windsor Trail.