November 2006

Here's photos for November 2006. A lot of photos taken by Susan capture the essence of Fall quite well. Also included are some photos that I left out from October... the pumpkins and Susan in her Raggedy-Ann get-up.

A quick, overdue visit to Louisville to see Andy and Debbie really hung Susan up on the pinball machine. Susan didn't really have a lot of time for small-talk and to socialize since there was a 790,000,000 high score to beat. Great fun.

We hope November finds everyone in good spirits and ready for Turkey. If you stop by the site, sign the guestbook so we know you're still alive. We look forward to seeing everyone for the holidays... or shortly after? Until then, be safe, have fun and hug your family for us.

Camping with Steve, Dick and Bill

And you thought I meant Tom, Dick and Harry... I was invited to share an evening with "the Dickel" on an annual camping trip with the guys. You haven't partied until you've had an evening around a fire with guitars, shischk-a-bobz, gin... and "the Dickel".

Fun times. Of course Bill was there to shed a little civility on matters. I wasn't even aware of the existance of a coleman coffe maker. Set it on top of some heat and it'll brew you a pot of fresh coffee in minutes. Between the coffee maker, the stovetop, the tent heater and lanterns, it was an evening of music, debachery, and expending cans of coleman fuel by the dozen.

The weather was jsut incredible... almost as if the sun came out just for us. The night was a little chilly but well worth it and it beats rain anytime.

Note to self... not to miss out next year. Dickle + gin + homemade beer + bill's coffee maker = one helluva good time an no dissappointments.

The WinePod

A friend sent me the most interesting link and I just had to blog about it. For the winemaking yuppy, try this on for size. A completely contained and integrated vessel for pressing, fermenting and making wine.

For me, the biggest challenge in making a stellar wine lies between tasting, interpreting and making changes. That is, truly understanding what you are tasting, making educated interpretations and ultimately the best decisions in changing the chemistry of the must now for your future award-winning wine. These interpretations are subjective in nature and you will not know how the decisions you make now will affect the wine several years down the road.

I could see using something like this to sharpen such decision-making skills... assuming one could afford it. However, once you own one, why would you need to learn anything since this thing will do it for you. It's probably not for me, but I love the idea of checking the temperature, pH, brix etc... from work!

The WinePod is a state-of-the-art tool for small lot artisan winemaking. The WinePod integrates fermentation, pressing, and ageing in one elegant unit yet it is simple and easy to use. The WinePod controls the heat of fermentation and maintains appropriate ageing temperature using electronically controlled thermoelectric heating and cooling. Your wine ferments and ages in a variable-capacity stainless steel tank with an integrated wine press. The WinePod collects and transmits fermentation and temperature data wirelessly to your PC where our software offers winemaking guidance and manages your processes and records.

You would think they'd at least make it resemble a barrel? If you haven't heard of the WinePod yet, you should in the next couple years as it will be marketed to commercial wine makers in 2007. All for now.