Throwback Thursday: Radish the Great is Not a Role Model

From 2003, when I still made things bigger than a postcard.

Wordless Wednesday

Snow Day Brew Day

Trying out a Dunkelweizen kit from Great Fermentations. This is batch #5 of my homebrew career, first batch of 2015, and first Dunkelweizen.

Flavoring grains steeping.


Assistant Brewmaster FUZZ* watching some CatTV while the kettle comes to a boil.


Almost there!!!


Chilling the wort! WINTER IS AWESOME!


Ok, chilling the wort outside took a lot longer than I thought it would. Shoveled my driveway and it was only down to 140F. Shoveled my sidewalks and my neighbor's sidewalk and it was down to 120F. Went inside, watched Iowa State get their 20th win of the season. It took about 3.5 hours for the wort to get down around 75F.

Into the fermenter:

Easily the darkest-looking beer I've made so far.

Assistant Brewmaster Smokey* says "Hurry up and pitch the yeast so you can get my supper!"


My previous beers have all fermented in the front closet, but I'm leaving this one in a bathtub for easy cleanup, as I know from experience this yeast knows how to have a good time.


And the sun sets on another successful brew day.


* All my beers have a "less than 1% cat hair by weight" guarantee.

Throwback Thursday: Citizen Photojournalist For a Day

Rather than repeat the story, I'll let you read it at Ace of Spades HQ. I still occasionally get hits on the pictures.

I have not been that enthused about anything since I moved to Indiana. I made some effort in 2012 but the locals made it clear only married homeowners are welcome, so screw 'em. I got TV to watch.

Wordless Wednesday

Throwback Thursday: Snow Dyeing

A long time ago, and far away, in a different and better life, there was snow*, and I used it to dye fabric.



Fiber-reactive dye is poured on snow piled atop scrunched-up fabric. As the snow melts, the dye comes in contact with the fabric; different rates of melting and different concentrations of dye create patterns.



I still haven't used these fabrics. I should.


* Last Saturday it was so warm I sat Outside in a tailgate chair to drink a beer. Sigh.

Wordless Wednesday

They're Still Heeeee-re

Still making the aliens.

Throwback Thursday: Off-Color Valentines

I think these are all from 2005 or 2006--I didn't keep much paper documentation and the laptop I bought in the fall of 2005 time died in spring of 2006 and took all my photos with it. All hand-dyed fabrics, probably from 1999-2003.

Next time I feel like I haven't made any progress with design or color, I need to dig these out. Woof.

Wordless Wednesday