Trippel refreshing

The word "refreshing" in action!

tipped trippel, nothing spilled.

Oatmeal with mulberries wonder berries and blueberries

Mulberries from the back lot,

wonder berries from the neighbors front yard,

blueberries from the grocery store

and oatmeal with honey & maple spice.

breakfast

Snake skin is a good sign

Making a photo aquarium from the snake skin i found today.

i will be feeding this two dimensional snake all the spiders that live in my brick pile.

i hope he gets nice and fat on these 8 legged demons.

i really do not care for spiders.

5:55a sky

Morning is my favorite time of the day, the earlier the better. being outside first thing is better yet, it really defines the day. it is my first influence to organizing what i can physically tackle and mentally accomplish.

on job mornings i will give one last look up before walking into the building.  i get that last image of all sky to contemplate during the shift and to organize all that i can accomplish when i clock out.

the past two days have given me two completely different scenes to think about during my shift.

this diversity of sky has been great for diversifying daily goals.

at 5:55a on day one, there were layered clouds traveling at different speeds.

a few hours later there was a fast front that pushed 69mph winds through.

thoughts seemed to be as dramatic.

5:55a sky day one

at 5:55a on day two, light winds and the sky remained cloudless all day.

a clarity of a bright blue predominated all day as thoughts followed suit.

5:55a sky day two

Night sky field notes and the 2013 super moon

i know that it has been a couple of weeks since the field notes "night sky" has been released, 

but 

i now have my 3-pack!

and damn if i am not pleased!

the first words from my oldest when he saw these was, "can i have one".

the field notes has the great side suggestion to consider a fisher space pen.

i applaude that pitch and honestly that was one of my first thoughts.

now although i do not use the "space pen" i do use the "space pen refill" in my "stinger" tactical pen.

(i should do a review on this later. i use this pen not as a tactical but as a wood awl, dual function!)

i am thinking tonight, just of novelties sake, the noble boys (this includes dad) will be taking out the telescope to view tonights super moon, and take some notes. i was actually hoping for a saturday field notes delivery so we could observe the super moon at its 2013 brightest and closest sunday morn, but i am happy to do it tonight.

T-bone steak

T-bone perfection from some nebraskan beef.

grill is building up temperature. the wood is from the maple trees in the back.

grill getting ready for t-bones

once thawed, i lightly basted on some tamari and rubbed in some bosari seasoning salts.

(just enough to enhance the flavor)

next, i stacked the steaks on an uncovered plate for a few hours.

this provided some conditioning before cooking. 

a quick heat on both sides, then one last flip to make sure the flame touches the meat.

no additional seasoning is necessary,

what little i put on is near criminal.

True temper kelly perfect single bit axe head

Excitement in the form of a true temper "perfect" kelly works single bit axe head.

i am pretty damn excited to restore this gem. the only visible concern is a small nick on the bit, but that will be easy enough to file out.

tool restoration has been on hold for awhile. it had to give way to make room for one bathroom remodel, another shower repair, exterior house maintenance, and a lot of yard & garden work.

tool restoration as one of my necessities to refueling my mind and oiling my joints.  

i am past ready to getting back to this pursuit.

Star trek toilet

Red tile,

red ceiling,

red walls,

red stalls,

and

orange lighting to punch the kidneys to pass red, too.

red toilet

red is my favorite color, but i could never of expected to see it this way.

we went to a new theatre to watch the latest star trek movie with the family. at the end of it everyone needed to use the toilet. i opened up the door and this science fiction mens toilet room greeted us.

Length of shower

St. bernardus as a pre-shower beer.

This belgium quadrupel is one of those ideal trappist beers.

i would highly recommend this beer for those wanting an excellent heavy yeast experience.

the deep color is as rich as the malt and yeast tastes.

where this beer stands out is the complexity of other flavor notes: from the fruits to spices to the candied sugar.

it is because of these other flavors, that for those whom are not familiar with this style may drink when cooler outside as it has a harvest beer sort of feel.

from their website:

Just walking

4' to go, 

getting ready to move from cement to earth.

Workmate 350

I stopped by the habitat for humanity "re store" for some trim to frame a large bathroom mirror and ended up with one of those "all smiles" $15 finds.

workmate 350

minus one light rust mark on the step (which is soon to be neutralized) this tool is in excellent condition.

as a small note: this tool folds up to be about the size of a large brief case and can be transported very easily. the 24"x26" base is more than stable. even if one goes crazy working the step does the rest for stability.

$15

Rust eraser vs tool left in the rain

My favorite bypass clippers left to the elements for 6 days.

couldn't believe my carelessness from leaving these out while on vacation. doesn't pay to always be in a  hurry. something like this is bound to happen.

most of the rust is light, however there is some deeper running corrosion.

unwitting left my bypass clippers outdoors for a week

 with a rust eraser i was basically able to get almost all of the rust off. rust erasers are great little tools that are easy to handle and use. the key is moving it in little circles, over and over and over and over again.

with the light rust in the nooks & crannies,  i took it to the buffing wheel and an old concave felt wheel. 

removed rust with a rust eraser, ready to go again

some wd-40 and job done. while working on it i will give it a sharpen and then back to work.

When a mount rushmore tree dictates going back

A parting shot from our black hills.

on the first full day there we passed this tree while walking the trail in front of mount rushmore. i really liked the texture and how it had the look of it unraveling at the top. all of that was accentuated when looking at the rock behind it. the rocks had the same texture (especially on the right side) and showed line movement in the same direction.

on the last day we headed back there because

1. we wanted the boys to run around the wrinkle rock trail area which is about five minutes from there

and 

2. to get them some more of those crushed penny souvenirs (the ones from the machine you crank and imprints an image). we are partial to these because they can be turned into ornamental flash on objects made.

and

3. get back to this tree-rock site. thousands upon thousands of people passing this tree and i still wonder how many we taken by it.

Trip with children

As this great trip comes to an end we tally up just a few of the character building extras:

2x emergency stomach purges

&

1x "#1 accident" in the middle of a one hour and twenty minute tour deep inside the world's 3rd largest cave. 

Tunnels through rock

Tunnels through rock, tight turns, steep grades, amazing scenery and best of all the minimal traffic. Threading the jeep through the needles highway was the best "driving time" of the trip. 

Mount Rushmore

Today we introduced the boys to Mount Rushmore.

Ignoring the barrage of billboards, there is no denying the magnificence of scale and grandeur of this landmark. 

We are somewhat early on in the season so although it was busy, there was not a crush of tourists. This afforded us more time to better view of the monument.

On the way

 On our way to the black hills.

this very fair spring weather has created an abundance of insect life. 

Clouded vision from looking through our windshield is proof of that.

Warrior dash 2013 and the railhead trousers

A damn fine time.

we had a blast, but couldn't believe how cold it was for june.  the cold was amplified constant rain, rain that was fairly driving at times and even moments of SLEET.

even for nebraska, that is notable (for june).

the railheads did the job as always! 

i make sure to put a good layer of scotch guard.

do not scotch guard the pockets. also one modification is necessary, put a small hole in the pockets for drainage. reinforce it with some stitching so it doesn't expand. this gives the pocket fuzz a place to escape with persuasion. watch out though or wifey (or whomever you are with) will tell you to stop playing with your self. 

Charcoal

When one runs out of hardwood charcoal, just make some more.

and the answer is "yes, i did forget that i had forgotten to get more charcoal".

with all of this forgetting i knew that i would just have to make our own. a very simple process.

i need to say here that i did have enough charcoal to fill up about 1/5th of a chimney (this is a nice cheat that makes it very easy to get everything started and kept going). 

on top of the little bit of bagged charcoal, in the chimney, i packed in sticks of varying size (1/2" to 1"). on top of those packed in sticks i laid a few larger pieces. when the fire had consumed most of the wood, i knew i had a ready to use heat source. i poured the stick/embers onto some small twigs and a few more larger ones (these were for the smoke effect).  

this added about another 20 minutes but fortunately we had started early.

Pencil shavings with or with out cream

i prefer mine with.

As we all have, some weeks are longer than others

and

damn if i am not there.

Diamine's oxblood ink

I have been writing with diamine's "oxblood" ink for a week now and must say that it has completely filled my expectations.

diamine's "oxblood" ink contributing some punctuation to my lunchtime note taking at work.s

for some time now, i have been wanting to purchase a blood red ink with some character (variations of color when overlapped or laid down thicker). this is an ink that will be used for daily notebook writing and design work.

 a red on white has an impact that i have always been partial too.

when i was very young i remember my grandparents had a red & white china set in their farmhouse . many pieces were actually hung on the wall in their kitchen. i admired them in this presentation. as if they had been elevated to the status of a great painting or a family portrait.

later on, this carried over to my fancy for japanese overglaze copper red enameling on porcelain or the akae drawings over a creamy white glaze covering light stoneware.

even watching the cornhusker play is but red & white.

red has a presence that many other colors simply do not.

at the most base level, this is a blood on skin sort of exclamation and in the right context has a great value to it. 

a value similar to the saying, "working till your hands bleed".
it is not really about the blood but about the hard work. and hard work too often has some blood mixed in with it.

a final note that this aesthetic appreciation i way beyond my simple life and notice,

 "oxblood red" has been around for hundreds of years as a valued chinese glaze color. later the color gained value with the japanese and the europeans.
(then to my grandparents kitchen)

Hole

I get home to the immediate request to look right down jack's gulp.

jack's new tooth raising up from the bloody gum pool

a bloody hole,

he was very proud of it.

Exit

A pallet knocked out this exit sign.
not sure if i will be following its direction anymore.