What To Do on a Rainy Day When Your Toddler Has Refused Naps for the Last Two Days and Awoken at 4 a.m.

1) Take random mid-week trip to grocery store (aka "choo-choo store"; huzzah for wegmans). Purchase gluten-free cinnamon buns. Come home, make coffee, and try to stay awake.

2) Feed horses, being sure volatile toddler pours grain into buckets. He won't be able to sit on the horses, since they're soaking wet, but be sure he can do something.

3) Stop at hardware store to purchase dowel rods, and punch holes in pie-plates (obtained from previous trip to grocery store), and string up over garden in an effort to discourage blankety-blank chipmunks/birds/squirrels that are digging up fall vegetables.

4) Walk downtown to a) mail package, b) stock up on meat & milk from butcher (also a "special drink" to mollify angry tired son), c) possibly purchase boots from military surplus for horse chores.

5) Above all, try not to shoot oneself, or drink *entire* bottle of gin.

i'll check back in and let you know how this goes. it isn't even 7 yet, and thankfully Loshie-pants went back to sleep. poor kid! his tired cranky brother has woken him up every single time he's tried to sleep for the last 2+ days.

Make Your Own Damn Beer

this is the slogan of Austin Home Brew Supply, from whence cometh the makings of our beer. or ryan's beer, as the case may be. he just got a new brewing pot, so we finally had a couple of batches fermenting in our pantry. they were just as excited as we were: both batches fermented like crazy. like, all over the pantry, or kitchen, or kitchen sink. if you're not familiar with the process, it first goes into a large 5-gallon fermenter, where it bubbles like crazy for a while. it then transfers to a 5-gallon glass jug, the separator. after it sits in there for about a week, it is time for the fun part: bottling. it's the first time that Finn has been old enough to notice. bottling beer is FUN, even for a not-quite-two-year-old.

The first step is pumping it from the separator to the "Ale Pail." here is the empty jug, with the pump:

that great big metal doodad? that is the capper. it  presses down
the spikey metal-edges on the caps.

here it is. check out that rich, dark brew. this is an Imperial Stout. looks it, don't you think?

the Ale Pail has a nifty spout on it, so you can bottle that stout deliciousness. Finn doesn't even know what to do yet, but he's already ready to do it.

he doesn't really want Daddy to help him (although he may be okay with helping Daddy), but this is a firm condition for being allowed near the bottling spout.

once the bottle is nearly full, though, Daddy takes over. otherwise beer ends up on the floor. it really is almost-beer, at this point. when it is in the Ale Pail, extra sugar gets added so the beer will ferment in the bottles. this is how it gets carbonation.

here, he's holding the bottle for Daddy. excitement!

one batch of home brew fills about fifty bottles. we ran out of bottles for the second batch, as we had purged when we moved, so we have jars of beer in our pantry. it's sort of groovy, actually, in that sort of "we make so much beer we ran out of bottles." except not really.

each empty bottle mouth eagerly awaits its turn to drink it down

unfortunately, i could not get a photo of actually capping the beer, 'cause i was helping Finn do that. you put a cap on the bottle, edges all flayed out, and center it just right under the capper. then you push down on that handle. it's a good thing it has so much leverage, because even so i can put my whole weight on it--pick my feet off the ground, even. it has holes in the base so you can bolt it down. maybe when we buy a house. this one is called a mechanical one. ryan said he used to have a hand one--a hand-held device where you use your own self to seal the caps. good thing he upgraded!

and you know what? Finn has outgrown this romper. as he will tell you, "Finn + Losh [are] growing growing growing!"

September

hey y'all . . . did you know it was September? i didn't. and when my computerized calendar told me today, i refused to believe it. i had to check two others before i would accept that today is, in fact 1 September 2011.

i'm sorry i haven't posted more photos. i have been intending to do so, i promise . . . just haven't been able to! and it's been one heck of a crazy week.

i went to my first fiddle lesson in about three weeks today, and took my great-uncle chuck's violin. it is beautiful, so beautiful, and makes me want to weep. i wish i were more worthy of it, but i shall do my best, and valiantly, i hope!

sweet virginia is blessing us with her cool, crisp, glorious autumn evenings. autumn is beginning to creep over everything, like afternooon shadows. this is the most beautiful time of year in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

something is digging in my garden, and i am *not* happy about it. i'm not sure if it's a squirrel or other rodent or one of the ten bizillion cats infesting our neighborhood, but it is frustrating. in the words of my dear friend, "why can't things just GROW when i plant them?!" it makes me think of the people who settled this country. i have a teeny little garden in my urban little back yard to sort of ease into this gardening thing. they had huge gardens that had to grow or they would die. and sometimes things didn't grow, and they did die. sobering thought.

we had dinner with a family from church last night. they are charming, delightful people whom we hope to get to know much, much better. as we were enjoying our end of dinner drinks and conversation, ryan took Finn in for a diaper change. i won't go into details: the bathtub had to be commandeered, and with kids we can have no pretensions, at all. but we enjoyed the evening nonetheless, and my boys are wonderful troopers. i love them very much and am very proud of them.

and i will try to post the beer story soon, and photos on shutterfly.