The Dungeon

On Thursday I spent nearly 5 hours in the rather tight space under our bathroom ripping out & replacing a good percentage of our old plumbing. The crawlspace under the bathroom is barely tall enough to allow me to sit up with my head between the rafters collecting cobwebs. But with all the criss-cross of various plumbing, I had to spend a good bit of that time on my back. Dad was fortunate enough to "get" to stay in the much more spacious crawlspace under the kitchen, where he got to work on his knees for most of that 5 hours. I'm not sure which of us drew the short straw that morning. By the end of the day Thursday we had everything completed under the bathroom and were ready to start the run under the kitchen.

Dad & I got a quick start Friday morning and were rolling by 8. We got the tie-ins under the kitchen sink knocked out fairly quickly and with mostly long straight runs left in the crawlspace, we were moving good. Before morning was out we had extracted ourselves from the crawlspace and were working on tying everything into the main supply, the water heater, & the boiler (radiator system). This is when we started getting stupid. We'd been working rather efficiently to this point and had been making good time. But for some reason, the last little bit of detail work to tie everything in at the water heater, required us to solder several of the joints multiple times. We'd either forget to put something on, or put on the wrong kind of joint, or measure a length wrong. Whatever it was, we were kicking ourselves a lot there at the end. We ended up getting stuck on the unions to the water heater. We had several different kinds to choose from, but nothing seemed to fit quite right. So, with the girls & kids expected home soon, we decided to delay finishing that, and test the cold lines out. After fixing a bad solder connection and a loose union, the cold water seemed tight in the basement. Unfortunately, half the fixtures in the house seemed to be clogged from all the sediment that the changeover had shot through the system. So, as the girls & kids were coming through the door, Dad was heading to the store to find a better part for the water heater while I was scrambling around trying to clean out/fix all of the fixtures that weren't working right. After a fill-tube replacement on one toilet and cleaning the screens on several faucets, everything seemed to be working good. Only now we noticed a small leak under the kitchen sink.

Over the rest of that evening and parts of Sat. & Sun., Dad and/or I made several more trips to the hardware store before we finally got everything under the kitchen sink tight and the water heater connections solid. But with the last union soldered on and tested earlier this afternoon, the task is now complete. Everything except the downstairs bathroom is solid copper from the well tie-in to the fixture, and that bathroom only has old galvanized for the last bit of pipe going up through the walls. Also, we now have a working hose faucet on the outside of the house. When we bought the place, neither hose faucet worked and the previous owners had run a hose through the coal chute to the faucet for the old washtub in the basement. So we were finally able to disconnect that mess and seal up the coal chute a little better. Yeah! After so much time in the crawlspace (aka dungeon) and nearly 10 trips to various hardware stores, its finally done. Our water pressure is significantly improved at several fixtures and the iron deposits we were getting on our sinks and toilets should be a thing of the past now. Boy am I glad this one's behind us now.

Let the Plumbing Begin

Well, now that Christmas is behind us and we've mostly recovered from our excessive food & eggnog intake, its time for the projects to commence. This week the big project is to redo the plumbing in the basement. Most of the downstairs plumbing is fed by a mangled mess of old galvanized piping that's starting to slow drip in places. The upstairs has copper lines running up through the walls, but, of course, it ties into the mangled mess in the basement. So today, as Sarah, my mom, & the kids run for shelter at Sarah's parents' home for a couple days, Dad and I will begin the arduous task of ripping out a large percentage of the piping in the basement and replacing it with copper. This task is only complicated by the fact that most of the plumbing mess is actually in a crawlspace area instead of the basement proper. So while we're wriggling around in the dust under the house trying to improve a rather hateful plumbing mess, think of us and send a few prayers our way that we'll be able to complete this task quickly and as painlessly as possible.

Merry Christmas!

We've, of course, been busy with family and such the last several days. But I wanted to take a quick moment to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! I hope ya'll had a great Christmas. We enjoyed a fun Christmas with my folks here, though I have to say this warm weather they brought with them seems a little odd for late Decemeber. I suppose we can still hope for a white New Years, right? Speaking of which, we also wish everyone a happy and safe New Years!

Sarah's Christmas Wishlist

I was recently asked what I wanted for Christmas. Here were some of my ideas:

I wish for Paul to be potty trained.
I wish for Julia to crawl.
I wish for dinner out with Steve.
I wish for getting through the season without anymore child related Christmas ornament incidents.
I wish for to staying up late watching a movie rental, and then getting to sleep solidly until 9 in the morning.
I wish for 3 foot drifts of snow and nowhere to go.
I wish for lipstick in a color that I like that doesn't smear on my children, husband, or food.
Ditto on mascara.
I wish for a hot tub.
I wish for a bathroom big enough for a hot tub.
Who am I kidding, I'd be thrilled to get plumbing that doesn't turn the water orange. (I think I'm actually getting this one before January is gone.)
I wish for warm feet and hands.
I wish for long brunette hair that DOES NOT come out all over the place and clog the drains.
I wish for broccoli that tastes like butterscotch pudding.
I wish for 3 solid weeks of childcare so I can make my house look gorgeous.
I wish to remove enough clutter from my house so that I have places to take pictures of my family without be embarrassed by what is in the background.
I wish to speak Czech. Fluently.
I suppose that is enough for now.

She's Moving

Julia is scooting. No, she's not crawling. She's not even belly crawling. But we have found that if we sit her on a blanket on the floor, and then look back in about 5 minutes that she will be somewhere else on the blanket. Still sitting. By leaning and stretching and twisting, she can slowly turn herself around and travel across the blanket. Fun times.

She has also started moving *forward* in her little Jeep walker. Fun times! When Paul was little, he would circle the kitchen in the walker and grin while he pulled all the hand towels down from the drawer handles. We would set up hand towels all around the kitchen just for him to find and pull down. Earlier this week Julia sidled up to a hand towel and started reaching for it. It made me smile.

In other news, when asked how many fingers he has, Paul now answers, "Eweven." In "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" one of the characters counts his fingers, "...eight, nine, ten, he has eleven. Eleven this is something new, I wish I had eleven too." And Paul cannot be convinced that he has only 10 fingers. Thank you Dr Suess.

Homemade Bio-diesel

It had been awhile since I perused the Backwoods Home Magazine website, so I decided to see what kind of new articles were up during some free time yesterday afternoon. One of the last couple of issues had an article titled "Make your own biodiesel for $0.80 per gallon", which caught my eye. I drive a diesel (TDI) Volkswagon over 60 miles a day during the week, and my little tractor is, of course, diesel. And given the current ~$2.50/gallon I'm paying for the stuff, you can see why I might be a little interested. After reading the article, I have to say it doesn't really look that economically feasible. I mean, sure, if you can get a free and geographically close source of waste vegetable oil, and you don't count the capital investment, I expect you probably could make your own for less than $1/gallon. But the kits this fellow talks about start at $1800 and go up from there. Plus the cost of a large tank for the back of a pickup truck or trailer to retrieve the spent oil. At the rate that my vehicles consume diesel on average, it would take me at least 2 years to make up the capital costs alone, not to mention my time investment. I could see this being worthwhile if maybe a couple neighboring farmers got together to do this. And if you've got the spare time and like these kinds of projects you could probably duplicate some of the kits cheaper. But, much to my wife's relief, I don't think this is a project/hobby I'll be looking to take on anytime soon. An interesting read, nonetheless, at least if you're a bored engineer.

Somehow Appropriate

After all the time I've spent talking-up our home-made eggnog recently, some good friends ran across this comic and thought of me. Enjoy!

Brewin' Time Again

It appears that everything's a go for cooking my next round of brew tomorrow. This time up I'm planning on an Oatmeal Stout, a good wintertime chewin' beer with a little more sweetness than, say, a Guinness. At this point I'm planning just to go with the Listermann's oatmeal stout kit, but I'm planning to do the next batch without a kit. Since I've recently finished reading Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, I've learned a couple things in my brewing process to correct, and several things to improve. So my plan now is to do this one last kit with my new & improved brewing process, and then move on to working with recipes and buying the individual ingredients. To recap my past brews:

1. New Freckled Rooster English Ale - Brewed at Albright's house with his stuff; excellent brew

2. Belgian White - My first brew at the farm with my stuff; decent, but some cidery off-flavors that have mostly mellowed out in the bottle

3. Honey Brown - My second brew at the farm and my first solo brew; decent, but some slight off-flavors

Hopefully, my new & improved brewing process will help eliminate the off-flavors seen in my first two Kuhlman farm attempts. So in about 5-6 weeks, stop on by and give one a try...they should be bottled, well-carbonated, and ready to enjoy.

Fun out of doors

Yesterday the weather was pleasantly warm (it got up to 50) and dry. Steve suggested that I take every opportunity to take Paul outside and "run him like crazy" because it is supposed to be wet the rest of the week. So we had a good time outside. In the morning we played out of doors while Julia slept, and we took a bucket of vegetable peelings out for the chickens.

In the afternoon, Julia came out with us. Paul spent some time attacking a large maple tree with a stick, and Julia enjoyed sitting on my lap while I straddled a swing and swung us back and forth. Then we went down to the barn to collect eggs. This is always a dicey proposition with Paul running loose. And I had Julia in one of my arms. So I was collecting eggs one handed and trying to put them in the carton fast enough that I could also let Paul hand me the eggs he nabbed before he accidentally dropped one or tried knocking two of them together. Then I heard splat. I looked at Paul's feet, but there was no egg there. It was about 3 feet away from him. "Paul, do NOT throw the eggs!" And with an 18 pound baby in one arm, I scooped up the yolk with the shell and disposed of it.

Steve came home a little later and I let Paul run down the driveway to greet him. Steve carried Paul back up to the house and entered saying, "Paul's been telling me stories. I asked him if he had a fun time outside, and he didn't say much. I asked him if he played on his swing set, and he didn't say much. Then I asked him if he helped feed the chickens. He got sort of excited and started saying, 'Chickens! Throw egg. Broken it egg. Mommy no. Juicy. Mommy pick up.'"

At which point I tried really hard to put on my stern mommy face and say, "That's right. No throwing eggs." But I had to turn away because I was busting up with laughter.

Fine Nog

Over Thanksgiving we went to visit Sarah's folks, and her Dad asked us to bring a couple dozen eggs with us. Her Dad had a hankerin' for some homemade eggnog, so all 2-dozen went into that recipe. Well just the thought of that was intriguing to me, but then I tasted and was pretty well hooked. So with a couple different get-togethers this past weekend, I decided to make a batch (~1 gallon) using that same recipe:
Combine 24 eggs & 3 cups of powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Add 3 quarts of half-n-half & 2.5 tbsps of vanilla & mix lightly until consistent. Refridgerate & serve.
Man, that is some fine nog. And of course, I had to take at least a portion of it and make it official Kuhlman eggnog by adding Apricot Brandy & Kahlua to it. Nothing like some Kuhlman eggnog made with fresh Kuhlman eggs on a cold wintry night. Enjoy!

Its Good to be Early

I'm dreaming of a white....Thursday!? The forecasters had been speculating the past couple days on the chance of snow overnight last night and during the day today. So I had braced myself for waking up to a good snow shower and slick roads. But when I left the house just before 6 this morning, everything was still dry and there were just a few flakes floating around in the air. In fact, most of my half-hour commute to work saw little more than a bit of snow floating around here and there. So I get to work and go back in my windowless hidey-hole for about an hour when another team member arrives, complaining loudly about the snow. Now I'm a bit curious, so I wander on out to a window and what do I see, but the cars & ground with a growing blanket of snow on them. Just another reason its good to get in early and beat the rush.

Doggy App

As you may recall from earlier posts, and is probably still somewhat obvious from our poll, we're looking to get a dog sometime soon. We've decided, pretty much, on trying to get a Miniature Schnauzer (pure or mix) from a shelter or rescue. We started looking seriously on petfinder.com a few weeks ago to see what was available, but there weren't really any in the area that looked like a good fit. Not really knowing how fast the listings at petfinder turn over, I waited a couple weeks to search again. This time, right at the top of the list, a ~6 month old male showed up that's pretty local and looks like a great fit, potentially. So now we start the application process. I'm sure there are some of you out there who have tried adopting a dog or cat recently that are familiar with this, but I'm rather surprised by the amount of information some of these places want to collect on you. I don't recall having to do anything like this before having children. I mean, I understand that they're trying to place these animals in good homes, but all of this stuff seems over the top. On the plus side, so far the rescue group where this puppy is doesn't seem to be quite as psycho as some of the other ones. But we'll see how it goes. With any luck we'll have a dog before the year's out.

New Cookie Recipe

Over the weekend we decided to get the Christmas cookie machine a'rollin'. We had recently bought several oranges for one recipe that required a little orange zest, but we had several oranges left from which we could zest quite a bit more. So we decided we'd try to make some kind of orange cookies. My mom often makes an Orange Drop cookie recipe around the holidays, so that was one of the candidates. But this white chocolate chip orange recipe caught our eye and looked pretty good, so we decided to try something new. Well, I have to say that they turned out absolutely great and this recipe is a definite keeper. In fact, I brought a bunch into work on Monday and they were gone before lunch, with several folks asking for the recipe. And, oddly enough, it turns out that today is "Share a Christmas Cookie Recipe" day, so isn't that just convenient. Enjoy!

Going to Lose

The weather was particularly fine last Monday, so I made a point to spend some time playing out of doors with the kids. Since I had forgotten that the clock in the garage is still on daylight savings time, we had eaten a very early lunch, and I wanted to kill some time before putting Paul down for his nap, so we went outside for a little while. Julia fell asleep in her stroller, and Paul and I collected weeds to toss to the chickens.

I decided to circle the barn to find some thicker patches of weeds and to check on Julia, who was dozing inside the barn. By the time I got back to the side with the chicken fence, Paul had wandered down to the ditch/creek near the edge of our property.

He hadn't stepped into the muddy ditch/creek yet.

"Paul, come to Mommy."
He stops.
"Come to Mommy, Paul."
He looks at me.
"One...Two..."
And I can see from 50 yards away that he is performing a little toddler cost benefit analysis. He can step into the muddy creek and get in trouble. Or he can come to Mommy, and not get into trouble. And I know from 50 yards away, that I have already lost this one.
"Three."
Stomp Stomp Splat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you & yours all had an excellent Thanksgiving last week! Our family left the farm for a couple days to enjoy Thanksgiving with Sarah's family in NW Ohio. We, of course, enjoyed some excellent food, especially the desserts. But we also had a good time visiting with family that we don't get to see very often. When this family gets together, we often play games to pass the time when we're not eating. Historically, one of the favorite games has been Jenga. This year, Dennis, one of Sarah's cousins, brought his new giant jenga game that he created/built for his youth group. Each piece is a planed & sanded 2x4, about 10.5" long and, like the real game, starts out stacked 20 rows high. As you can see from the picture, the game very quickly grows taller than several of the participants and can be somewhat intimidating as you're crawling around looking for an easy block on the bottom rows. But it was definitely a fun time and we did very well growing this tower to over 40 rows tall!

Welcome to Ella Grace Peterman!

Apparently, Thursday, November 16th, was a very busy day for a lot of people. Jonathan & Jessica Peterman also found themselves at the hospital giving birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ella Grace! She weighed in at 7lbs., 2oz., and was 20" long. Mother & baby are doing well. Congratulations to the Peterman family on their third addition to their growing family!

Welcome to Greta Hoerschgens!

Last Thursday, while Sarah and I were celebrating her 29th birthday, my best friend, Sven, and his beautiful and patient wife Charle were busy welcoming baby Greta into the world! She was a couple weeks early via C-section, so she weighed in at 6 lbs. 10 oz., and measured 18.5" long. Mother & baby are both doing great. Congratulations to Sven & Charle on this beautiful new addition to their small family, and happy birthday to Sven who celebrated by bringing his wife & 3 day-old daughter home from the hospital!

Stick in the Mud

Or stuck in the mud, if you prefer. Either way, that big, purple, so-called 4x4 wasn't going anywhere. Sunday afternoon my friend David was driving the big purple to the farm to drop off a little firewood for a youth event we were hosting later in the evening. He was backing up to the fire-ring, which is near a spring-head and therefore typically pretty mucky, and thought "it seems to be getting muddy here, I should stop short and we can unload from here." Little did he know how stuck he really was. We tried pulling him out with the tractor from both directions. We tried pushing him out with the tractor, and nearly got the tractor stuck too. We tried cramming rocks and wood under the tires in an attempt to get better traction. But the only thing that worked was a call to AAA and a nice tow-truck driver with a winch. John & David both agreed that a man who owns this much mud should probably have a winch. However, John & I both agreed that a big, purple truck that says 4x4 probably shouldn't just have one wheel spinning in 4-Low. Oh well, no harm, no foul...and we all had a good laugh, eventually.

Over the Rhine

Its probably been about 10 or 11 years now since I first found myself sitting in line in the cold in downtown Dayton waiting to get into the Canal Street Tavern to see them. Oh, the first time we were actually there to see the opening act, Jason Dennie, who was a friend of ours. We'd never actually heard of Over the Rhine yet. I don't know that I can put my finger on what exactly draws me to this band. It could be their amazing gift for poetry, their cleverness with a rhyme, their excellent musicianship, Karen's entrancing voice, the openness and fun they display on stage, or countless other qualities that I can't even put into words. Whatever it is I've been hooked ever since.

And of all the places I've seen them, Canal Street is the best. The room's fairly small, there's seating right up to the stage, and the stage is small and only a couple feet above the floor. When we get there early and snag the front table we can lean over and read their setlist. Its like they're playing in your living room with a couple hundred of your closest friends huddled closely around you.

There have only been a couple of occassions where I've missed 'em when they played at Canal Street, and most years they play there 2 or 3 times. We've enjoyed all kinds of weather in our 2-3 hour wait next to that tall stone & brick wall. But when we waited this past Friday in the cold & wind, it reminded me most of that very first time and spurred me to reflection. And we were not disappointed. They were in excellent form and were accompanied by a great upright bass player & probably the best drummer I've ever seen play with them before. And we were especially treated by the many new songs they played that are coming on their next couple albums. More fine music from a band that has become lodged in my soul. If you ever have the opportunity to see this amazing band, I highly recommend and encourage you to, especially if you're fortunate enough to see 'em at Canal Street or a comparably intimate room in your area.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

In the same year that saw the first test flights of the Space Shuttle & the F-117 Stealth Fighter, the opening of the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV), and the launch of the Voyager 2 space probe...and on the same day as the opening of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (I'm sure there's no connection here), my wife, Sarah, was born in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia, just across the river from her parents home in Ohio. And the world has never been the same. So Happy Birthday to my wonderful and patient wife (both attributes shown well in this picture). I love you and I look forward to taking you out for a night on the town tomorrow to help you celebrate your 29 years of life.

Too Cute for Words

The State of the Doors

During the cold & wet afternoon we had this past Saturday, Dad & I managed to, by ourselves, get the newly-built barn doors hung. All last week we built and, at least partially, painted them. We ended up hanging the top 2/3 portion of each door and attaching the bottom 1/3 portion after it was hung. With this arrangement we were able to accomplish the feat with just the two of us and no special rigging or framing. The only real tool we used was the trailer we built last winter for the tractor, though that proved invaluable to the task. At this point they are completely hung, assembled and painted with at least one coat. Up close its clear that they'll need another coat and a little caulk to really finish up nice like the others. But that can wait till the warmer weather of spring if need be. All the surfaces are coated at least once to protect from the weather this winter. And, as you can tell from this picture, from a distance they look great! A lot of work and a long and tiring weekend, but a job well done. Thanks Dad!

First Zoo Outing

Grandma Kuhlman and I took our little folk to the Cincinnati Zoo last Thursday. We had an Indian Summer day that was just perfect and the zoo crowd consisted of other moms with little ones in strollers and small bands of elementary school students. It wasn't crowded or overwhelming.

Paul got to see elephants, a zebra, a Stellar's Sea Eagle, alligators and crocodiles, zebras and a polar bear. He seemed to like seeing animals in the water, and gazing up at the big fat baby manatee pulling a head of lettuce in to its mouth reminded me of Julia. Paul liked seeing some snakes, and his favorite part was taking the train ride.

A lot of the animals were tucked away for the winter, so the petting zoo was kind of sparse. As we were walking by one empty fenced in area, we watched another mother chase her son in. She tried to coax him out, but he was having fun stomping on the autumn leaves. Then Paul ran in, ran right up to the older boy as if they were old friends, and both of them started running back and forth in the fenced area, giggling, as if that was what they were supposed to be doing. We watched them go back and forth a couple of times, and then a young girl joined them. And they all ran back and forth and back and forth. You would have thought there was a sign somewhere telling them that this was a pre-schooler running pen.

We stayed at the zoo about three and a half hours, had a picnic lunch and headed home. Paul fell asleep in the car and slept really well for nap time. Julia didn't really notice the animals at all, but she seemed to enjoy all the fresh air.

Clutter Reduction

One of the things that I am really enjoying about being a stay at home mom right now is the opportunity to reduce the piles of clutter about our home. I have also started a garage sale box, and I'm hoping to reduce our coefficient of stuff. But it's not easy.

The other day, in trying to tidy up the spare bedroom for the arrival of Steve's parents, I came across the Audubon Field Handbook of Eastern Landbirds copyright 1965 in a box. And I thought to myself, "Hey, we already have a copy of Audubon's field handbook. It's even a more recent copy. This book is a good candidate for the garage sale box." So I said to Steve in what I meant to be a joking tone, "Do you think I can put this copy of the Audubon Field Handbook of Eastern Landbirds in the garage sale box?" Because who needs two copies, right?

And Steve said, "But we might be in different fields at the same time." I gave him a look.
He followed with, " And look, the book on the shelf is the Audubon Field Handbook of Eastern Birds, but this older book has more detail for Eastern LAND Birds. And the newer book has photographs, but the older book has colored renderings, which are sometimes easier to see. No, don't put the older book in the garage sale box. Hey, look! We have 4 more bird identification books I didn't even realize we had. And all of them have different features. Let's keep them."

Sarah: "Uh...Okay honey. I guess I'll but the Audubon Field Handbook of Eastern Birds on the shelf downstairs for quick reference, and put the rest of the books on a shelf upstairs for deeper research if needed." So I wandered upstairs contemplating the fact that my garage sale box still had NOTHING in it and that my sister, who helps us clean house, probably would have had a stroke if she had been present for that conversation.

And then yesterday I was sifting through our drawer of random kitchen utensils. We have 3 garlic presses. I only ever use one of them, so I put the other two in the garage sale box.

Then I got to the vegetable peelers, also known as carrot peelers, also known as potato peelers. (The proper name of this utensil has been a matter of some debate in our home.) We have one with a handle that is easier for me to grip, so we're keeping that one. We have one with a handle that I know is easier for Steve to grip, and so even though I thought it might be silly to have more than one vegetable peeler (because we so seldom desire to have more than one person peeling vegetables at a time) I decided that we would keep that one too. Going through the drawer, I found 1, 2, 3 more vegetable peelers. I had no idea we had so many vegetable peelers in the house. Steve insisted that we keep one of the other three. Why? I don't know. Maybe he's concerned that we will have more potatoes to peel at once than two people can handle. Maybe he's afraid that we will break two of them and need the third before one of us can make it to the store to replace one.

I'm just grateful that half of our supply of vegetable peelers made it to the garage sale box. I even got to throw out the broken cheese slicer that we've stored for the last 4 years. Now I just need to slip our fourth and fifth wine bottle stoppers into the garage sale box. Shhhh...don't tell Steve.

Gone A' Baptisin'

With both sets of grandparents looking on, and Sarah and I mostly just trying to keep Paul corralled, Julia Rose Kuhlman was baptised this morning. Poor Julia was sleeping on her mom's shoulder, and was still mostly asleep when Pastor Mark was holding her. But boy did she wake up when that water touched her head. Other than a little fussing during the prayer afterwards, though, she did really well through the whole thing. Paul was a bit more of a challenge, getting passed from dad to mom part way through, and then trying to make a break for it during the final prayer. But he did stay pretty quiet through most of it and did about as well as one could hope a healthy 2-year-old boy do. It was a blessing and encouragement to be up there participating in the sacrament of baptism, and we enjoyed a great time of fellowship with the family after church too. Thanks to all of the encouraging words from our brothers & sisters at church and for all the family that made the trip.

Let the Doors Begin

My folks arrived Wednesday afternoon for about a 10-12 day visit. The main purpose of their trip is to watch their newest grandaughter's (aka farm hand #2) baptism, coming up tomorrow. But the main task to accomplish while they're here, is to rebuild the main barn doors. During their summer trip Dad & I rebuilt all of the smaller barn doors, and I must say they did turn out well. But the main set of barn doors we were unable to work on. And boy are these a couple of formidable doors. Measuring in at 13'3" tall by 6'4" wide, these will be the single largest doors we've tackled yet. Today, in our first day of working on them, we managed to get the top 2/3 of one of the doors mostly done. Because of their length, we have to build them in two sections, the top measuring 9'4", and the bottom coming in at 3'11". We're fastening the two sections together with cross boards front & back, which will work fine once they're hung. However, trying to stand these massive doors up while preventing them from buckling at the joint is going to be the real trick. At this point I think we've settled on the plan of building a 2x4 wall-type frame structure with 12' 2x4s. We'll build the doors face-side down on this structure, which is sitting on the trailer. When each door is complete, then, we can simply pull the trailer out and stand the doors up into place. We'll, of course, need a couple stout fella's to help us get them up on the track, but once they're vertical, that shouldn't be too hateful. So this is our task for the next week...here's hoping we can complete it by the end of this coming weekend. Let me know if any of ya'll would like to help, or at least witness the spectacle of, us getting these doors from horizontal to vertical to hanging on the track.

Decisions, Decisions

It seems like autumn is often a time of decision-making. With the holidays coming up, there's the decision of where to spend Thanksgiving & Christmas. There's Christmas presents to be picked out. Its nearly time to pick out what seeds we'll be trying to grow in the garden next year. There's often financial decisions based on tax implications for the year. Etc., etc. Amongst all these I'm also battling with another very important decision...what to brew next. The cool weather makes me think darks, bocks, porters, & stouts. But the complications involved in brewing a lager (e.g., bock), are making me think twice about attempting that one next. So my current leaning is an oatmeal stout. That's a good thick winter-time chewin beer that Sarah & I both really enjoy. Of course, there's always the red ale, though, which is an anytime-favorite for me. Its especially good with spicier foods, like Kuhlman chili (another wintertime favorite). And recently I'm finding the smoky, dark flavors of a good Scottish Ale to be rather pleasing when there's a nip in the air. Such difficult decisions, could anyone out there offer me some recommendations?

Farm of Sickness

After coming out of the first round of sudden-cold-weather induced ailments relatively unscathed, the second bout is starting to get the better of us. Julia's been coughing and hacking for well over a week now, though she seems to be improving a little bit the past day or so. Sarah is continuing to battle a sinus headache she's had since Saturday, and today she finds out she's got pink eye as well. Paul has been coughing some, though he still seems to be feeling pretty good overall. And I've been trying my best to fight off a throat irritation the past several days. We're all pretty much a mess here. On the plus side, I was able to take off Friday to help out some and, other than feeling a little rough in the mornings, I've been doing pretty well. Also, we've got backup coming sometime tomorrow when my parents arrive for a ~2 week visit. Here's hoping Sarah can hold it together for the next day and a half until help arrives.

Flurry of Activity

With the cooler weather we've been enjoying the past week or so, I've started looking around the farm at all of the pre-winter chores that oughta get done. Dad and I will start re-building the last big set of barn doors in another week, there's flashing that needs to get hung over the various barn-door tracks, the sand box needs to be cleaned out and covered, the garden oughta be re-tilled, 6-10 hens need to be processed for the freezer, etc., etc. I'm guessing my next several weekends are gonna be good & busy getting stuff ready. And then, to add to the urgency a little, we've been enjoying snow flurries the past day or so. I've been here long enough to know that we'll still have some warm days yet before winter really sets in, but the pre-Halloween snow is a good reminder that the cold and wet of late fall and winter is coming on quick.

Growing Family

After nearly 4 months breathing our air, Julia (aka, Farm Hand #2) has broken the 16 lbs. barrier, weighing in at 16 lbs., 7 oz. today at the doctor's. That's especially good given she started at under 8 lbs., and has only had rice cereal 2-3 times. And of course, we all know how much nutritional value an infant really gets from those first couple of cereal feedings...next to nothing. On a developmental note, she's also becoming very adept at driving her little Jeep. She can turn the wheel and honk the horn pretty consistently, though she's only figured out reverse and is still pretty slow with that. Fortunately she has big brother to help her with going forward, which she greatly enjoys, at least when he's not banging her into things. I think Paul has heard the admonition "slow down" so many times he's gonna start repeating it like a mantra in his sleep.

Oktobeerfest Pics

Here's a decent pic of the variety in the judges cooler







An excellent pic of the declining bonfire








A nice look at the judges table







Milling around between songs at the blues jam








Its nice to see folks enjoying themselves by the food & drink

Oktobeerfest Results

First off, I'd like to thank everyone who came to the Oktobeerfest...the people are really what make the party, and this party was a great success because of all the wonderful folks who came to enjoy themselves last Friday night. By my count, there were at least 65 of us who braved the wind & cold to share in the food, libations, merriment, & music. The bonfire, though it went up much quicker than expected, managed to keep folks warm late into the evening. And by all reports, everyone really enjoyed the blues jam as well. Speaking for the musicians, we had a great time playing for ya'll and look forward to our next excuse to jam together.

There were 33 unique beers entered into the official beer judging (sorry if we missed anyone's entry), and the 4 judges managed to pick winners in each of the 4 categories while maintaining their verticality and sense of balance (mostly). The results are posted here in the picture and the winners of each category are highlighted in green. I have to say I really enjoyed the variety of beers this year, with a lot of rather obscure entries and some new favorites being discovered. I also appreciated the impromptu Root Beer tasting going on among some of the folks. We've been receiving much prodding and we might have to succumb and add a Root Beer/Cream Soda category next year.

Thanks especially to those of you who helped out judging, setting up, executing, & cleaning up. I'm pleased that so many of you have told me what an excellent time you had, and I look forward to hosting this again next year. If any of you have pictures you'd like to share, I'll hopefully be posting some in the next few days, so please e-mail 'em to me at kuhlmasp@gmail.com. What a great party!

Its What's For Dinner

After much waiting and anticipation, we got to bring our next new addition home earlier today. And while most of you probably thought we'd go smaller, we decided to get...a 298 lbs. half-a-cow. When it was whole and breathing, it was a rather large Black Angus cow that lived at least most of its life on a farm near here. But several weeks ago it got a significant change of venue and lifestyle when it started its journey towards being freezer beef. And after much processing & a little aging, half of that splendid animal has found its way into our freezer. Having never received beef in such quantities before, I was curious in what forms we might receive it, as I'm sure you might be too. So here's the list from the butcher shop of the ultimate forms this beautiful animal has taken:

• 9 T-Bones (3/4")
• 7 Sirloin Steaks (1")
• 7 Ribeye Steaks (1")
• 10 Round Roasts
• 4 Swiss Shoulders
• 2 Sirloin Tip Roasts
• 10 Chuck Roasts (2.5 lbs./ea)
• 2 Rump Roasts
  
• 1 Heel Roast
• 48 Hamburger Packages (1.5 lbs./ea)
• 4 Stew Beef Packages (1 lb./ea)
• 4 Soup Bones
• 1 Flank Steak
• 4 Liver Packages (1 lb./ea)
• 1 Heart
• 1 Tongue
• 1 Ox Tail

Any guesses what's we'll be having for Sunday dinner this week? And next...and next....

Nip in the Air

Last night we went to bed and, aside from it being wet & drizzly out, it didn't feel that cold yet. But first thing this morning we were surprised and pleased to find that it was right around the freezing mark outside. Excellent! Fall is really coming in fast, now, and its just a wonderful time. The ash & fruit trees have already turned colors and the maples are starting. There's much more consistent breeze going, and its actually got a little nip in it. The corn & beans in the fields are brown & gray and starting to be harvested. And pumpkins are starting to be spotted decorating people's homes. We're supposed to have lows the next couple nights right around freezing, which should make for a chilly Oktobeerfest. But, it'll really just make the bonfire, the beer, & the brats all that much nicer and more enjoyable. What an excellent time to be in the midwest...and here's hoping many of you can join us for the Oktobeerfest to enjoy the season with us.

Final Oktobeerfest Prep

'Twas the week of Oktobeerfest, and all through the barn, many creatures were stirring, especially...me. Even with the cleanup day we had a couple weekends ago, there's still lots to get done before the party this Friday. In the past couple days I've swept more of the barn out, mowed the lawn, mowed the area around bonfire, made a couple minor barn repairs, tarped the bonfire woodpile, and drank several beers. On Thurs. and Fri. I'll be moving chairs & cooking stuff down from the house, setting up tables, finishing up the barn cleanup, fashioning some sort of a "stage" for the band, setting-up & sound-testing with the band, and drinking several more beers all in order to get ready for the big event Friday night. That's a lot of hard work followed up by a lot of 12-oz curls. I have to say, though, that the barn's in the best condition since we've moved to the farm, and that pleases me greatly. Now if I can just manage to maintain that....

Blues Jam Practice

In preparation for the upcoming Oktobeerfest , the blues jam band (aka, Fat Clay & the Great Miami River Band) got together for our first practice last night. Man, what a great time that was. We were without our horn section, so it was just the rhythm section and the guitars & vocals. But in the three hours we were there we managed to put together about 10-11 songs, at least 7-8 of which are really solid, and the others will be fine for a casual jam like we're expecting this Fri. Its always so much fun working with really good musicians, and all of these fella's are really good musicians. We had a great time jammin' on a whole range of blues tunes, and now we're all really looking forward to the Oktobeerfest gig. Hope to see ya there!

Lime Jello

Paul has been sick the last week. He's had a runny nose and fever. The doctor put him on an antibiotic so that it didn't turn into bronchitis and/or an ear infection, both of which he is prone to get. As of yesterday morning, he had been on the antibiotic for 4 days and he woke up feeling hot to the touch again.

The antibiotic is Amoxicillan. This is the first antibiotic doctors recommend for pregnant and nursing women. Why? Because it is WAY too impotent to do any damage to a fetal or nursing baby, much less an infection. And yesterday morning I felt like walking my feverish son into the doctor's office and saying, "The drugs - they do NOTHING."

And I have trouble treating him the way I treat myself when I have a cold, because
1. Being a 2 year old boy, he's not so good at relaxing and taking it easy
and
2. When he's feverish, he doesn't like to eat.
So instead of "drinking plenty of liquids," he cuts back on liquids and rejects even his favorite foods. For example, normally we have to limit him to 10 or 12 grapes at a time, or else his diapers get really exciting. This last week, he would eat maybe 3 grapes, and turn his nose up at the rest. BLAR.

Anyway, yesterday morning, I was feeling tired and concerned about my boy, and started trying to remember, what did mom feed us when we were sick? He'd rejected the chicken soup and cinnamon toast. Then I remembered Jello. I found a box of Lime Jello and prepared it while carrying my little guy around. He ate some for lunch.

And today his fever is gone.

You've got to love Lime Jello.

5 minutes, 42 seconds

Sounds like another wacky John Cage "composition," doesn't it? Actually its my new personal best at completing the hardest level of (9x9) Sudoku puzzle. And, not to brag, but I was eating my breakfast at the time, so I probably could've shaved a few seconds off had I really been concentrating on it. I almost feel like I oughta be disturbed by this feat. I keep telling myself, "I'm not an addict." After all, I only play a few puzzles a day, and only on the weekdays. And sure, I could stop at anytime, right? I dunno, is it bad when you start to think about Sudoku puzzles, like, at the dinner table, or while driving or something? Hmmm, maybe I oughta take a break now that I've kinda plateaued. My previous best from a few weeks ago was 6:21, and the puzzle right before this new record was 8:30. A couple days ago a I finished one in 7:30. Now they certainly don't all go that quickly, but enough of them do that I probably oughta be at least mildly disturbed at this newly developed "skill." Oh well, maybe I'll go play a couple games of Taipai and try to forget about Sudoku for a while. ;-) Update: So to prove I'm not an addict, I came in this morning vowing to only play one game...but, then I broke my old record when I finished in 5 minutes, 7 seconds, so I just had to play another one....

Thirty

In case we were in doubt, I think we can now safely say that this flock of hens is in full lay. We've had several days during the past week or two where they've produced 27, 28, and even 29 eggs. But yesterday we received an even 30. That's the most eggs we've ever received in a single day. So with eggs coming in at a rate of around 17-18 dozen a week, what, you may ask, are we doing with this abundance. Hopefully we're selling most of 'em, though we're still trying to build our customer base to support the additional output from this flock. At present we're consistently selling around 10-12 dozen a week. Of course, this implies that our family is managing to consume 5-6 dozen a week. That doesn't really seem possible, and yet, our fridge still seems to be containing our excess eggs. I would believe we're up to consuming about 2-3 dozen a week as a family, but that still leaves at least 3 dozen more a week that we need to sell. So if you or anyone you know is interested in buying our eggs and is fairly local, we'd certainly be interested in selling them. Otherwise, we'll be looking to off a few of the hens, or become much more creative in our use of their eggs. Hmm...I wander if there's any way to take out a groundhog with an egg. Update: So they had to go and take this post as a challenge (who knew my chickens were reading this too?) .... they laid 32 today!

Oktobeerfest Prep

Of course, we've got this Oktobeerfest even coming up in just under 2 weeks now. And I'm looking around the barn thinking, "man, this place is a real mess." There's a lot of potentially usable space for this event that's covered up with junk, a lot of which can be trashed or added to the bonfire pile. So a few friends came over late Saturday morning and we started cleaning the barn up. We managed to get all of the main areas cleaned up pretty well and even a couple of other places around the barn that I've been wanting to get for a while. Other than moving equipment around right beforehand, about the only thing left in the barn is to do some serious sweeping.
As many of you know, I'm also playing in the blues jam band (aka, Fat Clay & the Great Miami River Band), so there's some prep work going on with that. Josh, who'll be playing guitar (and who came up with the band name), came over Sunday afternoon and we started picking out songs & such for this gig. Now I'm really starting to get pumped about this event. We're looking at doing some great old blues standards, and a few things we've come up with ourselves. This should be a great time and I really think it'll definitely be a bonus for the Oktobeerfest as a whole. The barn oughta be rockin' next Friday night (10/13), so I hope we'll see ya'll out there!

Growin' 'em Big

Sarah had occasion to take the kids to the doctor on Friday, since Paul was feeling sick & feverish. Julia had been sniffling a little too, so the doctor checked them both out. Paul weighed in at a strapping 31 lbs. & change, and stands a full 3 feet tall. Both of those are ~75th percentile for just over 2 years old. But the big news (pun intended) is Julia tipping the scales at 15 lbs., 6 oz. At 3 months old, 95th percentile is 15 lbs. even. So our second farmhand is well above that, and showing no signs of slowing down yet. We like 'em big out here on the farm.

Doggone Quandary

We at the Kuhlman Farm have, for a number of years, been considering getting a dog. Sarah & I both grew up with dogs and really enjoy dogs. We'd like our kids to grow up with dogs. So we've decided that we're gonna try to get a dog this fall. That was the easy part of the decision, though. Now we're mulling over the advantages of puppy vs. adult dogs. Plus there's shelter vs. pure bred vs. hybrid dogs. And even within that there's what breeds or breed-mixes do we want to consider. We have decided that we would really much prefer a dog that doesn't shed or sheds very little. So that narrows down the list considerably for us. You'll notice our new poll which lists several of the dogs within that little-to-no-shedding category that we'd consider. And if we decide on a mutt or hybrid, we'd try to find one that includes one or more of these breeds. But we're pretty torn. On the one hand, puppies are cool and I think Paul would really enjoy having a puppy around. On the other hand, puppies need to be trained, which is a measurable amount of effort/time. If we look at a rescue or shelter dog that's already grown and somewhat trained that solves that problem. But these dogs sometimes have other issues, and they'll more than likely not be around as long since they've already got a few years on 'em. So I dunno. I keep vacillating on all these questions. So I figured I'd share our quandary and see what kind of wisdom we might get from our friends & family. (If you're unfamiliar with any of these breeds as I was, here's a good resource.)

Congratulations Don & Brenda

On Saturday afternoon we had the pleasure of witnessing my cousin Don's wedding at a nice little nature preserve east of Cincinnati. Surrounded by friends, family, and faithful companion Macy, Don & Brenda were joined in marriage in a wonderful & enjoyable ceremony. Welcome to the family, Brenda! Ya done good, Don. Thanks so much to you both for inviting us to participate in this momentous event with you. Despite the rough weather on Saturday, a good time was had by all. We wish you all the best Don & Brenda!

Old Rooster Soup

Last year at this time we had culled our flock down to 21 hens and a rooster, which is what we kept through the winter until about the time we got our current flock as chicks. By the end, that rooster was getting pretty cocky and was challenging Sarah whenever she would try to go into the coop or fenced area. The day that foolish bird met my knife was a happy day for my poor wife. On Tues., the final chapter was begun for that old rooster when Sarah pulled his 5.75 lbs. carcas from the freezer and made a fabulous pot of soup out of him. I must say it has given us both great satisfaction the past couple evenings when we think back on that mean old rooster's life. And, I have to add, what a tasty bird he turned out to be.

Oktobeerfest Invitation

Fall is in the air. The days are getting shorter. A slight chill is on the breeze. The nights are getting cooler. The trees are beginning to turn. The birds are gathering in preparation for their journey. It's almost time for the second annual...
OKTOBEERFEST
Make plans now. You will not want to miss this beer-tasting event, where there will be:

• Beer
• Bratwurst
• Bonfire (notice a theme here?)

And we're kicking it up a notch this year (but still staying with the theme)

• Blues Jam

Oktobeerfest
Mark your calender (and RSVP)

• When: Friday, October 13, 2006
• Where: Kuhlman Farm
  
• Time: 6:30pm - ???
• Details: The party is outdoors and in the barn so dress appropriate

Here's how it works:

• WE supply the Barn, Brats, Bonfire, & Blues Band.
  
• YOU bring a 6-pack of a carefully selected beer for the tasting (homebrews always welcome!)
• You leave one bottle at the judges' table and put the rest out to share.
• There will be token prizes awarded for the best beer in several categories, but mostly it is an opportunity to sample some beers you might never have tried and to have a good time with friends while doing it.

Hope to see you there!
RSVP BBQKing95@aol.com

Lost Bird

Sunday night we were at church until after 8, so we didn't get home till well after dark and the kids' bedtime. As we're coming in the door I notice a piece of paper stuck on the door from neighbor asking me to call him when I can. His wording makes it seem a little urgent, so while Sarah's putting Paul to bed, I call him up to see what's going on. He explains very apologetically that one of his dogs got loose and by the time he caught up with it, it had pinned one of our chickens down and was about to tear into it. He pulled his dog off and quickly took him back to his house before coming back to check on the chicken. When he returned the chicken was gone and only a tuft of feathers remained where the attack had occurred (well outside the fence & coop). He looked all over and around the barn, but was unable to find it. So I thanked him for calling me and once Sarah came down to take Julia, I went outside to look for this silly chicken. After about 20 minutes or so of searching around with all the barn lights on and a flashlight in my hand, I was also unable to find it. I went into the coop and, since the rest of them were on the roost settling in for the night, I was able to count 37. I recounted a couple times, but kept coming up with 37. I started with 39 chickens and banded 38 of them, so clearly 37 means I'm at least one short. I went around and closed everything down hoping this lost chicken could find someplace to survive for the night before hopefully wandering back near the barn in the morning. Unfortunately, I've looked all over the past couple of afternoons and have yet to find any sign of this lost bird other than the initial tuft of feathers. Clearly, if this silly chicken hadn't been out of the fence the dog wouldn't have been able to get to it. So I can't really hold the neighbor responsible. I guess I'll just have to work on improving the fencing to try to keep these silly birds from escaping so much.

Sunken Loaf

We at the Kuhlman Farm have been using our breadmaker on and off for several years now. Other than the occasional pizza crust dough, we tend to bounce between two different wheat-bread recipes. We've gotten so that our results are fairly consistent from loaf to loaf, though we still have one every now and then that sags a little at the end. This usually makes the loaf a little more dense. Sarah made a loaf over the weekend, though, that was looking real good in the breadmaker with like 30-45 minutes to go. But you can see from the picture that it really sunk at the end. It was pretty comical to try to retrieve from the breadmaker, but the weirdest thing is the consistency of the loaf. It is less dense and more spongy than normal. In fact, if anything, its the best consistency we've ever turned out. It tastes pretty good, though its definitely a little different from our normal loaf too. This is all very odd 'cause she only made one very minor modification to the recipe. Normally we use milk, but this time she used powdered milk & water (which is actually what the recipe book calls for). I find it hard to believe that such a minor change could cause this big a difference in the outcome, but we're gonna try it again the same way soon to see. Too many engineers in the kitchen "experimenting," trying to find more data points.

King's Island

Earlier today, Sarah took the kids and met up with her friend Heather to head to King's Island. Heather had some free tickets from work and wanted to spend some time with Sarah, Paul, and Julia. Sarah left straight away after nap time and they didn't return until around 7 sometime. It sounds like they had a great time and Paul seemed to especially liked riding the elevator up and down the Eiffel Tower. After their first ride up and back down, shouts of "'Gain, 'Gain" could be heard from our subtle little man. The biggest thing that impressed me was how much energy he had when they returned home. He was still running like crazy while Sarah was trying to put supper together, so I took him outside for a bit. He continued to run around the farm and play as if he hadn't been doing much of anything all day. On the plus side, when he finally crashed, he went down very quickly, not unlike his exhausted parents.

Morning with Choo-Choo

Paul (aka Farm Hand #1) had the distinct honor and privilege this morning of visiting Thomas the Train at the old station in downtown Lebanon. As a birthday gift, he had been given tickets for a train ride on Thomas, so Sarah took Paul & Julia this morning. Paul was very impressed by the scale of Thomas and really enjoyed the ~20 min. train ride. He pretty much spent the whole time staring out the window in quiet amazement. He also greatly enjoyed walking around the park where they had banners with many of the other trains and a petting zoo. Sarah managed to steer clear of the ubiquitous merchandise tent, which is just as well given the volume of toys we already possess. All in all, it was an excellent morning and Paul seemed to enjoy it greatly.

Mommy's Little Helper

Last night I "baked" cookies with Paul's help. I have very fond memories of getting to bake with my mom. Looking back, I'm amazed at the patience she must have had, because I'm sure we kids slowed the process down tri-fold.

We were using the Bartsch family's recipe for no-bake peanut butter balls. First Paul helped me crush the cereal. Steve was in the kitchen encouraging him, "Keep hitting the cereal, Paul. You can hit it harder than that!" Then we put the ingredients in the food processor. The processor worked better than the mixer, partly because Paul can push the buttons to start and stop the processor. The blender is a little more advanced. At first his eyes got very wide, because the not-fully-crushed cereal made a lot of noise.

Then I had to add peanut butter. As I was digging the peanut butter out of the jar and into the measuring cup, Paul was digging the peanut butter out of the measuring cup and into his mouth. I finished one jar of peanut butter and had to open a second jar. Meanwhile, Paul helped dig the remnants of peanut butter out of the first jar and into his mouth. We got our money's worth out of that first jar. He had peanut butter up to his elbows. It was a good thing that last night was bath night.

After all the ingredients were mixed, I tried to get him to help me make the peanut butter balls and lay them on a tray. He dropped a couple of dabs onto the tray, but mostly he stood there picking the chocolate chips out of the dough.

That's mommy's boy.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend really flew by, without nearly enough time spent napping. I spent all of Friday after work getting stuff ready for the pig roast and brewing my second batch of beer. This was my first solo attempt at brewing, but everything went very smoothly. Sarah had left around lunchtime Fri. with the kids to go visit her folks for the weekend. So my supper Fri. evening was a quick bowl of cereal sucked down in fairly record time while my beer was brewing. I managed to get to bed at a decent hour 'cause the alarm was set for 3:30am Sat. morning. David showed up just before 4 and we had the pig prepped and were on our way by 5. The wiffle-ball tournament event that we were doing the roast for was a great time. All the folks there were really appreciative and enjoyed what we did. Thanks to Dan K. for hosting this excellent event and inviting us to join their annual tradition! There's already talk of us roasting a pig for them again next year. By the time we made it back to the farm it was 10pm and we were both beat. Fortunately, I was able to sleep in till 8 on Sunday, 'cause there was no nap to be had. Sarah and the kids made it safely back home just as I was settling into the couch and the Bengal's game. Oh well, the house had been awfully quiet without them.

Piggy Time Again

Its time for another pig roast this weekend. This time the event is a wiffle ball tournament in Cincinnati, near Coney Island. Other than having to get up before 4am to get things rolling, tomorrow looks to be a great day. The weather is forecast to be 80 and sunny, we'll be cooking and eating pig, and my next brew should be fermenting away in the basement. Brew tonight, pig tomorrow...what could be better!?

New Brew 2

After much deliberation and cogitation, I've picked up a Honey Brown Ale for my next homebrew. I know, I know...I asked a while ago about Red vs. Bock, with my only 2 responses in favor of Bock. But I've learned since posting that question that Bock beers use Lager yeast, which ferments best in the 45-55 degree range. Since our basement is still running in the 60's, an ale is the best option right now. And with Autumn coming on quick, a Honey Brown just sounds good to me now. So, in anticipation of our upcoming 2nd annual beer-tasting event here at the Kuhlman Farm in October, I'll be brewing tomorrow night. That should give me just enough time if I don't let it sit in the fermenter too long. Hopefully it'll be cool enough for a Bock by the time I'm ready to brew my next batch.

7 Hours Later

After escaping nearly 5 weeks without mowing the grass, mostly due to uncooperative weather, I was finally able to mow yesterday. And a little over 7 hours after I started, I was able to put the tractor a way and call it done. Of course, that involved using the push mower to do some trim work and about an hour break for supper, but I was mowing for about 6 hours, probably at least 4.5 of which was on the tractor. I had forgotten since I got my tractor that it actually has 6 gears and not just 3. The stick shows 1-2-3-R, but there's also a High-Low lever hidden sorta under the seat. I've always run in High, usually mowing in 1 for detail work and 2 for the big flat sections. But yesterday, not only did I not get above 1-High, I actually was forced to use 3-Low for a few sections. Talk about crawling. And even at that slow speed I still had to stop a couple times and raise the mower with the hydraulics 'cause it was getting all clogged with grass clippings. Sarah joked with me at one point about when I might find time to bail all the hay I just cut. Pretty exciting. I suppose its all a small price to pay for a 5 week respite from mowing, but that's still pretty crazy. But I have to say, man does my lawn look good right now!

No Internet!?

Last week when we had all that rain we were experiencing a lot of crackling noise on our phone line. On Thurs. the phone company sent someone out to try to fix it, which they were successful. However, in so doing, they accidentally messed up our internet connection from home. This went unnoticed until Fri. sometime, and after several failed attempts to get through to their customer service folks, we weren't able to report the problem until Sat. morning. They finally came earlier this afternoon to fix it, and, after four days without the internet, boy am I glad its back. It seems pretty pathetic for me to miss it that much, and I've asked myself dozens of time this weekend how I survived before I had it. But then it occurred to me, my first internet connection came when I was in college, and I've had it ever since. Before that time, I was mostly living at home, so a lot of the stuff that I was missing from the internet this weekend, I didn't care about then. But since I've been more or less on my own, I've had the net to fill my need for information on demand. So I'm glad to say that its back on now and hopefully I won't be long without it again for a while. And, sorry for the long weekend without Kuhlman Farm Report updates, but I've got a few queued up to post today.

Meat!

In case mere looks alone were not enough to convince you that Paul is my offspring, here's a wonderful picture of him eating spareribs off the bone. What you can't tell from this picture is that between bites he's grunting "MEAT!" in a very primitive yet satisfying manner. He cleaned off one and a half rib bones for supper and had more for lunch a few days later. That's my boy! He'll be reveling in the roasting of a pig very soon with me.

Five Wonderful Years

On this date in the tumultuous year of 2001, Sarah and I were married in Dayton, Ohio. Several international flights, 2 kids, 2 flocks of chickens, one house move, and 5 years later, here we are. What an amazing and eventful 5 years they have been, and it has all been made better by having my beautiful bride by my side. So on this cool, rainy day let me just say, Happy Anniversary Sarah!

Quietly Heating Up

The big news at the Kuhlman farm now is the new boiler that was installed yesterday. The old one, which was probably pushing 30 years old, was pretty loud and was needing fairly regular service during the winter to keep it going. This new one is significantly quieter and a good bit more efficient, too. And with any luck it should go as long as the old one did, since its the same higher-end brand. The fellow installing the new one also redid a little of the electrical work and added a light in the area, which was a nice improvement. Now I can hardly wait for winter.

Farm Hand #2 Update

"Little" Julia had her 2 month checkup at the doctor's earlier today. She measured in at 22", which is right about the 50th percentile for height. But she tipped the scales at 13 lbs., 1 oz., which is in the 90-95th percentile for weight. That's pretty amazing considering she started off just over 9 weeks ago at 7 lbs., 12 oz., and dropped to 7 lbs., 3oz. by the time we left the hospital. Of course, she's gotta bulk up a little extra just to try to fend off her big brother. At this rate, she'll soon be helping me carry water to the chickens and toting around bags of feed. Here on the Kuhlman farm, we don't make no frail farm hands.

That's Gotta Hurt

Last night around 7 I was trying to get Paul out to the kitchen to get a snack. We had been playing in the living room and he was getting pretty wound up. So after I suggested to him that we get a snack, he jumps up and runs around into the hallway and towards the dining room. When he gets to the dining room, rather than continuing straight on to the kitchen as I would've expected, he made a sharp turn back towards the living room. In so doing he ran straight into the corner of the top of the buffet with his forehead He was at a full run, too, so it knocked him off his feet and onto his butt. It was pretty impressive and a vertical split quickly appeared right on his eyebrow over his right eye. He was inconsolable for several minutes, as you might expect, and was pretty averse to anyone touching it, even to gently wipe the blood off. After a bit he finally calmed down enough to give him some Tylenol and a cup of juice, which he quickly took down. And within 15-20 minutes he seemed to be back to playing normal in the living room again. Before the night was out he was even running around the house again and climbing on mommy & daddy like nothing happened. So that was our Sunday evening excitement...what a way to start the week, my poor little man.

Let the Rain Come

Since Sarah decided to go hang out with her friends on Sat. for a girl's day out, my last good chance to mow the grass before the rain was gone. It started raining just before she returned Sat. afternoon and it has been raining on and off since. It looks like we'll be wet through Tues. at least, and possibly through Thurs. We certainly need the rain and I'm glad for it, but it sure would have been nice to get the grass mowed first. Now it'll probably be Fri. or Sat. by the time I'm able to mow. As long as it is most places, it'll likely still be good and damp, so we're looking at a 3-4 hour mow. Oh well, I suppose that's a small price for having not mowed in over a month. Now that its wet, let the rain come so we can try to recover from the last couple months of dry. Let it rain.

Welcome to Joseph!

Welcome with me Joseph Albert Delwin Leonhardt to the world! He was born Aug. 14th at 7:30 pm to my cousin Brian and his wife Delwinna in Missoula, Montana. Little Joseph had a few issues at birth and had to spend some time in the NICU, but all seems to be fine now and mother & baby are doing well. Praise God for Joseph and pray that he stays healthy and grows strong.

Brown Grass Blues

Seems like a good name for a song, doesn't it? Well its the song I'm singing right now, that's for sure. Its been rather dry here at the farm the past month and the grass hasn't been mowed in about 4-5 weeks. On the surface that seems like a good thing, not having to mow quite so much. But the problem is that the weeds still grow. So let me describe the view to you now. Around the barn and near the springs the grass is still green and, in a few parts, even lush. There are a handful of other spots around the yard, mostly shady areas, where the grass is reasonably green still too. But the vast majority of the yard is dry and brown, with short brown grass and tall greenish brown weeds. So there are a few areas of actual grass that could stand to be mowed, and I did actually push-mow around the barn a little yesterday afternoon. But everyplace else, if I were to mow, I would only be mowing tall weeds and probably crushing the grass. It looks like there's a possibility of some rain this weekend, so I'm thinking I might try to mow today, at least the areas that need it. But even if we get a few storms over the weekend, I can't imagine it'll be nearly enough to start greening things up again. I guess this is fairly typical for Aug., though it seems maybe a little worse than years past. So hopefully it'll green up again as the weather cools off in the fall. And with 90's staring us in the face for the next couple days, fall can't come quick enough for me.

Nake!

Paul, our firstborn, has the makings of a great engineer and Presbyterian, I think. He is demonstrating his willingness to argue. Consider the following observation - "Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig...you both get muddy, but the pig enjoys it."

So lately he has been pointing to a squash vine and shouting, "Nake!" To which I answer, "It is not a snake. It is a vine."

"Nake!"
"It is not a snake. It is a vine."


"Nake!"
"It is not a snake. It is a vine."

"Nake!"
"Vine!"

"NAKE!"
"VINE!"

"NAKE! Hee-hee-hee-hee"
"It's a VINE!" Spoken while wrestling him to the ground and tickling him.

Fun times.

The Incredible, Edible Egg

I was out feeding the chickens yesterday and, low and behold, there was an egg on the ground near one of the feeders. That would be the first egg for this flock...YEAH! Fortunately, I had just finished cleaning out and restocking the nesting boxes with fresh straw on Friday, so those were all ready to go. So then, earlier today, we had company over for lunch who'd never been out to our farm before. After lunch we wandered down to the barn so they could see a bit more of the place and see the chickens. When we got over to the chicken coop I opened the nesting boxes and found to my surprise...another egg. So this has been a very momentous weekend for us and our flock. Both the eggs were really small, which is kinda funny and interesting, but as I understand it the first several eggs a hen lays are often a little weird and more likely to have issues. Hopefully in another couple weeks we'll be getting pretty consistent production out of enough of them to keep us stocked. And then not too long after that until we can start supplying our friends again.

More Dang Bugs

As I mentioned in a much earlier post, we've had a constant battle with the Carpenter Bees since we moved in. We've also been fighting off wasps and hornets periodically. And recently, it seems, the mud daubers have been particularly busy in the barn. Of course, its cicada season now so we've got those loud monsters all over. And the last couple months we've been finding the occasional outbreak of tentworms and a few other tree-destroying worms around the place. Just today I killed 3 hornets, 2 wasps, burned a tentworm infested branch, and watched a cicada-killer take down a carpenter bee. When I lived in Florida I understood the over-abundance of bugs since there's no cold weather to kill 'em off. But this is just ridiculous...we just need to keep moving north I think.

Cooper Has Left the Building

After nearly 2 days in our barn, our friendly neighborhood Cooper's Hawk finally managed to escape the barn. When I closed up Wed. night he was settling in for the night up on the track. But when Sarah and Paul went to check things out Thurs. before lunch, he was gone. And while it would've been cool to have the raptor rescue folks out to trap him so we could see him up close before release, its certainly a lot better for him to have gotten out under his own power. And who knows, maybe he could've gotten out the whole time was it not for a nest full of tasty young birds or bats to dine on. There's so many critters living in our barn its certainly possible. And with all the birds around the farm, I'm sure we'll see him around again soon.

Excitement in the Barn

I was unloading some stuff in the barn when I arrived home from work yesterday, and Paul comes running up to me pointing at the barn and saying "eagle", or something close to it. Sarah was shortly behind him and explained that they had just been in the barn a bit earlier and a hawk of some sort had flown in and gotten apparently stuck. They pointed up to the peak of the ceiling in the barn and sure enough, stuck inside one of the little cupola-type vents, was a hawk. I remembered that there's a fellow at work who volunteers in a raptor rescue program, so I called him up to ask what to do. Based on the behavior and markings he guessed that it was a Coopers Hawk (similar to the one in the picture) and that it had probably flown into the barn while chasing one of the many barn swallows that live there. They eat primarily other small birds, so that makes sense. And they, therefore, are very agile, which we got to see eventually when it found its way out of the vent cone. It would swoop all around near the peak of the barn, ducking under and then over various supporting beams, and usually perching along the pulley track that hangs from the peak and runs the full length of the barn. I tried in vain to bait it to come out by finding a baby barn swallow that had fallen out of the nest and placing it on the ground near the large barn door openings, but it managed to eventually find shelter before the hawk went after it. So I checked at dusk when I was closing the chickens up, and it appeared the hawk had settled in for the night up on that track. So I left the barn doors wide open in hopes that it can find its way out. That barn has harbored more critters in its time.

Dead Chicken Walking

Its been a while since I've given an update on the chickens, so I figured I oughta write up a little on their progress and status in an effort to stave off the flurry of e-mail questions that awaits if I'm negligent on this subject for too long. The first question most folks are asking now is, "are they laying yet?" Not yet, but it they oughta be starting any day now. I got them back in early to mid April, so its been about 4 months, which is about right for them to start laying. I'll be sure to write something up, though, when they do start laying, as several of the locals are eager for a renewal of their fresh egg supply. The next question I've been getting is, "when will you be butchering again?" Admittedly, this question is usually asked by folks who have helped before, or who wanted to but couldn't make it. At this point I'm planning on the fall sometime, like Oct. or early Nov. The basic quandary is that the coop can only comfortably accommodate about 25-30 chickens through the winter when they can't get out much. But with our current cache of 39 hens, it would be awfully tight. So come fall we'll need to cull about 10 of them. As you might remember, I marked all of the chickens with leg bands back in June to better manage the flock. Ironically, the hen tagged #1 has proven to be at the top of the pecking order and has even begun challenging me like a rooster might. This foolish act has pretty much guaranteed that she'll be the first one on the list to off this fall, if I can hold myself back that long. So strut and challenge now, #1, 'cause your days are numbered.

Meat & Drink

As I mentioned before, the annual Willett Beer-Drinker's Triathalon was held yesterday and a good time was had by all. It was 80 & sunny with a nice breeze all day, so the weather was spectacular. The competitors were primed and only a little inebriated. And the pig turned out great, once again. This year we went a little smaller with a 100 lbs. pig, which allowed us to get even better consistency than we've had before with the same cook time. There were still plenty of leftovers, too, so the smaller pig didn't bite us that way, and the chickens nestled inside the cavity didn't seem to mind either. We also adjusted how we did the corn this year. In past years we steamed the corn in the husk on the roaster grill, which took way too long and always caused the corn to be ready like an hour after the rest of the food. This year we left 'em in the husk and boiled 'em for a little bit in my turkey fryer, before putting them on the grill to steam and smoke. This gave us comparable flavor to previous years, but allowed us to get the corn done much faster so we could serve it all at the same time. Thanks again to Brian, who organizes this event every year, for having us back ( and for posing for this picture). A good time was had by all, and we hope you and your family enjoy the leftovers.

Upcoming Roast

Its that time of year again...the warm summer breezes, kids getting ready for school, and beer-drinker's triathalons. The 8th annual Willett sponsored Beer Drinker's Triathalon begins tonight and runs all day tomorrow. The events are Euchre, Cornhole, & Darts and by all reports the teams have been training hard for this year's competition. But more important than the competition, is the Sat. afternoon pig roast that David & myself do for the event. This will be our third straight year of having the pleasure of roasting a pig for these fit & inebriated athletes. I'll report back with pictures after the event, but we're certainly looking forward to another round of roast pig.

Kinder Goats

Due in large part to a relatively slow time at work, I've been reading a lot of articles on the web as I mentioned a few days ago. Sarah and I have kicked around raising other livestock besides chicken. Animals such as cows, sheep, pigs, and goats have all come up as possibilities, though we're certainly not considering doing anything like this anytime in the next year or two. So with this in mind I ran across an article discussing the raising of Kinder Goats. Kinder goats are a smaller bread that has good milk production, while also having a good meat percentage. The article mentions that an average doe produces between 1-4 quarts of milk a day, but most are around 2-3 quarts. 2-3 quarts seems to me like a decent quantity for a growing family like ours, and apparently this milk is also very good for cheese and butter. Now I've never raised any livestock besides chickens before, so this whole idea of keeping a few goats is a little bit daunting. But I'm sure there are some of you folks that have. So I was wondering if any of you that have could offer any advice or other insight into raising larger livestock, especially goats. Again, we're probably not gonna be jumping into this with an infant and a 2 year old pair of farm hands, but maybe in a few years....

The State of the Brew

Ohio. Okay, that was pretty poor, but its kind of a running gag in our family. Before my folks left last week, Dad and I managed to finally get the most recent brew bottled. As you may not recall, I brewed the weekend before Julia was born, like June 24th or something. We racked the brew at about 10-12 days of primary fermentation. And it had been resting in the secondary fermenter since then. We got just over 40 bottles out of it, which didn't seem to hardly make a dent in my bottle cache since my folks brought up nearly 8 dozen with them from Florida. The previous brew, which we did over at Mr. Albright's house, is nearly gone. I'm down to a little over a six-pack, now, and I have to say that it has been a tasty brew. And after the initial fears of poor carbonation, all of the bottles I've opened in the last couple weeks have been well carbonated and in fine shape. So now the big question is, what do I brew next? The first brew was an Old Speckled Hen clone and the just-bottled brew is a Blue Moon clone. I'm waffling between a Killian's clone and an Amber Bock clone, which is not at all surprising since I often waffle between which of these two fine brews to purchase at the store. Any input from my friends and family that will likely be helping me drain the bottles when its complete? At this point I'm thinking its probably best to wait till closer to Sept. to brew the next batch, mainly because of the high temps this summer bringing my basement up to the verge of too warm to ferment well. So many important decisions to be made....

Fun Reading

So I've been spending a lot of my free time at work, recently, reading articles at Backwoods Home Magazine. I stumbled across this site one day a few months ago when I was researching wood stoves. I have to say that there's a lot of interesting stuff on here, even if you don't have a cabin in the woods. There's articles on alternative energy sources & energy savings, gardening, farming, cooking, home remedies, etc. I read several interesting articles last week on gardening, including one on seed recovery & reuse, and one on self-sufficiency gardening (e.g., what should I grow to provide all the veggies for a family of 4 for a year). And while I'm not planning on doing either of these things, there were still a lot of useful gardening ideas included. I guess this stuff is just on my mind these days as we're finishing up our garden for this year and already beginning soil prep for next year. If anyone out there has any other good resources on these topics, I'd be interested in hearing them.

Happy Trails

After nearly 6 weeks of having parents around to help with the kids, we're now on our own again. My folks left for home early Thurs. morning, and Sarah had her first day at home with the kids then. Thanks so much to my parents for all of their help around the farm working on projects and helping with the kids, and start resting up for the next visit. ;-)

Barn Door Progress

All the windows are cleaned up and detailed, the new track is installed, and the new barn doors are built & hung. This picture is a nice shot of the finished product, at least for the summer. We still have the task of rebuilding the big main doors in the middle facing the driveway, but we're not gonna mess with that until later in the fall. Also, I have to wait for the track flashing to get in so I can install it over all the new track. But other than a couple of details like that, the bulk of the work is done and the barn looks excellent. Thanks so much to my Dad for helping out so much with this task, and really for helping me out all around the farm everytime they come to visit. This was a fun project and I'm really looking forward to completing the main doors this fall. We also might try to tackle completing the garden fence this fall, too, but we'll see how all that plays out. Until then it'll probably be lots of small tasks (e.g., finishing up some of this detail work around the barn) for me.

Welcome to Daniel Owen Mrak!

Congratulations to Sam & Erik Mrak who welcomed their first son into the world on July 26th! Daniel Owen weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs., 3.8 oz. and was 22.75" long. Erik reports that mother and baby are both doing well, and I would guess that they're home by now. That's some terrific news from our friends in the Pacific Northwest, and we wish the Mrak family all the best.

Happy Number 2!

Two years ago today God blessed us with a baby boy, our first born son, Paul. And while he's currently experiencing that challenging, and often defiant, time a 2 year old goes through, he has nevertheless continued to be a blessing to us. We had the pleasure of having lots of family over on Saturday to celebrate his birthday, which was a lot of fun. Paul really enjoyed the cake & ice cream, as you can see from the picture, and he managed to stay much cleaner than last year. He's also proving to be very smart, as well as strong, which is good since he's my number one farm hand. Here's a quick update on a few of his new tricks:
- recognizing & naming most upper-case letters
- recognizing & naming most primary (1-9) numbers
- climbing up & down an extension ladder (~10')
- successfully using his potty on occassion
- always putting loose change in his piggy bank
Happy Birthday, Little Man!

The Czech Team Returneth

After a reportedly very successful English Camp, our short-term missions team has returned from the Czech Republic safe and sound. Well, at least most of them have. The Cary's are still visiting friends there and will return later this week. All of the team members I've spoken with gave excellent reports about the this years' camp. The classes apparently all went well, there were no major injuries or illnesses, and the Gospel was presented powerfully and consistently throughout the camp. The students especially enjoyed the evening talks where they were broken into small groups and led through some apparently deep discussions about important life issues. Praise God for working in such a might way in this year's camp and pray that He continues to work in the lives of the Czech students as He draws them to Himself. The Lundgaard's have posted their pictures online already and can be seen here, and the Czech team should be posting their's soon here.