| A day off from grapes | Plants | | [28-Aug-2010]
Reconstituted the corn bed and planted a late corn crop. Planted half the misc bed in danvers carrots. Relocated all remaining strawberries to the mara bed. Planted wildflowers on the berm. Killed a lot of ants. |
| More grape juice | Plants | | [27-Aug-2010]
Picked 5 more gallons of noble today. So far thats 14 gallons of noble, 1.5 gallons of florida fry. Made 3 gallons into juice and jarred it. Did some pot switching which made it more efficient. Started with the grapes covered by water in the 12 quart pot. Boil and simmer 10 min. Poured off liquid into temp bowl. Dumped remaining into a smaller pot. Cleaned the 12qt. Transfered the liquid into it. Used the food mill to process the pulp/seeds for more liquid, running it backwards makes a lot of liquid flow out initially. Boiled juice and canned. There was some solid mass in the bottom of the pot, I think next time running the juice through the jelly strainer might be the way to go. Really need another 12qt pot. |
| Grape Juice | Plants | | [26-Aug-2010]
Found something new to do with grapes, make grape juice. 3 gallons of grapes made about a gallon of juice, and got stains all over everything. I need a better way to strain them, the jelly strainer clogs up to quick. It needs to be a strainer and a press combined.
Discovered why why strawberries all burned this year. The battery in the sprinkler timer died and one of the times the power went out cleared the schedule so it hasn't been running properly. No runners this year. None. |
| Eye of the Storm | Books | | [24-Aug-2010]
Eye of the Storm by John Ringo.
Sci-fi: 586 pages.
Volume 6 in the series Legacy of Aldenata: Posleen War.
Mike gets tried for crimes against humanity. Then takes over against a new alien foe. I think when you introduce a new alien empire because the old one is dead you have officially jumped the shark. Despite that is more military scifi than the Cally series so better. Rating: 5 (out of 8) |
| Honor of the Caln | Books | | [23-Aug-2010]
Honor of the Caln by John Ringo.
Sci-fi: 490 pages.
Volume 4 in the series Legacy of Aldenata: Cally's War.
This brings the Cally War stuff back into the main flow mixing Mike in. Like the rest of this side series not as good as the main series. The Darheel need to die. Rating: 4 (out of 8) |
| The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 | Books | | [20-Aug-2010]
The Best Science Fiction of the Year #8 by Terry Carr ed..
Sci-fi: 311 pages.
Volume 8 in the series Best Science Fiction of the Year.
I think I have read some of these stories before. The Barbie Murders, a society that tries to make everyone the same has a murder, but if everyone is the same it hard to figure out who did it. Hiss of the Dragon, harvesting berries from geneticly modified organic collectors that act like dragons. To bring the steel, a rich man hires a high price call girl to take care of his kid because the colony he is on says he is an unfit father. The rest are forgettable. Rating: 4 (out of 8) |
| Productive | Main Page, Plants | | [20-Aug-2010]
Cleaned the inside of the jeep and changed tops this morning for Dragoncon. Harvested the last of the potatoes, cleared out the corn bed this afternoon. |
| Princess of Wands | Books | [18-Aug-2010]
by John Ringo
Fantasy, Contemporary: 422 pages
Ringos modern Cthulu novel, not campy. The first story is really good, a real warrior of God vs the darkness. The second is mediocre, taking place at a con. The 3rd story is pretty short and easy to see whats coming when the coach tries to traffic with Satan. Rating: 5 (out of 8) |
| Perseids | Astronomy | | [13-Aug-2010]
Went outside some for the Perseids, saw 6 in about half and hour before I was driven in by mosquitoes. It was hazy and damp but at least I could see something besides clouds this year. The Milky Way was really visible across the zenith. Half the meteors were nice and large and bright. |
|
|
