What R you doing today?

[jswordy]

Just got done and got everything cleaned up and put away. Lots of work for the yield, but boy it is always worth it. These ribs scream BEEF with a strong base note. They make fabulous sandwiches, tacos, burritos and soup. Even better, my wife doesn't like them. All mine!

People have told me they just throw away the ribs when they get standing rib roasts. Say what? Time for a beer and a sandwich.

 

[vinny]

Lunch on the river. This was my shrimp taco experience. About 10 minutes by golf cart in the other direction of my last post. Lots of diversity.

Literally right on the river.

 

[vinny]

I'm not even going to pretend I can afford this. The place has 6 suites. I can afford that, but we have been unbelievably fortunate. We are the only guests this week. Saturday we move down to another suite, we booked with short notice so I took the days I could with a gas Bbq and plunge pool. Moving on to charcoal next week.

I can be pretty anti social living out in the sticks. So we decided this might offer some more experiences sharing the place with others and getting their take. I can't lie. I don't feel that way anymore. I have had absolutely no problem with enjoying all of it alone.

Bluetooth speakers to enjoy some tunes while you soak in the pool.

Volleyball evening lighting.
The roof has a plunge pool and a panoramic view of the ocean.



We have been running into to town for lunch and supplies daily, but the evenings are here cooking and soaking it all in. We want to do a river tour, a local has offered to take us fishing, and I want to see the jungle. Next week should be full of interesting stops. At least having the other suites fill up gives me a reason to get out and explore.

 

[vinny]

This is my new friend Brian. He goes by Jaro. Everyone calls him that because his dad called him that as a boy and it stuck. He is having a good day selling coconuts on the road, but was out partying late, so he is ready to get out of the heat. He has never left Belize. He had Garufina music playing in the truck. He did a little dance as he explained a bit about his culture and the music they love. He loves his country too much to want to travel. There is no reason to leave with all of the beauty and enjoyment to be had.

They are a genuinely happy and friendly group of people, and it is refreshing to have an easy going conversation when you are so used to waiting ages for people to make eye contact just so that you can say hello.

Fresh coconut milk is almost flavorless compared to the 'fresh' coconuts we get at home. Until he dumps the rum in.. Then they taste oh so familiar. I am not strong enough for this country. I ate a whole pizza for lunch and the coconut just made it hurt. I am considering a paddle board attempt, but I worry about my current center of gravity. A kayak might be a much wiser choice.

HOT today. Clear and calm.

The ice box is a little old fridge on its side filled with ice and coconuts. a precise whack and its cold coconut on the go. It's nice to see a little entrepreneurial spirit, but I feel most people here are happy having enough for today. They would likely give you the shirt off of their backs.

It's a truly fun place to visit and a joy to tour around and see what comes up by stopping to say hello.

 

[Jovimaple]

This weekend I finally got a dessert wine bottled - it's been ready to be bottled since last fall but work has been absolutely crazy the past few months and my wines have had to sit, which of course is probably better for them anyway!

Looking forward to my annual girlfriends' get together in May - the theme is going to be key lime and so I started a batch of key lime skeeter pee on Sunday.

Was telling Hubby that this is the perfect type of wine to use my Tilt hydrometer - the must is extremely acidic so it's taking a while for the yeast to get going, and using the Tilt makes it easy to keep an eye on it without constantly checking it with a regular hydrometer.

I pitched a robust starter yesterday morning but it has taken until tonight to have a big enough colony to get to work. I used K1-V1116 but if it gets stuck I will resort to EC-1118 to finish the fermentation. (This is the 3rd time I have made key lime and the first 2 were difficult but I have learned a lot since those early batches a couple years ago!)

Hubby and I are heading to AZ to visit some relatives in March and since we're driving, I have to bottle 3 more batches of wine before then so I can bring some to share with our aunts and uncles!

I also have a freezer full of fruit and a couple of kits calling my name. Hopefully I will be able to get some more fermenting soon!

 

[jswordy]

I'm not even going to pretend I can afford this. The place has 6 suites. I can afford that, but we have been unbelievably fortunate. We are the only guests this week. Saturday we move down to another suite, we booked with short notice so I took the days I could with a gas Bbq and plunge pool. Moving on to charcoal next week.

I can be pretty anti social living out in the sticks. So we decided this might offer some more experiences sharing the place with others and getting their take. I can't lie. I don't feel that way anymore. I have had absolutely no problem with enjoying all of it alone.
View attachment 110132
Bluetooth speakers to enjoy some tunes while you soak in the pool.
View attachment 110133View attachment 110134
Volleyball evening lighting.View attachment 110137
The roof has a plunge pool and a panoramic view of the ocean.
View attachment 110135View attachment 110136
View attachment 110138View attachment 110139

We have been running into to town for lunch and supplies daily, but the evenings are here cooking and soaking it all in. We want to do a river tour, a local has offered to take us fishing, and I want to see the jungle. Next week should be full of interesting stops. At least having the other suites fill up gives me a reason to get out and explore.

Wow, you own the whole joint NICE! My kind of vacation...

 

[cmason1957]

This happened today. 6 cases (almost) of 2022 Chambourcin bottled. In carboys since Oct. 2022. Malolactic Bacteria added during fermentation. Dakota supervised bottling.

 

[bstnh1]

Bottling day! 2023 Pino Grigio, FWK Chardonnay, FWK Pino Noir, Gewurztraminer

 

[ceeaton]

Have a funeral for a cousin today, so my brothers and sisters met at my brother's house near State College to have a shorter drive to the services (Wellsboro). Went to a local family bar which has really good food. Will come back from the services, make some pizzas and continue the reunion! First time we are all together in a year.

 

[winemaker81]

First time we are all together in a year.

Yup, weddings and funerals.

 

[joeswine]

Today was my first harvest and my Hydro garden, small but abundant there is cilantro and basil and time cool

 

[vinny]

Today was my first harvest and my Hydro garden, small but abundant there is cilantro and basil and time cool

You need some mozzarella, tomatoes, and balsamic to accompany that lovely basil.

 

[winemaker81]

Building a new L-shaped desk for my home office, a Costco purchase.

Overall the instructions are good for being all pictures. My only complaint is a few parts are not numbered and a few are mis-numbered. Plus a few pilot holes are WAY too small -- screwing into high density planking is rough on the hands. I had to re-drill a few.

On the plus side, I'm inventing new swear words, so I'm expanding my vocabulary,

Taking a short break, then the main desktop goes on. I'll be happy with the result.

 

[winemaker81]

Yesterday I completed the main part of my new desk. I put the extension segment together, and while flipping it over (it's assembled upside down), one part came off (the quick-assembly connection didn't properly connect) and I scraped the inside of my wrist and dropped it on my foot.

Ok, I was done. No major damage done to me or the desk, but I needed to ice my foot. Figure I'd finish in the morning.

This morning I was in a good frame of mind, and completed assembly, including having to re-do a bracket that was in the wrong spot and enlarge some pilot holes. It took about 30 minutes.

Next task is assembling the hutch ...

If I did this regularly, I could probably assemble the whole thing (desk + hutch) in about 40 minutes. But since I don't (and do NOT want to!), about 4 hours total, including figuring out the mislabeled and unlabeled parts, and squinting at the tiny diagrams ...

==

The hutch went fairly quickly. Some of it was awkward to work with, but it went better than the desk.




Why the big desk? My work setup is a laptop with two 28" monitors. Takes up a lot of real estate.

.

 

[winemaker81]

Large monitors consume a lot of space.

 

[David Violante]

I now have a 10 gallon and two 5 gallon barrels and seem to get more water on me than in them trying to clean them. So… $79 spinning head and $3 in parts later, in-sink barrel rinser. The pressure from the head is actually fairly impressive. It’s no pressure washer but it sure is a lot easier to rinse the, out now.

 

[ChuckD]

I now have a 10 gallon and two 5 gallon barrels and seem to get more water on me than in them trying to clean them. So… $79 spinning head and $3 in parts later, in-sink barrel rinser. The pressure from the head is actually fairly impressive. It’s no pressure washer but it sure is a lot easier to rinse the, out now.

View attachment 110652

Do you have a link for that spinning head? And will it fit in the mouth of a carboy?

 

[David Violante]

I purchased from MoreWine. Sadly, no it doesn’t fit a glass carboy although it does fit into a PET carboy.

https://morewinemaking.com/products/barrel-washer-spinning-head.html

 

[Jovimaple]

Today I racked my Key Lime Skeeter Pee because the SG has sat at 1.000 for 2 days, after slooooowly falling from 1.005 over the last week. I didn't add any Kmeta because I am hoping it drops just a little more while we are on vacation.

When we get home in a couple of weeks, my plan is to rack back to a bucket, take the SG, and add sorbate, Kmeta, the rest of the key lime juice, some pectic enzyme, and sugar to backsweeten. Then it goes back under airlock to clear! I will use Kieselsol and Chitosan if necessary.

It needs to be bottled for my annual Girlz Weekend in May!

 

[ChuckD]

Hanging plaster board.

If I never do this again it will be too soon!