Problems are for Solving

Well, actually only the equivalent of 48. 36-12 fl. oz. bottles; 6-16.9 fl. oz bottles; 1-750 ml bottle.

It’s all safe and sound in the basement, carbonating and waiting for the first pop of a cap on the 11th.

Here’s some pictures from last night’s events:

Today Bernice came by (while I was on my way home from Chicago) and checked on the baby.  All signs are good and both midwife and wife are convinced that the baby is head down.  Woo hoo!

Elsie got to use the doppler and found the heartbeat on her first try . . . right smack in TC’s naval.  Bernice told Elsie to give her a call when she’s ready to start midwife training.

There’s still a bunch to do before Little Engine arrives (including coming up with a girl name) but we’re starting into the home stretch with great joy.  Praise God for this blessing for whom we’ve waited so long. 

This post may get me into trouble, but it was such a nice event today that I had to share it with friends and family.

Today was a full day, despite only working a half day. We went to Lacon to check out a dog we were thinking about adopting (we didn’t) and came home for supper. While supper was being finished I went out shopping, and was out early enough to make it by Harrington Press before it closed today at 5:30.

First some history. Last year (8/9/05) my wife wanted to get me a trip to Rhodell’s to make my own beer. While I love Rhodell’s and it sounded fun, it was expensive.

After a little research we found out that I could buy the equipment to brew my own ale and beer for about the same price. So that was what she was going to get me.

Long story short . . . it never happened. I did get a book about that time from TC, though, The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian.

A few weeks ago I noticed a local place (Harrington) on Sheridan that sold supplies for beer and winemaking. They were never open, though, when I went by. Finally I called the number on the sign and found out their hours. M-F 3:30-5:30, Saturday 9-1.

So today I found myself in town before 5:30.

I stopped in.

It’s a small shop and the guy was knowledgeable. I wasn’t sure when I walked in, but just his demeanor and knowledge and my waiting for this for a while caused me to decide to leave with equipment and ingredients for one batch.

Tonight I invited some friends (Seth and Jon) to come over and help me start the first batch.

It took longer than I thought–three and a half hours from when they got here to when they left–but right now there is a big bucket of beer fermenting in my basement.

It was a nice evening, talking, stirring, waiting, stirring, talking, mixing, pouring. We had great conversation and I shared my first brewing experience with dear friends. I’m sure they’ll be back to help me drink it, too.

It’s 11:43 on Labor Day and I’m finished with vacation.

It has been rejuvenating . . . and will give me some strength to go back to some things I’ve been waiting on. The most important part of the vacation is that it has been wonderful quality time with my family.

Tonight we ate steak on the deck and read about Samson after doing some deep cleaning (appliance moving type) in the kitchen this afternoon. Every single day of vacation has been great and I’m glad to be going back to work with a lifted spirit. God has given me some good perspective while away from the office and my prayer is that it’s been good for all of us here.

Toby is still sick (the latest) and possibly Elsie, too. Peter may yet come down with something–so be praying for my children, and that TC would not come down with anything herself.

It’ll be a busy week, but it’ll be nice to return to the daily routine as well.

Back to normal also means posts will be less frequent again … but I’ll try to keep them coming on occasion.

The last two days have been full as well. After being exhausted from all the work and play, Thursday morning brought more of the same. I went over to the McClure house to mow the lawn (it really needed it) on Thursday morning and was glad to finally get that out of the way. And glad to be doing something of work other than weeding.

That done, I came home and showered in time for lunch (starting late) and the midwife’s arrival. It was nice to hear Little Engine’s heartbeat again, and we’re pretty sure that he’s not breech at this point. We still may schedule an ultrasound to be sure, but not before our next midwife visit on the 21^st.

After Bernice left we began getting everything ready to leave for our overnight camping trip at Jubilee College State Park. We were kind of dreading it but the kids really wanted to camp, so we went ahead. We arrived at the campground at about 4:15 and unloaded and set up the tent. We hadn’t used it in quite some time and found some mold growing on it that we’ll have to figure out a way to take care of it, but it went up nicely. After setup, while Theresa fixed dinner, four of the children and I went on a geocache (see particular entry here). Then we came back and had supper of hotdogs (a taste test between ones we got at Alwan and Pottstown delis). While Alwan had better bratwursts, I liked the hotdogs from Pottstown just a bit better.

After supper we took another hike to another geocache, this time with everyone coming along. It was a bit rougher hike and I wasn’t sure we’d make it at points, but even Theresa muddled (emphasis on MUD) through. (Click the link above to see the log entry on this) We got back about bedtime and after brushing teeth everyone went to bed.

I don’t sleep well on the ground and of course my pregnant wife couldn’t get comfortable, so neither of us slept well, but we’re glad the kids had a good time.

In the morning we got up and had instant oatmeal (kids’ request!) for breakfast and then tried one more hike, this geocache unsuccessfully. Everyone was pretty tired and we got the stuff packed up and headed for the Jubilee College Historic site for our final science passport stop. We really enjoyed that and got to see a bunch of stuff from the mid 1800s and the kids got a lot of history lessons in the process.

After that we came home, hit Mr. G’s and McDonald’s drive thru for lunch (eaten at home) and then the grown-ups took a nap.

When I got up, Samuel was lying down—he’s apparently sick (likely caught from the Ben-Ezras). The Orange St. lawn was on the agenda for this afternoon and I did a little more weeding and took some overgrown sidewalk crack grass up with a flatbed shovel in the process and am glad to have the yardwork done for now at least.

The vacation is almost over—a three day weekend before I return to work. It has been wonderful to have this time with my family and not to have to travel anywhere. I’ll want to set this time aside every year if I can.