Ups and downs
Aug. 19th, 2005 15:44![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillOn the downside:
I didn't get to paying my credit card bill until the last minute, and rather than pay it online now I decided to deposit a check to make sure I could cover it. Good thing, too -- I did not have enough. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I hope the check clears by sometime in the morning so that I can pay my CC bill before Sunday, when it's due. Of course, I need a reimbursement check badly too, so that I can cover the $55 check I wrote yesterday....
If I'm not overdrawn at least once in the next few days, I will be very (pleasantly) surprised.
On the upside:
The root beer is done. We haven't done straight Gnome extract in a while, but we did it with all sugar and no frills, figuring it would make more of a classic root beer. I have the second test bottle in front of me, and it is very smooth, somewhat sweet, and definitely a classic flavor. The rest of the bottles got crammed into the fridge -- it was a large batch this time (58, 6 more than usual), so we weren't able to get the last 4 into the little fridge despite the mad phat packing skills we've developed. Still, we have a fridge full of over 50 bottles, and so long as I check the thermometer in there in a few hours, they should chill nicely by tomorrow. Chilling gives the carbonation that last bit of snap. :)
I've also finally discovered the secret to vegetable gardening in my yard. The tomato plants are growing faster and healthier than I've ever seen them, and I haven't had to feed them once. They're blooming like mad, too. The pepper seems to like it quite well, and the squash are taking off like.... well, like squash do. I have yet to see whether the okra have struck down far enough to take off.
Digging 10" deep trenches seemed kind of extreme, but if these are the results, I'll do it as often as I have to. I was worried that dumping brewer's mash in a thick layer down at root level would burn them, or give them so much nitrogen they'd never bloom, but so far the only detraction I've found is a plethora of grubs which the raccoons seemed to want to root for. That phase is past now, though. Now if I could find a good watering solution, I'd be set... I have better hopes for this next year than I've had in a long time.
Anyway. Off to eat, then clean up around here.
I didn't get to paying my credit card bill until the last minute, and rather than pay it online now I decided to deposit a check to make sure I could cover it. Good thing, too -- I did not have enough. Tomorrow is Saturday, and I hope the check clears by sometime in the morning so that I can pay my CC bill before Sunday, when it's due. Of course, I need a reimbursement check badly too, so that I can cover the $55 check I wrote yesterday....
If I'm not overdrawn at least once in the next few days, I will be very (pleasantly) surprised.
On the upside:
The root beer is done. We haven't done straight Gnome extract in a while, but we did it with all sugar and no frills, figuring it would make more of a classic root beer. I have the second test bottle in front of me, and it is very smooth, somewhat sweet, and definitely a classic flavor. The rest of the bottles got crammed into the fridge -- it was a large batch this time (58, 6 more than usual), so we weren't able to get the last 4 into the little fridge despite the mad phat packing skills we've developed. Still, we have a fridge full of over 50 bottles, and so long as I check the thermometer in there in a few hours, they should chill nicely by tomorrow. Chilling gives the carbonation that last bit of snap. :)
I've also finally discovered the secret to vegetable gardening in my yard. The tomato plants are growing faster and healthier than I've ever seen them, and I haven't had to feed them once. They're blooming like mad, too. The pepper seems to like it quite well, and the squash are taking off like.... well, like squash do. I have yet to see whether the okra have struck down far enough to take off.
Digging 10" deep trenches seemed kind of extreme, but if these are the results, I'll do it as often as I have to. I was worried that dumping brewer's mash in a thick layer down at root level would burn them, or give them so much nitrogen they'd never bloom, but so far the only detraction I've found is a plethora of grubs which the raccoons seemed to want to root for. That phase is past now, though. Now if I could find a good watering solution, I'd be set... I have better hopes for this next year than I've had in a long time.
Anyway. Off to eat, then clean up around here.
