Nothing is certain but Six Deaf Taxis.

Edinburgh Martini: 1.5 oz Edinburgh Gin, .5 oz dry vermouth,...

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:52:00 -0500

Edinburgh Martini: 1.5 oz Edinburgh Gin, .5 oz dry vermouth, dash of urban Moonshine bitters. Shake well with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with olives. Many thanks to @lylehawthorne for the delicious gin he liberated from the old country. Sláinte!

Another great source of cocktail wisdom

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:12:54 -0500

Another great source of cocktail wisdom:

I don’t often link to other blogs, but this one is wonderful. It inspires me to do more with my blog!

Alfie Skittles: 1 1/2 oz lemon Skittles-infused Vodka, 1...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:53:53 -0500

Alfie Skittles: 1 1/2 oz lemon Skittles-infused Vodka, 1 dash Triple Sec, 1 Tbsp pineapple juice. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice.

A job well done: Timber Wolf TW-P1 and my firewood for this...

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:11:07 -0500

A job well done: Timber Wolf TW-P1 and my firewood for this winter and next. I can’t say enough good things about this wood splitter. Locally built, reliable, and tough. This is one of the smaller models they make, but it made short work of everything I threw at it, from branch wood and 10” logs to gnarly old twisted sugar maple rounds and 2 foot beech stumps. The four-way wedge let me split most pieces in a single pass, instead of three passes with a single wedge. The Honda GX-160 engine has started every time on the first, easy pull for three years. I only split 5-10 cords a year, but this machine could easily handle much more.

Now, I just have to stack that last half cord plus and it can start snowing.

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Salty Dog. 1 1/2 oz Vodka, 5...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:39:05 -0500

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Salty Dog. 1 1/2 oz Vodka, 5 oz Grapefruit Juice, 1/4 tsp salt. Add all ingredients to a glass filled with ice and stir. Garnish with a sprig of parsley. A great brunch drink, especially for those of you who don’t like tomato juice. (And I know there is no parsley, but I was fresh out!)

What’s this? First drink attempt using the...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:58:39 -0500

What’s this? First drink attempt using the Skittles-infused Vodka from my dear friends Thatch and Dawn! Starting simple, 3/4 oz of green Skittles Vodka (lemon-lime?), 3/4 oz Vodka. Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass and garnish with a lime. Boy, that lime barely looks green compared to the Skittles! Tastes like, well, Skittles…

Friday’s Cocktail: Big Red Hooter. 1 oz Tequila, 3/4 oz...

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:27:02 -0500

Friday’s Cocktail: Big Red Hooter. 1 oz Tequila, 3/4 oz Amaretto, 1 oz Granadine, Pineapple Juice. Pour tequila and amaretto over ice, fill with pineapple juice, then slowly add grenadine. It will settle to the bottom like a Tequila Sunrise. Garnish with a cherry or orange slice. Stir before drinking.

Friday’s Cocktail: Bombay Ruby. 1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:08:54 -0500

Friday’s Cocktail: Bombay Ruby. 1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin, 0.5 oz Sweet Vermouth, 0.5 oz Cherry Heering. Shake with ice, strain into cocktail glass, and garnish with a twist of tangerine.

KALY Doppler Radar shows wind turbines near the New York border....

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:48:00 -0500

KALY Doppler Radar shows wind turbines near the New York border. This is the Wundermap Doppler radar for western Massachusetts on a cloudy but perfectly dry morning. If you look through the blue blobs at the aerial photograph below, you can see the clearings in the forest around the wind turbines.

An Open Letter to Senator Scott Brown

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:23:33 -0500

Shame on you, Senator Brown. On becoming a US Senator, you swore a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution. How then can you justify voting for a National Defense Authorization Act which contains provisions that allow indefinite military detention of US citizens on US soil? Detention without charges, representation, or trial is unconstitutional and un-American. In fact, it borders on the treasonous! It is an insult to the men and women of our military who have put their lives on the line to protect our way of life.

Senator Brown, we elected you to protect the rights of the citizens of Massachusetts. If the President does his job and vetoes this unconstitutional bill, I urge you to cross party lines and support the Constitution of the United States.

Next pre-winter chore complete: chimneys are clean! Chimneys are...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:12:21 -0500

Next pre-winter chore complete: chimneys are clean! Chimneys are actually easy. Disassembling, cleaning, and reassembling the stove pipes on the two wood stoves is much more time consuming.

Friday Night Cocktail: Lemon Carioca. 2 oz Cachaca, 1 oz Triple...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:00:39 -0500

Friday Night Cocktail: Lemon Carioca. 2 oz Cachaca, 1 oz Triple Sec, 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice. Shake with ice, strain, garnish with a twist of lemon.

Plainfield’s Halloween bonfire was cancelled. Too much...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:29:45 -0400

Plainfield’s Halloween bonfire was cancelled. Too much snow to build bonfire and ground too wet to plow. Instead, we pulled the fire trucks and ambulance out of the bays at the Public Safety Complex and invited the town inside. Too much snow + Halloween = Snow-m’o-lantern!

24.6 inches of snow so far in Plainfield. When will it...

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:00:00 -0400

24.6 inches of snow so far in Plainfield. When will it stop?

Update: The answer was, it did not stop until it reached 30.8”. By the way, that path is the one I shoveled every hour to get to my snow measuring station out away from the house and woodshed.

Butter Beer. Need I say more? Alright, I will. After making...

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:11:23 -0400

Butter Beer. Need I say more?

Alright, I will. After making this humorous concoction, I tried a recipe for butter beer latte that has no beer in it. Since I was out of vanilla extract I made some changes. It was delicious, but everyone drank it up so quickly that I did not get a photo. This recipe works fine if you multiply it by four (I did).

2 Tbsp butter 2 Tbsp brown sugar 1 Tbsp Fulton’s Harvest Pumpkin cream liqueur (or 1 tsp vanilla extract) 1 cup milk

Melt butter and brown sugar on low heat to make caramel. Add liqueur and 3/4 of milk. Stir or whisk and heat gently until milk is hot but not boiling. While heating, steam/froth remaining milk with your espresso maker.

Pour mixture in mug, top with steamed milk and a dash of cinnamon.

The pullets are laying! My six Amberlink pullets are laying...

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:55:19 -0400

The pullets are laying! My six Amberlink pullets are laying lovely little dark brown eggs.

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Sāo Paulinho. 2 oz Cachaça, 1 oz...

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 20:04:26 -0400

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Sāo Paulinho. 2 oz Cachaça, 1 oz Limoncello, 3/4 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 tsp simple syrup, soda water. Shake everything but soda with ice and strain into a tall glass. Add a few ounces of club soda and garnish with a lemon slice.

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Cachaça Carioca. 2 oz...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:52:37 -0400

Friday Night’s Cocktail: Cachaça Carioca. 2 oz Parassanunga 51 Cachaça, 1 oz Triple Sec, 3/4 oz fresh squeezed lime juice. Shake well with ice, strain into salted rim Margarita glass.

Goodbye Google+

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 07:29:10 -0400

This morning, I decide to give up on Google+. I used Google Takeout (https://www.google.com/takeout) to backup my data, then I “downgraded” my account (https://plus.google.com/downgrade/) to remove my Google+ information.

I seem to be back where I was before joining Google+.

When downgrading, Google asked me for some feedback as to why I was leaving Google+. Here is what I told them:

I disagree with your insistence on trying to determine what my name is. I know what my name is. I don’t need Google to tell me.

If you ever support Profiles on Google Apps, I might try Google+ again on one or more of the domains that I manage, unless I have moved them elsewhere before then.

If you give up soon on your insistence on trying to oversee what I call myself, I might try Google+ again.

Until then, I’m out of here.

By the way, this whole thing has really soured me on Google as a whole. I had been moving my various business and non-profit domains to Google Apps, under the assumption that “Google is the most stable provider out there.” After having seen the way that many of my friends were treated with access to their Google accounts unceremoniously suspended, I no longer can trust that Google will always be there for me or for my customers.

You have lost my trust. I will be looking at alternatives to Google Apps for my domains.

Larry Page needs to make a public apology, fire Vic, end the insanity, and maybe that will restore some of my faith in Google.

Until then, you have clearly become evil.

Friday’s Cocktail: Caiparinha. 2 1/2 oz Cachaça, 1/2...

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:50:17 -0400

Friday’s Cocktail: Caiparinha. 2 1/2 oz Cachaça, 1/2 lime, 2 tsp sugar. Cut the lime into wedges and muddle with the sugar in a glass. Be sure not to crush the peel or your drink will be bitter. Add the Cachaça, fill with ice, and stir. Sip and enjoy! If you have not tried Cachaça yet, it is an 80 proof sugar cane-based rum from Brazil, with a flavor between light rum and tequila. Parassanunga 51 is the most popular (and the 4th most popular liquor in the entire world), but there are many artisanl brands, though the can be hard to find. 51 costs only about $18/liter in the US.