Aku Aku Bicycle Hood Ornament

Where we last left off, I had just cast the stuff.

First order of business is to cut the runners and file off all the extra metal, and brush Aku Aku's teeth to get the sand off.

The Foundry - Aku Aku and the Soap Dish

So as I mentioned in my first post, I was working on a hood ornament for my bicycle shaped like Aku Aku from Crash Bandicoot.

I decided to make the pattern out of oven bake clay.

"916" Brew Day Part 2 -- Boiling Sublots

Let's get this batch boiling!

(Continued from Part 1)

The boiling plan from here on out was to set aside half of the wort in storage vessels (buckets) and boil and add hops to the other half of the wort (Sublots #1 and #2). I planned for a 60 minute boil, so leaving the wort sitting outside for that time should not affect any flavor or cause any infection.

The "Serious" Bicycle Stereo

Oh no! the bicycle stereo is in disrepair! I was cruisin' down the street listening to some Skull Snaps when the top half "snapped" off.  Apparently six wood screws into the end of plywood didn't suffice.  Not only that, I had blown one of the speakers for some reason or another, and was only using the 3 that still sounded good.  I had plans to reattach it with some angle brackets or reconfigure the top section to only use the 3 speakers, but something else came up....

"916" Brew Day Part 1 -- Firestone Walker 805 adaptation

A nice mixture of two row, white wheat, and honey malt.

I got an idea for a new recipe when I was getting my starter ready for Ol' 22. I took a taste of the beer I decanted from the saved yeast; it did not taste bad at all. The starter was only a small amount of dried malt extract. So then I thought to myself "why not try making a blonde/honey ale from WLP023?" From WhiteLab's website, they don't recommend using Burton Ale yeast to make a honey ale. But maybe with the hard water I have in the Sacramento region, it will turn out working.

Reviving the Garden for 2016 -- Part 3

Within a week of much sun, the garden had seen some real progress. Bok Choy and Swiss Chard plants had begun to take off. The hard part now is thinning the seedlings to prevent overcrowding.

The last sunny day before a long week of rain