Finishing the Wine Rack

Sure enough, my uncles were up at early this morning and finished painting the rack. There wasn't too much to do but they touched up on some spots that they had missed the day before. The paint can said to wait 6 hours for it to dry before doing anything with the wood...but i believe i only waited 5 hours.


For some reason i thought it was a good idea to assemble it myself. It was pretty tough attaching the shelves to the cross pieces...i ended up getting a vice and squeezing them together with that because the pieces barely fit together. Of course when i'm 1/4 into assembling the wine rack i realize i used the wrong cross pieces for the top and had to take it all a part. Luckily i didn't screw anything together yet.

Back to square one.

Didn't take me too long to get the right pieces together since some of the varnish had been scrapped off from the first attempt.i then asked my dad for a little help screwing all the pieces together, but as soon as my dad came to help...so did my mom's youngest brother. Then after a few minutes my mom's other brother comes down to help. It was a little confusing because my uncles would ask me something and i would just look at them blankly...and in the event that i did have an idea of what they were saying...i had no idea how to answer them. So with the three of them working on the wine rack i then got the role of a supervisor/camera man. i never really liked using a screw driver anyway so it all worked out for the better.
While they were doing all the hard stuff, i decided to clear out the closet to make some room for the shelf. Of course the floor isn't level nor the rack itself so a piece of cardboard was wedged under the left corner to level it out a little bit.
After everyone left, i was left to put the bottles in the rack. For some reason i thought it would look more full. Or maybe more empty...and now i know why, the rack is suppose to hold 110 bottles, but looking at it right now...it can only hold 100...because i put it together upside down....@#$#@&)$@ Great...i guess i have another project to do for tomorrow...stupid directions not directing what goes where...

Something Different

The first batch of wine i made i labeled with these silly Avery labels that are suppose to be used for envelopes or folders. Then i got those printed labels from the wine store but they were kind of boring and its a pain to put them back in the printer to print the date and alcohol on them, but i might use a few of them for some of the bottles.

i searched around for a bit looking for ideas on how to label the bottles. At the wine store they have some programs and special paper...but its like 60 bones and just adds to my costs. i then found this one website where they mentioned to just print your own labels with some crazy software (which i don't have) and use rubber cement to stick it to the bottle and with a little bit of warm water it will come right off. There is also some spray you can get at a craft store to spray the labels so that the ink doesn't run when it gets wet. But hairspray works just as well so i'm just going to use that.

For a trial run i made a really crappy label, and since i only have 2 different colored sleeves...nothing really matches. Looks like this is the way i'm going to do it. i just have to make a nice label now.

Good Times...

Once in a blue moon i get invited over to hang out with my cousin brent. Back in the day i was always excited to hang out with him because i didn't have a brother and brent and i were only a month apart in age. We would always explore the woods or play nintendo.

Of course now, we don't do any of that anymore...and every time i come over he just sits at his computer doing lame computer junx and i'm left to just entertain myself. The one time i cleaned his entire apartment because it was disgusting. i even rearranged his furniture so it flowed better and gave it some more feng shui, because you know...i'm an interior decorator and everything.

So yeah, every time we hang out it usually results in me dying a little inside from boredom...but at least brent has fun doing linux things on his computer...or mom's computer...or a computer.

Occasionally i get brent to do a little dance for me...

Sweat Shop...

The wine rack came in a day early! Luckily we had already bought the varnish for it to make the Fir wood look pretty and maybe even help it last a little bit longer. Since my uncles are staying here my dad asked them to help out. But we should have known better...the first morning they were here in the states, they woke up at 6 am and swept the entire patio of all its leaves and any other junx that may have blown on it.

Once the box was opened, the oldest brother of my mom said they'll just paint it themselves and it'll get done faster...excellent, i don't have to do any of the painting. i have two Vietnamese guys doing it for me, like i'm running my own little sweat shop...minus the extremely low pay and harsh conditions...and they're not little Vietnamese kids...but it'll do. They're just too nice, they even offered to come over every weekend to clean the house. gangsta.

The directions said its not sturdy until fulling assembled....they're willing to tell me that, but not how to actually assemble it...who writes this stuff?? They deserve a scissor kick to the face...

They seem to be enjoying themselves...Some of the wine rack drying...
i actually painted a little bit of that one ladder looking thing while everyone was still eating dinner...just so i can say i did a little painting...First coat done! Now the basement is filled with fumes...and my mom's youngest brother said he would touch up and add a second coat in the morning...i don't even wake up in the morning...

Mmmm, Sorbate De Potassium...

i forgot to check the gravity yesterday, so it sat in the carboy for an extra day doing nothing. But today i remembered to check it and it was 0.991 again. Time to add the delicious sorbate de potassium, metabisulfite de potassium, and weird goo of shellfish shell...

Once everything is dissolved, you have to make the wine is stirred well and drive off any CO2 that may be lingering. i stirred it for an extra two minutes, mostly because i forgot to watch the time...and it was cool to see the wine swirl around...Now just have to wait another 14 days for it to clear before bottling.

Vietnamese In America

My sister already blogged about this, but since i'm trying to blog as much as possible this month and i don't have anything better to do i'm going to go ahead and blog about it too.

My uncles and aunts finally made it to the states. My parents put their names in the crazy immigration system 10 years ago and the paper work got approved and now they are here to start a new life. Though only two of the uncles made it over, the oldest and the youngest. My mom's middle brother didn't make because he didn't past his medical exam so he'll have to wait a few more months until he does.

Last time i saw my uncles was 12 years ago at the age of 10. Of course they were surprised to see how much i've grown and one of them asked if i remembered them...psh, like i would forget my own uncle...well, maybe his name. But i remembered his dogs? That counts right? Its a little hard for me to communicate with them since they practically know no English and the only think i know in Vietnamese is a couple dishes...

i should follow them around with a video camera and make a reality show. They've never been outside of Vietnam so it would be good for some reactions plus my mom is nuts and is always good footage for the camera.

Silly Cabernet

Well its been 10 days since i racked the Cabernet into the carboy. It was time to take another reading. The specific gravity was about 0.991. 10 days ago it was 0.992...looks like the yeast didn't do much in the carboy. i probably could have started the clearing process early but i guess i'll just do it by the books.

i'll check the specific gravity again tomorrow and if its the same its time for all the sulphites and shellfish liquid junx. Then wait 14 days for it to clear before bottling. We're going to try something different with this batch. My dad picked up some blueberry flavoring, and we'll just bottle half of the Cabernet, and then add the flavoring to the second half before bottling it. Hopefully doesn't ruin half our batch of wine. We were going to use real blueberries but apparently you have to also filter your wine...and when you filter you also get a lot of oxygen in your wine and sets it up to just taste nasty after a few months.

Also purchased a wine rack, it holds 110 bottles. Should come in on Thursday. Its made out of Fir wood, we'll probably seal it and stain it with something so it looks nicer and help the wood last longer. Right now we still only have 48 bottles of wine, and with this next batch we'll have 78....of course we'll consume some of the Shiraz so it'll probably take another two batches to fill that rack up.

Starry Snowman

About time to show you another masterpiece as a result of me being so skilled with the manipulation of silly putty. Since i've never made a real snow man, i thought i'd make one out of silly putty. Though its a little tricky because the putty goes limp...once the the snowman was finished i had like a 8 second window to snap a picture before oozing into a heap of putty...

Like Rabbits...

They just keep coming. Caught another mouse the other night, not nearly as pretty as Jax...Jax had a nice brown coat, and he was photogenic. This mouse was just a lame grey and not smart enough to smell the scent of dead mice on the trap before sticking his head in it.

i thought that had to be the last mouse. But i was wrong, heard another one the day after crawling around. Not in the ceiling though, like around the room here. Couldn't really tell where it was coming from, but then he made a mistake...found something to nibble on behind the massive wooden cabinet. Pinpointed his location with my super hearing. Shined a flash light behind the wooden structure buy didn't see him.

i then cleared out the random picture frames and briefcases on each side, and blocked the openings in front of the cabinet with some books lying near by. Grabbed some traps that had been in the ceiling and placed one on either side of the cabinet. Now for the waiting game, he can't resist the fake plastic cheese forever!

Nothing caught the next day...but two days later i got the sucker. Though he was awkwardly killed in the trap...like he went around the trap...then decided to scope it out...and BLAM! Vertebrae crushed by the bar and spring. He was really small too, i thought he might have been the original Jax...but he's probably still running around living the life that all mice dream of.

So we're at 12 mice now...just a big clan of them. If they keep coming we'll probably have to break out some rat poison...or some kind of state of the art robot cat with wheels, laser beams, navigation system, video feed, night vision, and a parachute...

Here is the small one...sucka!

Nightmares

Looking around the Command Center (aka basement office) noticed this candle that pretty much took many nights of sleep from me when i was little living in Saudi.

It has to be the scariest candle ever, and i had to look at it every night since my bedroom was in the same room as my dad's office. i already had enough to worry about, like Saddam Hussein's scuds coming down on me...i have this creepy candle staring me down while i laid in my bed.

i didn't even know it was a candle, i thought it was a carved piece of wood, or maybe some crazy cursed piece of wood that broke off a tree and just happened to have his guys face resembled in it. Then at night it would come alive and search for a body...or something. i don't know i don't work here.

i guess i'm not as scared of him anymore, i mean it just a wax candle...now if it was really wood that would be a whole different story. But i'm just going to point him in the opposite direction to be safe.

Be Vewwy, Vewwy Quiet...I'm Hunting Wabbits!

Well its been 76 plus hours since i've been bitten by Jax. My finger feels a little numb and i have trouble sleeping at night be it looks like i still have a chance to live. i should have taken a blood sample of Jax and have my scientists create a vaccine with it in the event that i've contracted something...

So last night caught another mouse, but it was only its back leg caught in it so it was very much alive. It took awhile to get him, had to take down like 4 drop ceiling tiles and some flash lights. Maybe i should have used the BB gun...I was going to volunteer to drive him out and let him go, though this leg looked pretty messed up and my dad said that he would decapitate it with a shovel. i don't think i could do that to a mouse, well...maybe if he pooped on me and then bit me.

i'm still convinced that there is some massive animal up in the ceiling. Can't believe a few little mice could make so much noise, plus right before a trap goes off i can barely hear them running. Apparently my dad use to do a little trapping back in his day.

He has this old trap, kind of like a bear trap but newer. People would use bear traps for beavers and other animals...but when they were caught they would just chew off their leg and get away. Trappers then would leave the traps in a river, so when an animal got caught and tried to chews its leg off it would just drown itself...well that's what my dad said. So they made this 'new' trap that just suffocates the animal over a short period of time if it doesn't snap its neck first. My dad planned on catching muskrats with it, and selling its fur for money. But, he never caught a muskrat. He caught a screech owl once, and tried to nurse back to health but it died three day after being caught.

Well here is the trap...
Its a real pain to set, and its scary because it would prbably break my finger if it were to set off while setting it. You put the bait on the fork looking things and stake it down so the animal can't run off...
i don't have a live specimen to show how this trap works, but i do have joe the camel. He didn't seem to have a problem trying the trap out. i didn't even have to bait it!

Well it looks like joe has seen better days. i think i've gotten tetanus from handling the trap...maybe the tetanus and black plague will cancel each other out...that's how it works right?

Maybe A Little Silly...

Probably one of my most favorite things ever when i was a little kid was silly putty. Most likely because i was so silly...or putty? It just seemed like the greatest thing ever. You can mold it in to any shape you want just like play-doh or if you felt like playing with a bouncy ball you could just roll it up and you had yourself your very own bouncy ball! Though i usually lost my silly putty when i bounced it...:'(

Another cool thing about silly putty was pressing it down against a newspaper and transfer the words to another piece of paper! Or could you only get on the silly putty backwards...Oh well, i guess i didn't do that very much. Also it never dries out.

Well i found my silly putty at the cottage, a red egg and an orange...but the orange silly putty had rug and hair in it so i just left it at the cottage...but i got a little creative with the red silly putty! i call it "hatching putty swirl" or "twists putty hatch"?, "i was bored and this is what i made out of my silly putty while not really paying attention to what i was doing with it"?...i guess i'll work on a title for it later...

Checked the Machine

Apparently, some people doubted the abilities of the Beer Machine. But its brewing strong, there is a pressure gauge on on the kit and when the yeast was first put in it was at 0 PSI. A day later it went up to 5 PSI. Now its been three days and its up to 15 PSI! SNAP! Thats a lot of CO2, and with CO2 comes alcohol! Woot! i just hope this stuff tastes better than Natural Light or Milwaukee's Best (Beast).

The beer machine has been put in the bathroom in the basement, with a little portable radiator to keep the room warm since the basement is pretty cold.

The Beer Machine

Brother-in-law Steve got a "Beer Machine" as a going away present. Since alcohol is illegal at his new residence....i go it! Nothing like a free beer machine.

The directions weren't well written. It directed to assemble the beer machine, load a CO2 cartridge, and see if there were any leaks. There were none but when i tired the spout the water wasn't coming out very fast. Maybe with some more CO2 it'll work better. After that, sterilized the beer machine with Clorox. i thought that was a little weird but i made sure to rinse it out well afterwards.

Filled it up with a little water, poured in the bag of dried malt, sprinkled in the brewer's yeast and screwed on the cap. Leave it set for 5 to 7 days, then move it to the refrigerator for another 5 days...and BEER! Supposedly dishes out twenty eight 12 oz beers...hope its good.

Time for the yeast...Brewing...

Its Hard to Say Goodbye...

i don't really know anything about caring for mice. i was thinking about keeping Jax for one more day. i decided to let his last 24 hours with me be more enjoyable by cleaning the trash can that has been his home. The trash can was disgusting...between the rotting cheese, molding peanut butter, gross ashes from the hookah, and Jax's nasty poo...it created a intoxicating smell indescribable.

Decided to transport Jax to a small cardboard box while i cleaned the trash. i even put a glove on to pick him up, but he didn't want to be picked up. Kept jumping around the trash can and when i finally grabbed him, he bit me...one my middle finger and it bled. Maybe its way of showing affection by transmitting all kinds of diseases through my blood stream...or he just doesn't like me i'll never know. But if i die in the next 24 hours then we'll have a pretty good idea of the cause.

After that fun incident i ran to the bathroom, washed my hands and poured hydrogen peroxide all over my finger. That's it, he had his chance...i'm getting rid of him today.

I drove him to a park near by and let him go. I thought he would run away as fast as he could but he just kind of sniffed around. Like he was a dog and we were just out for a walk. He even hoped towards me a couple times, though i didn't want to get bitten again so i made sure we had a couple feet between us. Well i hope you make it out here Jax, maybe find another house to cause a ruckus in.

Oh Dear....

After waking up this morning there might be a chance that the mouse i caught isn't Jax...but its a nice thought. Two more mice were caught this morning. There is like a colony of them up there or something...and they come down at night and throw themselves a little party.

i was a mouse once.

You're Lucky, I'll Give You That

Sitting at my desk browsing the world wide web, suddenly i heard a bunch of racket in the ceiling. Couldn't have been someone upstairs, its a quarter after midnight everyone is in bed. Not really sure what it was, and i heard something scratching at the drop ceiling and dragging something...oh dear, i don't see the mouse traps on the desk. My dad must have set them up there.

i was sure i was hearing the last movements of Jax...i popped up one of the panels, and there's Jax...took me awhile to get him he was in the center of the next panel over. A closer look and he was still alive, the trap didn't snap his neck. The trap caught his side, got some of his leg too but when i release him he was running around just fine. One lucky mouse.
i guess that's a sign to keep him alive...for awhile. No idea what to do with him now, i've already named him and know he likes cheddar...and isn't crazy about peanut butter. Maybe he has some internal bleeding i don't know about and he'll just die later...maybe he like linguine...
Looks like the 1 Power Kill Rat Trap will have to wait for another day...

Bringing Out the Big Guns

Going to start using mouse traps i guess. Victory traps too, they have never failed me. i just never know what to bait them with. They say to use peanut butter but i don't think this mouse like peanut butter, might be allergic to it...or just isn't nuts about nuts. i still think there is something larger up there running around but i guess i'll have to catch to prove that.

Though if there is something bigger up there a regular Victory mouse trap might now cut it, so we're going to use the tank of Victory mouse traps...The 1 Power Kill Rat Trap.
Lemon, i really thought i was going to have a new pet too...i guess i could get whatever i catch stuffed and have it sit on my desk. Good luck Jax.

Jax is Gone....

i guess i'll call him Jax. He looks like a Jax. He was able to pry himself from the sticky trap, and it wouldn't have been long for him to squeeze through the holes in the cage so i dumped him in a trash can. With a little bottle cap of water and stale cheese.

Apparently trash cans are not the kryptonite of mice since i came down in the morning (maybe afternoon) and he was gone. Why?! i thought we were going to be the best of friends! i guess i have some more lyrics to add to my country song now...sniff...

The Cabernet

Left the wine in the primary fermenter for a day longer than it needed to, 6 instead of 5. The specific gravity was well below 1.010 but that should be alright. Racked the wine into carboy and put the bung and airlock on top. Should set for another 10 days before adding the sulfite and potassium to stabilize it.

Not sure what i'm going to do for labels, don't feel like dishing out 50 bones for some silly software that probably is a hassle to get the what you want.
Took too long to rack with it on the chair, didn't take that long with the other wines...so we moved it to the floor...