Today was a very busy day. Good day though. It wasn't all good, but overall good. I bottled wine, brewed beer, took the girls to Crossfit Kids and had some interesting conversations that have led to me having some "Dad date" type meetings with some other guys. One to check out a fitness facility and look at teaching classes there and the other to determine how to fit at the facility I currently frequent.
The wine bottling had one little snafu. I was taking a photo of all the bottles in the sunlight as it was a pretty cool photo. Afterwards when I went to "box them up" I knocked over a bottle. It broke. Wine gone. Even worse than losing a bottle of wine that I worked hard to make is that I also lost the bottle! Scraped and cleaned bottles are a premium item, especially clear bottles which I love to use for white wines. I don't typically drink whites so I don't buy them. Not all come in clear anyway. This is why clear bottles mean so much to me. All the same, I have 30 bottles of Riesling left. I had two extra glasses in the bucket at the end so I poured them into glasses and drank one with dinner and one while I brewed a hefeweizen tonight. The "master plan" is for the hefeweizen to be the first beer into the new kegerator. That depends on when said kegerator arrives. I am not crazy about the beers I have been making in San Diego and the one commonality that I see is that they all languish in the fermenter longer than I typically allow. I have been kind of busy and find myself putting it off for a "better day." This is compromising the beer in my opinion. Still drinkable, but it just doesn't have the "pop" that I am accustomed to. That being said, I have pledged to move beers through the process quickly. If the kegerator isn't here in time for the hefe to go in, then something else will take its place and the hefeweizen will hit the bottles.
So anyway, I don't know how much everyone cares about my alcohol adventures. It is a dual purposed blog however. So let's get to the "bells" portion.
"JT"
21-15-9
Handstand Pushups
Ring Dips
Pushups
Substitute static dips or bench dips if rings are not available. Sub pike pushups or elevated pushups if HSPU are not in your arsenal just yet or if the volume is too much. Have fun!
Oh yeah, the "bad" of the day was when Tessie colored the passenger seat of the van with a permanent marker while I was talking to one of the other Dads in the parking lot at school. We were hatching a plan for him to take me to the "Ranch" gym where he is a member. Part of me thinks that beyond trying to "hook me up" he wants to do Crossfit and have it fall under his membership plan. If we can make it work, then all the better. At some point I am going to hit a wall where I think I am doing too much I think. I am pretty far from that point. Right now, Tessie has her stuff, I teach P.E., Crossfit Kids, Crossfit home/gym/blog, coach soccer, beer and wine, run (not enough lately), and be Dad. So why not add a few extra classes to the schedule? It isn't full yet. It just compromises my beer. Darn it.
ReplyDeleteI have also realized something else about religion. I have always gone to church. Initially out of habit, but faith has a funny way of growing. Nowadays I find that church is one of the few places where I actually relzx. Gwen and Ione are in faith formation, Tessie is in the nursery (except for when it is my turn in the nursery which is this weekend) and I just sit and listen and have about 35 minutes of every week where I have NO KIDS. God is pretty cool like that. He likes to meet you in the middle I think.
ReplyDelete1. Workout complete. 8:03 with LOTS of scaling. HSPU - hahahahaha! I did inclined pushups and even those weren't pretty. Dips, I did on the cair. The first few were good. After that I did them flat footed and even that was hard work. The push ups I did on my knees. My biggest triumph was remembering to start AND stop the clock. New trick. :) So Gary, can you just wave your magic CF wand and make me stronger. Thanks.
ReplyDelete2. I love your beer blogging. Spence makes an occassional batch and I wish he would do more. He and John love the process. I don't kow how good or bad the product is. It is all piss water to me. Wine, on the other hand... Is home brew wine nitrite free? Can you make it with organic grape juice? What company do you order your kits from? Or do you buy locally?
3. Add the extra stuff. But don't be afraid to drop something(s) when that is what you need. These first months without Spence, I (we!) needed a lot on the calendar. We are on cruise control now and it is time to back off.
4. I love Mass. My love affair with it started about four years ago and blossomed over the past two. I look for reasons to go by myself. (Special Masses that aren't holy days of obligation.) It is home. Some day I am going to be the little old lady in the front pew every morning for daily Mass.
The wine is pretty natural. I don't know that it is organic. My guess is not because it would be "certified" if it was. I am positive that you could buy organic grape juice. At this point I am more concerned with buy GOOD grape juice. You can order most online and find reviews for most of the juices and the vintage. Selection International has a lot of different styles and they are pretty simple "kits" to follow. There are other companies as well. I also know that you can buy "direct from the farm" juice. The homebrew shop in Kansas took orders and you could say how much you wanted and then when the orders came in you went and picked it up and paid for it. I haven't gotten on any email lists here but I am sure that such a process exists. We have grape vines out back and if I can beat the birds to the berries this year I will make my own certified organic wine. I am too cheap to buy fertilizer or pesticide for such a frivolous endeavor anyway.
ReplyDeleteIf Spence can make beer, he can make wine. The wine making isn't terribly hard. It requires attention to detail as keeping things sanitary is job one. Then there is the issue of timing and persistence. Degassing is hard work. Some of the other stuff is just monotonous. I add bentonite, metabisulphite, potassium sorbate and either isinglass or chitosan as a clarifier. I also use oak chips for the red wines since I don't have oak barrels. That would be awesome though.
The magic wand of Crossfit is that someday down the road you will be able to do things that you never though you could. There may be some already. Increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains. You will get better because we will practice. We will get stronger because our bodies adapt.
Extra stuff is good. It keeps me moving I just hate when it distracts me from my "me time." Running and Crossfit and beermaking are "me time." Crossfit is easy as it is quick. The others are not.
Perhaps you can be the little old lady that visits the Crossfit gym before or after daily mass. No osteoarthritis on that lady!
Today Tessie and I ran to the park. That took 16 minutes on the way there. Then I did 5 rounds for time of run 400 meters, 10 pullups, 10 pushups and 5 dips. 16:20 Then we played for a bit and then ran home in 18 minutes.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Look at who's brain is in overdrive! With everything going on, you still have time to write. Amazing, G.
ReplyDeleteWe'll get to this WOD tomorrow, I think. I'm doing (2) WODs tomorrow and I am very excited about it. The afternoon one is going to be a chipper, I think. I need a good one. . . .
I am in agreement with Jenn on the schedule. But I also know that you are somewhat incapable of "pulling back." Once you start, you can't stop! (Just like the old Pringles commercial!) Remember, balance, G, balance. Just like everything else, you can do that, too!
Jenn: You are funny. Next thing I know, you're going to be blogging about your organic winemaking in Hawaii! You can find anything on the internet. "Little old lady at daily mass"--if it were in Polish, you would be my Grammy!
Okay, I'm off. One more post to read.