I like this time at night on HBT

If I were clever, I'd space my posts out. But those who know me know I am sort of a feast or famine person.

So my latest thought is this. Would you rather live in a time without cell phones, desktop or laptop computers, or live back when the phones were Landlines, including partylines. Pagers and public pay phones and no internet?

Or live in our time with all the advances in technology?

A stream of consciousness doesn't know anything about pacing!

That is a tough call to make. The simpler life was a bit harder yet so much less stressful. All in all, I would keep the technology because it levels the playing field on so many levels, just as it shrinks borders and brings the world a little closer. And before you think me a little too naive, I know it also gives voice to those who spread hate and fear. I just think the positives outweigh the harm the may cause.

I gave up my cell phone a year or more ago. I tend to live a simple life anyway and never used the dumb thing.

Hmm I do enjoy many of the newer better things now though like my MP3 player with noise canceling headphones.

I live on my iPhone simply due to my schedule and occupation. I've been seriously contemplating giving it up and getting the simplest phone ATT has. The only thing for me is the GPS function is very useful at work and in general, and I love having the camera on me at all times. I have over 2,000 pictures on my phone and 95% of them are pics of the kids and family. I never captures 1/10 of the amount I now have before I had a phone with a good camera.

I don't know where you all stand in regards to your personal beliefs, but John Piper hit the nail on the head for me recently in this devotion he wrote. Need not be a Christian for the principles he speaks of to apply:

http://solidjoys.desiringgod.org/en/devotionals/five-digital-dangers

The same day as I read this, my brother in law sent me this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/22/iphone-addiction-6-signs-_n_2931662.html

Both very convicting to me regarding the amount of time I spend on my smart phone. I have been trying to put it, plugged in, on the counter more and more while I'm at home. 15 years ago I barely had a capable cellular phone and I got along great. Better arguably than most do now.

As VMan stated, you have a choice to live with the technology or ignore it. Sometimes that later takes a little more effort.

My livelihood is totally dependent on technology. Without technology I probably would have been a thief that was worried about getting caught and then decided it was more lucrative and safer to teach others how to prevent thieves from stealing their physical assets. That sounds more interesting than real life.

I do like my fuzzy logic rice cooker for my rice wine experiments.

opus345 said:

As VMan stated, you have a choice to live with the technology or ignore it. Sometimes that later takes a little more effort.

My livelihood is totally dependent on technology. Without technology I probably would have been a thief that was worried about getting caught and then decided it was more lucrative and safer to teach others how to prevent thieves from stealing their physical assets. That sounds more interesting than real life.

I do like my fuzzy logic rice cooker for my rice wine experiments.

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White hat?

Yes.

opus345 said:

Yes.

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Dang this was supposed to be a slow week for me but things are taking off again. On the bright side going to hunt rock chucks Thursday and Friday

Do you ever stuff and roast your chucks, VM?

Actually, I know that sounds like I'm coming on to you, but really I meant it literally.

Never roasted them but I do make a mean chuck stew with them. Oh man life is good eating some home made bread and chuck stew.

I would be curious how it tasted roasted. If its as lean as I think it is, you could put it in a blanket of caulfat first.

It is not very lean at all like rabbit is lean. Kind of a rabbit taste mixed with pork and heavy on the fat. If you have ever ate bear it has about the same amount of fat as bear.

I suppose you could roast it but it is a very tough meat that takes forever to tenderize.

I am hoping for a couple of head shots so I can get the meat.

I'm intrigued.

Think it would make good jerky?

Oooooo or grind it and make rockchuck bolognese.

Now that I'm on a roll. If you do bag one that has taken shot damage... could you pop it in a kettle with some carrots, onions, and celery and make rockchuck stock??

No, way to much fat for jerky. I have found that animals that hibernate taste better in a crock pot that has been going all day. For some reason the meat is tough and full of fat.

I toss a couple of onions and a bunch of carrots in the pot with a little beef broth and put the meat in with bones and all. Once you can peel the bones off the meat let it simmer for a couple more hours and serve it up.

By the way I do not mess with any bits other than the quarter meat. To much work and not enough meat to make it worthwhile any other way. I skin them out and quarter them out in the field and then toss them in the beer cooler. Takes just a couple of minutes and you get a pound or so of meat off each one

CreamyGoodness said:

Now that I'm on a roll. If you do bag one that has taken shot damage... could you pop it in a kettle with some carrots, onions, and celery and make rockchuck stock??

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Well I use frangible bullets so there pretty much is nothing left if I hit them in the body. That is why I can only eat the head shot ones.

Hmmmm...

How about this. Extra work but could be worth it. Once you have done your long braise, shred the meat up and mix in a dark roux. Then spoon into puff pastry and bake.

Rockchuck patties!

Wow you really want the chuck patties since it got posted 4 times I wonder what is wrong with it. Earlier today when I would try and open a thread it would go straight to reply to the thread.

I am sure that would work though I just have not tried it. If I get a good shot and can keep the meat I will try it though

The site was acting weeeiiiirrrrrd!

My wife does something like what you were explaining but uses egg and bacon in the pastry. Man that is just heaven warm or cold

Man that sounds good. Tonight Im on bachelor chow since the wife is on business, so I think I'll channel the spirit of my grandmother and make some macaroni with squash.

I think I am going to brew tonight so I am going to have well lots of beef. I love my beef.

Speaking of brewing has anyone heard from Bobbi Lyn. I miss hearing some of her brew concoctions and I think she brews more often than Coors and Bud combined

Varmintman said:

Speaking of brewing has anyone heard from Bobbi Lyn. I miss hearing some of her brew concoctions and I think she brews more often than Coors and Bud combined

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Right here and today I tasted my regular pale ale from a kit, one I made a couple days after the apple gruit and it has the same awful taste to it but minus the apple. I thought I had opened the wrong fermenter! Not in a hurry to bottle either one of them. Just closed the lid back up. So now 10 gallons or horrible beer and gruit(they were sitting next to each in a different spot of the house and I think they got too hot). I was tasting to see how close to bottling they were, so they are still unfinished beers. If I don't decide to just dump them both but probably not because....

I am going to switch to kegging and fermenting right on the kegs. I assume this is possible? Going to clean out a spot in the kitchen for the kegerator.

And I did brew today a small batch but nothing special. I'll still do the brew day dance for the amber ale.

And I guess I get to do a brew dance for tonight. It is snowing here and I am looking forward to a great brew night

Sorry your beer does not taste good

Dan said:

I'm up way to late. Had this written before my last reply to Snaps.. I'm a bad poet and I know it. Doesn't stop me though.

Oh boy
Once again
Insomnia has set in
Me and that old mocking bird
His songs these last few hours I've heard
Why so loud in the middle of the night
does that bird sing in the moonlight
Outside the grass and trees are green
It's in my bed I should be seen.

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Interesting, the pseudonym for the main character for the story in my head is mocking bird.

Dan said:

If I were clever, I'd space my posts out. But those who know me know I am sort of a feast or famine person.

So my latest thought is this. Would you rather live in a time without cell phones, desktop or laptop computers, or live back when the phones were Landlines, including partylines. Pagers and public pay phones and no internet?

Or live in our time with all the advances in technology?

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I would prefer to have the modern technology. Even with it's pitfalls, I think the benefits outweigh the costs.

The more I think about the technology the more I am in favor of it. If it is needed such as in medical field you can use it but the things like phones if you choose like I have you can cancel them. I guess I would like to have them and not use them rather than need them and not have them

Still have not started the brew yet. But I am going to do it I am

Hmm, these might be fun for Halloween too.

CreamyGoodness said:

The site was acting weeeiiiirrrrrd!

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i thought i was having the threesome.

Varmintman said:

And I guess I get to do a brew dance for tonight. It is snowing here and I am looking forward to a great brew night

Sorry your beer does not taste good

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Sorry for that. We hit 70. Usually nobody has worse weather than us. It must be because were stuck between two great lakes. It's always cloudy or windy or snowing. Like today it warmed up nice once the sun came out...then wind!

Glad you got a brew in. I really need to brew a batch.

Man I need to get into the groove. I never drink before I get the mash going and I only have 30 minutes left and not a drop passed my lips yet. I am losing it I fear

I had some of my red rice wine. I added a little simple syrup to up the sweetness, and it was good. If I hadn't made it myself, I would swear there was fruit in it. The big batch I put together on Sunday already has liquid in with the rice. So I'm hoping the batch will come out well.

Speaking of technology, I can be just about anywhere and check HBT on my phone. We just got 4G here too so it's fast. I helped my old man install a tv antenna on his house today the system he got doesn't have enough power to feed more than one tv. One minute and I had him a booster ordered from my phone. I really only use my phone for important stuff like HBT, pron and work (I love the navigator. got me to a customer's house today that I would never have found). I also have all my music on it. Plug it into a set of computer speakers on the job and I'm rockin'. Keys, wallet and phone...my checklist before I leave the house in the morning.

Varmintman said:

Man I need to get into the groove. I never drink before I get the mash going and I only have 30 minutes left and not a drop passed my lips yet. I am losing it I fear

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No worries, I got you covered.

Leadgolem said:

I had some of my red rice wine. I added a little simple syrup to up the sweetness, and it was good. If I hadn't made it myself, I would swear there was fruit in it. The big batch I put together on Sunday already has liquid in with the rice. So I'm hoping the batch will come out well.

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Remind me to make some rice wine. I really need to do that.

Is the red rice you use "red yeast rice"? I have been taking that for cholesterol... I have seen some cloudy examples of rice wine. Do you make any effort to clear yours?

lschiavo said:

Remind me to make some rice wine. I really need to do that.

Is the red rice you use "red yeast rice"? I have been taking that for cholesterol... I have seen some cloudy examples of rice wine. Do you make any effort to clear yours?

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Red yeast rice yes. Monascus purpureus, the statin producing bug. I'm using that in conjunction with the rice yeast balls. I had a RYR batch only, but the yield was disappointing.

I didn't make any effort to clear the last batch, though I probably will the large one I'm making now. I didn't yield enough from the last batch to make losing some in the clearing palatable. Without clearing it does look gross, like V8.

Red wine thought of the night.

Many moons ago when I was 30 pounds lighter and 27 years younger I was an Aircraft Electrician's Mate Second Class. My ship was the Midway, home ported out of Yokosuka, Japan. Think I have mentioned that before

There was a Willie Nelson song playing on the jukebox back then. I think it was even old at that time; called, "On the Road Again". My friends and I put a few different words to it. "On the road again" was replaced with "out to sea again" because we sure as hell spent the majority of those years on the ocean blue. The other part of the song replaced "making music with my friends" was sung "fixing airplanes with my friends" and "highways" was replaced with sealanes.

For a young man with all life ahead of them there was no better place to be. We made a difference. I still work around young people and it is amazing the vitality and spirit they have. I was once like that. Invincible.

For any of you who think I live to much in the past I wouldn't argue that.

Anyway, here's an old song that to me is about being with my friends, fixing airplanes and being young. Life was all in front back then.

Drinking my first bottle of the NZ hopped IPA with Nelson and Galaxy. It's delicious, but these hops don't seem as assertive as US hops. I used about 12 ounces between the kettle and dry, and it just doesn't club you like the Citra/Simcoe/Columbus etc.

Leadgolem said:

Red yeast rice yes. Monascus purpureus, the statin producing bug. I'm using that in conjunction with the rice yeast balls. I had a RYR batch only, but the yield was disappointing.

I didn't make any effort to clear the last batch, though I probably will the large one I'm making now. I didn't yield enough from the last batch to make losing some in the clearing palatable. Without clearing it does look gross, like V8.

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I love V8! I'll drink it.

I am collecting info because I go big or not at all. I just don't have time to mess around with little batches. You and a few others are steering me in the right direction. Thank you for that.

It's almost kimchi time again. Last year I made a 5 gallon batch. It was gone far too soon.

Wow! We are having a thunderstorm here now. At least it's not snow...