You put your Mead in it: My Mead-Making Experience

        So I was over at an acquaintance's house one day, and I noticed that he had a home-brewing starter kit. It was actually pretty extensive, having two 5 gallon buckets, one with a spigot on the side, both with holes and grommets in the lid, 2 airlocks, a glass carboy, rubber stopper for the carboy with an airlock, a stirrer, hydrometer, cleaners, bottle cappers, the whole shebang. I asked him about it, (it was sitting in the basement gathering dust) and he told me to take it, as it was just taking up room. I cheerfully obliged him. I've tossed around the idea of brewing my own beer for a long time, and here was (almost) everything I needed to get started.
         After a little thought, though, I decided that it would be better if I started off with something a little easier. Having a partially Scandinavian ancestry, making a batch of mead was the obvious choice. Extensive research was in order before I could begin, though.  So off I went to the T.V. repair shop.
        There's a place close to me called Graf TV.  Been in business a long time. When the original owner retired, he left the care of the shop to his two sons. One of them had an affinity for home brewing, so he started selling a small amount of brewing supplies from a corner of the shop. As time went by, this corner grew until it took over half of the store. So now it's a home brewing supply shop with a television repair side business. They actually sell the kit that came into my possession, so that made them the logical choice for advice.
        I entered the store one sunny afternoon. It was busy. I finally caught the owner, Jeff, in between customer interactions. "I need some advice, " I explained.  "I have one of your kits, and I'd like to make some mead. Where do I begin?"
        "Take three gallons of water, nine pounds of unprocessed honey, and a packet of Red Star champagne yeast. Put it all in the bucket, put the lid on it, and don't touch it for a at least a year."
        Now I completely understand that these undertakings require patience and perseverance, but I'm not necessarily the most patient man in the world. "What if I can't wait that long?" I countered.
        "Ahh, give it about three months. At least until a couple weeks after the airlock stops bubbling."
        "That's more like it. It's that simple, though? Water, honey, and yeast?"
        "It's that simple."
        "Sweet. Yeast me."
        With my pack of Red Star yeast in hand, I scampered back to headquarters, and brought all of my accoutrements to the kitchen mead hall. My operation consisted of:

 Honey, water, yeast, stirrer, hydrometer, sanitizer, airlock, bucket lid.

 This is the honey I used. The two on the right were completely organic, non-filtered, and kind of expensive. This being my first foray into fermenting honey, I filled my quota with the stuff on the left, Spille's honey. Sourced from a local apiary, (that's what they call bee farms! I'm smart!) it was a little more processed, but more affordable. Kinda funny how the less work you do, the more you charge. I can't believe that kind of logic doesn't translate to other industries. "I only cut one square foot of your lawn, but I did it with scissors. That's organic! Your bill is $120."

Now that I got that off my chest......

 Water and yeast,

Better get a bucket 'fore I throw up....

And the bucket. Normal five gallon-variety. You could seriously take a homer bucket from the depot, drill a hole in the lid, add a grommet and an airlock, and be good to go.

 Stirrer, Airlock, Hydrometer, Sanitizer. For that not-so-fresh feeling.

Commie Yeast!

 Here's my sexy ass mixing up some delicious Meady goodness.

 Didn't get enough the first time? You're welcome.

 The (semi) final product.

 Closer picture. 

        And here it sleeps. I think I lasted three weeks until I tried it. Not too shabby. My friend took one look at it and said, "That looks like swamp water!" He was right, the organic stuff gave it a greenish tint. After a glass though, he was a fan. Also, I let my sisters and mom give it a go. They occasionally enjoy wine, so I was interested to hear their opinion.  They said "Oh, this isn't bad at all!" which is actually a compliment. More importantly, they finished their glasses.

        I finished it off in about four months. I didn't bottle it, and it got pretty gross near the end. Still, though, all in all, a successful venture. 

Bass Guitar Headstock Paint Job

So I have this fairly nice Warwick Rockbass Streamer Standard 5-string Bass Guitar. (That's a mouthful. And I'm not sure that it's all in the correct order.) Got it at a scratch-and-dent sale from Willis Music. So far as I can tell, the only issue is that it's missing a tone knob cover, no big deal. I play it through a Hartke VX3500 Combo, and I use a Korg Toneworks AX3000B multi-effects processor to cover up my deficiencies. This is my first and only rig, and I couldn't be happier with it. I only needed to make one modification.......

RockBass.  Pfft.

The bass isn't top of the line, but it's not super-cheap either. This graphic on the head is just bush-league. So, I resolved to change it. Step one was to remove the strings, tuning knobs, and the truss-rod cover, as you can see.


Step two was to tape that sucker up. I just used normal blue painter's tape. Probably went a little overboard, but I wanted to get it right. For the tuning knob holes, I cut the fingers off of some light duty work gloves, rolled 'em up and stuffed 'em in the holes.

Here's the back of the beast:

Next came the painting. I used some Rust-oleum Specialty Black Lacquer spray-paint. It looked like it would be a pretty close match to the body of the guitar, and it was. I don't remember exactly how many coats I used, but it was upwards of six. Here it is post-paint:

Nice and Shiny! With the tape off and hardware back on:

 And finally the strings. (DR Black Beauties, for those of you keeping score at home.)

The finished product:

Newer picture:

Now it almost looks like a professional bass. It even sounds a helluvalot better. You know how your car always feels a little faster after you wash it? Same principle.

Welcome to this space.

Welcome to the premiere of This, that, and the other thing. This is my first foray into blogging, so prepare to be befuddled. Or bemused. Hopefully you'll just be mildly entertained. My intention for this blog is to opine a little, and to share some of the random crap I do to pass the time. If for some reason this helps you, well, good. If it makes you laugh, I promise it was an accident. And if it makes you feel enlightened, then turn your computer off and go for a walk. 

So it begins.