I've been a bad monkey, and haven't been updating LJ. Instead of writing up everything that's happend over the last month, I'll post some highlights:

Tigger: Our oldest cat Tigger passed away, due to age-related complications. he was a curmudgeon of a cat who left his mark on all who took care of him, mainly scars. He was 18 years old. I miss the anti-social guy.

South Dakota. This year, Paige and I went to South Dakota for our vacation. The badlands and the black hills are amazing. Well worth going through the boring bits. Got some good photos, and drove around a herd of Buffalo at Custer state park. had to leave a day early due to snow, but now we have an excuse to go back.

Doublet: I've gotten a little bit more done on my doublet mock-up. Looks like I will need to widen out the collar and upper chest area to fit my huge neck. I'll probably lengthen it some also, since it is hitting my waist (which I know is proper), but my pants are lower down. Just can't deal with wearing pants that high up. if all goes well I will be cutting out the fabric this weekend.

Work: Work is work. I still have a job, and I'm busy finishing up projects.

Last weekend Jara hosted the Griffin's Needle event. Eithni has a nice write up for it, so I won't bother.

This is the first A&S event where I was a judge, and with strict judging criteria to boot (Scale of 1-10 for scoring, and a "B" grade would = a 5). I'm really surprised how much work I had to do while judging. I had to read documentation, interview the captains, observe the work in progress, and judge the final results. To be honest, the day was pretty exhausting (it didn't help that I was up until 5 Am the night before working on a network issue in Asia).

Judging was a good experience. I really need to stretch out from Elizabethan for my garb knowledge. I'm impressed by how much is needed to make early period garb work. a T-tunic looks simple, but there are subtle tweaks that really affect how well the outfit works.

I'm half-tempted to join a team for next year. Something not Elizabethan.

I'm in East Aurora for work this week, returning on 9/29. I'm not seeing much of the city yet. It's pretty much been hotel  -> work -> dinner -> hotel. The work is busy, but I'm getting a lot done.

Right now I'm going a bit stir-crazy. I need to explore the city some more. I really should have brought a project with me.

Here are a few photos from the Retaining wall project:

The retaining wall project is eating up my free time. Won't be doing much until it is complete. Also, I'm studying again for my BSCI test. Paige and I are about half-way done with the wall. It looks really good.  

Pennsic was great. Lots of fighting, shopping, and hanging out with good friends. Battles went well, and I think I found a way to use the pre-battle jitters I get. I think it's going to be something like in "Anansi Boys" I'm always going to have the jitters, so I need to accept that, and find a way to use the nervous energy. It worked pretty well for the Woods battle.

I did end up leaving Pennsic a day early, because I won tickets to the Great midwest Beer festival! Beer, beer, beer, a little mead, and more beer. I will need to see about getting tickets for next year.

I'd have posted earlier, but things have been somewhat crazy for me at work, and I haven't had much energy. I think my sleep deprivation is catching up to me...

WW was a lot of fun, as usual.

Thursday:
Had a nice breakfast, and packed the car. Was surprised when Paige showed up at home ~ 10:30 AM. She was jealous of my having 2 4-day weekends in a row, so she decided to take Thursday and Friday off also. It was nice, since it gave us some more time together before I left. Thursday was pretty uneventful. Set up camp, and retained for their majesties. (which is really easy when the camps they go to have lots of tasty beer). Hung out with the Vor folks before heading down to troll. I am really surprised and impressed with how streamlined troll was. It shouldn't be too bad to run over the next 2 events.

Friday:
Woke up to the windstorm. Had to collapse the tent before nature did so for me, and helped other folks with their tents. One pole of mine is broken, but not badly. Had a slow morning doing cleanup, and then made it down to the field by ~ 11 AM. Fighting was good. I got to fight a couple of people for their polearm authorizations. The battles were a lot of fun, with some unique conditions to them. The only thing was the humidity was killing me. I ended up having to remove my armor to help set up the Nshield pavilion. I ended up stopping fighting around 2 PM, and went to a very cool class on spices. At first I was kind of ho-hum about the class, but then the odd stuff started coming out. It was really cool.

Friday night was the Baronial open house. My hard cider and currant wine were a success, and I got some good pointers. I also had an interesting conversation about improving my brewing. After the open house was the Men at arms ceremony for my household, and the bad baroness tourney. I hung out for a bit, along with Wulfgar's vigil, but went to bed pretty early.

Saturday started really early with Wulfgar's knighting ceremony. It was incredible. The amount of work that went into it was incredible, and I'm really happy for my squire brother. The rest of the morning was spent hanging around camp.

I did fight in the afternoon battles. I ended up volunteering to be the line commander fr my side, which was interesting. I'm not too comfortable in the leadership roles, but i think it went OK, especially the first scenario. The second scenario was a lot worse, but there really wasn't any way for our side to win. Being a commander is something I'll need to practice, along with having more faith in myself.

Saturday night was court, tasty food, and the Shadews company party. The party was good, and I talked to some people I usually don't have a chance to talk to.

Sunday was packing day. By the way, the family restaurant in Fenimore is really tasty.

PS: the fighting pants worked really well. Could maybe be less poofy, but they held up to fighting. I hope to make a 2nd pair for Pennsic. 
PSS: I really need a pavillion. I think I will finally get one, depending on the whole work situation.

Pants: I now have fighting pants. Fear my mighty pants! There will be pictures real soon now...

Beer: Strawberry beer is bottled. It has a really nice red/pink color to it.

Front yard. Took out the lilac trees. Paid for it with a bee sting. At least the swelling is going down.

I'll try to post more after WW.

Yesterday morning I brewed up the Strawberry beer. 4 pounds of sliced strawberries in a wheat beer base. the liquid yeast didn't take, so i had to use some back up ale yeast. Hopefully whatever bugs were living on the strawberries won't take over the beer (I did steep the berrys in steaming hot water for ~10 minutes). Hopefully when I get home I will have a burbling carboy.

The pants pattern didn't work for me. Back to page 1, which is measuring out a set of PJ pants, and modifying the results.

I got a bit of work done on projects:

Beer: I have 5 gallons of imperial stout burbling away in the basement. Won't be ready in time for WW, but I'm saving it for later anyways. Also, I found a passable recipe for strawberry beer, which I will most likely try this weekend

Front Yard: On hold. Waiting for more Barberry plants to come in. May be planting instead of fighting tomorrow.

Pants: Found a pants pattern, and some scrap fabric. The only problem is that Paige thinks the scrap fabric is really pretty, so I'm torn about using it to test the pattern. Then again, it's been in the basement for years. Might as well use it for something.

Well, at least I'm making progress

Wow. I have a home project that is going to eat up a lot of my time. The retaining wall in the front yard is falling apart, and I decided that this year I'm going to rebuild it. This rebuild project has now turned into re-doing the front yard in general. Paige's dad is a landscape architect, and he's been drooling over our yard for years. Plans are shaping up.

This weekend was spent removing the existing bushes in the front yard, including the 60 year old juniper shrubs. Chainsaws rock. Al, my stepfather stopped by with his stump grinder, which makes life easier. Sunday Paige and I planted some snowglobe spirea, and tonight we plant some burberry.

Between this project and work, I haven't had much time or interest in working on SCA stuff. I need to get to it though. My linen is washed. I just need to determine a pattern to use for the fighting pants. I also have supplies for making a batch of beer. Hopefully I can get to work on that Thursday night.  

I really should be in bed...

1. Do you like bleu cheese?
Yes, but not if it is too strong.

2. Have you ever been drunk?
Yup!

3. Do you own a gun?
No

4. What do you like to do on weekends?
Go to events, see movies, clean the house

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
No

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
Good in Mac and cheese, or with crescent rolls wrapped around them. Otherwise, brat me.

7. Favorite Christmas movie?
Nightmare Before Christmas

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Diet Cola

9. Can you do push ups?
Yes

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
Wedding ring.

11. Favorite hobby?
Hard to say. I flit between things pretty often. Hard to keep from getting bored.

12. Favorite novel?
Too many choices. Probably something by Spider Robinson

13. What's your favorite shoe?
Canvas chuckies.

14. What is your middle name?
William

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment?
I should be in bed
Gaming was fun
I don't want to go to work tomorrrow

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink.
Diet Coke/Pepsi (No, not picky)
Beer
Water

17. Current worry?
Work, followed by "do I eat too much sugar?"

18. Current hate right now?
Nothing really

20. How did you bring in the New Year?
Party at the Atkin's.

21. Where would you like to go?
Italy, Greece, Scotland, Ireland, England, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Germany. I can really go on 

22. Name three people who will complete this:
Good question. Maybe Deviakat? I'm not sure who else who haven't done it yet.

23. Do you own slippers?
Yup. 

24. What color shirt are you wearing right now?
Red

25. Do you like sleeping on Satin sheets?
I don't know, but I think not. Too slippery.

26. Can you whistle?
Kind of
27. Favorite colors?
Green, blue,

28. Would you be a pirate?
No.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
I generally don't

30. Favorite Girl's Names?
Paige, Elizabeth

31. Favorite boy's names?
John, Rob. 

32. What's in your pocket right now?
Wallet, Cell phone,  some change, some receipts, keys, sconnie bottle opener 

33. Last thing that made you laugh?
Gaming tonight

34. Favorite summer activities?
Biking, walking, fighting.

35. Worst injury you've ever had?
Torn ACL

36. Do you love where you live?
Yup!

37. Who is your loudest friend?
Aelf

39. How many dogs do you have?
One. George.

40. Does someone have a crush on you?
I don't know. 

41. What is something you are really looking forward to?
Mermaids this weekend. New sewing project.

42. What is one thing you do several times a week?
Read the paper.

43. What song do you want sung at your Funeral?
Nothing. I think silence would work better as I'm put to rest in a flaming boat on lake mendota.

44. Name something or someone you love.
Paige, the pets. Books

Last Friday I met with Paige's dad to go over yard plans for our house. We haven't really done anything with the yard, and this looks to be the year to begin. The biggest thing is replacing the retaining wall that's in the front garden area. Reading online it doesn't look too hard, but something tells me that I'm going to be regretting those words. At least I now have a summer house project.

The new knee cops and fighting shorts are working really well. The set up is light, and I can move more freely. More importantly, the shorts still give good leg protection. Wrap shoots to the back of the thigh are still an issue, but that's a problem with a lot of leg armor. We'll see if it's bad enough for me to switch stuff out. The new fabric should show up tomorrow. I won't have new fightng pants for this weekend, but I hope to have a pair by border skirmish.

The homey mild ale is ready for bottling. Hopefully I can get to it before TOC. I also have the makings for a secret beer project. he he he.

Operation "make a pretty corpse" is one step closer. I finished the strapping for my new knee cops! I'm worried that they will be too large to fit nicely under pants. Won't know for sure until practice tomorrow. Next step: order heavy duty linen for the new fighting pants. Now to choose a color:

Black:



Ginger:



Kenya:



or  Brown-Olive:

It's probably for the best I couldn't make it crown last weekend. Friday I came down with a cold which ate a lot of my energy. I did get some yard work done on Saturday. One thing I learned is that non-drowsy clariten = loads of caffeine. I ended up staying awake until 1 AM on friday and Saturday. 

Oh well. I'm taking it easy tonight. I'll probably not brew anything until the weekend. If all goes well I will be fighting on Wednesday

Last Sunday was Jara's May Day moot, which is the first event I autocrated. Things went really smoothly. Weather was perfect, and people had a good time. About the only issue was work related. Had a major issue come up that kept me awake until 1:30 AM, and I had no confirmation that it was fixed by the time I went to the moot. This put a whole lot of stress on me. Luckily, my fix worked.

I did take Monday as a mental health day. Sleeping in was really good, and I got a batch of beer started.

Thanks to the rainy weather on Saturday, I decided to go to Odd con, a local SF convention. It was a lot of fun. I used to make it to a couple of conventions every year, but gave it up after getting more involved in the SCA (That and Minicon turned all serious). I went to a panel discussing urban fantasy which was interesting, and got some books signed by Emma Bull and Will Sheterly. I also played cineplexity, which is way too addictive, and some rock band.

Sunday had a little bit of fail. Paige and I drove up to Baraboo to pick up leather supplies at turtle island. We got there to find out that turtle island is no longer open on Sundays. We made the best of it by going up to the Dells and having lunch at Monk's bar. Afterwards we walked downtown, and drove home in time to fix my mother in-laws computer.

Odd con was nice. I love the SCA, but there are certain aspects of my geekiness that don't fit very well in it. It was cool to talk SF and play games with fellow geeks, and describe the "War for the Oaks" tour I gave Paige the last time we stayed up in the Twin cities. 

Yesterday afternoon I went biking. 23 miles round trip (Hilldale to cottage grove road via bike trails). This was probably about 3 miles too long. I could barely make it home, and my right hip and knee were acting up. I did see a bunch of loons on lake Monona, which was really cool.

I had to run an errand downtown this afternoon, and I stopped into Fromagination. Cheese! Beautiful,cheese! I picked up half a pound of Gat Todt (A Norwegian cheese where the milk is heavily caramelized before cheese making. It has a sweet caramel taste), and a melting cheese which I don't remember the name of. It shall be a cheesey weekend!