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You know, there are times when bird watching takes on its own certain snippiness -- its own distinct 'ticked off' attitude... The last couple of days have been like that... All I wanted was to snap a couple of cute shots of the countless hummingbirds (you really should be watching our streaming cam) and post them here. That's all I wanted. But would they sit still and let me take a lousy photograph or two? Absolutely not. (There are times... especially in the afternoon... when those ruby-throated little buggers will land on the deck railing and break out their tiny unicycles and tiny tubas. They're partial to riding to the beat of Polish beer polkas... And they ride and play and have a great old party until I try to unleash a camera, and then, "Poof!", they're gone... I'm just one photo away from a PhD in animal science... But nooo...)

Speaking of beer, the new beer closet is running at capacity... That's kind of cool.I don't know what I'm going to do come the summer months... (Most brew recipes aren't exactly designed for heat...) But still, it's nice on a rainy day to opt for closet beer vs. no beer..

What else is new here?

• Well, it looks like we need a new toilet. (I should actually document that process because because sooner or later we all need to fix the loo...)
• The yard chugs along most happily... The rabbits are out there, the birds are singing and playing the tuba (arghhh!) And in general we just keep on keeping on...
• The shop is fine except that I accidentally sanded one of my knuckles off...

By the frustrating and boring feeders...

CapeCodAlan

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alrighty then... For some time I've been piling up pics for you, and of course not publishing them... Rather than responsibly and dutifully issuing them one at a time along with its own post, I decided to empty the SD and dump them in your lap... Ain't I a stinker??? (If you 'Google' on any of the subjects below along with 'ebirdseed and blog', you'll be able to find more info...)

First up... The 'Great Bird Hunt...' I'd been trying to photograph this flicker for far longer than I should have, and finally in a fit of frustration, abandoned the Canon for the monopod and a cheap Kodak... We're talking foul language and flying pixels, but I won!

I wasn't sure what the next bird was (told you I'm no ornithologist!) I recognized the female cardinal, but not the female red-wing... D'oh!

There! Now take a look at the feast below!!! Home brew, 'snausage', and crackers... Somewhere there's a cardiologist smiling...

Ah... The new bird house in action...

For you woodworkers, you might want to pay special attention to the shot below... If you need to round stock (for stuff like spars, masts, or walking sticks), use Dynamite Payson's technique (I don't know where he got it from) and make your own rubber covered drum that will chuck in a power drill... Then just turn a belt sander belt inside out and use your common sense... Sweet!

Have some Turk's Heads knots...

Lastly is the wife's trail kit... And yes that is a real pistol, and yes, she has a license to carry that concealed, and yes, she knows how to and will use it if there's no other way.

Phew! My memory card feels so much lighter!

By the feeders...

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Basically brewing only consists of seven steps

1. Clean and sanitize all equipment. (i.e., wash and rinse as you would your dishes, and then sanitize using 1 TBL plainbleach per 1 gal. water... Rinse thoroughly with hot water.)
2. Fermentable sugars are created by soaking malted barley (barley that has sprouted and been processed)
3. The malt sugar solution is boiled and hops are added as a seasoning and as a natural preservative
4. Next, the solution is quickly cooled and yeast is tossed in to munch on the sugars
5. Yeast acting on sugars releases CO₂ and ethyl alcohol
6. Fermentation goes full cycle (about one week to a month or more...)
7. Beer is bottled or kegged

Eventually ends up like this (here a stout...)

(By the way, that stout turned out exceptionally well. Not as good as the English Bitter, but close...)

Finally, this is what home brew looks like during fermentation. No heat is being added -- just hungry yeast munching on all them fermentable sugars... Yum!

By those pleasant feeders...

CapeCodAlan

P.S. Keep an eye on this blog for another neat book review and a phenomenal owl video!

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thought we might take a 'bird-less-traveled' track this time... Take a look at the pics below...

There's a common theme here -- that of doing it yourself. The top shot is of homemade brew, and the one below is of a glimpse into our dining area. Aside from cost savings and getting just what you want, there's something comforting in DIY -- "Yeah, I made it or put it together myself..." There's no buck passing here. Obviously, this isn't the first time we've discussed taking on a project without hands-on professional help... There was the shed, the trellis, a farm table, a birdhouse, and even a Shaker clock... (I really should finish that clock...) Years ago I bought 'Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding', and was struck by the preface... Part of it follows...

Somewhere our culture seems to have lost that spark of imaginative energy that created it. I was thinking recently that I can't remember the last tree house I've seen. Why don't high school kids build 'rods anymore? And why do so many people stand around with their mouths open, afraid to try anything unless they first take a socially-approved class to tell them how?

How, in just a few generations, did this country's soul go from folks who walked, rode horses, and dragged wagons clear across our continent, to a majority who spend most of their time staring at teevees; whose feeling of self worth is based more on income than on personal accomplishment?

When I asked Mr. Buehler if I could quote that, he emailed back permission in a colorful sort of way. But he has a point...

What is stopping you from measuring out your own yard and house and making a scale model complete with trees, a pool, a shed, and whatnot? Maybe your architect already has all that info. (We got a copy when we bought this house.) Then there's Google earth. But once you have the dimensions...

To make things easy, you might consider modeling in one of the more common scales such as N, HO, S, or O (1:160; 1:87; 1:64; 1:48 respectively) and in doing so have access to existing accessories. Or, you can design/build to your own scale (I build all my boat models to 1:27 because they fit easily on the mantle or the bookshelf that way.) With model done, you can experiment with feeder/birdbath/birdhouse locations to your heart's desire. And you don't even have to be limited by medium -- use paper, plywood, clay, or software like Sketchup... The variety of choices go on and on...

Just thinking for myself, and hoping you're doing the same...

By the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First, the bad news... Earlier, I talked about brewing beer, and in that discussion I mentioned cleanliness... I guess I should have paid closer attention to myself -- one of my batches went bad (rotten egg smell), and I had to pour 6 gallons right down the drain. In brewing, there are three stages of prep to worry about: cleaning (no visible gunk); sanitizing (reduce the number of wee beasties to a tolerable minimum); and sterilizing (as in ready for surgery). Somewhere between stages two and three I blew it, and the mix was destroyed... If I had to guess, I'd say that my failure to sterilize the extract can itself was my downfall... Sooo... I cleaned up everything (bleach and steam are wonderful things) and started another batch. Time will tell...

On to the seed front,.. Do you by chance remember my 2007 entry about buying in bulk and vacuum bagging as a way to save money and keeping feed for the long haul? Well, it just so happens that we ran out of the stuff today and have nothing for tomorrow... except for that bag from four plus years ago, (see pic above). After all this time, that is hermetically tight, utterly bug-free, and ready for action. That is why we buy in bulk and seal for later. (I do the same thing for my brewing supplies -- not only do I always have the required materials on hand, but it's much cheaper in the long run.) Just sayin'...

Prepped and cooking by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 6:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ain't they beauties? Those are 20 of 30 750ml bottles of home brew just waiting to head for dark storage.

Alrighty then all you adults... As promised, I'm taking a day off (sort of) from the birding theme and focusing on another aspect of cooking: beer. (Here are my posts on making chowder and bread.)

First up, a quick overview... Why home brew? There are a bunch of reasons: you like to cook; you want a higher quality beer than the stuff in the stores; saving money is always cool; it's nice to be able to tailor your own beer; etc.

So where do you start? That depends... If you want to get serious in a hurry, buy an equipment kit that includes a primary fermenter, secondary fermenter, bottling bucket, hoses, bottles, capper, caps, ingredients, hydrometer, thermometer, long spoon.. etc. Midwest sells a nice beginners package for about $200. I wanted to ease my way back into the hobby, so I settled for Coopers DIY setup for about $125. Coopers is a respected Australian brewery, and their DIY is simple and produces a decent beer. (Note on the bottles... I vastly prefer reusable plastic P.E.T. bottles -- no capping -- just screw on.)

General/subjective observations about the actual brewing process:

• After you decide what rig you're going with, order it and then hit the home brewing forums and start at least lurking -- knowledge is a good thing.
• When your gear arrives, open it and start reading... Don't even think about starting that night..
• Cleanliness is absolutely critical.
• Watch the temp of your wort... It matters.
• Be patient. If you rush your brew or its aging. Bad things happen to those who can't wait.
• Children and pets have no place around an active brewer. There's too much wet glass and hot fluids for something to get under foot.
• Keep a journal. (Years ago I created the finest red ale known to humankind only to lose the slip of paper that held its recipe. Sob!)

On a different note, if you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed a number of reviews of bird books from Princeton University Press. And that's fine because, for the most part, the books focus on the birds of the U.S. But now I can start reviews for birds beyond the States... the Indian Subcontinent for example. Would you like me to review those sorts of books? Let me know via a comment or email me at: capecodalan@ebirdseed.com.

See you by those feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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Posted by CapeCodAlan at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I've mentioned umpteen times before, so long as you locate your bird feeders properly, keep them clean and full with quality seed, and provide fresh water, backyard birding is pretty much a hands-off hobby... If you're not familiar with any of the steps above, please feel free to:

• Google on this blog for instructions
• Ask a question via the comment field
• Email me at CapeCodAlan@eBirdseed.com
• Call us at 1-866-324-7373

So, around here, it's 'gaze baby gaze...'

On to other more domestic stuff...

First off, we have our n-gauge train on our dining room table... Both seem to be aging well... (Who knows what we'll do with the train...)

Speaking of aging... Here's our third batch of home brew snug and dark. Give it about a month and it ain't bad... (Stay tuned... Sometime I'll write a 300 word post on how to brew beer for the first timer...)

Beer maturing...

Next up is the tall Shaker clock... The mock-up cardboard 'hood' (the wood enclosure that houses the actual clock mechanism itself) rests about midway... The final assembly height of the hood will match that of our hutch...

Here is the board that will be used to make the hood... I'd guess it's 125 years old, checked, painted, and loaded with iron nails... I glued the checks back together, the old paint will be carefully stripped, and the board will be cut to shape using a blade that can handle both wood and ferrous. -- time consuming but beautiful when done properly...

Outside to the shed! Work goes exceptionally well... All looks square, level, and plumb... Right now, the ridge beam is in place, and all that remains is to put in the 2 X 6 roof reinforcements and to install the roof...

One small problem -- the 2 X 6 timbers we bought don't seem to be the standard 1.5" by 5.5", but rather a true 6" wide... Nothing a table saw can't fix...

And that's about it from here on the back forty... Happy birds and projects galore

Always busy by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

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By Location, Birds and Natural History Books (a global reference)

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is that a title or what? Onward!

First the birds... All are 'systems go" here... feeders are clean and full... water is fresh and warm... birds are fat and happy... Just take care of your feeders, and the rest is sanctuary.

What else? Well, New Years has passed and we (Mrs CCA and I) hope you're taking advantage of sales, football etc... But there's something else haunting us -- for want of a better phrase, 'a need for back to the basics'... To that end, we got off to an early start and picked up a used Rubbermaid 'Big Max' shed. Below is the 'foundation' almost complete...

Perhaps, just once and for all, we can get that garage cleaned out!

Next stop... Beer Land! As I've mentioned before, I used to be a pretty fair home brewer... Time to go back to the fundamentals... Commercial beer has become so expensive and so 'bleck' that a reasonable soul has little choice but to brew his (or her) own. Below is my second batch -- a stout. My first was a lager, and the next will be an English bitter... The hobby takes time, practice, a thick skin... But it's like making chowder or bread... Just hang in there...

Here's a particularly cool shot of the very active froth of a primary fermentation... (The smell is wonderful!!!)

And finally there is this -- a simple N guage model train. I've wanted one of these since I was a kid. (I used to build in HO -- 1: 87, whereas N is smaller at 1:160 scale.)

Regardless, the mind boggles at the possibilities... I was thinking of setting up/securing a complete local diorama on a 36" by 72" sheet of plywood, and encasing it in a closeable box suitcase-style. It could be stored on edge and come each December unfolded and plopped upon the dining room table for all to swoon... Just a thought...

I'll be regressing by the feeders...

CapeCodAlan

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: Inside Birding

Cornell Ornithology Laboratory: All About Birding

Live eBirdseed.com streaming cam

eBirdseed.com photo library

eBirdseed and misc. references

Other birding references

By Location, Birds and Natural History Books (a global reference)

Posted by CapeCodAlan at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)