a true brewing catastrophe

So, if you are brewing beer and you are using a new airlock and rubber stopper, and the rubber stopper is a little big for the carboy, then you should probably stop and go look for the rubber stopper you have always used vs. trying to be an Angus MacGyver and improvising. More so, if the rubber stop keeps popping out because it is a bit too big and you decide take a 2 foot long twist tie and wrap it around the carboy top to hold in the rubber stop, much like a champagne bottle, then you should start seeing some red flags. After all that if your beer does not start to bubble after two days then you should probably start to get really suspicious. And finally, if it is the middle of the night and you are awoken by a very loud explosion you should probably go check it out. If not, you will walk down stairs at 6:00 o'clock in the morning to the deliciously sweet smell of unfermented beer all over your kitchen floor and laundry room.

Yeah, I really wish I would have taken some pictures but my camera was upstairs, and by the time I waded into the laundry room I was completely cover with beer and glass and going upstairs was clearly not an option. I am so thankful that we were all upstairs asleep when it blew, because someone could have really gotten hurt. There was glass shrapnel stuck in the boxes that were in the laundry room, and the towel I had wrapped around the carboy was completely ripped apart. Glass and beer was everywhere. It was really really bad. It took me two hours of cleaning just to get the kitchen and laundry room presentable before Leslie and the boys woke up.

That's what I'm talking about!

Railroad tracts from Bay St. Louis to Henderson Point

I ran across this image the other day by complete chance and just had to share it. It is of the railroad tracts from Bay St. Louis to Henderson Point. You can see the Gulfshore Baptist Assembly across the bay.

I got the image from here.

Henderson Point across the bay

What was the number 1 song when you were born?

What was yours?

hat-tip Beck

My son the Existentialist

Well we are in the throes of potty training. We have made some pretty good headway in teaching John David to use the pot, but from time to time he is so into whatever he is doing that he forgets chooses not to use the pot. This morning he got up somewhere around 7am and he came down stairs to see what I was up to. I decided to start the day out right so I changed his diaper and put him in his big boy pants (underoos). After I left for work Leslie kept reminding him to go pee pee in the potty because he had his big boy pants on. All seemed to be going well until Elliot woke up and she headed upstairs to get him. Before she headed up to get Elliot she reminded John David that he had his big boy pants on, and he emphatically implied that he did not need to go. So, she ran upstairs and got Elliot. When she got back down stairs there was a nice puddle on our couch.

I guess I should remind you that John David is 3 and that being the case we are struggling a bit with how to best communicate certain deeper concepts to him, one being telling the truth. The only two times that we can recall of him not telling the truth were both right before puddles appeared. So, at church this weekend Leslie checked out some book about a boy who took a cookie but lied about it or something like that. She was hoping to be able to go over it with him.

Right, so after the couch puddle incident Leslie decided to try and talk to him about telling the truth and to go over the book with him. I'm sure somewhere along the line she got animated with him while trying to get the concept in his head that he has to tell the truth. By the time it was all said and done it ended with him screaming "there is no truths" "there is no truths".

So my question is this, anyone ever try to explain lying to a 3 year old?

the new blog

Okay so I have started another blog, with some design help from Jason. One of the odd benefits of being a blogger is that people forward me a lot of their funny e-mail spam that they get throughout the day. I must get four or so spam e-mails from people every day. I think most people would mind those spam e-mails but I normally find them somewhat entertaining. From time to time I have posted the content of those spam e-mails on my site, but I realize I have credibility issues so I try my hardest to keep the wacky stuff off my blog. :-) Well, with no further ado here is the new blog.

a song for the snow

Three days and three snow falls, we are loving it. Just as John David woke up this morning it started to snow. He was so excited. By the time I made it downstairs this is what was being sung.

itsy bitsy spider

Caveat the movie is about 12 megs, so depending on your connection it might take a while to download.

Okay so I had another very odd dream a few days ago.

In my dream I found out that we have had an Olympian speed skater from the UK living in our house the last year and we never knew it. Come to find out she was the hinge pin door stop on our front door. We just kept commenting on how quiet she was and that we never knew she was there.

I guess I should state for the record that I had the flu the last four days and was not quite all there.

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

When we woke up on Saturday morning there was suppose to be some snow on the ground, but only Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain ended up with any. Being the storm chaser that I am, I packed up Leslie and the boys and we went to find some snow.

John David and Elliot really loved it. We ended up finding a soccer field somewhere on Signal Mountain that had a pretty good blanket of snow. When John David noticed the pine trees on the other side of the field he yelled "Christmas Trees" and took off toward them. Elliot followed right behind.

Elliot and John David's first taste of snow

a little sledding

Oh yea, last night we got two inches here at our house so once the boys wake up we will be doing some sledding at our house. I will post some pictures if I get any good ones.

being informed

our little groundhog

Well, our little groundhog turns the big 3 years old today. I can hardly believe it. Where has the time gone! We are glad to report that he saw his shadow this morning. Okay, he got up just after 7 this morning so there was no light for us to do the shadow test, but a close friend of his saw his shadow, which will do. Yes the Gidcumb household is happy about the prolonged winter.

John David had a little party this past weekend with a few friends. He had a great time playing and eating some of the delicious cupcakes that Leslie made. As you can see from the picture he most enjoyed the homemade chocolate icing -- he ate it right off the top.

Tonight is the real celebration, so I will post some pictures if I get any.

John David's Party