Hoerman's House

Innocent or Guilty?

Lucy:  I swear I didn’t do anything naughty.

Lucy:  But then again……maybe I did

Unexpected sighting

Last Friday as I was driving to work I saw two Sandhill Cranes. 

(photo courtesy of http://www.lospoblanos.com/)

They were just standing on the side of the roadway.  I wanted to get a picture of them so badly and was attempting to pull over.  However, I didn’t have the camera with me, just my cell phone.  My cell takes good pictures, but I would have been too far away to get a decent shot.  I pictured myself, dressed in my uniform, trying to get as close to the birds as I could without spooking them…..and decided it wasn’t worth it.  It was the first time, outside of a zoo, that I have seen a crane.  Not even sure I have seen one at the zoo.  They are really, really tall and magnificent.

I Met The Bloggess

Last night Glen and I, along with Rob and Kate (co-workers/friends), went down to the Plaza for a book signing and reading by Jenny Lawson.  Jenny wrote the book “Let’s Pretend this Never Happened” and she writes the blog called thebloggess.  Both of which are fantastically funny reads and highly recommended. 

(image courtesy of Barnes and Noble)

Me and Glen waiting for our turn to get in line so I can get my book signed.

The event was at the Unity Temple on the Plaza.  Jenny managed to get her hands on one of the choir gowns and decided to wear it for her reading.  Very spiffy….and funny.

Of course I had to get my picture taken with Jenny…..any true fan would 🙂

Here is Kate getting her book signed.  Thank you Bloggess for coming to KC on your book signing tour!!! 

It’s spring….I want it to act like it.

Yesterday was the first day of spring.  How are we going to celebrate that?  It is going to snow!  If I just pretend it isn’t going to happen, it won’t right?

Now I realize I shouldn’t be whining about a mere 1 to 3 inches of the white crap.  However!  This weekend we are in for a “significant” weather event.  I am so very ready for winter to be over with.

Birdie Appointment

Lila has an appointment at the vets tomorrow.  She is going in for a talon trim, but she also has to have some blood drawn.  A few months back she tested positive for Avian Bornavirus.  We are having her tested again at a different lab to make sure it wasn’t a false positive. 

Racking The Wine

Sunday it was time to check the gravity of the wine. If it tests within a certain range it is time to siphon it off the sediments into a clean secondary container.

Here is the wine in the fermenting bucket.  The yeast and grapes have been very happy together.

Here we are testing the gravity of the wine.  It tested perfectly, so we siphoned it into a clean secondary container called a carboy.

Glug, glug, glug….

This is the sediment that was left at the bottom of the fermenting bucket.

The wine has to continue to ferment in the carboy for another 10 days when we will test it again.  So…..stay tuned.

It was a long week!

I think this picture sums up how last week treated us.  It seemed like it took forever to get to the weekend, and once it got here we were all too tired for any Saint Patrick’s Day shenanigans. We did enjoy the traditional corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.  Hoping everyone else had a good and restful weekend….and if not restful, I hope you had a ton of fun.

A Dog With An Agenda

Glen took this picture while I was at work.  Not sure what he was doing, or why he had this gun on the sofa.  Lucy however, looks like she has claimed it as her own.  Not sure how I feel about this picture…..I am even less sure how I feel about the look on her face. 

We’re Whiners….I Mean We’re Making Wine!

Glen and I decided to try our hand at making wine. 

I am thinking that the UPS guy hates us right about now.  That is about 120 pounds worth of “stuff” that we ordered from a company called Northern Brewer.  They have everything you need for both making wine and beer.

This is what it looks like unpacked.  That is a lot of “stuff”.

First step in the process was sanitizing everything.  Lilly was very interested until she realized water was involved.

Here we are mixing bentonite with some distilled water.  Mmmmmm, muddy water!

I selected a California Pinot Noir. 

Adding the concentrated grape juice to the muddy water.  We also added a couple of gallons of distilled water.

As much as I love those grapes, yeast is really the star of the party.

Just sprinkle the yeast on the top of the juice, put the airtight lid, (equipped with an airlock), on the fermenting bucket and wait for the yeast to get wild and crazy.  By the next day it was burbling away.  We will test it next Sunday, so stay tuned.

Broke Beak Birdie

I didn’t realize the tip of Eva’s beak was missing until I looked at this picture. It isn’t really broken, just chipped from chewing on her toys.  She will be an extra busy girl getting it back into shape.

Eva:  Let me out…I want out….let me out….I want out….let me out….I want out!