What I Did Today

[Almanac]

Can't wait to see what a D. P. F. looks like. Perhaps it's a Digital Picture File or maybe it's a ......no, I'll just have to wait like everyone else

AM

[vino-tinto]

Can't wait to see what a D. P. F. looks like. Perhaps it's a Digital Picture File or maybe it's a ......no, I'll just have to wait like everyone else

AM

Didn't you realize I'm lesdistick especiali after sampling

[Easydrinker]

This evening I spent three hours online looking at reviews for breathalysers.
Settled on one and ordered it.
Some mornings I wake up and question,- "am I fit to drive?"
Even living in the middle of nowhere,there is occasional traffic on the road.
And I need to drive to live here.
I would hate my ability to produce inexpensive product to lead to an incident,so a small investment to prevent one,coming from the cash saved from so doing,seems cash well spent.As I do like a drink of an evening.
It's not quite police quality,but a good enough guide methinks.
Not that I will be doing much driving for a while,more tramping over the hills with buckets full of mole traps and a spade,'tis the time of year to catch the little buggers before they meet up and multiply in March.That is,if the snow stays away.
One of my bow strings is being the local catcher,it's a little like golf, - a good walk,ruined!
It brings home some bacon,mustn't grumble.
Robert.

[wormwood]

Not that I will be doing much driving for a while,more tramping over the hills with buckets full of mole traps and a spade,'tis the time of year to catch the little buggers before they meet up and multiply in March.That is,if the snow stays away.
One of my bow strings is being the local catcher,it's a little like golf, - a good walk,ruined!
It brings home some bacon,mustn't grumble.
Robert.

Here I was thinking all this time that bacon came from pigs, when it actually comes from moles. The things I've learned from this forum...

[chill]

Now I am trying to figure out if they have really large moles in Scotland or really tiny bacon. And can you make mole bacon bourbon?

[Easydrinker]

Not much you can do with a dead mole,even the rare bacon flavoured ones.
Robert.

[vino-tinto]

You could try deep frying it, like you do with Mars bars

[Easydrinker]

Well the breathalyser had it's first day of use.
I knew I was over the limit when I awoke,I wasn't under the UK drink/drive limit till 1.30pm.
Something of a clarion call there.
Robert.

[chill]

That is just plain impressive. Or scary. I thought that I drank a lot. You may want to consider saving some of your liver cells for later in life...

[Easydrinker]

Actually I now find it scary.
My capacity for alcohol is almost legendary amongst those that know me.
I think I had a hang-over once,1981,Chinese New Year,five nights of HEAVY drinking with the then local Chinese community.
I was blowing good to drive at 10 am today,after easing off last night.
A little restraint,aided by a reliable method of testing,may yet see my liver and kidneys viable for a donor transplant - I carry the card.
With age,finally comes wisdom.
Robert.

I just previewed the above,it makes me sound like a total p*sshead!
As mentioned elsewhere on this forum,I have a small ocean going boat,when at sea I can limit alcohol to one UK unit per 24 hours.
I do party when at anchor though....
Equally, I would like to think that I haven't been getting behind the wheel of a car,believing I was unfit to drive.
Now I can test myself.

[Cherry Yidaki]

How's it coming with the breathalyzer? I read your post(s) and recalled how "way back when" drunk driving wasn't looked upon as such a heinous sin in the eyes of society, nor smoking either (unless it was the devil weed, marijuana). If you got pulled over "3 sheets to the wind," you more than likely got taken to the town jail to sleep it off - or even driven home and the keys given to your spouse/parent/left in the mailbox. If you were only 2 sheets to the wind, and were suitably civil and grateful, you could get away with a stern verbal rebuke and a forceful injunction to "Get yer ass home and don't let me see you like this again." "Like this again" was silently acknowledged by all to be about 2 weeks.

I cowboyed a bit in high school, working on nearby ranches summers and weekends. A big feller even at 15, I didn't look much out of place when I went along with the regular hands to take in a bit of nightlife at one local watering hole or another. As long as I didn't get too rowdy, I was welcome to drink elbow-to-elbow with those grizzled, sunburnt, squinty-eyed old pards.

And they could drink. Oh, Lord, they took up their glasses and bottles with a will and looks of grim determination. "Shut up and drink!" I was told if I tried to start up a conversation in the cool of the evening. Not till a decent amount of liquor had flowed past their lips and a goodly amount of diamond stars had tumbled onto the ebon kerchief of the night sky could a game of pool be suggested or a laugh roused with a pithy anecdote.

But, they couldn't drive for shit. Come closing time the more-ambulatory members of the party started shifting their buddies toward the door. Sometimes a really laborious process, getting the man-sacks filled with ill-set meat jello into the rig(s) could feel like it was taking hours. And sunrise and the foreman waited on no one, so he who was deemed most able would take to the wheel and do his best to cut the 45-minute drive on winding dirt roads down to 15. Surprisingly, hardly anyone ever died or was injured.

It didn't take me long to figure out my best chance of survival was if I was the one behind the wheel (the term "designated driver" hadn't filtered its way into our hinterlands yet). I devised a plan that I reckoned wise and practicable: whereas it was my normal wont to imbibe strong drink to the point where recreational vomiting occurred and I became unable to uncross my eyes; instead, my cunning plan bade me to periodically deliver a good, solid finger flick to the side of my nose. If I could feel it, I was good for another drink; if my nose was too numb to register anything except the vibration from the violence done to it, it was time to switch to soda pop.

It wasn't a perfect system. There was a time or two when I found myself in the driver's seat, coughing from the fetid exhalations of my unconscious compadres crowding me from the right and behind, seeing double... everything. But oh, sunrise was coming, and I had a duty to my friends. I had to get them and me home before the breakfast bell.

So I would hold one eyelid down with a fingertip (it wouldn't stay on its own), which cut my choices of road in half, then tack-and-fill as best I could until I got us to the bunkhouse. That was safe and responsible driving. And I patted myself on the back more than once for being such a civic champion.

What changes in acceptability have you noted over the years?

Oh, and on the subject of "What I did today": The krausen dropped on my split pea wash. Yay! I dipped it off to fill a Better Bottle, then stuck that out on the snowy deck to clear. Added sugar and water to my peas, a little baking soda because the ph was 3.2 (I got a new meter) and am hoping to see activity before long.

One thing: I forgot to de-gas it before racking it. The racking process consisted of dipping pitcherfuls out, then pouring them through screened funnel into the bottle. Will that and the clearing de-gas it enough?

[Easydrinker]

Cherry Yidaki wrote:
"How's it coming with the breathalyzer? ...................

So I would hold one eyelid down with a fingertip (it wouldn't stay on its own), which cut my choices of road in half, then tack-and-fill as best I could until I got us to the bunkhouse. That was safe and responsible driving. And I patted myself on the back more than once for being such a civic champion.

What changes in acceptability have you noted over the years?

Oh, and on the subject of "What I did today": The krausen dropped on my split pea wash. Yay! I dipped it off to fill a Better Bottle, then stuck that out on the snowy deck to clear. Added sugar and water to my peas, a little baking soda because the ph was 3.2 (I got a new meter) and am hoping to see activity before long.

One thing: I forgot to de-gas it before racking it. The racking process consisted of dipping pitcherfuls out, then pouring them through screened funnel into the bottle. Will that and the clearing de-gas it enough?"....................




The breathalyser gets used sometimes,and reinforces what I suspected,sometimes I need another coffee,or 20 minutes before thinking of driving in the morning.
Some nights I know I am going nowhere in the morning,and just don't give a fig.

Yes,I do remember driving a big old automatic,early in the morning,after a night shift in the casino,where I worked,to collect my kid from my mother,and deliver him to school.Alcohol wasn't the problem here,just sheer tiredness.And yes,holding one eye open,driving one hand,one foot.
And I recall in those days the only problem associated with drink driving was getting caught.
Times have surely moved on.
Given modern vehicles and population densities,I have to say for the better.

I think your method of racking will have been good enough to de-gass.

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life,I thought I had killed it.
This one used to be posted on frequently,but has been very quiet recently.
Robert.

[KerryW]

OK maybe not today, but i did a stripping run on a brown sugar wash, and started to do the strip runs on a TPW
The air still is running it off at 2 litres at 30% good volume!!

[Easydrinker]

Tidy up evening for me,two suspect strips (took a while longer than expected to finish fermenting,read stalled and re-started) plus all the heads and tails cluttering up the place went for a spirit run.
A few days airing may see something drinkable,but expecting the most part to be BBQ lighting fluid.
I freed up some glassware so am content.

Robert.

[vino-tinto]

Today I filled 14 bottles with my Bourbon which was made from Lentil washes and left on Tennessee Bourbon chips for 2 months.
Added 1 tsp of Glycerine per DJ and 1 tsp of vanilla extract per bottle just to give it a nice mouth feel.
The added bonus is that I got to suck the filter papers dry after every bottle, so I'm feeling very pleased with myself.