NSJ

Niko Vino ‘06 - part 2 and 3

Scott — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:59:42 +0000

Part two of the wine saga involved taking the mash from part one, putting it through a press, and then into an oak barrel. This happened shortly after part one and I forgot to blog about it. The tannins from an oak barrel are important to making a wine that lasts a long time. (Grenache is not the best choice for a long lasting wine, but it was the only high-end grape available in the fall when Niko was born.) Oak barrels only leach tannins for a couple uses. Rather than having to buy new (expensive) barrels every couple years, it is more economical to add long strips of oak to the barrel. These are aptly named “barrel replicators.” Typically Sam only keeps the replicators in the barrel for part of the cycle in order to boost the tannins but we left them in for the entire time the wine was in the barrel.

Part three, completed on a recent weekend, involved bottling the wine. This was much simpler than I expected. We pumped the wine out of the barrel into a container which fed a bottle filler. Once the bottle was filled, we corked and boxed them. The next step is trying to figure out how to get six cases of wine from CA to CT.

More Thanksgiving

Scott — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 22:43:38 +0000

In my attempts to catch up here are more photos from Thanksgiving in MI. We got to see T and Erica while we were back and play in the backyard before the snow.

Pug yule log

Scott — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:11:04 +0000

Here is a “pug yule log” video to help you celebrate the holidays. We find the pug snoring is a great addition to the standard yule log video.

First snow

Scott — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:10:48 +0000

Thanksgiving in Michigan brought our California boy his first snow. The verdict? He hated it. He just kept saying, “We have to clean it up.” (I’m hoping to leverage this sentiment to get him to shovel the driveway.) You would think living for so long without winter would mean he was unprepared to handle the cold, but the cold itself doesn’t seem to bother him much. It is really the stuff. He is not a big fan of hats, gloves, jackets, boots, or any additional clothing beyond the basics.

GG

Scott — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:36:20 +0000

Thanksgiving brought us back to Ann Arbor via an wonderfully short 1.5 hour flight. This was in contrast the typical epic cross country journey from CA. Talk about a cake walk. I guess moving to the winter does have its advantages. Best part of the trip is Niko and Andrew got to catch up with Great Grandma.

Tire swing

Scott — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:24:36 +0000

Unsafe? Yes. Fun? Absolutely.

Fall in Trumbull

Scott — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:54:57 +0000

Some backyard pictures from before the cold arrived.

More…

Ha-woah-ween 2008

Scott — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:21:56 +0000

As usual, a bit behind on my posting. Niko seems to be at the great age where he is mobile enough to go trick-or-treating, task-driven enough to collect candy, yet not aware enough to understand his father ate all his candy the next day. I think it is some form of candy-collecting slave labor.

Niko (unsurprisingly) had three costume options. The first was a Pug costume from the Kodamas. (The Kodamas are in Halloween dress-up mode year round.) The Pug costume was worn several days before Halloween and was hilarous! Both Molly and Niko wore it. Niko deemed it “too hot” at one point and the ensuing chaos while trying to get it off did not allow for any photos. Second try was a lion from Grandma Pat. Niko loves pretending that he is a lion. His “roar” is quite entertaining. However as you can see below, Niko seems to have equated the lion costume with “a coat and hat” and he really doesn’t like coats or hats. (You can imagine what it is like getting him bundled up to take the dog for a walk.) Fortunately Jul had also bought him a Bam Bam costume. Bam Bam seemed particularly fitting given his propensity to…errr…bang things. We managed to get him into this costume with limited drama. Molly was Pebbles so it was a regular Flinstone Halloween. Couple of anecdotes from his first trick-or-treat experience:

Niko insisted on carrying his candy bag even once it weighted more than him. The bag was taller than him, so he basically just dragged it around all night. He also insisted on running at all times meaning the night was filled with face-plants.
Neither Niko nor Molly seemed to get the idea of the screen door that opens out. So each house would end up in a stand-off between Molly and Niko (standing with their faces pressed up against the door) and the homeowners (hoping to open the door).
Once the stand-off was settled, the first question people would typically ask would be, “And who are you?” (Meaning, “Who are you dressed as?”) Molly would answer “Well, I am Molly, and this is Nicholas.”
Despite not understanding the physics of a screen-door, they seemed to have a plan worked out, where Niko would act cute and distract home owners, while Molly grabbed handfuls.

Second birthday, take two

Scott — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:34:42 +0000

While we were in D.C. we had to re-celebrate Niko’s birthday. Mom caught some photos.

Andrew Morris

Scott — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 13:26:22 +0000

Great visit to D.C. to meet Niko’s new cousin Andrew.