Livin' on the Edge

Home Brew
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

Livin' on the edge - video

On Thursday, Helen left to visit friends and family in the UK and Guernsey leaving Dad & I finding ways to occupy ourselves this weekend. At the top of our list was the production of our first home brew. Root beer home brew, that is! So, on Saturday, thanks to a Make Your Own Root Beer kit that Dad got for Christmas, our first batch of Root Beer (aka "Strange Brew" and "Squirrel's Brew") has been made and is currently fermenting its way to glory. We'll be sure to update the blog with the taste test results when the time comes.

We decided that we'd start off Sunday slowly to save our energy for the evening's events and so after a chilled morning, we ventured to a nearby spot where we'd seen groundhogs a couple of weeks before. We set up camp and did manage to get a few photos but the groundhogs weren't really up for putting on a show and kept diving back into the undergrowth so we soon moved on to the park. There, we went kite-flying for the first time this summer and even though the wind wasn't very consistent, we soon got the hang of it (even if I did manage to get the kite stuck in a tree at one point) and managed to impress some of the local children.

That evening, we set off to the Nissan Pavilion to go and see ZZ Top and Aerosmith in concert. We arrived a few minutes into ZZ Top's set but still managed to catch some songs that we recognised and were impressed by their performance (and their beards!). However, it must be said that the highlight of the evening was most definitely the headliner. Aerosmith were awesome and full of energy from beginning to end. How the people in front of us managed to stay seated for the majority of the set we will never know. I still can't believe I've seen Aerosmith live - I think I may be in shock.

Who'll stop the rain

Back Yard
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIPan-rEQJA

As you can see we've had a drop or two of rain. Unfortunately whilst I was away in Long Island there was a huge storm leaving Helen & Kitty to deal with an inundation of the basement which tripped out half the electrics and put the air conditioning a/c and hot water out of action. It took a week to get an engineer in to fix the a/c, but as he didn't bother to sort out the hot water I had to do it or face more time with cold showers, brrrrr. Helen was lucky to be away at a conference so she had the power of hot water and cool air after suffering with us for a couple of days, I also had some respite at work but poor Kitty suffered all week.

Then, a week after the last inundation and a day after restoring the home comforts we had a ten minute downpour which went straight through the saturated soil, taking enough soil to help block the drain, built up a three foot reservoir behind the basement door and started pouring around the door jamb. Luckily we heard the water pouring through and Helen womanned the brush in the basement sweeping water into the sumps and I unblocked the drain standing thigh deep in murky water. The fuze box shorted again but the water didn't get to the a/c or boiler this time.

You can see the waterlogged back yard but what you can't see is the six foot hole made by the streaming water washing soil through the stairwell wall into the drain. I filled the hole with rocks topped of with soil and under instruction from the landlord blocked the drains into the stairwell with test plugs. So far so well ...

Kitty and I have spent most of our time hunting for hidden biscuits, watching wildlife and viewing classic films. This weekend we're hoping to go to Alexandria, mountain biking and off to a concert.

Music to watch girls go by

Women's start
Originally uploaded by d_j_critchley

For the past three weekends we've been going to watch bike races, first in Baltimore and then nearer home in Arlington and also watching the Giro d'Italia on the TV; quite an introduction to the sport for Kitty.

In fact this Sunday Helen and I rode in a public event ably supported by Kitty's cheering and photography. The day started cool and damp but soon warmed up and the crews cleared the standing water off the closed course. It was great not only riding without having to stop but riding with people who, mainly, could comport themselves on a bike. I managed to complete eight laps for 62 miles with cramping muscles at the end and Helen, who was stopped from doing her last lap, did 55 miles.

Afterwards we watched the real riders toil in the hot sun whilst we enjoyed all manner of delicious food and then wearily wended our way home to feast upon a Chinese meal with lashings of beer and wine.

Normal service ...

will be resumed shortly.






















It's hard to believe that the last post we made was in mid February. Our snowboarding holiday was very cold, very tiring and loads of fun and we've got plenty of pictures from all the resorts that our flexible pass allowed us to visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/11463478@N00/collections/72157614033013110/.
The weather has been all over the place and although the cold weather looks to be behind us the rain does not and although the basement has only flooded once the swamp and the squirrels are still very soggy.

Kitty is now in country and after much chasing has got some voluntary work sorted out; Helen has had an interview for a job back in the UK and I am just plodding along.Back soon with an update and hopefully something from the other contributors ...