Brett and Debbie

Debbie's article in the sustainable buisness oregon

Debbie's famous now! Check out her article in the Sustainable Business Oregon website:

http://www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/columns/2010/03/sustainable_designs_future_is_the_pacific_northwests_present.html

March update.. bikes!

I can't believe I haven't posted since November..! What a busy, and fun, life it is. We had fun traveling to NY for Christmas and visiting Los Angeles in February for some sun. Lately, spring is starting to show and the flowers are out and the weather warms up occasionally. We've been spending more time outdoors, enjoying the scenery and getting some exercise.

The exercise is extra motivated lately because we signed up for Cycle Oregon this year, which is a 450mile bike ride over 7 days in beautiful places in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Debbie's in good shape for this with her continued efforts toward triathalon training and already has a very nice bike for it, but I need to get some significant training in. I just got a new bike that will be more appropriate for the ride after some surfing bike shops and craigslist.

It's a nice 2005 hand-made Jeff Lyon steel frame and fork, great components and set up like a cyclocross bike but perfect for longer rides. I took a nice test-ride up Rocky Butte just now, and it fits great, and feels so FAST!

We're looking forward to being out and about, although we have to keep in mind we've still got some winter ahead. Here's some teaser photos, once I get the laptop running again (silly viruses..) I'll upload some of the others.

script for printing directories

Dad wanted a PC program that listed only directories under a given directory, so I wrote one. This one contains a nice bugfix that doesn't crash if the directory name is too long! It installs into your right click menu when looking at folders, and puts up Word with a text listing of the contained folders and their sizes.

Download the package here if you're interested.

Brewery upgrades

I finally got around to getting shelves for the brewery where I can store things and let them drip dry! You can see some pictures (before and after) on picasa. It's still a basement, after all, but at least it is cleaner and more functional.

Life's been busy lately, especially with Debbie's work trips and occasional colds. I brewed a lager beer for the first time in a couple years Saturday, blustery day bock. It was brewed the "hard" way with a decoction mash and 2 hour boil, I've got my fingers crossed. It should be ready to drink by February!

Look in picasa for more photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BreweryUpgrades#

Halloween costumes 2009

We were relatively quiet for Halloween this year, but went to a nice party and put together some fun costumes! We didn't carve pumpkins for the first time ever, but we still had a good number or trick-or-treaters with cute costumes including hermione, lots of skeletons, army girl, princesses, werewolf, devil lady, panda bear, luke skywalker, power ranger, and dorothy from the wizard of oz

Brett went as a marionette, and Debbie as a stingray this year:

Here's Debbie's costume in motion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eBRa6WumVY

Also, you can look at some pictures of nearby decorated houses although I haven't gotten a picture of our house decorated yet.
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/PortlandHalloweenDecorations2009#

Happy Halloween everyone!

Photos from our visit to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks

We had a great time in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. It took awhile to narrow our 1200 photos down to a more reasonable number of bests, but we've finally done it and have posted them on Picasaweb.

We hiked an average of 8 miles a day (Debbie was trying to kill me), and did our fair share of camping and backpacking in between stays in nice cabins or fancy hotels. We had great weather even though late September has a possibility of serious weather in the area - we only had chilly evenings and no snow.

We saw all kinds of animal life up close, including moose (closer than Debbie bargained for), elk, bison, and even a rare type of woodpecker. We weren't entirely disappointed that we didn't see a bear given how much camping and wilderness hiking we did.

The thermal features at Yellowstone are truly surreal - bubbling hot springs, giant geysers and roiling fumeroles.

Even after Labor Day there were plenty of people around all the easily accessible wonders and viewpoints. But as soon as we stepped just a few feet onto a trails we found ourselves surrounded by scenery and very few people.

Here's a couple photos that we hope you enjoy, but visit picasa for the rest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BestOfGrandTetonAndYellowstoneNationalParks

Picking grapes 2009

We had a great time this past weekend picking some grapes that Greg & Jill grew in their vineyard and pressing them. We started early on a cool but beautiful morning. The coffee helped keep us warm while the grapes stayed cool for processing. All hands were helping pick grapes, filling buckets while we emptied them in Greg's new Italian crusher. Next we labored on Matias and Brett's old-style ratchet press squeezing all the juice from the grapes. Maybe stomping would be easier next year?

Everyone pitched in, had a great time, and we ended up with 15 gallons of juice that is fermenting away right now to hopefully become a drinkable white wine in a couple months. Maybe it will even be good!

Now if we could only figure out what kind of grapes those are.

Enjoy all the photos here, these below are just a teaser!

Back from Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons National Park

We're back from our great road trip adventure in Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks! We saw and experienced some great sights, mountains, geysers, hot springs, wild animals, and hiked roughly 7 miles a day. We oscillated between nice lodges and camping, and had great weather the entire trip except it did get down to 30 degrees at night.

We had a great trip, but are still getting together the pictures so we don't have any to post yet. Stay tuned!

Pictures from Monterey

I've uploaded more pictures from the Monterey Aquarium, and Debbie's triathalon! Debbie did great, now we're getting ready for a vacation in Montana and Wyoming in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks which we're looking forward to.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/MontereyAquarium#

http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/DebbieSTriathalonInPacificGroveCA2009#

Debbie finished the Triathalon!

Debbie finished the Pacific Grove Triathalon (in Monterey, CA) about an hour ago. She had a great race, and came in 5th in her class with a time of 2:54! I'll upload some photos soon, or you can see them now on brett's facebook account.Now she's relaxing, rehydrating, cheering on her teammates, eating pasta, and talking to her family. Brett enjoyed watching, trying to take photos with 2 cameras and say hi when he saw her for 15 seconds every 20 minutes!

Monterey

We arrived yesterday in Monterey, CA with Debbie's triathalon team after an uneventful trip. Most of the day was spent eating (triathletes can really eat!) and adjusting, and getting equipment together including the bikes off a truck. .

It's nice not to be working..! We started with a quick visit to the fabulous Monterey aquarium, and I got to see the seahorse exhibit for the first time which was really fascinating. The photos are going to be great when I get them all together!

Today Debbie and the rest of her team took a test-swim at the race area, but only half the distance they will do tomorrow. The surroundings are beautiful here, and the weather is perfect. After their swim, most of the swimmers were energized and talked about crawling through the kelp which seems to want to stick to you as you swim over it.

Thanks for all your support! I'll promise to update facebook with the race results as they proceed, and photos when I can get them! If you're a facebook user, add me as a friend (bretthall at gmail.com) and you can see the status updates!

An amazing Jellyfish at the Monterey aquarium:

The beautiful kelp forest at the aquarium:

Lovers point, the site where they will be swimming from a distance:

Debbie and her team off to a swimming start to try out the site:

The team all together and done with their test-swim:

Catching you up..

We've had a great year so far, although we haven't been taking as many photos since we've been so busy! We've also taken to using facebook more often, perhaps that's why we haven't posted anything on here for so long?

Here's some of the stuff we've been doing lately:

We are now cheesemakers and have made Mozzerela, Cheddar, and Derby
Brett is still brewing great beer and just started a fresh hop beer with his own hops
Debbie is training for a triathalon (olympic length!) which will be in Monterey this weekend. Stay tuned..
Rebecca and Jeff visited Portland!
We visited the Oregon Coast several times
Debbie visited Matthew & Andrew for their birthdays
Remodeling the bathrooms

These are just teaser photos from a larger set from some random events this year so far... for the rest check here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BlogCatchup

And here's some videos of Debbie and the team at in their first open water swim:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xussN53uM4g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQo4Uft0Qh4

Brewing a Fresh Hop Beer

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this blog, I need to find an easier way to compose the posts..

With the day off, I took advantage of the time to get some brewing done for this Fall. Nothing better than a fresh hop beer, one of my favorite styles of the year. So many of the local brewpubs make their own, and the variety flavors available are tremendous since the style is not clear-cut. Everyone makes up their own, which is a great conversation starter around beer-geek circles.

Today the hops were ready for picking, so with Debbie and Charlie's help we brewed our first all-grain fresh hop beer! The harvest this year is impressive, but not as much as I hoped. We're all a little envious of the massive plants that Paul grew, from cuttings I gave him this spring!

Since I didn't have a chance to go by the brew store before they closed I came up with the ingredients I had around the house, making this nearly a "kitchen sink" brew. I had to get creative roasting my own crystal malt out of some pale malt I had, used up some hops in the freezer, and found a packet of dry yeast I had stashed for exactly this occasion. This is truly going to be a home-grown homebrew, and perhaps impossible to repeat!

It's going to be a nice nutty amber ale with a powerful floral flavor and aroma since I put almost the entire harvest of hops in the last 10 minutes of the boil. I'm looking forward to it already! Give me an email in a month or two for your taste..

There are more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bretthall/BrewingAFreshHopBeer2009#

It's snowing in Portland!

After having some homemade bagels with friends, we did some sledding and playing in the snow today. Driveways make a great sledding hill.. but I hadn't realized there is a good sledding hill not far away from our house at the dog park!

There are more photos here

Seattle..

We took a quick trip to Seattle a couple weekends ago to try to visit many of our friends there. We had a great birthday party for Ammi at an ice-cream & retro arcade place! Here's a picture of two happy homebrewers next to a classic gaming machine.