Random Picture Thread

[day_trippr]

Speaking of completely different...

The Spousal Unit and I are thinking of taking our wee boat down the Charles River tomorrow from the launch in the Watertown hamlet known as Nonantum down through the locks into Boston Harbor to visit some of the islands before returning via The Barking Crab for an early dinner then putting back up river to take out. So I was looking around a couple of different maps and noted a Nike missile launch site on one of the islands ("Long", fwiw). Which led to a map of the Nike and later Hercules launch sites in Massachusetts back then.

That harkened back to the end of the 1950s when my dad took a bunch of neighborhood kids to an open house at the Nike missile launch site in Bedford, MA (B-85-C, above), not far from my childhood home, and where we actually got to see the missiles in their silos and the radar antenna spinning (and apparently cooking us to some degree - no pun intended) and all of that cool stuff - and have "coffee" in the mess with the enlisted guys managing the tour.

It was about as cool as an 8 year old could ever imagine. Now, of course, the realization that there were Nike missiles sporting nuclear warheads in the mix is quite sobering considering Nikes had a ~90 mile range so a warhead wasn't going to get very far from humanity before 'sploding.

Woof...

 

[doug293cz]

Speaking of completely different...

The Spousal Unit and I are thinking of taking our wee boat down the Charles River tomorrow from the launch in the Watertown hamlet known as Nonantum down through the locks into Boston Harbor to visit some of the islands before returning via The Barking Crab for an early dinner then putting back up river to take out. So I was looking around a couple of different maps and noted a Nike missile launch site on one of the islands ("Long", fwiw). Which led to a map of the Nike and later Hercules launch sites in Massachusetts back then.

View attachment 823757

That harkened back to the end of the 1950s when my dad took a bunch of neighborhood kids to an open house at the Nike missile launch site in Bedford, MA (B-85-C, above), not far from my childhood home, and where we actually got to see the missiles in their silos and the radar antenna spinning (and apparently cooking us to some degree - no pun intended) and all of that cool stuff - and have "coffee" in the mess with the enlisted guys managing the tour.

It was about as cool as an 8 year old could ever imagine. Now, of course, the realization that there were Nike missiles sporting nuclear warheads in the mix is quite sobering considering Nikes had a ~90 mile range so a warhead wasn't going to get very far from humanity before 'sploding.

Woof...

I thought Nikes were antiaircraft missiles, and as such would not be nukes.

Brew on

 

[jschein]

I thought Nikes were antiaircraft missiles, and as such would not be nukes.

Brew on

The first models were conventional only, subsequent models could be conventional or nukes. Yes they were anti-aircraft

 

[BongoYodeler]

 

[corkybstewart]

A family of red legged partridges just cruised through our yard this morning

 

[balrog]

Saw this idly scrolling the interwebz and thought to myself, "Self, if I'm hauling gear and propane on some hike, I'm taking milled grains and hops, not some dumb shower."

 

[ehall]

I'm digging that water heater and pump though!

 

[D.B.Moody]

Billboard in Cambodia:

 

[balrog]

 

[GrogNerd]

I'd drink Quality Krud

can anyone source locally?

 

[grampamark]

I'd drink Quality Krud

can anyone source locally?

So would I. It's not like I’ve never drank low quality krud…

 

[day_trippr]

Gotta love their slogan

 

[nobadays]

 

[day_trippr]

Gotta love the interweb community for that one

 

[balrog]

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Saw this idly scrolling the interwebz and thought to myself, "Self, if I'm hauling gear and propane on some hike, I'm taking milled grains and hops, not some dumb shower."

View attachment 823856

Just like the cool kids!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Happy 4th, don’t celebrate with this import.

 

[balrog]

That's a Christmas beer.
There's No EL.

 

[balrog]

The latest in ethereal cabling!

 

[beermanpete]

The latest in ethereal cabling!

View attachment 824028

Tesla and Marconi to the rescue!

 

[GrogNerd]

Our adventure today: Holy Cross Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Berryville, VA.

They make the only fruitcake I will eat.

Also a very tasty creamed honey.

But no beer.

The mountains are the northern foothills of the Blue Ridge & the Shenandoah River is between us & those mountains

 

[MaxStout]

Should follow up with "Our subs crush Five Guys."

 

[govner1]

View attachment 824041


Should follow up with "Our subs crush Five Guys."

Too soon!

 

[MaxStout]

 

[grampamark]

My daughter sent me this while on her way to work this morning.

 

[BongoYodeler]

 

[day_trippr]

First time in this UnSummer of '23 I got the wee boat in the water - and on a spectacular day!
I guess the weather was saving up all its sun and heat for today...

Cheers!

 

[corkybstewart]

Our village planted a hedge of hazelnut and plum trees for the locals to pick. So we did. The small yellow ones will mostly get canned in eau du vie, the rest will be jam and pie filling

 

[corkybstewart]

A wheat field across the street from our house. The burning field had been harvested but still had straw on the ground. The wind shifted and the fire didn't spread much. Until a little tornado of embers appeared and set the adjacent field of ready to harvest wheat on fire.

 

[Rodent]

more apricot fun - this time it's adventures with the food dehydrator

initial load-in of a small test batch of pitted and halved fresh picked apricots. these are notoriously difficult to dehydrate with most 'RonCo' type passive dehydrators due to fruit thickness and moisture content. experiment was to see how my new commercial dehydrator would take on the job

here's an image taken at the 14-hour mark of 135F forced air. still a long ways to go to be storage ready. it took 20 hours of 135F forced air to get these to where they were ready to cool down and start storage conditioning. this secondary step is similar to resting a brisket in an Igloo cooler after it's been removed from a low-n-slow smoke. the dried fruit pieces are placed into an airtight container filled up to 2/3 full, and then shaken 3-4 times daily for a couple days to a full week depending. over that time the moisture content will even out across all of the pieces, but more important is that it also will show if the fruit is really dried enough. condensation inside the container indicates further drying time is required before storage is possible.

final result after two days of post-dehydration 'conditioning' for storage

while not the golden yellow-orange of store bought dried apricots, the oxidation browning was minimal and quite acceptable IMO. texture is a perfect soft leathery chew, and not tough like what I often see in bulk bins at the store. Flavor is outstanding - lots of bright, fresh, and sweet-tart apricot goodness that's far superior to what I am able to purchase regionally. best part - these aren't loaded with preservatives and sulfites necessary to entice the buying public into making a purchase.

once our orchard begins bearing fruit in 2-3 years, the cost for apricots will be eliminated. still, I got a 20# box of 1-1/2 grade apricots from the first day of harvest for $10 from a local fruit grower. hard to beat that 'picked earlier today' kind of freshness

 

[corkybstewart]

more apricot fun - this time it's adventures with the food dehydrator

initial load-in of a small test batch of pitted and halved fresh picked apricots. these are notoriously difficult to dehydrate with most 'RonCo' type passive dehydrators due to fruit thickness and moisture content. experiment was to see how my new commercial dehydrator would take on the job

View attachment 824126

here's an image taken at the 14-hour mark of 135F forced air. still a long ways to go to be storage ready. it took 20 hours of 135F forced air to get these to where they were ready to cool down and start storage conditioning. this secondary step is similar to resting a brisket in an Igloo cooler after it's been removed from a low-n-slow smoke. the dried fruit pieces are placed into an airtight container filled up to 2/3 full, and then shaken 3-4 times daily for a couple days to a full week depending. over that time the moisture content will even out across all of the pieces, but more important is that it also will show if the fruit is really dried enough. condensation inside the container indicates further drying time is required before storage is possible.

View attachment 824127

final result after two days of post-dehydration 'conditioning' for storage

View attachment 824125

while not the golden yellow-orange of store bought dried apricots, the oxidation browning was minimal and quite acceptable IMO. texture is a perfect soft leathery chew, and not tough like what I often see in bulk bins at the store. Flavor is outstanding - lots of bright, fresh, and sweet-tart apricot goodness that's far superior to what I am able to purchase regionally. best part - these aren't loaded with preservatives and sulfites necessary to entice the buying public into making a purchase.

once our orchard begins bearing fruit in 2-3 years, the cost for apricots will be eliminated. still, I got a 20# box of 1-1/2 grade apricots from the first day of harvest for $10 from a local fruit grower. hard to beat that 'picked earlier today' kind of freshness

Those look excellent. Apricots were my favorite fruit for decades, until I became allergic to peaches. I've almost talked myself into believing I'm not allergic to apricots. I'm not allergic to plums or cherries and I think they are more closely related to apricots. But I'm not sure I want to test my theory, the hospital is a solid 30 minutes away.

 

[Rodent]

when you're back in NAM, maybe it's a time to try out an Aprium (Apricot x Plum hybrid) a try and see if you get any symptoms

I had a first few small fruits on Cot-N-Candy this year, and it's definitely a keeper.

https://www.davewilson.com/nurseries/products/fruit-trees/aprium-interspecific/cot-n-candy/

 

[Sailingeric]

In 1998 my brother and I "dinned and dashed" from this table at Timberline Lodged. We did but want to but the waiter did not come back and the bartender did not want to take our money. It was maybe $10 for a couple pints. I was at Timberline yesterday and had to visit the sight of my crime.

 

[balrog]

I can see the new novel now.
The FBI ChatBot will be at your IP address shortly to have a brief word with you after posting.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

 

[balrog]

Nice @Hoppy2bmerry
For the second year in a row, my Cascade refuses to grow more than 10', used to be 30. I need some hop Viagra or something.
Now it's past the summer solstice and side arms and burs are showing

i blame the walnut trees.


I always blame the walnut trees.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Nice @Hoppy2bmerry
For the second year in a row, my Cascade refuses to grow more than 10', used to be 30. I need some hop Viagra or something.
Now it's past the summer solstice and side arms and burs are showing

i blame the walnut trees.


I always blame the walnut trees.

Well, my Fuggles and Willamette are not even 5 ft Mt Hood is about 14 feet, but no spurs yet. They were totally neglected for 3 years I didn’t feed them this year, but the Nor’easter that flooded the yard is pretty much a natural fertilization event. Hope we both do better next year.

 

[balrog]

 

[Rodent]

Hops growing here in Hop Mecca at the farm next to my fav fishing hole. for reference those tops are 20' to 25' up before they run out of climbing support

 

[corkybstewart]

I'll be eating a lot of plums and cherries next year.