Happy Birthday To Me

Last week I posted a really long one, so I’m going to take it easy on you this week. Before you start thinking that I’m being nice or something weird like that, the real reason is that I turn 55 today. I had originally planned to write this ahead of time and just schedule it to be posted on Wednesday (I think I can do that here). Unfortunately, life kind of got in the way and I never quite got around to it. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure I cram some weirdness into this, no matter what the length.

There hasn't been a whole hell of a lot going on around the homestead this week. I’ve been working on a lot of little projects, the kind of things that probably should have been done already since we’ve been in the new house for a year, but which still keep popping up.

Side note: how long is too long when one is referring to their “new house”? On one hand, we have been here for a year now. On the other hand, while it still feels like home, it still feels new. On the gripping hand, we were in our last house for a quarter of a century so it may be quite a while before this stops feeling like the new place.

The big project has been the basement. Unlike our old house (ha!), this one does not have a finished basement. (Side note: the basement in our previous house was our “media room.” One of my standard jokes is that the reason we moved to someplace with everything on one level is that I’m too overweight and my knees are too old for there to be two flights of stairs between the TV and the bathroom.) One portion of the basement has the furnace, water heater, and water treatment plant (we are on well water). The other has become the warehouse for Dragon’s Roost Press. It holds all of the paperbacks as well as all of the con gear. It is great to not have to run to a storage unit the day before a con to pick everything up. In fact, I can load the car and leave it locked in the garage and just zoom out to go set up.

The problem with this is that some little critters — specifically chipmunks — had been using a portion of the basement as winter storage. The area just above the drop ceiling was filled with walnuts. We pulled out all of the tiles and cleaned the area out and patched up what we thought were the entrance points. I’ve sprayed the whole area with peppermint spray, added rodent repellent satchels, and sprinkled fox urine pellets around the gardens outside the house. Still, every once in a while I hear them scratching around or scrambling away overhead when I go downstairs. I really don’t want to use more lethal means, but I also really don’t feel like sharing.

Anyone have any ideas?

Listening To: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. This is a creepy one. I recently read the scene where the POV character is setting up at his first horror convention and Tremblay absolutely nailed it. I wonder if I am the only person who uses a floating bluetooth speaker to listen to horror audiobooks while getting exercise in the pool.

Currently Reading: The Compleat Meadmaker by Ken Schramm

Current Obsession: Looking up mead recipes online (see below).

We’re still making our way through the reserve list of submissions. We had a couple dozen that we really liked, but which for one reason or another, might not be a fit for the current anthology. There are five left that we love and we need to cut it down to two more at the most and it is really, really hard.

So if you are still waiting to hear from us, know that we absolutely loved your piece.

While not technically DRP news, if you follow our socials you know that Splatter Theatre Press recently released King's Succession: The Stephen King Sequel Films. This volume, edited by DRP alumni Ron Ford and David C. Hayes, features examination of all of the sequels to Stephen King properties, including one by yours truly.

There is a long standing trope of the writer who imbibes. While this is in no way a universal truth, I personally have been known to imbibe on occasion. My drink of choice has been bourbon for quite a while, but I’ve been attending Renaissance Festivals for long enough that I am well versed in that honey based delicacy that is mead. One of the things I miss about living in Ferndale was the short distance between our house and B. Nektar Meadery (if you can pick some up, I highly recommend it. My favorites include their Zombies Take Manhattan and Cherry Chipotle as well as the Zombie Killer cider.).

When we started opening the cupboards and exploring the storage areas after purchasing the new house (there I go again), we found a lot of wine bottles. Not a pile of empties in the garage, mind you, but boxes of new wine bottles (over 120) packed neatly in various areas. In the basement I found this weird red thing with bottle sized protrusions that I eventually determined was a bottle drying rack. There was also a heavy contraption with a pull handle which I recognized as a corking machine (The Mrs and I had made wine before on a date). It turns out that one of the previous owners had bottled their own wine. While that may be The Mrs’ drink of choice, it is not one of my preferences. Still, one would assume that the same equipment could be used to make mead, should one be so inclined.

And I am.

I started with a little light research (read: multiple internet deep dives). Eventually I did what I always do: bought a bunch of books on the subject. Earlier this year I purchased some locally sourced honey from Jen Haeger who is not only an author but a master beekeeper.

I know the coolest people.

I am currently in the process of familiarizing myself with, well, the processes involved. I’m also picking up quite a bit of absolutely fascinating history on mead making. In addition to the title mentioned above, I also have a collection of recipes. I’ll need to expand my knowledge base a bit before these completely make sense. With a nod to my Scandinavian ancestry, I also grabbed a book on making mead “the Viking way.” I’ve since learned that mead was the favored drink of some of my grandparents and great-grandparents on the Polish side.

I’ll keep you updated on how things go. With any luck I’ll be ready to try my hand at my first batch before the end of the month.