It worked out that I didn't get grain Saturday morning since the other brewery had grain ready yesterday. Since Christmas is over the Steam Plant stacks are back to their blue and red lighting.
One of these mornings I need to take my Nikon with me to get some shots in downtown. There are a number of alleyways and streets that have a nifty look to them with no one around and the morning darkness.
I dropped the 5 empty barrels then loaded up the 4 full barrels to the trailer. It is a hell of a lot easier to work with the barrels when there is no snow or ice on the ground. The barrels get put outside still hot from the brewing and would melt straight through the snow and ice thereby locking them into a melted hole which is super hard to get the barrels out of.
I drove the 5 or 6 blocks to the other brewery where I had a single empty to drop and 2 full barrels to pickup. I loaded the pair into the bed of the truck so the 4 would lock down to the trailer better.
Sunday morning before dawn is even more quiet in the city than a weekday at the same time. It seems most people have this weird awe or enjoyment of being in bustling cities with masses of people everywhere but NOT me. I enjoy it when the cities are quiet, like during the covid hysteria. It makes my morning trips all the better when the city is so quiet.
Once home I parked the truck until I was ready to go empty the barrels. First I had to load all the barrels into the truck off of the trailer since I can't maneuver the trailer on all the ice on the driveway.
I let the birds out before I started to empty the grain and they all made a beeline for me in the pen. The toms came up to the piles still puffy and fluffy and mashed their heads into the piles pulling out big beak fulls.
The turkeys were all super happy since they are now too fat to fit through the pallets so since I had the gate open they were able to get inside. The chickens and ducks are all easily able to fit through the pallets.
The sheep and alpaca waited until I pulled the truck out of the pen before diving into the piles. I pulled the truck out of the pen and a couple of straggler turkeys had to be pushed into the pen before I closed the pallet gate.
We are in the rainy phase now which really sucks atop all the snow. The driveway is going through the thaw/freeze cycle every 24 hours which seems to be making the ice all that much thicker. I know it's a dream but it would be so nice to have a heated driveway but that is not very feasible with a gravel and dirt drive.
I have made my choice for paragliding school. The decision is made on a few very key points.
1 - Once the P2 certification is obtained they offer the rest of their courses for free and unlike most other schools nearer to me have powered paragliding, thermal & xc, and speedwing schools which I likely will do all of eventually.
2 - They offer their course in the shortest time frame of 5-10 days where others are closer to 2 weeks up to 2 months (weather dependent).
3 - They have a "bring a friend" discount which I am trying to get two of my friends to come with
4 - The school is well versed in mountain, cross country, and ridge flying all of which I want to do
5 - No covid policies like the closest school to me
I sent off the email to start the process of getting scheduled. They start classes again in March so I hope to be able to get in earlier.
I have a bunch of paragliding educational videos and a couple books downloaded now so I can learn as much as possible before ever going to the school. I have flown power kites before and understand the functioning and have some hours solo in a Cessna 150 which will all be quite helpful in this process.
Today the boys go to school in a little bit, it looks like it might actually be sunny, I have to schedule a new dentist as my back molar is fire to the touch and I need to get the long and painful process of fixing my mouth started, wash my clothes, do Spanish and coding lessons, and I need to get pepper and tomato seeds ready start in the tent in the basement. I will also be waiting impatiently for a response to my email.
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