“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” – G. K. Chesterton
Friday, December 29, 2006
Final Post of the Year
I’m sure glad that Lynne posts to her blog almost every day so people can stay up-to-date on what is going on with us. The downside is that I don’t feel as compelled to write. But, before 2006 leaves us behind, here is one more post for the year.
It has been a year of upheaval and change for us. Late in 2005, I learned I would be losing my job at Agilent Technologies in Colorado. At least we advance notice and time to prepare. The plan of record was to sell the house in Fort Collins and move to the cabin where we can live very frugally. I’d do some consulting and work from there—we even put in a satellite Internet connection. We planned to build a garage, extend the cabin and settle in there for several years.
Then came an offer to join a small, privately-owned company in New Jersey as their Marketing Director. We jumped on it. Within a few months we had bought a home in New Jersey, moved the entire household including 7 dogs and 3 cats, and put our house up for sale in Colorado.
It was a good move. We enjoy New Jersey a lot. We are closer to Lynne’s mom. We have a great house in a great location. My job is fun and challenging.
But, we’ve faced some problems too. Most notable is the loss of 2 dogs within the past couple of months. And, Bart is declining, too and we’ll probably lose him within a few weeks. Losing 3 of 7 dogs in a matter of months has been very difficult for us. On top of that, our house in Fort Collins has not sold. We are making two house payments each month—one out of the severance I got from Agilent which will continue to get us by for a while. But, the stress would be a lot less if we could just get that behind us.
The weather in New Jersey has been warm and dry this fall and winter—not what we expected. And, it has been wet and snowy in Colorado—not what we expected. Lynne insists that her presence influences the weather.
We are hopeful for a good 2007. We certainly wish all of our friends and the readers of this blog the very best.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 12/29/2006 at 08:11 AM
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Monday, November 27, 2006
Wiki Site Created for You Cheesemakers
For those of you who follow this site and participate in the discussion forums because of your interest in home cheesemaking, I’m experimenting with a new on-line service—a Cheesmaking Wiki site. A Wiki site is a “community” website that any member of the community can contribute to. Every member has the ability to create new articles as well as edit existing articles, including those written by someone else! Sounds like anarchy, I know, but these sites are very common ways of getting the collective knowledge and experiences of a community collected in one place.
If you are a member of this site, you are a member of the Cheese Wiki community.
Check it out at: www.rickandlynne.com/rick/go/wiki
Posted under: Cheesemaking • by Rick on 11/27/2006 at 07:09 AM
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Monday, November 13, 2006
Back to Cheese Making
We are nicely settled into our new home in New Jersey. I finally unpacked my cheesemaking supplies. And, it is Autumn with Winter around the corner—the time of year that I usually make cheese. So, this weekend I started a Camembert. It is one of Lynne’s favorites. You can see the recipe and follow its journey in the discussion forum.
I’ll be doing a stirred-curd Cheddar next weekend and perhaps a Caraway Swiss after that! It will be good eating around here starting in about 2 months.
Posted under: Cheesemaking • by Rick on 11/13/2006 at 04:49 PM
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Sunday, October 22, 2006
Millenia is Gone
Today we put Millenia to sleep. She was almost 7 years old. She had wobblers disease and had been on prednisone for a year. But, she got around great. However, starting a few days ago she began to fail. She become weak, could not get around well, stopped eating and drinking, and was incontinent. We took her to the vet today and blood tests and X-rays pointed to a very high probability of a tumor on her spleen, causing bleeding into her abdomen. She could not have lived more than a few hours without surgery. And, the probability of a successful surgery was low due to her overall health, being on the pred for so long, and high likelihood that even if the tumor was successfully removed, she would not live more than a few months.
Click here to see Millenia as we remember her.
Posted under: Dog Stuff • by Rick on 10/22/2006 at 12:51 PM
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Monday, September 25, 2006
Fingernails
You are going to think this is weird, but one of the many advantages of living in New Jersey over Colorado is that I have much stronger fingernails. I don’t know why, but they grow thicker and stronger so I don’t break them as easily. I’m sure this is an even bigger deal to women, but I used to have such wimpy nails they would bend and break easily, often tearing a cuticle and causing pain. Now, they grow like talons and I have to get out the scissors to trim them.
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 09/25/2006 at 07:58 PM
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