Keith, nice out, but its not yet 8:00 a.m.
05/15/2010, Boulder Canyon Place

This is my fresh roasted espresso coffee beans. I moved the roaster outside so the smoke wouldn't permeate the house - I like to take the beans up pretty well into second crack. This picture also shows the ways I take it. Lately I've been using the Capresso to grind the beans into its cone as if it were about to make a pot of drip coffee, but instead of putting the water into the coffee maker and letting it brew from there, I boil it myself and then pour that into the filter (silver one, not the gold - silver lets in more of the essence). I saw this method at my new favorite coffee joint in NYC. Sadly, the capresso just can't make hot enough water and it therefore fails to extract properly. A lot of the good stuff in coffee only comes out at near boiling temperature. I think I can say that I make pretty decent cup o coffee. Today's roast will take a few days to gas completely, then its ready to go in the grinder hopper. I've got enough in there already to take me until then. It's time for Jake's walk.

Comments [0]

Keith, getting late in the Spring for Tucson, hot is setting in during the day
05/14/2010, Boulder Canyon

I've been reading the sailblogs and a lot of people are out there cruising. Me, I'm watching this dwarf grapefruit grow big and strong. It has numerous baby fruit that are starting their long path to ripe. It's hard for them to ripen in the summer because the fruits sometimes burst from the heat and rapid growth. Anyway, I've been busy at work and getting the Family Law class through the semester. Final exam was yesterday. Heading out soon to work out before work. It's a funny kind of life these days, but I like it.

Comments [0]

05/02/2010

The wedding is at the end of May. We're honeymooning in Africa, but not until later. Not long after the wedding, we're going on a cruise line cruse with my parents. Should be fun. Then the next big adventure begins.

Comments [0]

05/01/2010, Boulder Canyon driveway

This was supposed to be a picture of Jake but his head was sideways and I couldn't get it to rotate.

Comments [1]

We're enjoying the last cool days of the season
05/01/2010, Tucson

It is Saturday, May 1, 2010. A great day out, easy and pleasing light, nice shadow, crisp and cool this morning. This is a special time of year, just before it starts getting hot. This is sailing season in Arizona, such as it is, and a great time to head down to San Carlos and cruise for several days or a week or more... it you have a boat, which I do not. Remember that project, Sailing Arizona. I wouldn't mind revisiting that. I want one. Been checking out the sites. But its not responsible at this point... unless I find something just right. The thing is, having one's own small cruising sailboat makes cruising in different places much more possible. But I think instead I am limited to renting and chartering for a while... unless.. no.

Comments [0]

Spring in Tucson
04/05/2010, Kitchen, Boulder Canyon

I went to a Farmers Market a week or two ago and bought some canned beets and pickles. They were really good, but kind of expensive. So I got it in my head this past weekend to make pickles myself. I went to several stores looking for the ingredients and supplies and in the end it probably would have been cheaper to just buy them already made, but now I have 8 jars of home made spicy gardenia mix in the fridge. The spice comes, in part, from a habanero pepper cut into two and put at the bottom of each jar. There's also a few cloves of garlic in each one, some red pepper flakes, mustard seed, dill seed, dried minced onion, and a mixture of cider vinegar, white vinegar, sugar in the raw, and salt that I boiled and poured in the jars as the brine. I'll test them in a week or two and see how they're coming along.

Things are going pretty well with Jake and I. He's outside licking his paws and enjoying the cool pleasant morning, which is one of his favorite things to do. I'm inside having coffee that I roasted myself and ground and press-pot brewed earlier this morning.

Believe it or not, its been almost two years since I departed for the sailing trip. This time two years ago I was closing up the law practice and longing every day for the month of April to pass quickly so I could be gone. Now I'm longing for April to pass so it will be May, the month of my wedding to Sarah.

This is the perfect time of year to be in Tucson. It's warm outside, but not hot, cool in the mornings and evenings, but not cold. The flowers are in bloom and you wouldn't know its a desert for 6 months of the year.

Comments [1]

Spring in the Desert
04/05/2010, Kitchen, Boulder Canyon

.

Comments [0]

Keith, early, early spring
03/02/2010, Backyard of Boulder Canyon

Thank you for those who sent such kind and thoughtful condolences after Anne's loss. Sarah and I took her ashes up to her favorite hiking hill this past weekend, the same place we were engaged, and sprinkled them around a large saguaro growing at the top of the hill. Good 'ole Jake came along and made it up and down the hill without much trouble. He's done fine without Anne. I think he enjoys the extra attention. He doesn't seem to realize he is an old dog. I have been taking him with me most everywhere so he doesn't have to be alone.

You know, I was pretty sure when I closed my law practice and went sailing that I was done with the law, done with Tucson, done with everything I had build internally and externally. Turns out it wasn't the end after all. Rather, it was the end of the beginning.

Since I've been back I've done some of my best law work, I've settled dozens of other people's cases, I've taught law better then ever before, and I've found a human to share my life with. Giving up the good to go for the great has played out a whole lot differently than I ever imagined, but in a good way.

Comments [2]

Keith
02/02/2010, The house at boulder canyon place

I'm so sad to report that Anne has been put to eternal rest. She developed an enlarged heart in the last 6 months and eventually the medication was not enough to control the disease. In the last few days it became hard for her make it from the truck to the wash without stopping a few times to rest. Her breathing was getting more and more labored. I had to put her down to prevent her from suffering. I am so sad that my dear Anne is gone. The house is empty without her presence. I've still got Jake and he is resting comfortably on the couch, largely oblivious for now. I miss her so much. She was such a sweet and loving animal. I went through the blog and looked at the pictures of her. So alive and happy and full of life. That's the way I want to remember her. If there is a doggie heaven... Now its just Jake and I, like before Anne arrived into our lives. I'll try and keep him with me as much as possible so he doesn't have to be alone too much.

I hope this entry finds all you blog groupies well. There's a new adventure starting this summer. Its called marriage. Perhaps more of that later. For now, my thoughts are with my precious Anne. I miss her and her loss brings me to tears. But she lived a great life, a life of adventure and companionship and love for nearly everyone she met. What a sweet and wonderful dog.

Comments [7]

Keith, Fall, nice.
11/13/2009, Kitchen at Boulder Canyon in Tucson

Considering I haven't blogged since early June and it is approaching six months since my last entry, it would seem that not much has happened. Maybe my dear blog-groupies have gone on to other pursuits, and rightfully so. But a lot has happened in my little world. I got engaged, started litigating again, and I'm in the process of trying to reserve a Morgan 41 Out-Island for a week out of La Paz. A few other things are happening too. I'll try and put some pictures or something up. In the meantime, this is all what came with this new computer.

Comments [4]