Dyderich's Castle

A good day at crown

Tue, 27 May 2008 14:55:49 GMT

I had simply the best time ever at a crown tourney Sunday. I fought in the 1st tourney for Tessa, now queen Tessa. I wanted to be apart of setting things to right in the Midrealm, but was wrestling with conflicting morals. My lovely wife, odettedamboise, came up with the idea that I fight for Tessa since my whole purpose was to put her back on the throne. Odette called her and talked consort to consort and she said she would be honored. It was great to present myself to the regents and have the herald announce who I fought for. I got a round of applause form the crowd. As luck would have it, I drew Lutr in the 1st round. I didn't want to "throw" the fight so I solved the problem by fighting dagger and buckler. Before the fight began Lutr lowered his weapon and came over to thank me for fighting for his lady. We had a big manly fighter hug and the bought began. I lost of course. :) I would have a hard time beating Lutr with my primary style. Tessa stopped me and gave me a hug as well after the fight.

The second tourney was the most relaxed I've ever felt in a crown. I have been to like 5-6 practices in the past 7.5 months (note: the babies are 7.5 months old)and I am close to 100lbs overweight(yuck). I fought only because my lady wanted me too. I did my very best in every fight and gave it my all every time. I won two in the winner bracket before being knock to the losers by none other than Ullr. Now if you are going to lose to someone in a tournament, isn't it better to lose to the guy who wins the whole thing? My fight with Ullr was fun. It lasted a while until he legged me. Now I didn't know until this time that I had lost a piece of padding in my right leg. The piece that I kneel on when I go down. I had a rivet digging into my knee. It was painful but I figured I won't be down here long. I was wrong. Ullr likes to snipe people on their knees. I'm one heck of a turtle on my knees. As this dragged on the pain was getting worse. I had to end it one way or another. I charged on my knees and chased him around the list field. I think I recall yelling "come back here, I'll bite your knee caps off" or I just thought it I can't remember clearly. At which point he face thrusted me and ended the fight. My next fight was with Rutger and hard fought but I came up short.

It was an emotional day on many levels. Lutr and Tessa are back on the dragon throne. I receive praise for my fighting and courtesy from many people I hold in high regard. To top it off my Knight, Sir Crispin, was helping the list and was able to watch all my fights. A good day all around.

This could only happen to me

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:52:20 GMT

I know I just posted but sometimes something so strange happens that it deserves it's own posting.

Yesterday, we were out and about and stopped at Penzey's Spices. As I was getting out of the van my cheek came close enough to the door frame for a static charge to leap from the door frame to my cheek. This by itself would have been bad enough but it decided to continue through my cheek, arc to my filling, and travel down into the root of my tooth. Needless to say it hurt.....a lot.

life/baby update

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 03:46:55 GMT

Haven't posted in a while. As you can imagine the babies are keeping us busy. Everytime someone asks if they are letting us get any sleep I want to punch them.(It stopped being funny after the first dozen or so times) Instead I ask them what is this sleep thing they speak of? I think I got almost 5 straight hours last night. That is the longest stretch I can remember having since they both got home.

The babies are both doing fine. We have some reflux issues with Hector. Poor little guy. :(

At their 8 week check up Hector was up to 9 lbs + and Mairead was 10 lbs+

That is about it. odettedamboise goes back to work next week and Hunter goes back to school. It will just be me and the twins for the first time during the day after working the night shift. I foresee many a day when I will just say "tag your it" and head off to bed as she walks through the door.

X-mas tourney adventure

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:17:22 GMT

I set my goals low for Saturday. This was our first event with the babies. So my primary goal was just to get to the event. I finished the medieval cradle for the babies at 8pm the night before. Because of that the normal spread of food was non-existent. Actually the only food we brought was Hunter's snack bag and food for the babies. We left 1 1/2 hours later than planned and had to make a 45 min stop for feeding changing etc...... We didn't arrive on site till noon. The tourney had just started and I wasn't even going to try and rush into armor. I got all the stuff in and eventually got in armor. Did some pick-ups and mainly showed off the babies. We had lots of ladies getting their baby fix. They hardly got put down all day. We hung around for court then packed up and headed out. Going home was a little rough. I had only gotten 4 maybe five hours of sleep and that had a break in the middle of it for feeding Hector. We stopped and had dinner. I drank multiple cups of coffee with dinner so I was wired for sound when we left. Just short of Columbus, IN I heard/felt something strange. I pulled over to discover that we had a flat on the trailer. We haven't had this trailer very long and the tires were like new, so I didn't have a spare. As it turned out, the spare from the van fit the trailer. How lucky is that? Problem was my lug wrench didn't fit. After trying to call a tow truck unsuccessfully, Odette suggested that I call the State Police and see if they could help. As it turns out the officer they sent carries around a 4-way wrench for just such an emergency. He was very polite and helpful and we didn't have to pay for someone to bring us a lug wrench. My tax dollars at work benefited me for a change. This delayed the trip back by 1 - 1.5 hours. By the time we dropped off Becca, our Hunter wrangler, and got home it was 2am. I could barely keep my eyes open. It was a long day, but over all a good one.

The babies and the cradle were both a big hit.

Dyderich's Deep Fried Turkey

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:09:39 GMT

We started deep frying our turkey's years ago. odettedamboise likes this method not only does it make a great tasting turkey in less than an hour, but frees up her oven for all her other dishes. Yesterday, I think I mastered the art. I have never had a bad one but I have had some that turned out better than others. This one was the best. I will now pass on my secrets.

write down how much your turkey weights before you throw the packaging out.
Remove extra pieces-parts from inside turkey, rinse and pat dry your turkey.
Cut off the wings above the drumlette
(the rest of the wing will just burn. Use it to make turkey stock for gravy)

The brine:

In a large stock pot mix:
1 gal apple cider
1 lb salt (non-iodized)
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp whole peppercorns

Bring to a boil, stir to ensure salt is dissolve, then simmer for 10 min

Put 5lbs of ice into your brining vessel of choice (Stainless steel or food grade plastic. NOT aluminum)

Pour the brine over the ice to cool

Put turkey in brine and add extra water and ice if needed to cover turkey. There should always be at least some ice floating in your brine.

Brine for 24 hrs adding ice as needed.

When ready to cook. Remove from brine and rinse turkey well. Pat dry.

Follow the directions that came with your turkey fryer to cook your bird.

OR

This is what I do:

Find your oil level by putting the turkey (on the cooking hook) in the empty cooking pot and adding water until it is just covered (this doubles as your post brine rinse). Remove turkey then note the water level. After you pour out the water and dry the pot, add oil to the same level as the water was.

heat oil to 350 deg. slowly lower the turkey into the oil. It can be done alone, but is much safer with second person and 6' pole. Just put the hook that came with your kit over the pole in the middle. That way both people can stand safely back while the oil spits and spatters.

Cook for 3.5 min per pound. The temp will drop at first because of the cool turkey. Turn up the gas until you see the temp start to rise again. Then lower back to your starting setting. The goal is to keep the temp between 325 and 350. You might have to turn the gas up and down multiple times during cooking process. As the turkey gets closer to the end you will have to keep turning the gas down.

TURN OFF the flame before removal of the turkey!

Repeat the lowering process but in reverse. You want to let the turkey hang a few inches off the oil while it drains for a few minutes. Turkey will look very dark due to the sugar in the cider.

The turkey and cooking hook are REALLY HOT at this point. To take the turkey in the house I use a large clean stock pot. (I was helping a friend once and we dropped one trying to put it on a platter) After the turkey has cooled for about 15 minutes you can remove the hook and put the turkey on a cutting board or platter. You will get some juices run out so use a cutting board with a moat. Let the turkey rest in the open air for a total of 30 min.

Carve and enjoy. If everything went right your turkey will be super juicy, tender, and delicious.

For the Knitters among us: wool underwear

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:52:35 GMT

Check out the fetish section.
http://wolltraum.de/

News article:

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157149528077?packedargs=aid%3D1157149528077%26suffix%3DArticleController

Beowulf: the review

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:05:04 GMT

I got to see the new Beowulf movie last Friday. Not only did I get to see it for free because we did a demo of viking fighting before the start of the film, but I got free popcorn and drinks. Yea!

Beowulf in IMAX 3D is pretty damn good. They took some artistic license with the story but they really didn't over do it. It was really scary how you could tell that Grendal was played by Crispin Glover by his mannerisms. You were almost sympathetic towards Grendal. Don't get me wrong, he was evil as can be, but he was very child like. I was happy to see Grendal killed by having his arm ripped off and the arm hung above the door. There are certain parts of the Beowulf saga that I feel just must be present or it's complete crap. Most of the armor looked appropriate. Over all I think they did a pretty good job, lots of action, some funny bits, and they stayed close enough to the original story that it didn't piss me off. I recommend seeing it.

side note: for those of you old enough to remember it, the actor who played Will Scarlett in the 80's Robin of Sherwood series is the actor who plays Beowulf.

.....and he stumbles out of the gate.

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 13:50:25 GMT

Monday started early this week. The twins decided to tag team being awake and fussy. Not exactly sure what their issues were last night but no sooner would one get put to sleep the other would awaken. Then this morning my lovely wife woke me up at 7:24 and asked if I got Hunter on the bus. His bus comes by at 7:15 so I missed it by a mile. I had to drive him to school and then rush home to get the trash out before I missed it.

To top everything I woke up with the cold from hell this morning.

It's going to be a great day.

Beowulf premiere demo

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 00:15:47 GMT

It seems that Beowulf is going to open in Indy at the IMAX theater. The barony got contacted to do some sort of demo the night of the pre-screening. We get to see the movie afterward. Downside of course is that I have to wear early period stuff, but it should be fun. I'll let everyone know how good/bad it was afterwards. It is looking like from the trailers that I need to approach this with the same mindset as 300. It does look to be a great action film although I don't think it is going to stay true to the Beowulf saga, but when does Hollywood ever?

Here comes the sun

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:59:12 GMT

You are The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Life update

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 11:41:43 GMT

I feel we have adjusted well to having the twins in the house and are settling into a routine. The routine will have to be adjusted in a few days when I go back to work. Right now we tag team Hector and Mairead. Two of them two of us, it works well. We are actually getting a reasonable amount of sleep. Not eight hours mind you, but the twins sleep 3-3.5 hours at a shot, so a couple of long naps adds up. I am more used to this kind of thing then odettedamboise, so it effects me less. Come Wednesday evening I'm going back to work, so she will be on her own until I get home in the morning. It will be a big adjustment. The really big adjustment will be when she goes back to work. I will have the twins and Hunter to myself all day. Hunter will be gone 7 hours of that (thank the gods for all day kindergarten). Odette is taking the full 12 weeks of leave so that day is a little way off.

Right now I'm taking the opportunity to try and get our house organized. As most SCA people we have a lot of stuff. This is not helped by the in-laws bringing us knick-knack crap. So more stuff to find places for when I don't have enough places for the stuff I have. To make it worse it is seasonal stuff.

My coffee cup has ran dry and the dishes are calling out to be done. No rest for the weary.

twinsleeping

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:48:12 GMT

twinsleeping
Originally uploaded by dyderich

Awwwwww......Aren't they cute?

This photo was taken at 2:30am. They weren't as cute at 2am when they first woke up.

twins

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:23:26 GMT

twins
Originally uploaded by dyderich

Here is the latest. Aren't they cute.

Everyones home.....Finally!

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:20:52 GMT

You haven't heard from me or odettedamboise because on Friday as we were preparing to leave the hospital the babies got their final eval before release. Hector our little 3lbs peanut was fine. Mairead on the other hand had a low temp. They tried to get her back up to 98.6 with various methods but nothing worked and they had to put her back into the warming bed. They also readmitted her to the NICU. What I thought would just be a day or two of observation turned into almost a week of tubes, tests, and antibiotics just to be safe. They stopped short of the spinal tap. What she was experiencing on top of the temp control was a tendency to stop breathing. Now these two things are normal premie stuff, but they have to eliminate all other possibilities. So today we finally got the word that we could take her home. It has been a rough week and I'm not even going to go into what it was like with the in-laws here. :)

We are looking forward to some quality time with just our little family.

Babie pix

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:18:02 GMT

Here you go. The much requested baby pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91553891@N00/sets/72157602526677009/

Homecoming

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:53:27 GMT

Thank you all for your congratulations and well wishes!

The doctor told us today that everyone gets to go home tomorrow. YEA!!!!!

Again I left the camera at the hospital so no pictures until we get home tomorrow and settled.

Everyone is doing well. The twins are eating well and mommy is exhausted but in good spirits. She is looking forward to some much deserved pampering.

good/bad day

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:33:55 GMT

Yesterday was going well until the late afternoon. Odette had to be rolled back into the operating room to take care of some bleeding between her stitches. She was never in very serious danger, but twice under the knife in less than 24hrs is hard on a person. This caused me to stay later at the hospital then I had intended while she recovered. Hunter was getting really tired and so was dad. We didn't leave until 11pm. Hunter of course passed out and I had all I could do to keep my eyes open. Got home around 11:45pm, put boy to bed, took care of the dogs, and finally crashed at midnight.

The good news: The babies are both out of the NICU. They are down the hall in the regular nursery. We got to hold and feed both of them yesterday.

BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:05:42 GMT

Greetings to all our friends,

I don't want to steal Odette's thunder. She did do all the work after all, but tonight we delivered into the world two healthy babies, a boy and a girl. Mom and kinder are both doing fantastic. Neither baby is on oxygen even though they were born 4 weeks early.

I will leave it to Odette to post all the stats in a day or two.

Monday, Monday

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 12:54:10 GMT

A new week begins. My to do list is very long today. I won't bother posting it. Partly because it's mundane stuff and partly because if I wrote everything down, I'd be depressed about what I didn't get done. Better to post later what I did get done. :)

Post ren fair post

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 17:08:54 GMT

Well another Fisher renfair has passed. The heat was the only really bad thing. It was bad enough for us and we were all in period fabrics that breathed. The other renfair workers were in three layers of poly-cotton. YUCK!!! They had multiple people go down from heat injuries. The SCA group is used to hydrating for the conditions and we were having a hard time. The fighting was well received as usual. Lots of pictures taken with the fighters. I was informed I had a cheering section. Unfortunately, since they either didn't hear or didn't remember my name they were chanting, "go gay guy!". When asked why, they said it was because of the big flower I wore on my head. The "flower" was my crest and mantle. It didn't bother me but in the future I need to remember that most cool period things are lost on the average Hoosier that just wants to see you fight. Becca, our 13yr old Hunter wrangler, has begun to covet my period war hammer. She seems to be completely hooked on the SCA and happily works for garb. Odette made her a dress and I made her a pair of shoes. I hope she continues to travel with us, because once the twins get here it would me almost impossible for the whole family to go to events without her. An exhausting, yet fun weekend. Oh and the barony got a very large check for our troubles.

Getting ready for the Ren Fair

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:26:48 GMT

It is that time of year once again. I have mixed feelings about doing the Fishers Ren Fair. It is always a pain in the ass. Right up until the point that the fair begins and then it becomes a lot of fun. The crowds are really receptive and they really enjoy our medieval A&S on top of the fighting. Best compliment I ever got was, "We just watched the jousting and that crap was fake. You guys are the real thing".

I guess what makes this ren fair different is that:

1. it is a fund raiser for a non-profit group

2. because of a living history museum in the same area they felt the need to have an actual historical component to the fair.

So they hired the SCA to be living history. I know shocking but there you go. I have to load up the first load of stuff and go up this afternoon to set up. Let the "fun" begin.

Muppet test

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:17:27 GMT

You are like Bunsen

Dr Frankenstein looks like a poodle next to Bunsen. Lock up your daughters and hide the gas mains. People getting this result love to experiment and play around with nature and people who get close often end up getting burnt!
Which sorry excuse of a Muppet are you?

Soldier returns home safe and sound

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:23:51 GMT

I received a very good phone call yesterday. My old army buddy, Eric, had arrived save and sound back on American soil after a year in Iraq. He was down at Camp Atterbury, just south of Indy and was heading home on a 4 day pass. He has to report back Sunday night and then he is being held over for till Thursday before he ships out to sergeant school (what is funny is that he has been one for years and they are only now sending him because they can't promote him to Staff Sergeant until he goes). So I am going down to pick him up on Monday and we are going to do some catching up. That usually involves good cigars and good scotch. :)

having the "knack"

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:15:57 GMT

One of my true skills is the ability to fix almost anything around the house or to steal a line from Dilbert, I have "the knack". I am loath to call a service repair person when I can fix it myself. Certain things that require special training and equipment I do leave to the pros, like the nice guy that came out and serviced my house AC unit. Otherwise, I love the challenge of fixing it myself.

Last night it came to our attention that we were only receiving signal on one line going into our dish receiver/DVR. This is very troublesome because we often have shows that record at the same time. After spending 30 min on the phone with a tech who was obviously reading off a trouble shooting chart and didn't really know what they were doing, I scheduled a service tech to come out. They couldn't be here till Thursday. Bummer.........and oh it is a $75 service fee.

Today I decided to do some troubleshooting of my own. Starting with switching the cables on the back of the DVR to see if the problem was internal. It wasn't. Fearing it might be the multiplexer on the dish I decided to start swapping cables at the other end to test this theory. When I started doing this, by shear luck I grabbed the problem cable first. When I undid the connector there was an arc. Now I'm not an expert but in all the years I've connected and disconnected coaxial cables I've never seen one arc. This cable, unlike the others, ran under the bush beneath the dish not along the wall. I pulled out the cable and what do I find, but a section that some varmint had almost chewed through. A trip to my collection of misc cables that I keep "just in case", a few turns of a wrench, and everything is fixed. I canceled the service call and just saved myself $75.

Now that I'm done tooting my own horn, I need to go do dishes. :)

Life moves forward

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 17:05:43 GMT

Ribs are healing nicely. Still don't know if I will be marshaling or fighting at coronation.

I started working out again yesterday. Push-ups and Pull-ups were fine but my ribs wanted nothing to do with the ab workout. Did what I could and skipped the rest.

I'm going over the list of stuff I need to do in my head. I need to find some paperwork for odettedamboise, mow the grass before Hunter gets home, finish modifying my breastplate, and figure out what I need to get done for the upcoming renfaire demo.

Time to get started.