The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey April 19, 2026

19 April 2026

Coffee Changes For the last several years, I've been brewing my home-roasted coffee in a Behmor Brazen - it is a neat brewer with a bunch of settings that make it come pretty close to emulating a good hand pour-over. It'll put a few ounces over the ground beans in the basket, then wait for a programmed amount of time for the grind to bloom. Once done, it releases 4 oz. at a time of hot water over the grind until the water's gone. It's worked fine for me over the years, although I'm on the second Brazen, as after…

Brian Bilbrey April 13, 2026

13 April 2026

Friday the Thirteenth The thirteenth falls on a Monday this month, so ... meh? On the other hand, more flowers: The first daffodils of the year (in my yard) bloomed on Sunday morning, along the south side of the house. More are going to pop up all around the property over the next week or so, since we're expecting lows in the 50's and highs in the high 60's and low 70's for the next several days... along with nearly daily rain, and breezy/gusty winds. Spring cleaning continues, and is likely to extend through Summer and into Fall, since there's…

Brian Bilbrey April 10, 2026

10 April 2026

Springing Back in late March, the first blooms started showing up in the yard. Galanthus nivalis, commonly known as snowdrops, made their appearance in the bed on the south side of the house, where I expect to find the most warmth, and thus the earliest bloomers: Then a few days later, the first Crocus vernus showed up in a front yard sunny bed. Of course, that progress was offset by snow a couple of days ago, about a half an inch on Tuesday afternoon, and another inch overnight to decorate the Wednesday morning landscape: Good news - that didn't even…

Brian Bilbrey April 6, 2026

6 April 2026

Snow Day Not today, but tomorrow, we are expecting an inch or two of snowfall. I don't expect it to stick around, as it's been reasonably warm (low 40's F) for a few days. But still. Snow. Today's 2.5 mile walk with the dog looked promising, earlier in the morning it was partly cloudy and the temps were headed north of 40°... but by the time I broke away from the keyboard, it was cloudy, the wind had picked up, and while the temp was 42°, the windchill had it down in the mid-20's. Sigh. We did the walk and…

Brian Bilbrey March 26, 2026

26 March 2026

Hard Weeks Over the past few weeks, I've been slowly packing up the bulk of Marcia's remaining clothing, fabric and crafting supplies - I've given away as much as I could to friends and family. The clothing went to Good Will. Marcia's friend Brenda tracked down info for me on the local Salvation Army for their annual fabric/sewing/crafting auction - I donated the balance of the fabric and crafting stuff to them. This work has been ... painful. But I've no need to keep all this stuff, and it'll go to people who can use it, so that's good. There's…