The pond is not now crystal clear—but it’s doing pretty well. It was gruesomely hot, about 94, down to 90 at 7pm. Rain is supposed to sock in for the next number of days, and moderate the temperature a bit.
Shu has stopped spitting at Sei. The vet-smell seems to be going away.
I’m trying to concentrate. When the weather gets hot, my brain goes away. But I’m making progress of an outlining sort.
Not too much news, except the coffee pot seems to be giving up the ghost. I priced out the Keurig system, but the k-cups are pricey and environmentally not-so-good, and the fill-your-own k-cups are being redesigned because of problems, and cost 11 dollars a shot. Now, this would be one thing if it made a whole pot of coffee, but I drink over 10 cups a day. The kind of coffee I favor (Starbuck’s House Blend) is 22.00 for a box of 24. That’s 24 cups of coffee for 22.00. Ouch. And filling 10 of these a day would be a pain. I hate having a coffee pot. Really hate it. I’ve used the Hamilton Beach Brewmaster, a pot-less tank-type for years, but they break or clog. I see that Cuisinart has put out its own tank-style brewer, and that is looking better and better. Cuisinart engineering is usually pretty darned good. Hopefully it won’t have the clogging problem that HB does. I mean, I cleaned that pot 5 days ago, as in using cleaner, which should have gotten any deposits, and it’s clogged again.
You do not want to deal with me when I am short of coffee. So this has to get fixed soon.
I have a heavy glass sangria pitcher that I brew tea in, let it cool to room temp and then put in the fridge. Holds about 1/2 gallon. Lasts me typically two days, three if I add ice. I think there are coffee people and tea people, just like there are cat people and dog people.
After returning from a couple of weeks in Italy, I found I could no longer enjoy coffee as it’s made here.
But courtesy of my fantastic children, I received a DeLonghi EC155 espresso maker, which I heartily recommend. According to the reviews, the milk frother is a bit weak, but I don’t care much for cappuccino so it’s not a concern. I grind Peet’s French or Italian roast, use an espresso shot (or two in a pinch) to a cup, and fill with hot water. Wonderful coffee. Haven’t computed the price per cup, but it’s a lot less than a dollar per.
http://boingboing.net/2012/07/15/coffee-ad-from-the-1650s.html