Strawberry Jam

Strawberries are ready for picking here in Green Bay so today I went to Sunny Hill and picked a flat of them. It was overcast, the berries plump and ripe both which made for pleasant picking and even better eating.

When I got home I put up 5 pints of strawberry jam and froze the rest to use in smoothies. The strawberry jam is very easy to make by following the instructions in the Sure Gel package.

Strawberry jam on the cooling rack

And since I had the water heated up to do the water bath for the strawberry jam I decided to make some BBQ sauce. I have a recipe that I found on the internet years ago that is supposed to be a knock off of KC Masterpiece - my favorite. I don't think the sauce tastes like KC Masterpice, however, it is better! This is also an easy recipe that just requires combining the ingredients, simmering on the stove for an hour and then putting them into jars with a 45 minute water bath.

BBQ Sauce

Garlic scapes

The garlic planted last October in the garden is growing well. The garlic scapes were at the point of needing to be removed. The scapes are removed so the plant will put more energy into the garlic bulbs and not into creating the scpaes (seeds). I've been told the scapes can be using in cooking but haven't used them myself. An interent search turned up a few interesting looking recipes.

Garlic scapes before being removed

Growing Hops

I'm growing hops to use in our home brewing process. Below are a couple of pictures of the progress of the vines. Hops vines grow 20 to 30 feet per year. I planted them on the south side of the house under the eves. Then put in twine from the ground to the underside of the eves on the second story. The hops have already reached the eves and, in some cases, have grown another 6 feet hanging down.

The variety I'm growing is "Mt Hood". Good for making honey wheat beer.

This picture was taken April 15.

These pictures were taken June 15.

Garden Pictures

Below are a few pictures of the flowers currently in bloom in my garden. Enjoy.

Iris

Portfolio Management June 2009

My investment club met last night (Jun 8, 2009). We reviewed two new stocks and followed our portfolio management process. The overall shape of the portfolio is better than it has ever been so we decided to:

Sell our remaining holding in Lowes (LOW). The stock was our lowest PAR (percentage average return) and we didn't think the future looked good for the stock.

Buy additional shares of Fastenal (FAST). We purchased the stock a month or two ago and it still looks good and did not have a "full" position yet.

Buy an initial position in Apollo Group (APOL) with the $$ from the sale of Lowes. Apollo seemed to be the best company in the education group. We also considered Strayer and ITT.

Another Cellcom Half Marathon story

After most big races you can read numerous human interest stories about the runners, their history, and their amazing run. I always felt these stories were glorified or otherwise made newsworthy by folks that "enhanced the truth". Well now I'm a believer in these stories-now that I have a personal experience with one of them.

The start of the race.

In January 2009 I went to the first Cellcom training run and as you might imagine it was cold. I met Joe Lamers at this run. He is from Appleton WI and had just stated running a few months prior and made a commitment to run a half marathon in 2009. This was the start of serious training and he was a novice at long distance running. Over then next several months I saw Joe improve and grow as a runner and our friendship blossomed.

Fast forward to race day on May 17, 2009. Joe and I hadn't seen each other or exchanged e-mails for 3 or 4 weeks. My running partner and I lined up at the starting line with the other 10,000 runners and guess who was right next to us? Yep, it was Joe. Thus begins the human interest story.

Joe was excited, nervous, and pumped. Here is what he told us before the race began. On Saturday (the day before the race) he was on the East Coast. His flight to Green Bay ended up being canceled but there was no way that Joe was going to miss the run that he had trained for 5 months. He caught a flight into Minneapolis MN (a five hour drive from Green Bay), rented a car, and drove through the night - arriving in Green Bay a few hours before the race. This is when we saw him.

Below is his e-mail to me describing his race.

Yes, I did the race under 2 hours and just about died. I was on my 8 minute per mile mark at 7 miles. I then hit "THE WALL" and everything was going so bad. My feet were going so numb that I could hardly walk. My biggest problem was I could not get air. My heart rate was fine, but no air. I had cramps, numb feet, over heating with jacket and no air. I had to pee for the first time ever while running. At mile mark 8 I peed and dropped jacket.

Then at mile mark 11 I sat on grass and loosened my shoe laces. I laid down and start to cry. I was getting taken over by emotions. It was then that I decided that the race was not going to end this way! I did not train all this time and drive across the state all night for it to end this way. If I didn't get up and run like hell I never would make it under 2 hours.

I thanked God for this opportunity and got up and ran like HELL! I thanked all the people who got me this far (you were one of them) and focused on a spot ahead and reeled it in. Then I hit the spot and picked another and another and another and another. At one point I realized that I was talking and yelling out loud. People around me must have thought I was crazy!! Others started helping me reel in spot after spot.

Half way through Lambeau Field where the fans where screaming I started to run faster and faster. Just before I crossed the finish line I could see the clock reading 1:XX . I had no idea of the time I had finished but I knew it was under two hours!

And to make this even more incredible Joe told me that 3 1/2 years ago he could not even ride a bike due to spinal problems!

I find his story inspiring and hope you do as well.

Cellcom Half Marathon

I'm ready to race.

My running partner, Melodie Dugenske, and I ran the Cellcom Half Marathon yesterday. The temperature at race time was about 40 degrees and sunny. Perfect for a great race.

We finished with an overall pace of 9:32/mile which was way below our expected/hoped for time of 9:00/mile so we could finish under 2 hours. We came in at 2 hours and 05 minutes and, while disappointed that we didn’t get 2 hours, it is a personal best for me by 45 seconds.

At 5 miles we were dead-on the pace for 2 hours with 8:57 miles. We both ran out of gas around mile 7.5 and our overall pace at the 10 mile mark fell to 9:22-ouch. The last 3 miles were a struggle with us both saying at some point – “I just need to make it to the next water station” and “When the hell will this end?”. Looking back it doesn't seem that hard.

We saw the back of the t-shirt on one of the runners that summed up our last three miles well.

Next year I think I’m just going to run for fun, slap high fives along the course, and generally just soak in the experience. Just forget about time and pushing myself.

Enjoying a beer specially brewed for the Cellcom.

Stock Decisions

Last night (May 11) my investment club met. Let me explain what an investment club is, just in case you don't know. Investment Club YenoM is made up of 14 individuals that contribute various amounts (from $25 to $100) each month and then we meet to determine stocks to buy and sell. We use software designed by IClubCentral to keep track of how much each of us own. It works just like a mutual fund with two exceptions. We only value the stocks once per month (a mutual fund does it daily) and the club members make investment decisions (a mutual pays big bucks for others to make the decisions).

We have a well defined portfolio management process with 7 separate criteria.

Last night we decided to sell 1/2 of our position in Lowes (LOW) and purchase a similar amount of Fastenal (FAST).

We decided to sell Lowes for 3 reasons: 1) our projection for the future return was lower than any other stock in the portfolio 2) it is a large cap stock and we have too large a percentage of our stocks in large cap and 3) sales growth projection was too low.

We decded to buy Fastenal for 3 reasons: 1) it is a mid cap stock and we need more mid cap 2) our projection for 5 year return put it in what we call the "sweet spot" and will raise overall portfolio return and 3) sales growth is 13% which will raise the oveall portfolio sales growth.

We had an new person join the club, welcome Irene and one visitor.

Portfolio Management

Here are the seven criteria that my investment club uses to decide on stocks to add or remove from our portfolio. I'll give a brief description of the criteria. If you have any questions please leave a comment.

1. Number of Stocks: 16 stocks plus or minus 4. This is enough stocks to be diversified but not too many to follow.

2. Company Size: Large Cap stocks 50%, Mid Cap stocks 25%, and Small Cap stocks 25%. We want stocks of all size because one never knows what are going to be the next ones to increase. Our weighting towards Large Cap is a bit more conservative than I would like. We have had problems finding Mid and Small Cap stocks so this forces us to keep looking.

3. Sectors: We use 10 different sectors as defined at Manifest Investing. Our goal is to have no more than 25% in any one industry and no more than two industries with no stocks. This helps to make sure we aren't loading up on stocks in one sector.

4. Portfolio PAR: PAR stands for Percentage Average Return. PAR is our estimate of the return we might expect from a stock. We also use Manifest Investing to give us an estimate of the weighted average PAR. We look for portfolio PAR to be 5 to 10 percentage points above the median PAR of all the stocks in the Manifest Investing data base.

5. Portfolio Quality: Manifest Investing has a method of measuring the quality of the companies. We expect our overall quality for the portfolio to be above 65 (Excellent).

6. Portfolio Sales Percentage Increase: We look at the weighted average percentage expectation of the increase in sales for the portfolio. We want it to be between 10 and 14 percent - generally toward the high end of the scale.

7. Individual Stock Percentage: We don't want any stock to be more than two times its proportional share nor less than 1/2 that same share. For example, if there were 10 stocks in the portfolio a proportional share would be 10%, therefore, we won't want any stock to be more than 20% nor less than 5% of the portfolio.

It's always fun trying to balance all of these.

Beer Making at Home - Is it Legal?

Did you know that brewing beer at home for personal use was illegal until 1979. In 1920 brewing beer was made illegal, period. There was a "mistake" in the laws the repealed Prohibition and that mistake allowed wine to made at home but not beer. One of the better actions by President Jimmy Carter was to repeal the federal restrictions on home brewing in February 1979.

So now adults over twenty one years of age are permitted to brew "not more than one hundred gallons of beer in a year". The beer brewed must be for personal use and it is illegal to sell home brew.

Making Beer - Step 6

We've waited another anxious week or two and now all the bubbling has completed.

We are new ready to bottle the beer. First, we transfer flat beer from the carboy to another container. Of course, all of the equipment and bottles must be sterilized.

John Gundry removing the bottles from the dishwasher.

Carl Fisher ready to bottle.

We next add priming sugar to the mixture. This sugar will be eaten by the remaining yeast to create carbonation in the bottles.

Now for a warning. Don't use too much sugar when you bottle. Charlie and I did just that making root beer a few weeks ago. About four days after bottling the root beer I woke up late one night on heard a "popping" sound that woke me from my sleep. I searched the house and found nothing amiss and no boggie man. Well.... the next morning I went into our mud room (hadn't done that at night) and there was glass everywhere. Seven of the 24 bottles had exploded. What a mess. Don't uses too much bottling sugar!

Then the beer must be transferred to the bottles. We use a mix of 12 oz, 16 oz, 1/2 litre, full litre, and 1 gallon kegs to hold the beer. Most of the bottles have been given to us by friends or we have helped drink the beer ourselves! Screw top bottles can not be used because it is not possible to get a good seal with our bottle caps. I especially like the "swing top" bottles.

Chris Elliott and his son filling the bottles.

Chris' son crimping the bottle cap onto a bottle (with a little assistance).

Charlie Spry filling a keg (the flash light is to see when the keg is full).

A swing top bottle. The easiest to cap and to open!

Beer Trivia: Beer was considered so vital a nutritional staple for British soldiers that when the British army and navy couldn't supply their own beer, they provided their troops with cash allowances to purchase it. The high concentration of B vitamins from the grain and yeast were vital to good health on long overseas missions. British soldiers in Upper Canada were given a daily beer allowance of a penny, sufficient to purchase six pints of ale from a local pub.

Making Beer - Step 5

Now we have to wait a few days to a week for the bubbling out of the fermentation lock to slow down. This indicates that a majority of the sugar has been consumed by the yeast and that the wort will be cloudy with dead yeast as well as a bunch on the bottom of the container.

At this point a decision must be made - use a single or double fermentation process. We generally use a double fermentation process. This means that once the fermentation slows down we transfer the mixture from the initial container to another 5 gallon, glass carboy. The syphon we use leaves a small amount of liquid and most of the dead yeast behind, resulting in a clearer beer.

Now we need to wait another week or so for the fermentation to completely finish.

This is the carboy used in the secondary fermentation process.

Beer Trivia: The word carboy is from the Persian qarabah, which means "big jug". Carboy's are also referred to as "demijohns" and in the southern US they are known as "jimmyjohns".

Making Beer - Step 4

While the wort is cooling down we take the important step of sterilizing our equipment, again to keep harmful bacteria and other germs from entering the fermentation process and ruining our beer. We use a sterilizing powder purchased from House of Home Brew. I've also read on-line that a weak solution of bleach and water can also be used.

Now it's time to transfer the chilled wort to the fermentation container and to then add the yeast. This process is called "pitching".

Charlie and Chris transferring the chilled wort.

Straining the wort to remove hops before fermentation.

Installing the fermentation lock to allow fermentation bubbles to escape and not allow air in.

Beer Trivia: Spent yeast at the bottom of the beer bottle is full of vitamin B and won't hurt you.

Making Beer - Step 3

We now move on to the next step - Cool the Wort. This is a very unglamorous step but one that is critical. We need to very quickly reduce the temperature of the boiling wort to below 75 degrees. This is critical for two reasons. First, to stop to cooking process and stabilize the wort and second, to keep bad bacteria from getting into it. We do this by putting the pot with the wort into the kitchen sink and then surrounding it with cold water and ice cubes.

Chris Elliott checking the temperature of the cold water to chill the wort.

Beer Trivia: Alcohol provides an unfriendly environment for microbial action, and the isohumulone content of the hops inhibited the growth of Lactobacillus. Thus, high alcohol content and high hopping rates could protect beer from the souring associated with long storage times.

Note: We have since purchased a wort chiller which makes this a quicker and less messy process. It is coiled copper tubing that is placed into the hot wort and then cold water is run through the tubing which removes the heat. The wort chiller cost an additional $60 or so.

Making Beer - Step 2

OK, now that we've cracked open a couple of beers from a previous batch (you know, checking quality control) it is time to move on to Step 2 - Make the Wort. Wort is simply all of the beer ingredients mixed together without the yeast, essentially it's flat beer. We have used kits that have already "mashed" the grains into malt and are now starting to do our own mashing. The mashing process adds about 2 hours to the brewing effort, a small price to pay for extra drinking time!

Here's are the actions for Step 2:

Fill pot with water from the tap and bring to boil.
Add cans of malt or mashed grains.
Add hops.
Let the pot boil for 45 to 60 minutes.

Beer Trivia: A pint of beer has the same energy giving value as four eggs or more than half a pound of meat!

Chris Elliott adding hops to the wort during the boil.

Making Beer - Step 1

About 2 years ago I began brewing beer with a friend. Charlie Spry is really the brew master and I'm just the go-fer (you know, I do whatever he tells me to do). Over the time we have been brewing several friends have joined us to brew and bottle and, of course, to drink it. Over the next several blogs I'm going to describe the beer making process, provide some beer trivia, and include some photos.

Beer Trivia - There are no known pathogens or deadly microorganisms that can live in beer. - you won't die from drinking our beer.

Beer Making Step 1. Open a home brew to sample from a previous batch. In my opinion this is the most important step.

Charlie starting the process!

Signs of Spring in Green Bay

I finally have evidence that our long, long winter may be coming to an end. The first of my bulbs have blossomed. This is crocus, a very small, low to the ground plant and is the first thing to add color to my garden in the spring. It always lifts my spirits to look out my kitchen window and see them.

Green Bay Half Marathon

I've been training for the Cellcom Green Bay half marathon since January 2009 with my running partner Melodie Dugenske. Last year I had to withdraw two weeks before the race because I had two stress fractures (one on each leg). I had already paid the registration fee (about $65) which was non refundable (I called and tried). Those that know me know that not getting the refund really "hurt" me. I'm so cheap. Melodie went ahead and ran and turned in an excellent time.

So this year we decided to wait to register until we were sure we would be able to compete since our goal is to run the 13.1 miles in less than 2 hours. In the Green Bay Press Gazette race officials announced that registrations for the half marathon are 76% of the way to reaching the cap. The race is in mid-May so there is still a bunch of time to go before I wanted to register. I guess I'll have to make a decision in a couple of weeks.

I've had "tired" legs the last few runs but my spirits are high. I can see a two hour or less finish.

Investing Books

I was asked by a friend yesterday for books to help them learn about investing. Below is a list of books that I have read that helped to shape my thinking. Most of these are pretty easy to read if you are at all interested in investing.

The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing – Dorsey

Take Stock – Ellis Traub (excellent book on picking individual stocks)

A Random Walk Down Wall Street – Malkiel (one of the first that I read and it has been updated recently)

The Four Pillars of Investing-Bernstein (this one is guiding most of my investing right now)

The Future for Investors – Siegel

Winning the Investment Marathon – H Bradlee Perry

Common Sense on Mutual Funds-Bogle

Lowell Herr does a significant amount of writing and blogging about investing and has a list of his five favorite asset allocation books.

... and the verdict is in

The trial is over and the defendant was found guilty of DUI.

In my mind it was a pretty open and shut case and the defendant wasted money taking it to court. I almost believe that she had more than one arrest and was just grasping at straws trying for a not guilty verdict.

We only had to deliberate for 30 minutes and most of the that, IMO, was people discussing their logic because they felt bad about the guilty verdict.

Again, the trial took too long but our system is still the best one around.