Norm Odsather

Well, that’s the end of a season. It’s not like the Red Sox didn’t try! So it’s time to shelf the ball game for the season and go to the hockey game and watch my home town Alaska Aces make a run for the pennant. We broke down and bought season tickets so it’s off to the hockey game. The boys won the first 2 games of the season against Las Vegas. Hope they can do better than last year and I guess there won’t be scheduling conflicts between watching the World Series and going to the game. Hope the Phillies can beat the Rays at the WS!

Well, things are progressing. I got the Marble tile laid on the top of the bar. Marble is interesting or is it rather frustrating to cut. All of that veining that gives it character also is where it fractures when you cut it. Making the thin edge strips proved to be the most frustrating part of the layout. The countertop is 25 inches deep which is pretty standard I have found as countertops go since the cabinets are 24 and the drawers come out past the face. 12 inch tiles are not 12 inches across so there is a small band of filler strip tiles in the back and along the edge. I can live with that. It adds character and that’s my story. If this were baseball they would be the warning track. Hind site in the color choice my wife picked for the wall. A close match to the green at Fenway stadium. I guess I’m building my own Green Monster!

I had to make a modification to my keggerator on how the tap plugs into it. The original setup had the tap mounting straight down on the top of the fridge. With the countertop that won’t work and I also upgraded from a single keg and tap to a twin Cornelius Keg and tap tower combo. I disassembled the original tower to get the plastic adaptor that plugged into the fridge and twisted on cams to lock it into place and sealed a length of PVC tube to it which did several things, kept it airtight between the fridge and the tap but also gave me a handle that I could manipulate the plug from above to twist in and lock down the plug and lift it up and out of the fridge to allow the fridge to slide out from under the bar. I also worked into the tube some foam pipe insulation and will wrap a larger version around the tube to keep the beer flowing through the lines nice and cold when serving and keep the tower from sweating when the coolness enters the tower in the warm room. I kept the pipe taller than I needed for a handle to keep the insulation running further up the tower and covering the lines. I’ve read that many people have installed blowers and ducts in their keggerators to keep the towers refrigerated but I’m not going that far. I got the idea from the super insulated pipes that they use in the Arctic to run water and waste from homes and other facilities in areas where direct burial of the services may not be feasible or practical. See, watching TV does help give you ideas and information! ;-)

I don’t want to curse the whole damn thing but if the 2007 post season game against the Indians and the 2004 post season game against the Yankees are any indication that Terry Francona has a plan and there is a path to follow to the World Series, we are dead on course. TOnight is game 7, do or die for both the Red Sox and the Rays. We’ll have our Red Sox gear on and our Red Sox flag on the front of the house unraveled and flying proper like.

Fingers crossed! Lets Go Red Sox!