What is in your cup?

[ProfCrash]

Finished off some Pete's coffee. I have a bag called Wooly Mammoth I got at the Farmers Market yesterday. I love Farmers Markets.

[MrDoug]

Originally Posted by pholy

I'm not sure the Wikipedia article does justice to the range of beers called IPA. Aside from the differences between English and East Coast American and West Cost American, there is a great range in the amount of hops used in the brewing. I'm only familiar with what is available in Ontario, but IPAs can range from the fairly mild Keith's IPA to Mad Tom's IPA and Flying Monkey's Smash Bomb Atomic IPA, which is very bitter, too bitter for my taste. There is a measurement called IBU (International Bitterness Unit) which ranges from 10 or 15 for Keiths up to 75 or more for the Flying Monkey brews. You really need to experiment with IPAs to see just how hoppy you like your beer.

Thx, I will pick up a can/bottle today and try one..

[dreams]

Coffee in my cup as I enjoy the sound of my wind chimes going crazy in the back yard.

I did manage to get the front porch, wasp nest taken down. I hid in the garage and stuck my arm and head out, in order to direct a hard spray of water at the nest. It dropped, but all the little pockets had white things in them and they were washed into my rock border and down into the large rocks. So, I can't (.. OK, I won't) go digging for them to make sure that they are dead.

[CRussel]

Peet's Major Dickason's coffee as I wash and wax the Honda S2000. A perfect day for it, with mostly overcast skies, and cool temperatures.

[ProfCrash]

Massive carmel ribbon crunch frappacino.

[ProfCrash]

Enjoying the great outdoors. He drinks formula or water, that is it. I know juice is coming soon but for now, water or formula.

[Stitchawl]

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.
Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand
Vanished from my hand
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.

Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me
In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you.

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5__OSKYp-Ec )

Good morning, everyone! It's another opening of another week! We're alive, no one's shooting at us, and the sun is shining! Who could ask for more? Boxes to pack today, but it's getting harder and harder to fill them the way we want to, as the house empties of 'soft stuff' for padding. Time to turn to "One Dollar Psychotherapy," otherwise known as 'bubble wrap.' All to easy to get sidetracked popping the bubbles though.....
East India Company's "Keemun Downy Bud" in my cup. Not the best Keemun I've ever tasted, but I'd like to finish up the home-made tea bags I have of it before we leave. A re-heated breakfast of Tarragon-lemon chicken leftovers to go with it, then it's back into the trenches...er... closets, armed with tape, bubble wrap, and determination! It's not the mountains in front of me that cause the problems. It's the grain of sand in my shoe.

Stitchawl

[VydorScope]

Stich... you might know this... if I was a MASTER swordsman that would never EVER think of letting someone else touch my sword. What would I use to sharpen / maintain it? What would I refer to it as? Its for character in my next book... thanks!

[MrDoug]

CELESTIAL Tea.. Sleepytime Herblal Extra.. hitting the sack.. I will read my Kobo Glo till I fall asleep.. oh, I forgot I have 2 Cherry Mountain Candy Bars to consume.. wash them down with tea.. yummy.. no cavities I hope.. I will probably gain 2lb overnite.. get up in A.M (8AM- Lazy here) and ride my bike 20 miles or so.. that should fix me up.. good for another day or so..
Doug

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Stich... you might know this... if I was a MASTER swordsman that would never EVER think of letting someone else touch my sword. What would I use to sharpen / maintain it? What would I refer to it as? Its for character in my next book... thanks!

Good question! But easy to answer.

As a religious man, are you familiar with any of the laws concerning the Hebrew 'Torah' and who may touch it and when? Same sort of things applied to the Samurai and their swords. Even Miyamoto, the founder of the two-sword school and author of 'The Book of Five Rings' had someone else sharpen his swords. Japan recognizes several living (or past living) 'National Treasures' as Master Sword Sharpeners/Polishers. It would by guys like this that the real masters would send their tools to be worked on. That said, the ordinary Samurai would sharpen their own tools, using water stones (Japanese water stones of course,) usually mined in the Arashiyama area just north of Kyoto. (About 5k north of the station along Rt.162.) These family-owned mines produced the very finest sharpening stones in all Japan, and did so until the mid-1960's when commercially viable stones ran out. I've bought several odd-shaped pieces over the years out the back doors of these families. Arashiyama lies on the main road leading north-west out of Kyoto on the way to the Sea of Japan, and we would go bike touring along that road (Rt.162) often. We'd sometimes see hand-written signs on some of the houses offering a few stones for sale that Grandfather had dug up and smoothed out in his retirement. Today, one can purchase "Man-made" Arashiyama water stones that are really excellent quality, but not even close to the natural stuff that was simply cut out of the ground.

Does that help? I've lots more if you need it.


Stitchawl

[VydorScope]

Sure. Hmm so a true master would send to a master sharpener... would he polish his own blade then? So the scene is this swordsman is preparing to do battle with a worthy adversary and is making sure all his stuff is ready while he awaits the fight. He is traveling to the fight so he has plenty of down time. I had him slowly and carefully running his blade across "a stone" in "long slow strokes." Trying to paint the picture of a calm master preparing, and not a wild west cowboy.

My tiger cup has run low, must find more liquids for it.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Sure. Hmm so a true master would send to a master sharpener... would he polish his own blade then? So the scene is this swordsman is preparing to do battle with a worthy adversary and is making sure all his stuff is ready while he awaits the fight. He is traveling to the fight so he has plenty of down time. I had him slowly and carefully running his blade across "a stone" in "long slow strokes." Trying to paint the picture of a calm master preparing, and not a wild west cowboy.

This is the basic setup that EVERY Samurai would use on a daily basis. A little hammer to drive out the pin that holds the 'tsuka' (handle) onto the blade, remove the tsuka, the 'seppa' (spacer,) 'tsuba' (guard,) and habaki (front spacer.) Once it's all taken apart, the blade is oiled, wiped down with the cloth, then powdered and re-assembled. Daily maintenance. Keep in mind that all the thousands and thousands of soldiers were Samurai. Only Samurai were permitted to fight. 99.9% of them would sharpen their swords themselves using a set-up like this.

Read the instructions for use on the page. You'll notice that most of the work is done with small chips of stone and the finger tip. Yes, very Zen-like, rather than sitting around with a couple of beers and friends and a cigar while sharpening. No one would DARE think of letting their swords get to the point of dullness that would require a large sharpening stone!! However, after a battle, stones were used, but most often by professional sharpeners (not necessarily 'master sharpeners,' but pros none the less.)

As it's one of my hobbies, I can sharpen a knife to the point where it will shave curls off of a hair. It will slice a ripe tomato paper thin... without needing to even hold the tomato to cut it.... (try that with your kitchen knife. First cut a slice off the bottom to hold it steady on the cutting board, then try slicing horizontally paper thin slices off the top.) But edges like that are basically useless in warfare. While the katana of a Samurai was razor sharp, there was nothing magical about it. It was the combination of the sharp blade and, more importantly, the way it was used in the cutting motion that made it such a devastating weapon in the hands of a skilled Master. Samurai practiced 6-10 hours a day. Every day. Even today's Kendo players (the good ones, anyway) will make 1,000 cuts every day.

Take a look at this video. These guys are just hobbyists, by no means Masters. This would be the sort of folks that would do the sharpening for the average Samurai on the street.


Stitchawl

[dreams]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Attachment 106317

Enjoying the great outdoors. He drinks formula or water, that is it. I know juice is coming soon but for now, water or formula.

So cute. He looks like he is going to be a handful once he starts running around on his own. (How are you on sprints?)

Eating cheese tortillas and making a fresh cup of coffee to go with my bottled water.

[pdurrant]

Coca-cola in my cup.

[Bilbo1967]

Just had a cup of tea, Typhoo.

Just about to head off to the father-in-law's for a Bank Holiday lunch out at a pub near his house.