Two Beer Tuesday

I enjoy an occasional beer, but it's usually just once in a while, and one at a time. I think my favorite time to savor a beer is after I've mowed the yard. It's hot, I'm sweaty, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of sitting on the front porch sipping from a nice cold bottle, surveying the lawn, and congratulating myself on a job well done.

I got home from Colorado late Friday night, and mowed the lawn in NJ first thing Saturday during a two-hour window when it wasn't raining. It usually takes me about an hour and a half with a push mower, but it is good exercise (and then there is that beer afterwards). Then it was time to pack some things, drive down to MD, and mow the lawn down here.

It poured on Sunday and Monday so that meant mowing had to happen this morning. Those two extra rainy days, plus more than a week's worth of growth made this a daunting task. If I had a tractor, the grass could have been baled rather than mowed. Halfway through, I started thinking this might be a two beer job.

And it was. 

P.S. I will eventually tell you about Fort Collins and my two visits to The Loopy Ewe, but right now I'm in MD and the yarn I bought is in NJ. The post just wouldn't be the same without photos, but I will give you a small hint until I'm home and can take photos; I didn't limit my purchases to just beads (just as you all predicted)!

Sometimes Monday ...

... is a good day for a quick update. I had planned to be back to posting sooner, but things got a bit busy. In the last two weeks, I have:

• Had a wonderful time in Fort Collins with Ryan
• Enjoyed lots of interesting beer and delicious food
• Cleaned out Ryan's gutters, window wells, and weeded and repaired his patio
• Visited The Loopy Ewe!
• Played chess (very poorly)
• Wondered how someone who has absolutely no interest in gardening (I'm referring to Ryan) can grow such a lovely clematis
• Had the world's best gyro and caipirinha
• Been insulted (in an indirect and slightly amusing way) by a stranger in the Denver airport
• Visited my mother-in-law who was in the hospital with congestive heart failure, and helped set up her hospital bed, Meals on Wheels, and other arrangements when she came home
• Celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary
• Turned 61 years old
• Bought a house in Maryland
• Tried to get caught up on laundry; I'm still trying!

I'll tell you all about the details of these things over the next few posts. There will be photos of yarn!

Beer, a Rare Unicorn, and a Rattlesnake

I was never much of a beer drinker before Ryan moved to Colorado. Wine was my alcoholic beverage of choice, with an occasional really cold Yuengling if I mowed on a really hot day. But once I started to explore Fort Collins in 2013, things slowly began to change. The town and many of its citizens pursue beer brewing and drinking with a fervor and intensity I have never seen before. There are at least 20 craft breweries, Beer Week, Tour de Fat (because after beer, bikes matter in Fort Collins), a terrific bar with 100 beers on tap, and Colorado State University offers a B.S. in fermentation science. People in Fort Collins take their beer very seriously, but also with a ton of fun.

New Belgium is one of the breweries I'm most familiar with, mainly because they have a great tour and some wonderful beer. I've visited at least four times, but Justin had never been before, so of course we had to take him.

There are beautiful mosaics on the floor between the brewing vessels in the main brew house,

and foeders built from wood previously used by vineyards to store wine. These are where the bases (Oscar and Felix) used in New Belgium's sour beers are aged.

There is a smaller pilot brewery within the larger brewery, where they experiment and brew surprises.

There is ample opportunity to taste beer throughout the tour, and we got to taste something brand new that's not even for sale yet - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale. It's a joint venture between New Belgium and Ben and Jerry's that is meant to raise awareness and money to fight climate change. I'll be honest; I thought it was going to taste awful, but it's delicious! Our tour guide said it would be available the third week of October in 47 states. I'm going to buy plenty to drink, and I'm already imagining making some beer bread with it. A loaf with chocolate chips and one with dried cherries ...

Justin is a great son, but he wasn't willing to sneak down into the bottling room to get me some more Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ale.

Each tour that I've been on has been slightly different, and this time our tour guide told us about beers she called Rare Unicorns. She said that sometimes the pilot brewery produces a few barrels of something they think might be interesting. These might occasionally be released into the community to see what people think, so she encouraged us to keep our eyes open. Ryan has lived here for more than three years and has never come across one of these special concoctions, so imagine our surprise when we left New Belgium, headed to Choice City for lunch, and spied a Blueberry Oscar Sour. It was excellent, maybe partly because it's fleeting and ephemeral, but truly a delightful Rare Unicorn.

And that promised rattlesnake? While we did some hiking, no rattlesnakes were seen in the wild, but when your brother lives in Texas, you just might get one of his hand-captured and hand-tanned masterpieces for your birthday. (The hole is from where he shot it.)

Better on the wall than in the wild!

Friday Letters

I haven't written any Friday Letters for ages, but I do have a few this week to say what's on my mind, wonder about things, and take the opportunity to offer a thank you. Let's open the mail ...

Dear Fort Duncan Hospital ER,

Thank you very much for stitching Justin up on Saturday night. Yes, he is expressing his creativity and artistic ideas by making his own knives, and yes, I do tell him to be careful at almost every opportunity, but accidents happen. I appreciate you making him feel as comfortable as possible and not laughing out loud at his electrical tape bandage. He told me it was the best he could do to stop the bleeding and not faint during the drive in from the ranch. As grateful as I am, I do hope he doesn't have to make any repeat visits, especially for a rattlesnake bite. 

Also, thanks to Subway. Nothing makes a 23-year-old feel better after a harrowing ordeal than a sub (or two).

P.S. We had this exchange on Wednesday, so he may indeed be back for a repeat visit (or just some super glue).

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Dear Bill,

You are a lovely person and a rank quite high as a brother-in-law, but I may have to ask you to stop enabling me with more delicious beer. Raging Bitch entertained me first with its name, 8.3% alcohol content, and interesting art work, but turned out to be simply delicious beer. You now have me stalking local liquor stores searching for it, and their Blood Orange Ale sounds equally delightful. Next time you visit and bring beer, please bring two six-packs, one for us to drink and one to leave here with me.

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To The Person Who Discarded Christmas Decorations at Walmart in September,

I don't know why this scenario affected me so much, but I have been thinking about possible explanations all week. You didn't want to make the trek across the parking lot to the Salvation Army donation bin and instead just put the decorations down by the trash can? You found them scattered in the parking lot after they fell off of a Walmart delivery truck and placed them there so the guy that collects carts while singing loudly would see them? You were forced to move out of the house after a difficult divorce and an overflowing Walmart trash bin was the best place to dispose of Christmas decorations that held painful memories? This is some sort of social science experiment and you were sitting in a car nearby to tally how many people took pictures of this odd scene? (At least one!)

On the remote chance that you are the person who did this and happen to be reading, please let me know why! 

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Wishing everyone a good weekend, free of cuts, stitches, super glue, and sad discarded Christmas ornaments!

Wayback Wednesday

Way back in the beginning of June we did go on vacation, visiting Ryan in Fort Collins on our annual trip before the start of his summer teaching and research schedule. I'm always happy to see Ryan (because it doesn't happen often enough) but I also really enjoy Fort Collins for a variety of additional reasons.

Beer Tours

Food

Fun Sights and Sounds in Old Town

(Jazz Duo on a tricycle)

The Handle Bar Bicycle

(We did see this, but I was too busy staring to take my own video.)

Flowers in the CSU Annual Flower Trial Garden

Hiking

Looking for good rocks on hikes

Encountering wildlife on hikes

Snow-Covered Mountains

I'm already hoping and planning for a long weekend return visit in October.

I have more breweries to tour and more good rocks to look for!