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Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day Weekend

It's been pretty good weekend so far. Saturday I spent mostly playing carpenter in the shed. Usually when I start hammering things my neighbor Christy comes over to see what the hell I'm up to this time, and work rapidly winds down to talking smart or sometimes smoking cigars and maybe drinking a beer and talking smart. Actually he's a Tea Party guy, so part of it can be pretty dumb. As we cancel each other out politically, I've suggested that we could both save a lot of time on election day if we would just both stay home. He ain't going for it. Nevertheless, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for the lumber yard run on Thursday to pick up more large boards for me to bang about. Good man.

Sunday was frittered away with Lorna's sisters and their husbands. We talk politics too, but it wears a little thin as we're all to the left and we've heard all we have to say 10 or 20 times. The other two talk sports a lot. I try, but honestly my heart isn't in it. I just don't care about the young men's games anymore, or the prospects of the Minnesota Gophers. Things picked mid-afternoon when neighbors, Sally and The Judge showed up.  As I was running short of good hoppy beer, John and I made a quick hike down to his house to pick up a little Surly Furious from his beer frig. It was smooth sailing from then on - copious amounts of picnic food and drink. Furious:

A tempest on the tongue, or a moment of pure hop bliss? Brewed with a dazzling blend of American hops and Scottish malt, this crimson-hued ale delivers waves of citrus, pine and caramel-toffee. For those who favor flavor, Furious has the hop-fire your taste buds have been screeching for.
STYLE: American India Pale Ale
MALT: Pale Ale, Golden Promise, Aromatic, Medium Crystal, Roasted Barley
HOPS: Warrior, Ahtanum, Simcoe, Amarillo
YEAST: English Ale

OG: 15º Plato
ABV: 6.5% v/v
COLOR: 27 ºSRM
IBU: 99

I've pissed away today patching bicycle inner tubes and watching a BBC Top Gear marathon. Every time I watch Top Gear, I think, "Christ, Margadant should see this". I'll try to send him a link, but he had a knee replaced three weeks ago. Apparently the procedure affected his wi-fi too, as I haven't been able to reach him for a couple of weeks. He lives out on the high plains of Dakota and is serviced by a limited cable  system. Here's a typical link for him:

7 comments:

Silk Hope said...

Well I see you are 0 for 2. SC took care of your Gophers, is was expected. And hey your boy Christy is a Teapartier and a "Gar" smoker. Tell him I like the cut fo his jib.

Mr. Hope

PS: You hang with all thoes lefties, and you will put yourself to sleep.

Oldfool said...

I wish I could have been there to give bad advice. We could have discussed 6th century BC chinese philosophy. It is a subject I know nothing about but can speak at length on along with other subjects more interesting than politics and sports. I would have loved the beer.

Gunnar Berg said...

Furious doesn't have to take a back seat to any beer made anywhere.

And they are not MY Gophers. I honestly don't care if they ever win another game.

Mimbres Man said...

Beer...after my day in Caracas yesterday, it was good to go downstairs to the hotel bar and have three Solera Azules while waiting for our pizza. Those beers were definitely tasty.

Silk Hope said...

Is is it me or can a couple of Beers disolve a politcal discussion instantaneously.

Tom G. said...

Don't know if you had read about Surly's expansion plans

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/129425153.html

Nice to see the local boys making good.

As good as Furious is, I think that Coffee Bender is even better.

Gunnar Berg said...

Bender is good too, but if I was stranded on a desert island ...