Atwoodfest 2016!

Atwoodfest, a neighborhood festival on this near east side of Madison, happened this past weekend.  Bands, beers, vendors, beers and friends, all day each day.  Well that would be a bit much, but we did manage to spend a few hours down there both Saturday and Sunday.  The weather was beautiful, temperatures in the low 80's and the sun made it quite warm, however not as hot as last year.


After Mike's visit on Saturday (see last post), we walked down to the festival.  It's just a great atmosphere - and it seems to be getting bigger every year.  We tried some food, though not as much as years past, and bought frivolous festival wares.  We saw some friends and coworkers on our walks up and down the street.  This Atwood Avenue area is only about a 15-20 minute walk from our house, depending on your gait, but then you are on your feet the whole time unless you are lucky enough to come across a rare chair, ledge or curb..  My legs and feet held up well this year, but it did take a toll on my back.  Thus I have the extra time to write this now.

Some more pictures after the break!

Old Friends, Again!

Last year was my 30th class reunion, and it was the first one I had attended.  I talk about that here.  At that time one of my great friends from and since high school, Gary, came back to the area for the reunion from down south and I was able to spend some good time and have some fun hanging with him again.  That post about Gary's visit is here.

Mike and Me.  Man, I hate posting pics of myself....

My other great friend from high school is Mike, and he and Gary were friends well before I nosed in.  I got myself invited to a Ronnie James Dio concert here in Madison, with Dokken as the opening band.  That was in late 1983, maybe 1984...  'twas a long time ago now.  We lived in a town less than an hour away.  Mike was a year younger than me and Gary in high school, I'll repost the picture of all 3 of us from 25 years ago, a few years past high school, somewhere below.

We've been mostly out of touch for many years, just checking in when things happen and such, and I think that goes for all three of us.  But it should also be expected, as we all live in different states now and have our own lives that are busier and more complicated than back then.  I just happen to be closest to where we came from to be able to benefit from getting the chance to see them sometimes on their travels back for other reasons.  I'll take it, these are some of life's treasures.

Me, Gary, and Mike at the Black Bear Lounge, 1991

Mike and I had a couple chances to meet up in the recent years when he came back in the state, but for circumstances it ended up just not working out.  He seemed to want to make it a priority this time, and I was more than happy to see him when he showed up here midday yesterday.  I knew his destination was the hometown but I didn't realize at that time it was for his class reunion.  He had his young son with him and they had been on the road for some time.  After a welcoming and settling in we had grilled burgers for lunch.  Kind of a last minute plan, and I thank my lovely wife for doing all the work so we could visit.

 Mike is one of my oldest and best friends.  He was coming to my house and I wanted to impress him because, you know, we're still friends even though we haven't been close recently so he hasn't seen the cool little house and yard we have and all my toys and creations that go with it.  I did give him the nickel tour, also so we could separate and discuss 'adult' topics without the boy listening.  Yes, stuff happens that I won't write about here.  Man, I miss hanging out with him like we used to, but that couldn't happen today.  Still, he's got a great boy and I know Mike is proudest of him above all.  I did make one faux pas during our visit when I forgot what was actually in a music video I played on the TV with the boy in the room.  Nothing terrible, just a little inappropriate.  Typical for me, I know I have the most unspoken embarrassing moments between me, Mike and Gary of our shared, youthful experiences.  Thankfully they've always seemed to have my back when it counted, as I have theirs, and always will.  We have more years behind us than ahead of us at this point, we have to value what is there for us when we can.

Thanks for stopping by, Mike!  I enjoyed our visit and hopefully we can spend more time in the future.

Holiday Fire Pit

We managed to get a decent (read: not overly hot and humid) weekend for the holiday.  On Sunday night we had some friends over for a few hours of food, fun, drinks and conversation around the fire.

Much of the same cast of characters as usual, but we have not seen B&Z in a very long time, James (orange hat) just moved back to town after a year and a half or so, and he brought another Kate with him that we have known casually for a few years.  Terry and Becky also came, and Terry brought the only fireworks of the evening - extra large sparklers.  It never entered my mind to buy fireworks but, boy, it had occurred to many others in the neighborhood!  I certainly didn't mind, but there were fireworks going off all around us each night of the weekend.  I didn't see a lot of them, sometimes just the tops over trees and houses, but you could hear how much were set off nearby.

There's enough cut wood left for one more fire pit so I must get to the logs/branches that I have sitting out.  I also spent much of the day Sunday sealing the cracks between the slabs in the driveway.   I got all the easy ones, now I have the tougher, wider ones down by the garage to do yet.    I was standing over that torch much of the day and it was the backs of my upper arms and shoulders that got burned to a nice, bright red color.  And I'm a side sleeper so either side hurts now trying to sleep!  Anyway, two more chores for the list.  Maybe this weekend will be nice enough to get them done.   Thanks for reading!

On The Lake Today

This was a good way to start the holiday weekend.  Cruising the lake on a perfect day.



It was not too hot, there was a good breeze, and the sky had a good cloud cover while still getting light and sun without getting baked and burned.  If I could be in the same place at the same time in the next two days as the picture above, we'd see the lake much busier with boat traffic.  I was a bit surprised how slow it was when we were out, it is a holiday weekend, after all.  But as we came in there were already many more boats coming out.  That was mid afternoon, maybe about 3, we had met Terry and Becky at the boat at noon.

They let me drive most of the way so I took us a different direction than towards the cove that we usually end up in (which was crowded with boats as we saw on the way back).  We dropped anchor for a bit by a beach in Middleton for drinks and snacks.  I considered trying to go all the way across the lake to Picnic Point but for the slow speed of the pontoon boat would have made this a considerably longer adventure to get there and back.  Basically shooting straight across the lake, too.  I tend to like viewing the shoreline - the nature of it all and, you know, rich people's houses!  We also saw the castle-like house today that has a turret and gargoyles.

It was a great time on the lake today and a beautiful day for it.  Life needs more moments like these!

January This-And-Thats

Okay, time to dust the place and act alive around here.  At this time last year I had actually taken a bit of a time-out from blogging.  Before November of 2014 I had not posted less than 7 times a month in over 5 years of posting here.  It got to the point I just couldn't keep that up.  First, I realized the fact that I had never posted less than seven times a month and felt like I was forcing some posts just to keep the streak alive.  That was over a year ago and I'm a little more relaxed about posting now, obviously.

So now that I'm ready to type, I hope you're ready to read!

• Yes, I was sick for over a month.  I had bronchitis, got a little better around the new year to allow my wife to be sick for a few days, then I got sick again.  This time it was more sinus than lungs, but still with the damn headache.  I had not been sick like that in some time and I hope never again.
• The resurgence of my sickness may have been aided by the fact that winter decided to finally show up in full force.  First with a good layer of snow, then with the bitter cold of below zero (F) temperatures.  It is good for the natural order of things, but I'd be happy to skip it altogether.
• I have been on a bit of an early spring cleaning kick, getting rid of odd little things that I do not need, extra cardboard boxes, and just junk that we don't need to keep.  We have a pretty good pile for charity again but I still have to go through my clothes.  That's always been the hard part for me.  I think it is daunting because I don't want to have to try on a gazillion clothes to determine what stays and what goes, so it never gets done.  Maybe this spring will be different...
• We got a chest freezer last year, now it's time to fill it.  Kate has been cooking more things ahead of time and I have stocked up on freezer items when they are on sale, but now we will soon have about 250 pounds of meat to put in it.  I had talked with a friend about going in on a cow and it looks like that may happen soon.  We will be getting one quarter of a cow for roughly 3 dollars a pound - that's across the board for ground beef, steaks and roasts.  This should keep us in meat for a good amount of time - and ease my grocery shopping trips.
• Speaking of shopping, I bought the Amazon Fire TV Stick on a forty dollar whim.  It achieves my main purpose of being able to watch YouTube videos on the television and I am still figuring out the rest.  We don't watch a whole lot of TV other than house shows, Big Bang Theory reruns and, of course, my sports games.  But I can see how someone who is really into TV and movies would love this, there's almost anything you want to watch at your fingertips.  Even if we end up not using it for more than YouTube I'm still glad I got it - but again, I'm still figuring it out yet.

Tonight we are meeting half a dozen friends at Ella's Deli for dinner to celebrate my wife Kate's birthday this week.  It is close enough we could walk there but we have not been there for a couple years since we took our nephew James there for dinner.  She wanted ideas on where to go so I did a google search and started calling out names of restaurants and she fancied this one.  I'm glad she did, it is a fascinating place to visit.  They have fascinating stuff there everywhere you look, on the walls, ceiling, and even in the tables!  Check out their website here.  

Thanks for coming back though I've been away.  My stats have been nuts, one day this last week I got 4 hits and the next I got 37.  Crazy.  Average is probably 15 or so a day.  Now I think I better get the camera out so I don't forget it tonight and I should probably decide what I want from their extensive menu before we go.  

Craft Brew Dinner #5

It has been a busy week, but finally I can write about this past Monday night when we attended another Heritage Series Craft Brew Dinner at Dexter's Pub.  We have grown from just my wife and I, to us plus my friend Ted, to us and Ted plus his friend, to us and Ted and SteveBob and another couple, Josh and Casey.  We got our half a dozen seats about a month ago, maybe 2 days after seats became available, and from what I understand it sold out all 20 available seats just a day or so later - quicker than usual, word must be getting out.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on it, but it was not the best dinner in this series that we've attended.  The rep for Deschutes Brewery was a likable guy who had the knowledge of the brewery but had bad timing for his between course talks.  Normally the waitresses have a routine; serve the featured beer, serve the course, remove plates and glasses as finished, and repeat for all 5 or 6 courses.  The rep has everyone's attention when the featured beer is being served, not when everybody gets the paired course of food.  There was some good swag included - pint glass, can/bottle coolie, sticker and what is a wide rubber band with their name printed on it that I think they want to be a wristband - I didn't say it was all good swag.

Their beers were kind of a letdown for me, though.  They didn't suck, but nothing stood out.  Many ales, one bitter, at least none of my least favorite, the perfumey-tasting IPAs.

In keeping up with what I started doing at dinner #1, there is a staged photo of beer, dessert and menu here.  The menu was bigger this time so you can't read it all, but you get the gist.

To cut to the chase, the biggest disappointment of the night came when half of our party, my wife and I included, got the last three of the second course served from the kitchen.  It was a "Volcano" pork sandwich.  While all others got the heat, it was just a pork sandwich for us three.  They must have run out of the jalapeno jelly for the last three sandwiches.  We had absolutely no spice.  The pork tasted good but for us there was nothing "Volcano" about it.  Plus, one had no little crispy onions and there were complaints of fattiness in some sandwiches.  They sold only 20 seats yet seem to have run out of some things when serving.  Makes me wonder if that happened to others that happened to get the last dishes out of the kitchen for a course.

For now, the next scheduled dinner is with Rogue Brewing Company, and we have not heard good things about their beers from our friends that know more about that kind of thing.  And the menu is, well, meh.  We've attended four in a row and after this one I think we will be skipping the next but we will surely keep an eye on future dinners, still.  Thanks, Nick!

Firepit And Basement Stands

We had a firepit on Saturday night, our first one of the year.  We had planned a firepit party twice in the last couple of months but both times turned out to be among the hottest days of the year.  We still had the party but we never lit a fire,  we just stayed inside in the air conditioning.  Now that Fall is here - or will be in a day or two - we should have better weather for it.

With friends over I had the help I needed to get the washer and dryer into place on the new stand. The freezer is already on it's little stand, left.  If you take a look you can see how I also have the metal shelves up on wood and the bottom shelves painted with the same mold and mildew proof paint.  We've not had any water in the basement in quite some time now, and when we do it just trickles to the drain, but it has been damp enough down there for me to raise, replace and paint the bottom shelves after mold had grown on the bottom side a couple years ago.

The washer/dryer stand is pretty cool.  It's only 12 inches high but makes a world of difference getting laundry in and out - or will.  I've been busy (okay - lazy on Sunday, but that's what Sundays are for!) since then so I finally got them balanced and hooked up again tonight.  Essentially, the stand doubles the height of the opening from when they were on the floor.  And that means a lot when you have a back like mine, but I still keep an old office chair down there so I don't bend so much.

Last night we went to another Heritage Series Craft Brew Dinner at Dexter's Pub.  This time we had 6 in our group.  It was fun but I do have my complaints.  I'll write about it later, I've got stuff to do tonight other than more writing so that will probably be my next post.  See ya then!

Birthday This-And-Thats

Yes, today is my birthday.  I will forever get to hear 9/11 tributes and remembrances for the rest of my life on my birthday, Patriot Day.  This date has become defined by the events of 14 years ago.  It is one of those dates when you ask people where they were they can tell you exactly how that day was for them.  I may have told my story here, I'd have to check.  If not then I'll tell it on this day some year in the future, I'm sure.  I've been otherwise busy lately, so I probably have other stuff to say today.  Time to start typing and find out what it is!

• I've not heard anything back from the bank on my request for compensation for what we went through the other day.  I'm sure I won't.  I'm glad they are trying to look out for us, but why were we not notified immediately when they put a hold on our account?  That is the big question.  Turns out, essentially they are always suspicious about purchases from this large retail giant's website.  The bigger the money the bigger the flag.  No matter how much fraud happens on that retail outlet's web store, why were we not notified right away when they put a hold on our account?  My wife had to go without lunch that day and day one of my vacation was delayed by almost 3 frustrating hours because their system was down, lucky us.  What if I had already gone out to lunch and tried to run errands before my wife texted me that her card was denied?  It is always embarrassing if that happens - and rarely is it ever justified for anyone you see it happen to.  If you didn't have the money you'd know it, or most would, I would hope.
• The basement stands that I built earlier this week have been painted, two coats of mold and mildew proof paint, and are down in the basement.  The freezer stand was (relatively) easier for me to get in place under the freezer but the washer/dryer stand will have to wait for help.  I'll try to get a few friends over soon to help get the washer and dryer on top of the stand, then I will share pics.  It's gonna be pretty neat.
• I've also managed to get several more projects crossed off my list the past couple days.  Most notably, I got all the edging done along the front sidewalk, all that I will do this season - I don't want to put any more of that sod in the compost bin this year (I don't think the walks have been edged in 30 years!).  I've started cutting back, and in a few cases removing, some plants for fall.  I also built and installed a new gate for the garden out of leftover lumber to replace the old gate that was sticking and getting hard to open.  Check, check, and check.  And there's still plenty more on my to-do list for later.  There always is, right?
• I must admit that lately I have peeked at "Sammi's" farcebook page once or twice since I posted about her.  And I am feeling a lot better about the situation now.  She mostly re-posts the usual drivel that comes from there, but she has also made it a point to complain recently about having a toothache but no insurance and how she had to call the police on her roommate for stealing her laptop.  This woman is older than me yet she seems to have regressed since I have known her.  Not really the type of friend I want to have now, anyway.  Bullet dodged.  Now I worry because I gave her my phone number and this blog address.

Well, it has been a restful yet productive week off for me.  This weekend brings football with the Badgers at 11 on Saturday and the Packers at noon on Sunday.  Yes, that means Summer is almost over so we must enjoy what is left of it .  The rest of this weekend is mostly my own.  We do look forward to seeing some friends tomorrow night for an evening out, and I hope for something nice with my wife and I, but come Monday it is a new week with a new mindset for me.  Back to the grind, so they say...

Local Road Paint*

*Updated 9/7, click 'Read More' at the end!

While we approve of and support most all local community and neighborhood projects we are not usually directly involved.  But we do appreciate our neighbors' efforts in bringing the community spirit to our neighborhood.  I noted long ago how our neighborhood seemed like one in transition from older, long-time residents to younger couples with growing families.  It has become quite like that but they are also very active with the community and each other to improve the place we all share.  How can we not like that?  My wife and I do not have kids and are otherwise pretty private so while we do support neighborhood and community projects and charities it is mostly with moral and sometimes financial support.  That being said, our neighborhood created a beautiful thing yesterday while I was trimming trees - as told in the last post.

The road was closed in front of our house yesterday as many members of the greater neighborhood got together and painted the street.  It even made the local news and papers today because painting a street is actually very unusual.  This has been a couple years in the making, from individuals getting the idea in their heads and sharing with others, then getting our alderman to introduce a law to allow streets to be painted, to getting a design approved - it is abstract as no symbols or words are allowed - and actually receiving a city grant to help facilitate it happening.  I think we have some active and motivated younger families in this neighborhood and we are very happy and appreciative to benefit from them and their work.

I talked to a few of the neighbors as we were in and out that morning, and waved as I carried loads of branches to the curb.  I actually would not have minded helping with the painting yesterday afternoon but for my normal physical deficiencies that acted up after the tree stuff.  I don't feel too bad, all those young dads on the street are younger and more fit than me!  When I was finished with all my trimming, neighbor Dave and I did stroll down to the corner to view their progress and visit for a bit.  They were down there until almost dark last night painting, eating, socializing and cleaning up.  Today, with the road still closed off, they have been having fun with a kiddie pool and squirt guns and kids all over the road.

Seems like a nice bit of fun and I'm happy we live here and now.

Friend Then, NOT Friend Now

So far this month my posts have been about looking back into the past, seeing old friends and the class reunion.  Turns out that I'm not done yet, I have one more tale to write of someone I used to know.  For the sake of this writing, her name is Sammi.

Sammi and I became friends around 1991 or 1992.  We had known each other a bit from mutual friends and from hanging out at the metal bar in town.  I had recently broken up with my girlfriend, a hairstylist, and needed someone to do my hair.  Sammi was a hairstylist.  I got an appointment and had my hair trimmed with her.  Turned out it was her last of the day so we wound up going to get food or a drink or something.  From then on we just became great friends, best friends.  We started doing everything together.  No hanky-panky at all, just friendship.  We each had short term partners come and go but we always remained friends.  We even had to start telling people we were brother and sister so they would get it - that nothing was going on between us.

I can't recall the exact timeline of things back then, Sammi and I drank a lot.  But she wound up getting married around the same time I started dating my wife now.  My wife was my date for the wedding.  Around that time or shortly before is when we started being not so close as before.  And it was perfectly understandable.  We were both growing older and involved with other people.  We remained in touch, then she got a divorce after about a year or two.  We had been in touch less and less and then one day my number for her didn't work anymore.  Suddenly I had no way to reach my best friend of the early and mid nineties.  And it remained that way for somewhere around 16 or 18 years.  Until 3 weeks ago.

See, Sammi also attended my other friends' wedding that I referred to a couple posts ago as another friend's date.  When I was going through those pictures I was again reminded of her and mentioned her to my wife.  So my wife looked for her on farcebook - and found her!

I have looked for Sammi on and off over the years with no success, and now there she was on my wife's phone.  My wife sent her a message that day.  We waited a week with no response so I wrote up a short note with my contact information and had my wife paste it in a message to Sammi.  Again, we waited a week with no response.  So yesterday I again composed a short note, expressing my confusion and hurt but I would respect her wishes.  And again I had my wife send it to Sammi.  So that's where it stands.

Or actually, that is where it stood.  I just took the liberty of glancing at farcebook under my wife's account on the off chance Sammi replied.  There was no reply so I glanced at Sammi's page and saw this, the screenshot on the right, posted a few hours after I had my wife send my last note.  Nice big 'YUP' right there.  I don't know why she feels that way.  I didn't think we were ever on bad terms.  I'm just, at a loss for words, so there will be no more words.  I hope we never meet face to face again, now.  Wouldn't that be awkward?

A long time ago I lost touch with a friend, but now I have truly lost that friend.

HS Reunion Recap

Yes, well, good thing I went in with low expectations.  Actually that is incorrect, I went in with no expectations.  Either way, I was not disappointed.

Of what I'm guessing was 120-130 graduates, there were around 20 in attendance:

The core group should not have come as a surprise if I would have really considered.  It was the jocks and the cheerleaders, of course.  They did all seem nice enough - and I recognized many, but not most.  And that was the same for me, few recognized me, most not.  But everyone was very cordial to me and my wife.  It did kind of seem like many of these people were still friends and had seen each other at least somewhat recently.  Well, we had made the trip so I felt I should also make the effort, but, um, do you know that feeling when your talking to someone who is just... elsewhere?  Someone who is trying to be nice but is just not interested?  I got that a few times.  And I can't say I blame them because I may have been that way, too.  At least everyone's cordiality recognized the effort made by the other.  But when it comes down to it, I had barely talked to most of these attendees in high school, we don't have much to discuss now.  At least at not this time and place.  Never rule out paths crossing.

The co-valedictorian (the other co- is deceased, I believe) and the salutatorian were there.  The former and spouse also were the most likely to tell you every detail about who they've worked for and where they've lived and every intimate detail you never asked about.  I had to extricate myself from her and her spouse's one-sided conversations first, then once somewhat established elsewhere go back in and rescue my wife from their never ending conversation-about-themselves tag team.  My wife was a sport about it.  The latter was rather nicer, and easier to deal with, but he still had his agenda.  He had to let me know things I didn't ask, dropping company names and cities.  But I was actually more comfortable with him than others there.

And then there were a few guys that seemed like regular dudes.  Given time and a different atmosphere we would probably get on well and do what guys do.  That would also have to include my friend Gary, that I enjoyed seeing last week.  It was nice to see him once more while he was here in Wisconsin.

The girl who organized the event is a grade younger.  Her sister is in my class, though.  She knew my Mom and praised her for something or other (I was still trying to figure out who the hell she was!).  Gary did tell me some about it earlier in the week, and showed me pics from farcebook, but I still had a hard time wrapping my brain around the long forgotten names and the faces that went with them. The organizer also knew a good friend of my Mom's who, I guess, just happened to be dining at the restaurant.  She told me to say 'hi' to my Mom but I forgot her name.  One of your Rah-Rah Sisters, Mom, and she was tiny.  There you go.

So that was that and off we went early, I think the first to leave.  (When we left the DJ was playing to an empty private room, poor guy.  Still gets paid though.  After eating we had all moved out to the bar area.)  We never intended to stay too late in the evening, I always like to get home sooner than later.  Though I'm sure others who had rooms may have had fun for a few more hours.  That could have been interesting, staying late and watching all loosen up with the refreshments!  On the other hand, I was glad to get home and stay removed from that part of my life.


On a final note - Yes, it has been pointed out to me how my hair looks much the same in the then and now pictures in the last post.   I even thought it kinda odd/funny.  But since then I have cut it all off - twice - and had other, if transitional, looks.  Everything comes full circle, and I do like my hair long.

So, that's that, then.

Friend Then, Friend Now

Although it did not work out last Saturday, my friend Gary was able to come up on Wednesday evening for a visit.  It was great to see him, it had been a long time!  Probably more than 10 years.  It was kind of last minute, yet expected.  I called him from work that morning and he stopped by shortly after I got home from work.  I introduced him to sour beer, we went up to the MaltHouse for another, came back and ordered food,  and just visited.  He's had a hell of time this past year and more - I had mentioned that he lost his lovely wife - but he seems like he is doing well.  We didn't run out of things to talk about but I did notice us get quiet once when the TV was on so we moved to the computer and played with music files.  He stayed the night so we had filled the old air mattress for him, and he left the next morning when I had to go to work.  It seemed to go by so fast, but I will see him again tonight at the class reunion before he goes back to Texas on Monday.

Mike, Me and Gary

Since Wednesday I've dug out some old pictures, trying to find old pictures of me and him, and I also dug out my old yearbooks to remind myself who the heck was in my class.  I went through the yearbook for a while this morning.  Wow.  Before looking I may have been able to bring about a third of the classmates to mind even if I couldn't remember the name.  Looking at the yearbook reminded me of people that I have not ever thought about in 30 years.  I guess I'll find out how many will be there tonight.  I foresee many, many re-introductions.

1993, Gary's Wedding.  His brother Greg on right.

In the old pictures here (and I can't believe I'm actually posting them) there is a third, our good friend Mike.  Mike is in Michigan now.  The three of us did lots together, especially the last year of high school, and kept in touch for a long time after high school.  For the most part we have always been in touch, but it has been tough the last 10 years.  They've been married, raising kids, and making a living and our paths have led in different directions a bit.  We're still in touch now, that's what matters.

Very early 90's at the Black Bear Lounge.  Figured out who the ham was yet?

Old Friends And Classmates

This has been one of those Summer weekends that I'll wish I had back come October or November.  It is hot and sunny and I have been pretty lazy yesterday and today.  I did get a couple small projects done, then headed straight back in to the air conditioning.  When I'm running out of time outside before the snowfall this Winter I'll wish I had this time back, but rest and relaxation is important, too!

An old high school friend, Gary, came back to the area from several states away this week.  He has a family reunion, some business and personal matters to attend to and then our class reunion is next weekend.  We originally planned for him to come by yesterday afternoon and spend the night last night but plans changed, and understandably so.  I've seen him only a couple times in the last 20 years and am looking forward to seeing him again.  Unfortunately, he lost his lovely wife of over 20 years late last year so he has some things to take care of while he's in Wisconsin.   I know I will see him at the reunion but hopefully we can get together some evening this week. I think it would be nice to spend some personal time together catching up before dealing with old high school classmates.

We also have a classmate/old friend, Lane, that lives right here in Madison that I am not normally in touch with.  Actually, we may have bumped into each other once or twice but other than that he's never returned my calls or emails whenever I happened  to reach out to him.  I called him from work one day last week to once again let him know that Gary would be in town and to try to get the three of us together.  Gary was better friends with him than I in high school and was hoping to see him, too, so I had been trying to facilitate and had called and emailed Lane with no response.  When I left a message this time I ended by saying that "you never respond when I try to contact you so I'm not calling again."  Then I deleted his number and email from my phone.  Guess who called later that night?  Oh, it was good to talk to him finally, and I will try to get us all together this week, but I'm pretty much done with him for good after this.  No response - especially repeatedly - is disrespect, in my book.

So next weekend is the 30th class reunion.  As I've mentioned, I have never been to a reunion of my class.  Most all of those I graduated with I have not seen since - and haven't missed.  So, why am I going?  Well, I already paid the fifty bucks.  And it has been 30 years now.  I did not grow up with these people, having moved to town for the seventh grade, and I've always felt like an outsider with them.  I expect I will feel much the same at the reunion, but I don't have anything more than that 50 bucks and my time next weekend invested in this.  I will go, smile a lot (hopefully genuinely), shake a lot of hands and make it back home long before I turn into a pumpkin.  So, besides wanting to see Gary, I guess I am going for the novelty of the occasion.  My expectations are purposely low so I shall not be disappointed.

Craft Brew Dinner #4

Last night was Dexter's Pub's Heritage Series Craft Brew Dinner number 6, #2 was canceled and #3 we skipped.  This month's craft brewery was the local Capital Brewery, from nearby Middleton, Wisconsin.  Six courses of good beer and food!  Surprisingly, less seats were sold for this dinner - sixteen - than the usual 20 spots available.  That may be because the brewery was very local and people are already familiar, or just because it is Summer and there are other things to do.  No matter, we had a good time.  Once again we were joined by my friend Ted, a craft beer connoisseur - especially compared to me.

The first beer I was very familiar with because it was the quarter barrel we got for our party a month or two ago, Capital Amber.  Ambers are good for a middle-of-the-road type beer.  There was also an IPA for one course.  I've said it before but I just don't like the perfume-y smell and taste of IPAs and unfortunately they are the popular thing now, I blame the hipsters.  At least the hipsters that have graduated from - gag - Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Pabst was a cheap beer that my dad drank when I was a kid, and it's still cheap but somehow super popular again.  And then there was also what seems to be a mandatory coffee flavored beer.  Again, I'm not a fan, but I was in the minority.  I've never been a coffee drinker because I hate the taste and putting it in beer does not change that for me.  There were no sour beers presented last night, I don't think Capital even makes one.  My wife and I have been paying attention and seeking them out recently.  Who knew we'd like the sour beers, but we do.  No, whiskey, I have not forgotten about you...

The food was a good six courses, four of which I could have considered a dessert.  First the popcorn with infused garlic scape butter was the welcome course.  The next course was a spinach salad with feta, candied pecans, strawberries and a sweet lemon cilantro vinaigrette made with the accompanying beer, a golden lager.  This salad was maybe my favorite part of the meal, I wish they would have it on the regular menu.  The fourth course was a chilled cherry soup with creme fraiche and slivered almonds.  Again, very sweet, almost too much so for a 'soup.'  And finally the actual dessert, raspberry cream puffs.  So four of the six courses appealed to my sweet tooth nicely.  The other courses, pepperjack cheese curds and the main course were very good, too.  The main course was bourbon and bbq glazed slow-roasted ribs with Wisconsin street corn and corn muffins with honey butter.  It makes me hungry again just thinking about the meal!

All in all, we had a very good time.  The representative for Capital Brewery was actually one of the local female brewmasters that had been featured last month during Madison's Craft Beer Week.  She discussed some history of the brewery as well as it's expansion, ideas for new beers and how she came up with some of the names. We'd probably rank it as the second best of the four we attended.  We still like the first time best, but maybe because it was the first time - and my wife's birthday.  Again it was a lot of food and we were stuffed when we left.  Not a complaint, mind you.  In fact, there's still some leftover ribs and a corn muffin in the refrigerator that will not see tomorrow!

Craft Brew Dinner #3

Once again we enjoyed one of  Dexter's Pub's Heritage Series dinner events, their 5th overall - the second one was canceled and we skipped the third one (Goose Island Brewery) because we didn't care much for the menu.  It happened this past Monday evening, I just totally forgot to write about it all week.  We were once again joined by my friend Ted, and we ran into a co-worker of his and his wife/girlfriend.  They were a very nice couple, fun and talkative, easy to like.  The brewery featured this month was Alaskan Brewing Co. so the food kind of followed an Alaskan theme with salmon pate and bear sausage among the dishes.  Overall  a good 6 courses, we were satisfied and full by the end.  I wasn't even able to finish the chocolate pound cake that was for dessert!  Ted's friends had a good idea, they brought to-go containers to take some of the food home.  Of course, Dexter's Pub has to-go containers anyway but I've never thought to use them at one of these dinners.

The beers we tried were good but nothing exceptional.  There were two IPAs, one a double IPA that I just couldn't get down.  My wife and I are not hops fans normally and I found the double IPA to be very perfume-y for my taste.  There were no sour beers at this dinner (but we had a couple last night at Malt House, including an 18 dollar, 750 ml bottle of local New Glarus Brewing's Serendipity.)  I guess I'm really starting to like the sour beers.

The Alaskan Brewing Company's representative was a young woman, Megan, who had her two kids there to 'help' and her parents showed up late as the dinner was beginning.  It actually wasn't terribly annoying, but in my opinion I would have liked a bit more professionalism.  We were spending 45 bucks a head for dinner, after all.  I enjoy when they give you more history of the brewery and the beers they serve you.  One brewery even had a slide show of the brewery and such playing on a nearby TV and the rep would point out certain things as he discussed them.  There was no free pint glass for us like the other dinners, but she did do some trivia and gave away some brewery swag and Dexter's gift certificates.  Overall another very nice dinner.  Probably ranks third of the three we have been to, but still a very good time.

Spring Party 2015

Art provided by the neighborhood kids

We had our annual spring party on Saturday.  We missed last year due to personal reasons but otherwise have had a spring party every year since we bought the house.  Again we invited friends, neighbors and some co-workers to come by for Bratwurst, apple baked beans, several salads and this year we got a quarter barrel of beer - Wisconsin Amber from the local Capital Brewery.  I grilled up 60 brats as usual and had the garage all cleaned and set up for the food line and tried to make as much space as I could in case we all had to huddle there.  The weather was not ideal, up and down in the 50's, and while it started out pretty damp it did clear up as the party went on.  It was nice to see all the people that did show up, despite the weather.

We actually were not sure what to expect this year.  We had skipped the year before and all week the weather was looking iffy for Saturday.  We had ordered the 1/4 barrel of beer the weekend before, then I got a call mid-week saying they could not get a 1/4 barrel of this amber beer but they could get a 1/6 barrel, 56-12 oz beers.  I agreed readily with the weather on my mind.  Then on Saturday I went to pick it up and they said 'good news, we got your 1/4 barrel!'  Well, I was thinking, I was happy with 1/6 barrel and did not appreciate the switch back without being informed, but I took it.  Turns out that even with the less than ideal weather we would have run out with the smaller keg.  I also thought it odd that we went through all that beer but only half the brats.  I'll chalk that up to better beer and to the ever-growing vegetarian population of the neighborhood.  As one of the cute little neighborhood girls told me, it's not that she doesn't like meat but she doesn't like that it comes from animals.  I can't argue with that.

Beer Drunk and Disappointed

It was only after the party when it was down to me and Kate with only two other people that I realized I had not taken a single picture all night.  I was drunk on beer and very disappointed in myself.  Bridget caught my disappointment on her phone and emailed it to me, right.  Oh well, I'll have to try to remember next year.  And I honestly cannot remember the last time I got drunk on beer.  I'll taste beer and even have a beer, it's been happening more and more lately, but beer is not my first drink of choice.

Next day, killin' the keg!

The next day we finished off the Wisconsin Amber, there were only a half dozen or so glasses left in the barrel.  I got a picture of Kate, left, getting one of those last glasses.  And I got a picture of one thing that we have not had at our home yet, sidewalk chalk!  Some of the neighborhood kids created art on our driveway, picture above, and sidewalk during the party yesterday.  For some reason I felt almost honored, happy they felt comfortable enough to do so and not worry about the big scary man getting angry.  I did have to joke with a couple of the neighbor dads about reporting the vandalism, we laughed and got another beer.

Everyone seemed to have a good time even if it was a bit chilly and windy.  I would have liked to talk to each a bit more but that is hard when your are the host, you are the one thing that all those invited have in common.  We did not have a firepit afterwards like we have always done in the past because it makes for such a long day.  Still, we had plenty of fun and enjoyment to last until next spring!  Or at least next weekend!

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On a personal note I would like to send out my best wishes to my father who just had a pacemaker installed and, separately, to my mother who is recovering from knee replacement surgery.  See, it's not just me, the whole family is falling apart!

Vacation, Beer and Chocolate

I've been on vacation this past week, taking it easy and getting a project done here and there when the weather has allowed.  No big project this time, just a few little things.  Finally got the power washer out and washed the house and back steps, 4 days later the rains subsided long enough for the steps to dry enough for me to water seal them.  I still want to add another coat but, alas, it continues to rain.  Other odd things here and there got done, but the one big thing I put off for later - building a platform for the washer and dryer downstairs.  I have all the wood, just need the time and gumption to get it done.

Last night we went with friends to the Goodman Community Center for a Beer and Chocolate tasting fundraiser.  They had the gymnasium opened up and there were about a dozen different local craft breweries and about the same number of local chocolatiers set up and handing out samples of their goods.  While they did have suggested pairings it was pretty busy and a bit chaotic to try to follow all evening.  I filled my card and tried all the sweets available but my wife hit the chocolate wall before she managed.  I did not try all the brews but I do believe I tried all that I had a chance of liking.  One stood out to me, Unshadowed by Ale Asylum.  It was a hazy yellowish beer that had hints of a sour beer but it was not one.  I'm told it is available in local grocery stores so I may have to try it again later.  A suggestion for the event would be to make garbage cans more widely available and require food tables to provide napkins.  On second thought, I guess if you don't give out napkins you don't need a place to throw them away, right?  Mmm, sticky...

We went with our friends Terry, Bridget and Zubin.  Getting them all to look good for the camera was like herding cats.  Zubin is always difficult to nail down, he has googly eyes in this pic.  Time to grow up and get over it Z!  We had a nice evening of friends, beer, chocolate and even live music.  Thankfully the weather held off, I hope it does this afternoon as well...

Craft Brew Dinner #2

Last night was the fourth Heritage Series event at Dexter's Pub, featuring a six course dinner and different beers with each course.  We had gone to the first dinner back in January and had a real good time.  The second dinner was canceled.  The third we opted not to go to due to my wife was disgusted with a goose liver course - there's a fancy name for it that I forget now (I'm sure I wouldn't have eaten it either).  So this was the fourth dinner and featured a craft brewery from northern California, Anderson Valley Brewing Company, providing the refreshments.

As regular readers know, I am normally not a big beer connoisseur, but I do have fun with this event and tasting different brews with different foods.  Also, my wife and I have found we rather like the sour brews, and there were two featured with dinner. a lighter one with the first course and a much more sour one called The Kimmie, The Yink & The Holy Goze to go with dessert.  The beer rep did give us some back story on the brewery and explained each brew as it was presented.  The chef also came out with the courses explaining why he picked the dish to go with that particular brew.  Informative and tasty, too!

We had two friends along, Ted and Steve/Bob (don't ask), who are members of the local home brewer's guild and definitely know their way around a stout to an ale, IPAs to sour brews, and much more than I will ever know.  Although it can be like listening to a different language sometimes, I do like listening to my friend Ted and other beer people talk beer, and I enjoy the enthusiasm they always display.  So, they seemed to have a good time as well.

Anyway, my wife and I had much fun for a Monday night and I was still in bed on time with no ill effects this morning (while my wife planned today off, you know, just in case!).  Next month there is no Heritage Series dinner at Dexter's due to Madison Craft Beer Week and all the festivities that go with that, but June is Alaskan Brewing Company and July features the local Capitol Brewery from Middleton, WI, right next door.  Honestly, the menu dictates our wanting to go to these events.  Almost any craft brewery good enough to be featured will be interesting to us to try with different foods.

❄Oh, and it snowed today, Tuesday, 21 April, 2015.  No accumulations, just flurries.  Certainly not unheard of in this area, but it was tee shirt weather just this past weekend!  It may as well have been a day in late November today.  Ya gotta love Wisconsin in the Springtime!  Um.  Well, I don't have to love it but I gotta live with it!

Valentine's Day Dinner

On Valentine's Day I went to dinner with three lovely young women, my wife Kate, her friend Terry and Terry's sister Becky.  In reality, I wasn't lucky enough to have three dates for the holiday, but I was lucky enough to tag along for a different dining experience at the Bourbon Street Grille - on the south side of Madison and located on the Yahara River - on what just happened to be the heart-y holiday evening.

Have you ever heard of a pasta board?


Me neither.  And while it was good, it was still eating spaghetti and meatballs off the table.

Actually, it is a specially treated board that covers the table and I'm sure they wash it very thoroughly.  The recipe for the sauce was supposedly bought from a local legendary Italian place that is no longer, and it was very good.  The meatballs were large and fine-tasting.  The pasta was just pasta and the salad and bread were just okay.

The whole thing about this by-reservation-only dinner is the novelty of eating off the table.  You use the pasta spoon to pull a pile in front of you and still have your sides and drinks beside it on the table.  I'm not really trying to knock it, but now that I've had the dinner for myself, it is still just eating pasta off the table.  We actually did have a good time while doing so and because Terry got a great groupon deal it was not expensive, thank you for dinner, Terry!  Overall, though, I don't really see myself needing to ever to do that again.

Sorry for the blurry pics, I hate the camera on my phone but that is for another post.

Happy New Year 2015

I know I said there was going to be an end of the year rant coming, I guess I just don't have a rant in me right now.  However, it has been some time since I've written much of anything so how about another 'This and Thats' post!

• After a very cold November, December has thankfully been much more seasonable.  All the snow we had was melted by the middle of the month, so we did not have a white christmas - not that I mind at all.  We will be ringing in the new year much cooler starting, well, now.  It was -1º F when I left for work this morning.  Thats about -18º C for my friends outside America.  
• This short "break" I have taken from blogging has been good for me.  In fact, I'm tempted to extend it but I need to write/rant/unload sometimes and, after all, I do enjoy it.  In this time away I have cut down on podcasts and websites that I had almost obsessively kept up on before, so I managed some more time in the living room in the evenings with my wife, and I'm working on reading my first book in several months (I'm The Man by Scott Ian from the band Anthrax). I'm sure I would have cut down my computer time even more but I have been reading a lot of sports sites.  The Packers are entering the playoffs, the Badgers football team plays in the Outback Bowl tomorrow and basketball season is under way with the Badgers a top 5 team in the country.  It's usually a good thing to be a fan of sports teams from Wisconsin.  We may not win championships every year, but we seem to have a realistic shot every year after year.
• Let's see, weather - check, address the break - check, sports bragging - check, um.  See, I had a couple interruptions from typing so now I have to gather my thoughts again.  A sign of getting older?  Maybe, so is wanting to stay home on new year's eve, some say.  Okay, back on track now, let's talk about that!
• Tonight.  New Year's Eve 2015.  My wife has allowed me to stay home tonight.  It was much less dramatic than the last few years.  Without looking back to what I've written, we seem to have had a pre-party here and then gone out to the same local tavern for the last several years.  While I have had a lot of fun doing that, despite sometimes being a 'whiny little bitch' about it - as my wife said I wrote last year - I am finally staying home this year.  I hope to ring in the new year in my sleep.  I think this is the 5th consecutive year that the Badgers have played in a new year's day game and I will finally be able to feel good, energetic, and be able to really enjoy a few drinks during the game instead of just having a couple 'hair of the dog' drinks to try and enjoy our college football's last hurrah for the season.  I have actual errands to get done before the game, too.  Back on topic, though, less friends will be out this year anyway, no one says we all have to do the same thing every year.  I do feel a bit bad because I will not get to kiss my wonderful wife at midnight, though...
• The water heater has been leaking a bit.  It started several weeks ago, actually, and has gotten progressively a bit worse.  When we bought the house the inspection said that it was toward the end of its useful life.  That was over 5 years ago.  Plus, stupid me had no idea there was maintenance for me to drain it clear twice a year.  So anyway, the plumbers are showing up here in a few days to install a new water heater.  While they're here I have a couple other odd little jobs for them, too.   Hell, if you have a plumber at the house you better address all issues that day - to save money, of course.  We don't really have other issues other than I want to be able to remove the bathtub drain plug for snaking hair - I've tried but it is old and I can't remove it as it should be able to be removed so want a pro to make it so.  Also, we want to get a water filter for under our sink so we don't have to filter our cooking, ice and drinking water through a pitcher filter anymore.  Certainly not an absolute necessity in our city, just really our strong preference.  I will have to work that day but my lovely wife has off to host the plumbers and oversee their work.  I wish I could be here but I do trust this local company to get things done right, they have helped us out before.
• I didn't post about Christmas, but we did have a very enjoyable early one with my Mom and Dan and my sister Kelly and her kids James and Lindsey.  My brother couldn't make it with his family unfortunately or it could have been probably the best holiday with my sibs and nieces and nephews in forever.  In otherwords, I was disappointed it didn't work out that we all were there at the same time, oh well, what works out best for us does not always work best for others.  On Christmas Eve we had a nice evening with the my wife's family at her sister's house, the one with our 3 nephews.  All seemed to have a good time and some good gifts were given.  It is all for the kids to us these days, and I do enjoy these kids, the youngest is a sport.  It is kind of fun trying to get them the perfect gift for $$ dollars, and only $$ and not $$$ dollars.  They're kids, after all.
• I also found out that a good high school friend's wife passed from cancer very recently.  My contact info for him is out of date.  We kept in touch after high school, I was in his wedding, and we remain friends for many years but I have not talked to him in several.  I'm not sure what I would say right now, anyway, but I'd like to let him know that I'm thinking of him and his family.  RIP Becky.

I've been writing this post now over several hours now.  More typing than I thought I would do tonight and I have had other things going on.  My wife just left to go out with a couple friends for the next few hours and I expect to be in bed by 10, okay 10:30 at the latest.  Hmm, this posting should be delayed a bit maybe.  I do really, really, really want a good nights sleep tonight and I want to be up fairly early for errands and chores before the 11:00 am Badger game so I can have the rest of the holiday for relaxation - basically enjoy it while I can because mandatory overtime at work is almost inevitable after this week.

Happy New Year to you all.  The ones I read, the ones I love, all my friends and all of you who take the time to read me.  Whether you comment or not, I can see you're there.  Thank you.