Remembering Mom

It's been three years now since my mom passed away. As cliché as it sounds to say, it doesn't seem that long. That's good, the memory of my mother is still fresh in my mind. I hope it stays that way.

The last day I spent with mom was just 10 days before her unexpected death. I recall standing in her kitchen chopping an onion for her. We were enjoying a laugh over my pain. How ironic that a short time after that my eyes would be filled with tears for a different reason.

That visit with my parents three years ago was to enjoy a backyard cookout with family and friends. I recall how joyful mom was that day, despite her aphasia. That's a memory I'll always cherish. It seems appropriate that today we'll once again gather at my parent's house for a family cookout, not to mourn, but to celebrate and recall mom's life. Especially her smile.

Range Time: It started out as fun

After being off the practice range for six weeks, I finally had a chance to get back out after work this afternoon. It's getting harder to get over there with the shortening days of Fall. (Is it any wonder I don't like Winter?)

I set up three USPSA targets and worked on some shooting on the move from 15 yards to the 7 yard line. After a bit of that I got to work on target transitions, from both 15 yards and 7 yards. I was enjoying getting the splits down and accuracy up, putting two hits on each target. It was a lot fun and I was having good success. I was hitting times of 3.68, 3.45, 3.78 seconds for the six shots, in the A zone. Hardly world class, but I was pleased.

I was having fun too. And then the range official showed up. Apparently there's yet another new rule; "no rapid, controlled or uncontrolled, fire." There's no definition of "rapid," it's all subjective. I was told I was fine, in his opinion. He was just warning me that other RO's might rule otherwise. And the penalty is removal from the range, and possibly loss of membership. So there's no exact definition of "rapid," but the penalties are quite specific. I guess that's the risk of belonging to a club run by "preservationists."

It was fun while it lasted.

Maybe that Powerball ticket I picked up this week will hit and I'll buy my own dirt berm somewhere.

Heavy Seas, and Heavy Seas

I've mentioned previously that I look for Heavy Seas beers when I travel outside of the Fredericksburg area. Heavy Seas, formerly Clipper City, is one of my favorite breweries, but sadly few of their beers are available locally. One of my most sought after souvenirs from the Outer Banks of North Carolina is beer from the Baltimore, MD brewery. Go figure. During our recent vacation, the beaches were closed to swimming on many of our days there due to rough water. Since I had brought along my old Heavy Seas pint glass, I frequently enjoyed Heavy Seas beer in the matching logo glass while watching the heavy seas from the deck.

I shopped at both Chip's and Trio while we were in the Outer Banks since both stores have extensive, and varied, craft beer selections. We brought home several Heavy Seas beers. (Truth be told, I brought back so much beer I couldn't fit it all in the beer fridge.) One of those beers was Heavy Seas Powder Monkey, an English-style Pale Ale. Powder Monkey the new Pale Ale in the brewery's lineup. The beer pours a hazy amber-orange with a slight head. The aroma is grain and sweet malt, with a hint of fruit. The flavor leans towards the caramel, with honey and some nutty notes.  The hop profile is grassy and bitter. Mouthfeel is doughy and slightly oily. A mild bitterness remains in the finish.

I found the flavor of this Pale Pale to be on the mild side, with the sweet malt and bitter hop aspects vying in good balance. This Heavy Seas beer might not intrigue those looking for a more hop-forward Pale Ale. However, if you like a malty influence in your Pale Ales, Powder Monkey will be to your liking.

In Lieu of Germane Content

Here's an educational video about owls.

Blue & Gray Oktoberfest

Colleen was out of town this weekend catching up with friends from college, and our son was spending Saturday with friends doing airsoft. So what's a guy to do when left to his own devices? The 11th Annual Fredericksburg Oktoberfest at Blue & Gray Brewing of course!

I ended up arriving at the brewery before kickoff time, but I ran into some friends who were there to man a table for the Ancient Order of Hibernians. I laughed at the juxtaposition of the Irish having such a strong presence at the German festival. Of course, the Irish organization's table was right next to the beer wagon, which meant I was also well situated to get my much anticipated pint of Blue & Gray Baron von Steuben Oktoberfest right at the start!

Prost!

One of my favorites from the brewery, this year's batch didn't disappoint. The aroma was sweet bready malt. The flavor is exactly what I look for in a Märzen/Oktoberfest beer. The taste is rich in caramel and bready malt, with the sweetness and bitterness in just the right balance. The finish is dry and clean. Very well-done; I think I'll have another!

I spent several hours of listening to Oompah music, watching the stein holding and beer barrel bowling contests, and talking to friends. Of course there was plenty of good food too. Frankfurters, Bratwurst, Weisswurst, Sauerbraten, Bavarian Pretzels were available for purchase. I grabbed a lunch of Weisswurst and German potato salad. Later, a large warm pretzel with spicy mustard made a tasty snack.

An afternoon rain shower didn't dampen the fun. Folks moved under the tents and continued to enjoy the activities, food and drink. The events at Blue & Gray are always fun, and family-friendly. The Oktoberfest was a great way to spend an afternoon. And I think I'll try to hit the brewpub later this week for some more of the Oktoberfest before it's gone for the season.

The Starbucks Kerfuffle

There's been a lot of chatter in the past week on the recent Starbucks statement on guns in their stores. I've read much discussion, from both the anti-freedom forces as well as the differences of opinion from gun rights advocates. I delayed posting to give the matter serious thought. Now, after absorbing it all, I find my initial reaction is unchanged.

Asbestos suit at the ready

I think Starbucks statement is offensive, undoubtedly pushed by an attorney, and sadly an attempt to be "politically correct." Those who know me, know my opinion on PC. I firmly believe we have a right to carry where, and how, we wish, and we should not be questioned while doing so. That said, I strongly feel that the "demonstrations" at Starbucks were ill-advised and did more to harm the cause than to help. Good tactics can win a battle, bad tactics can lose the war.

Showing up en masse, carrying rifles and shotguns, is really not a way to win hearts. "Because I can" might be true, but it's an excuse, not a reason. I hear comments about "normalizing" the sight of a gun in public. But face it, we had a known libtard company, and even though they really don't agree with the 2nd Amendment, they publicly stated that they would follow the law of the land with regard to guns. That's pretty much normalized right there. As thanks, a group of "activists" went out of their way to make other customers of the company feel uncomfortable. As irrational as the hoplophobe's fears are, their money spends at Starbuck's too. Frankly, I wouldn't feel comfortable walking into that "pro-gun" crowd myself, for the same reason I generally avoid gun shows.

I have no objection to "open carry," I do object to "carry for protest." I choose to carry a gun for my personal and my family's defense, and for no other reason. It's not a show. Despite the claims of "I prefer open carry as a tactic," it's obvious the "appreciation" groups showing up at Starbucks with rifles slung over their shoulders were not doing so for any self-defense needs. Heck, if someone told me they need to be in a group, armed with rifles and shotguns to buy coffee, my response would be they should find a safer place to buy coffee.

For all intents and purposes nothing has changed, other than a pointless statement, and a lot of bad publicity for gun owners. Of course this move by Starbucks will only embolden our foes. Starbucks has never specifically allowed or disallowed guns in their stores. They have said all along this not their battle, they take no sides and made following local law their policy. Some gun owners weren't happy with being allowed to carry like they always could, so they decided to make Starbucks their pawn. As expected, and as they warned, Starbucks got fed up and issued an admittedly weak and PC message. The company has not banned guns, they essentially said, again, please, leave us out of it. They have asked gun owners to refrain from opening carrying, but did not forbid it on their stores. They specifically say in their employee direction accompanying the statement that employees are NOT to ask any one to leave for carrying.

So now the anti-gunners get to play it up as a win. All because a bunch of gun advocates decided to make a "statement," instead of simply carrying their guns as they always did, to which Starbucks never objected. Why would anyone go out of their way to antagonize someone who was not restricting their rights? That's not defending your rights. It's just stupid.

Now the calls for boycotting Starbucks have switched from coming from the hoplophobes to coming from the gun rights side. I've never been much on boycotts in general. I do buy Starbuck's coffee on occasion, and will probably continue to do so. It's convenient to my travels. I happen to like my coffee on the bitter end of the scale anyway. And, I will continue to exercise my rights as I see fit. My right to self defense does not come from the 2nd Amendment, nor is it mitigated by a sign.

The pro-gun crowd can rant and rave about the new Starbucks attitude, but our side owns this one. We all know the four rules of gun safety. But some have forgotten the first rule of gun ownership, don't act like a fool.

Plumbed for Beer

With friends like this, it's never a dull day.

I suspect it's part of an advertising campaign, but looks like fun nonetheless.

Stone Tap Takeover

This week's Tap Takeover & Steal the Glass event at Capital Ale House featured the beer of Stone Brewing Company. A total of nine Stone beers were offered; Levitation Amber Ale, Pale Ale, Cali Belgique Belgian IPA, India Pale Ale, Sublimely Self Righteous Black Ale, Double Bastard Strong Ale, R&R Coconut IPA, W00tstout Imperial Stout, and 17th Anniversary IPA. The first six were also available as a flight of four ounce pours. While I've had both the Pale and IPA frequently, all the other beers intrigued me, so I opted to start off with the flight.

The first one I tried was the Levitation Amber Ale. This surprisingly hoppy beer was a very good red ale, the extra bit of pine and citrus hoppiness making for a very tasty brew. I commented several time wondering how I've missed this one in the past. Sessionable, at just 4.4% ABV, I think this one will be showing up in our beer fridge with some regularity. I skipped quickly through the Pale Ale and the IPA, since they were familiar. The remaining beers in the flight didn't disappoint, and I especially enjoyed the Sublimely Self Righteous and Double Bastard. However, I was quite ready for a full sized glass of *something*by this time. After tasting my samples, Colleen opted for the Cali Belgique, and our friend Checkered Flag chose a glass of Levitation.

Capital Ale House is serving some special Oktoberfest menu items this month. For my dinner I ordered a sausage platter of bratwurst with curry sauce, red cabbage, German potato salad and fried apples. German sausage and curry isn't something that I would have thought of putting together, but the spicy red sauce was an extremely tasty garnish to the sausages, and I sopped up every bit of it I could get off the plate.

Oh, and I did decide on a beer to go with my dinner, the W00tstout Imperial Stout. This 13% ABV beer is brewed with pecans, wheat, and rye, with one quarter aged in bourbon barrels. After taking a sip of this pitch black brew, the only thing I could say was, "Oh my!" It was all it was hyped up to be. Notes of brown sugar, molasses, dark fruit, and some nuttiness made for a complex beer. It was a fine sipper to wrap up the meal.

We had a very enjoyable evening of good beer, good food and fun conversation. And the Stone logo glasses we took home were pretty nice too!