Lush

Can you believe the OR Brewers Fest offers (for $25) one official tasting mug, 12 tokens (or 3 beers), an official program, and a pen? As if some beer geek is going to get so wasted on 3 festival beers that he/she needs a pen to check off their booth attendance!! There were some big time geeks there; we almost count.
Our favorite beers: Watermelon Wheat, from the 21st Amemendment Brewery in SF. Paul says it tasted like a Jolly Rancher + wheat beer! Also, the Flying Fish Dubbel Trubbel from some brewery in NJ was awesome. Taastty!

Next year we might volunteer. Free Tokens!


- Anne

Hoppy Days are Here

I guess it's time for an update on my hop vines. Over the past 2 months, they have grown to be about 12 feet in height. In the last two weeks they have started to show growths called burrs. These will eventually become the hop cones that I will use in the beer. Some of the burrs have started to show bracteoles on them (petals). According to my Homebrewers Garden book, it should only be a short time until the cones are fully developed and ready to harvest.
I have two types growing, Cascade (on the left) and Willamette (on the right). The cascade seem to be yielding much more than the Willamette. I'd guess I have about 100 burrs in total (probably only enough for 2 batches).
The first year always has a pretty low yield, but next year I will have enough that I will need to store them in the freezer. I'll do another update at harvesting time.

- Paul

Mmmm, Beer!

Yesterday we went to the Oregon Brewers Festival. It's probably the biggest one of the year. I believe they had about 75 beers on tap to try (though we couldn't possibly try them all...or could we?). It was located right on the river in downtown Portland. Besides beers to taste, there were all sorts of booths set up with information about hop growing, brewing set-ups, and brewing clubs. Very Cool!

Excuse #223

We've (okay, just me - Anne - since I'm the one who wrote that dumb "post resolution") been busted. Again.
Not that there are any excuses in there, but in a nutshell, this was our last week and a half.
Last weekend we were sooooooo productive. In the morning I taught 2 of my 19 Baby Boot Camp classes of the week (usually I do a managable 7) and Paul got groceries and cleaned the house some. We grabbed lunch at the famous Otto's Sausage place in Woodstock and then went to Paul's boss' house to buy her Window AC (just in time for the 90's on Mon.). Then we went and picked up a U-Haul & on to get our new Futon Sofa. After we came home with our new sofa, THEN we loaded up the remains of our fmr. bathroom: sink, linoleum, Throne, cabinets, bath tile, and other misc. junk. When we left the Metro Trash Center, we weighed in at 800 pounds less than when we entered. It was a very organized place, and we got to unload the trash. Paul & I took turns seeing who could launch our trash the farthest.
Whew! I think we just hung out on Sunday, leaving plenty of time to post a Blog. Instead, I just added this item to our Blog Wish List:
http://www.meowmeowboulder.com/dial-an-excuse.html
The rest of the week was a blur: I ran all over the city teaching the rest of my class schedule - got in three 1-hour workouts per day sometimes. Paul droned on to work every morning @ 5:45, and got back at 4:00. Who knows WHAT he actually does there, but he's always pretty tired. (Maybe its all that late-night Big Brother viewing).
Friday (yesterday) was neat too. I got to meet Paul's co-workers at the company picnic. It was a great deal, and fun. Paul didn't even have to go to work as long as he got to the picnic site by 10:00 for the awards presentation. After we ate they had prize drawings, a water balloon toss, Bingo, & a fun run/walk! We left at 2:00 and Paul didn't have to go back to work, fill out leave slips, or do anything like NAVO required! Welcome to the Army!
After the picnic we met a guy south of the city in Wilsonville - love the traffic: 20 miles in 90 minutes! He wanted to see our Civic that we're trying to sell. It ended up being worth the trip. He's sending a check to our bank on Monday. Yay, we're loan free! Oh yeah, except for that pesky mortgate.
So now its Saturday. We're headed to the Oregon Brew Festival on the waterfront. We'll post pictures later (but I'm not making any promises - they jinx me!).
Cheers!
- Anne

Oops

Its been 8 days since we last posted a Blog (This one counts, BTW).
We're turning over a new leaf - from now on, we'll post no less than every six days!

Our living room, the second nearly-fully complete brand spankin' new room in our house! The rug is a new (gift), the chair is new, & the couch is new. Where's Gatsby? 

Word of the Week

By the orders of W himself, I attempt to be "extra vigilant" in the coming weeks, months, or as long as it takes! I will be watchful and attempt to avoid the danger of letting this blog go un-updated for more than 6 days at a time.
Since thisone doesn't really count as a Blog, here comes one now (above).

EW! Saturday we went to Oswald West State Park on the Oregon coast. We love the drive out and the parks are so green! The weather was great, 70's & m. sunny, so we packed our lunches and did a little hike, and then visited the beach. We both agree that it was a beautiful park & fun, but that the Oceanside beach and Meares St.Park still hold first place. Check O.W. off the list! 

The trail to Cape Falcon was muddy on Sat., so we had to get creative occasionally. This tree conveniently fell directly parallel to a particularly wet 40' section of trail. Parts of the trail are steeper, and when we got home our neighbors told us that it was a popular place to take your fiance or significant other and shove them off to meet their doom. 

This is Cape Falcon, at one Spur of the Oregon Coast Trail. Off my right shoulder is the Oswald West beach. It reminds me of the one at Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica. The place where we took this picture was pretty steep, but not so much that I had to hang onto the ground. 

West Oswald's beach is a popular surfing/boogieboarding/skimboarding beach. The waves are pretty consistent, and the slope into the Pacific is pretty gradual (steeper than the MS sound though). Lots of dudes and dudettes.  

More of Mt. Huron

Just FYI everybody. We just updated the link on the right to include some more pictures of our Mt. Huron climb. We wanted everybody to get a sense of how high we actually went that day. The rafting pictures are gone, but we are including a nice time-series photo of the whole thing (Anne and her photoshop skills). If anybody wants the individual shots again, just let us know.