Sunday, December 29, 2019

We Have To Go Back!

Chez Mom
Christmas Day was bright and sunny, as you can see, there was snow on the ground from the storms earlier in December. Making it, to my way of thinking, a white Christmas. Others have their own definitions, I have mine. When the ground is mostly snow covered, to me that is sufficient to the day.

The Christmas before The Nuke was born, six days before to be precise, we had a blizzard on Christmas Eve in Denver which dropped a good three feet of snow upon the Denver metro area. The ID-10-T mayor of Denver at the time decided that, as it was a weekend - Christmas was on a Saturday - that the road plowing could be put off until the following Monday. Only the major thoroughfares were plowed, crippling the city. Lowry AFB was shut down for five days, couldn't get in, couldn't get out.

That got the attention of the voters, and Bill McNichols found himself without a job after the elections held in the spring. Here's the story of how he lost his job.

Bottom line is that's the whitest Christmas I've ever seen, and it was enough for me!

Anyhoo, I digress. (The next two photos are from Christmas Eve, for those keeping score at home.)

Yes, my Mom likes cardinals.
Rather festive I thought.
After a few hours of dining and telling stories of "olden" times at my brother's house, we had to head back to Mom's (her cats were in need of sustenance). We had driven about a mile when my brother, The Musician, said, "We forgot the beer!" You see, we had brought adult libations with us as The Olde Vermonter doesn't really drink, oh he'll have the occasional hard cider but he isn't well-stocked with anything else.

I got on the horn to The Olde Vermonter and let him know that we were returning for the beer. My mother thought that this was the most ridiculous thing that she had ever heard, "It's just beer," she cried out as The Musician wheeled his vehicle around to put us on a reciprocal course. The Missus Herself also thought my brother and I to be somewhat addled in our persistence in returning for the beer.

In my mother's case this was understandable, for my father drank naught but American "classics" like Miller Lite and Bud Light, beverages which to my taste buds are suspiciously close to drinking canned water. Living in Germany for all those years gave me a taste for fancier and far more robust brews than my father knew. Mom, not being a beer person anyway, just didn't get it at all.

As we headed back to The Olde Vermonter's place, The Musician explained to our mother that this wasn't just any beer, no, this was beer which had been gifted by him to Your Humble Scribe. In truth it was a variety of beverages made from hops and barley, all of them being of the stout variety which I crave.

So we retrieved the beer, Mom still grumbled about "such nonsense" while my brother and I felt justified in our noble quest. After all, it was really good beer. This particular one surprised both of us with its tastiness. Very nice it was.


And I still have two left! Also of note is this beverage is brewed in Maine where my niece and her man have just bought a house. Good to know I have people on the ground at the source. Ya know, should I want more.

Anyhoo, the beer was rescued and we all returned to Mom's for a quiet night of sipping various stouts and watching Home Alone on the tube.

A good day indeed.



Vacation continues...



26 comments:

  1. Good Story. Beer was GIVEN as presents to both Sons. SIL is an IPA person, Little J and I are not. So...He had full control on the consumption of his gift. Little J, unfortunately, had to share his booty of Porters and Stouts with Little Old Me. But, they were great. And yes, if we'd have forgotten them, we'd have gone back to retrieve.

    Home Alone is good, but "White Christmas" is the Christmas defining movie in our house. MBD even knows that the opening scene has a historical error in it and also knows that my eyes will get a bit bleary when they surprise the General at the end.

    So...Full Speed ahead into the New Year, may it be Happy, Healthy and Prosperous to all.

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    1. Ah yes, the New Year approaches. May it be as you say.

      (For the record, I like stouts and IPAs.)

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  2. If I had a nickel for every run made with friends to "rescue" beer I could re-retire....wait ....wut? That tree is smartly decorated, Mom rates a thumbs up! As for Christmas movies, both "Home Alone" and "White Christmas" are in the mix but it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from the 30th floor of Nakatomi Plaza.

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  3. I too crave a proper stout beer. This stuff that most folks drink (wheat beers, IPA' etc..,) are just too insipid for my palate and you have piqued my interest for some Gunners Daughter. There is a package store in Lees Summit where I purchase my stout brews and the owner told me that if I can provide the name of a brew or it's manufacturer, he can order it for me. We shall see. I'm glad you had a great Christmas with your family, there are never enough of them in our lifetimes.

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    Replies
    1. Christmas was great. Lee's Summit, now that rang a bell, yup, drove by there a number of times on our way from Omaha to destinations both east and south of there.

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  4. A good friend of mine gave me a single bottle of beer for Christmas. A single bottle you ask? Well, this is a very expensive and very delicious single bottle of stout, aged in bourbon barrels. It comes from Goose Island and runs about $15 to $19 per bottle in specialty stores, and each bottle is hand dated. It's called Bourbon County Brand Stout

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    1. I seem to recall you having a fondness for beer aged in bourbon barrels. By chance is it an Imperial Stout? Those are nice but I need to be in the right mood for one, rather strong they are. But tasty.

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    2. this is a recent discovery so I'm not sure I mentioned that, but I know I mentioned my affinity for bourbon aged in barrels!

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    3. We do expect a report on that bourbon barrel aged stout.

      No rush, savor that bad boy!

      Delete
  5. Does nobody on your blog drink Porter at Christmas?

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    Replies
    1. I do. Like them quite well and consume them regularly year round.

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    2. LL - My contribution to the Christmas Eve pizza night was a six pack of Anchor Porter, love that stuff!

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    3. juvat - Loves me some porter year-round as well.

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  6. MB received a bottle of Anchor Brewing Special Ale at the Lions Club Christmas party.
    It’s special in that it has the holiday label, is the forty-second annual, and is 50.7 ounces.
    The rest of the fine print is more than I am curious about.
    Maybe, sometime today, there will be some who will venture to open and taste.
    Otherwise they will be into the Lagunitas IPA or Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
    Once upon a time it would have already been polished off.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anchor Brewing makes a very good porter, some of which my brother and I consumed over Christmas.

      The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is also nice, I first tried that at the O-Club at Lemoore.

      Delete
  7. Hopefully the distance between OV's and YM's place was not significant so the loop around back to OV's place wasn't a huge drag, like an hour or more.

    Other than that, not doing the beer thing, well, meh. Glad you were able to rescue the present, without losing fingers or spouses' patience (mom patience is usually lost anyways.)

    Snow... Bleh...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's just a few miles, not even seven as I recall.

      We just don't leave our own behind. People or presents.

      Delete
  8. I remember once hearing a guy say "it's just beer." Pretty sure he was a mud duck.

    And I danced with the Gunner's Daughter at a squadron Christmas party one time. Words to describe that experience have simply not been invented.

    Also, my Mom has a table just like your Mom's, only with a slightly different motif on the door ovals. It can be a bit tricky to move around, but DAMHIK.

    Also-Also... Denver Mayors are elected by Denver people. Don't get me started.

    Fun post and great pics!

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    Replies
    1. One could interpret "dancing with the gunner's daughter" as being close to being flogged! (Actual phrase was "kissing the gunner's daughter.") Sounds memorable though.

      Mayor kept everyone happy until that blizzard. When the chips were down, he failed. And paid the political price!

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    2. "Close to being flogged" is as near human words can come to describing the experience.

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  9. I can understand about not wanting to leave a present behind, although I am no way a beer expert. If I have a half a beer a year, it's because I mowed the lawn, and a beer just seems to taste good as long as it is nice and icy. But that Wild Turkey in the background of the beer pic...good to go!!! I'm with Tuna, I like bourbon that has been stored in bourbon barrels for a long time.

    And, yes, Mom has a beautiful tree!!!

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    1. Ah, I forgot to mention the Wild Turkey! We managed to empty that bottle by diluting it with eggnog.

      Loves me some eggnog and bourbon!

      Delete

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