Yes, it snowed here

Looks like we wound up with about 18" of new stuff Tuesday night and Wednesday, on top of about 10" left from the weekend (we got about 15" in that storm and it melted and settled down about 5" since Saturday).
First snowfall was wet and heavy, about 6"; we shoveled that Wednesday morning, and then there was just some spitty sleet till about noon. I drove into Newtown, roads weren't too bad; looked around a bit, had a Pretty Things Baby Tree at Isaac Newton's, then went home and "avoided travel" as the State Police started to advise.

That's when the snow started again, and by about 3 we were getting almost 2" an hour. First branches broke off the pine trees around 4; I'd been shaking them, but couldn't keep up (I was getting out there using the paths Penderyn had made through the snow!). We lost power for about a minute around 6:00 and got nervous, but that was all that happened. (Over 100,000 are out of power in the area.) Cathy thinks it's because we live across the street from the hospital. The snow pretty much petered out around 9:00. About 10:00 there was a sound like a gunshot out back; I think that's when the big branch broke off the pine; there was a 6" one down this morning without much snow drifted over it.

We shoveled for about an hour this morning to get the driveway clear (our neighbor did the sidewalks with his snowblower; gotta get him a sixpack!), and I made the mistake of taking the Jetta out to get the snow off it out in the road...didn't I get it stuck just as the ambulance that had been sitting down the street for half an hour wanted to leave? Yes, I did.

Panic ensues, shovels fly, Cathy remembered a bag of sand in the garage, and I managed to get it up the street into a clear driveway I'd seen when I was out taking pictures at sunrise. I left it there, the ambulance left, we shoveled the driveway wider, and I got the Jetta back in without further problems. And Cathy never even said "I told you so," which she had.
Never did get the high winds, they stayed south. It's just sunny and pretty now, and the snow's falling off the trees. No school, of course, they're still plowing, and Cathy's working from home. I'm still writing the book, just taking a break.

House Full O' Corgis

By the way, in case I forgot to mention it in the Massachusetts posts?

We missed the dogs.

Nora and I went and picked them up this morning, and it was a wonderful reunion. "I can just let him go, he'll run to you, won't he?" the woman at the kennel said (Pen's been there more than a few times). Sure, I said, and braced myself. He ran right past me, to the car! Sat at the door, waiting to get in. Smart boy. Oh, it's good to have them back.

More Saints at the Grey Lodge

I whimpered a bit to Scoats that while he was celebrating saint's days -- St. Patrick's Day (of course), St. George's Day, and St. Andrew's Day -- he was missing -- in this very Welsh region -- St. David's Day. There are Welsh beers available, after all, and the Welsh whisky -- excuse me, wisgi -- Penderyn. (Which is an excuse to run a picture of my good Welsh boy.)

Well, not only did Scoats agree that March 1 of next year would see a St. David's Day celebration at the Grey Lodge, he one-upped me. This Wednesday, June 24th, will be St. Jean-Baptiste Day (hell, I didn't know there was a Grey Lodge blog!) at the Grey Lodge, a celebration of the patron saint of Quebec.

There will be a bunch of Unibroue beers -- always cause for a celebration -- and authentic poutine: 'authentic' meaning the fries are the G-Lodge's fresh-cut double-cooked fries, the cheese curds are real cheese curds, and -- again, that one-upmanship! -- the brown gravy is made with Unibroue Don de Dieu. French-speaking gravy! If you thought the whole "freedom fries" thing was absolutely ridiculous, this is your chance to get some seriously French fries. No Montreal smoked meat, unfortunately -- next year, Scoats says -- but they will have smoked pork with maple onions, and pork and beans: homeboy Quebecois food, I guess.

Je me souviens! I will remember this, Scoats: see you in March, and maybe on Wednesday, too. Sante!

Gratuitous Corgis

Two Corgis. Good day.

At Home-Two-Dogs

I've got a new work adventure starting today...Cathy started her new job (in Pennsylvania, first time she's ever worked in PA, and it's a much shorter commute), and I've got the dogs full-time. Hoo, boy.

We started the day with a FRAP, of which I managed to get the picture at the left (it doesn't really do things justice, until you take a closer look and realize that Pen's moving so fast that he's leaning left into the turn). They tore around the dining room table, probably about 12 times before they took off into the living room and up the stairs, which led to me having to retrieve Maud; she's all confident on going up stairs, but she doesn't do down yet. Then they went outside, and I checked e-mail and blog comments. Then as I was finally about to get down to writing, they wanted back in.

Which is when we had this cute little Rodney King moment you see in the second picture, two dogs chewing pretty peacefully on the same bone. "Please, we can get along here. We all can get along. I mean, we’re all stuck here for a while. Let’s try to work it out." It's just a bone, you know?

And now, ten minutes later, they've both collapsed into naps. Whew. Time to get to work!

Say hello to Maud

We took a drive with Nora today, the last act of The Maud Hunt. Ever since about three months after we got Penderyn, Cathy's been agitating for a second Corgi, a female, that she could name Maud. I'm not sure why, to tell the truth, but she is my wife, and I love her, so we hunted, on and off, for a female Corgi. We finally honed it down to wanting a tri-color, a Corgi with black, brown, and white hair (which means her shedding will now show up on everything we own, but hey, whatever). And after the holidays were over, and Cathy's job situation was secure, we started looking.

After looking at two great-looking litters right on the Lancaster-Chester county line (both raised in homes by families, no puppy mills), we made a very tough decision (which, um, included serious consideration of some great little non-tri-color pups...) and chose the little beauty you see here. We stopped by my folks to show them the new addition, then brought her home to meet Penderyn. He was a bit anxious at first, and curious, but they've settled down already after less than an hour.

Sigh. We must be nuts, but puppy time is here. Better get me a beer.

Dogfight

Not about beer, just fun. We were at my mother-in-law's over the weekend, up in Newark, NY. We took Penderyn along, my mother-in-law has a peppy young Springer Spaniel named Cooper, and Cathy's brother Curt, who's currently sharing the large house, has a very well-behaved older dog, Bailey. Penderyn and Cooper have always tussled; Cooper's an instigator, and Penderyn's happy to respond, and they tumble and FRAP and wrassle. Bailey's not so quick to join in, but when she does, she's very vocal, and since she is the biggest of the three, she can seem intimidating, even though she's a sweetheart by nature.

Anyway, Sunday afternoon we were hanging out, watching the kids play Guitar Hero, and the dogs got into a full-scale tumbling, barking, scrambling playfest, Bailey and Cooper snarling and grappling, Penderyn dashing around the edges and nipping in to grab a quick bite and running out, barking and leaping...and Thomas says, "Good God, it's like Christmas at Michael Vick's house." It was just too good a line not to share.

The picture is Penderyn on the way home, when he insisted on climbing up on top of my backpack in the backseat of the Passat, I assume so he could get a better view of the Finger Lakes countryside. Or maybe it's just a Welsh thing to climb, I dunno.

A New Look

I wanted to let the local folks know that I have a new look. I got new glasses on Saturday, with my first non-wireframes in about 15 years. Aside from the new frames, the new lenses are wonderful. I no longer have to take my glasses off to read or do fine work, and looking at things in the middle-distance doesn't give me a headache. I like it.

Penderyn, well, he's not so sure. Maybe he thinks I'm hypnotizing him into never jumping up on the new couch again. I would, if I thought it would work.

The BBQ Beat Goes On...

As promised, Jay Brooks and I headed out early to Allen & Son outside of Chapel Hill on Saturday morning, and also as promised, we got us some serious pig. Allen & Son was every bit as good as it was last year, although Jay and I disagreed on the fries: he likes them crispy, me, I really like a good meaty fresh-cut fry where you can taste the flavor and texture of the potato. Jay called this "soggy." To each his own, I guess (even though I know damn well I'm right). Minerva took us by kind of an ass-backwards route, but eventually we got there, about 10:10 AM.

I got Brunswick stew and pulled pork, Jay just pork. The stew was okay, sweeter than I like, but with a nice smokiness from the meat. The meat...I have been told that NC BBQ is more about the meat, the pork than anything else: sauce, sides, or smoke. To quote a wiser...no, better...no, taller man than I, that's crazy talk. Smoke in the meat. That's what makes this great BBQ. Many NC barbeque places have gone to electric or gas "pits" and the lack of smoke in their meat has been rationalized: it's about tender pork and the vinegar sauce, we're told. Well, as I found at the Barbecue Lodge, that can be good, but it's not fantastic, like this stuff was.

And it was. I'd describe it, but I've already wet myself once. Jay ordered some peanut butter pie -- he has addiction issues in that corner, though he did say this one could have been more intensely peanutted -- and I went to the counter to get Penderyn another BBQ bone. I need a bone for my dog, I said. Oh, says Karsten, our waitress, what kind of dog do you-all have? A Corgi, I said, in fact, I sent you a letter about him saving my life and you were kind enough to send him some -- "I remember him! I sent you those bones! How is he?" she squealed. We talked dogs a bit, and I left, grinning.

Well, we felt so good, I easily talked Jay into whipping over to Raleigh for more barbecue at Ole Time Barbecue outside of Raleigh. (That's not a picture of how I rammed the Passat into a schoolbus, by the way: that's what their joint looks like!) A great idea, for many reasons. First, it was a gorgeous early October day and a fun ride. Second, the pork was a very close second to Allen & Son, smoky and delicious, even without their quite nice sauce. (The fries...not so good. Wedges. Yuk. But I had boiled cabbage, which was perfect.) Third, the sweet tea rocked, made fresh, and re-filled fast and often (and when we were ready to go, our waitress topped us up and capped-and-strawed it for us). Finally, two barbecue lunches/breakfasts (first eats of the day!) gave us a solid drinking base when we headed back to the festival.

In short, Saturday's barbecue experiences were every bit as exceptional as Friday's had been unexceptional. Saved the trip for me, by golly.

More to come on the festival, my talk, and session beer in Virginia.

Just Write, She Said

The latest poll -- which actually was just a bagatelle, something I threw up to make sure Blogger was working -- attracted a fair amount of interest. About a quarter of you would like me to write more about whiskey, a third would prefer I keep writing mostly about beer, while another quarter just wants me to write more often. Sounds like I'd be best off just keeping on keeping on, with maybe a bit more Penderyn: 12% of you think I need to write more about him.

You're all nuts, aren't you?

Yesterday in Toronto

Cathy and I drove up to Toronto Thursday afternoon, and after a horrible experience with downtown traffic (due largely to, of all things, a Buffalo Bills game a block from our hotel), we finally got settled in and walked up to Volo for a restorative session. I had two pints of the Durham XXX on cask -- quite nice, a bit of alefruit, mostly malt -- and a pint of Grand River Mill Race Mild -- very tasty, with a good edge from the dark malts used -- along with our pasta dinners. We headed back for some well-earned sleep.

So, anyway, as I said, yesterday we slowly woke up (after a couple amusing/disturbing dreams I had about beer writers) and I took Cathy out on a walk down along Front Street. We passed the Hockey Hall of Fame and then got to our first destination, the wonderful St. Lawrence Market. As before, the market was almost overwhelmingly appealing, and terribly disappointing...in that we couldn't do anything with this bounty of fresh fish, beautifully fresh sausages, and the stunning array of vegetables, because we didn't have a kitchen!

I thoroughly envy the people in the area for this rich source of healthy eats-preparation...but we made do by getting a peameal sammich from the Carousel Bakery, and lord above, was it hot, juicy, and porkificently great. ("Peameal" is "Canadian bacon"... which is like explaining that DeuS is "beer.") I also got plenty of Kozlik's mustards (three jars of the Russians) and a pricey but excellent pack of "Indian candy": maple-cured salmon.

After we stopped drooling, we set out down to the Distillery district, grabbing a cup of joe at Second Cup on the way...and promptly hit Balzac's in the Distillery for more. Then it was down to Mill Street Brewery for some beer -- finally! I got an IPA that was ... hmmm, a moment and I'll come back to it; Cathy got a small Wit ("A halfwit," I chuckled/she groaned). Enjoyable atmosphere though the service was a bit slow, and the space is great: high ceilings, glass, nice fittings. The beer, though, was dull-edged, more bitter than hoppy, and just...lacking in the verve that I expect from an IPA. More about this shortly.

But for now, we had to run: Amy and John Hansell were coming in at the airport, and I'd volunteered to run out and pick them up. That was a hellride: it started pissing down rain about the time we called down to whistle up the Passat, and didn't let up. The Gardiner Expressway was slow and nasty from the heavy rain, and then it started frickin' hailing, stuff the size of small marbles! Sheesh. Things cleared up nicely, though, and soon we had them on-board, and headed back to Mill Street.

Sorry to say it was disappointing. The beer didn't get a lot better, though my Cobblestone Stout was pretty damned good, and the Coffee Porter was well done. But the Stock Ale -- sweet, and that's about it -- IPA -- "like homebrew," John said -- and ESB -- not very much differentiated from the IPA -- were ho-hummers. Kind of made me think of what I speculated about Canadian brewing after Mondiale: behind the curve. Food was only so-so too, though the service was quite a bit better this time.


We toddled about the Distillery a bit more, then I drove us back to the hotel, and we went up to the room, read a bit, got dressed up, and went out to Steve and Maggie Beaumont's wedding party. Which is why we were in Toronto. We had a good time, everyone did. And now we're getting ready to go out again, on Saturday morning. Not sure where we'll wind up, but there's a big get-together dinner planned for this evening at beerbistro...which is nice.

(Oh! I forgot to mention that we actually drove up to the Rochester area on Wednesday to drop off the kids with my wife's family, and to hand over our couch to my bro-in-law -- we just got a new one. On the way up, the serpentine belt broke on the minivan, and we limped into Binghamton. We stuffed everything into the Passat and kept rolling; the van's fixed and we're picking it up tomorrow. As you can see, the damage to the van probably resulted from letting Penderyn drive. Corgis are notoriously hard on cars.)

Penderyn gets into his food

I did say I was going to post more gratuitous pix of my dog this year... Last night we introduced him to Chinese takeout.

(That's just steamed white rice in the box, about a tablespoon and a half, and he ate about half of it, so don't freak out.)

Snow Day

We've got three inches so far, and it's still coming down; supposed to change over to freezing rain, but there are some indications that the predictions may be off on when and where that will happen...so I still have hope for more snow. Meanwhile, there's strong coffee in the pot, school's been called off, I've got a couple interviews scheduled for this morning and then just some short pieces to write this afternoon...looks like a nice day to spend some time with the dog.

And tomorrow...who knows? Might have to go relax somewhere. It's been a rough week, for personal reasons, and I think we need some down time. Meanwhile, it's always fun to watch a Corgi in the snow.

Taking a Walk

Three bottles of Yellow Tail Shiraz.

Lots and lots of Yuengling Lager.

Just newspapers. Dull.

Bud.

Deer Park, and a Sutter Home White Zin.

Lite 40s. 40s? Damn.

Lager.

Three different Saranacs!

Kendall-Jackson chardonnay.

Lager.

Sly Fox Pale Ale, Otter Creek Winter, Shiner Black, a Michelob Celebrate -- oh, wait. We're home, Penderyn.

I took the dog for a walk this morning. Just for fun, I checked out what was in the recycling bins along the street -- we've got curb-side pickup of recycling in Middletown Township. No big surprises, except for that Saranac and the 40s of Lite. Well, I guess the scarcity of light beer might be a surprise. The prevalence of Yuengling sure wasn't a surprise. I might have to do this more often.

It's my birthday and I'll bark if I want to

In keeping with my New Year's resolutions...a gratuitous picture of my Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Penderyn. The juxtaposition of pink ears and Nora's pink socks was too cute for me to pass up.

We celebrated my birthday this morning by splitting a bit of nice pork sausage from the Langhorne Cafe (I just wish they wouldn't deep-fry them...that's what the grill's for, guys!).

New Year's Resolutions

I've decided not to do my "Best Of" posting this year, the "Lew Bryson Awards." It was getting a bit forced, especially the "Best of/Worst of" SE PA listings, and I have to admit to being a bit freaked out when Appalachian put my choice of them as best PA brewpub on the side of their building back in 2006...so I'm not doing it this year.

Instead, I'm making the following New Year's Resolutions about beer and whiskey.

1. If there's a hop shortage -- and there is -- screw it: I am going to grab all the super-hoppy beers I want and can get. Hopheads who got all defensive when I talked about hoppy beers being simple? Pile on, I can take it. Just don't get between me and the IPA taps.

2. Work for a week at a bourbon distillery...if one will have me. I want to get hands-on with whiskey, and I'm working out to get in shape for it.

3. I'm going to get more involved with the Pennsylvania Brewer's Guild -- again, if they'll have me -- and learn more about legislation, lobbying, and political action.

4. Re-dedication to the Session Beer Project. You know why: I've wandered from it, and that's bad.

5. More travel -- self-funded when possible -- to the places where classic beer styles are made, to Ireland for a whiskey trip, some days before or after Chicago WhiskyFest to visit breweries in the Midwest.

6. Visit and talk to microdistillers.

7. Question beer authority. More than I have been. Go and see it made, go and taste it there, go to primary sources, stop repeating stuff someone else just made up. Be a historian again.

8. Continue to re-connect to the local and Pennsylvania beer community. I got better last year, I'm going to keep it up.

9. Do better on Beer Blogging Friday. It's fun.

10. Put even more pictures of my dog in the blog. Starting right now. (Note the Triumph growler I'm using to water the tree.)

Join me! Make your own New Year's Resolutions on beer or whiskey -- like try some whiskey! -- and drop them as a comment.

FRAP trax

We found these odd circular tracks in the new-fallen snow this morning, like someone had been running an RC 4X4 in circles in our yard. It only took a moment to determine that they weren't car tracks, rabbit tracks, or miniature railroad tracks...they were FRAP tracks.

FRAP is a Corgi enthusiast term we found back when we were thinking about a new puppy. It means "Frequent Random Acts of Play...more scientifically known as Frenetic Random Activity Periods." The best explanation I've seen comes from CorgiPants, a blog by a woman named Jenna:

Most dogs, when they are puppies, race around excitedly for seemingly no reason, flailing and turning, racing in circles and figure eights at top speed, only to stop mid circle and crash onto the ground like nothing happened. And most breeds discontinue this activity once they leave their puppy teeth on the carpet. This is called a FRAP. Corgis...FRAP their whole lives.

And believe me...Penderyn does. He was FRAPping like mad in the snow, little legs churning madly and crisp white powder flying out behind him in a twin roostertail. It was something to see.

Okay, back to booze!

He's a Hero to Me

I was working downstairs today about an hour after lunch; I had heated up a can of soup. Penderyn comes downstairs, trots over, and nudges me in the thigh; which usually means he's got to go out.

"Do you want to go out?" I asked, expecting him to run for the stairs. He just looks at me, intently, excited and quivering.

"Do you need water?" Quiver.

"Do you want dinner?" (Way too early, but I was baffled at this point.) Quiver!

Okay, I got up, and headed upstairs, Penderyn charging ahead of me. He gets halfway across the kitchen, stops, looks at me, and looks at the stove. I'd left the gas on, and the flame was out. That's when I realized that the whole first floor smelled of gas; it must have been on for almost an hour. I was amazed.

So was Pen when I scooped him up in my arms and hugged him (after opening the front and back doors!). He saved my life today. That's why he's working on a big rawhide bone right now.

Even Penderyn Loves 'Que

When I was paying for the great barbeque eating at Allen & Son, I saw a hand-lettered sign at the register: "Hickory-Smoked Bones: $1." Hey, I thought, Little Mister Dog might like that. So I got one. LMD was very excited to see me when I got home (Cathy said he'd been lying by the front door, waiting for me to come home), but when I got the bone out he got very serious.

He sniffed it all over, took it in his mouth (with substantial overlap; it was about 7" long), and trotted out into the backyard without a backwards glance. I heard gnawing noises the rest of the night till bedtime, when I had to go out and bring the little guy in...with about two inches of leftover bone. He was at it again this morning (the pic above which shows the remaining stub in his mouth), a very happy dog. 'Que, gotta love it.

It's just my life...

Not really anything about beer, or whiskey, or even drinking here, though it's going to turn into that... Apparently a deer got into our backyard sometime last night and crapped all over the place. And didn't Penderyn find it, and delightedly roll himself all through it. He smelled so bad and was so proud...

Nora held him and I scrubbed, and the pup got his first bath (Corgis shed so much they don't need bathed very often), and went right out and tried to do it again! So I got a little hand harrow and a trowel, and went around the yard and picked up about a pound and a half of deer scat. Great way to interrupt an afternoon. So I am ready for a beer!