Budde's- The Coolers Part 2

The first selection tonight is Lagunitas Brewing, the beer is Lagunitas Sucks. Why would you name a beer in that manner? Lagunitas has a very popular beer called Brown Shugga' and Lagunitas Sucks is a substitute for that beer. Lagunitas sucked because they were unable to make enough Brown Shugga' to satisfy the demand. This beer is a complex taste combination of barley, rye, wheat and oats that is dry hopped to perfection. It is not a beer for the faint of heart. At 8% alcohol it is also not a session beer. Have a couple and go home.

Finch's Beer Company and the beer is Hardcore Chimera. The Chimera according to Greek mythology was a monstrous fire breathing hybrid creature composed of parts of several animals. This beer is an American Style Imperial India Pale Ale brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Columbus, Cascade and Mosaic hops. It is 9% alcohol so if you don't want to be in a squad car blowing something for a police officer take it easy with this big beer.

This is 4 Hands Brewing beer called Key Lime Contact High. Here I am back drinking another fruit beer. It must be a trend at the moment. This one is brewed with lime zest and I must admit a very nice summer beer. Low alcohol and easy drinking. After a long day of continued retirement it is a nice escape from the day's lack of stress.

This beer is from Tighthead Brewing and is called Chilly Water Pale Ale. It is a wheat based American Pale Ale brewed with Citra and Amarillo hops. Another excellent choice when you are sitting on the front porch or deck after a long day of doing nothing constructive.

This beer is Odell Brewings Drumroll American Pale Ale. It is an unfiltered beer so for those who are accustomed to clear golden beers like Miller Lite this may be a problem. It will be cloudy and may even have some small pieces of hop leaf floating around. It is a very hop forward beer with the main hop flavor being grapefruit.

So, go out there and try something new.

Budde's- A Trip Through the Coolers

Carol and I spent some time recently back home in Illinois. It means we spent a considerable amount of time at Budde's eating pizza and drinking beer. I decided early in our visit I would drink as many different craft beers as possible during our stay. I normally go in and have two or three a night so every night I would try to have something different. The good news is that Budde's has a good selection.

I do want to say one thing before I move on to the beers. You hear people often claim to love beer. When you ask them more specifically they don't normally respond with a style of beer like stout, porter, or pale ale. They usually say a specific beer like Budweiser or Miller Lite. I would argue at that point they don't love beer they love Budweiser or Miller Lite. I love beer and over the next several days you get to go along as I show you what was in the coolers at Budde's.

Fist City from Revolution Brewing. This is a Chicago Pale Ale meant for those who love hops. It uses a blend of Centennial, Citra, Chinook, Cascade and Crystal hops. The picture on the front is the Statue of the Republic found in Jackson Park, Chicago.

Anchor Brewing- Meyer Lemon Lager. The goal of Anchor Brewing was to create a beer that would highlight the flavor of Meyer lemon. The tartness of the lemon is balanced by the sweetness of the malt. This beer took me a bit out of my comfort zone. I do not normally like fruited beers. This one was tolerable.

New Holland Tasmanian Hatter Galaxy India Pale Ale. This beer is flavored with hops from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Northwest. The hops are Nelson, Sauvin and Galaxy. If you like hops this is a good choice.

Moody Tongue Brewing- Steeped Emperor's Lemon Saison. This is another beer that pulls me out of my normal comfort zone. I'm not a huge fan of Saison beers and then you throw in some lemon. This beer uses Meyer lemon peel and sorachi ace hops.

Short's Brew- Beard of Zeus. This is an American Pale Lager made with Zeus hops and flavored with orange peel. Once again a beer with some fruit flavor. This one managed to balance the orange peel and hops well and of the fruit beers my personal choice. Stop back tomorrow as the journey continues.

Recreation Yard is Closed

I worked setting fence posts and running wire a couple of years ago so Lily would have somewhere to run. She can't be turned loose because her nose takes over and she just runs away. When we added Rose to the mix we knew we had a new challenge. Lily wants to go out and spends her time digging and barking. Rose goes out and runs the perimeter of the recreation yard looking for any weak spot she can exploit to escape. She digs along the fence and under the deck. I was spending time trying to fix the areas she was working on but eventually her persistence paid off and she escaped. Rose is not as difficult to catch as Lily but still a challenge. The good news for me is that her escape was before the foliage was out on the trees and bushes in the woods. I could at least see her. The bad news for me was that the thorns do not fall off the bushes. Say what you want about blue jeans but they are not the quality the were in the past. The material is lighter and the thorns go right through them now. As for Lily, the pictures below feature some of her digging skills and barking.

This is one of the times she decided to follow a mole trail across the yard, The good news is the digging is shallow.

She took a short break to do some barking. Coon hounds are known for their distinctive bark. It is said that hunters who use them can tell their dogs apart at a distance by their bark. I must admit Lily's full volume coon hound bark is impressive.

I include the two pictures above to give you an idea of what a stubborn dog can accomplish. While it may be a bit hard to see the hole Lily excavated here is 24 inches deep where the ground is level. The only reason it is not deeper is that I made her go in the house. She was not happy about being run out of her project and gave me a serious cursing in the form of barks.

Recreation will now be limited to walks with me and occasional outings to the dog park. We have to do those when other dogs are not at the park. Lily does not enjoy the company of other dogs with the exception of Rose.

WWJD

I think it is important to start with what this is not. WWJD is normally shorthand for What Would Jesus Do. There seem to be lots of opinions about that. Many seem to think they know the mind of God. I, in all honesty, do not. I understand we have free choice but I have difficulty reconciling free choice with how many religious folks are willing to treat their fellow human beings. We have choices to make as individuals and as a nation. Today is about basic human needs. Food, shelter, clothing and health care. Today WWJD is What Would Jeff Do.

 This is one of the graphics I have seen with the highest estimate of uninsured under the current proposal pending in Congress. It saddens me that the number in the middle is accurate. I spent part of my adult life in the uninsured category. Those who have never been in that position will never understand how stressful that can be. You make too much to be on a government medical program and too little to afford the insurance offered by your employer. We had children. You were a heartbeat away from disaster. A fall, an unexpected illness, any kind of accident would change your circumstances perhaps forever. There are those in Congress who argue that the new health plan will give you access to health care. I remember having access back in those days when I did not have insurance. It was a choice. You had the option of having insurance but that left insufficient money for housing and food. What good is an option you cannot afford?

It isn't often that I agree with a religious leader. The question becomes this. How do we get from where we are to universal health care?

We spend a staggering amount of money on weapons of war. The other day we (the American taxpayer) spent about a million dollars to see if a Patriot missile could shoot down an unmanned drone aircraft. It was a drone you could buy for a few hundred dollars at Amazon. If it makes you feel safer, it did work. What could we have done with that million dollars? Or with this money?

Maybe the graphic below will help put our spending priorities in order.

Do we really need two more of those?

I am perhaps a bit odd. I am pro-choice and pro-life. I would prefer there were no abortions but I am unwilling to substitute my judgement for that of a woman who is faced with that choice. I do wonder why we are so willing as a country to fight for the unborn and at the same time less willing to assist in the health care, nutrition, education and housing of the child after it is born?

The graphic above shows how many hours you would have to work to afford a one bedroom apartment at the fair market rent rate in each state if you made minimum wage. I understand there is considerable opposition to raising the federal minimum wage. States have gone so far as preventing local governments from raising the minimum wage in their area. Many in Congress argue that decisions would be better made at the state or local level. That is, of course, until a decision is made they do not approve. Things like legalized marijuana and increasing the minimum wage. The minimum wage must be a living wage.

So, WWJD? We must provide for the basic needs of all our citizens. Food, shelter, clothing, education, and healthcare. They are our fundamental needs and we have a right to them and a responsibility to provide them to each citizens of our nation. The argument we cannot afford them is stupid. We are too willing to feed our war machine rather than care for our neighbors. It is wrong. It will lead to our ultimate undoing as a nation.

Oquawka

Mrs. Sutor's birthday rolled around and it was time to go on a road trip. She wanted to go to a quilt store in Oquawka so we headed out. It turns out the quilt shop there is located in an old bank. In a country where we tend to abandon and raze such structures it was refreshing to see this one saved and repurposed.

The appearance of the building strikes me as odd for a bank. It appears that at some point in the past the building was a home. Why a second floor? The same question regarding the balcony.

The vault door makes it clear at some point it was a bank.

If you had doubts this should clear up any questions.

Most of the fabric bolts are out in the main area of the store. The items in the vault are sale items marked down for quick sale. I enjoyed the sign over the vault encouraging us to "rob the bank".

This is the second vault which also contained sale fabrics. Overall it was a large well stocked store with a friendly and knowledgeable staff. They encouraged us to sign up for their mailing list. We declined since we spend about half the year in Georgia. We will return when we have a chance and make more purchases.

Sometimes You Need Help

On Saturday we went to the band progression concert at the high school in Rushville. The pictures I posted the other day were all taken by me. Today I feature the photographs taken by my assistant photographers. It can be a bit nerve racking to hand an expensive camera to a young person. It is important to understand that they cannot learn without being given the opportunity.

This is my first assistant Johnnie Lynn.

My second assistant Audrey Layne.

One of the problems faced by shorter photographers is getting pictures of the back of people's heads. I will give credit to both my assistants in doing something I don't. They take a picture and then look to see how it turned out. Perhaps all my years dealing with film and having to wait sometimes weeks to see how they developed lead me to just continue to take pictures with the hope that something (read anything) might turn out decent.

The next picture corrected the back of the head problem. Perhaps a bit of over correction with too much overhead. There is a learning curve involved.

Picture three corrects both those problems. Progress and practice prove helpful.

I enjoy the composition of this picture and the truth is that a bit of cropping would correct any issues. Again the joys of digital photography.

A nice view of the zoom in to get a closer view of the band.

The last picture featured below was taken by someone else. I would give credit but I took it off Facebook and I don't remember who took the picture. The young lady with the dark brown eyes and brown hair holding a flute upright next to her face is our granddaughter Vannessa. She enjoys band especially marching band and we enjoy watching her perform. It has made a tremendous impact on her confidence, her overall performance in school and her level of maturity. The folks who think the arts are not important in school are just wrong. They are a vital part of a well rounded educational experience.

My thanks to my able assistants. I look forward to the next time I am able to share camera time with you.

Strip Minimg

President Trump has promised to return manufacturing jobs to the United States. I would like to believe that is possible. The more I read the less likely it seems he will be able to do so. Even things I thought would work like refusing to buy products that were not made in the United States appear to be powerless to change the direction we are going. The strip mining mentioned in the title is financial strip mining.

Financial strip mining is a Wall Street practice of stripping a company of its wealth through stock buybacks. The article I read was about a company in Indianapolis, Indiana named Rexnord. They are a maker of bearings and ball bearings. They are moving 300 jobs to Monterrey, Mexico. Mexican workers will make about three dollars per hour. The workers in the United States made twenty five dollars per hour. Normally I would think this is the main reason for the move. It is just part of the picture. In 2015 Rexnord bought back three hundred million dollars of their own stock. Why would Wall Street like that? When there is a stock buyback the demand for the stock causes the share price to rise. So hedge fund investors get an immediate increase in the value of the shares they hold. Second, now the company's earnings are spread over fewer shares. President Trump is committed to a deregulation agenda. From the Great Depression until 1982, under President Reagan, stock buybacks were virtually outlawed as a form of stock manipulation. In 1980 only 2% of corporate profits went to stock buybacks. At the time of the crash of 2007-08 over 75% of corporate profits went toward buying back the company's own shares.Hedge fund managers aren't the only ones who profit from these buybacks. CEO's now receive a significant portion of their pay from stock incentives. Their goal does not become anything other than raising the price of the stock. They move jobs to low wage countries to raise the stock price and enrich the value of their stock incentives. The truth is that President Trump cannot bully Wall Street into keeping jobs in the United States. They are interested only in making money quickly and the stock buybacks are the tool that works for them. President Trump's administration is full of economic advisors from Wall Street. They have no interest in changing the law that allows them to strip money and jobs out of these companies. Until we are able to create a mass movement among the people to fight this it is likely to continue for decades. Since these same corporate interests control our mass media it is unlikely such a movement will gain traction in the near future.

So, the promise to return jobs and punish those companies who move jobs out of the United States, is just more Trump bluster and bullshit.

Monday in Illinois

A couple of weeks ago the temperature was in the upper 60's and lower 70's. Some wondered if it would be an early spring. Make no mistake, the weather and the calendar declare clearly today, it is still winter. My friend and fellow blogger Mike is in Florida, no doubt, basking in the warm weather and seemingly endless sunshine. Last night when we went to be the world here was various shades of brown with hints of green as the plants anticipated spring. Saturday in Rushville, a mere 75 miles or so south, the daffodils were in bloom. A beautiful bit of greenery and yellow bloom against the palate of brown. Welcome to Monday.

 This is the view out our back door this morning. There is something beautiful about a pine tree frosted with snow. The world of brown is bright white today. Local schools are closed. It seems like excessive caution but in their defense I haven't been out on the roads. Perhaps they are worse than I think.

Some folks still had to work. The Ameren meter reader was by this morning. Since our meter is on the back of the house she has to park and walk back to read it. She was stealthy today as Lily and Rose never noticed her pull in or leave.

This one is included because I like the look of snow blowing off a roof.

What do I have planned today? There is a rack of firewood on the right and I intend to feed it to this fire and get more from the garage as needed. Retirement allows me to relax and watch the day go by.

Rose wondered why I was taking pictures and decided she wanted to be included. People ask what kind of dog she is. I usually reply that she is a rescue dog and they can pick a breed they like for her. She is very food motivated so I do sometimes call her a chow hound. One might also add attention whore to her list. She will at times today force me to go outside so she can address her physical needs. She also loves to play in the snow. Me, not so much.

Band Progression

Yesterday we traveled to Rushville to watch and listen to our granddaughter Vannessa's band concert. It was an interesting format. The concert progressed through the various band groups in the local school system. The beginners in the 5th and 6th grades, the junior high band and finally the high school band. It was amazing how much progress had been made over the course of years. Their ability to play more complex pieces, the quality of the performance and the maturity of the kids. The other interesting thing for us was the timing. We are accustomed to how things work on Tybee Island. If you have an event scheduled for 4:00 p.m. as this was, you are surprised if it starts by 4:15 and maybe 4:30. The band director was ready to go at about 3:55 but watched the clock until about 2 minutes before the start time to begin speaking. It was a refreshing change.

Here is the 5th grade group.

Note the time stamp on the bottom of the picture. They are playing at 16:03. For those not familiar with military time that is 4:03 p.m.  Don't they look incredibly young? Their musical selection was "Land of Lost Zombies" by Robert Grice.

The next group to play was the combined 5th and 6th grade bands.

This combined group benefited from the year of experience gained by the 6th grade members. Their musical selection was "Enchantment" by Brian Balmages.

The 6th grade band played next.

They performed "Hocus Pocus" by Rob Romeyn. It was another significant step in seeing their ability to play a more complex piece of music and hit the notes with more exactness.

The junior high band was next up.

This group performed "Pandora" by Randall Standridge.

The next group was the largest. It was the combined junior high and high school bands.

In this case every chair in the band area was filled. They performed "Shadows Unleashed" by Brian Balmages. It was once again an improvement in quality over the performance of the previous group.

The next picture is included for only one reason.

The back of the young man's shirt indicates he is a member of the class of 2021. A young lady a couple of rows in front of him is part of the class of 2020. They represent graduations classes that are 49 and 48 years after my own. It made me feel very old. Where did that almost half century go?

The final group to perform was the high school band. They are a very accomplished and talented group. They have won awards for their marching band and concert band competitions. It is a credit to two things. First and perhaps foremost the hard work and dedication of the students and their parents. Almost equally as important the skill and dedication of the instructors.

This group performed "Hocus Pocus"by James Syler and "Abracadabra" by Frank Ticheli. It was a polished performance by a very talented and dedicated group.

There are those who look at the younger generation and question what if anything they will be able to accomplish. I don't know about big cities and the suburban areas. If Rushville is an indicator of rural America we can learn a couple of things. Young people given the opportunity, instruction and encouragement can do incredible things. It once again reminds us that a fully rounded educational experience must include music and art education.

A Walk With Rose and Lily

The weather has warmed since Rose, Lily and I took this walk. It was, at the time, a world of browns. We are on the cusp spring and the walk we would take now is much greener.

We planted a few hundred trees about 4 years ago. Many survived and this is one of the small oaks. When you go down the hill to this pasture I worked hard on trimming grass around the trees on the left and did little for the ones on the right. Nature taught me a lesson. The ones I left alone are doing better and had a better survival rate.

This is a close up view of another small tree I planted. If you look closely you can see areas that are lighter brown. It is where a male deer has rubbed to mark his territory. There are sprays you can use to prevent or minimize this damage. I decided that trees have survived for millions of years and deer have been rubbing on them for millennia. So no spray.

We got down to the creek and Lily is standing in a deer path. It seems given the opportunity deer will take the same path walked by others. I'm not saying they don't stray from the beaten path but for the most part they seem to join the herd and take the easy way. Are we so different from other animals?

So, why do the deer cross here? The bank is steep and it would seem an unlikely place to cross. The answer is the rocky creek bed shown here. Much of the rest of the creek bottom is muddy and soft. The crossing here is firm, shallow and unlikely to wash out into a deep hole.

This is the view looking upstream to the west.

This is the view to the west of the last picture looking north up the hill. I remember as a younger man helping Dad till this and other times bailing hay. While it has the potential to be crop land it is my opinion and practice to let it go back to being grassland. Eventually the woods will reclaim it. I will be long departed from this life when that happens.

The picture above is from the same spot looking south. A narrow entrance to another small field we had farmed in the past.

At the bottom of the hill headed back toward the house.

A welcome sight after a nice walk. Thanks for going along.