• I tell you what – we got a lot of things jammed into the three day weekend. I’ll try to remember the details but sometimes when I get back to “normal” I miss things. Also, I am including pictures at the end of this post.
• I worked a half day Friday, even though I’m trying to conserve leave; Ash wanted to get on the road. We headed to Gainesville for their Brew-off, one of eight in a Florida homebrew competition circuit. Ash had registered to be a Steward, which basically means that you get paired up with some official beer tasting judges and you acquire the next flight from the cellar master, get all the cups and bottles organized according to the pull sheet, then pour and wait for the judges’ scores and record them. For the 3 pm round (which began a bit early) we were paired with an old guy named Craig and Chris, who owns Blackadder brewing, which is where the competition was taking place – in their event room.
• We just did that one last round of the day and then moved into the other activities they planned. All judges and stewards got a free beer from that brewery and pizza from a food truck. Then they had a pub crawl and had hired a shuttle to take folks around. Pretty common to treat judges and stewards well, since many travel from other cities. (As a judge you have to participate in a certain # to keep up your certification.) As we went to the various stops we talked to more people from the Gainesville club and others; got to know some cool people. Actually, we met the guy who won the most homebrew medals last year, so that was neat. I’m overall not too impressed with Gainesville breweries, to be honest, now that we’ve gone to them all twice. The night ended with them dropping some folks at the hotel but the shuttle was breaking down. It smelled like burning electrical stuff and the rest of us bailed and walked a mile back to our cars at the first brewery.
• The next morning they were slated to have a breakfast at about 9 so we got back there in time. Since I never eat breakfast but it was free, I did. We then stewarded two more rounds, with different judges, so that was neat to see others’ ideas on different beer styles. The best one we tasted was, surprisingly, a sour but it smelled and tasted like carrot cake. I think it may have won a medal too, which is saying something because there were over 400 entries from all over Florida. They also served us Cuban food for lunch so honestly, this is where it’s at and we’ll probably start moving towards becoming judges. I mean, we had already decided to but knowing how these things work really cemented it.
• There was a lull around 2 where the only rounds left contained cider and mead so we decided it was time to go. They had plenty of stewards to go around anyway so that worked out; we were back home by 4. I was glad to have some time to relax but you know, I can never sit too long. I started laundry and while my daughter swam, I ended up hedging some areas in the yard. Can’t remember what else we did that evening but it was restful.
• Sunday I got out early and continued hedging and cutting things around the yard. I was looking for pictures of the kids in retrospect, you know, first day and last day of school photos and I ran across some from when we first moved into the house and all the various bushes and trees were so much lower and it looked great. My yard won’t be getting back to that state anytime soon but I can cut stuff back anyway. So yes, I worked early in the yard and had the two younger kids help me move stuff out, as my oldest had already gone to work. I even did a little bit of mowing and pool work; that’s still a work in progress but the service is working on it. I continued doing laundry and whatnot. Koda had a friend over to swim and Ash and I finally got a coat of Killz on the new door that leads to the garage. We’d hung it a few weeks back but it needs paint.
• When that was done and drying, I made a mac and cheese because we’d been invited to our friend’s house for a little dinner get-together. It was just nine of us but fun; pulled pork, cole slaw, mac, chips and salsa, etc. Lots of desserts and we tried some good beers that Rob had brought back from England. All in all, a nice night.
• Monday, I got started on a little bit of house cleaning and took a two mile run. Ash and Dakota finally built the grill (long story short: I got Ash a new grill for xmas but it was kind of underpowered and just underwhelming so I contacted Coleman and then sent me a new one but I feared it would suck just as much and we’d be back to square one…so we put off building it.) Luckily, this one DOES work so we were able to put the other one away for parts and finally chuck the old one. Success! I made guacamole then we took a trip to Total Wine. Got home and made tacos and then we got started on brewing a chocolate milk stout. That’s a long process with a lot of waiting so I sat outside with Dakota while she swam and did other various things until we were done and could finally sit a little. We watched Civil War and then Meatballs and by the time 9:30 or so rolled around, I was exhausted!
• So yeah, as you can see, we did a lot this weekend and it was highly enjoyable. I was glad that on Sunday, I chose to wait until dinner time to eat because I overate Saturday. Free food! Who wouldn’t?
• This week, I have two interviews (one for an online job with a local company and one as an advisor at TCC) so I feel positive about having options. I just have to take everything one day at a time and not stress about every little thing as if it’s the end of the world. That kind of thing is crippling! Anyway, I have to go get some work done so see ya in the next post!

Ash starting his stewarding job

Some of the judges. The guy in the front right is the best mead maker in Florida.

The weekend included a lot of swimming

Here are some kid pics: my daughter from kindergarten to end of 5th, my middle from start of 6th to end of 8th, then my oldest from start of 9th to end of 11th. My middle has the dumbest look on his face because he did NOT want to take photos; he is firmly and securely in 14 right now; ugh.