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Starkweather Beer Company

 When I moved back to Madison to attend law school in 1987, we moved to a crappy little apartment near the banks of Starkweather Creek on the unfashionable east side.  Today, the east side is booming, and one of the newer brewpubs is called Starkweather Beer Company. It was Saint Pat's Day.  While Guinness is a decent light-bodied stout, I opted for Starkweather's dry Irish Stout, named "Jamestown Jackdaw." Coming in at 5.9 ABV, it had a malty chewable backbone.  It's a new favorite stout for me.  Julia had Late Winter Haze, a New England IPA that didn't have as much fruitiness as she likes in a hazy.  It was still well-executed. We walked down the street to the Harmony Bar, where Julia enjoyed a complete corn beef and cabbage dinner.  I opted for the Reuben sandwich.  Mine was washed down with an Edmund Fitzgerald porter from Great Lakes Brewing.  Julia enjoyed her Chaos Pattern IPA from 3 Sheeps Brewing.  Both are great beers. Justin update:   After a long h

Where the North Begins


I think Portage, Wisconsin could have done better in choosing a slogan.  As a place, it has quite a history.  Back in the 1670’s, Father Marquette and Joliet were on a search for the Mississippi River by canoe.  They followed Lake Michigan into Green Bay and the Fox River.  At the headwaters of the Fox, they were advised to “portage” a two-mile marshy section to the Wisconsin River.


This is where the City of Portage was eventually established–between the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers.


I drove up to Portage this morning because I decided to buy a small, quiet inverter generator.  I know, I know.  Generator are evil, noisy things, but there are times during periods of cloudy skies (where solar energy isn’t available) and one is without an electrical hookup…anyway, my plan was to get one at Tractor Supply in Portage.  I had read that Tractor Supply has an old geezer discount on the last Tuesday of every month.  With a 20% discount, I could get a 2000 watt Champion inverter generator that had a rating of less than 60 decibels at 20 feet for less than $400.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I research the heck out of everything and then try to find the very best possible deal possible.  I’m not cheap (I tell myself), just frugal.  Rather than drive straight up to the store and buy the thing, I decided to go on a hike and think it over one last time.  I knew that the Ice Age Trail went along the canal between the Wisconsin and Fox, but didn’t really look at the map to see where it was.  How hard could it be to find it?

Well, Callie and I walked awhile in downtown Portage near the canal and then we walked out Highway 33 and then we walked along the railroad tracks where Hwy 33 left town.  Finally, after walking several miles, we found the trailhead.


The trail looked wet, due to rain and minor flooding.


Now that I knew where it was, I decided to head back to the truck and save the actual hike of the canal segment for another day.  I was ready to buy the generator.  We were off to Tractor Supply Company.

I loaded the generator into my shopping cart, along with some required oil.  As I walked up to the cashier, I casually asked if many people were using the 20% senior discount today. “What senior discount?” the cashier asked.  Uh oh.  She got on the phone and talked to a manager.  It turns out that there is a Tractor Supply Company in Canada that uses the exact same logo.  The Canadian Tractor Supply has a 20% discount but not the American one.

I took the generator back to the shelf and took it as a sign that generators are
evil, noisy things.


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