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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

Catch-Up

For the last several months, I haven't been posting in real-time. 


The first reason for that is security.  I've blogged before about one of my neighbors who had some trouble with the law.  As far as I can tell, he is on some kind of work-release program and not allowed to drive.  I don't think he is living in the house, but I'm not completely sure.   When we were in Texas, another neighbor called to let me know that the outlaw's adult sons were parked in my front yard for a couple of days and had walked up to their Dad's house. 

Nothing was stolen or damaged, but it did give me pause to question whether or not I should be "live blogging" my whereabouts/plans when no one is at home.  

The second reason is that our family has been going through some tough times, and I haven't felt like writing during those times. I've mentioned that Gene, Julia's dad, has really struggled for the past couple of years post-stroke.  After a number of weeks in hospice, Gene passed away on April 1st.  We were advised that it would probably happen before that, but my brother-in-law Scott predicted that his Dad would hold out for April Fool's Day, and he was right.  

Justin made it through the semester and is now fully vaccinated. There were some hiccups along the way.  One of Justin's caregivers had to leave suddenly when his father died from Covid.  There wasn't enough back-up to make things work so Justin ended up unexpectedly at home for awhile.  At least, we weren't in Texas when that happened. 

We have been sneaking in trips when we can, including a two week Scamp adventure to southern Illinois and Iowa, which I will be blogging about in future weeks.  The summer is up in the air, but we hope that more trips will be possible from time to time.  

Justin will be home for a couple of weeks and then is heading back for summer school to try to catch up a little after a reduced-credit semester.  He turns 21 this week, and there may be a masked, socially-distanced, limited shindig of some kind.  Justin doesn't really like alcohol, and overindulgence is a really bad idea for someone dependent upon a power wheelchair,  but he said he would like to try a very spicy Bloody Mary. 


Comments

greg said…
I agree whole-heartedly with not blogging real-time, especially when away from home!

Sounds like Justin is sticking with his scooling despite the challenges. Strong kid!
John said…
Well, I kind of picked up the idea from your blog. :)

Justin is continuing to hang in there, despite the challenges. He really enjoys college life, which is a good thing because he will be there a few more years at the rate he is going.
Bill said…
Speaking of Iowa... I noticed that Toppling Goliath Brewing in Decorah has some of the highest rated beers (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/top-rated/). It's a 400 mile drive for me, however might be worth it. Would want to call ahead to see what beers are on tap though.
John said…
That is an excellent idea, and only 140 miles away for me. I believe a trip to Toppling Goliath will be in my relatively near future.

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