On A Mission

My supply of Stouts is getting ahead of me (a great problem to have), so, to thin the inventory a bit: Tonight's offering: Ipswich Oatmeal Stout. Cool cap, too!

Plowing Through

On our way to the PBP on Friday night to celebrate Lynda’s bday with her, and we passed this monstrosity.  Of course I had to stop and get a pic of it.  Holy crap, this is the biggest plow I’ve ever seen in my life!  What the hell would you even use to push this thing?  And where would you need something this big??  It’s too wide for roads, it’s too wide for parking lots…the only thing I could think of, would be runways, maybe?  One swipe, and you’re done? 



I figured I’d Google it to see if I could find anything on it hey, whaddya know it looks like it’s from Logan, and is indeed used to clean runways!

http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com/telstarlogistics/2010/02/vannas-snowplow.html

I wonder how it made it got all the way out to Millville?  (I’m also wondering what the scrap value of this thing is…)

Vaulted

In Newport to party hearty (Marty) for the evening. We reserved the Vault room 'cause we have 28 folks. An old bank vault! Very cool...no bathroom, though....

New Home!

"Wines & More" in Mansfield. 6 rows of specialty beers!! Do you realize how many stouts are here?? Got me some great caps, too! (I think I'm going to move in!)

Love This Idea

We're sitting @ the Belly: it's Lynda's bday today! The bar has a card going around - you list out the drink(s) you're buying for her, pay up, and their hers!

Russell's Road, Take II

Back in April of ’09, I blogged about Russ having posted a “Harley Road” sign at the end of his driveway. For one reason or the other, the folks that were going around at the time and notating the names and placements of streets (for the internet mapping programs), listed Russ’ driveway as a legitimate road; Harley Road. And for quite a while, if you went to Google Maps (or Mapquest, or any other mapping program) and typed in “Harley Road, South Thomaston, Maine”, it would direct you to Russell’s driveway.

Alas, the joke has faded a bit, as the on-line mapping community has seen fit to correct their mistake. Not all is lost, though, for the short, non-public road that sits just down the street from where Russ lived, is now the proud owner of the Harley Road moniker.

So what happened to the original Harley Road sign that Russ had? Well, Rob saw fit to bequeath it to me and now it resides proudly above the bar in my basement. (I dare not post it outside, for fear of someone stealing it. Try as I might, these signs cannot be found anywhere and if I were to lose this one, I would not be able to replace it.)

Thanks for the great prank, Russ - who else can say they've had their driveway logged into the entire internet mapping community?

The joke lives on, even if only in the retelling of the story.

Ride Hard, Pass Memories Along

Stupidity Addendum

I was doing some work on the bike last night (basically; chasing down the new noises I've been hearing.  Turns out the stealership hadn't properly refilled my Primary when they were working on the transmission.  It's amazing how quiet the bike is now that the fluid level is correct.  D'bags.).

Anyway, I realized that I hadn't posted a pic I'd recently taken over at Jon's cycle shop (where I get my parts, and inspection stickers).  see, I've blogged his prior signs before (http://twowheeledtales.blogspot.com/2011/09/cook-isms.html) but when I was in there recently to get this year's inspection sticker...there was a new sign!  Voila!

Poor Jon.  Signs only get made when his frustration from dealing with idiots, reaches a new peak.

Ride Hard, Stop Asking Stupid Questions!

Not Out Of Winter Yet

Received a text from King yesterday.  The rainstorm that was beating the crap out of us, was coming down a lot softer out in western NY.  Very, very soft.  Soft, and white!  That's right; they were getting the precipitaiton in the form of the nasty white stuff.  Bleah!

Here's a shot of his walkway, having been freshly shoveled.  Shoveled!  It's the end of April!



Sorry King!  Here's hoping it's the last of the white stuff that any of us will see for quite a while!

Sleeping Beaut...Ugly

Nellie couldn't argue with math and finally admitted defeat. (Well, not verbally...)

Pseudo

Off to our 3rd bar since we left the game. Not sure of the name, not sure of the clientele. Not even sure that's a real bike up on the ceiling (it's not).

Game Time!

On the TV screen, these guys look like they're playing a huge field. In person, they're just a bunch of guys playing a game...and being paid bazillions!

I Didn't Come Here To Do Math

Nellie's goadin me again, tellin me he's ahead of me on beers. Apparently his 12 oz glass magically holds more than my 16 oz can? He sucks @ math. And drinkin.

Game On!

We're pre-gaming @ Game On in Boston. Beers are falling fast & furious. Master Of Puppets comes on over the PA! It's 9:34am! Beers, party crowd, & Metallica!

And It Begins...

Day off, in Boston for Sox game, then watch end of Marathon. (We already got spoken to by the conductor on the train in, and again on the subway.) Ha ha haaa!!!

Sweet Sunday

A great day bouncing watering holes on the coast. Rain coming, so we headed closer to home. Now; sitting outside, watching the clouds pass. Sun's coming back!

Riding!

Great day to ride! Meet @ Rex's garage for some quick beerverag...er...hellos, and then we're off to the coast. Let's ride!

I'm Floored!

Flooring for the basement got delivered today! Wa-Hoo!

Dark Beer!

Two specialties, and two Growlers...what's that? One's missing? Yeah, one shattered in the cooler on the way over. Balls!!!

Jack's Back

After our last (first) trip to Jack’s Abby, we let our coworkers know just what they’d missed. Understandably, the response was what you’d expect; they wanted us to go back, and to take us with them this time! Ok, wish granted! We soon had almost ten people lined up and anxiously awaiting their visit to Jack’s Abby.

But, as with most things, as the day got closer, more and more folks dropped out. But that’s ok, it thinned the heard, leaving only the truly devout behind. And we, as truly devout alcoholi…er…beer enthusiasts, were all too happy to head on over. Our plans consisted of sampling, perhaps buying, and then heading out to another watering hole to continue the evening’s enjoyment.

Upon our arrival, we were greeting with rows and rows of empty glasses, all just waiting their turn to be filled with the most-excellent liquid which we reverently refer to as; “Beer”!
On tap today, they had the regular (year-round) offerings, as well as three new (seasonal) flavors. Sweet! New flavors! (Take note of the alcohol content of the last one…)
We sampled all of the choices (some, more than once), all while sharing fun conversation with our newest friend…uhm…I forget what his name is. But he’s one of the three brothers that own and operate the establishment. The Smoke & Dagger was what I’d bought last time, and I was fully prepared to buy it again, but that was before I tried the new ones. (We asked what the name of the 4th one (Biere de Garde) translated to; it’s Beer for Storage, we were told. Storage…yes, storage in our bellies!)

Being the lazy…er…dedicated enthusiasts that we are, we asked if they allowed folks to buy beer and hang out and drink it. Sadly, they don’t have a permit for that. Apparently, having a brewing license allows you to do small samples, but aside from that, folks cannot drink on the premises. Oh well. We each purchased a Growler of our favorite beer…turns out we’re all alcoholics, because we all went for the Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter. Yes; the 10+%. We asked just how high it was, since there’s a “+” after the 10, and our new friend said it was just barely under 11%. (We almost applauded.)

Filling the Growlers!
Dammit, I’d left my Growler punch card at work. That’s ok, though; I got a new one and had that punched. It still equates to two punches!
Hey look, there’s another white-board over on that wall behind the bar…and it’s got Upcoming Brews! LOL, check out the name of the first one; Maibock Hurts Like Helles. Very wiity! Next one up will be the Leisure Time Lager…nice, nice, I like the name of that. Then we’ve got two variations on the Smoke & Dagger. I shall definitely be checking those out!!
And that about concluded our visit with Jack’s on this fine evening. We paid for our purchases, said our farewells (and assured our new friend that we’d see him again soon), and made our way off to the next bar.

It was another fun visit to Jack’s Abby Brewery. Anyone want to come along for the next visit?

The Predator

The pack moves smoothly, freely, and with much haste.
Perhaps too much haste? After all, predators are known to lurk in this area…

If we encounter one of the predators, will he be hungry on this day?
Will we stumble upon him in the midst of him feeding off of some unlucky pack member!?!?
(Do we even dare hope for this? It would mean we live to see another day, but it would come at a great price for one of the pack members…)

Suddenly, there he is! Lurking on the outskirts of the range; a predator!
It’s too late for us to adjust our path! The predator has cleverly selected his location!
In a moment’s flash, our fears are answered; the predator has launched himself from his hiding spot!

In the predator’s mind, the decision has already been made – he knows who he will take down!
Moving in behind the unlucky victim, the predator closes fast.
The victim is overcome with despair as they realize they have been chosen on this day.
The rest of the pack gives a wide berth; silently thankful they live to see another day.

I, too, am thankful I was not the chosen prey.
And I slide off into the distance, as the cop steps out of his vehicle to begin the process with today’s unlucky speeder…