vastateofmind

Damn chickweed almost completely overran one of my garden beds this year...we've had pockets in previous years but never this bad. One garden bed out front almost green with chickweed, the other still dead-ish with last year's mulch. I got about half of a Saturday coming up dedicated to bending over and pulling on that one bed. Can't wait. Checked out Black Flag's website when you mentioned them earlier...they have a lot of interesting brews I'd love to try. We were visiting friends in Catonsville last night who had a Manor Hill Brewery variety pack on hand, which I think @Scraff was talking about earlier this week. I finished a couple of the Irish reds out of the pack, pretty good.

Flavor combos sound great...ABV has my attention! Full disclosure...I feel a little dirty looking at the label. Chef Goldblum is feeling overly casual, and apparently enjoying the mixing of that cake batter just a bit too much.

Sorry we missed you by about 18 hours, @WeatherShak! But I'm sure you found some great drafts waiting for you, hope you're enjoying. Fair Winds could be another viable option for a future "south-enders mini meet-up" that @H2O proposed a couple weeks back...

To you IPA-loving sub members....greetings from Fair Winds Brewing Company, from two hours ago. In Lorton, VA, literally a minute or two off the Fairfax County Parkway/Ft. Belvoir exit from South I-95. If you have the time and the means, definitely stop sometime. Honestly, I forget what we had in the tasters (I think one each of the #12 and #14 Mosaics), but my Sirens Lure was the tall one in rear left, and my wife's was the Howling Gale on rear right. In our top three favorite VA breweries, easily. Never had a bad beer in this place.

Seriously. Medical insurance is still...messy. I don't know the answer, but I still think there's a better answer out there, somewhere, somehow. On a somewhat related note -- I recall you sharing about or near this time last year that your sister had a serious accident? Are things better/improved in her life?

LOL, @losetoa6 -- somewhat sadly, at this point on a non-typical Friday afternoon, no -- it's a can of Wegman's Cherry Pomegranate sparkling water. I don't want to be handling a firearm in the range shortly with any alcohol in my system. I'm paranoid that way. Also, Son #2 left the flag before moving out, so I just left it where it is...provides a nice background for work-related Zoom/MS Teams meetings.

Damn, but the wind is crazy today, AGAIN. But it's sunny, so there's that.

LOL. Dude, tell me ALL ABOUT posting in the wrong thread this week. That looks awesome. I'm refraining from early happy-hour-ing, as Mrs. VA and I are headed to the shooting range in an hour or two, and THEN rewarding ourselves post-shooting with a stop at Fair Winds Brewing Company in Lorton, VA. I think I can hold out until then...and I'll post "live draft" pics as we can -- Fair Winds ALWAYS has a great on-draft selection.

I love the combined "comfort" and utility of your workspace, @Mrs.J...along with the upgrades you've shared here. I hope it's working out well for you. Our Son #1 moved out two years ago, about a year after he graduated from college and decided to go into Army Officer Candidate School (go figure) -- which provided us the chance to have our first dedicated guest room in our small-ish home. Son #2 graduated in December 2019, lived/teleworked with us during most of 2020 and just moved out to Arlington about a month ago -- and Son #2's vacant bedroom provided me the first opportunity EVER to have my own dedicated home office, which couldn't be more timely as I'll likely be teleworking 90% or more of the time for the last few years of my career. I'm on Cloud 9.

As a kid I used to build ramps (e.g., "cliffs") in my backyard and then attempt to go airborne from them on my Big Wheel...right before "taking flight," I'd mash the "buttons" in the center of my "steering wheel," and attempt to make that metallic/clanging launch sound from the cartoon that the Mach 5 made when Speed made the car launch/jump. Good times. And my parents couldn't figure out why I was going through Big Wheels like water. I have a few of the classic Speed Racer eps on DVD, too -- still love 'em. Honestly, I'm also a tremendous fan of the Wachowskis' Speed Racer movie adaptation from 2008...many fans didn't like it and critics despised it, but I feel its casting is spot-on and that they captured the frenetic, ADD-fueled spirit of the anime source. I regret not seeing it on the big screen.

This is so cool! A co-worker gifted me a Hot Wheels "Mach 5" from Speed Racer over a decade ago, which I treasured...kept sitting out on my desk full-time at work (along with a few Star Trek models, but that's another obsession for another discussion). Lost my Hot Wheels Mach 5 when our work building caught fire and was destroyed in 2011. I'm still sad about that little car!

That sounds incredible...share a pour pic when the time comes!

Okay, LOVE the label on this one and would buy it on that basis alone....first, because I had, like, 500 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars as a kid...second, because I'm a huge Speed Racer fan.

56 was our high this afternoon, back down to 47 right now. DAMN windy out there all afternoon...geez.

Being a little more careful with my posting location on this one. So, @frd brings up a great question, @CAPE....and I'm in frd's boat. Just had a tree removed from side of house in January, have a two-foot high pile of mulch from the stump-grinding remaining. Can you actually use that stuff for mulching? It was a maple tree, so the shavings are a little more "blond" than typical mulch (at least right now), so I'm just not sure. There's definitely a lot left over and I hate to waste it, or have it hauled away...and I even considered using a bunch of it to fill in a hole that resulted from a previously ground-stump hole in my backyard that has started to collapse a bit. Just curious.

Up to 56 here...and pretty breezy. While I don't have the patio furniture uncovered nor cleaned yet for the season, I am inspired by your Zoom meeting setting and will have to try that out in a few weeks!

OMG, I'm an idiot....I just realized that I posted that in obs and not in banter. #DERP Sorry, folks.

Hey, @Mrs.J -- do you happen to live near a Wegmans? I was browning some peppers/onions for taco salads last evening and took a closer look at this bottle's label. It's Weggy's Basting Oil...sunflower oil, garlic and herbs...says on label that it's gluten-free and vegan. (Couldn't remember if you mentioned switching to vegan or not.) In any event, this stuff is nectar of the gods....we use it numerous times weekly, for browning/basting a variety of meats and veggies, great stuff. I can only imagine the amazing things you could do with it in your kitchen.

Thanks, all, for the helpful details on solar systems....especially for the app screenshots, @Mrs.J. Very interesting to see how you can even get a panel-by-panel report on efficiency. It's an option that's always intrigued me in our current home as it faces due south...so we obviously get full/blasting sun on the front/top of the house all year long (when it's shining). Due to wind damage, we just had our entire roof replaced last summer....plus we're probably going to move in the next 1-2 years....otherwise, I'd look into this a bit more seriously for our current house.

Bringing over from obs thread. I've seen what looks like older solar systems on several roofs in the neighborhood over the years, but know nothing about them (nor whether those neighbors have been happy/unhappy with them). Legit question though -- realizing that installs vary based on the size of the roof/home, do solar panels add a lot of extra weight to your roof? Or have manufacturers slimmed them down a lot over the years?

22 for the overnight low, 23 right now, quite frosty. Clear sunrise in the east and a shy-of-two-days last quarter moon setting in the west.

"That was just incredibly powerful and hot. It burned." When did Jeff Spicoli retire to Hawaii??

Wish I had a way to share it here, brother -- I typically have to make a pot this size due to the amount of ingredients, but it takes my wife and I over a week to eat leftovers (even with freezing it sometimes). Not surprisingly, that looks absolutely AMAZING, @Mrs.J!! One of my all-time favorite dishes.

Sending off meteorological winter with what's probably the final pot of "traditional" chili for the season. Household tastes switch over to white chicken chili and other "lighter" soups as we head into spring. Also (and sadly, for some of you), there are indeed a couple dashes of Old Bay and many dashes of Frank's Red Hot in thar...

While I love the stuff and probably use it too much in my food/grill prep (Frank's Red Hot, too), Old Bay is polarizing. My sister can't abide the stuff....she gets a bite of food I added OB to within a foot of her nose, she'll glare at me and growl, "You added it, didn't you?" It's the OB's addition of celery seed to the mix that ruins the taste/smell for her.