Flying Dog, or from fire to flood

July 2, 2012 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments

Took a break from Le Tour today, mostly, though I did lend a hand to Charles “Live Update Guy” Pelkey over at Red Kite Prayer as he followed the stage for fun and profit. You already know what happened: Turns out Cav’ don’ need no steenkeeng choo-choo to win stages.

But first I had to shuttle Herself to the Greater Bibleburg Interdimensional Airport once again. This time she’s trading fire for flood, jetting to Maryland to visit family … kinfolks who only just yesterday got their power back on. So, yeah. Good times, is what. She’ll be sampling some Flying Dog ale straight from the source — who knew the outfit was based in Frederick, Md.? — and will report back to us.

Here’s hoping she won’t need an Igloo and a sack of cubes to keep it cold. I bet they’re running short of that sort of thing in my home state.

Beer me

May 22, 2012 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments

Yow. Another temperature record today — 90 degrees. I believe that’s three high-temp marks that have fallen this year, and it’s only May, f’chrissakes.

I did a bit of work and then I did a bit of cycling before the mercury rose too far, riding the Pikes Peak Greenway to the north gate of the Air Force Academy and back. Weird winds, coming from every whichaway, but mostly from in front, as per usual.

Back at the ranch, the “lawn” needed mowing. We call it a lawn, because it is (a) mostly green and (2) on the ground, but between you and me it needs more than mowing. And it didn’t even get that today, because I ain’t mowing no lawn in no 90-degree temps, thanks all the same.

Instead, I’m drinking a beer. St. Lupulin from Odell Brewing, to be specific. It’s my new favorite beer, and I recommend it to anyone considering mowing the lawn.

Bikes, beers and bummers

May 4, 2012May 4, 2012 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 10 Comments

Somebody has a new toy. And no, it’s not you.

Meet the Cyfac Vintage, a steel bike hand-built in France. It’s a wee bit short — a 54cm instead of the 56cm I usually ride — but it seems to roll along just fine nonetheless. It’s up for review in the July edition of Adventure Cyclist.

Speaking of which, cycling was something of an adventure around here today. The high reached at least 85 degrees, according to the weather wizards and confirmed by the Subaru thermometer, edging the record of 84 set in 2000. “Climate normal” is somewhere around 66, so this was something of a shock to the system, enough to make a guy buy a white Igloo helmet with a swamp cooler attached.

I couldn’t find one of those, so I bought two six-packs of beer instead: Odell’s 5 Barrel Pale Ale, which has become Herself’s favorite beer, and Victory’s Prima Pils, which is an excellent heat repellent when applied internally.

A man who sounds as though he could use a drink is Charles P. Pierce, who posits in a very grumpy blog post that Obama has left it too late to crank up the outrage machine. Writes Charles: “Personally, at this moment, I think he’s probably going to lose.”

If he’s right, then we should all start stockpiling strong drink while we still can. A nation that would elect Mitt Romney president is not one I can abide in sobriety.