How you doin'

Long time, no post. Lots going on, but what to write about? Did the barefoot 5K, then Reese and I did the Urban Epic obstacle race. (he kicked my you know what) Jaren and I went on a boy scout canoe trip to the Allagash River. A five day, 63 mile, carry everything you need, wet, nature extravaganza. Still slowly chipping away at the 101 things list. Preparing for the Webelos resident camp in a couple weeks with Dean. Reese has purple hair and a fauxhawk.

Going Primal

Mel and I are starting a new lifestyle/diet/exercise program. It is all about eating and moving like hunter/gatherers. It is basically a meat and fruit and veggie only diet. No grains and limited dairy. The exercise side of it is all about playing hard, bodyweight exercises and quick all out sprints. I signed up for a barefoot 5K at Pineland farms at the end of May. There is lots of activities after the race including a 3 legged race, egg race, and other family activities. There is a barbecue and a beer and cheese tent.
I ordered some Vibram five finger shoes to exercise with. They are coming in next week so I'll report on them later. I can't wait to exercise in them, running around, climbing trees, building Striders new playhouse, working in the garden. Spring can't get here soon enough.

snowed out!

enough with the snow already!
so much snow, no place left to put it. can't recover from one storm before the next one moves in. two more on the horizon, back hurts just thinking about it. patience wearing thin. longer warmer days mean heavier snow and ice. chip it away bit by bit. muscles ache and motivation wanes.

Rhubarb Wine?

I have been waiting to taste this one for a while. I first heard of Blacksmiths Rhubarb back in October from an intern from MCP that I was working with. I finally bought some for Christmas dinner and we never got around to drinking it, so I had to open it and drink it myself. It was very good, not too sweet but enough so that it was enjoyable.

Blacksmiths Blueberry

Thanksgiving this year we decided to unwind a little bit with a couple bottles of Blacksmiths wine. I brought the Rough Cut Cider and my Grandmother brought a bottle of Blueberry. This blueberry wine was really good. It might have just been all the sweet smells in the air and on the great food on the table but the blueberry was a perfect match. It was like drinking dessert. I am an amature at this wine thing but I look forward to more from Blacksmiths fruit collection.

Honeymaker

A while back I had bought a hard cider at a local wine shop and instead of picking up the Rhubarb wine that I was going to get I found some mead by Maine Mead Works. I figured, how cool, wine and honey rolled into one and from a local company. I was a little let down by this mead but I am sure it is not due to the drink but to my expectations. I was looking for something sweet (but not as sweet as the ice wine). Maybe I shouldn't have started out with the Dry Hopped Mead, I don't know. It was good, but it was dry and tasted much like a regular white would taste. For Christmas I did get a bottle of Semi Sweat Mead from HoneyMaker so I look forward to uncorking the mead for another go.

gritty mcduffs

I have been sampling Gritty's over the last couple months and it has had its ups and downs. I bought a sample pack because everyone raves about the Halloween Ale. To be honest, it didn't do much for me. It was okay but nothing to get excited about. However the Pub Style Ale and the 21 IPA were very good with the Pub Style being excellent. It was just so smooth and flavorful that I was looking forward to trying some more Gritty's. For Christmas my Grandmother bought me a six (I love telling people that my Gram bought me beer for Christmas) of Gritty McDuffs Christmas Ale. She liked the Santa on the bottles and knew I wanted local beers. Gritty let me down on the Christmas Ale. I starts off good, but leads to a bitter hoppy taste that changes and leaves an aftertaste of soap. Not loving that.