The Weekend Past, The Week Ahead, Searching for a Winter Idenity(brew/booze)

Friday was another in a string of miserable September days this year in Western Ohio....October had to be better I thought, as I looked out the living room window at the showers coming down overnight Friday.  Saturday, the first day of the new month, dawned cold, cloudy, and windy...not much of an improvement...but things would get better as the weekend progressed, and the next 10 days, if the Weather Channel can be believed, appears to be looking much better.  For the most part, after the few showers clear the Central Ohio area, the WC is calling for dry and sunny conditions.  Highs in the low to mid 70s beginning tomorrow, with lows in the lower 50s...it looks good, almost perfect weather, for the VSPA Vietnam Reunion in Dayton this week.

As it was, September set a record for rainfall....but at least the heat and major humidity are gone until sometime late next Spring...say mid June?

As the seasons change, so do my alcohol consumption habits....I will be the first to admit, I drink too much....not an alcoholic{?}, more simply, I just like a good beer, and on occasion a drink of liquor.  In the Summer months, especially after working a baseball game or two, I usually stick with the good old American Larger, Miller Lite, usually the 12oz long neck bottle variety.  On occasion during the warm weather I will switch to a darker larger or stout beer...but usually Miller is my beer of choice during the Summer.  Not so much as the weather changes....

I usually gravitate from lite beers to Stouts and darker brews...and even the harvest and Oktoberfest beers during the early fall months.  As Christmas approaches I partake in the Winterfest and other seasonal offerings.  This Friday I went up to the Celina Wine Store and selected a few different types from the Guinness line....all pretty average to above average in alcohol content, for a domesticated Irish brew.

The new Black Larger by Guinness is hardly the same strength as the Stouts from the same brewery...but the cost, much less that the Stouts, make it palatable none-the-less.  It runs about $1.50 for a single, as compared to $2.55 for the Foreign Extra Stout, and the $1.85 for the bottle of regular Extra Stout.

Being a connoisseur of Beer, I seldom drink alcohol(aka Hard Liquor) by itself...although on occasion I will try a Jack Daniels with Club Soda, a glass of Brandy, and once in a blue moon, my favorite, Drambuie on the rocks....This weekend I had a burr, and purchased my first bottle of Drambuie since last October, when Nick and I each bought a bottle for our Michigan Salmon Fishing trip....not much Salmon on that trip, but we did down enough beers and Drambuie to make it a trip of sorts.  Anyway, I purchase a bottle after my Saturday morning game, and with a nip in the air, and Ohio State getting clobbered by Michigan State in football...I proceeded to drink enough that the pain of watching a sorry Buckeye performance was hardly noticeable by the time the game ended in a 10-7 MSU victory.  The cool weather choice of brews and booze was off to a fine start.

Yesterday, Sam, home from working the OSU/MSU game, and I worked a Youth League double header.  By that time, the sun and a bit warmer temperatures had arrived on the scene, and we worked the 4 hours of football in short sleeve shirts....I limited myself to a couple of Miller Lites after those games, as Sam headed back to Columbus with classes in full swing at Ohio State.

The Week Ahead_____

This week will be spent back and forth between here and Dayton....

Tonight I have a JV game between Celina and Van Wert....Celina won the varsity game between the two schools on Friday at Van Wert, 28-18.  The Bulldogs first win of the season, while the Cougars remain winless...two schools with many wins and championships throughout their respective history, are the cellar dwellers in the WBL this season....hopefully better things are on the way, both for my Alma Mater(Celina), and the school in the city where I was born, and did it's play-by-play on Cable for many years, Van Wert.

Tomorrow I will get one final rules meeting in at Van Wert, no game on the agenda....then do the final packing for Wednesday and the VSPA Reunion at Dayton/Wright-Patterson.  After that it will be back and forth between Celina and the Reunion.   Friday, Patricia will work a day at school, and I will return to Celina, working a Varsity game Friday night, filling in as Back Judge on Garry's crew, at Allen East(outside Lima)....Saturday, Patricia and I will head back to Dayton, and attend the final banquet at the Holiday Inn 675 in Fairborn, before saying our good-byes, and returning home to rest up.

Not sure how much posting I will do this week, but should be back tomorrow at least...back later>>>>

Photos-Damn!  Never ceases to amaze me how quickly I age with every passing photograph and week...(2) The Guinness Line that I sampled over the weekend...(3) Along with a bit of Drambuie on the Rocks...(4) And the VSPA Reunion is set to kick off what will be a busy week, starting Wednesday afternoon.