Space Heaters at the August Meeting?

Who would have thought there would be people with jackets on at the
August meeting!  Many thanks go to Paul and Linda for opening their
home, patio, and pool to us for the evening.  I am pretty sure WE
Energies is very happy with them!  While everyone else was turning off
their A/C, the Hopkins were firing up everything that created heat just
to keep their guests warm.  The pool was so hot, there was a gentle fog
on top of it.  More about that later.

It was so chilly last night that the beer didn't even need any cooling
around it.  ;-)  We had a lot of it too.  There were 3 kegs.  A Kolsch,
a Wit, and the Pils stuff George fermented from last months brew-in.  I
also had some of my half of the batch.  George's turned out better.
Mine is still fermenting.  I only took a sample out of the fermenter.
You could tell too.  I took it out of the fridge last night, and left it
on a table in the basement.  It has a thin layer of foam again this
morning!  Hmmmm?  Not sure how long this thing will keep going and going
and going and going.

There were at least 3 meads I saw.  Something from Dan that I got the
dregs of.  Jim and Sue had a wild flower and a mild mead.  The wild
flower was pretty good.  The mild was almost pine flavored!  I didn't
get a chance (or I forgot) to ask them what was in it.

I didn't have any wine.  I guess there was just to many other things to
do.  I saw 4 or 5 of them inside.  That must be why I didn't have any.
I spent most of the time outside near the beer and mead.

There were a couple of 6 packs that had beer in them.  I don't remember
what kind.  Jim and Sue also brought some Kreik that was pretty good.
Someone donated a New Glarus Raspberry Tart!   Mmmm.  One of my all time
favorites!  Can you believe I work with someone who hates the Belgian
Red?  There was a Millennium beer of some kind too.  I know there were
others just to many to keep track of!  See the pictures if you want to
know more.

Dan has a "pal" (Get it? Pals ha, ha) who made her first beer.  It was
an experimental beer that is very rich and stoutly.  I really liked it! 
Congrats on your first brew being so good.  Speaking of stoutly
experiments.  The Double Chocolate Oatmeal Very Stout Barley Wine
Schwartz Beer is coming along nicely.  I brought a couple liters last
night.  It has been laagering.  I pulled it out of the fridge and sucked
the 2 liters out.  There are actually 2 fermenters right now.  So I
blended 1 liter of each.  The flavor is very complex, and it is still
quite a bit thick to the tongue.  Still debating adding some vodka just
to thin it a little.  ;-)  I pitched some champagne yeast last night,
and it was bubbling gently when I left for work this morning.  I hope
this yeast can thin it a bit by breaking down more of the sugars.  We'll
see.  Either way, this will be great next January.  Or maybe the Winter
after that.  Or maybe even the winter of 2020 when I retire!  ;-)

Paul and Linda had brats and they were great.  Very tender and juicy.  I
saw krout and a couple mustards.  Ketchup was there too.  No mayonnaise
though.  Everyone forgets about the mayonnaise!  Pretzels with some dip
that was very good.  Some ripple chips that looked like two different
types mixed together.  Some spicy dip and pita bread chunks were yummy
and just right spice wise.  There was coffee cake and something under
tin foil that I didn't get to because it was gone before I got back
inside.  Debbie made some fantastic cheese fondue stuff.  I ate more
than my fair share of it.  I poured it over my brat even!  I think I saw
trial mix, but the lighting was too dark to be sure. (You'll understand
why it was left dark later.)

There will be a new website setup.  http://www.ScrewBetty.com  Look for
it in the near future.  Seems Betty is afraid we will take pictures of
her and put them for the world to see on the internet.  I would hate to
disappoint her.  ;-)  I took a dozen last night to start with.  As we
gather more, we'll make sure the site is submitted to all the search
engines too.

There will be a contest next month.  It's called "Who's head is that?"
Look through the pictures and guess who is who before next month.  Bring
your answers along and whoever gets them all right will win.  What will
you win you ask?  I don't know, but it's gotta be worth while.  If
nothing else, you can learn what all the different club member's bald
spots look like.

Jim and Sue brought along some puppies.  I guess they have way too many
of them.  Some woman named Suzie fell in the pool and her top fell off. 
As she was holding her breasts under the water, a kid came by and yelled
"Hey lady, if you're gonna drown those puppies, let me have one!".  The
puppies were very cute.  There are a couple pictures of them.

Dan noticed the lack of news about the impending global warming this
year.  He heard there is a TLC special this week on the return of the
ice age.  Based on the temperature of the air away from the space heater
and the fire, it's here right now!

Even with the coolness, there was plenty of enjoyment by everyone.  The
water in the pool was great.  So hot that it created it's own fog bank! 
That was a good thing too.  Betty was so excited to see me jump in the
pool she ran over and stared at me while taking pictures with my camera
trying to catch me out of the water.  I didn't know she loved me so
much!  ;-)  Sorry Betty, it seems none of those photos you took of me
naked turned out!  They were all "foggy".  The only picture that turned
out was when Suzie and Janet went jumping in.  I only got a picture of
their backsides.  Checkout the web site to see them.  It was suggested
we rename our club to "Plenty of Crack Here".

Speaking of the pool, our hosts were disappointed that more people
didn't jump in.  Next time we get an offer to swim, it will be mandatory
swimming no matter what!  Of course, Steve joined in the fun.  He turned
on the house lights and stood in the flood light spot.  He pulled his
top off and the animals howled in fear.  Then he pulled his pants down. 
The was a short gasp, and then everyone breathed as they noticed he had
swim shorts underneath.  George yelled "Take them off too!"  We all know
Steve, he can't disappoint his audience.  So he reached down and pulled
them off!  Again, there was a gasp ... followed by laughter.  No, it
wasn't his Richard they were laughing at.  He had a second pair
underneath!  What surprised me was how many women never looked away or
even averted their eyes as he did it.  Hmmmm.  So Someone else yells out
"Take them off too!"  Steve grabs his shorts and down they came.  After
all 7 veils came off, he jumped in the pool and floated on his back.  It
was quite a sight to see.  He had a great pair ... of swim trunks of
course!  What did you think I meant he had a pair of?

Near the end of the evening, Dan had door prizes that were long, thin
items for women only.  Let's see, how did he put that.  Only the
Richardless were allowed to participate.  Since it was lights out, to
make sure no one could see in the pool clearly, there was whining from
the women that they couldn't read their ticket stubs.  After a roll of
duct tape and a small hammer (George put that thing away!), the outdoor
lights were turned on and adjusted so they weren't like spot lights.
I'm not absolutely sure what was in the packages, but they had some kind
of paper wrapped around them, were about 8-10 inches long, and about 1
inch in diameter.  I think Betty won one, but I can't remember who won
the other one.  Steve came in with an arm load of t-shirts right after
that!  Dan passed out more tickets to those who have a Richard.  The
drawing was restarted.  People have really short memories, because less
than 5 minutes later there were 2 numbers called and no one admitted to
having them!  I didn't keep track of who won, but I can tell you it
wasn't me.  ;-)  We were then going to give away Steve's 7 pairs of swim
trunks, but no one wanted them.  They wouldn't fit me anyhow!

We had a bunch of guests.  Paul must have invited all his co-workers.  A
couple of couples, and a couple of singles.  I think they all won a
t-shirt.  We should prohibit guests from participating.  ;-)  Welcome to
the guests, and we hope we didn't chase you away on your first visit.

I hope to have those pictures up tonight.  If not, I'll do it Sunday.
There are some great ones!

Next month is at Jeff and Mary Anne's house.  That's the place that has
the wolf in the woods behind them.  Maybe it'll be warmer in September. 
See you all there.

A Good Beer To All, And To All A Good Beer!
Jeff Kane