October Deck-er-a-tions Thank you to Brian and Betty for the use of their home for this months meeting. There was some confusion on which house was theirs due to all the changes like a real driveway! Very nice. The deck is a double "deck"er. There was no elevator, but the ladies went down anyhow. The guys were able to keep it up stairs most of the night. There was a huge ceramic bowl with fire in it on the lower level. The weather was fantastic. It was mid to upper 60's all night. Can't beat that with an ugly stick! The beer was upstairs, so I didn't bother with the fire down below. Without Steve, there was no one dancing around it anyhow. Speaking of Steve, when you get back you can ignore that citation on your door. The police will never find out who shot off all those fireworks in your backyard. They hid real good. Meeting was as usual. Things went great with lot's of beer, mead, and wine. We had a new member, Lee (aka Lynk, as in The Missing), who brought "something else". Turns out he's a mead maker wanna be, not a home beer maker at all. That's OK I guess, he just can't participate in any of the club only contests we are infamous for winning. Well, we would be if we would just enter one some day! The something else he brought was an almond and vanilla extract concoction with a bit of sugar water and lot's of everclear. Syrupy and almondy is how I would describe it. One person said it was like a cinnamon red hot. I wonder what he ate just before that! Speaking of food, the shredded pig butt was great. There was an assortment of bbq sauces to meet anyone's tastes. You could get a side of beans blended with more pork parts. Some cole slaw was offered as an alternative to mayonnaise. Someday we'll have mayonnaise at a meeting. Lee brought some kind of eatable ball and crackers that went over pretty well. Also saw some fruit and singed cauliflower buds. Dip and chips too of course. I recall at least 3 desserts. A cake, caramelized brownies, and raspberry brownies. All very good. Beer included lots of bottles and 3 kegs. There were clear, yellow, red, brown, and black beers. No blue or orange ones though. The wine was about 3 different ones. I don't remember what kinds they were either. The meads were ginger, elderberry, plain, cherry, and Jim and Sue brought the last bottle of some batch once again. I think they just tell us that every time so they don't have to carry any of it home after the meeting. Then again, it could be just because it's always so good. ;-) George was sickly and his mommy wouldn't let him come out and play with us last night.. We called him at home. Someone answered the phone and set it down leaving it off the hook. That's no way to treat your minions! We're rebelling. Lee has been appointed the title of President. But since he doesn't make beer, and is not particular to drinking it either, he has already been dethroned. We still do not have anyone who is respected enough to take charge. George we need you back. It is probably not as funny this morning, but I just have to mention how well Lee fit in to our group. He's young, but we'll forgive him for that. He asked what each of us were doing on the Bicentennial. Yes, July 4, 1976. That was a long time ago! After we all showed how old we are, he let us know he was causing his mother no end of pain that day. It was his birthday. But that's not what made me fall out of my chair laughing. He was talking casually to Betty and told her that they had removed the word gullible from the dictionary. Betty looked him in the eye and asked "Why?" I couldn't stop laughing after that. The guy is funny. After everyone got drunk, the honey was poured and smeared on everyone near enough to it. There was a short licking festival to remove it from their bodies. That lead to one thing, and it lead to another. You know the old saying. Sometimes it's just one fu@