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Post by kds on Aug 10, 2023 13:53:07 GMT
On the plus side, when the summer seasonals are all gone, there's always Mexican lagers and Land Shark on the shelves. We always have the regional brewery Schell's around, and they also have their simple "No Frills" German pilsner and their "Deer Brand" (pre-prohibition recipe) American lager that are available year-round. I've long said that this longstanding (est. 1860 by a German immigrant in the historically German town of New Ulm, MN) brewery is an underappreciated gem. They have increasingly dipped their toes into various fad-beers, but they also have maintained a core of mostly German-style simple beers. Pilsners, lagers, marzens, etc. That sounds pretty refreshing in the craft beer world that has gone IPA and sour / gose crazy.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 10, 2023 13:59:59 GMT
Yes, despite a few forays into that world, for the most part tradition is their thing. And I appreciate it. There's room for experimentation, sure, but I am someone who (in almost all things) also likes to see tradition preserved, too.
I had an aunt who was a German immigrant: my uncle met her when he was stationed in Germany back in the early '60s. (They're both deceased now.) They lived in Alabama, but used to buy Schell's whenever they'd visit, or ask us to bring them some whenever we'd visit, because they thought it was the closest thing to what they remembered from Germany. They couldn't find anything in the south, apparently. I can't vouch for that kind of accuracy/quality, but I thought it was telling.
Regardless, it's a very simple, straightforward brand. However, they do a good job of what they do. Chefs often say you can tell a good chef by how s/he roasts a chicken, makes an omelet, etc.: the simple things. I think there's something to that, and that it extends to beer.
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Post by kds on Aug 10, 2023 15:47:31 GMT
I will say a lot of the craft brewers in Maryland do their fair share of more traditional beers, but it seems like the stuff that gets released to liquor stores if very IPA heavy, especially in the warmer months. I think, in some cases, you have to actually go to the breweries to get the full selection of beers they have to offer.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 12, 2023 12:31:29 GMT
Tomorrow I'll likely be buying some beer. I'm going to keep an eye out to see where they stand on the seasonals. I forgot to mention, but yesterday I did indeed buy some beer and, while there, looked around to see whether they'd gotten the autumnal beers out. Nope. They still had several summers, in fact. But there were also noticeable holes in the stock, so I suspect they were letting those sell out and weren't replacing them, and plan to restock with fall beers sooner than later. But so far, so good.
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Post by kds on Aug 13, 2023 0:22:47 GMT
We typically meet my father for dinner on Friday nights, but he was out of town last night. So, it was a rare Friday that I grilled. I'll say it was really nice to get home from work on a Friday, crack a few beers, and sit outside. The weather was perfect for it too. Sunny, mid 80s.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 13, 2023 12:03:31 GMT
I got out early to mow the lawn--just the 4th time of the season--in advance of forecasted rain. Whether we'll actually get that rain is another question, considering the way it has gone all summer. Fingers crossed. But, kds, this one's for you: my brother texted me that he is out grocery shopping and the Halloween candy and displays are all up.
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Post by kds on Aug 13, 2023 20:19:54 GMT
I got out early to mow the lawn--just the 4th time of the season--in advance of forecasted rain. Whether we'll actually get that rain is another question, considering the way it has gone all summer. Fingers crossed. But, kds, this one's for you: my brother texted me that he is out grocery shopping and the Halloween candy and displays are all up. Its crazy to think that we're barely in mid August, and my grocery store's already had it out nearly a month. Halloween is still two and a half months away.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 14, 2023 11:40:12 GMT
Last night we finally got some more rain, and it's lingering into this morning. I haven't heard how much actually fell, but more than an inch was forecasted. We've been in desperate need for it, with most of our forecasted showers this summer having never actually materialized.
Not only is it grey and drizzling, though, but cool. Low 60s, with a daily high forecasted today at about 68-70. It'll be nice to have the windows wide open, letting the AC have a break.
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Post by kds on Aug 14, 2023 12:25:55 GMT
We're supposed to get some rain today. It was a pretty warm and humid weekend, and I'm a little surprised we didn't get a stray storm during the weekend.
My wife and son went out of town for a couple days yesterday, so I had a rare opportunity to sit outside at my favorite time, just around 7pm, enjoying the sun and warm air. The sun went down at 8:04pm, so it'll be the last time this summer I get to sit outside before sunset.
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Post by kds on Aug 15, 2023 12:26:19 GMT
I had a Facebook Memory today remind me that Maryland's Former Governor successfully passed a Statewide mandate in 2016 for schools to begin their school years after Labor Day.
It was only in effect for one year before nine jurisdictions (in a traditional political pissing match, the jurisdictions were Democrat lead, going against the Republican Governor) went against the mandate, and began their school years before Labor Day.
Summer vacation is short enough, and it makes little sense to me for schools to resume class one week before a long weekend. For Chrissakes, just do the right thing, and let summer be summer.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 15, 2023 12:36:06 GMT
Minnesota has a law requiring most public elementary, middle, and high schools to wait until after Labor Day, too. Parents and small business owners--particularly in the summer tourism industry, heavily staffed with high schoolers--are massively in favor of the law, but it comes up against pushback every couple of years.
One of their complaints was always that because of requirements on the number of hours required for instruction, snow days during the year would leave very little wiggle room. But if anything good has come out of the past few years, it is that schools have more or less found a workaround to snow days: remote learning has been proven to be possible, if not ideal. So I'd think that excuse is out the window.
Another suggestion is that more classroom time would benefit standardized test scores, etc. Personally I don't think shepherding kids into classrooms (often lacking air conditioning) in late August is exactly the ideal learning environment... I'd recommend they actually spend school time actually learning, rather than just spending more time in school. My understanding is Scandinavian countries spend LESS time in school, and they always have higher test scores. We don't need armies of little worker drones, anyway, living under pressure to hit some math score.
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Post by kds on Aug 15, 2023 12:45:06 GMT
Minnesota has a law requiring most public elementary, middle, and high schools to wait until after Labor Day, too. Parents and small business owners--particularly in the summer tourism industry, heavily staffed with high schoolers--are massively in favor of the law, but it comes up against pushback every couple of years. One of their complaints was always that because of requirements on the number of hours required for instruction, snow days during the year would leave very little wiggle room. But if anything good has come out of the past few years, it is that schools have more or less found a workaround to snow days: remote learning has been proven to be possible, if not ideal. So I'd think that excuse is out the window. Another suggestion is that more classroom time would benefit standardized test scores, etc. Personally I don't think shepherding kids into classrooms (often lacking air conditioning) in late August is exactly the ideal learning environment... I'd recommend they actually spend school time actually learning, rather than just spending more time in school. My understanding is Scandinavian countries spend LESS time in school, and they always have higher test scores. We don't need armies of little worker drones, anyway, living under pressure to hit some math score. I think that stuff about requirements on the hours or days is a bunch of hogwash. Especially when you consider that most classroom days after Memorial Day are basically just running out the clock. I think the pushback to a shorter school schedule comes down to, and forgive me for being cynical here, parents wanting that extra week of "free daycare."
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 15, 2023 13:06:44 GMT
Makes sense, but in Minnesota anyway it seems parents prefer the post-Labor Day start (probably because a lot of them tend to have vacation plans around Labor Day anyway). I think it's mostly school administrators who push for the longer year.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 15, 2023 13:38:28 GMT
Well, I have informally put an end-date on my summer of 2023, or a formal kickoff to fall, or some such thing: I've taken just over a week off from work (seven business days, four weekend days) for late September into early October. I'll be spending four nights and (parts of) five days at the little cottage I've visited in recent years, with the rest just some extra time off.
On one hand, my mind tends to be in fall mode by then anyway, but the weather is usually still quite nice, certainly good for spending time outdoors that time of year. Plus, hopefully it'll be cool enough in the evenings for fires.
Now I just have to make it through these next six weeks or so.
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Post by kds on Aug 15, 2023 14:26:38 GMT
Makes sense, but in Minnesota anyway it seems parents prefer the post-Labor Day start (probably because a lot of them tend to have vacation plans around Labor Day anyway). I think it's mostly school administrators who push for the longer year. In Maryland, it really depends on the jurisdiction. Obviously, on the Eastern Shore, near the beaches, there was a lot of support for the later school year start. In Baltimore, it was a big controversy and a lot of parents complained.
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