Hop Slam & White Rajah ... a banner beer/calamity day

This time I purposefully overslept knowing that Mindy & the kids wouldn't need to be up for school. I figure that alone saves me roughly 15 minutes. I slept in until 550a. There was a little more accumulated snow overnight, but it had finally stopped coming down. In fact, the sky looked pretty clear with a few stars shimmering brightly in the predawn sky. It looked rather peaceful. I went straight to work on my sit-ups then checked the weather and headlines. It was a chilly 8 degrees. Next up were my 55 push-ups. They went well. Soon, I was enjoying a hot cup of coffee along with Frankie's company. We headed outback around 615a where she quickly took care of the necessary business. Back inside I did a lengthy meditation and then a five minute stretch routine. I'm not really sure what time it was when I finished. I left Frankie free run of the downstairs when I headed out for my run. I didn't want to unnecessarily wake Mindy since there wasn't school. It was an enjoyable 4.1 mile run. Initially, anyway, I could feel the extra chilly temps seeping in through every tiny gap, yet by run's end I had worked up one heck of sweat. Since it was later than usual, there was plenty of daylight when I finished. Before heading inside, I raised the garage door, got the snow shovel, and cleared the driveway and walk of the fresh snow fall. Best guess, there was probably another two inches. Looks like we got about 5" in total. Inside, everyone was still in bed, at least for a while. While starting my breakfast, I was briefly joined by Bella. She was very excited to learn that school was canceled after initially assuming a two hour delay. She headed back upstairs after getting confirmation. I enjoyed a couple fried eggs and packed a light lunch then headed upstairs for a shower. It was 820a. After my shower Mindy asked if I planned to stick around for a few minutes. She got up and had a cup of coffee with me while the Trooper warmed. Kenny was already out snow blowing everyone's walks and driveways. Both kids were up before I left for work, and already talking with Mindy about the possibility of going skiing. I was envious. I left for work at 840a. Mindy asked that I call her early morning to let her know how the major roads were. As expected, once out of our subdivision the roads were fine. Arrived at the office just ahead of 9a. Once again, the snow removal team did a fantastic job. My peer was off, and my boss was holed up doing some last minute studying for the same ITIL certification that I completed back in December. I kept the ship sailing. I called Mindy to let her know that the roads were fine, but she had already determined that she and the kids weren’t going skiing. Wanted to get some other things done. She & I were still tossing around a weekend trip to HV or Seven Springs. Our preference was to book only one night – Saturday – and either leave super early Saturday morning, or directly after work and then spend the first night in a nearby hotel on the cheap. While 100 miles closer, Seven Springs would only do a two-night minimum. With weekend lift tickets and a room, they wanted $850. Mindy asked that I recheck with HV. Even though they typically have the same two night minimum on weekends, they apparently lift it a day or two before the weekend if there are unrented rooms. They had a studio available Saturday night just like the one we’ve stayed in twice before for $284 + tax. Mindy wanted some time to think about it, plus, I needed to look for an inexpensive hotel nearby to address Friday night's sleep. I found a Comfort Inn in Jamestown, NY right by Lake Chautauqua and only 8 miles from the Southern Tier brew pub for $100. That would leave us a scant 35 miles into HV the next morning. I called Mindy back to see how that sounded. She said let’s do it. With her still on the phone, I pulled the HV website up again, but the studio room available earlier was now gone. All that was left was a one bedroom for $500– way overkill. About the same time, I got an email back from Bob I. declining a last minute invite to go along and share the cost. Crap! Now what? Again, with Mindy still on the phone I checked the Inn @ HV. They had a King room for $255 plus tax. A comparable deal to the Tamarack, but neither of us could agree to pull the trigger. Both of us kept urging the other to decide. No decision was effectively a ‘no’. In the back of our minds, I think we both knew that we’d have a lot of fun with friends and neighbors at MRM all weekend, and that’s already paid for. We talked ourselves right out of the trip. Not that the weather forecast made a huge difference, but the temperatures were expected to be bitterly cold at HV over the entire weekend with night time lows dipping well below zero. Burr! The afternoon was busy. Spent almost the entire time on a single issue. I was very eager and ready for the weekend as the day’s end grew nearer. I left for the day sometime just after 5p, and I arrived home by 530p. The kids were still at home waiting on their dad to show up. He was on his way back from a business trip in Cincy. I’m guessing he arrived around 6p. Mindy sent the kids off with their snow pants and jackets so they’d be able to play outside if the opportunity presented itself. Killing time, I worked on my blog for a bit and got it updated through Thursday. And while we planned on a visit to Barley’s, I didn’t want to head out too early. We hung out at home until almost 7p. Once there, the parking lot was once again packed beyond capacity making it necessary to use the adjacent lot just to the north. It was a cold walk in. Only a few regulars and not a full bar, although the restaurant overall was booming. We sat and chatted with banker Dan for an hour or more. Straight up, I sampled the dry-hopped bitter Dan being served on the firkin. I didn’t care for it enough to order a pint. On the other hand, I was very eager to have a pint of Bell’s Hop Slam, but wisely started with my old stand by, Barley’s own Centennial IPA. Mindy sampled and liked the Expedition Stout. She ordered one of those. I was surprised when Mindy told Katy that she wasn’t hungry. Mindy rarely goes without ordering food. Oddly enough, I did plan to order food having eaten only cheese and nuts after breakfast. I planned to wait a while, however. After my Centennial, I ordered a Hop Slam off the tower. It was quite good. I drank it slowly. At some point I ordered some K.C. wings extra-well done, and I’m thinking it was about the same time I ordered my third and last beer, a White Rajah. I told Mindy that some Barley regulars would almost certainly come in late. Sure enough, Jack & Leslie, Grandpa Tom, and little Bob & Carol showed up, all later than usual. We yucked it up with all of them for a while. I can’t be certain, but think we left for home around 930p. Mindy wanted to visit the neighbors. She called before we left the bar. At home we each grabbed a beer then walked down to the neighbors. Mindy was last out, and I could hear her drop what sounded like a beer bottle on her way out the door. She confirmed my fear and told me to go on. She had to clean up the mess. Frankie and I walked down a few minutes ahead of Mindy. Kenny & Chrissy were busy rearranging their basement family room to accommodate Kenny’s pool table. We hung out for maybe an hour before Mindy wanted to head home. I still had half of a 22oz IPA. I was a few minutes behind Mindy getting to bed after tending to Frankie. Mindy was already out by the time my head hit the pillow.