Dad's come into mind alot over the past week or so. For no real reason. But I find that he's in the back of my mind at the most odd times.
I was grocery shopping the other day, and was passing through the beer section. Now that my legendary beer drinking days are behind me, I find that I can pass by without drooling too much. But as I got to the end of the row, they jumped out at me. Cases of Olympia beer. The beer of my youth! I can still remember the jingles. "It's the water. And a lot more!"
Back before microbrews and national conglomerates taking over beer companies, there were plenty of regional beers that one part of the country could get that others couldn't. One of those was Oly. Brewed in Tumwater, WA. Just north of Olympia, the capital of WA. Founded by a German from Montana. Rumored to be brewed by the Artesians (a play on the artesian wells where the brewery got their water). The brewery itself was on I-5. And that's what I drank as a kid. As did Clint Eastwood and Clyde, in "Every Which Way But Loose".
Dad would be watching the football game, or golf, or a bad Sunday afternoon movie, and tell someone to get him a beer. My sisters and I would scramble to do it, because whoever got it for him knew that they could crack it open, and suck out a third of a can before it ever got to Dad. "It was foaming--I didn't want to spill any of it!" was the common excuse. In any case, I developed a love for beer during those days. Add to the mix that the drinking age at the time was 18, and it wasn't long before I was buying/drinking Oly on my own.
Of course, there were other beers. Hamms was always a winner ("From the Land of Sky Blue Water"--thank you St. Paul, MN!). Ranier was the other favorite, also from Washington. At one time it came in "light", "light-light" and "not-so-light". This was back in the days before "lite" beers were marketed, so it was quite a deal that there were three types of beer from Ranier! Of course, my grandfather would buy beer a six-pack at a time, and being the cheap bastard that he was (I say that lovingly), would buy Schlitz, or some generic beer (remember the generic white can with black type that just said "BEER"?--he was a big fan!). If he was expecting company (us) he'd buy a second six-pack. His greatest coup? Skaggs Alpha-Beta beer. 99¢/six-pack. Tasted like crap, but as he said, once you got to the second one, you never noticed!
Back to the grocery store--I saw these cases of Oly, and I started thinking about Dad, and realized that I probably haven't sucked down an Oly in three decades. So I bought a case. Now I've become a microbrew snob over the years, and rarely drink anything major like Miller or Coors or Bud. I prefer the various tastes that are crafted by any microbrewery. Some work, some don't. So I take my first swig of Oly in decades. I had forgotten how bad it really tasted. But memories from my high school days came rushing back, and the next thing you know, I'm sucking down beer #2. And my grandfather was right! It didn't taste anywhere near as bad!
So here I am, reflected in my car's window. With my Oly. No, I didn't go driving. I wanted a picture of me in this window. Why? It's Dad's car. Which is now MY car. I have a new OsMobile! Short story--it was due for registration renewal and insurance renewal, and Mom didn't want to spend the money. So now it's mine! (BTW--the shirt? Official Hawaiian shirt from the islands. A gift from the lovely Shizzle!)
The other car, that I've had for almost exactly one year? I'm 85% sure I've got it sold to the friend who rolled hers a couple of weeks ago. This one is a 2007 Honda CRV. Less than 15K miles on it. In immaculate shape. And I'm a happy camper! Of course, Dad came to mind again when I found his gloves and sunglasses still in it. I'll wear them.
One of the neatest things about it--it's got a retractable moonroof! I asked Mom something about it, and she said she didn't think Dad even know about it. She sure didn't! So here I am, toasting Dad with an Oly through the moonroof he didn't know he had! (Click the pic to see the whole car!)
The Mother's Gift"The dreaming
The longing
The anticipation
The belonging
The plans
The preparations
The excitement
The wonder of creations
The approaching time
The gatherings
The closeness
The names of beings
The emotions
The hearts lift
The new beginning
The Mother's Gift"
--Cynthia I Rogers
This week's Mystery Guest will be revealed late Thursday afternoon. She's more than just a little excited as you can imagine!
Our maternally excited MG is Cowgirl (you might remember her as Cute but Evil--depending on how long you've been around). In any case, it's been an adventuresome ride for her. Go say hi, and see more proof!
In spite of the busy summer, there's plenty to see over at "...the Other HNT"! As usual, it's NSFW. Be sure to stop by and leave some comments for your fellow HNTers!
I found something disturbing on Mina's site yesterday. She warned us about some sleazy site that had stolen some posts of hers, reposted them on their site, but inserting links within it, so that they could generate some sort of revenue stream. In addition, slap in some porn shot that was not part of the original post. This pisses me off in a number of different ways. Not the least of which is the incredibly tacky way that they present their porn. NOT ONE SINGLE BIT OF ORIGINAL MATERIAL! Porn ads all over. This post is already too long to really allow me what I'd really like to say. But then Mina mentions that there was a HNT "category" as well. You know I had to check that out...
Similar to Mina's work, this site has stolen posts/pics from Cheeky Minx, Petal, Sexie Sadie, Hedone, Lexi, Vanillamom, Kat, and some others I'm not familiar with! Who knows who else they've stolen from? And as much as I hate to direct traffic there, here's two links to see what you've been missing. (In getting that last link, I see they've already stolen Cheeky's HNT for this week...less than FIVE MINUTES after she posted it, she tells me!) Can anything be done? Probably not. They are obviously using English as a second language (read Mina's excerpts). There is a link at the bottom of the page to complain about copyright ownership, but I doubt that they take it seriously. The only consolation might be that it doesn't appear to be a terribly popular site (as porn sites go). If anyone's got any viable ideas...throw them out there!
To end on a happier note--some of you have asked over the years what happened to the original OsShirt. I thought it was lost on its way to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2006, but apparently, it's found it's way onto TV!
