Wringing the life out of a day

It seems that the summer has gone by in a flash. At 56 years of age, it seems that the years are going by faster now too. If I have a philosophy of life, it's to wring as much living as I can from each and every day. There's nothing wrong with having a lazy day now and then, but I tend to think that's what having a cold is for, and the less often I have them, the better. In keeping with this philosophy, Saturday was a busy day. Nothing earthshaking, just pretty normal stuff, but lots of it. I was on my feet most of the day, got a lot done, had some fun, and slept the sleep of the righteous man last night.

As all days should, it started and ended with a brew.

As I puttered around outdoors with myriad
small projects, Clay brewed up a new beer.
This is a Christmas beer, although we'll have
it at Thanksgiving. It will have bourbon and
spices added to it in a later stage.

The green pellets are hops. They are added in a
bag suspended in the pot so the flavor is imparted
to the brew but not the detritus of the dissolved hops.
This beer has a rich, beautiful color already.

Ever helpful, and full of opinions, Maya stopped by to offer Clay brewing advice.

This beer had an exceptionally long brew time, so while Clay was brewing, I took dogs out to the pasture for a run while I mowed. I hadn't cut the pasture all summer because it has been so dry, but it was needing it and I want to get it done before our trip to the UK. I took Max, Ochie, Groot, and Grady out with me. It was Grady's first run and he was hesitant to even go through the gate from the dog yard to the pasture, but he ventured forth eventually and had a good time with the others. 

Grady, enjoying his first open space romp. 

Groot is always in motion.

Ochie is less annoying in large, open spaces.

Grady is a handsome dog, but then, I love the rottie look.

You can't always control your ears or tongue
when you're having fun.

Later in the afternoon, we cleaned up and drove over to Nelson County. Our first stop was our first visit to Wild Wolf Brewing Company in Nellysford. Then we went on to Devils Backbone Brewery where we had a couple more beers and dinner. A theatre group called Wolfbane was doing an outdoor production of Macbeth at Devils Backbone in the evening. It wasn't the best 

Macbeth we've ever seen, but it was the best one we've seen outdoors at a brewery.

That was our day. It went from home brew to witches brew. Now it's time to tackle Sunday.