Happy May and here it be; Blog Post #33. April zipped by as my wife and I made several trips to Vancouver Island. This caused a slowing of blog post frequency and general all-around writing. We’ve been working to renovate and sell our Vancouver Island home. When I say ‘renovate’, I really mean ‘get people who know what they’re doing to go in and fix it’. When it comes to construction, I’m as useful as a baker doing roadwork. Now that our house is ready for sale, I’m hopeful that we’ll sell quickly and I’ll get back to writing on a more regular basis.

Beer There. Done That.

It seems that lately, everything I’ve written has been focused on beer. While it is my favorite drink, there is one or two other topics I’d like to start covering. Unfortunately (or fortunately), my wife and I (along with her two cousins and husbands) just came back from a five day trip to Portland, Oregon so you could say there was a slight focus on breweries and beer. They only have a hundred or so breweries in Portland. We were fortunate to have gone to Royale Brewing; a great combo of the two best things on earth: Roys and Ales.

How big is beer in Portland?

My wife’s cousin received a phone call from her boss asking her if she had time for a couple questions. She could have said, “I’m on vacation in Portland”, “I’m sight-seeing in Portland” or “I’m visiting Portland.” She said, “I’m drinking beer in Portland!!”

The bosses reply:  “I wish I was drinking beer in Portland.”

Two hours later my wife’s cousin got another call from a co-worker wanting to ask her some questions. She replied, “I’m in beer drinking Portland!!”

Published

Keeping with the beer theme, I had another guest post published at The Beer Blog. It’s a review of one of my favorite beers and the subject of one of my most popular ending jokes. You can check it out here:
https://thebeerblog.wixsite.com/thebeerblog/home/beer-review-swedish-gymnast-twin-city-brewing
My wife and I found a great place to run in Portland. The Columbia Slough Trail  provided a great path along a calm, condensed waterway. It was near our hotel and the weather held true. Here is the photo I took showing the intense and tall green grass and the welcoming blue sky.

Words of Wisdom

1. Keep the workouts going! If you travel often, it’s important to keep at it. You don’t want to be taking long breaks from exercise. It will continually feel like you’re starting and stopping. Exercise is not a punishment (although it can feel that way until an adequate level of fitness is achieved). It is also more than just a tool to lose weight or get fit. Those are some of the benefits of a lifestyle that incorporates exercise in it. Make exercise part of who you are and what you do and you’ll take it on the road with you.

2. Teach others. Pass on your knowledge. I recently drove by a house on Vancouver Island that had three deer in the front yard eating grass. At the top of the step, in front of the door was a cat over-seeing the deer’s activity. Although I didn’t hear it, I know the cat said, “Good. Good. First you eat the grass….then you throw up the hairballs.”

Really?

It’s time for the ending jokes. You mean there’s more? Yes….but they’re terrible. Enjoy.
My wife wanted to go out for dinner.

I said, “Great. Where do you want to go?”

She said she wanted to go to a restaurant near Main Street called ‘Whip’.”

I said, “OK….but after we’ll need to go to NeNe.” 
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My wife’s aunt told a story where her friend had opened his back door and found two rattlesnakes on the porch. In true Canadian fashion, he went back in the house and grabbed his hockey stick. He then used it to try to get the snakes off the porch and into the back wilderness.

I said, “Cmon. We all know that if you want to deal with snakes, you don’t use a hockey stick. You go and grab your flute!”