Weekend stuff

First things first, I'm cloning La Moinette Belgian Blonde Ale. Started the yeast proofing Saturday and added it yesterday to the wort while watching the NCAA tourney shows. I can't believe I go to pick what I think will be a light, spring ale, and it ends up listed as 8.5% alcohol. Not exactly the kind of thing you sip on a warm spring day. It takes 2 months to finish in the bottle, too, so it will be warm by the time it's ready to imbibe.

Love the NCAA tournament shows....Dick Vitale is probably still crying over (fill in this year's team whose bubble burst.....Drexel). Nice to see Jay Bilas get in a little dig at him in the segues. I will now collect $5 a head from anyone here in the building willing to contribute to the "Brian petty cash in March" fund. It beats hitting the bank....and if I win, like last year, then I don't have to scurry off to a bank to get the cash for the eventual winner. I do that because I've already spent the entry fees over the course of the tournament as cash on hand....using it to buy lunch, for instance.

Went to Beardsley Zoo Saturday with the girls....it had been a couple of years.....but March again, which again meant no alligators. Nice strong scent of indoor wild cat piss, though. I believe it was ocelot pee we were greeted with. The coolest animals they have are the foxes on stilts. I forget what they really were called, but the fox on stilts nickname for them was very apropos. I also commend their cafeteria. $21 got us lunch for four including hot chocolate. Burgers were cheap (3.75 for a double with cheese) so it made the skinny pressed-meat patties very forgivable. Fries and chicken tenders were good, too. I was expecting 35-40 bucks for all that.

Lastly, Sunday was my older daughter's last ever non-communion Mass, since she's making her first communion next week. I thought about coming back to the pew and showing her half-chewed host in my mouth, but that's considered sacrilegious, so I opted just to swallow politely before I returned.