Picking Hops

Picking Hops

6:44

Kayak Morning

It's an amazingly clear sky morning, 50º, with fog rising off in the distance.  I was up in time to watch the sunrise at 6:40 but just.  I have been listening to a Bill Simmons podcast as he is now no longer talking about the NBA but movies, TV shows, as well as some football. It's 9:30 and I was out paddling for an hour but did not see any waterfowl, perhaps because I got a late start.  Still, it was another striking morning on the lake. 

Cutting Down The Hop Vines

Yesterday was not a typical Saturday because we were to pick hops at our good friend Jack's farm along with an assorted group of his friends in the morning.  So I did get in an hour paddle because I was able to get in the water by 7:00.  When I came back, Evie had the trash ready for me to go to the Transfer Station and by 9:30, we were ready for a twenty-minute ride to Jack's. 

This is the third time we have helped pick hops late August and the last as Jack is finally throwing in the towel as the insects/bugs have beaten him.  When we arrived, there were already 20  guys and gals sitting around his yard, with vines across their knees, pulling off the soft hops, dropping them into a bucket.  We quickly joined them and for the next two hours, picked hops,  Our goal was to get to 16 pounds of Cascades, 16 pounds of Chinook. 

Hops

Hops Circle

An Evie Special

Full Of Hops

Fortunately, it was a sunny but cool morning and everyone seemed to enjoy their tasks, as we got to know each other.  By 1:00, we were at Randy's Big Inlet Brewery, just down the road from Jacks, where we were given a free beer and pizza for our efforts.  Randy and the brewmaster, explained the brewing process us to us, that they would add both varieties of fresh hops to beer that was already being made(with dried hop pellets), adding perhaps a fresh flavor although it's always a crapshoot, just hoping for a tasty brew.  It was a good way to spend a late August morning, helping out a friend, getting to know some new people, and having beer and pizza for lunch,.

Group Shot Of Pickers and Bagged Hops At The Big Inlet Brewery

On the way home, we stopped at Tops grocery to pick up a few items for Sunday's dinner because we were having my early morning kayak friends, Tina and Jim, over for dinner.  When we got home, I quickly grabbed my book, laid down, read and fell asleep, taking a great nap.  Evie hoped to get out on the dock but it was too windy to enjoy it.  We lazed away the afternoon, thinking we had a Woodlawn picnic.  We sort of got ready but when I checked, no one was at the right away so the picnic must of be canceled or no one was coming. Either way, we were happy to sit on our front porch for an hour plus, drinking a French wine we have always like and is now in our wine store, a Vieille Ferme rose.

Dinner was easy, a bit of a change from our previous two nights out, sloppy joes with dill pickles.  The sloppy joes were from the freezer so all Evie had to do was zap them in the microwave, spoon them on buns, add pickles and viola, we had dinner. We watched Real Time with Bill Maher, outrageous as usual but also right on with his hilarious diatribes,.  He spares neither left nor right and is so anti-Trump, so worried about global warming that he has vowed to vote for Trump if he would become an eco-warrior and vow to save the earth.  Not a chance, however, as big business, the fossil fuel companies, own Trump.