bierkergaard

This week we received a lot of rain here in Central Pennsylvania. Much flooding. Besides me emptying the dehumidifier more than usual, nothing serious here on Mount Molumbia. Traces of water around the French Drain in the dungeon.  Everything has that moist sponge feel. You know, the condition that the kitchen sponge usually exists in...unless you leave for a week and return to find it dry as a bone? Then, you have to re-animate it with some H2O. Keeping me from complaining are photos of California Wildfires. Like Noah, I sensed that I could head out of the Haus on Thursday on my Trek bike after a while inside. As an aside, it rained so much that my brake pads rusted onto the rotors on my car. When I go in my car on Friday to drive to a microbrewery in Southern York County--I had withheld from doing the trip until the waters had receded so as to not get stuck in a flash flood, turn around don't drown type of deal--I put my car in reverse and pressing the gas pedal, the old ...

I know that I have been delinquent on my blogging recently. My Dad called last week because he is my most faithful reader of  Bierkergaard and got concerned that I had croaked or something. Frankly, I have been in a down-low mode for most of the Summer. Dodging the heat like the Bulls of Pamplona. I get gored every Summer by the twin horns of heat and humidity. One or the other, I can deal with head-on. Both, I have to run and hide. As mentioned in previous blogs here and there, I get a terrible itch every early July that continues until the weather cools. I live for Fall and Spring, and endure Winter and Summer. Although, I like both, they have big downsides. It was cold forever this year. And little snow. Bad combo. This Summer, I have been a bit more intelligent. I don't go for runs in the mid-day sun with no shelter. I don't wear a hat or bandanna on my head that traps the heat like a coil on the cranium (instead I run or hike in the shade with a towel to wipe away e...

Every year around this time, I have some time off of work. I typically don't travel a lot or long  because I can be called back to work to do the schedules at any time. I am on-call. So, I keep things open and play it by ear. I am thankful nonetheless to relax and restore. Retirement is starting to sound delightful. I am prepping for laying down my labors in a few years. I want to retire when I am healthy enough to enjoy it. I don't want the highlight of my week to be Wednesday Night Bingo and Friday Tapioca Pudding for lunch.  One year I watched the Gettysburg Battle series on Pennsylvania Cable Network where Park Rangers and Laypeople talk about some aspect of the battle. The battle happened around this time back in the day so it makes sense to revisit it. I am always amazed that there are so many die-hard devotees to the details of the days about 40 miles West of here. For a couple of other years, I watched Bourdain on his travels across the globe. I am fairly con...

So, it has been a slow news week here at the domicile. I can check out and chill out with the best of them. Slacker Mode. Actually, I have been working out a lot, meeting with some peeps, and got in a side trip for some Russian River beer tasting and Berwyn Pizza Stromboli. I also finished the novella "Heart of Darkness" which was the favorite of Anthony Bourdain. Not getting the affection. It was interesting. Not great. More like a comic book with exotic characters in far away places. Ivory will make you do weird things... Chances are I will finish Les Mis soon. 86% done. Reminds me of one of those Window Updates...86% finished. Don't turn your computer off. I don't even remember when I started reading it. It has been that long. The barricade was just bum rushed. The end is near. Obviously, a great book. Today Hugo was expounding on Paris sewage for several pages. I won't tell you why. Since it isn't taking a lot to wow me these days, last night I ...

"Coast to Coast, L.A. to Chicago."   Smooth Operator is playing in the background. Wait a minute. Never really thought about this...Chicago is not the coast. Unless you count Lake Michigan. It is amazing to fly over Lake Michigan to grasp how massive it is. Just like driving through Los Angeles.    I have been drinking fruit smoothies here in the early summer. Precipitated by my quarterly visit to Costco, where I purchased several bags of frozen organic fruit combos--and all the fruit is cut and packaged into single servings--I have been enjoying the drinks. All pulp included. The sugars have to be contextualized in the midst of the fiber. Otherwise, fruit drinks are not a whole lot healthier than soda. I put the fruit in my Cuisinart Single-Serve blender. And voila, a delicious icy drink of goodness. Candy is just the evil bastard twin of fruit. Mimics fruit with none of the health benefits. Wolves in Sheep's clothing to make a spiritual application. Ah, the cor...

Yesterday morning, I received a text from one of my best friends. He let me know that Anthony Bourdain had killed himself. My buddy was incredulous, I was incredulous. Both of us love travel, ethnic food, and adventure. I think it fair to say that Anthony Bourdain was an inspiration to us. We both knew that his life was one in a billion but we could all aspire to be more daring like him. To see and taste the world in all of its resplendent and jagged beauty. A lovely bowl of Vietnamese goodness.   Around this time every year, I binge on the most recent episodes of Bourdain's gastronomic and increasingly politically-angled travels. This year I will do so with tears in my eyes. If at all. Not sure I can watch it with the shadows of suicide.  In every scene, every word, every gesture.   It was not pure voyeurism. Both of us travel a lot. My buddy for business and pleasure, me just for pleasure (and occasional displeasure when things don't go my way).  T...

Yesterday, I went to my best friend's Mom's funeral. She was 88 so she lived a goodly number of years. I am also good friends with his brothers and went to college with all three of them. So, altogether fitting to be there in their time of sorrow.  Being from a Band of Brothers myself, I connect with he and his siblings. I consider them almost like a family. We still suffer from the loss of those close to us even though we know that she and all of us are destined to die. As I was preparing to head to where the funeral was being held, a church about 30 minutes away, I checked the satellite weather map. It has been raining ferociously all week here in Central Pennsylvania. A lot of flooding. I wanted to dodge being on the road during one of the downpours. It appeared like if I hustled back to my home after the service, I would have time to wait out the storm from the safety of the house and then head back out later to hang out with some friends. So, water has been a theme ...