{"id":1575,"date":"2013-02-14T20:48:57","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T02:48:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2013-02-14T20:48:57","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T02:48:57","slug":"latest-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=1575","title":{"rendered":"Latest holiday season"},"content":{"rendered":"

So instead of writing my blog on Sunday, I went down to The Roundhouse for appetizers and beers.\u00a0 We decided to take a road trip to Aurora with a friend.\u00a0 We had wanted to go down and check out the surroundings for Two Brothers.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had some of their beers and now it was time to see what The Roundhouse was like.\u00a0 The structure is an old train turnaround on the tracks leading in and out of Chicago.<\/p>\n

The Roundhouse had originally been saved from decay by Walter Payton and his business partners.\u00a0 They set it up as a restaurant and beer house.\u00a0 After Walter was gone, the restaurant slowly declined.\u00a0 Two Brothers Brewing decided to expand their food and service by buying the property and making it their own.\u00a0 They are in the process of setting brewing on the premises.<\/p>\n

History is very nice and the restaurant is pretty good.\u00a0 We took Rick along to act as chauffer for us.\u00a0 The beers were very good.\u00a0 I had samplers so I could enjoy more of the beers.\u00a0 I can only drink one beer so the samplers equal to one, but I can have more flavors.<\/p>\n

We got hit with winter and a snow storm on Thursday night into Friday. \u00a0We got about 7 inches on top of the 4 inches we already had on the ground.\u00a0 It was heavy and wet. \u00a0Earlier in the week, we had snow and rain.\u00a0 The commute was agonizing.\u00a0 One day, it took an hour and an half to crawl to the Mot.\u00a0 On Friday, it was a much better idea to stay at home and work.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t hurt that I wasn\u2019t feel that well anyway.<\/p>\n

The snow left a wonder world of lacy limbs and icy puddles.\u00a0 On Saturday, Rich and I took Sascha out for a walk through the snow.\u00a0 We wondered down to the river.\u00a0 Geese were hanging out.\u00a0 Sascha was barking and trying to reach them.\u00a0 Not all of the river was frozen and the geese gained the freedom of the water\u2019s edge.\u00a0 I took pictures of the scene.<\/p>\n

We continued around through the neighborhood.\u00a0 We wandered down through squirrel alley.\u00a0 This is the road that continues around by the river and back into the hood.\u00a0 We call it squirrel alley due to the great number of squirrels who live in the woods surrounding it.\u00a0 These squirrels go to great lengths to torment the dogs.\u00a0 Sofie had a hard time walking through there and Sascha barely makes it through the length of the road.\u00a0 We rarely walk through there.<\/p>\n

Around and about, we ended up down by the lake.\u00a0 It looked really questionable on whether it would hold a human walking across it.\u00a0 We could see several fishermen out on the ice and fishing away. Rich attempted to walk out there.\u00a0 He sunk into the water and decided to give up the attempt.\u00a0 I wanted to take Sascha out on the ice to see if she would walk out there.\u00a0 She\u2019s going to have to pull the sled when Rich decides to ice fish himself.<\/p>\n

Back home, I needed to clean up the house before the housekeeping people came out.\u00a0 I know that sounds ridiculous.\u00a0 I don\u2019t do much, but I feel I need to pick things up out of their way so they could clean.\u00a0 Then there is the matter of all that dog hair.\u00a0 We do have a Husky and they drop an entire dog every two weeks.\u00a0 I keep telling Rich we need to name that dog that appears in the hallway in our room.\u00a0 So I vacuum up the excess dog hair so they only have to mop and get up the dirt.<\/p>\n

Rick received his long awaited scarf in the mail this week.\u00a0 Back in the fall, he decided that he wanted a scarf just like Tom Baker wore in an earlier version of Doctor Who.\u00a0 This scarf is striped and very, very long.\u00a0 I was surprised at his choice.\u00a0 Tom Baker was my Doctor Who in the 1980s.\u00a0 He asked around to see who knew how to knit.\u00a0 It turned out that his Aunt Kelli could knit and was willing to create this scarf for his Christmas present.\u00a0 Since it took a little longer to finish, Kelli sent the scarf through the mail.\u00a0 Now, Rick wanders around with this scarf draped around his neck.\u00a0 Everyone comments on it.\u00a0 Thanks, Kelli.<\/p>\n

Ah yeah, Rick finally completed the insulation in the garage.\u00a0 Now the walls are ready for drywall.\u00a0 Rich decided to have a professional do the work.\u00a0 It would be easier on us and would only take a few days rather than week.\u00a0 So Rich is checking around for someone to do the work.\u00a0 He has a couple of sources to find a professional.\u00a0 It just seemed like it was taking a while to connect with someone.\u00a0 Rich thinks he has someone and there is a possible meeting for a quote on Saturday.\u00a0 Hopefully, this moves forward.\u00a0 More to come on that.<\/p>\n

Valentine\u2019s Day has come.\u00a0 Our habit is only to exchange cards.\u00a0 There is no need for gifts or a great show.\u00a0 We\u2019ve even given up going out to eat on that day.\u00a0 The restaurants are packed and it is noisy.\u00a0 We stay at home and enjoy the quiet.\u00a0 This week, Valentine\u2019s fell on our normal family eating out day.\u00a0 We moved it up one day.<\/p>\n

After having a really long day at work, I decided that a drink would help.\u00a0 We headed out to The Onion Pub in Barrington.\u00a0 This is a very nice pub.\u00a0 The food tends to be iffy, but the beer is always excellent.\u00a0 The beer cheese soup is also great.\u00a0 So a Russian Imperial Stout and beer cheese soup is always good on a cold day.\u00a0 Once again, Rick was the chauffer.\u00a0 Did I really do that to him twice in one week?<\/p>\n

This year, Rich snuck in and got me a gift for Valentine\u2019s.\u00a0 I was totally caught off guard.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have my card yet!\u00a0 I opened the package and was very, very surprised.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even know that Rich listened to me when I rattle on.\u00a0 Of course, I can\u2019t tell you what it was, but I absolutely loved it!\u00a0 I did finally go out at lunch time and picked up the perfect card.\u00a0 Oh yeah, I also got the latest SI swimsuit issue for Rich.<\/p>\n

The next big holiday is Rick\u2019s 19th<\/sup> birthday on March 9.\u00a0 I know he wants a cool gift and that means a lot of money.\u00a0 I tell him that\u2019s not going to happen.\u00a0 He keeps showing me pictures of cool guitars.\u00a0 They are Les Pauls, no less.\u00a0 Then there is something about a Jack Harkness coat.\u00a0 It is not on my list though.\u00a0 I did get a couple of things.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll be too disappointed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve even started on Rich\u2019s birthday gifts.\u00a0 It\u2019s never too soon to shop.\u00a0 Rich has decided that he wants to go to Hofbrau Haus that opened in Rosemont this winter.\u00a0 That\u2019s OK.\u00a0 We\u2019ll enjoy some good German food with some good German beer in a very nice German environment.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still collecting up pictures of that moment known as \u201cI have a heavy weight on my chest.\u201d\u00a0 Since Sascha loves to be a lap dog, it tends to spread to your chest.\u00a0 My collection of photographic evidence of this phenomenon is growing.<\/p>\n

\"Rich<\/a>
Rich was having trouble with a little chest pain the other day. Sascha seemed to be fine .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A close up of Sascha making sure that squirrel didn’t cross the line into her yard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"It's<\/a>
It’s hard to tell, but that’s Rick under that big ball of fur. Yeah, he was having chest pain too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A good way to see the snow that accumulated from the last few snows.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Snow<\/a>
Snow was falling as Sascha was watching that pesky squirrel that was just out of reach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"It<\/a>
It was my turn to feel under pressure. Sascha was just wanting a little love.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"It<\/a>
It was snowing pretty good out there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Just<\/a>
Just a shot of Griswold Lake with the ice fishermen out there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich was feeling a little under the pressure. I’m not sure why though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich walking Sascha down to the river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rick<\/a>
Rick finally got his Christmas present from Aunt Kelli. Great scarf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sascha<\/a>
Sascha was watching the geese that she just couldn’t get down at the river.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So instead of writing my blog on Sunday, I went down to The Roundhouse for appetizers and beers.\u00a0 We decided to take a road trip to Aurora with a friend.\u00a0 We had wanted to go down and check out the surroundings for Two Brothers.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had some of their beers and now it was time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5,8,12,13,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1575"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1592,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1575\/revisions\/1592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}