Books and brewing

After several years of working on his book, Stu has a been approached by a publisher interested in his work. The publisher had lots of good ideas and was quite enthusiastic.

Highlights of 2007

So long, 2007. You were a good year, with some goals retired and new ones made. Family, travel, and new friends were the big hits of 2007.

Goals retired
Kids hit number 50! Beautiful trip to the Canadian Rockies included a trip across BC to Prince Rupert, where we caught the ferry to Ketchikan. We spent a few days hiking, birding, and touring and left with the resolution to see more of Alaska. Kids have now been to all 50 states!

Jake and Mel hit 9,000! After living in the shadow of our beautiful Organs for 17 years, two of us got to the top on a grand day for hiking. (Top of the Organs is about 9000 feet.)

Continuing stories
Stu brews excellent brew! Highlights of the year were the Scotch ale (rich and smoky) and chicha in addition to the usual favorites of porter, bock, IPA, etc. The beer book continues.

LCHS Dawg Soccer wins state! Jacob’s swimming times are dropping. He works hard at 6 am practices and hopes to swim in college next year.

Stu got recertified as a high school soccer referee, thus answering, at least in part, just how do parents avoid soccer withdraw after their kids age out of local soccer opportunities?

New endeavors
Quincy makes her LCHS acting debut (as a drunkard and a woman who reads too much...) in the Crucible in March. In November, she was the Technical Director for Pirates of Penzance.

Jake applies to colleges; gets his first college acceptance and merit scholarship!

Claire Fiedler visits from Germany: includes visit to Cochiti Pueblo where we watched Mel’s friend Sam Suina make drums (see slideshow at http://santeros.nmsu.edu/folkart/index.html).

Other highlights: We host Aaron Long, a high school student for a couple weeks or so over the summer. Mel’s promotion comes through; she now works at NMSU as the Special Assistant to the Vice President for Student Success.

Kids and academics: Jacob started a tutoring program for high school students to work with elementary students through the LCHS Honor Society. Up to 10 students have participated. Both kids anticipate good grades for the end of the semester.

Travel time: Shiner, Texas, 12/27

Shiner, Texas: Home of the Spoetzl Brewery, maker of Shiner Bock Beer.

We toured this facility and got free samples. Love these brewery tours.

By chance, we were there on the same day the Rabbi certified the brewery as kosher. Stu talked with him and the Brewer as Melody sampled. Jake drove the rest of the way to Houston...

Beer Blog

I have been trying to convince Stu that he needs a beer blog.

Stu's knowledge of beer is encyclopedia. He began teaching "Brewing Science and Society" a few years back, and rarely has a seat gone empty in his class since. Hundreds of students who never thought they'd ever take a beer class can now explain the difference between a porter and a pale ale.

In addition to knowling a lot about beer, he brews really good beer! He has brewed ales, lagers, stout, porters, pilsners, bocks, fruit beers, wits, and too many more to name.

His most recent brew was chicha (http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/751499), a corn based brew we tased for the first time in Peru in the summer of 2006. If you are in the neighborhood, stop in and have a glass.