Recalled to Life

It was the best of times (we celebrated my nephew Eliot's second birthday today)

It was the worst of times (my beloved Tiger basketball team suffered their worst lost since, well, heck, I don't know)

It was the age of wisdom (Eliot loved our gift to him--an Elmo Ball Zone)

It was the age of foolishness (Cindy and I completely overate at El Porton--darn those chips)

And it was a day in which I recalled to life forty-something "dead soldiers" (ie, used, empty beer bottles); well, at least I removed their labels...I'll still need to sanitize them before bottling my first batch of beer in a couple of weeks.  Some labels were easier to remove (those of Sierra Nevada and New Belgium products) than others (Saranac was difficult, McSorleys was impossible), and some bottles with the "labeling" applied by paint are just going to have to stay that way. But I did feel a sense of accomplishment after removing that last label, knowing that I was one step closer to having my own beer ready to drink and share.