No Rabbis Were Harmed

After a great but long week at the Cigital office planning my 2014 destiny, I arrived at the farm. I was greeted by Puck and Skillet as I traipsed through the layer of snow that had fallen earlier in the week. I warmed up by the fire for a few and caught up with Zane. He shared his story of the god damn orange chair and we had a few laughs.

The god damned orange chair during NYE avant guard revelry.

Shortly after I got settled in, we headed out for a walk down the river. This was a particularly cold week and there was a few inches of snow on the ground, but we weren’t about to let that stop us from a nice stroll and conversation. The K9 crew blazed the trail as we headed down the river. It was still flowing, but large pieces of ice relayed the week’s cold history. I learned the story of the land, and of the monks that occupied the space around the farm. We returned from our walk to find Guthrie outside of the gate meandering around. Our attempt to fix this just led to further wandering. Eventually a bucket of food and a little patience corrected the issue. We were greeted by Xena just as we returned.

We warmed up for a few minutes, and Zane introduced me to the bar. We started with a Lion’s Tail and discussed plans for dinner. Shortly after we started prep. The meal was a lovely dish of polenta, tomatoes and chorizo [don’t forget the feta] with some fresh bell peppers on the side. I met the rest of the family while we sat down for dinner. An awesome bread pudding starred as the desert and completed the meal.

From noplasticshowers

Just a few minutes after dinner was complete, the cavalry arrived with instruments in tow. We setup in the living room and Zane made us all the house cocktail, The Liberal. For the next few hours we took turns calling out a variety of tunes. Some I knew, some I didn’t, but it was a fantastic time. We ran the gamut well and ended with an odd rendition of “I Shot the Sheriff.” Somehow it found itself in a minor key and Zane’s fiddling turned it into “I Shot the Rabbi”. Needless to say we all had a few laughs and no Rabbis were harmed in the process.

From noplasticshowers

After the hootenanny let out we sat back down at the bar for more drinks and conversation. I learned quite a bit about the different parts of Zane’s collection and where it all came from. Xena joined us and we spent the next couple hours talking and trying different cocktails. It was a great end to an already wonderful evening.

As the evening wound down I made my way out to the guest house. Puck followed me determined to keep me company for the evening. This was a nice surprise as I had been missing my dog while I had been away all week. As I got situated in bed it took him just a couple of minutes to walk over and wait for the invite to sleep with me in the bed. It was pretty cold, so the furry blanket was quite welcome.

The next morning I woke up to find it was still quite chilly. I gathered my things and headed back to the house. I was treated to fresh farm eggs for breakfast. It might seem a little silly, but I truly do enjoy fresh eggs over the store bought variety, so I was quite happy to have them. Zane and I spent the morning talking a bit of shop and I headed out for the airport. It was a great visit and I am looking forward to future trips!