OT: For the Gillian Persuasion

And his girlfriend Di Ameter

Ellice

Who thinks this is bringing back my recurrent nightmare from childhood fever of being attacked by the flying isoceles triangles and inelegant geometry proofs

It's tremendously popular here, nearly as popular as wine making.

Ugh. OK, you have made my -2 high sound ok. The only place I'd want

Actually, there are a lot of home-brewers here. And lots of little breweries that only have limited marketing areas.

Come visit! I have lots of places to take you.

I'm not a fanatical home-brewer who starts from off with a bag of hops and some barley - I just buy a tin of wort and a bag of sugar, mix 'em with hot water & yeast then wait. The greatest incentive to me is the price - about 25 pence a pint as opposed to about 2 pounds a pint charged in a pub.

Bruce Fletcher ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

That's my motivation. Our 'sin' taxes are very high but for some reason buying the grapes and doing it yourself only incurs normal taxes so it brings the cost of a 1litre bottle of wine all the way down to fifty cents, can't be beaten for just a wee bit of effort. Average price for a nice bottle of wine off the shelf, around $12-15 ! Every time I lift my glass it gives me great satisfaction to beat the government at their own game.

I did try brewing my own wine but found myself getting impatient so I switched over to beer. I am fortunate in that I don't like any spirits (even single malt Scottish whisky) and they don't like me - it's saved me a fortune over the years!

Bruce Fletcher ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

I had a friend who liked his social drink but he became allergic in later years. He finally only drank Schnapps because it is one of the purest liquors and has the least additives. Whatever it was that was present in other drinks, was not present in Schnapps and he could drink it without penalty.

Yup. When I was spending all that time in NM, it was so hot out on the range in the desert working that we had to shift work schedules so that we came on at about 2 am and left before noon. Easy 110 F. In ABQ, people would always say "but it's a dry heat" - sure, but it's still over 100F. Just not quite so uncomfortable at 100, but as it creeps up every couple of degrees seems like a lot.

The weather out there was so odd - it could be snowing in the morning, then in the 70s in the afternoon, then 30 and a wind chill bringing it down again in the evening. Go figure.

Ellice - in metro DC which has its own confused weather right now.

A comedian I once saw in Las Vegas remarked that even though the temp was over 100 it was a dry heat and his answer to that was "So's a blast furnace."

Lucille

A fellow stitcher observed "so's your oven, and the turkey gets cooked anyway."