"2-Beer" Jane

Sorry about the 10-day lag in blogging. Things have been kind of crazy since I got home from Florida. I got home last Sunday afternoon, then on Monday I went to my Uncle Harry's funeral. He died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack the Friday I was in Florida. Uncle Harry was my Dad's younger brother and the one he farmed with. It wasn't like Harry and I were super close but gosh darn it I miss him. He always used to wink at me... he probably winked at lots of people but I always thought those winks were for me. He also had the strongest hands I have ever seen. They weren't necessarily the biggest hands ever, but seriously I think if he tried he could have squeezed coal into diamonds. Harry always said his two favorite kinds of beer were... free... and cold. I can't say I disagree, but my beer pallet had definitely expanded in recent years.

Uncle Harry was only sitting on the "big yard swing in the sky" for just a week before he had some company... somebody stopped by for a free, cold one. One week after Harry passed away, Robert Styck did as well. Robert worked as a full-time hired hand for Dad & Harry for more than 25 years... pretty much the majority of my life. He was a good guy, always teasing me and asking me if he could be my boyfriend. I remember going with my Mom to take lunch to the field when I was little... Robert was always there... he drove the combine. He drank his coffee with sugar, no cream. Somehow it comforts me that Harry and Robert are up there together.

Eric came down to visit me over Easter weekend. He had Good Friday off of work (so I took it off of work) and came down on Thursday evening. We had a great time just hanging out and getting to spend some time together. On Friday afternoon I gave him the nickel tour of C-U and we went "beer shopping" at Friar Tuck. I very much enjoy beer shopping, especially with Eric... he has lots of patience... it took us a very long time to put together our "Pick a Six". We also got the sampler pack from Boulevard Brewery... so far the Irish Ale was just "ehh", but I rather enjoyed the Pale Ale, and as a general rule I am not so much a Pale Ale girl. I am anxiously awaiting the Stout and Porter, which have been my favorites of late... I will report on them when we try them out.

While Eric was down he met my entire family! As far as I know he is still my boyfriend, so I guess everything went well. He was a very good sport... it had been a tough week for the Tjardes Family, and he was very understanding of the fact that I think everyone was still just a little "out of sorts" so to speak, still a little sad and missing Uncle Harry. We were at Phil & Jayne's house on Saturday night... just drinking a little beer and eating a little pizza with the fam. Someone offered Jayne another beer to which she replied "No thanks, I am just a "1-beer" girl, "1-beer Jayne" if you will.' It is kind of a family joke that my Mom refers to us as Mom Jayne and Bank Jane, and well we found another way to distinguish us... I am definitely more of a "2-beer" Jane... hence the title of this post.

I am heading to the QC (Quad Cities) to spend the weekend with Eric on Friday. We decided not seeing each other for 3 weeks just really didn't work so well. Granted most of that was because I was in Florida, but still... 3 weeks is 3 weeks... and 3 weeks is too long to be apart. We got out the calendars on Sunday and worked out a schedule of sorts. It doesn't work out to see each other every weekend, but it looks like we will spend more of our weekends together than apart... WOO HOO! That is cause to celebrate... perhaps I will go have a beer!... no make that 2!