This is not a "year in review" post, nor is it a "woohoo it's New Year's Eve" post. There are other reasons to celebrate.

Every day, a small victory is achieved by someone, somewhere, trying to do who knows what. To this person, I raise my glass in celebration and smile with them.

It is easy enough to bemoan the hardships, trials, and travails of everyday life, but what about the flip side of that coin? For every complaint there should be a supportive comment, a slap on the back, a kind word. In short, the stories of the little victories should not only be remembered, but they should also be shared.

Not everyone shares their stories, but everyone has a story. Actually everyone has quite a lot of stories. These are mine:

Brewing
On the evening of December 30th, while listening to a few months worth of Rathole Radio I started brewing a five gallon batch, of what I am now calling Rathole Red, with:

• 8 lb William's American Red malt
• 2 oz US Magnum Hops
• 6 oz ginger
• Nottingham Ale yeast

No, I am not affiliated with Willam's brewing in any way, shape or form. I am simply a very happy customer(but that is not why I am celebrating). Not a drop of wort was spilled, nothing on the stove burned. It was a very uneventful brewing, and for this, I celebrate.

Petaluma
Today was an overcast almost raining day; a good day to stay inside and sip coffee. However, I need to break in a new reed and playing bagpipes indoors is not very fun, so I packed up the pipes, hopped on my bicycle, and peddled to my favorite practice spot on the Petaluma River. When I got to the spot, one of my friends was out on the water fishing from a boat. So far, he had only caught a crab. Catching a crab while fishing? Celebrate!

For part of the ride home, I was behind a truck pulling a trailer with about 6 cows in it. Let me tell you about cows. Cows poo a lot. Cows also pee a lot. When a bunch of cows are in a trailer, the mixture of their poo and pee makes quite a bit of muck that flows out of the trailer and onto the roadway (and any bicycle rider that happens to be behind the trailer). Fortunately I managed to dodge all of the muck. This was in downtown Petaluma. I love this town! Celebrate!


They may be small victories, but they are all mine.

Now stop reading, and go celebrate.