u/denvergardener

This summer we did a road trip to Chicago to do the whole tourist thing.

I told everyone one of my biggest priorities was to spend at least part of a day at the Field Museum. I knew it was one of the more prestigious and well known Natural History museums in the world. But I didn't know very much about it and didn't really research it before going.

We made our way to the fossil exhibits first. I was enjoying everything and soaking it all in.

And then it hit: I stumbled across the exhibit with the Archaeopteryx fossil. I had read about it for years. I knew there weren't very many known fossils in museums. I had zero clue they had an Archaeopteryx. When I walked around the corner and saw it, I was stunned. Speechless. There was a tour guide telling a group of people about it. I stood off to the side, waiting. Eventually she finished, and they all moved on.

I walked over to it, alone, and just stared at it. I soaked it in. Looked at it closely. Absorbed all of the details. I even cried a little bit, just overwhelmed with emotions. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I felt so lucky standing there, staring at it.

Later my wife told me her sister was asking "is he okay? How long is he going to stand there looking at it?" She said she didn't really know. So they went ahead without me.

I didn't know any of the back story of how the fossil ended up in the Field Museum. So after I got home, I spent hours reading the whole story. It was pretty fascinating. Didn't even sound real.

One of the most profound science experiences of my life. I wish I had more time to stare at it. Maybe some day I'll make it back to Chicago again.

Oh and of course we spent a lot of time in the room with Sue.

I could hear thunder and see lightning when I was at work today, and went outside to a downpour. Checked my doorbell camera and it was raining at my house too.

Came home to a yard and garden that were soaked and rain barrels 1/2-2/3 full. I swear just a half day of rain and all my plants look happier than they did this time yesterday. We planted 7 new bushes a few days ago so I'm relieved they're getting soaked and not roasted.

Had dinner and now I'm sitting outside drinking a beer while the rain continues to fall.

And looks like a good chance of this for at least the next 3 days. Hopefully if the temps don't spike like they have been, we can have a solid month or more for our plants to happily give us all the produce we crave.

Cheers, y'all!!

The radar for the last 2 hours made it look like it was dumping rain. And even green and yellow directly over our neighborhood.

Yet when I go outside, the skies are cloudy but I see lots of blue sky and absolutely no sign of rain.

And the radar right now shows it should be raining now all around me. Not a drop. Dry AF. What gives?

Edit:

It also appears I may be a dumbass. I'm using the Weather Underground app. I think the screenshot I posted here was a temperature map, not precipitation.

Sorry, my apologies.

Never heard of it before. Some of my seed starts didn't make it so I had a few holes to fill in my tomato beds. A local nursery was doing 20% vegetables so we got more tomatoes and peppers. This one looked interesting so we are giving it a go.

The last month or so, we had 3 frost events and there was a lot of discussion here and elsewhere about fruit trees. Now that (I think) we're in the clear, I'm curious how everyone made out?

We lost all of our pears and plums. Our peach tree dropped over half its fruit but we have dozens of peaches that survived and are growing well. Our sour cherry tree was unaffected and has hundreds of cherries. Our Asian pear lost about half, but still a decent amount of fruit.

We have been Dry Dock fans since the OG days when they had taps on the cheap whiteboard paneling in a little small cubby at the back of the Brew Hut back in the day.

It was actually a disappointment when they went big and built a big fancy yuppie friendly taproom and 86'ed the little hole in the wall microbrewery. But they were still one of our local favorites.

Then we found out with the great consolidation, they were merging with Lefthand, and closing the taproom that had been a staple for us for years. Sad times.

But then, what is this? A glimmer of hope? A rumor they had acquired the Pub on Pearl, and were going to open a new concept merging two of my favorite Colorado breweries? And it's less than 15 minutes from my house? No way.

Then yesterday a buddy messaged and said "hey I just got an email that Dry Dock is doing a soft opening this weekend." So we went today to check it out.

The taplist was uninspired, if I'm being honest. Two great breweries, I think they could do better. But they have a full kitchen at this location, and the food was pretty good. And the facility is pretty awesome.

If you're in the area, go check it out. We'll definitely be back.