Holy Hell Free Rangers,
As most of you know, besides our love for dogs in here, we are also vocal and active proponents of planting and greening projects, which are literally good for everybody (as plants help clean the air). Half the fun of buying full barrels of rare whiskey is to have new (old) barrels in which to plant more trees in front of the shop. This is one of the reasons I proudly work with the Atlantic Ave BID, on which I currently serve as board member. This organization is responsible for all the new trees, flowers, and expanded tree pits along Atlantic Ave and on a number of the intersecting streets (as well as a lot of other good in the neighborhood). These include the planters on Hoyt Street, for which the org pays for and which I personally help to maintain. So you can imagine how it felt to watch a child walking away with two beheaded formerly perfect flowers, already crumbling in the clumsy sweaty mess of pudgy little fists, which were pulled under the supervision of her dad. Being out front of the shop admiring the day at the time, I said- surprisingly calmly, “Hey man, we put a lot of time and money into maintaining these planters.” He took a beat to consider ignoring me and continue walking, then begrudgingly turned back around. “I’m sorry, I tried to stop her,” he halfheartedly huffed.
Really. You tried to stop her. She overpowered you. And under the threat of violence snatched up those flowers, as you dove to try and save them from the attack, like a freakin’ secret service agent in front of the president? Because on our cameras, it sure looks like you and your daughter were both elbow deep in at least two different planters for about 20 minutes, leaving depressions where you were resting your arms. And you clearly stole at least one of those flowers yourself. Before that, you were standing around texting while your daughter entertained herself by fiddling with the lock and security gate mechanism in front of a shop across the street. But I hadn’t yet seen the footage, and I wasn’t about to raise my voice in front of his child, so he got off easy with a salty, “Well, thanks for ruining it for everyone else.” The wit of the staircase might read that one as: thanks for helping her understand that her momentary happiness is more important than leaving nice things the way you found them.
Literally as I was writing this, somebody’s blond little t(w)een just strode by the front windows of the shop, pulling greenery from each of at least the two barreled trees visible from my angle here at the back of the shop. Guessing nobody ever told that one ‘no’ either. Idle hands, I suppose. It’s just so much easier for one belligerent soul to tear something down than it is for a small handful of well intentioned humans to get together to build something; and as a society we seem to have reached terminal velocity of this notion. Regardless, we’ll be here at street level weathering the maelstrom if you need us.
Now, this week’s in-store tasting is with Nomadica. As many of you have already sampled, these are surprisingly delicious single serving wine in cans. Please join us this Thursday, June 5th (5-7pm) for FREE tastes of Nomadica White, Orange, Red, and Sparkling White. As usual, all tasting day items are 10% off in-store on tasting day only!
And unless you’re new here, it’s kind of crazy if you haven’t yet checked out the ever growing Sale of sales! This week’s additions include the best prices of the year on Baker’s 13yr Bourbon, Basil Hayden 10yr, Knob Creek 18yr, and Lagavulin 11yr Offerman Charred Oak (in damaged boxes). Check out the full list of wine and spirits here:
(!) Click here for Sale of Sales (!)
Keep on keepin’ on,
Jack
Proprietor
Free Range Wine & Spirits
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