We are back from our long vacation, a bit worse for wear but still kicking.  We went to Breckenridge, CO for a week, then headed to Denver for a few days and stayed with our friends Ed & Kim.  I expect I’ll add a little detail as the week progresses, and of course some pics, but for now I must rest up.  I am definitely glad I anticipated my current state of fatigue and took a few extras days vacation to recuperate.  Plus, it’s rather difficult to type with a half-crazy cat sitting on the keyboard demanding attention.  Awwww, I think little Kane actually missed us.  Or maybe he just wants out.

Had a standard Thurday evening.  Went riding with Munkirs & Martin on the usual “Thursday night Brookside Ride.”  Not too much to report on there;  We finished the route.  We opted for the “slow group” this week, a mistake I will not make again.  Munkirs joined Donette & I at the Brooksider afterward for a burger and fries, while Martin mysteriously disappeared.

Tonight we leave for vacation.  Well…  MAYBE tonight we leave for vacation.  We’ll see.  We haven’t really prepared much.  Neither of us has even begun to pack, and we both have to work all day.  So, it remains to be seen if we get all that done this evening and take off driving.  We’ll be gone quite a while, which I am rather looking forward to.  Expect the site to be updated rather sparingly, if at all, in the foreseeable future.  I’m sure that upon our return there will be pics a-plenty and all that good stuff though.

Last night, for the sake of getting back into our routine, we headed down to the Brooksider.  Honestly a cigar wouldn’t have hurt my feelings, but it was way too hot to be sitting outside.  (Although the rest of the guys were…  Little more hardcore than myself I guess.)  So, we sat inside in the A/C and had a little dinner.  I had my usual Tuesday night meal;  Three soft-shell chicken tacos.  Donette went with the mysterious “instead” burger.  Never really understood what “instead” meant, but that’s OK I guess.  It looked like a regular ol’ hamburger.  Instead of a taco?  Instead of a club sandwich?  Some type of marketing angle I’m just not catching on to perhaps.  After dinner I clicked through channels until the Royals game came on.  An hour and a half of glancing at worthless shows took it’s toll on me though;  I fell asleep in the third inning.

Wow it is hot out.  The motorcycle ride home is less than enjoyable.  Like riding into a hair-dryer while sitting in an oven.  I seriously considered taking the bus today, but then there is the walk across downtown to and from the bus stop to consider.  Can’t win.

I have absolutely nothing to go on from yesterday, but for the sake of consistency I’ll update this anyway.  I need to fix my mountain bike in preparation for our upcoming vacation, so I messed with that for about ten minutes.  Turned a few screws, moved a cable, and declared it a job for a professional.  Guess it’s off to the shop.  For dinner we grilled up some bacon-wrapped sirloins, which I guess were good enough to comment on.  Had some fried ‘shrooms & onions on the side, and Donette whipped up a homemade slaw that was mighty fine.  After that I dove into “jailbreaking” my iPod Touch;  I’m sure everyone has been following that news with rapt attention so I won’t go into the details.  It went flawlessly, and I messed with it for a good hour afterward checking out the new features.  I finally killed enough time that the Royals came on.  I thought I had a pretty good feel for how the game was going to turn out after the first three innings, so I turned it off and went to bed.  Checking the paper this morning, looks like I made the right call.

That was a rather lame weekend.  Or maybe just too quick.  I’m not ready for another week, that’s for sure.  Friday we sort of took it easy;  I’ll blame the heat.  Rolled down to the Brooksider to say hi to everybody, then down to Jalapenos for some dinner.  Dinner was good though.  We finally remembered to get there for “chicken verde burrito” night, my favorite.  After dinner we went home and Donette insisted we have “movie night.”  Despite my reluctance, she turned on “Julia & Julia.”  I fell asleep twenty minutes into it so I’m not sure how it turned out;  I do remember I didn’t like the little bit I saw.

Saturday was a little slow getting started.  As far as I can remember, we wasted the entire morning.  Later in the afternoon, Donette headed off to the pool and I stayed home and “helped” our friend Tom work on our plumbing.  I was on my own for evening entertainment, as Donette was down at the boats gambling away our retirement plan.  I elected to hit the Brooksider for an hour or so, then bought some chicken and went home to grill up some dinner.  I went with a “Phil” style of menu, which I don’t get when the wife is home.  My dinner consisted of 3 grilled chicken thighs.  Sides just dirty up more dishes, I have no use for them.  After that delicious meal, I retired to the couch to watch the Royals, somehow managing to even watch the entire game.

Sunday I got up and left the house at the unholy hour of 5:30 to go pick up Munkirs for a bike ride.  We were heading out to Louisburg Kansas for the Cider Mill Century ride.  Our plan was to ride the 50 mile route;  Optimistic but workable.  The first 1/2 was all good, easy even.  We managed a solid 17 mph average speed, which is pretty zippy for us.  Things got dicey after the second rest stop.  The trouble started when Munkirs decided to use a real pump to air up his tires.  (As opposed to the little portable thing he usually uses.)  He got 140 lbs. of pressure in his tires and I never saw him again for the rest of the ride.  Just couldn’t keep up.  I seriously think the guy has been riding on flat tires all summer.  I finished the whole 50 miles though.  Unfortunately I was “done” at about 40 miles, I’m not entirely sure how I finished the last ten.  After a pleasant first half, the second half was ridiculously hilly.  The last ten or fifteen miles were just plain disheartening.  You’d turn a corner and there would be a huge hill in front of you.  Struggle to the top of one hill, and see another right there.  It got old, and of course by that time it was hot and brutally humid.  We made it back though, if only because that’s where the car was and we had no other choice.  They served lunch after the ride, but we took a pass on that;  I just wanted out of the sun at that point.  After that bit of exercise, I didn’t do much the rest of the day.  Come to think of it, I didn’t do a darn thing.  Watched the Royals on TV and…  Yep that was about it.