I declare summer officially over, from a weather standpoint.  I don’t know if it is on the calendar, but I think the cooler weather is here to stay.  Get your sweaters out, people.  Man, this site is just chock full of invaluable information.  Or unvaluable information, or something like that.

We didn’t really do much last weekend,  hence the unsolicited weather report.  Just trying to bulk up the content a little.  Saturday we did go to a BBQ competition at Blue Springs.  We headed out there with Brice and volunteered our services for judging.  It was a good sized competition as local ones go;  I think I heard 83 teams were entered.  It was raining pretty hard towards the end, so we didn’t do any walking around the grounds, but the judging part was entertaining.  We feasted on some good, some not so good, and some mediocre ‘que for about three hours.  After judging three of these competitions this summer, I’m a bit surprised that there aren’t more judges who also compete.  As a matter a fact, I haven’t met anybody else who competes.  I guess they are all just there for the free grub, which is fair enough.  Me and Bob, we were checking out the entries and interviewing the other judges, looking for some ideas of what to do and what not to do.  Well, that and enjoying the free grub.  After our bellies were full, we dropped by the Brooksider for a post-bbq wrap up, then headed back home.  Far as I remember, that wrapped up the day.

Sunday I got up rather early and fired up a roux for the first gumbo pot of the season.  I don’t guess it was really that cold out, but it was the first football Sunday of the year and I had a fridge full of scraps, so it seemed like the thing to do.  A few neighbors came over to help eat it up, and the rest of the day was spent on feed and football.  Let the wasted Sundays begin!!

As for the weekly poll, yeah I know that’s been used at least once.  But, in the spirit of the season, and lacking any other ideas, I put it up again.  By the way, TFB BBQ will be competing in Kearney on the 19th – 20th, mark your calendars.

Happy three-day weekend to all.  Mine was more of a nice round six-day, as I was on vacation starting last Wednesday.  Wednesday I did absolutely nothing, then Thursday we flew to Cincinnati for Ed & Kim’s wedding.  I’m not sure exactly what the big hurry was, but apparently they felt they had to get all hitched up, official-like.  You’d think they would want to kind of test the waters first, maybe get to know each other.  But, hey, to each their own.  Donette was one of the bridesmaids, so she went to a luncheon and then the rehearsal on Friday.  Meanwhile, I took this time for my “down day” and hung out reading at the hotel pool all afternoon.  I probably haven’t shed my shirt in public for around three years now, so I figured it was time to catch a few rays.  What the heck, I don’t know these people or their dinner plans, so I didn’t really care if I ruined a few appetites.  So, I popped in the headphones and set about reading “The Dante Club,” which I’ve had for a few years but never got around to opening.  A few hours later, I was rather startled to notice that the air had an odd reddish hue to it.  Curious as to what was causing this peculiar atmospheric condition, I glanced up at the sky, half expecting to see some kind of ominous storm clouds.  Alas, it was not the sky at all, but the glow radiating from my fully baked chest.  And my belly, previously comparable in color to the underside of a catfish, had taken on an almost purple tint.  Seriously alarmed, I threw on my sandals to head inside, and quickly discovered my feet were also near blistering.  Good grief.  I tried to “tough it out” for the rest of the weekend, but it sort of took the wind out of me.  Movement of any kind was a bit torturous.  Donette, with her typically compassionate nature, reminded me that “If I would have been at the wedding rehearsal like I was supposed to be, that wouldn’t have happened.”

The rest of the weekend was spent gingerly shuffling around enjoying the nuptial events.  The rehearsal dinner was Friday evening, which was a lot of fun.  I had an awesome filet mignon, which was I believe the first steak I’d tackled since getting these stupid braces.  I must say, it was worth the effort.  Saturday was pretty much all-day wedding stuff.  Donette went to Kim’s house about 10:00 in the morning, where all the girls met up to have their hair and makeup done.  Ed’s brother Tim picked me up around 11:00 and we went over to the hotel where the boys were staying, where I found them bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, furiously preparing for the day ahead.  (And that’s the honest truth, no matter what stories may have leaked to the press.  Well, maybe not the whole truth, but they did in fact at some point get ready.  Details are of no consequence here.)  The rest of the afternoon was spent on pictures, driving to the church, etc, etc.  The ceremony itself was at 5:00, in a very nice, if a bit warmish cathedral downtown.  You’ve all been to weddings, I don’t suppose I need a lot of detail here.  After that was the reception, highlighted by I would say the best wedding band I’ve seen since one of our friends hired Swingcrew.  They were called “The Mistics” and they were quite entertaining to say the least.  They had everybody out dancing on the first song they played, and I don’t think anybody left the floor from then on.  Well, everyone but me…  My sunburned feet hurt, you know.

Sunday we flew back home, picked up Gabe, and pretty much shut ourselves in the house for the rest of the long weekend.  I have a brisket on the smoker today, so we’ll see how that project turns out shortly.  I posted a few pictures of the wedding in my photo gallery;  For much more comprehensive coverage check out Claire’s (Ed’s Mom) page on flikr though.  She doesn’t have the actual wedding pics up yet I see, but it’s a safe bet they will be there soon, and in the meantime there are “a few” photos of the rehearsal and stuff to keep you busy.

That was a busy weekend for me, but didn’t really provide much fodder for an update because I spent the whole time on a motorcycle trip.  I could cover our “week in dining” experiences I guess, just for the sake of typing.  We’ve been trying several more of the local restaurants since the smoking ban took effect, and have hit on a few winners.  Last week we tried The Gaff and a new Mexican place at the corner of 75th & Wornall.  The name of the Mexican place escapes me at the moment…  Cantina Del Rey maybe?  It got high marks in my book at any rate, it might even bear a few repeat visits.  The Gaff was good too, but the atmosphere was a bit boisterous for old folks like us.  This was mostly due to one particular patron though;  Maybe she won’t be there next time, or maybe if she is Munkirs will lend me his tranquilizer darts.  Or who knows, maybe she’ll find her “indoor voice” over the next few weeks.  Or perhaps, equally more unlikely, noisy people will cease to bother me, you just never know.

Anyway, my weekend was spent riding my motorcycle up to Des Moines for my Uncle Roy’s 60th birthday party.  After carefully watching the weather forecasts all morning, I finally took off Saturday afternoon.  The map I printed out estimated my travel time at 3 hours;  Some how or another it took me 5 1/2 hours.  Man I know I don’t exactly break the sound barrier, but I didn’t think I was going that slow.  I did dawdle in Indianola for a while I guess.  That’s where Mom is from, so I drove by my Grandparent’s house (I think) and a few other local “landmarks of my youth.”  It was a fine day for riding, that’s for sure, so I enjoyed it no matter how long.  Not too often you get an August afternoon in the low 80’s around here.  I’d made a few key equipment upgrades since last year’s ride to Hermann too, all of which helped out in varying degrees.  Probably the biggest improvement was my new seat, followed by the mesh jacket, and then the much-maligned tank bag.  The tank bag served no purpose other than to carry my map in a readable position, but that helped immensely.  Oh I also got some new headphones for my Ipod recently, and they performed just famously.  They are the kind that mash in your ears with the silicone pieces, so they fit very nicely under my helmet and effectively seal out most of the wind and traffic noise.  That way I can hear my tunes at a decent volume, without having to crank it up to an ear-drum damaging level.  Plus, I’ll never even hear the semi coming just before it turns me into a grease spot, which should cut down on my anxiety.  I think the only thing left on the “upgrade” list is a windshield, but I’m just not sure I’m ready to turn that corner yet.

I made it to my Uncle’s house around 5:30, just in time for the party.  Roy is something of a gourmet, so he had quite the assortment of feed out all evening.  There were several artisan cheeses, prociutto-wrapped figs, a walnut/parsley salad, tuna, pepper relish (big hit,) and even some anchovies, which I ate way too many of.  In addition to the birthday celebration, the fiesta also marked the unveiling of his new patio, which had been completed a few weeks ago.  It was quite an impressive structure;  I would have taken pictures to share but I don’t want Donette seeing it.  She’d have a contractor on the phone in minutes.

I spent the night at their house, then after a solid base of biscuits and gravy at the local diner and a driving tour of Des Moines, I headed back south.  They directed me to a large four-lane structure near their house called an “Interstate,” and this seemed to make a considerable difference in my travel time on the way home.  It was another fine day out so I still didn’t get in too much of a hurry, sort of alternating between I-35 and 69 hwy, depending on how I felt at the moment.  This new route shaved a rather remarkable hour and a half off my total trip time though.  Good grief there were a lot of bugs out yesterday though.  My formerly solid grey helmet is now a rather mottled pattern of varying color.  Might want to add “windshield wiper” to the upgrade list too, if they make such a thing for helmets.  I pulled into the house around 4:00, and we promptly headed down to the Brooksider for a travel-recap and a little dinner, then I went back home and wiped out on the couch about 7:00.  That motorcycling will take it out of you I guess.

That was a quiet weekend in the Kenagy house.  I should say, it was a quiet weekend out of the Kenagy house, as we spent most of our time on the back deck.  Lil’ Gabe is suffering from one of his all-too-common tummy ailments, and he has rendered our entire house uninhabitable.  I can say with all certainty that there are few, if any, things stinkier than a gassy Gabe.  I’m thinking about picking up some roadkill on my way home today and throwing it in the living room to mask the odor.  Thank goodness the vet will be open today, we can’t get him up there fast enough.  If there are any bright spots to the situation, I’m at least happy the weather was so nice over the weekend, ’cause there ain’t a single window shut in our house.

Saturday morning, inspired in no small part by Gabe’s “situation,” I decided to go on a motorcycle ride.  A longgggg ride.  There was a BBQ competition going on up in Excelsior Springs, so that served as a fine destination.  I had a quite nice ride up there in 70-degree weather, then spent the better part of the day hanging out in the Red Buffalo tent watching them work, and feasting on no small part of the product.  That pretty much took up my whole day.  Meanwhile, Donette retreated to the pool with “the girls” and did whatever it is that they do when they go there.  That sort of wrapped up Saturday.  Aside from making a rather tasty pasta dinner, we had an entirely uneventful evening.

Sunday morning, inspired by watching the Olympic “men’s pursuit” event the night before, I broke out the bicycle for a little ride.  I had good intentions of meeting up with some guys I met at the Brooksider the weekend before and joining them on their Sunday ride.  I thought that downright social of me, but I soon realized that I couldn’t remember what time they were meeting, or where.  Or even their names, for that matter.  So, I scrapped the “social” part of the ride, put on my headphones and took off by myself.  Probably for the best;  I think I need a few more outings before I’m ready for a group ride.  The weather was near perfect again, and I ended up riding a lot farther that I had planned.  Might as well enjoy it while it’s here, I figure;  It’s gonna get hot again soon enough.  By the time I got back home, a rather large crowd had gathered in the street for an impromptu “block party” of sorts.  Isn’t that just downright quaint.  What the heck, it was a great night out and it kept us out of the house.

Wow, kind of a struggle for a title this week.  Had to fall back to “generic.”  Generic is a good word for the weekend though, so it’s fitting.  We shook things up a bit on Friday and went to the Brooksider for our evening entertainment.  We sat at our same table, with the same people, and talked about the same things.  I find some comfort in monotony though, so this was all good.  It doesn’t make for very good news, but then precious little in my day to day activities does.

Saturday we got a rather late start on the day.  I got sucked into my stupid game of Bejeweled on the computer and couldn’t pull myself away.  It’s probably the most ridiculous game in existence, but I continually find myself playing it for hours on end.  For the record, I’m currently in the middle of my all time high score, just about to turn over 27 million points at level 100.  I was kind of expecting some kind of fireworks or spectacular graphics when I hit level 100 but nope, it just said “100.”  Oh well, it wasn’t the first or last let-down in life.  I finally tore myself away from this gripping waste of time around noon, and we headed out for a shopping trip.  After a tasty lunch at 75th Street, we walked around the corner to our friendly neighborhood shoe store and bought me some new shoes, which I was in dire need of.  I found a pair I liked, which was a good thing, but rather sad in that it marked the end of my beloved Salomon shoes.  They were a fine pair pair of footwear, but alas, they had fallen on hard times.  The soles were worn through, the insoles had collapsed, and they smelled like Gabe had been using them for a chew toy.  Which, as a matter of fact, he has on more than one occasion.  So, pleased with my new Keen boots, I had to throw away the old ones.  Well, actually I just set them beside the trash can, I couldn’t bring myself to actually toss them.  After that mildly traumatic event, we headed downtown to Kemper arena for the first annual “Wine & Brew Ha Ha.”  We weren’t going for fun though, Donette had volunteered us to work at it.  Ah, the life of a public servant.  It was a good time though, I must say.  We actually stayed for three hours after the end of the event, hanging out with the people from Flying Monkey (an Olathe brewery that apparently has no website) and a few other volunteers.  Quite social of us I thought.

Sunday got off to a similarly slow start.  I eventually drug myself outside to mow the lawn, and Donette headed off to the pool with a few friends.  After my yard work I turned on the Olympics, which occupied me for roughly 20 minutes, then Gabe and I took a nice stroll down to the Brooksider.  We hung out for a while watching the Royals game, then walked back home.  There was still nothing on TV, so I turned back around and went back to the Brooksider.  Donette showed up a while later, sporting a fresh sunburn, and we ended up making an evening of it.  Donette wouldn’t quit talking to strangers though so we had to leave after a while.  I got all socialized out Saturday night I think.