The update will be just a bit late on Monday, as we will be driving home from Cincinnati.  Driving??!!  Yep, driving.  We waited a bit long and airfare was too pricey.  And, not only am I being subjected to the unspeakable horror of nine hours in the car, I have been forbidden to take a laptop.  (GASP!!)  I hope we can manage some fun amidst these brutal conditions.

Our weekend sorta kinda started Thursday, which is always nice.  The Martins joined us in Westport for an O.A.R. concert.  Normally we wouldn’t take part in such wackiness on a school night, but we were feeling particularly energetic I guess.  It was a good show, other than the slightly uncomfortable feeling that we were 20 years older than everybody else.  I also had hard time shaking the notion that we were getting cheated on the venue a bit.  Saturday night Ed went to see them in Denver, where they were playing at Red Rocks; In KC the show was in a parking lot outside the friggin’ Beaumont Club.  I can’t help but notice a bit of disparity there, yet the ticket prices were the same.  Welcome to Kansas City, cultural center of the Midwest.  After carefully comparing the setlists with my seasoned eye for the arts, however, I don’t think we got shorted any on the music;  Good show.

Friday I had to work, which was pretty tough after a late night out.  I gave ‘er my usual 110% though, showing up early and staying late.  (Never know who actually reads these things…)  After that, I hit the lovely new digs at the Brooksider for a while, enjoying their copious amount of man-made shade, also known as a covered deck.  Donette joined me after a bit and we headed down to Jalapenos for a big dinner.  We were so full after that we ended up just going home and lounging in front of the TV the rest of the night.

Saturday morning I was scheduled to drop off my motorcycle at a shop in Excelsior Springs, so they can install my new handlebars and grips.  I’m pretty pumped for this upgrade, if not for leaving my toy in Excelsior all week.  I was having some trouble finding a place to get the swap done, at least in a reasonable amount of time.  Seems everybody is all booked up.  Anyway, I had to ride all the way out there and leave it with them, which I wasn’t too excited about.  I thought I heard them bang something into the gas tank last night, although it might have been my imagination.  Donette picked me up out there, and we headed over to her parents house to eat some lunch.  Gotta maximize your trips north of the river, you know.  For evening entertainment, we went to see “Sweet Charity” at Starlight with the Martins.  We haven’t been having much luck with our Starlight tickets this year.  We missed the first show entirely while we were on vacation.  At the second show, we sat in the pouring rain for the entire first half before bailing out during intermission.  Then, Saturday night the show was delayed for an hour and a half while they tried to get the stage door un-stuck.  Honestly I didn’t notice a big difference in entertainment value between staring at the door and staring at the production itself, but it was a rather boring wait.  They finally started the show around 10:00, but then we had to leave at intermission again because I had to work at midnight.

Sunday we spent the better part of the day up on Smithville Lake with the Martins and Browns.  I’d planned on smoking a “practice” brisket, even had one all seasoned up in the ‘fridge, but couldn’t refuse a little boat time.  We floated around all afternoon, listening to the Royals lose again and soaking up some sun.  I managed to burn myself again too… Slow learner.

By the way, there are some new pictures of our recent Spain trip up in the gallery; check ’em out.  Plenty more to go… I’m getting there.

The bad news is, it’s like 105 degrees out there.  Whadda ya gonna do.  That seemed like a very long weekend, most likely because of the holiday thrown in the mix last week.  We had a good Fourth, speaking of the holiday.  We headed out to Mom’s and had a festive ‘que dinner, at least as much as we could with the intermittent rain.  Dave and Larry brought lots of fireworks so we had a nice barrage of firepower too.  The kids shot off most of the stuff, although I just couldn’t help throwing just a few firecrackers.

Friday I had lots of plans, but, go figure, went to the Brooksider instead.  We didn’t go inside though, just unsociably sat outside on the deck and enjoyed the evening.  If you haven’t been to the good ol’ Brooksider recently, they’ve made considerable upgrades to the deck.  No reason to go in and get all smoky when they spent all that time and money fixing it up outside, I figure.  After hanging out down there for a while, we went across the street to the grocery store and picked up some dinner; Pork chops and potatoes to be exact.  The rest of the evening was spent hanging out our own back deck, grilling up some grub.   Came out pretty well…  I’ve been on a “fresh herb” kick lately and I think I need to be a little more judicious in my seasoning.  Just doesn’t quite have the PUNCH of dried herbs it seems.  Have to start snipping the plants a bit more liberally.

Saturday we got up and decided to go on a moderately long motorcycle ride.  Kind of test the feasibility of taking a longer trip, I suppose.  I had actually never ridden on the interstate, so that was an adventure in itself.  We ended up in lovely Kearney, MO, for no particular reason other than it seemed like a nice distance.  We hung out there for a while, cruised through the Jesse James farm and had a drink at Sonic, then headed over to Smithville and back home via 169.  The whole trip was just about 100 miles, and we fared pretty well.  Everything but my arms that is… I burned the crapola out of my upper arms where the wind blew my sleeves up and exposed my farmer’s tan.  Ouch.  Would we make it 250 miles or 300 miles in one day?  Well, that question wasn’t fully answered I don’t think.  We were ready to get off the bike when we got home, I’ll just say that.  After our heads quit vibrating, we made a tasty lamb chop dinner and spent the rest of the evening reading.

Sunday I had the bright idea to go lay out at the pool, to try and even out the sunburn I got the day before.  As I read that last line, I realize the sheer folly of my reasoning.  I guess my mission was accomplished;  My entire front side is now glowing a nice shade of radioactive red.  What was I THINKING??!!  Sheesh.  Anyway, we hung out there for a few hours and then spent a little face-time down at the Brooksider again.  After that John and Susan W. came over for dinner, so we fired up the grill again.  We broke out the rotisserie and did a pork loin, with more fresh herbs of course.  I hope that stuff grows back quick because I’ve been clipping it like crazy.  After that we watched Entourage, and then I went and slept in a tub full of aloe vera lotion.

I got nothing.  I almost started construction on an ark but got caught up in the Andy Griffith marathon.  Seriously, I have done absolutely nothing since Donette left town last Thursday for a “girl’s weekend” in Hot Springs, taking the car with her.  The dogs and I just sort of sat on the couch and sulked, staring out the window at the rain.  We were so stir-crazy by Sunday that we did go on a pretty long walk (in the rain, naturally) but other than that the entire weekend was spent playing on the computer or watching TV.  My sole accomplishment was getting Fedora Core 7 up and running in VMWare.  Wanna hear about that?  Didn’t think so.

I may actually have to retract to some of my bad-mouthing from last week, believe it or not.  As Donette pointed out, American Airlines was only responsible for 1 of our 2 luggage mishaps, not both.  Dang it.  And as for the coffee guy??  Well, when I went to coffee last Monday, I was very dismayed to find my favorite shop was closed for business.  This was very disconcerting, as I’ve developed something of a nice, familiar routine there.  Every now and then I give them some money, and then I just walk in and pour a cup of coffee, sit down and read my paper.  After some number of weeks, the girl will catch me on my way out and say “You’ve used up your tab” and I give her some more money.  It’s a very effective system, and one I’m quite fond of.  But, alas, it looked like I was going to have to find coffee elsewhere.  So Tuesday, I stopped in at the shop around the corner.  There were a few other coffee refugees I recognized from the other shop so I figured it was safe.  I passed the girl my cup and said “coffee,” and what happens???  She starts peppering me with questions, just like the guy in Spain!!  “Do you need room for cream?  Would you like a light or dark brew?  Iced or hot?”  She seemed a bit taken aback when I burst into tears, but I am in no shape for that level of interaction at 7:00 in the morning.  So, perhaps the word “coffee” is not quite the internationally recognized, catch-all phrase I thought.  Word on the street is that my usual shop is back open this week.  I can only hope, because I am tired of making my own every morning and it’s apparent that I’m not quite ready to move on to another location.

It was a relatively quiet weekend for the Kenagys.  As a matter of fact, we did nothing at all.  I think we’re still trying to catch up on everything from the long vacation, and besides that I was on-call.  Saturday we walked the dogs down to the Brooksider and hung out on the deck for a while, which they seemed to enjoy.  In the category of “it’s a small world,” the people sitting at the table next to us recognized us from Seville!  We’d spoken with them briefly there, (they commented on Chris’ Royals shirt) and it turns out they live right down the street.  Wacky.  Sunday brought a similarly quiet day;  Other than a motorcycle ride out through Overland Park we didn’t do a whole lot.  Maybe things will pick back up next weekend.  Or maybe not.