I guess the summer heat is here.  Wasn’t much of a Spring this year;  I’ve been cheated!  I don’t have a whole lot to cover from that weekend.  (Again.)  Friday, predictably, I ended up at the Brooksider.  Donette came down and joined me in a rare appearance.  After that we went home and hunkered down, did a little grilling;  Salmon burgers if I remember correctly.

Saturday I kind of laid low, as I was scheduled to work that evening.  I waited until it got good and miserably hot, then headed out for a bicycle ride.  Not the best planning on my part, but I need to sweat off a few (dozen) pounds anyway.  Had a good ride, even if I did about pass out from the heat.  After that I went and picked up Mom and three of her friends at a nearby liquor store, and drove them all home.  That is, of course, not an entirely accurate statement, but in the interest of deceptive journalism I’m going to leave it at that.

Sunday we actually got around to a little home maintenance, a rarity to be sure.  There is a big 12′ square slab in the back yard, (aka a “patio”) and over the last dozen or so years it has gotten rather filthy.  Luckily, we have a power washer for just such an emergency.  As is the case with most projects, it took a lot longer than I expected.  Definitely looks a lot better though.  As is ALSO usually the case, Doni branched it out into several little sub-projects.  I ended up power-washing the patio furniture, the sliding glass door, a few chairs, and I can’t even remember what else.  I drew the line when she pointed at the neighbor’s garage though.  (Really??  The NEIGHBOR’S garage???)  After that, we cleaned up a bit and headed outdoors for a small block party.  Oddly, someone had sent out a random email that we should all meet in a driveway and introduce ourselves.  (At least I find it odd.  This ain’t the northlands, people.)  Hey, it was sorta fun, what the heck.  Quite a turnout too, I was rather surprised.  I lasted well over an hour before excusing myself to “check on the dog,” never to return.  I doubt I was missed, and I had dinner to cook.  We put together a sort of grilled mexican salad, which came out rather well.

Another weekend come and gone.  The weeks have been rushing by a bit too quickly it seems.  Munkirs and I haven’t been able to ride much with the semi-crappy weather, or at least I haven’t.  Our 100-mile ride will be here before I know it and I’ll still be averaging 20 miles a week.  Recipe for disaster.

That weekend doesn’t really bear re-telling, but it’s Monday so what the heck.  Friday I went to the Brooksider, in the interest of consistency if nothing else.  Spent a few hours on the patio with the boys and then went home.  Friday completed; check.

Saturday I had good intentions of a fun day.  It didn’t necessarily go as planned, but then it rarely does.  I started my day by taking the scooter down to the nearby Price Chopper and grabbing a few slabs of spare ribs.  It’s not very relative to the summary of the day, but as I side note I forgot my stupid chopper-shopper card.  AGAIN!!!!  I hate those things like few other things on this earth.  What a nuisance.  I’m a big enough cheapskate that I won’t get anything without one though; It was like $6 off just on the ribs, but I don’t go there enough to get any saving on gas or whatever the heck their gimmick is.  So, I signed up for my 15th (at least) stupid card.  I don’t even keep them any more, I just hand the clerk the big card with all three still stuck together, they scan it, then I drop it in the trash at the end of the counter.  Arrrghhh did I mention I hate those things.  Anyway, back to my ribs.  My plan was to set my new Weber kettle up for indirect cooking and see how that compared to my smoker.  Overall they came out very well I thought, but it will be worth another try or two.  I really fought with the temperature to start, it was tough keeping it under 250.  And then, two hours into it, the rain came with a fury.  In my rush to move everything to the garage I dumped the water pan on my coals;  It wasn’t tough to keep it under 250 after that.  I managed to keep a glimmer of heat until the four hour mark though.  Remarkably, they seemed a bit overdone to me.  I’ll try again next time they go on sale, see what happens.

Sunday Donette took me out for Father’s Day, to Los Alamos.  I’d planned on the brunch at Blue Moose, but when I jokingly suggested alternatives she sort of pounced on the Los Alamos option.  Hey, works for me, I like that place.  This time around I ordered the Chilaquiles, with absolutely no idea what those were.  Honestly I think I might have a new favorite breakfast item.  Right up there with biscuits and gravy.  Seriously, I just said that.  I’m not ready to make that rash of a pronouncement just quite yet, but if I like them that much the next few times I see them on a menu it could be a monumental change in my life.  We left breakfast and headed north up to Donette’s parent’s to do some visiting.  All the girls were there, leaving her Dad and I severely outnumbered.  We sat quietly in the corner and waited for them to talk themselves out.  They never did, but finally the lure of In-A-Tub drew them out of the house and I escaped.

Whew I’m a bit out of sorts this week.  I’m in a class out at the Sprint Campus, which quite literally throws my entire day off.  It takes a long time to get there, it’s an unfamiliar commute, and the traffic is ridiculous.  But I guess the class is good so far, for what that’s worth.  Monday I rode the scooter, and yesterday the car.  For future reference:  Always take the scooter.  The parking garages are insane, it takes like fifteen minutes to get out of them.  The scoot’ is subject to the “park wherever you want” rule, so you don’t get tied up in that mess.

Any-who, as far as entertainment, it was another busy weekend.  Matter of fact, the weekend sorta-kinda started even before Friday, when our friend Steve came in from out of town.  We’d talked several times (OK, not talked…  just texts actually) over the last few months, so his visit was certainly no surprise.  What was a surprise, I guess, was his travelling companion, Pliny The Puppy.  In retrospect, perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Pliny goes everywhere with him, and because he’d specifically mentioned it.  But, much like the fact that he told me he was driving instead of flying, it just really didn’t sink in.  He lives in California;  Who drives that far?!?!  Don’t get me wrong, I was more than happy to see young Pliny.  I wish everyone would bring their dog when they visit.  Teagan, on the other hand, was less than pleased to welcome a new friend into the house.  Sigh, that girl is just a less than hospitable hostess.  They did OK, but not great.  After a few small squabbles we decided to just take the low road and board her for the night.  Although she’s never stayed overnight, she’s always glad to spend time at her favorite day care, so it worked out fine.  For entertainment, we headed out to dinner at Fud.  Steve has, for whatever reason, decided to eschew good ol’ red (or any other color) meat, so this provided a good opportunity for me to try this place.  Doni’s been there a few times and recommended it.  Honestly, it wasn’t bad at all.  I had a burrito, and I liked it a lot.  To be fair, it was mostly guacamole and salsa.  Hey, I like those, works for me.  We headed out to Kauffman too, and caught a Royals-Twins game.  We sat in the Frenchy Quarter for the first time, which provided some extra fun.  Oddly, Francoeur wasn’t even in the lineup that night.  Weird.

Friday we went to our friend Susan’s house to celebrate her 50th birthday.  Sigh, my friends are turning fifty.  My day is coming, and not far off.  But it gave me a reason to celebrate, so it’s all good.  It was a nice night out so we partied in the back yard all night.  Bad for the neighbors, good for me.  Got totally eaten up by ‘skeeters, but had fun anyway.

Saturday we reluctantly crossed the river for another party.  Our friend’s daughter was graduating from MU, so they were throwing a bash.  Sigh, my friend’s kids are graduating from college.  With advanced degrees, no less.  Sigh.  It ain’t easy getting old, but at least there are a lot of parties involved.  I thought it was great that she earned her degree(s) and all, but to be perfectly honest I showed up for the barbecue.  Mark had smoked some  pork, brisket, and a turkey for the event, all of which were delicious.  I did manage to mumble my congratulations on my way back to the table for another plate.

Sunday I went on my first organized bike ride of the year, the City of Fountains Tour.  I am way behind on miles this year due to the weather, and maybe a general lack of interest.  When I got up and saw how wet the roads were, I almost bailed out of this event too.  It had stopped raining, but the streets were still very wet and I really don’t like getting my bicycle all filthy.  Not to mention, wet greasy roads and 20 mm high-pressure tires just don’t mix that well.  I stomped around the house all morning grumbling and fretting about whether to go, and then in her familiar shut-up-and-let-me-sleep voice, Donette said “Why don’t you just ride your mountain bike?”  I know she was just trying to get me out of the house, but that wasn’t a 1/2-bad idea!  I quickly aired up the tires on the ol’ Klein and checked it over, and decided it was road-worthy.  Only a third of the gears work and the tires are a little sketchy, but it would get me through the day.  Indeed, it was a downright pleasant ride.  I took it easy, took some pictures along the way, and just sort of relaxed.  I had good intentions of posting my pictures, but then realized I don’t even have the proper software installed on my recently updated PC for that.  Whoops.  Anyway, I didn’t go the full route as I’d originally intended, but had a good ride.  Meanwhile, Munkirs was hammering out the full route in his doggedly determined manner, until he got sidelined by a flat tire and called it a day.  I actually got to say I rode my mountain bike further than he did his road bike, bonus fun!

Whew, I was hopping this weekend.  Fortunately most of my events were fun-related.  That doesn’t do much for the house and it’s state of disrepair, but what can you do.  I kicked things off Friday at the Brooksider with my usual band of compadres.    It was a nice day out, if a little cool.  I hung out a little longer than usual enjoying the patio.  When I finally did get home, Teagan was most displeased with my late arrival so I had to play ball with her for a good hour.  Sheesh, do the responsibilities of parenting ever end??!?

Saturday I got up and, with some difficulty, rode the scooter down to the Westside area to meet my friends Ann & Mark for breakfast at Los Alamos.  I mention the difficulty because I ran smack into the Hospital Hill run.  This is a popular area of town for such events, but I forgot all about this one or I honestly would have rescheduled breakfast.  I eventually detoured my way down there though, with a rather late arrival.  By the time I finally got there, it had warmed up considerably, so I tossed my keys in my jacket and locked it securely in the under-seat storage for safe keeping.  Literally as soon as I slammed the seat shut I started replaying that sequence in my head.  “OK what just happened there…  Take keys out of scooter, put keys in jacket pocket, lock jacket under seat. No that can’t be right, because that would mean…  Aw shoot.”  Rats.  I stomped around fretting about this unfortunate situation for a bit, then decided there wasn’t much to do about it and crossed the street to enjoy breakfast.  And, enjoy it I did.  Pretty interesting place, and very good.  I opted for a standard plate of chorizo con juevos, with rice and beans.  While that’s pretty standard Mexican Food Menu fare, it was definitely an above-average entry in the category.  Ann got a “platter,” where she selected three meats from their large steam table, with sides of rice and beans.  When I get back there, I’ll go that route.  I should have Saturday, but I was a bit intimidated by the conversational exchange required to figure out what you wanted.  (Mild language barrier going on at the order counter.)  She ended up with short ribs, carnitas, and an as-yet unidentified pork in red chile sauce.  It was a ridiculously large serving, the remainder of which is in my ‘fridge;  Score!  After breakfast they kindly transported me back home, where I set about the arduous task of finding the spare key to the scooter.  Literally hours later, I found one in an old coat I hadn’t worn for some time.  I took the Metro back down there, and after a refreshing hike through the ‘hood the situation was resolved.  Being moderately stressed after this, I rolled back to the Brooksider and hung out watching the baseball game with the boys, even getting to see a rare victory.

Sunday was event-filled also.  I got up early-ish and met Munkirs and his neighbor for a brisk morning bicycle ride.  In this case, “brisk” refers to the weather, not our pace.  We had a leisurely bit of exercise;  I’m still not up to any faster paced rides.  After that solid start to the day, I met Mom out in Raymore for brunch.  I rode my motorcycle out there, and it was still quite chilly!  Apparently I went by the calendar and not the thermometer when I left;  I about froze.  After enjoying my tasty omelette, I headed back home to prepare for a trip to Emporia to celebrate my niece’s birthday.  It would have made sense to leave from Raymore directly, but I was most definitely under-dressed for the weather so I needed a few more layers.  After donning some flannel-lined jeans and a heavier shirt, I headed south for Emporia.  I had grand thoughts of taking a relaxing, scenic motorcycle ride to get there, but that was thwarted by 1) my inherent geographical challenges, and 2) my desire to arrive on the same calendar day.  My phone did courteously provide a few alternate routes, but they were so long as to be quite impractical.  So, I just blasted down I-35, nervous as that made me.  I’ve got a nice jacket and helmet, but something tells me if a semi decides to pull over into your lane they aren’t going to make a whole lot of difference.  I arrived intact though, and enjoyed a tasty taco dinner in their brand spankin’ new home.  Happy #9 Faith!

I don’t have a terribly large amount of events to work with, and definitely nothing exciting, but I’ll slog through my obligatory post.  Actually it was a relatively good weekend, and a long one at that, but it wore me out.  I think I’m going to have to scratch Friday off the list, as I can’t remember that far back.  I think I may have gone to the Brooksider and enjoyed the patio, but don’t quote me on that.

Saturday was a fine day, as my days go.  Martin hooked me up with tickets to the Royals game, along with three other fellow ne’er do wells.  We didn’t have time to tailgate, which is generally just a hassle anyway.  He’s got awesome seats, so it makes the game pretty entertaining no matter what the outcome.  (I.E. they lost…  Again.)  We made it to the eighth inning but then it started getting a bit warm so we retired to the Brooksider for a bit.  After wearing out our welcome there, Kelly ventured south and joined us for dinner at our house.  We don’t have people over for dinner very often, so this was an exciting event for me.  (Something about constantly having to guard your plate from the cat or having a slobbery tennis ball dropped in your lap every five minutes tends to make people shy away from our table I guess.)  But, I recently purchased a fancy new grill and was anxious to cook on it, and we figured if anyone could tolerate our invasive pets it would be the Martins.  It came out well for a hurriedly planned menu.  My original plan was to ditch my gas grill and just stick with the new charcoal-fired machine, but I’m doing a bit more thinking on that.  The gas one provides a nice bit of additional space to keep things warm on, cook side dishes, etc.

Sunday started off strong and then tapered off sharply.  We began our day by riding our bicycles to Jerry’s Cafe for breakfast.  I’m inclined to agree with Donette’s assessment that they cook up the best plate of breakfast in the area.  On the downside, several others seem to share this opinion, so we had to wait 30 minutes or so.  That gave us time to recover from the ride though, which was a bit more strenuous than anticipated.  While only five miles each way, there are some rather imposing inclines along the way.  We rode Wornall getting there, and Holmes on the way back, both of which proved to be arduous journeys.  Oh well, maybe I worked off some of the delicious chorizo omelette I scarfed down at breakfast.  After that, we kind of took the rest of the day to recover.  I fired up the grill again later in the day and threw on some steaks;  If nothing else this new toy is helping to clean out our freezer.

Monday was a bit of a bust.  I had a corned beef I intended to throw on the smoker, but the rain threw me off schedule considerably.  I had also planned to try and straighten up the garage a bit;  Again, foiled by the downpour.  By the time the rain finally stopped it was too hot and humid to work in the garage, so I tossed the beef on the smoker and headed to the Brooksider to hang out.  I came home around 6:00 to find the smoker holding temperature nicely, but alas the meat was nowhere near finished.  Stumped by this turn of events, I ended up wrapping it in foil and heading to the Bier Station for dinner.  From smoked corned beef (one of my favorites) to a grilled cheese sandwich:  That’s a pretty hard fall.  By the time I got home the foil had done it’s job nicely.  The meat temp had rocketed from 135 to 195, but it was far past dinner time so I just threw it in the fridge for another day.  Sigh.