Wow I had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to get my best (only) suit on and get the tea brewed for the big wedding.  I thought it was a beautiful ceremony, and oh that DRESS!  Not really.  Actually they officially turned off our cable service yesterday so I couldn’t have watched it even if I had wanted to.  Which I didn’t.  Really.

Munkirs and I headed out on a rather ill-fated bike ride last night for entertainment.  We met up in Brookside at 6:30, where a big group of riders head out every Thursday night.  One snag was that crazy art fair that they have set up.  OK, it’s not really that big of a snag, I just don’t even like seeing it.  It’s very existence is annoying.  Then we headed out on the ride, and it was quickly apparent that for whatever reason the pace was going to be even slower than usual.  Brutally slow.  Usually it sort of auto-magically breaks up into a few different groups with different paces, but I guess last night was “one big happy family” night.  Anyway, we trudged on, and when we got to the first “re-group” spot I noticed Munkirs was nowhere to be seen.  Hmmm, I am quite sure at that turtle’s pace he didn’t get dropped, what the heck?  Then I overheard some riders asking about “the guy with the flat tire” back a few miles.  Ah ha.  I figured it was him, so I turned around and rode back the way I came.  By the time I finally found him, he was literally loading his bike in his truck in Brookside, he’d walked all the way from 59th and Ward Parkway.  An impressive little jaunt, especially wearing cycling shoes.

Meanwhile, Donette was out for the evening with Kelly at some hoo-haw redneck concert (Suzy Bogguss) down at Knuckleheads.  Sounded like a good show actually;  It’s really pretty hard to go wrong with any show at that place, it’s just cool.  And, turns out she plays more Folk than Country these days I guess, maybe I’d have even liked it.  I couldn’t have stayed out that late anyway though, I needed to get my sleep so I could wake up early for The Wedding.

NOT!!  Hey, you can’t have a barn-burner of an evening every day of the week.  Or, in my case, any day of the week.  We did leave the house for a little dinner though.  Much as I dislike double-kenneling the dog, (letting her out for a few hours and then shoving her right back in the kennel,) I was hungry enough that she lost out this time.  She really doesn’t seem to care anyway, because she gets a treat out of the deal.  So, we headed up to good ol’ 75th Street, which I hadn’t been to for several weeks.  It was solid as always.  We had the Greek pizza and an appetizer, and couldn’t even finish the pizza.  After that, it was back to the couch to watch the Royals game.  (Is it time to panic yet?)

Well, I got back on the bicycle last night again, finally.  This rain is getting a bit tedious.  Matter of fact it sprinkled on us a good part of the time last night.  BAH!  What can ya’ do.  Anyway, it was the Mission Farms ride out near Mission & 435 in Leawood.  Probably one of my favorite “group rides” I would say, although granted I haven’t really been on that many.  I put quite a bit of thought into what I was going to wear, not from a fashion perspective but for warmth.  As is usually the case, in bike riding and most other walks of life, I made the wrong choice;  Darn near froze out there.  Whew, it was brisk.  I do enjoy the route though, and it was good to be riding.  Speaking of poor choices, after the ride I decided to join the group at Los Cabos for some post-ride analysis and other bike related banter.  Aside from being thoroughly uncomfortable sitting with a group of 20 people I didn’t know, I managed to wedge myself against the wall in the middle of the table where I couldn’t escape.  The party mercifully disbanded after an hour and a half or so.  It might have made everyone uncomfortable when I burst into tears, or maybe it was just time to go home.

Pardon my tardiness.  My morning was undone by a series of misadventures not relative to this update.  Call it just another Monday.

Last weekend, as I do every Easter, I headed down to Pettit’s on the North Fork river for some camping and floating.  Alas, this year my vaunted floating partner Munkirs would not be joining me for the trip.  He cited a work conflict in his written report.  I’m inclined to believe that maybe he checked the weather forecast for the weekend and made a decision based off that, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.  You don’t end a 27-year run of trips because of a few sprinkles.  After some hasty arrangements I ended up driving our car down there with Martin on Wednesday afternoon.  We made it down there around 5:00 that evening, with the first rain shower of the weekend arriving soon after that.  I actually ended up hunkered down in my car listening to the Royals game on the radio for the rest of the evening.

Thursday brought some passable weather, at least at the onset of the day.  After a nice breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches, Martin & I barged up with Zim and Chad, and Schuler and his neighbor for a trip down river.  (I am fairly certain Kurt’s partner had an actual name but it eludes me.  John maybe?)  We had a nice trip.  Lil’ chilly, but not too bad, and most importantly we stayed upright and it didn’t rain on us.  Several others canoes in our group couldn’t say the same;  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that many dumps.  By the time we got back to camp that evening Lost Brother Todd had dinner well under way.  We had BBQ that night, reheated from our efforts last weekend.  We way overdid it on the amounts, I think we could have fed the entire campground.  Better than running out I guess.  Shortly after dinner another monsoon rolled in, and it was back to the car for the Royals game again.

Friday morning we arose to a surprise;  Munkirs and Scotten rolling into camp at the unholy hour of 8:30.  OK 8:30 really doesn’t qualify as “unholy” but a little ciphering would show them leaving KC at 3:30 in the morning to arrive at that time.  Hmmm.  It just now occurred to me as I typed that, the sheer unlikelihood of the situation.  Remind me  to add the possibility that they spent the night in Cabool in a warm dry hotel to the list of other conspiracy theories swirling around the campfire.  At any rate, they showed up, throwing a little uncertainty into the day’s planning.  (Which, not remarkably, hadn’t really started yet anyway.)  Would I float with Munkirs?  Martin again?  Was Kurt going to float with Scotten?  Well, it all sort of turned into a moot point after they wouldn’t let us on the river due to the rising water levels.  If you could have only seen our sad little faces when we sauntered up to the office around noon, giddy with excitement for another day on the river, only to be somewhat derisively told, “I launched the last canoes for the day at 10:00 boys, no floating for you.”  What??!!!  How were we to know that??!!!  In their defense, they did sort of drive down to camp and tell us, “we aren’t letting any canoes on the river after 10:00,” or some similarly cryptic message.  Sheesh.  Classic case of miscommunication I guess.  Hey, breakfast wasn’t ready yet, what were we to do?  So, we sat around the campground all day, and honestly had a pretty good time of it, as we usually do.  And, yes, it did rain all night again.

Saturday we drove back home, and I spent the rest of the weekend trying to reorient myself into civilization, as well as chiseling the stench of camping off my body.  I really didn’t feel quite as beat up as usual, probably because I only floated one day.  I went ahead and threw some pictures up on here, so I am ahead of the game this year.  Apparently though, I may have been a bit too hasty in my efforts;  Donette has already pointed out a few unintentional anomalies which may require subsequent editing.  I’ll see if anybody else notices the same and go from there.  Easter Sunday Donette and I went to Stroud’s for dinner.  I haven’t been there in a long time, although she goes there with some regularity without me.  That place just isn’t my “thing” I guess.  Matter of fact I’d never been to the new location.  Turned out it was quite nice.  One of my big gripes, the ridiculously long wait, was a non-factor and we were seated right away.  I have to say the food was better than I remember too, it was very good.  Now my other little quibble, that they are just a tad pricey for fried chicken and potatoes, was still in full effect, but what can ya’ do.  I guess it was a holiday, live it up a bit.

We gots us the indoor plumbin’ again!  After three weeks without a bathroom sink, we once again have running water.  No more having to remember to “flush before you brush” at our house.  Donette started this little remodel project with her sister, and as always the “tearing out” phase turned out to be much easier than the “installation” phase.  Pretty much everything you touch in an 80-year-old house has the potential to turn into a major undertaking, and the sink was no exception.  Turned out the drain was all rotted out, and one good bump effectively crumbled it.  She ciphered on it for a few weeks, and then we finally had to call in a plumber.  Luckily there just happens to be several such individuals down at the Brooksider, so we got off cheap.  We ended up with a sizable hole in the wall, but you can’t see it unless you happen to be digging around under the vanity so it works for me.

We were so busy reveling in our new-found luxury at home that we really didn’t do a whole lot over the weekend.  Saturday we got up early and went to “boot camp,” and then I went out to Mom’s for a while.  I’ll tell you what, that boot camp thing still kind of knocks it out of us, we didn’t do a whole lot the rest of the day.  Donette made some tasty pizzas for dinner, then I headed upstairs and watched a movie.

Sunday morning Donette got up early and walked up to Waldo to participate in the big Trolley Run.  I signed up, but somewhere along the way it turned into a “girls event” so I opted out of the run.  Instead, Teagan and I just headed down to the end of the street and watched all the people go by.  That is one big mob, I’ll tell you that.  I think I heard over 8,500 this year.  Snapped a few photos, I’ll have to get those up.  Granted, pictures of a bunch of unknown joggers aren’t exactly exciting, but it occurred to me the other day that I haven’t posted a single picture on here yet this year so I need to put something up.  After that event, Donette headed across the state line to attend a bridal shower for my cousin, while the dog and I headed up north to do a little prep work for the upcoming canoe trip.  Martin had the smoker fired up, and we threw on 3 briskets, a few pork butts, and several slabs of ribs.  That should pretty well cover us for the trip, as well as a few of the nearby towns;  That’s quite a bit of BBQ.  I didn’t know how long I’d get to stick around before the pup got out of hand, but it turned out she did quite well.  A big ol’ bone and a few toys and she kept herself occupied all afternoon, and for the most part managed to stay out of the way.  As a bonus, she was absolutely wiped out last night;  She didn’t even try her 3:00 “sneak in the bed” trick.