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.

Went riding with Munkirs again last night, same ride as always.  (We enjoy consistency.)  We wisely eschewed the “fast group” though, and dropped back with the “slow group.”  For one thing, we are planning to go on a longer ride this weekend and didn’t want to burn ourselves out.  Just kinda stretching out a little bit.  The conditions weren’t ideal either;  It was brutally humid, lightly raining in spots, and I just wasn’t feeling particularly well.  So, we hung back and enjoyed the lighter pace.  And, at the end of the ride, we ended up averaging a whopping .5 mph slower pace than last week with the “fast group.”  Hmmm…  I think it all might be psychological.

Last night, in our quest for entertainment, we did absolutely nothing.  Well, I guess we did a little bit.  We hopped on our bicycles and rolled down to the grocery store to get some dinner.  It is a known fact that if you are in the area, etiquette requires  you to stop by the Brooksider and greet everybody, so we did.  I wouldn’t have really minded hanging out in there and soaking up the A/C for a bit, but it was unusually crowded and loud so we said our “hellos” and got back out.  For dinner we had a taco bar of sorts.  Donette went with fried beef tacos, I had soft-shell pork.  After dinner, she elected to finish a jigsaw puzzle she has been working on, and I retired upstairs to play Madden NFL some more.  Which, I might add, I am actually starting to figure out just a little bit.

Last nights quest for entertainment took us down to the Power & Light District.  We met our friend Lori at the Flying Saucer for some post-work enjoyment.  Fun enough place;  I’m quite fond of it actually, just don’t eat the burgers.  We generally like to play darts to pass the time while we are there, but last night there was a large unruly bunch of riff-raff back in that area, so we just sat on the comfy couches and chatted.  We hung out there for a few hours, then scurried back to midtown for dinner at Cantina Del Ray.  I’ve been a little down on that place recently, but last night it was top-notch.  Moved it right back up the list.  Unfortunately I blew the last of my weekly allowance on this bit of entertainment;  I see a few nights of video games on the couch in my future.

Last night we rode our bikes up to 75th Street for some dinner.  For a while we were going there every Monday night but we kind of fell out of the habit.  Or went broke, or something like that.  Whatever the reason, we decided we needed to get back up there and check out their new patio area, which they’ve named “The Alley.”  Actually we’ve sat out there many times before;  It’s been open since the Big 12 basketball tourney.  Apparently it wasn’t “officially” open though, because they had a big grand opening deal a few weeks ago.  Basically they took the building that was attached to the brewery on the east side (which has been vacant since the big fire several years ago) and tore the roof off it.  Half of it is covered, and the other half is open, with big glass overhead doors dividing the two areas.  They’ve planted hops all around the open area, which are growing like crazy and should cover it at some point later this fall.  The only downside was they seem to have decided that since they call it a “deck” it’s OK to smoke, even in the covered area.  Hmmm…  It’s totally enclosed, (the overhead doors where shut,) has a solid roof over it, and doors for entrances.  Oh well, it wasn’t a big deal last night as there was only one person smoking and the luxury of the air conditioning made up for it.  We tried out the Saison shrimp with risotto and a big plate of calamari for dinner.  Good stuff.  I’m sure we burned off all the calories on the 1/2-mile ride back home.