Well that was a fine “Hallmark Holiday” event up here. I was able to schedule all my work (boooo) for Friday evening, so I enjoyed two days off in a row! A rarity these days for sure. I feel like I sort of maximized my time too, a nice balance of chores and fun. Admittedly, it probably skewed towards the fun side of things a little. As part of the “chores” category, I got the tow kit mounted on the front of the jeep. It wasn’t quite as easy as it looked, but then nothing is. I had to pull the bumper off, which was expected. What wasn’t expected was that when I took the three large bolts off the drivers side, the power steering pump fell off. Whoops. I’m blaming the seller for that one, at least a bit. OK maybe I could have looked a little closer, but I think when he was telling me how to mount it he JUST MIGHT HAVE MENTIONED THAT. It didn’t go back on very easily either, sort of like a big heavy puzzle piece. It appears to be back together now though, albeit without a front bumper.

For Mothers Day, we went to brunch at a nearby winery. It was delicious, we were quite happy with our choice. It was a great day out too, which made it even more enjoyable. After that we went home and took a little nap, which was made easier by the boring Royals game. For dinner I made a batch of pesto and homemade pasta, which came out nicely. Man that pesto is work though! Yeah a food processor makes it easier, but it’s just not as good as a mortar and pestle. That’s the truth too… We did side-by-side comparisons on our trip to Italy, it’s a very noticeable difference. Worth the effort.

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Not a bad weekend in the hills. Hey, it just occurred to me that the “Phil on the Hill” moniker has never been more accurate. We are indeed on a hill. Now I don’t have to come up with a new site name, whew. Anyway… Like I said, not a bad weekend, if a bit subdued. Friday I settled in to get my weekend on, only to end up working the better part of the night. Lame. Saturday we just sort of kicked around the house, waiting for my scheduled evening work. The whole work thing is just really cutting into my social lifestyle. I did get wrapped up early enough that we were able to go out to dinner at the nearby Bones Roadhouse. I usually have a pastrami sandwich, but this time I mixed things up and had a burger. Even sprung for some blue cheese crumbles, and it was delicious. A few strips of bacon would have really put it over the top, but $3?!!?! C’mon man.

Sunday was my “fun day.” I try to get my work scheduled so that I get at least one day off, and Sunday was it this week. (Pathetic lifestyle, but that’s what it is.) So, I’d been eyeing this smoked carnitas recipe all week, if not a little longer. I don’t why, it just sounded good. Actually I guess I do know why: It’s Spring, the weather is getting super nice, and I like firing up the smoker. As I usually do, I tried rallying a few guys to come up for the event, and as usually happens, zero interest. I guess it’s just a KC thing and ain’t going to happen up here. It’s still pretty fun for me, but I am continually baffled that nobody else is into it. Heck nobody even wanted to come up for dinner. I shredded the whole thing and threw it in the freezer. What are you gonna do. Maybe I should look for a new hobby. But I LIKE this one. We’re having company in from KC in a few months, maybe they’ll bbq with me. Sniff, sniff.

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We’ve got company again! Man, people (and dogs) just really like us and want to visit us. Probably has to do with our remarkable ability to entertain. This weekend, Donette’s sister came out to visit. I guess if we ever really did have any ability to entertain we must have forgotten those skills, because we didn’t really do anything. We’re more of a “relaxation” destination maybe; Lots and lots of relaxation. It’s a fine line between relaxation and boredom I imagine, but let’s stick with it anyway. There was some shopping involved, a little going out to eat, and…. relaxation.

As to my title of the week, man we’ve got a real bird situation out here! I do enjoy the hummingbirds, but they are getting downright aggressive. You can’t step out the front door without getting buzzed by several of them. I’m thinking about buying one of those bee keeper suits for when I refill their feeders, as they are just too close for comfort and greatly outnumber me. If you look out any window, there will be a few of them hovering there just staring at you. “Food’s getting low fat boy, get on it.” One of them even came in the house this morning! I can just imagine my obit now, and it will not be good.

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Wow, that was possibly the shortest weekend in history. Too much work, not enough play. Then the next thing you know it’s back to all work, no play weekdays. Lame. We snuck in a little fun on Sunday with a good wine tasting trip. We started the day at one of our wineries we are members at, Bom Vino. They’ve been sort of “weird” as of late. We never get any communication from them at all, and last Fall our shipment just showed up at our door one day. Odd since we’re definitely on the “pick up” list, as it’s only about 8 miles from our house. We were going to get everything straightened out while we were there yesterday, but alas, the gates were closed. Hmmm. Out of business? We don’t know. It definitely wouldn’t hurt my feelings to get dropped from their club, we’ve got enough of them and this one is a little out of the way. Anyway, after a quick regroup, we went and met some friends at Fleur de Lys. Nice place, we like going there. From there we hit a few more in our regular rotation, then actually branched out and tried a new one! Yeah, crazy. It was nice. I’d tell you all about it but I forgot the name, whoops. I also failed to take a pic all day, I’ll have to fall back on some from the past week.

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We had some company up for the weekend, which took up all our time. Our friends Renfield Cornelius and Bingo spent the weekend with us; Well actually I guess since they’re dogs maybe that makes them technically Quinn & Nacho’s friends? Semantics. Anyway, we had a grand old time. They are a lot easier to entertain than their owners, and just generally more fun. We took them all to a nearby winery Friday, then Saturday they helped us burn some brush in the back yard. Good time all around.

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