December 1st. So it begins.
What a flurry last week was…. Dubuque visit Monday, the token work day Tuesday with rushed Rod Library visit and drinks with Ben and Cam in the evening. Wednesday was a break from the desk job and a day of progress at the lodge where planing and painting in the side yard were the day's anchors. Wednesday night, however, found Cam and I at the Panther but the atmosphere was, well, odd. Packed house; loud, bad, music on the juke. I think we shot a game of pool and got out as quickly as we came. From there to Pepper's to meet up with Blake and company (and Hannah). The +$3 High Life did not hit the spot. A few more games of pool and we moved on. *I should note while taking a phone call there I noticed one of the waitresses replacing the access door on one of the tables after confirming the previous players were through. Free pool? Not so much. As one guy mentioned to Cam while we were putting in quarters, Table 1: withholds sunk cueballs. Table 2: not exactly level. His words rang true on the last game as I went to place the 8 in the corner pocket. The cue ball arced ever so gently across the table, glancing off the 8 and sending the cue ball directly into the pocket for an instant loss. I was not pleased.*
Downtown was really hopping, so we took a seat at the Blue Room to soak up the ever younger crowd's vibe. From what I can tell, the Blue Room, which was always the old-timer's hangout, has slowly evolved the last couple years. I can only attribute this to a lot of the patrons passing on, and the smoking ban surely didn't help. Every time we'd visit it was tough to find someone without a cig hanging from their mouth. Where did those guys go? Anyhow, both the beer and the discussions were grade A. Even caught an atypical CCR song on the juke. Wandered over to the Olive around midnight for awkward greetings with Andrea and co who were just getting ready to take off when Alex and Ben S. happened by, fresh from Madison. Renewed vigor and some breathing room at the Cypress formed the perfect setting for a round of Schlitz's and some VW woes. Needless to say, we closed the place down.
Thursday, Turkey Day at the parent's. A fantastic spread and lots of cheer. Helped with some xmas lights in the yard and getting the wireless control system up and running. Completed the evening with 8mm movies in the living room. I spent the whole time perched next to the machine trying to keep the film on the take up reel and helping stay ahead of the top sprocket's lethargic pull. Even so, I ended up with a handful of splices to make at the end of the night.
Friday was beautiful and I was out the door and running early. First stop- Menards for sales you can't pass up. Only problem….every_single_parking spot was taken. No joke. Parked on an aisle-end up on the rocks and ventured in. Others were parking in the grass along the frontage road. Got everything I needed and found an available line. Despite 12 or 13 registers running full-bore, shoppers were lined up from the front of the store all the way to millwork in the back! Got out, grabbed bkfast and headed for the land. Made it by 10. Warm temps, light wind and all-day sun made painting (as well as picker work) a breeze. I ended up with all the major power equipment on the lawn. Even with the all-day workathon, it was obvious this was an uphill climb. After a long day I was ready for some socializing. Bowling at Maple was the order of the evening. Things were going great until Lunar Bowl fired up. Could have been the deafening metal-rap mixes blaring directly behind us, or the black lights and strobes obscuring all my typical lane references, but my game took a hit. Things got a little better on the left lane. Overall, not too horrible for being out of practice. From there, all 7 of us met up with Alex at the PL, then directly to Cypress for some entertaining pool. Got pretty close to closing the place down and headed to Happy Chef where 7 or 8 bucks still gets you eggs, hash browns, pancakes and sausage. And of course, incandescent lighting.
Saturday was colder and I put in another long day out there, still fighting. One tiring bleak day it was. Figured others must've been in the same boat as nothing was scheduled for the evening. Cara and I braved the sleet to get to the Library to find their kitchen closed for remodeling. Hungry, we went a couple doors down to the OP for unremarkable pizza. FYI- Schlitz had arrived there at 2 bucks a bottle. No fantastic table ads like the Cypress, however.
Sunday was just plain awful, with several inches of thick wet snow covering everything. 4 wheel drive got me in and out, but the wet falling snow meant everytime I needed to do an operation outside, I'd have to drag the equipment out there, work fast, then bring it in and try to wipe everything down. With the winds it also meant it was near impossible to work at roof-level from the picker, especially the operations I had in mind. If I had a camera I would have got a shot of me trying to push a 14' board through the router table in the blowing snow. In the end I was able to do the first coat of painting inside after all the woodworking operations outdoors. But beyond that, I'd need cooperating weather.
Finished the evening off with bill paying, pizza and The Guns of Navarone on LD; Gregory Peck and Niven put in a good performance.
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