Good Friends, Good Food, & Good Beer

I was up by 7am after a rock solid night of sleep. It was sunny and warm. Yep, another steamy day appeared to be in the offing. Since it was Sunday, it was a no sit-ups/no push-ups day. After taking care of Frankie and then enjoying coffee, I headed out for a run close to 830am. I chose to take Frankie to Mindy since she’d spent most of Saturday in her pen. I ran along Trabue and Hague for the first time in quite a while. I stopped by my dad’s after seeing his garage door open. His dog, Archie, gave me holy hell. Thought I was gonna be attacked even. Dad quickly came to my rescue by calling/holding him back. Thankfully, he listens to my dad pretty well. Dad shared that he and Glenn didn’t get home from Alum Creek until almost midnight. Left me a VM indicating that he wouldn’t be dropping our cooler till Sunday. I told him that I didn’t get the message, but that I wasn't worried about it, either. Glenn had just gotten up. They were preparing to head to breakfast. Still didn’t have definitive plans for our Sunday gathering. Figured I’d know more when he and Dad dropped off the cooler after breakfast. I continued on with my run. Mindy and the kids were up when I got home. Jacob asked if we could go fetch donuts at Tim Horton’s. He and I hopped in the BM’er for the short drive to Tim’s. We bought a dozen donuts, 20 Tim Bits, and then a bagel and cream cheese for Mindy. We were home after being gone only 20 minutes. I pulled the boat tarp back so the interior could dry out some in the hot sun. Still damp inside form all the recent rain while parked in front of the house. I enjoyed a crème filled donut before heading out to start on the lawn. Mindy heard from the Imber’s. They were in. She hadn’t heard back from the Jump’s yet. She planned to call them again later. As for my lawn work, I reverted to my old plan, whack, edge, mow, ride, and blow. It took me until about 1pm to finish my chores. In the middle of mowing, and right before Mindy ran to Kroger to get cookout supplies, Dad and Glenn stopped by to drop our cooler. We shared our cookout plans. Dad wasn’t sure he’d be joining us. Glenn, of course, would be. Mindy got home after I finished the lawn and had taken a shower. I left to take the boat back to storage and then to Giant Eagle for beer. I forgot the boat building key. Briefly thought I was stuck. Lucky for me, Ed was at the onsite apartment and let me use his key. On to Grandview and Giant Eagle. I bought two six packs – Racer 5 IPA and CBC IPA. Back at home Mindy asked for my help prepping food. I did a little of that but mostly helped organize and tidy up for the outing, which she arranged for 530pm. She shared that the Jump’s would in fact be joining us. Kenny and Chrissy said they’d join us too. Mindy had me put the corn on the grill around 4pm. The corn cooked for an hour, turning it two or three times in between. As soon as the corn came off I started grilling the chicken. Mindy marinated half in some unknown concoction, probably Italian dressing. The rest was plain. We had burgers and hot dogs to cook too. Our guests arrived around 530pm as planned. Jeremy & Courtney, Porter and Ella. They brought some of their home brew, which is always good, an IPA, of course. They also brought some of Jeremy’s famous smoked salsa. Bob & Mary Ann arrived a few minutes later. As always, Bob brought a very happy selection of brews, most in 22z bottles. He also brought some marinated beef and zucchini for grilling. And I think they whipped up a cucumber salad as well. There was plenty of good eats available. Jeremy & Courtney shared that they were headed to Lake Hope the following day for vacation – renting a cabin. Sounds like fun, and definitely a much deserved vacation for Jeremy. He works hard and puts in a lot of hours. Both their kids are very cute, smart, and well-behaved. Both toe heads, too! We enjoyed dinner, dessert, and some social time after. The beer was good too. The Jumps left around 8pm best guess. Busy day ahead with vacation and all. Hopefully we’ll see them all again soon. Dad left around the same time. Bob and Mary Ann hung out until late. Glenn stuck around as long as they did. We had an absolute ball playing in the yard with the neighbors, drinking beer, and yucking it up a little. The fact that I had to return to work the following morning after being off 17 days in row was the only damper.  We ended up polishing off almost all the beer and hung out until after midnight. I'm quite sure that everyone had a dandy time. Glenn offered his place as refuge to the Imber’s should they desire during their fast approaching trip to the Oregon coast. Typically, Mindy & I clean up after everyone departs. This time we did not. We were exhausted. Mindy didn’t want to bother. Said she'd tend to it in the AM. We headed to bed around 1230am. Uh-Oh - 530am comes fast!