Chris24Robin

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5-29-07 8:20am

Well just like any other day today's post deals with food and what I ate for dinner last night. Most of you would expect this to be a big juicy cheeseburger and Heath expected the same thing.

Last night after work I rushed home and quickly packed up Grandma Natty. I got all the gear, cooler, my clothes etc. and headed towards Hillsdale Lake. I got to Heath's house and got dressed and put up a for sale sign then we continued on to the lake. We got the boat launched and headed strait for Captains Cove where we spent many evenings and afternoons last season. The water was pretty high still and out little island was still to deep to park on. We drove right over the top without touching it. So instead we tied the boat to a tree in the area and relaxed. We opened some beers and got into comfortable spots. I tossed in a fishing line and a lure but got no bites or anything. We listened to the radio and sipped our beers until some clouds rolled in. They looked like rain but we were not sure if it would come or not and decided to wait it out. Soon after that a big wind picked up, the sky went dark, and then it started dumping out the rain.

e pulled the boat over to the shore and tied it up and climbed into the thick woods to take cover under the trees. (The night before we had gotten rained on in the boat and immediately headed for the boat ramp but it stopped raining once the boat was out) We waited in the trees for a while but the rain did not seem to be stopping anytime soon so I suggested we bring the cooler and grill into the woods and cook our dinner while we wait out the rain. Heath agreed to this plan and I got the stuff.

(Heath in out wooded hideout)

I set down the cooler and knelt down next to the grill and put it together and started to get it lit. Heath asked about the hamburger buns getting wet in the rain. I asked her what made her think we were having burgers and that she better check the cooler. She oppened the lid and was excited to see a bag of shrimp to grill.

"Keep looking in there", I told her.

"Ohh wow Salmon too", she said

"keep looking", I say

"Ohh a bottle of wine too"

"keep looking"

Then Heather moved the bottle of champagne and found a little box. I already being down on my knee was in perfect position to look up as she opened and saw this as I asked her to marry me.

Heather laughed and cried at the same time and said yes and gave me a kiss

Right about this time the rain stopped and the clouds rolled away.

We popped open the champagne pulled the grill next to the shore and filled it with shrimp and salmon.

We spent the rest of the evening playing in the cove drinking champagne, eating shrimp and salmon, doing a little fishing and talking about being fiancés.

No one but the guy at the jewelry store knew I was going to ask and the only reason he knew was because he called me out on it.

A few days ago I walked into the store and saw only 2 salespersons waiting by the door in an otherwise empty store. The younger guy on my right says something like Ohh my when I see a gentleman come into the store with that nervous of a face I know he is here to buy a wedding ring. And I told him he was right.

Now I had come up with the idea last summer. My idea was that this summer if everything was still going well with Heath that I would bring her out to our cove and ask her to marry me on the island. This was our first trip to the cove this season and seemed like good timing. I was a little discouraged when the island was deep under water but decided on the boat over the island would be just as good. I sat on the boat waiting and waiting for Heath to ask about dinner and open the cooler but she never mentioned it even when I started to worry about the dark clouds rolling in she just relaxed. Then the rain came and I was sure she would insist we go back to her house but I suggested waiting it out and she was on board with that idea. Finally as we were huddled together under the thick brush watching the rain over the lake we decided to eat dinner and get the whole thing started.

5-28-07 8:05am

Ohh it is tough coming back after such a break but it seems like I got lots of stories from the weekend. Friday afternoon I skipped lunch and left work early to meet up with a structural engineer at the new house. Matt met up with me after that and after a quick peek at the house Matt and I went to a bar close to the house called "Flo's Polka Dot Lounge". It was fairly crowded considering how early it was. We had some beers then ran to the grocery store for supplies for the evening. We broke out the grill and cooked up these guys.

That is a hoagie bun with a a grilled chicken breast on it. The breast was marinated in Italian dressing then put on the grill and topped with grilled onions and mushrooms that was all covered in Pepper Jack cheese. We grilled the buns a little then smothered them in mayonnaise. We had fries on the side. For an appetizer Matt got a platter of crab stuffed mushrooms and they were really good too.

After dinner we moved to the porch and drank there all night with Tony and Geoff.

In the morning I got up early and got some stuff together and headed to Heath's. We drove Grant down to Pittsburg and left him with his Grandmother then headed down to Joplin for a wedding. The wedding/reception was just ok, we saw our friends Joel and Stephanie and got to talk to them for a bit and Joel and home brewed all the beer and it was pretty good but there was not many young adults there to get wound up with.

(Jon and Heath start up some "Shot through the Heart" Karaoke but it does not catch on.)

It seems like we were out of the reception around 5pm and walking to the nearest bar. Now I am sure I am going to miss something interesting that happened after this because for the next 7 +/- hours we wondered around Joplin meeting crazy local folks and drinking. First we went to "The Pub: Bar and Grill" (having grill in the title does not mean they serve food FYI). We got glared at for being in wedding clothes and our IDs were thoroughly examined before we were served. Heath was being aggressively eyeballed by some guy with pants that only came half way up his butt. A old man named Herald came up and started some conversation. He was really nice and mostly wanted us to buy him a beer. Jon decided to trade him 2 cigarettes for a beer and Herald really liked this idea. While he was talking to us the bartender took pity on him and gave him a free beer to leave us alone. We all protested and he was allowed to stay. He told us all sorts of crazy 1/2 true stories of going to jail 4 times and stealing pork chops and running up bar tabs on credit cards and all sorts of good things. After we bought him his beer we discovered he had 3 beers already. He was like a squirrel packing them away to drink at his leisure.

Now since this place had no food and we were getting hungry we decided to head to the next place. We went into another bar and they also had no food but told us about a Chinese place that had a buffet and served beer. I don't know about the Heath and Jon but I tore into the buffet and believe it was really good food. We had a quirky waitress that seemed to enjoy our drunkenness and some 12 year old obsessive boy filling up our water. We ate and drank several beers and listened to the very old man play the keyboard and sing songs. The waitress told us that this ancient guy has been playing in the restaurant on weekends for a long time but last night a bunch of people complained about him and that night would be his last. He was singing some great songs and Jon went up to make a request and give him a tip. After that he played a lot of classic country stuff and we could not figure out what people were complain about. We left the restaurant a bit later and went to another bar and played some pool for a while.

All the beer and Chinese started to wear us out and we decided to take a cab to the hotel. We walked out the bar and an "Afordable Taxi" van pulled up to drop people off. We hopped in and the drive seemed a little confused asking if we had called him or anything. We explained the coincidence and told him where the hotel was. He asked if he could do something real quick on the way. Sure we told him. So we drive to some ladies house and she and her kid are waiting outside. She gives the mulleted driver a coupon and some money and explains her order to him.

The driver is hands free on his cell phone answering calls for rides right and left and then contacting at least one other driver to go pick people up it was an amazing display of multitasking. Soon after the the coupon order we pull up to another bar and 4 large women come out and head toward the taxi. We surprisedely squeeze into the middle bench and give them the front seat and the back row. They giggle a lot and then the drive drops them off at another bar. Then we go back to the Chinese place we were at earlier in the night and it has a drive through. The driver takes a break from phone calls and discussing the taxi business with Jon to order a couple dishes and egg rolls and tons of duck sauce. The coupon that he was told was good for $10 was actually for a buy one get one free dinner buffet that had ended long ago. (I am guessing it said buy one get one buffet up to a $10 value and the lady figured it was good for $10 off anything). So since he did not know if the lady had enough money he canceled the order and then headed toward out hotel and resumed the constant phone calls and discussion about the taxi business.

We got to the hotel and paid the $14 bill then Heath convinced us we needed double cheeseburgers and Jon convinced us we needed more beer and possibly some fireworks. luckily our hotel was right next to a black market Fireworks, smoke shop and liquor store and also close to a 24hr McDonald. We got a bag of burgers a 6 pack of Natty bottles and some confetti poppers and headed into the room. We ate a drank a bit and even shot some confetti but soon passed out for the night.

In the morning Heath and I went down for some continental breakfast action then came back and realized that the 3 of us had filled that hotel room with a near lethal gas from all the beer Chinese and burgers we had the night before.

Since this is already too long I'll skip a bunch of stuff that happened the rest of the long weekend but Heath and I took Grandma to the river and cruised along for a few hours and it was really nice then a rain storm came in and pounded us for a while and we retreated. By the time we got the boat out the storm was gone and the sun was back.

5-25-07 8:12am

Last night I left work and followed my friend Brian home into the northland (over the river and through the woods style). We stopped by a Hy-Vee on the way home and got a couple 6 packs and a couple premade mushroom and Swiss burgers. They pack the mushrooms and Swiss right into the patty.

SPOILER ALERT: The burgers were nothing special. They don't stay together as well as they should and having the mushroom inside instead of on top does not change the flavor any. I suspect the cheese melts out too.

I was going to Brian's house because he had acquired a refrigerator to turn into a kegerator and then decided he didn't want a kegerator. I will need another refrigerator or kegerator for the basement so it worked out great.

We drank a couple beers and Brian showed me some of his toys (HD Projector, Bow) and the work he had been doing on building his own home theatre/bar in his basement. It was a massive project.

Then we got after the refrigerator and brought it from downstairs to my truck. You would have thought that neither of us had ever moved an item from one place to another. It was a mess trying to get this extra large and heavy fridge moved. We banged it into about everything and just had a terrible time. Afterward it was determined the move went so bad due to lack of communication. We were both trying to do things differently and ended up working against each other the whole time.

Once we had the beast strapped down we went to the deck and recovered with a beer and got the grill going and tossed on the burgers. While cooking we enjoyed some baked nacho Doritos in salsa. It was fairly tasty. The burgers were tasty but nothing special. You can find out more about them in the spoiler alert if you avoided it earlier.

Then I took the new fridge home and Derrick and I moved it to my garage with ease because we talked about it and just had to roll it on its wheels along the driveway a few feet. I got caught up on some DVRed TV and then went back into work.

I had a few simple hardware related things to work on while the station was empty and probably should have taken about 30min. However the station was not empty and I stayed for like an hour and a half to learn about some audio editing experimentation that was going on. It was a failed experiment but with what I learned I may be able to recreate it for future successes.

Well I gota leave work early to visit with a structural engineer to make sure everything is good to go on the new basement then Stooks is coming to town and we may play some tennis. Not sure what else tonight but tomorrow morning I drive down to Joplin for a wedding and then do some more house stuff Sunday afternoon then Monday I would love for it to be nice out and spend the day on Hillsdale Lake. Heath and I took off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but our canoe trip plan fell through so we may work. If I don't work I may not post.

PS. I am pissed spell checker makes me capitalize Swiss, if any cheese deserves a capital it is Pepper Jack.

5-24-07 8:16am

So I gathered all my stuff for the evening (clothes and food) at lunch yesterday and headed strait from work to Grant's babysitter to pick him up so Heath could do some work deal. He seemed happy to see me and we hopped in the truck and ran some errands before even going home. To ensure I would be on Grant's good side I brought along a bag of treats. I just got a small Ziploc and tossed in gummy worms, wheat thins, Aldi cheese rice cakes, raisins and some other dehydrated fruits. He was excited and tore into the snack bag. In fact he had most of it down before we got to Wal-Mart.

My primary item was a new light for the back of my boat so I could keep it out past dark. We also got some clearance item strawberries, and a clearance bouquet of flowers for Heath. I found some $4 polarized sunglasses that will come in handy for bow fishing and probably general boat fun where seeing into the water is important.

Grant was thirsty from all the crackers and dehydrated fruit so I got a Dasani strawberry flavored water and he immediately chugged half the bottle. We also got a teriyaki slim-jim beef stick and Grant worked it over on the way to Home Depot.

I made him leave all the food in the car and we went in and easily found the nuts, bolts, and washers we needed to make his swing set safe. Then we found the chain to put up a swing on his swing set and we were all set. I looked over the impressive selection of different dimmer switches (some priced as low as $1.75). We went to check out at an attractive young ladies lane and of course I had 4 different things all in a clear plastic bag with different numbers and prices. Home Depot has no pencils or pens to write down how much each bolt costs or anything and I start to explain to her how many and how much each thing costs. She kinda nods at me like who cares and finds little numbers on the stuff to key in and counts it all her self. The chain gives her some trouble and she goes over to a board w/ pieces of chain and prices on it even though I told her it was $0.44 a foot. After a while I realize she has never said a word but smiled big and seemed to be trying to do a good job. I then realized she was deaf. Grant being 2 had said all kinds of goofy things that a normal cashier would have responded to and she totally ignored him. Part of his goofiness was an immediate need to pee. Well sure he had drank 20oz in about 10 minutes and was ready to pop. The deaf cashier was still trying to get the price figured out on a 2 foot piece of chain. Eventually she finishes ringing me up and points to the price on the screen and I pay and thank her and she signs back to me something that I would guess is thank you. That or she asked my number because girls like guys w/ cute stuff like kids and puppies. Grant and I had no time to find out and rushed to the back of the store and made it to the urinal in time. He was pretty impressed that it was auto flushing thanks to sloan auto flushers.

We got in the truck and headed home. He finished off his slim-jim and most of his snack bag then we browned up some deer burger and got dinner almost ready. Then we put in his swing set chain and he played superman on the swing for a while. Then we went for a bike ride and he figured out how the pedaling worked on his big wheel and did it on his own for the first time. Heath came home during this and he was really excited to show off his new skill. We went in and ate some burritos, nachos and Price Chopper Mexican noodle soup. For some reason Grant did not eat a lot of dinner? Then we went back outside and I put in the bolts and nuts and stuff in the swing set and Grant showed Heath how to superman on the swing.

When it started to get dark we went inside and Grant took a bath then we made some strawberry shortcakes. I made Grant one the same size as me and Heath's expecting that I would get to eat half of it. However his growing boy hunger was back and he downed the whole thing on his own. Then we read about the 3 little pigs and went to bed.

As I typed up my day and sipped on my KCUR flavored The Roasterie coffee I realized that I have thrown in a lot of product placements today and are probably due some money from the companies that will profit from this. You don't need to read back through the page I'll give you a nice little list here:

ZipLock
Wheat Thins
Aldi
Dasani
Walmart
SlimJim
Home Depot
Sloan
Superman
Price Chopper
KCUR
The Roasterie

$20 per product should be about rite since on a good day maybe 20 people read this. And slim-jim you can skip the check if you just bring back Macho Man Randy Savage as your primary spokesman.