For the first time in a year and a half Roll'em If Ya Got'em will take to the bocce court tonight.  With the colder temp and north wind it's lucky we play at 6&6:30 even if it is on the newer third court.  We'll be playing a new team or at least a team I've never heard of in Solid Shooters 1st.  Dusty, the Glue, Herbster and Clutch will be together again.

St Patricks Day 2021 started off with the Glue fixing our traditional corned beef and potatoes last Wednesday  We don't normally do the cabbage.  She does really good corned beef and this year was no exception and it seemed better than most years.
On Friday we went for a short ride around the marina and on to the spillway that was really coming down.  We went down by fountain bluff to check out the wildfire damage but we couldn't see any of the burnt areas.  We came back to Whiffleboys for a pitcher of Amberbock, pizza and wings.  The pizza was good and the wings really hit the spot.  They were still out of the italian wings so we got a pound of plain and a pound of asian ginger.  Both were very good and I think I preferred the plain.  I really like Whiffleboys indoor area, nice place to enjoy a cold beer with some good food.
A very good 🍺🍺🍺🍺.
Saturday was the big celebration at Brews Brothers.  I started off the day by making hash with some of the left over corned beef.  It turned out pretty good for a first time attempt at it.  I'm sure it was helped out a lot by the Glue chopping the potatoes, garlic and onions the night before and working some of her magic on it.
Later that morning the grandtwins came over for a while so we took them out to the spillway.  They love the spillway but it was so high but there weren't a lot of rocks for them to throw in.
We headed up to Brews Brothers for the celebration.  We debated about entering the Irish Stew contest right up until the last minute but had decided against it.  The weather cooperated and I regretted not getting in the contest several times during the day but the beer quantity may have had something to do with it.  They had tricycle races this year so I raced the grandtwins and after a grueling two lap race I came in third.  Then the fun started when I was trying to get off the tricycle.  After floundering for a bit my daughter came to my rescue and helped me up.  My classmate Barb was kind enough to film the floundering and put it on facebook.  Later on Bailey and Shad raced each other and of course Bailey won but neither of them struggled to get off the way I did.
What a great day.
On Sunday Lisa fixed her famous Irish Stew.  She'd made a few changes and I think it was her best ever and the Irish Beer Bread tasted great.  I hope she remembers what she did different for next time.
All in all a great weekend.

Mr. Potato Head becomes genderless, sort of.  Pepe Le Pew a sexual predator.  Speedy Gonzales is racist.  And Dr. Seuss is racist also.
How did I ever survive?  While I was never real big on Mr Potato Head I did have one.  I watched cartoons with Pepe Le Pew and Speedy Gonzales.  I read books by Dr. Seuss.
At least I have an excuse now.
What's next?  Wile E Coyote is banned by the Audubon Society?  Elmer Fudd is banned by PETA?  Porky Pig is banned for stuttering?  Where does it stop? 

Yes, we're getting the band back together or in this case the team.  Herbster and Clutch have told me that they are playing this season.  It still won't be the same with all the restrictions but I'm hoping at some point during the season it opens up a little more.  I'm not sure if we'd have played if they didn't but it would be hard find another couple which we prefer.
Roll'em If Ya Got'em lives!!!
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Yesterday I was leaning towards going to Broadway Grille and getting fried chicken until I saw a Facebook post of their cajun pasta special.  It looked wonderful so that sealed the deal.
Once we got there I asked about the cajun pasta and the waitress had to check if it was ready.  When she came back she said it was so I ordered that.  We both ordered Amberbocks which were good and cold with a frosted glass.  The Glue decided on a cup of etouffee and an order of honey garlic wings.
When I got my pasta it looked nothing like the picture and a lot like the picture of their seafood pasta.  I asked if it was the cajun or seafood pasta and the waitress said the only difference is they add sausage to the pasta.  Looking back at the pictures it still doesn't look right,  The few shrimp that were in it still had their tails on and there wasn't much sausage either.  It didn't taste bad but it wasn't anywhere close to what I was hoping for.  Really my first bad experience there.
On the other hand the Glue's etouffee and wings were very good.  She'd ordered the alligator etouffee and it had big chucks of alligator that were nice and tender and the flavor was spot on.  The wings didn't look very appetizing but the looks were deceiving.  They were very good also, the honey garlic sauce had some kick to it but also some sweet.  I didn't really notice any garlic flavor but that didn't hold it back.
My pasta 🍺, the Glue's etouffee and wings 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍷. 
Overall 🍺🍺, pasta really drags it down.
On a whim we stopped in at Jan's Horseshoe Inn in Schuline for the first time.  When we walked in I figured they would smoke in there but they don't.  They have four or five drafts and the Glue had another Amberbock while I had a Stag.  There was a group of younger (to me) guys there and I figured they wouldn't say much to us but they were a fun group.  One guy ended up buying everyone a round so we had another as more and more people came in.  A really fun time
🍺🍺🍺🍺.
Ever since we had a Scratch beer we like Wednesday at 17th St. I'd wanted to stop at Scratch before they ran out of it.  They aren't let people inside except to pee and it was exactly a good day so there weren't a lot of people there.  They didn't have the keller bier that I wanted to try so we both got the hickory Vienna lager and of course I pronounced like the town in Southern Illinois.  The Glue wanted to be by the fire so she sat on a table while I stood a little behind her.  There was a group on the other side of the fire having a nice time so I asked where they were from, Waterloo and Tunnel Hill.  I'd never met a person from Tunnel Hill that I'm aware. 
🍺🍺🍷

  As part of hell week I had a blood test on Thursday.  When I got there I found out I could have gone at 7am instead of sitting around fasting with cotton mouth until 8am.  Anyway afterwards we went to Mary Lou's for breakfast.  The Glue didn't remember ever going for breakfast and it had been several years since I last went there.  
By the time we got there it wasn't very crowded and we got a nice seat with a window view.  I ordered the traditional breakfast with sausage and my eggs over medium.  The Glue also ordered the traditional breakfast but had bacon and her eggs over easy. 
Both breakfasts came with complimentary B&G so we both opted for that too.  The B&G came out before the rest of the breakfast and we both would have rather had it at the same time.  The gravy was real good but while the biscuits were good they weren't as good as the gravy.
I should have ordered my eggs over medium hard because they were a little too runny for what I like but they were good.  The sausage was excellent though, best of the places we've had breakfast lately.  The Glue's bacon was also excellent and once again was the best of the places we've had breakfast lately.
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The night before we'd been to a visitation for a long time friend.  We went to the Da-Nite afterwards because we'd gone there a lot when we were younger.  After we left there we went to 17th St. to get something to eat.  The Glue got wings extra crispy and I got a double cheeseburger.  They let me add the extra crunchy pickles instead of the typical pickle and that was a real good addition.
While we were waiting we ordered two beers and for the first time we actually liked the Scratch beer, hickory Vienna lager.  In fact we had two of them.  My cheeseburger wasn't as good as it normally is but the Glue's wings were very good.
🍺🍺🍺🍷

 Yesterday I had an ophthmologist appointment by the Marion airport where I had my eyes dilated which meant no golf on a beautiful day.  On the way back we decided to stop at Sunny Street Cafe in Carbondale.
We normally avoid chain restaurants but there's not a lot of options on Mondays.  It really has a diner feel in a newer building, nice place.  The staff there is extremely friendly and helpful, great service.
I went for something a little different and ordered corned beef hash with scrambled eggs.  I didn't want toast so I asked if I could have a biscuit and the waitress said sure and she'd throw some gravy on if I wanted.  I didn't but nice to ask.  The Glue ordered a la carte biscuits and gravy, an order of bacon and a fruit cup.  The waitress suggested ordering the big bites breakfast which would be cheaper so she did.
My corned beef hash was excellent, I can't say enough about how much I liked it.  I should have ordered over easy eggs though so some of the yolk juice would mix with the hash.  My biscuit was ok but nothing special.  The Glues B&G was also excellent and the fruit cup was surprisingly very good but had a lot of cantaloupe in it.  That was good for me, bad for the Glue.  She also seemed to really like the eggs and bacon too.
Surprisingly great stop and I'm sure we'll be back soon. 
I'm introducing my beer mug scoring system.  Five 🍺 max but have to figuring out to do.
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺.  Note I changed to five 🍺 for flexability I've also added a 🍷 for scores between two 🍺.

Yesterday we had a tough morning getting Otis the wonder dog his rabies shot.  We finally had to give him some tranquilizer to get him calmed down enough for the vet to give him his shot and even then he growled and fought it.  Very unlike Otis but he does not like going to the vet.
When we got home Otis was wobbly and laid outside for a while before giving it up and coming inside to sleep it off.  Each of us had errands to run so we decided to let Otis have the house to himself while we ran errands and got something to eat.
After our usually debate on where to go we settled on St. Nicholas.  We've been going to the Landmark instead so we hadn't been there in a while.  I wanted the boom boom shrimp special but we were too early for it so I opted for catfish with house chips, slaw and hush puppies.  The Glue got a grilled cheese made with mac and cheese, bacon and jalapenos and a side of Italian sausage soup.
The catfish was on special and was very good but you only got one filet.  The house chips were good but I should have gotten a different side to stay away from so much fried stuff.  The slaw was also very very good.  I'm normally not big on hush puppies but this were excellent.  The Glues grilled cheese was surprisingly good.  The Italian sausage soup wasn't my thing but the Glue liked it.
On the way home we stopped at Big Muddy for a drink and of course the Glue had to call her brother with the new shirts and hoodies.  We both got Dunkeldog but while we were drinking it I asked about sampling a brown ale from O'fallon brewery and it was very good so we both got one of those.  We were the only people there so we got to visit with the owner Chuck and the cook who used to work at Merlins.  We need to make a point to eat there.

We got a great deal on a 12 volt kids jeep yesterday so we spent a couple frustrating hours putting it together.  That called for a cold draft beer somewhere that had decent food.  I mentioned the Landmark and the Glue said that sounded great so off we went.
On the way up we hit some very hard rain and I had to really slow down to be able to see.  Once we cleared the worst of it and made the turn on the bypass road at Chester we ran into some very heavy fog that also made it hard to see but we made it.
We got there and we both ordered a tall Kaskaskia Copper which is probably my favorite beer there, I hope they keep it around.  I debated between a burger and blt and ended up going with the blt and brussel sprouts.  The Glue went with the catfish po boy and house chips.
My blt was good but not as big as normal.  The brussel sprouts weren't very warm and looked like they'd scrapped the bottom of the pan.  The Glue was disappointed in her whole meal.  The po boy was dry tasting and it's normally kind of sloppy.  Her chips didn't have much seasoning on them.
While we were sitting there a barge went by on the Mississippi and you could barely see it the fog was so thick.  It cleared out before we left so we didn't have to go back through town.
A rare disappointing trip to the Landmark.