Roll'em If Ya Got'em played in the Relay for Life yesterday on a sunny but cool and breezy day.
In the first game we lost to PBR then in the second game we played Holy Ballz and lost to them but managed to score this time instead of being shut out like last time.
In the third game we played M&M and in a closely fought contest we came out ahead to move to 1-2 on the day.
In our forth and last game lost to Here 4 the Beer finished the day with a 1-3 record.  Another disappointing performance for Roll'em with only the Herbster showing signs of life.
The tournament was won by Here 4 the Beer and runner up was WOPS.
After the tournament we went to Molly's pint for a few beers.  We ended up ordering Whiffleboys pizza.  The pizza was good and I really like Molly's Irish creame ale.
We then went up to Brews Brothers and sat outside in the sun.  After a few rounds of beer and one round of shots that I mostly avoided it was time for us to head home.

Finally a short and short sleeve night although by the end it was starting to get a little cool.
In the first game we played long time nemesis Squatchy Bocce.  After the first three frames the score was 3-0 and the game could have easily been over but the Squatches didn't capitalize.  Roll'em got on the board with a one point frame but the Squatchy answered with a three point frame to make it 6-1.  Roll'em then had a two point frame that should have been four but Dusty is still struggling and couldn't make make what should have been routine throws.  Squatchy got the a couple more while Roll'em answered with 1 to make the score 8-4.  They got their first ball pretty close and both the Glue's and Clutch's throws were right there but just a little bit outside of the Squatches and Roll'em lost 9-4.
Captain Dusty decided it was a good time for one of his legendary team meeting/pep talks before we took the courts for our second game against Discom Boccelated, a new team.  Roll'em responded to the meeting and threw much better, streaking to a 9-0 win.

The weather seems to have finally turned and I'm getting to play golf some.  I played Friday at Hickory and the course had finally dried out.  A couple weeks ago my putting was on fire but has cooled off now but I'm making better contact.
On Saturday Hickory was closed so me and Rod went to Stone Creek to play.  I got there first and there had been a mix up in tee times but it ended up not being a problem.  The cost was $30 for a round of golf, cart and lunch, what a deal.  The greens there haven't come in yet and were ugly but very very fast.  They were close to the same speed as the courses I played in Wisconsin.  The fairways weren't very good and we decided to play the ball up in the fairway.  In our usual beer bet my short game and Rod's short game kept him in the game.  We were tied with two holes left, his approach shot went off the back and I pared it while he bogeyed it.  On the last hole he missed a putt that I thought for sure he would make so we both bogeyed it so I won the bet.
Stone Creek has the makings of a really good course and the owners know they've got a lot of work to do to get it in shape but what a value for $30.

After sitting outside in shorts and t-shirt yesterday, it was hoodies and long pants last night at bocce.  At least for those of us who had felt the temperature dropping, unfortunately Herbster and Clutch were two who didn't.
In the first game we took on Boccelism and my old 440 and 880 relay teammate Mike.  We were playing on the new court so there weren't many great throws but Roll'em made enough to jump out to a 5-0 lead.  Boccelism got a couple points and it felt like momentum was swinging towards them.  We responded and ran off four straight points for a 9-2 win.
In the second game with the temps dropping and the wind howling we took on Feeder of the Pack and my old buddy Everett Orange Hands.  Roll'em again jumped out to an early lead due in part to a three point from from me and Herbster which should have been four but I shorted my last throw.  Feeder started finding their groove and closed the gap to 6-5.  On the next frame they were out of balls with the Glues first shot still holding up and Feeder didn't have anything very close.  Unluckily on the Glues next shot she caught one of their balls and pushed it up a lot closer making it tough to get any more points.  With the score 7-5 Feeder got the next two points for a tie game.  Feeder's Everett Orange Hands went long towards the right side with the pallino.  At this point I said someone is going out on this throw.  Everett's first throw was a good one so we needed an answer.  My first throw off the wall was tracking at their ball but for some reason flattened out and missed by a narrow margin.  With our last ball I decided to go straight at theirs and try and get something close.  I didn't throw a very good ball but they still had a tough long throw through several balls.  Everett Orange Hands decided to blow it up, reasoning if he did they still had two balls to get points.  His throw wasn't on line to blow anything up but it also wasn't hard enough to go long and it nestled in close enough to give them the win.
We had a chance to make a move in the standings and it really felt like we'd given it away.  They made some good shots and we didn't capitalize on some opportunities.  Clutch struggled all night while me and Herbster had our moments, both good and bad.  The Glue who was fighting back and leg pain threw very well.

After watching the grandtwins on Saturday we decided to go get something to eat before I starved to death.  After our usual indecisiveness we finally decided on either Pookies or Union Street Pub in Marion.  On the way over we decided on Pookies.  Once we arrived it was obvious that there was some sort of an event which ended up being a bocce tournament and crawdad boil both of which were over.  I ordered the salameat sandwich and was devastated when they were out.  I then went with wings and selected garlic aioli as the sauce.  The Glue went with the roast beef with au jus.  The sauce selection on the wings was a big mistake but the wings themselves may have been good with a different sauce.  The Glues sandwich was just ok, barely. 
On the way home we decided to stop someplace and decided on Just One More bar in Marion.  Another poor decision as it seemed kind of blah.  Overall the trip to Marion was very disappointing but we'll go back to Pookies, just order something different.
On Sunday we went on a day trip to Cape.  After a quick trip at Academy we headed to the Pilot House to grab something to eat.  I wanted to try the fried catfish and the Glue went with her standby giant kabobs but sadly they had been out of the kabobs since Friday.  I thought she'd go with the ribeye but went instead with ribs.  My catfish was good and the baked beans were real good but the slaw needed to be mixed better.  The Glue really liked her ribs but I thought they were overdone.
We then went for our customary beer at Katy O'ferrals but they aren't open at noon so we went to Minglewood for the first time in a couple years.  We both had the Fat Monk which is really good.  We decided to try and find Broadway Biergarden but found out they didn't open until 2pm so we had a second at Minglewood and walked down to The Bar before they closed at 2. 
After the Bar we drove up and found Broadway Biergarden.  The bartender didn't seem very friendly but then the owner came in and we had a blast talking beer with him.  They have 60 taps and about half of them are permanent while the others rotate periodically.  We ended up having a couple more than we anticipated and The Glue wanted a pretzel which needed a little more salt.  The dipping sauces were real good especially the green one, I don't remember what it was called.  We'd tried to find Biergarden for a year of two and now it will be a regular stop on our trips down there.
At that point it was time to head home after a very good trip.

The good news is that we finally got to roll some bocce without coats, hoodies or gloves.
In the first game we took on the Elks.  Roll'em started out throwing decent and jumped to a 7-0 lead which included a four point frame from the guys.  The Elks mounted a mini come back and cut the lead to 7-4 before the girls finished them off with a two point frame and a 9-4 win.
In the second game we played Holy Ballz with ex super sub Fred.  The game got off to a bad start when we gave up a two point frame then in the next frame Mick made a great shot to knock us off the pallino and them into two points.  Facing a 4-0 deficit we proceeded to go down without a whimper losing 9-0.  When we lay an egg we lay a big one but Holy Ballz was on their game and would have been tough to beat regardless of how we played.
At the halfway point in the season we're 6-2 and tied for first record wise. 

We finally made the trip to Perryville yesterday to check out Mary Jane's Burgers and Brews.  We've heard a lot about the place and it's been #1 on my list of places to checkout.  When we got there my plans took a skid when we found that Jackson Street Brewco didn't open until 4pm on weekdays.  We decided to check out City Tavern a block over and let the noon crowd thin out a little at Mary Jane's.  I always forget that Missouri still allows smoking in places but I was reminded when we walked in and a guy was smoking at the bar.  I was surprised that there were quite a few people eating in there so they must have pretty good food.  We only had one beer and then headed to Mary Jane's for lunch.
Mary Jane's is a really cool place but I was expecting more of a dive type place.  The bar area was really cool with a garage door type window thing that can be raised for an open air type environment.  We chose to eat in the dining area because one of the windows was raised and it was pretty cool in there.  They have a nice draft beer list and we both went with Single Speed from 4 Hands.  I ordered the with the Tricky Ricky burger and the Glue went with street tacos of all three varieties.  The waitress talked me into going with a side of mushrooms instead of fries.    The burger was good but I think Jacks and Hickory Ridge burgers are better.  El Grecos has better mushrooms but they were very good.  The Glues shrimp and beef tacos were good and both were a lot better than the fish one.  We had a good time talking to the two couples next to us but we decided to have a quick beer in the bar window area before leaving.
On the way home we stopped at Barron's Winery a couple miles outside of Perrryville.  We walked in and the place looked too fancy for us.  We went to stand up bar and I ordered a strawberry sangria while the Glue got a regular one.  Hers was awesome while mine was too sweet for me.  We found out that they were setting up for a big group coming in which is why it looked so fancy.  Overall a nice place with maybe the best sangria around.
We then made a quick stop in Chester at Bensons Wine Bar looking forward to a Killians draft but once again my plans took a skid when their taps weren't working.  We grabbed a couple bottled beers and then headed home.
We got home in time for a quick veranda beer before calling it a day and going inside.

That's the sound of Roll'em hitting rock bottom last night in the first game against Usual Suspects.  The Suspects started out with a two point frame and we answered with a single point, then it was all Suspects.  It started when Herbster made our only good throw of the game and knocked their ball off the pallino then with a pretty wide open shot Roll'ems fearless captain bounced two off the back wall.  We got lucky in that they only got three points which made it 6-1.  The girls then turned around and left it wide open but the Suspects shorted a throw but then on their last roll they got in for a 9-1 win.  Ugly game for Roll'em, our closest ball was close to three feet away from the pallino. 
After some playful heckling to relieve the stink of the first game disaster we took the court against Muddy Rollers in an important game for early in the season.  The game started out with a lot of single point frames for both teams until Clutch came through with a big time throw which moved the pallino from them having a point to us having three and a 5-3 lead.  They answered with a single point and then The Glue had two balls in but Clutch's last two throws pushed their ball closer each time.  We still ended up with two points and a 8-5 lead.  Herbster put a ball that caused them to use three balls before getting one closer.  Herbster's ball then took the pallino back with it and stopped with his ball just in front of the pallino.  Eagle eyed Jerry was then stuck with a dilemma.  Trying to get closer was almost impossible and a knock shot most likely would leave it wide open with us still having two balls.  He went with trying to get closer and made a good shot but Herbster still had the point and a 9-5 win.
With having 6pm and 7:30pm games it was nice that games were going fast on a really cold evening.  It's getting real old having to have multiple layers of clothes and hand warmers each time we play. 

This past Saturday was the grandtwins first birthday and they celebrated with a birthday party at the Murphysboro Event Center.  The Glue, Bailey and Shad decorated it on Friday night while I stayed out of their way at the bar and they did a great job.
The Glue made chicken salad sandwiches and there were plenty of chips, veggies and cake to snack on.  The twins really seemed to enjoy being pushed around in their new cars.  It was a good turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. 
On Sunday we had our family Easter diner with the Glue fixing chicken and dumplings to go along with ham, mashed potatoes, corn and more.  The food was great and getting to see our family two days in a row was awesome but by the time everyone left we were worn out from the busy weekend and in dire need of some R&R.