With limited options yesterday due to it being an Monday we took a little day trip to Shotgun Eddies yesterday.  Mike drove so I got to do a little sightseeing on a very hot day.
Not surprisingly there wasn't much of a crowd when we got there, just a few regulars.  We ordered an appetizer of fried okra and it was really good, not as good as Smokin K's but close.  I ended up ordering the angry pig which is a pork loin with bacon that I'd had the previous time we were there.  Lisa got a grilled chicken wrap while Mike and Debbie got burgers.  My sandwich wasn't as good as I remembered but it was still good.  Lisa like her wrap while Debbie and Mike loved the burgers, Mike said it was the best he'd had in a while.  The chips were okay but needed more seasoning.

Last Thursday we went to Midland Inn aka Middies for the first time in a while.  We took Lisa's nephew and his family there along with her brother Fred and Cathy.  We ordered some appetizers and I ordered catfish.  The mushrooms we got were a lot better than we'd had earlier in the week.  My catfish was once again disappointing, just not as good as when they cut them in strips.  Note to self, stay away from the catfish.  My slaw was okay but needed more dressing on it.  Nicole is a big hushpuppy fan so I gave her all mine and she seemed to like them.  I guess you can't find them very many places in Cali.
On Friday we went to Moonshine Run to "celebrate" Mike and Debbie's engagement earlier that day.  They picked the place which took a while and finally selected a place they hadn't been.  We ordered some fried mushrooms and they were even better than Middies.  I ordered a burger with grilled mushrooms and onions along with swiss cheese and a side salad.  I said to bring the salad out at the same time.  Lisa and Debbie got italian beef and Mike got a plain cheeseburger.  When my burger came out it had fries with it, the waitress said the cook throws fries on everything and that she wouldn't charge us for them. then brought out the side salad.  The salad seemed plain but it was good and not very big.  My burger was good but I think I liked the one we had there first time we went better.  The fries were excellent, hand cut and tasty.  

Yesterday we took out nephew & his wife (niece) on a ride down through Hutchens Creek but couldn't go all the way up due to a downed tree that a fellow jeep driver told us about.  They did get to experience the driving through the creek and we got out and looked around some.  We backtracked and went to the Ware Market.
After we left there I mentioned a place where we could get a drink and appetizers.  They were all about that so we stopped at Sammy's Outdoor Bar formally known as the Revlon.  The three of them got a 32oz bucket of purse snatcher which was some kind of mixed drink with a story to go with it.  I went with beer of course.  We ordered some mushrooms, egg rolls and cheese sticks.  The mushrooms were okay but nothing special.  I liked the egg rolls a lot but didn't try the cheese sticks.  Typical bar frozen appetizers.
Next up we took some back roads and ended up going up 51 to Giant City and then to the lodge.  They had Abita Amber  on draft so me and Lisa had that, not really sure what Jay and Nicole had.  We got an appetizer sampler where the mushrooms were a lot better and I also really like the corn fritters.  I ordered a chicken breast while Lisa ordered chili and a wing.  She really liked the chili but both of us thought the chicken tasted like it had been sitting for awhile.
Then it was time to rescue Mike for their kids but not before Jay swung by DQ for a night cap.

Yesterday was the league tournament and it was brutally hot.  We did get a good pool since none of the teams played on Wednesday night.
First game we won 9-5 against the Naturals on the first court.  Both teams struggled with the court.
In the second game we lost 9-0 to Whiffleboys once again on the first court.  They made some really good throws while we once again struggled with the court.
In the third game we played Knocking on Bocce Court once again on the first court and we once again struggled with the court once again losing 9-0.
I really dislike the first court.

Thud.  That's the sound of Roll'em crashing in the summer 2o25 towel tournament.  I'd say burning too but the weather took care of the heat.
We played Boccelism on the first court.  We had to wait for a court to open and court one opened first.  To start the game I had a pretty easy shot for a point but it came off my hand wrong and gave them two points.  They followed that up with a four point frame and the route was on.  We did score three points before the game ended but it was a weak effort.
We reverted back to our wide open frames, not taking advantage and getting behind in the ball count throwing.  
At least we got out of the heat quick but that's all that was good.

A little catching up.
On Thursday we made a return trip to Moonshine Run.  Lisa wanted to try the buffalo cauliflower so we had that as an appetizer.  We decided to split a ribeye with a baked potato and onion rings.  The buffalo cauliflower didn't really hit the spot, way too much buffalo flavor for me.  At one point the cook came out and asked if since we were sharing our steak could he cut it in half so it would cook faster.  I said sure just make sure it's a big one.  When it came out it turned out he had cut it long ways instead of how I thought he meant.  The steak was still solid but I think it would have been better left whole.  We'd requested extra seasoning and it was a good flavor.  The baked potato was just okay, nothing special and while the onion rings were good they had the same batter as the buffalo cauliflower and probably all other fried things.
We hadn't been to New Kahala in a while so we picked it up Friday on out way home from Carbondale.  Lisa got beef rice noodle while I got twice cooked beef with extra broccoli.  Both dishes were what we expect from there, very good.  One thing I noticed is it really isn't worth the extra money to get more broccoli or probably any other veggie.
Yesterday after a pool day for Lisa and a golf day for me we ordered from Whiffleboys.  We ordered pepperoni and mushroom and finally got to try their pan crust.  Both of us really liked it possibly because we've had so much hand tossed a change was nice but it was a good pizza.

The summer '25 regular season concluded last night with 6:30 & 7:30 games.  In addition to one forfeit because of scheduling mess up there was another team who didn't bother to show up.  Unfortunately we didn't get any of the forfeits.
In the first game we played Blue Collar Ballers on the middle court.  We started out with a pair of two point frames but they followed with a series of one point frames to tie the score at 4-4.  We got a couple more points and the got one to make it 6-5.  They left a wide open shot and with us having two points I shorted the third and game point to make it 8-5.  The next frame they got a three pointer then put a shot close to the pallino and we lost 9-8.  Tough game to lose.
In the second game we played Boccelism on the first court.  We hung with them for a few frames but they made shot after shot and we lost 9-3.
Very disappointing night with none of us playing particularly good.

Tanya and Paducah have been posting pictures of Cajun food they've been having so naturally that got me wanting some of my own.  There's not a lot of places serving it around here but Smokin K's isn't that far away so off we went.
Since they didn't have etouffe we decided to split a bowl of gumbo and of course some fried okra.  We'd already paid and decided to get a single bone of ribs to try that out.  When the food got there they gave us two ribs because they were small.  I'm not much on full spare ribs but these were close to fall off the bones but still had enough texture to get a bite.  The tips were nicely done too and it was easy to get the little bones out of the way.  Nicely seasoned.
The gumbo was very good with the exception of two bones that were in it, not sure what happened there.  The fried okra was exceptional as always.

We went into the night knowing we would get a split at worst because we had a bye our first game.  With that in mind Usual Suspects agree to play us at 6 instead of 7 and everyone really liked the change.  The weather wasn't as hot as last week but was still plenty warm.
We played our only game on the 2nd court.  We started off with a bang and got a three point frame followed by a one point frame and a 4-0 lead.  We stretched our lead to 6-0 before they got a point.  We got a couple more points and then some strangeness occurred.  They were out of balls and thought we were in and the game was over but they were confused and thought we were green instead of red.  We ended up measuring and they were in, luckily none of the balls had been moved.  They ended up getting another point and cut our lead to 8-3 but on the next throw they couldn't get inside a ball about a couple feet away from the pallino and we got a 9-3 win.
We did a good job of staying ahead in the ball count and not giving them many chances to score.