Week 3 was postponed so Roll'em played it's week 4 games last night on a beautiful night with a awesome moon.
In the first game we played boccelicious on the first court.  We got out to a 4-0 lead but they came back and tied it 4-4.  Here we go again but no.  We got a two point frame followed by a two point frame to go ahead 8-4 then closed it out for a 9-4 win.
In the second game we played Money Balls on the middle court.  Once again we jumped out to a 4-0 before they scored a couple.  This time we didn't let them anywhere close as we closed out the game with a four point frame and a 9-2 win.

Have you noticed how often a restaurant and the food there is described as amazing?  What happened to using great, excellent or even wonderful.  Amazing means surprise, great wonder or astonishment and can be also be used as a negative.  So when a person says something is amazing we aren't really sure is that is a good thing or a bad thing.
I'm sure the meaning will be changed in the near future but it's just too trendy for this old curmudgon.

Week 3 was postponed due to high heat and humidity.  Poor Monday night players had to suffer through the heat but the rest of the week doesn't have to.  This really works out well for Roll'em since we wouldn't be able to field a team anyway.  Mike had a conflict and me and Lisa are both down with covid, yuck.

Lisa wasn't feeling good Sunday so we cancelled our normal Sunday dinner.  That led to another what are we going to have discussion.  I ended up picking up Cindy B's.
We did another mix and match type decision.  An order of fried chicken and an order of chicken and dumplings.  Both with mashed potatoes and side salads.  When I got there I had to wait a little bit but I'd rather wait and have it fresh than get there late and have it sitting out.
The fried chicken was good but nothing special, best part was that the three piece all white came with two breasts and a wing.  I didn't care much for the chicken and dumplings and the mashed potatoes were warm at best.  The salads were nice sized and good.

On 4th of July the new Big Muddy Monster statue had a USA flag in it's hand.  It dawned on me that a wonderful idea would be to have a Big Mac in it's hand whenever the new mcdonald's opened.  This is in turn got me to thinking about other uses for the statue such as a slice of pepperoni when domino's opens. 
I noticed that the statue looks like he's getting ready to throw a discus and with next summer being the olympics that would be perfect use of the statue.  Maybe even have a wreath on it's head.  That got me thinking about even more uses for it.
Big Muddy Monster IPA from Big Muddy Brewing in it's hand whenever the brewfest happens. 
An Irish Red from Molly's Pint during the St Patricks festival.
A Rack of ribs from 17th St. during the BBQ cook off.
An Apple from Mileurs Orchard during the Apple Festival.
A turkey leg during Thanksgiving
A santa hat and a bundle of switches for christmas or maybe a lump of coal.
A burrito from Mi Patio for Cinco de Mayo.
A pair of eclipse glasses for the eclipse next year.
So many possibilities, feel free to add any in the comments.
Now if we could only rotate the statue and put it's middle finger up when we play carbondale in another week.

Wednesday New Kahala was having phone problems so we decided to try another place just down the road from them, China Wok.  Their online ordering wasn't near as nice as New Kahala but it wasn't bad. 
I ordered roast pork and mixed veggies and asked for extra brown sauce.  Lisa ordered chicken in garlic sauce.  Both of us got fried rice.  In retrospect I should have ordered some lo mein too since I'm not wild New China closed and I don't really care for New Kahala's or Hunan's.
The food was ready when we got there and was still a little hot when we got home.  The pork in the roast pork was really good and the veggies were solid but would have liked to have more of them.  The chicken in garlic sauce was good but had a little kick to it.  The fried rice was okay but I should have stuck with white rice.  I don't think the portions were near as big as New Kahala.
🍺🍺🍺🍷
Overall a nice solid choice.

Crash, boom, blah, yuck.
Roll'em showed up for week 2 but to say they played would be a stretch.
In the first game against Mag 4 we jumped out to a 3-0 lead.  Not much good happened after this.  We proceeded to lose 9-4.
In the second game against Bocce & Brews nothing much good happened as we proceeded to lose 9-4 once again.
It was a team effort, none of us threw very well, just an all around crappy showing.

Yesterday was the annual tournament honoring long time MBC member Pete, proceeds from the tournament were donated to the MBC to pay off some building debt.  It was an awesome tournament and overall a fun day.  Several businesses donated items or cash and Whiffleboys donated pizza for lunch.
I hadn't slept well and was not at my best all day, at least that's the excuse I'll use for not playing well.  There were 14 teams so once again we had uneven pools.  Two pools had four in them and two had three.  This time instead of only playing two games the pools with three played each other two times with the top two in each pool advancing.
In the first game we played Pete's Nuts or something like that.  In essence it was mainly Bertha's Ball Handlers.  We got out to a big lead at the start then let them back in it before winning 9-7.
In the second game we played Money Balls, I think the team was made up of mostly Herrin players.  Once again we got out to a lead only to let them back in before winning 9-6.
We once again played Pete's Nuts but this time they jumped out to a 4-0 lead.  We got a four point frame to tie it but that was all she wrote and we lost 9-4.
We played our last game against Money Balls needing a win to win the pool.  Win we did 9-2 and advancing.
In the first round of the playoff we faced Mission: Imbocceball.  It was a hard fought game where we had numerous chances and didn't take advantage.  With us leading 8-7 they made a nice shot but we had two balls left.  I thought my first throw was in but it rolled out just a hair.  As was the case most of the day my second shot was not close and with their last throw they put it on the pallino ending our day.

Yesterday we took the grankids for a hike at Oakwood Bottoms.  I'd been wanting to take them there for quite a while but it just hasn't worked out.  With school starting Monday time was running out so off we went.
We decided not to walk the whole trail around the lake, only the boardwalk through the woods.  Dax was regulated to his stroller, way too many things to pick up and put in his mouth.  I was hoping to see some wildlife but we didn't see any even though the woods was dry this time.  We heard birds but didn't see any of those either.  Regardless the twins said they enjoyed it and Dax seemed happy.
We ended up walking over to the bridge and onto the island then walked around it a little.  Brinley and Greyson enjoyed throwing sticks in the lake but we didn't let them throw too many.  We headed back and discovered Dax had lost his pacifier someplace between the boardwalk and the bridge but we never saw it.
After we left there we went to Bottoms Up for snacks.  Dax settled on applesauce and fries while Brinley got chicken strips and Greyson got chips.  I ordered wings for me and Lisa.  The wings were really good, on par with their normal fried chicken and the kids all really seemed to like what they got, especially Dax and the applesauce.
Greyson had been talking about the spillway so we took a quick trip by there on the way home. 

Yesterday we had a rare day without Grandkids so we decided to go someplace to eat.  We had to be back around 3 so we had to keep it somewhat close to home.  After mentioning several places Frenchmans Widow popped into my head.  The special was chili mac and that decided it for Lisa.  We hadn't been there since it reopened so we weren't sure what to expect.
They haven't changed the building much if at all which is a good thing in my opinion.  The menu isn't real big but has some nice choices.  My choices came down to french dip, rueben or wings before finally deciding on french dip with onion rings.  Lisa got some hoity toity bruscheta stuff and a bowl of chili.  The selection of draft beer isn't great so we decided on Blue Moon.
I have to admit the hoity toity bruscheta stuff was pretty good.  Lisa said her chili was good and she's a chili connoisseur.  My french dip was really good especially when dipped in the au jus. It could have used a little more meat on it though.  The onion rings were very good.
Overall a really nice visit.
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍷
While we were there my Roberto said to stop by the Herrin bocce courts where him and a few others were playing so we did.  We didn't stay long since we had to get back to watch Dax while the twins went to their schools open house.

The MBC fall 2023 season kicked off last night with Roll'em If Ya Got'em playing the 6:30 game and the 8:00 game, yuck.  We do this the first three weeks, double and triple yuck.
In the first game we played No Beer, No Bocce on the dreaded third court.  Once again we started out slow falling behind 3-0.  We pulled ourselves back into the game 4-3 and finally pulled ahead 6-5.  We both scored a couple points and then with the game on the line we got the final point to win 9-7.
In the second game we played Usual Suspects on the first court.  This time we jumped out to a 5-0 lead before they got on the board.  They made a late push but we closed out the game winning 9-4.
It's a long wait between games that I don't think anybody likes but oh well, at least it wasn't too hot or cold.

Last week we went to a couple of our local favorites.
Wednesday we went to Quatros but changed it up slightly.  Of course we didn't go totally off the reservation, we still got pizza.  We got a small meateaters and split a large dinner salad.  The pizza was as great as always and the side salad was a really nice addition.
On Wednesday we drove around LaRue Pine hills, at least until we came across a big tree across the road.  It still had the root ball in tack and was way too big to move.  A Forest Service work pulled up by us and took one look and said he didn't have a chain saw with him so we'd just have to backtrack.  Not that big a deal really.  We backtracked and then went through the scatters but not down snake road.
We headed to Bottom's Up where me and Lisa split a half fried chicken all white and each of us got a side salad.  Mike loves the chips there and he got a order of them for the table.  Not surprising that the chicken was awesome once again.  The salads were also good.  I tried to stay away from the chips but had a few just to test them and they were really good too.

It's hard to beat a good hot dog but the curmudgeon in me thinks a hot dog should be grilled or cooked in a skillet, never boiled or microwaved yuck.  Also a dog can be wrapped in bacon and deep fried such as the ones Lisa did last night, yum.  I'm not sure I've ever had a hot dog cooked in an oven but I'm not sure why a person would do that.
Anyone over the age of 15 should not have ketchup on a hot dog.  Mustard, relish and/or BBQ sauce are all recommended.  Sliced pickles, chopped onions and the like are okay too.
I tend to get Ball Park all beef hot dogs, regular length.  The length is an on going source of contention between me and my daughter, she prefers bun length.  For some reason the times I've tried Nathan's I just didn't care for it.
And that's all I got to say about that.

So far 2023 has been a really crappy year, especially the middle part.  I got sick back in April and ended up in the hospital in early May with a herniated lung that went through my rib cages.  I have a larger than normal space between my 8th and 9th rib.  I'm not sure if that was caused by the hernia or if it happened previously or if I was born with it.  It's never given me problems before though.  The thoracic doctor said the the lung is okay now but rib injuries take a long time.
Then I hurt my calf walking down at the confluence of the rivers a couple weeks ago.  No idea what caused it.  About a week ago I turned in the kitchen and felt a pop in my back.  Luckily it's not on the same side that has given me trouble in the past.
Because of this I haven't golfed since this started and it's really curtailed my "hiking".  It also set me way behind on yard work and all the outside stuff that needs to be done before it gets too hot.  Thanks to my brother in law Mike who moved back early in the year.  He's been mowing the yard and doing a much better job than I ever do.
Almost forgot, yesterday I had a small metal side shelf fall and hit me in the leg causing a nice little skin tear.  By nice I mean shitty, by little I mean pretty big.  I get these way too often and they take way too long to heal.
Oh well, just a poor poor pitiful me post.