We played the 7&8 games last night, our last 8 o'clock game in what has been a season of late games.  To make it worse we played the last 8 o'clock game.
In the first game we played Mission: Imbocceball on the first court.  An oddity is there were three Mikes playing on one side.  The game started close but we got stuck on two and got behind 7-2.  We got a three point frame to narrow it to 7-5 but they closed it out and we lost 9-5.
In the second game we moved to the third court and played Ball Busters.  Neither team threw very well but with the score 4-4 we got a three point frame and should have closed it out but I missed a ball on the wall I was using as a back stop.  No problem we closed it out the next frame when our first shot was close enough to the pallino.  A 9-4 win.

After a week off Roll'em took to the courts for out week 6 games.  We played the 6 and 7:30 games, not our favorite but better than the last few weeks.  Mike and Debbie were out of town so we turned to our favorite subs Danny and Jean to fill in.  They said they'd had bad games the night before and were anxious to make up for it.
In the first game we took on Bocce & Brews on the first court.  The game got off to a rousing start as we took four points in the first frame.  We followed up with a couple of one point frames and a 6-0 lead.  They finally got one close and scored one but we finished them off with another three point frame and a 9-1 win.
In the second game we played Corner Bocce on the middle court.  They were short a player but chose a player who was waiting to play rather than rotate.  See how easy that is and thank you to Corner Bocce for doing that.  Once again we jumped out to a nice lead before they scored and we continued outscoring them as we raced to a 9-3 win.
Two much need big wins to even our record for the year and really help with our points scored and given up tie breaker.  Danny and Jean were on fire the whole night and more than made up for their subpar performance the night before.

Yesterday we met up at Faye for a late brunch.  As we were sitting there Ted and Marsha walked in and sat with us.  I went up thinking pastrami hash but changed my mind to Brisket Benedict since I'd never had a poached egg.  It consisted of the poached egg & brisket on a biscuit all covered in hollandaise sauce.  A lot of hollandaise sauce.  The poached egg was solid but there's a lot of other kind of ways to fix eggs I like better.  The brisket seemed okay but it was hard to tell with all the hollandaise sauce and of course their biscuits are always good.  I wasn't wild about the sauce and it just dominated everything else.
Overall I should have stuck with my original choice or got the smoked turkey Ted got.

Yesterday me and Mike took Danny and Michelle to Bottoms Up for a late lunch.  I thought for sure they'd been there but they said they hadn't.  Lisa was in Cape with Bailey but we were going to meet her on the way down but nature called and she was in a hurry to get home.  She's been a little leery of going there because they had advertised for a new bartender and new cook but fear not, the regular cook was there.
We always have a little back and forth with her and this was no different.  Michelle wanted fried pickles so we got some of those and Mike ordered chips too.  The chips were great as always but I didn't care for the pickles, they seemed too crispy and possibly a little overdone.  Me and Mike got our usual, wings for me and quarter chicken with chips for him.  Danny and Michelle ended up ordering wings too.  My wings were back to normal after a subpar experience the last time and they were hot, very hot.  The others seemed to like what they got.
We then took a ride on the levee which was somewhat disappointing because the trees were leafy and we couldn't see much of the river.  On our way back we stopped at the Chinchbug.  Mike and Lisa had stopped there on their way back from Perryville and really enjoyed it.  I was skeptical but have to say they've done a good job on the inside.  We're going to have to go back and check out the food before long.

We were planning on sitting around the house yesterday when I saw that King Neptunes Cajun House opened at 1.  I confirmed they would have their cajun menu so plans were changed and off we went.
We got there and we were the only people there, of course it was 2pm on day perfect for being outside.  It was obvious our waitress was young so she was a bit confused when we ordered Sam Adams Octoberfest drafts.  The bar maid helped her out but had to bring the drinks over since the waitress was too young.  The drafts had a lot of foam so the barmaid comped us the second one.  The menu was very limited and surprisingly they didn't have gumbo.  Three of us ordered etouffee while Debbie went with a cajun smash burger. 
The etouffee was excellent with maybe a hair too much rice but otherwise spot on.  It came with a slice of garlic bread that was a really good compliment to the etouffee.  Debbie's burger wasn't really smashed and didn't have much cajun flavor to it.  Her onion rings were good and nicely cooked. 
On our way out we were asking some questions when the manager or owner came in and she said they are in the process of ramping up their menu.  She also said they will be opening at 1 as soon as she can get staffing worked out.
Another local cajun place is great.

With Lisa off having fun with her brother and me not feeling great I decided to go try China Buffet.  I tried calling several times before going out to get it.  I didn't realize how small the place is but should have looking at the inside of the building. 
I told the waitress/hostess/cashier that I wanted a carry out order only to be informed they only had the buffet but it could be carried out.  They've been overwhelmed and I got the impression that will change when they get things worked out.  The danger of going to a place when it first opens.  Oh well.  The waitress gave me a carry out box and told me what the items were on the buffet.  I went out wanting lo mein and that was what I got the most of.  I also got some beef and broccoli and some chicken in garlic sauce.
I thought all three were good especially considering they were on a buffet and brought home.  The lo mein has a lot of potential when fresh.  My favorite may have been the chicken in garlic sauce though. 
Overall it was both good and disappointing.  I really wanted to try the stuff fresh,.

Last night we played the 7 and 8 games, our fourth 8 o'clock game in a row.  Have I mentioned how much I hate playing the 8 and later games?
Our first game was on the third court against Dark Side of the Pallino who only had three players and were rotating.  Have I mentioned how I think rotating should be against the rules and gives the team with three players an unfair advantage?  Anyway we got off to our typical start, falling behind 5-3 before finally get on the scoreboard with a three point frame.  We closed the gap to 6-5  and had some momentum going.  Then our bugaboo struck and we gave up three points and lost 9-5.
The second game started 20 minutes late, yuck.  We go on the board first and moved out to a 5-0 lead before they score.  The started closing the gap and the score moved to 7-6 before we got a good first throw and moved to 8-6 then closed it out with another first ball close to the pallino.  With the 9-6 win we broke a 5 game losing streak.

We decided to try out Alvis Backroad Bar and Grill in Tamaroa yesterday.  I didn't want to fight any holiday traffic and that seemed like a nice drive.  Until I was reminded it was DQ State Fair time when we already in Desoto.  Oh well, on we went.  We hadn't been past DuQuoin in quite a while so it was a nice drive.
I only had a general idea of how to get there but figured it's Tamaroa how hard can it be to find.  Mike did check directions while we were searching so we didn't have any problems.  It's in town so backroad is a bit of an overstatement but it is off the beaten path. 
Really nice interior with a lot of old signs and such.  I went up thinking burger and stayed with the plan.  Biggest downside is they were out of bacon so both Debbie and Lisa had to change their order.  They only had 3 or 4 taps but they did have Stag so that's what I got.  My burger was really good and appears to be made to order instead of prepattyed or frozen.  I got mine with lettuce onion and pickle but took the lettuce off and should have got extra pickles.  The fries appeared to be frozen ones so were just decent.  Both Lisa and Mike liked their burgers and Debbie liked her wrap.  After we finished we ended up talking to the owners father, a very nice and personable guy.  Overall a great stop and we'll be back.
On our way home I spied another place in Tamaroa so we stopped in for a quick one.  I was surprised that the place was somewhat crowded with a bunch of guys playing pool.  Other than that it looked like a typical neighborhood bar at least until you visited the bathroom.  The wall was decorated with a poster featuring old Playboy pictures in various stages of undress.  Awesome.
We took 127 home to avoid DuQuoin.  We hadn't been to Brews Brothers in a while so we decided to stop.  There was a big group there mainly of people from Chester but there was a couple from carbondale.  Come to find out he is the head coach of the dreaded terriers football team so we had a little conversation with him about my old buddy Twink.  After a lot of back and forth about various things it was time to go home,