Yep, yep, missed another week. I still haven’t quite resolved the issue of how to update this silly thing without a laptop. Yeah I can use my iPad, but it is tedious to say the least. Too old for that much thumb typing. Not giving up just yet though.

Notable events since the last update included our annual trip to the BottleRock music festival in Napa. I guess it’s kind of our “thing” we like to do, to officially kick off our summer. We’ve also conned our friends Michael & Alaina into going with us, so we all pile in the motor home and roll down there every year. (OK, assuming no covid shutdowns and that whole mess.) Sometimes the music lineup is better than others, but we always have a great time regardless. It checks all our requirements for a weekend of entertainment: Close to home? Check. Great weather? Check. Great bands? Check. Exorbitantly expensive? Double-check. Yeah that last one ain’t really on our list, but it’s most definitely on theirs. What can ya’ do, it’s a festival. Another year in the books, and it was a good one. Maybe we’ve seen better, but a fantastic weekend all the same.

In another earth-shattering event from this past weekend, we discovered a BBQ spot! Not just a BBQ spot, as those are not super difficult to find, but a spectacular one. Yeah, I said it, SPECTACULAR. This place was straight up legit. I knew we were on to something when we walked up and they had a Deep South pit out front. Real deal there. We went in and the dining room was moderately busy, so we ended up just sitting at the bar. This worked out perfectly, as the owner & pit-master was serving there, and we had just a great ol’ time talking. (He seemed to think it a bit odd that I hugged him when we left, but I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t help myself.) Sounds like he did pretty fair on the competition circuit out here. I don’t recognize the name but, remarkably, he’d never heard of Triple Fat Back either. Regional thing I’m sure. Aside from enjoying talking with him in general, the lunch was fantastic. Top notch. Can’t wait to go back, and I will soon.

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Yeah, yeah, I missed a few weeks. I’ve got a genuine techno-barrier going on with this. I no longer have use of the laptop I use to make updates to my website. I am currently sitting in a public library renting time on one of their PC’s to get this done. OK, that is a lie, but it’s a nuisance all the same. I haven’t quite figured this dilemma out yet, nor have I put any effort what so ever in doing so. Maybe the laptop fairy will rain a new one down on my house soon, never know.

The only thing that has been happening out here anyway is taking care of a sick puppy. Poor Quinn has been out of sorts. Like way out of sorts. Things were touch and go for a week or so, but he seems to be back to his normal, if annoying, personality. A few more weekly checkups before they clear him, but so far things are looking up. Best guess, he ate some kind of poisonous plant out in the yard. But, we have no idea what or where, which kind of leads to a bit of uncertainty about the whole situation. He can’t very well just stay in the house for the rest of his days. I am just not sure we are cut out for this country life…

Sigh, Monday again. We had a decent weekend though, so there’s that. We started off on Friday evening over at friend’s house. It was sort of a semi-birthday for several people in the group. Had a great tri tip for dinner. I’ve been wanting that for a while, so that worked out well.

Saturday, we made the somewhat long drive to Lodi to check out a BBQ competition. Donette happened across it online, and we thought what the heck. It was a genuine KCBS sanctioned event, don’t see that much around here! It was small, I am guessing about 20 teams. Few nice setups, but for the most part there were some good ol’ back yard barbecuers in the entered. It was definitely fun, although we didn’t stick around to see the results. We had to take off for dinner reservations, which were at The Oxford in their little downtown area. Great dinner! Hour and a half drive aside, Lodi was a good time, might make it back there sometime.

Sunday was a “recovery day” from our big Saturday. Got some stuff done around the house and that’s about it. Mowed some of the yard, split a little wood for the firepit, and did a good amount of sitting around. All in all, a good weekend.

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Well, my big vacation for the year is done. I’m going to label it a success, if not 100%. I had some sort of crud the majority of the time, which did cut into my enjoyment a bit. I tried to power through, which of course likely just made it worse. We definitely managed our share of fun though, sick or not. We spent a full week in Ireland, made a brief two-night stay in London, then on to Scotland for the remainder. The travel was a bit on the brutal side, but I guess that comes with trying to see a few thousand years of history in two weeks. The flight home was a rough one too, it took a full 24 hours door to door. I’m too old for that! Here is a photo dump of some of the things we saw during our time there.

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We had a great week touring Ireland. Spent a quick two nights in London, now it’s off to Scotland today.