We turned it down quite a bit after our big trip last weekend.  Just can’t hold that pace at our age.  Friday we went down to the good ol’ Brooksider, which is something of a rarity lately.  That’s probably a good thing though, because it makes it seem funner when we do go.  And, case in point, we must have been having fun because we stayed a lot longer than we intended.  Actually we’d gotten up and were walking out the door when we ran into one of our old neighbors and ended up staying a few more hours.  That was a night-ender;  We finally left around 7:30, went home and watched the rest of the Royals game on the couch.

Saturday we moped around the house until it got good and hot, and then went on a motorcycle ride.  We were headed for the Lee’s Summit Perkins to get some breakfast, but when we realized it was 11:30 we changed plans and went to Fiesta Azteca in Raytown for some lunch.  That’s my favorite place for Mexican food lately.  I like the big menu for one thing…  Most places I have one, possibly two items I’ll order every time, but at this place I have a rotation of like 5 things to choose from.  So far my bottom-line favorites are the carnitas burrito and the chile relleno burrito.  The latter option is quite interesting;  It’s a chile relleno (and a good one at that) rolled up in a flour tortilla with beans.  OK, maybe not the healthiest option in the city, but good.  After lunch we rode around a bit longer, stopping by Knobtown Cycle to look at some helmets and then meandering around a while longer before ending up at home a few hours later.  Maybe it was the hot weather, but we never recovered from the ride;  The rest of the afternoon was spent laying on the couch watching television.  For evening entertainment we went to Starlight to see “The Wizard of Oz” for the fifth time.  It wasn’t a bad show, but I pretty much knew what was going to happen.  The element of surprise was definitely lost.  It was a relatively nice evening out though, and ended up being the first show this season that I had to stay for the whole thing.  Errr, I mean “got to” stay for the whole thing.

Sunday afternoon was spent smoking a small brisket.  Not too much to go over there;  Put on some coals, played with the dogs, listened to the Royals…  A nice relaxing day.  I am determined to practice a bit more for the upcoming barbecue “season” so this was my first effort to that end.  I took notes every hour or so on the temperature, when I added heat, etc, so maybe all that info will pay off.  The Martins came over for dinner, but we didn’t even try the brisket so I don’t really know how this attempt turned out.  It went straight from the smoker to the ‘fridge.  It’s on the menu for Tuesday night so I guess I have something to look forward to.