We managed to get out of the house a bit more this weekend than last. Friday I got back into my regularly scheduled Brooksider visit, but didn’t stay long. Had to go pick up the dog from doggy day care, you know. Sigh. The life of a responsible parent is not always an easy one. We headed back home and settled in for a night of TV, but when Donette got home from another week in Chicago she wanted to go back out for some dinner. After some minor negotiating we decided on Mike’s Tavern down at 55th and Troost. I leave their parking lot on Mondays for a weekly bicycle ride, but I’d never actually set foot in the place before. It’s long been on our list of places to try though, especially since one of our neighborhood Mexican restaurants (Cantina Del Ray) closed down and took their menu there. As we sort of expected, the place was pretty crowded, mostly with college-age kids from UMKC watching the baseball game. The food was very good, and very inexpensive; If it wasn’t a whole three miles away from the house I’m sure we would frequent it for dinner. The waitress cautioned me that the chile relleno I ordered was different than the one they served at Cantina Del Ray but I got it anyway, and it was delicious. Donette had her favorite from the old restaurant, the carne asada enchiladas, and reported them just as good.
Saturday we took care of a few outstanding chores in preparation for the rapidly approaching winter. I ran the scooter up to the shop for some scheduled maintenance, and they said they could finish it the same day so we headed over to Maloney’s for some lunch. This is one of a very small handful of places I will eat at across the state line, and then only because it has the same owners as the Brooksider. We had a solid lunch there, and hung out watching some football, but the scoot still wasn’t done so we headed on home. Since it was so nice out we decided we might as well take care of the motorcycle too, so Donette found a storage unit out south and we ran the bike out there along with a small number of boxes from the basement. By the time we finished with all the extra paperwork on the unit (I sort of got the feeling they weren’t too keen on the motorcycle being in there) the scooter was ready, so we went out and picked it up and headed home for a night of movies.
Sunday we started our day with a rather heavy brunch down at Harvey’s. We bought a groupon quite a while back but every time we’d tried to use it the line was too long. We hit it just right Sunday morning though; No wait for a table and the food lines were short too. I’m don’t remember what we paid for the groupon but we definitely got our money’s worth. We stayed for quite some time seeing how many different things we could try. It was all very good; We might hit it again sometime, although it’s a bit pricey for our regular rotation. Then again, given the fact we might not have to eat for the next two days it might be worth the price. The weather was perfect out again, so when we got home I put Teagan in the car and headed out for the park over at Swope. This was the first time we’d been there when there was a crowd, apparently the weather brought everybody out. Teagan’s not there for the social aspect though; She is there to play ball and nothing else. She immediately laid claim to a stray tennis ball, and it was game on. We played fetch for a good hour or so, which was probably a bit too long. Poor lil’ pup was so exhausted she could hardly breath. I finally caught on that she was a few tosses past done and took her over to the “break area” for a drink. And, as she tends to do, she tried to drink the entire park dry as fast as she could. I told her no more water, but of course all the nearby do-gooders insisted she needed more, so I stepped back and let her chug. Predictably, she lapped up all she could, took a few steps back, and barfed up about a gallon of water, grass, leaves, and half-digested dog food. And yeah, you know what happened next; It was like somebody rang the dinner bell at some grotesque buffet. As all the horrified owners tried to pull their dogs out of the mess, Teagan and I decided it was time to go and discreetly took our leave. Maybe we’ll go to Penn Valley next time and hope nobody recognizes us.