Happy Hour World Tour

Well, it isn't a world tour exactly.  In reality we will just be trying out many of the local establishments, seeing what they have to offer, how the decks are, and in general just being judgy about the bars/restaurants in the area.  However, when I was actually writing the  blog a minute ago that title popped out at me, and here we are.  New blog, new title.  The old one was called "The Hangover" because that's me today.  Unfortunately it is due to a cold and not to a wild rollicking night of drunkenness and debauchery. Oh, those things were represented all right, just not by me.......mostly.

I've decided that along with my other ramblings I'm going to blog out some of this adventure.  Of course, "What Happens in Solon Springs (or in the car, etc. etc.) STAYS in Solon Springs, so you are going to get the PG version unless it pertains directly to me and it's something I don't mind my employer or family seeing. ;)  I have serious thoughts about writing another anonymous blog where I can just let it all fly.  This censoring shit is for the birds.

So last night we started out the tour at Rapids Riverside, which is located just out of town.  They have a new deck, which is very shady and I'm not a sun seeker, so I liked that.  The weather was gorgeous, high seventies with a light breeze off the big lake.  I had my first strawberry margarita of the season, but it tasted kind of odd, not the usual flavor.  The service was slow with a capital S, and no, they weren't very busy.  The O Luv U burger was absolutely fabulous!  It's a big ol' burger with lots of green olives and their own home made blue cheese dressing.  The fries are good too, nice and crispy.  Kerri and Lisa had the pizza roll up things....damn I can't recall what they are called.  Old Chicago has them too...... Well anyway, they loved them.  They also ordered the garlic knots which were a bit too buttery, but I love garlic, and they were good.  Lets see, what else?  The happy hour at Rapids offers .50 off drinks so if I had ordered my usual whiskey coke it would have been 2.50.  Not bad.

Then we moved on to Solon Springs, a little community about a half hour south of here.  It's very rural, and this town has it's own sub-culture.  We refer to them as "Solon Swingers".  If you follow.  I suppose there's not much else to do in Solon.......   Anyway.   Kerri's hubster, Ben, plays on a softball team and they are having a tournament there this weekend.  The service at Rapids was so slow that we only caught the last part of their game, but they won!  We watched almost all of another game and then walked over to the "Village Pump".  The bar is newer and really nice inside.  The locals didn't seem too amused with us, and our noise, well......I suppose it's harder to "hook up" when all that ruckus is going on.  Had a Bud Light.  Yes, I know.  I hate beer.  However, when a much younger man walks up and hands you a beer that he just bought for you, you smile, say thanks, and drink the damn beer.  Alas dear readers, he is married. *sigh*

Oh, how could I forget the "man rating" at the game???  Kerri at one point asked me if I saw anything to my liking amongst this field of men.  Yeah....... no.  So that encouraged a little game where when a man was "on deck" we gave them a rating of 1-10.  We decided to do this right at the beginning of the second game, and the first guy up was this little stick man......which sent us into gales of laughter.  Mean? Yep.  Fun? You bet.  We did rate one guy a collective 8, but the rest never made it past 4.  "Oh, a tattoo......that's an extra point!"  "Oh, a tattoo.......take away a point."  

So we hung out at the bar for awhile and Lisa, Ben, and Kerri talked to a few other friends who wanted to meet up at V.I.P. in Superior.  I piled four fairly inebriated friends into Kerri's mobile and headed back into town.  Between the road construction, pea soup fog, jiggy music, and the revelry in the back seat (what happens in the car, stays in the car) it was an interesting ride to say the least.  We did kidnap "Rookie" and drag him back to town with us, which was kinda fun.  New friends are always a good thing.

Quin met us at V.I.P. and Shelly made an appearance also.  A few of the ballplayers came back into town too. That seems to be the new "hang out" for our little group, although the bartender wants to date Lisa.........and that's why we had to leave the Shack.  You don't screw around at work, and you don't F... the bartender.  When things end, as they frequently do, it doesn't go well.  It's a shame though, cause Barry the Bartender is a really good guy.  Uh, plus......he tends bar for something to do, doesn't drink, and he has car/boat/home on skyline drive.  Not bad.  Not bad at all. 

So the night ended around 1:30 with Quin taking some and me taking the rest home.  Got a big ol bear hug from the Rookie, and my night was complete.

The Hughitt Hillbillies!

♫ Banjo Music♫ Come and listen to a story 'bout some fine country folk, who moved into town and this really is no joke. They lived in the middle of a bustling city block, but they gathered in the backyard to burn things and to talk. Five foot fires that is, with lots of beer!

I must preface this by again telling you that I am a good neighbor. I do not meddle where my nose does not belong, however, if you shove your business right under my nose, at the very least I'm going to blog about you. At the very most I'll call the cops. :) (and yes, one of them did resemble the man over there <----- )

The house next door is your average middle class home. If I took a picture of it and posted it here it would appear that all was normal, and perhaps with the new neighbors there, it is. Although I only ever see them in the garage, and the basement lights are on all night long, but only at night....... I know this because they shine in my bedroom window. Perhaps fodder for a future blog, perhaps we'll all just have a nice summer........ is that really so much to ask???

Also, I am a big believer in live and let live, to each his own, and all that jazz. Again, when you keep it out of my space! If you want 35 junk cars, 50 foot bonfires, and all night out door drinking parties, go for it. In the country where you are not bothering anyone!! I spent a fair amount of time last summer drinking around a bonfire........ in the country where we weren't an issue to anyone else. Junk cars? Well there weren't 35, and they weren't mine, but they were definitely represented. :)

The hillbillies and I are/were separated by about 10 feet and a (thank God) fence. Most warm summer nights, work nights mind you, not usually on a Friday or Saturday night, they would throw some logs on the fire and start drinking.

#1 I am allergic to smoke.

#2 I don't want all of MY clothes and my home to smell like smoke.

#3 Hi, I work for a living! Can you tone it down by midnight? 5am and still partying is not acceptable. You are ten feet from my freaking BED.

#4 It's hot out and I want to open my #$@#$% windows!

#5 I can still hear your drunk rambling/fighting through my closed windows.

This went on for four summers. While the police arrived and broke things up several times, I actually only called once. The day the adults had passed out somewhere and the teenagers were drunkenly throwing fireworks into the five foot bonfire ten feet from my head, at midnight on a Tuesday. That time there were MANY fines doled out, and the fires stopped for the rest of July/August.

Last summer when I had my half day Fridays (let us all pause a moment and mourn the fact that I can't do that this summer) there they were.......no fire, but drinking beer sitting in a circle on the back lawn. SERIOUSLY? Again, I can hear every word, and I don't want to! I started calling that group "The brain trust." Apparently they all met around noon for an hour or so to drink and discuss hillbilly stuff. Or they just heard I would be home and decided to torture me......

By the end of last summer I was at my wits end with the sleepless nights and nonsense. I couldn't do anything to get them evicted, they owned the house. So I started planning and looking for a new place to live. Mind you I also had all the craziness from the people above me added to the mix.

♫ Then one day I drove up to my pad, and a for sale sign was next door, so it really ain't so bad!


It didn't take long for the house to sell, it's a nice house, and the general neighborhood is good. I sat in my car the day I saw that sign and just about cried with joy! I know I was yelling YES! YES! YES! Sometimes when I put things out into the universe it does go my way! Well, we'll see............