It’s Monday. We had a great weekend.
First off, Rich and I took off from work on Friday. I took advantage of the time off to sleep in a little extra. We had a lot of running around to do in preparation for the party on Saturday. Someone had to lug that huge piece of brisket home. Then Rick was heading to the Prom that evening. His friend, Rachel, didn’t want to go with just the girls. She asked Rick to go with her. He dressed up in his Prince Charlie jacket and dress pants. Rachel was beautiful her red dress.
On Saturday, the day started gray and just got better and better. It was a whole different matter down in Louisville. I turned on the TV and watched the rain pour down. Sad to see, but the Derby will thunder on no matter what the weather.
Rich struggled to get out of bed at 4:00 AM to start the smoker and get the brisket started. It was estimated to take about 12 hours for the 13 lbs of meat to cook. Of course, that depended upon a steady fire and the weather is cooperative. Sascha had to go out with Rich to lend support. However, she didn’t want to come back in. There are some days when she is true wolf and wants to be in the elements.
Our party got started when Alex and Joe arrived around noon. It’s always good to have some Zureks around. Others started to arrive around 3:00. By 4:00, we seemed to be in full swing with guests, food out and the nibbling had started. We started with lots of appetizers.
By 4:30, the brisket, chicken, and ribs were done and ready to move to the kitchen counter. That meant it was time for the baked beans, cole slaw, potato salad, Cajun rice, ramen noodle salad, and rolls. We were ready. Grab a plate and join us. By the time it was over, I had a few pieces of chicken left along with a single rib, and less than a pound of brisket.
As usual, we did pots to enhance the Derby watching experience. I printed out the list of horses. I then cut up the list into strips and put the strips into a cut. I made up 5 cups that each contained the 19 horses that would be running in the Derby. For a single dollar, you had the privilege of pulling out one single strip of paper with a horse on it. We went through the group so that everyone had a chance to buy out of one cup. When it was gone, we started on the next cup. We went through 4 cups.
On TV, we watched as the jockeys got a leg up and the horses headed out to the track. It takes a while to get down the track and get them all into the gate. At 5:30 Central Time, the race began. We had our strips of paper and shouting for the horses in our hands. This year’s winner did an impossible feat and came out of a second gate to thunder down the track. Orb was in post 16. It was great to watch.
Back in our house, we had winners too. We paid out to first, second, and third. So we had four first, second, and third place winners. We never did find one of the third place winners. Rich managed to get one of the Orb strips of paper. I bought a couple of strips for Rick’s friend, Tyler, and he won! I must be good luck.
We also had some international guests this year. Marcin and Aneta are engineers for Krakow who are in Schaumburg working for a few months. I’ve been working with them from Krakow for a few years. We ran into them at an event a couple of weeks ago. Rich invited them to the party and I dropped off invitations to make sure they had the info. They showed up! Rich made sure they tried the mint juleps and Zurekbrau. I think they had a good time. Aneta even won one of the pots.
Everything began to wind down and the guests were leaving. That meant it was just Rich, Rick, Joe, Alex, and I. I worked on cleaning up as Alex and Rich were catching up. Rick and Joe were hanging out downstairs and playing video games.
On Sunday, it’s my usual habit to make coffee, read the paper, and have Sascha in my lap. I think it is Sascha’s habit too. She wants to come in on most mornings just to sit in the big red chair or my lap. Alex got up and Sascha’s allegiance quickly changed to join Alex in the big red chair. As typical, Sascha moved from the back of the chair down onto Alex’s chest. I had to explain about the heavy weight on the chest phenomenon that happens when Sascha sits with you in the big red chair.
We all went out for breakfast at Windhill. This restaurant is a quirky little place with great food and the best decorations. After omlettes for most and cinnamon roll pancakes for Joe, we walked down to the riverwalk. It’s not the kind of walk like San Antonio has, but it has a river, a walkway, and a bridge.
Alex and Joe took off after we got back. That left us with the rest of the day. I finished mowing the strips of grass that required the push mower. Rick went out to paint the blue gray color on the bottom of the walls on the garage. So now the garage walls have paint on them. After it all dried, it was general opinion that the white requires another coat. Why is it that white always seems to take more coats.
This week is Rick last week of class. He survived his freshman year. That is if he passes all of his classes. We’ll see after finals. Now it’s time to get a job. I did my part and got him to sign up with Manpower. This is where the staging bay at work pulls workers from. I sent an email to the guy I know who hires those people. Now I have my fingers crossed that Tito needs people soon.
Well, enough prattle for one day. More to come, as always.
