Abner Reunion 2005 and a Cat No One Can Find

Droves of Abners and the like converged on the Bluegrass this past weekend for the annual family reunion. The first wave of arrivals was around 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Then....they came in bunches. I don't guess there are any funny stories to tell. I can only recap the events occurred.

My parents, sister Paige and her husband, David, and my brother Chase and his wife, Alisha assembled at my house to prepare some food for Sunday's feast. Chase and I strung (you might not understand the terminology) the green beans, Mom broke them, and everyone else sang "I Shall Not Be Moved". Later on, Mom and I sauteed onions and green peppers for the baked beans I would prepare later that night. Once having finished that task, we relocated to my family's hotel room in the Hamburg area to wait for the rest of my immediate family to arrive.

We had a pleasant surprise with my sister-in-law's parents joining us for dinner. After the dinner at Logan's we returned to the hotel room to be joined by a host of aunts, uncles, and a couple of cousins. NASCAR was on the television and the cards were on the table. I returned home around 1 in the a.m. Sunday to prepare my baked beans for a 9 a.m. oven date. I was just grabbing items out of my cabinets to throw in them. Syrup, garlic powder, onion powder, brown sugar, cayenne, liquid smoke, mustard, and cinnamon just to name a few. I am sorry I can't tell you all of them, but every cook has to have a couple of secrets.

The hour was at hand after eight hours of shut eye and two hours of car washing (while the beans were cooking, of course. And yes, I know the remnants of Hurricane Katrina will be here by Wednesday and actually the hint of what's to come from the massive storm is saturating my grass as I type. My car is once again dirty.) Beth returned from her parent's house right at 11:30 a.m. just as she had promised. Excellent. Let's roll to Georgetown, shall we?

My sister Laura can't drive. She has real issues when following someone to a destination. But, finally, we arrive with only a couple outburst of anger. And everyone is already there waiting on us. How thoughtful of them? Everything was spectacular--from the fried chicken to the well, I don't know what in the hell you would call that one dish, but it was still good. It was really great to see everyone. I am just tired of the question, "Are you ready for your wedding?"

Some played horse shoes, some played cornhole, some played cards, and other's, well, they just played. I am already looking forward to next year. Everyone was hearing a cat meowing, but they just never could find it! ;-)

Last week I had made a comment on an article by Dayn Perry, a FOX Sports News writer, that was on his website about his fantasy league football team. Well, this morning I was reading one of his current articles and he published my quote on his website. Here is the link to the article: http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/4818464 . My comment is the last one in the gray box in the middle of the page. Somehow, it left out the "J" in front of the "-Delicious". How rude!?!

It's that time once again to cut this off. I hope you all had great weekends. And please give your thoughts to the people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It's getting pretty bad down there right now. I'm out like tight black pants! PEACE!

P.S. My uncles think I should rename the "Cornhole game" because the think it's a little "funny" to say you're playing cornhole, plus Jess says he can't talk about it at work. So, I am taking suggestions as to what we will refer to it as from now on. Let me know what you think.

Birthday Month

If you weren't at Island Pond on 8-12, you missed a pretty serious par-tay. I told you Beth + Out of Town = Bash-ola! It wasn't anything too wild, but we had some serious fun. One of these days I am going to get a digital camera so I can take some pics and post them for you. Otherwise, I will just have to paint vivid images of said events. There were around 15 of us gathered for beer, burgers, and cornhole. I only won at burgers--I ate at least three. And I knew it was a good time because when I woke up at 12:30 and walked through the house, messtacular! It took me a while to clean it all up. But, all in all, it was worth the effort.

My family reunion is this coming weekend. I am really looking forward to it. I am in a bit of a pickle, however. I was supposed to go to my fiance's parent this weekend in the Charleston, W. Va. area, but I forgot to tell Beth that my family was to be converging on Lex-town this weekend. So, she scheduled the trip without knowing or me telling her, which really blows. They were also going to throw an early birthday party for me (August 31 is the magical day). SUCK! This means once again, I will be home alone this weekend and Beth will be out of town. Whoa!! Stop the presses. Hark!! The equation from the first paragraph ringeth!!

I thoroughly enjoy hanging out with her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and niece. Its different from my family, but different in a great way. On weekends at my family's house, we watch golf or old country music videos. At Beth's parents' house, we watch NASCAR races and Jimmy Neutron (don't ask)-remember, Beth has a niece. It's fun experiencing things that you didn't ever do with your family. I find myself at home on Sunday afternoons watching NASCAR and ENJOYING it. I will miss seeing them this weekend, for sure.

I think for my birthday celebration, a few of us are going over to The Red Mile for an evening of harness races and related activities the following Saturday. I think it will be a good time. There is nothing like the seediness of harness racing to celebrate your birthday. Maybe they will let me bet on who will finish dead last. I am really good at picking those horses.

Twenty-seven is a ripe old age-a good age to be married, so they say.....sorry, I can't back that up with any references. I will feed my faithful with some news after my birthday. I bid you a fond "Good evening." (pretend that sounded like Alfred Hitchcock) Catch you on the flip!!! Oh yeah, spatters to Alisha "Toe Socks" for the real blog entry. As you say, "Hizzah!"

August and everything after...

Hello again. Doesn't that title say an entire mouthful? This time of year seems so busy to me. Everyone is gearing up for the upcoming school year. A lot of Ohioans (grrrrr!) showing back up to move in for the fall semester at UK. (Word of note--When I ran the spell checker on this article, when it came across "Ohioans", it refered the word "heinous". Quite fitting, don't you think?) Lexington is full with out of towners from all around the state coming to the "big city" to cash in on the back to school sales going on all over town. Kids are picking out the freshest Trapper Keepers. Oh wait, sorry, I don't think they use those anymore, do they? Anyway, there is an extreme amount of hustle and bustle. I think August 1 should be the New Years Day title holder.

*Newflash*
I did not sink the boat. Repeat. I did not sink the boat.
*Thank you. That is all*

I actually left a pair of jeans and a t-shirt in the bathroom at Belterra. But, I had a great time. I lived a true-to-life Seinfeld moment in the midst of checking in the resort. First, I am going to ask you to recall the time when Jerry had reserved a mid-sized sedan for rental. When he arrived, only compact cars were available. You see, I had reserved a non-smoking, one king-sized bedroom. The attendant at the desk informed me that the only non-smoking rooms available were the double queens. I protested simply saying I had reserved the king. The attendant replied that they didn't guarantee room type, they only guarantee that you have a room. Jerry Seinfeld said (and forgive me if I misquote), "You are good at taking the reservation, you just aren't good at keeping the reservation."

Needless to say, Beth told me not to argue with the guy. It would destroy my karma, which it did. Beth won a hundred and I lost seventy. Boo! I had a great time anyway.

I was told this morning that I may have to travel to Houston at the end of this month for work. I am not looking forward to it, whereas my birthday is on the Wednesday I will be out of town. I was told a couple of weeks ago that this trip was going to be postponed. Now that I have made plans, I was told earlier today the trip is possibly back on the schedule. Someone is plotting against me.

Oh well, Beth is out of town the latter part of this week until Sunday. So, it goes without saying...
Shindig. My house. Friday night. BYOB. Peace.

Ats right!

Wow, these past two weeks have flown by and I bet their arms are tired. So much to say here. I made it through the meet and greet with Beth's and my parents and siblings. We really had a great time. If you weren't there, and you know who you are, the menu was fantastic. I grilled barbecue chicken and a beer can chicken. Also, supporting the entrees were fresh green beans purchased at the farmer's market on Vine and baked beans prepared with the secret recipe. Silver Queen corn on the cob and pasta salad also guested the event. Ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins was for dessert. I hate to call a brother out (and I do mean my brother), but DANG YO! I definitely faked the funk on that nasty dunk!

As far as the meet and greet went, everyone was very excited and happy in the introduction. This made the day far easier for Beth and myself. Conversation flowed. We even broke out into a corn hole exposition. Really good times.

This weekend, I am off to Belterra Casino in Nowheresville, Indiana. By buddy Brandon will be celebrating his 30th birthday at the riverboat. I can honestly say I am really looking forward to it. It will feel awesome to get away, even if it is for just a night. I will have to gamble conservatively, still got to save some money before the wedding. We finally settled on St. Lucia for our honeymoon, so being in the middle of the Caribbean makes it not so cheap. Hit up this link to see some pics of the locale. http://www.caribbean.com/jsp/maps.jsp?currentDestination=27 Once you have reached this site, click on Pigeon Island in NW St. Lucia. You will see a panoramic view rotating. The little strip of land connecting the two larger land masses is where we will be staying. You can see the blue roofs of the buildings. Check it out! I am soooo stoked! (Like the use of "stoked"? I only use it and "wicked" once a year.)

I have found my new bad habit. It is an arcade horse racing game at Buffalo Wild Wings. It is a little on the expensive side--$2 a race, but it is in the top ten of fun games. You can create a horse by selecting a dam and a sire, name it, train it and race it. So far, for the past three weeks, I have been depositing around $20 a week. XBOX is supposed to have a similar game coming out this fall. I can't wait.

I must go for now. I will let you know if I sink the boat! Sayonara sucka!