Paul Lamble

I’m busy doing research, of course. All the time. I do this so you don’t have to.

I had heard from many people that the restaurant Grinders in the Crossroads District in Kansas City was a great place. It’s known for its pizza, its burgers, and its sandwiches. Also, apparently for its beer ($2 Pabst Blue Ribbon — for some reason it tastes like high school). Mom and I went there on Saturday afternoon when we’d finished our volunteer work at the hospital.

You should know that I have been to the mountaintop — I have tasted sandwiches from the best deli in the Northern Hemisphere: Kenny and Zuke’s in Portland. I know what a great Reuben sandwich tastes like. Thus I had the standard to judge Grinder’s by.

I have to say that Grinders doesn’t compare. Kenny and Zuke’s is still the gold standard. I’d go back to Portland merely to have one of their Reuben sandwiches, though I’d probably find a few other things to see and do there.

One thing that Grinders had that virtually every other restaurant I’ve been to has not had: death metal music!

Upon closer examination, I determined that the bears are not fighting but are playing football, just as I had speculated in my last post. I’m glad that’s cleared up.

The sign came from Portland, but something about it suggests Chicago as well. What do you think?

The Cabin at the End of the Road has a new sign on it, arrived all the way from Oregon. Nina and Adam gave me this as a holiday gift. (Mom claimed the chocolates that also came in the package.)

It hangs beside the door to the cabin, and it looks great there, as you can see.

I grabbed this image when the four of us went to the dog park last week. We go there nearly every day after work and often when the park first opens in the early morning on the weekends. We’ve gotten to know a good many of the dogs on a first-name basis (though we couldn’t name the owners).

We found this balloon remnant in our woods recently. By my count, it’s the fourth one we’ve found there. Doesn’t it seem odd that so many should show up in a comparatively small space of the planet?

I have begun keeping this Reckoning post in answer to an accusation made by someone close to me. (For more on that, see this post.)

January – Another dismal start. We only made one visit to Roundrock that month. It was a work holiday (the Monday after the new year), but I can’t explain why we couldn’t find another opportunity to visit.

February – Again with only a single visit. I am perplexed.

March – The pattern is sustained. Only one visit, in the middle of the month.

April – Now this is more like it. We made three visits, including one overnight. We were there three Sundays in a row, probably with some tree planting involved. Why can’t every month be like this? (And we managed to have a wedding this month. Quite the event – a Persian ceremony in three languages. Lots of dancing and food.)

May – We managed two visits in May: a Sunday and the succeeding Saturday. It was unlikely that we did any swimming on either visit, but it is possible that we visited our friends’ farm pond and tried to harvest some of their bass for our lake.

June – Again with two visits. Both on Sundays. It’s possible that on the latter visit we dipped our toes in the lake for a swim. I guess I need to keep more complete records.

July – Only two visits the entire month, and the second was on the very last day! What is wrong with the world? At least we probably went swimming.

August – We managed two visits in August. Again it was a Sunday and the succeeding Saturday. It’s very likely that we went swimming. Wouldn’t you in the Ozarks in August?

September – We made two Sunday visits this month. I suspect there was no swimming involved.

October – We made only one visit in October, but it was a good one, spending a three-day weekend at the cabin. Still, by definition, this only counts as one visit.

November – Another overnight visit, but it was only me (and the dogs) this time as Libby was off in Kentucky at the film festival. We also managed to make it out there on the day after Thanksgiving, which is my sort of protest to the consumer culture on Black Friday.

December – Three visits! And the last one was a gimme — I hadn’t expected that one to happen. No overnights (though the temps had been mild enuf).

So let’s see what the tally is. If my math is correct (check me) we made 22 visits to Roundrock in 2011. Once again, this fails to meet the “every other weekend” accusation that has been made in the past. And honestly, I wish I could be guilty of such an accusation.

With the sun low on the horizon these days, sometimes you can get images like this while speeding along at 65 mph.

We were coming home from our day in the woods when I noticed this perfect alignment of orange light, red truck, and tan grass. Mom snapped the photo (through the glass of the window, I think).

Yes, that’s a chair in the back of the truck. Two chairs, actually. Don’t worry; I tied them down with rope. We can only get a few years out of the inexpensive plastic chairs we leave out there. The heat and cold do opposite things to the plastic, but pliable or brittle, the plastic breaks, and after a while they’re no longer safe to sit in (or comfortable). So we brought these two home with us to put out for trash pick up. A surprise came when the recyclers took them instead of the trash crew.

We have a couple more pairs out at the cabin that are at the end of their useful days, and we’ll slowly begin bringing them home for recycling as well. Maybe in the spring we’ll get some new chairs, but I’ll be more selective this time and try to find ones of better quality.

We’ve been experimenting with ways to transport a weary Queequeg on our long walks through the woods. Getting him off the ground has several benefits: we can go farther, we know exactly where he is all the time, and he gets fewer burs in his long fur.

So far, Queequeg has approved of this method of getting around. It worked well until we found some round rocks we wanted to take with us, so out of the pack went Queequeg and into the pack went the rocks. It’s all about priorities.

Queequeg is not amused, as you can see from the scowl on his little face.

When we were out at the woods yesterday, we did a lot of hiking, and by the end of the day, when I took this shot, his little legs were tired. But we had more work to do, so I tried transporting him a short way in the wheelbarrow. He did not like it. He stayed seated as we moved, but the moment I offered to lift him out, he expressed his approval of the idea.

We had a good day in the woods and got a lot of things done. The only way it could have been nicer is if the temperature had gone up perhaps ten more degrees. We may get some mild days this winter, but I think our season in the sun is gone until the spring.

While we were in Oregon (seems so long ago and not long enough there) we visited the Chinese Garden in the city. It’s a block square area amidst the commerce and traffic of the place, but it is walled and relatively quiet and very peaceful.

Turns out it rains a lot in Oregon, and while we were at the Chinese Garden, the rain began to fall. Most of the walkways are covered there, but as we strolled we happened upon the tea house. Inside we found a warm and cozy place where we could sit and have tea and snacks, as you see above. It was a wonderful way to wait out the rain.

That’s my cup of tea in the foreground and my teapot on the upper left. Mom’s tea is on the upper right. The nuts were spicy hot, and that little cake is called a moon cake (I think). It has a custard type filling inside a flaky crust.

I think if we’re ever invited back to Oregon, we’ll be sure to visit the Chinese Garden again.