Though it may have been one of me less than Epic Weekends, I still had some fun along the way. We will start this Epic Weekend In Pictures with my Adopt A Pet Of The Week. Due to the snowstorm we had on Thursday, I pushed back Pet Of The Week back to Friday afternoon. The wait turned out to be more than well worth it. My Pet Of The Week is named Bunny. She's a 1 year old pit mix who was found abandoned and alone in a hotel/motel room in Budd Lake. We don't even know how long she was alone. Despite what has happened to her, she is one of the most loving pets we have had on my show. Behind the scenes, it was tough to get my picture with her because she kept trying to kiss me and hug me the whole time she was here. I really hope we can help Bunny get her new Furever Family this week. I'll keep you posted if I hear any good news on that front.
Friday night was a great chill night in with the boys. The every other weekends when I can't be with Awesome Girlfriend Megan are always tough, especially after 4 years. Fortunately I'm usually surrounded by so many of my wonderful friends to help make me smile. I was so happy to see besties Jasen, Brendan and Spooner. Turns out, the boys were cooking up a massive spiral ham for dinner, just because. They do things like that sometimes. Even though I rarely eat at night, there had to be an exception made. The boys worked so hard on it, and ham is one of the foods I actually do enjoy. It pared well with the White Claws I brought over LOL.
It was an overall chill, early night. We were all tired from yet another week that simply felt like a year. I think the snow just keeps adding insult to injury during a long, tough winter that we're having here in Jersey. Between the 32 inches of snow we got 2 weeks ago, then last week's power outages, more snow last Thursday, more snow today. It's the winter that just doesn't seem to want to stop.
Friday morning, I announced with Steve Andrews that my main goal was to shovel all the snow off my deck. I wanted to clear a path to my Awesome, street legal electric grill, and especially the extension cord from my building to the grill. Saturday morning it was just too cold and windy. Then as the weekend progressed, it became more likely that on Monday we're getting 3-5 more inches of snow anyway. I'll just target later this week instead of shoveling it off repeatedly ugh. Andrews will probably bust on me for failing to accomplish my one goal.
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Saturday morning I accomplished various small minor errands, got some shopping done. Then it was time to go to my only planned road trip for the weekend, one of my favorite places. Orange County Distillery at Brown Barn Farm. I purchased a bottle of single malt whiskey, and enjoyed a glass of it by the fire stove while I was there. Awesome Girlfriend Megan, my family, several friends, and I always love the ambiance at Brown Barn Farm all year round. Their team is always knowledgeable and helpful too.
By Saturday afternoon after all my errands, I was ready to run into some friends at The Irish Cottage in Franklin for a beer. We had some good laughs and times for sure.
Saturday night, I was excited for a rare solo Saturday night in. A couple of months ago, I read my Patriots book "The Dynasty," by author Jeff Benedict. One of the best books I have ever read. When I was telling my bestie back home Benvie about it, he immediately lent me other Patriot behind the scene books written by author / media personality Michael Holley.
I'm a total nerd for behind the scenes stuff. I can never get into fiction books because I feel like I'm not getting anything out of it. I totally understand my friends who crave fiction books to get that total sense of escapism. For me, I just prefer (the rare times I actually do read books,) to get information and knowledge.
Saturday night, I was on my couch reading the book with my electric fireplace on nearby and relaxing with an ice cold Stone IPA. Not a bad night at all. Weekends don't always have to be Epic. Sometimes recharging can be good too I suppose.
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Originally my game plan was to watch The Boston Bruins game at Lake Tahoe from 2pm-5pm, then maybe see friends for Happy Hour after then. By Saturday night, the NHL had to postpone the game to 7:30pm due to solar glare. Not often you'll see hockey games have to be postponed for this reason, but that's part of the magic when they play the hockey games outdoors.
I then switched plans to finish the book. I think another part of the reason it's tough for me to read books is I always want immediate closure. I wanted to finish this book. Probably not healthy to read an entire book in a 24 hour span, but it was entertaining me and the weather outside was cold anyway.
By Sunday 3pm or so, I had the book finished! Talk about minor small goals getting accomplished this weekend, LOL. Since I was alone in my place reading all day, I figured it was time to go out for some interpersonal human interaction. Let's see who of my friends I can run into out and about.
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Sunday at 4 I went back to The Cottage in Franklin. I was excited when I saw several of my good friends cars in the parking lot. It was so great to share laughs with Artie, Margie, Patriot Fan friends Paul and Colby, Marky, and Mayor Paul. Sometimes random comedy gold moments just happen with your friends, especially when several of them are really funny.
We were all talking about how much we were dreading the prospect of even more snow happening in Jersey today. Marky just bought a pickup truck and he was talking about how it drives very well in the snow with its four wheel drive. When someone asked Marky if he bought a four wheel drive pickup truck or two wheel drive pickup truck, Marky explained "No I did 4 wheel drive. A 2 wheel drive pickup truck is like decaffeinated coffee, or non alcoholic beer, it serves absolutely no purpose." We're all giggling. As he's continuing his apparent newfound war on 2 wheel drive pickup trucks, Mayor Paul is interrupting him saying "Mark, Mark. My pickup truck is 2 wheel drive." Marky immediately cracked up at himself accidentally insulting Mayor Paul, and apologized as we are all laughing with each other. Just a few minutes later, Mayor Paul's to go food order arrived in a bag. Mayor Paul got up to leave, everyone saying goodbye and saying 'awh you're leaving?" Mayor Paul responded with "I better leave now, it might take me awhile longer to get home in my 2 wheel drive pickup truck." Mayor Paul gave an absolutely hilarious zinger on his way out that honestly has me still cracking up today. Great times.
Sunday night I enjoyed the Bruins game. I'm a casual fan. They're not on TV here in Jersey that often, but when they are I enjoy watching them. It was tough to see the puck early in the game because of the sun reflecting off the outdoor ice. It's tough to see the puck during a normal hockey game on TV, let alone with sun reflection off ice and snow. Still a beautiful backdrop in Lake Tahoe though. I bet you'll be seeing more games there someday.
Overall I had a fantastic weekend. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend. I'll have Meg back up with me, and we are kitty-sitting my niece Ally again. #WhatCanPossiblyGoWrong?