This has been quite the Epic Month for me. Between being at The New Jersey State Fair Sussex County Farm & Horse Show almost everyday, to visiting my family up in New England, I've been pretty busy. I think my month so far is action packed for sure. There's no way to sugarcoat it, the weather at The Fair this year was definitely a challenge. When I'm in Fair mode, I'm in our radio stations building before 8am, try to get as much of my behind the scenes Program Director job as possible until approximately 11:30am. I then head over to The Sussex County Fairgrounds and am typically there from 12pm-7 or 8pm. Long days in some miserable weather can really wear you down after awhile, not going to lie. You can see those highlights on my Instagram, @SteveAllanRadio. Ax throwing I ended up doing okay thanks to a couple of practice throws with the Tomahawk. I'm happy to say that I did not get Tomahawked, which is a huge plus. My favorite part of The Fair is definitely the people. You see so many old friends and end up making so many new ones. It's always great seeing and meeting people in person. The smells of Fair food are always a fond memory, regardless of how bad the weather may be. We had so much fun with our Kids Games, getting most of it in before the rain started on us. Shout out to all of the parents who saw the same black clouds we did, and understood the importance of hurrying their kids along so everyone could get everything done in time. We were able to have so much fun along the way too.
Thursday I had fun with a meat truck event in Ledgewood, where they sell meat and seafood out of a truck. Many ask when I tell them about this "How?" Picture a tractor trailer truck where the trailer part is basically an enormous refrigerator. One of my great friends was able to capitalize on one of their great deals. If my friend Spooner doesn't have me over when grilling these, we will definitely have issues! LOL.
We knew Friday at The Fair was going to be interesting. The weather forecast was the worst of it all week. We were under a Tornado watch until 2pm. Shortly after I arrived at The Fairgrounds, they extended the Tornado watch until 10pm. Great. We didn't want to make things too easy doing my show outside under an open air tent anyway! The rain was happening on and off, but definitely doable when not raining. All good.
After awhile, my friend Gary Larson came over to see me at my broadcast table. He said "Steve, you can do your show on this laptop with the microphone plugged into it which is so cool. You should come over, see us at the Frankford Fire Department Beer Tent and do your show from there. Why not?" I said "Gary, that's a great idea I was thinking the same thing. It might be fun and funny if I do some of my show from the beer tent."
After awhile, I timed it during a temporary slowdown in the rain to run over and see my friends at The Frankford Fire Department Beer Tent. I was having fun taking pictures, clowning around and having fun talking to people. I was back to doing my show having fun from the beer tent. At one point, I looked over at Gary and ordered a Sam Adams Summer Ale. He declined my request and I thought he was joking around with me like we often do with each other. When I asked him why not, he answered with "because we're closed. They just closed the whole Fair, didn't you hear our announcement on the loudspeakers?" I was distracted talking to someone and hadn't heard the announcement. I then hurried up to do the last hour of my show announcing that they closed The Fair. I don't know if that's the first time they have ever had to close The Fair, but if it wasn't the first, it's been many years. I'll never forget trying to hard quickly doing my radio show in the beer tent while the water kept building and getting higher around my ankles. That was so crazy!
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After doing double duty with The Fair all week plus, I was more than ready to go home and see my family in New England. I warned them that I would be leaving later in the morning than usual, because I was already tired enough of dealing with Hurricane Debby remnants.
I was able to get home just in time to join my family for Saturday night dinner at Geno's in Mansfield, Ma. I was definitely ready for some New England Clam Chowder for sure. I haven't had New England Clam Chowder in a few months. When dining out, I usually try to avoid getting filled up on clam chowder before my meal. In this case, I said to heck with it, I ordered New England Clam Chowder and a house salad. If I'm too full to eat my house salad, who cares? It's only a house salad anyway. I had a delicious cup of chowder (or Chowdawh as we say up in New England,) and an even better time with my family. It was great seeing Madre, Padre, Zannie, Aunty Soup, Jilly and Baby J. We all had a great time.
Sunday morning I was able to visit Grammy, aka Captain Chaos, and my Aunty Peg. That was definitely one of my highlights. I don't often get time to just hang out with Grammy and Aunty Peg. It was great to hang out, catch each other up, and watch women's basketball in the Olympics.
I'm trying to get better at not overscheduling activities with my family. I've definitely been guilty of wearing them out several times, especially when they visit me here in Jersey. We were originally going to go into Boston, but then my sister Zannie was delayed at a birthday party. All good. We kept it simple and went to Gillette Stadium Patriots Place in Foxborough. I wanted to try this restaurant Citizen Crust that has always looked good and interesting whenever I have walked by it. We ordered pizza and were a little surprised. My sister Zannie claims she tried to warn me, which either I don't remember or wasn't listening. Either or is honestly possible in her defense. We thought that there would be small personal pizzas for each of us, instead you have to order it by the sheet! We ordered a half sheet of pizza each, and it was a ton of sheet! (Sorry, I had to go into lame Dad joke mode there.)
Monday afternoon my parents took me to Fresh Catch in Mansfield. I had a phenomenal lobster (lobstawh) roll that was almost as big as my head. It was absolutely delicious! I then hit the road after attending one work Teams call meeting. Then I was able to swing over and take a detour to Spencer, Ma and see my besties Heidi and JayBeau. This was my first time seeing them in person we think possibly ten years later after their wedding! It was fantastic. Those amazing friends who it's like you never missed anytime and pick up right where you left off with each other.
Yesterday, I got some quality R & R at my Heaven On Earth Happy Place Crystal Springs Vista 180 Pool. The weather was gorgeous for me! Then I was able to see besties Jasen & Brendan in person last night at Minerals Moonshine Tiki Bar and recap their vacation. You're probably thinking "should I just run into Steve after his Weekends so I don't have to read all this Sheet?" LOL. Sorry!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend, where there might be another fun country concert involved.
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