Cell Phones, Grills, Sunflowers, Monarchs, Football, Beer, and Cigars....

The title about sums up my weekend.....

Except for the Cell Phone, and that took place this morning....My 2nd AT&T Phone, by Nokia, has lasted me three and 1/2 years, without a hitch...no battery replacement, no problems....until I left it in my PJs this morning and it got washed!  That was the end of it.  So Patricia and I headed up to the store and looked for a new one for me....finally decided on one, another Nokia, that is somewhat like the drowned one....I guess I should feel lucky, since the boys usually go through 2 or 3 a year...this is only the 3rd one since I retired in 2002 and considering I traveled the country for 5 years, to having never lost or destroyed one...I hate to lose the phone, but w-t-h, sheet happens!

Saturday, Sam and I headed to Lima Shawnee for a 5 hour State Interpretation Meeting for the upcoming football season....$20 for a chance to cover the required meeting, plus breakfast, drinks, and door prizes...not a bad deal.  Some of the meeting material was well worth the time.  My first scrimmage is August 20th...and with the heat and humidity building for the next week or so, I'm glad I didn't take any sooner.

When that was completed, I pretty much planted myself in the back yard for the rest of the weekend....way to many beers, to many cigars, and not enough exercise....Nick stopped by Saturday night, and we downed a few and smoked a couple of Free Cuba hand rolleds.

Yesterday I was grilling pork steaks, and with the fire hotter than eternal Hell, I noticed the glass window on the grill exploded....thus ruining the steaks...damn!  Patricia headed back to the store while I cleaned up the mess...window or no window on the aging grill, we were going to BBQ....

She got back with the resupply,  and I fixed burgers, chicken, and more pork steaks....they came out fine, and mine went well with more beer....looks like next summer, I'll be investing in a new grill.... however, the old windowless one will do for now....it is still serviceable.

Yesterday while grilling, listening to the First Place Reds sweep the Cubbies, and downing some Miller Lites, I got a chance to check out how my 4 varieties of Sunflowers were doing.  I had planted 5 types, but only 4 have shown thus far....still waiting for the "puffy' variety...not sure if they will make it, but the rest, Mammoth, Moonwalkers, Evening Shade, and Mexicans, are going great guns...I guess I should say five are going great, because the one large Wild Stalk that a bird or something dropped along the fence line, produced 30 flowers....plenty of seeds for the varmints are on the way for this fall and winter.

I did get a chance to click some photos, including one of a Monarch Butterfly that had landed on the Mexicans.....some are included here.

Meanwhile my hand rolled cigar stash took a hit....and I may have put a dent in the Miller Lite and Guinness Extra Stout supply in the local stores...

A couple of meetings today, Mercer Residential and MacOnline gang....soooooooo I'll be back later>>>>

Photos-All taken in the backyard yesterday afternoon....A Monarch Butterfly hangs out with the "Mexicans"....the "Moonwalkers" have taken flight, and one of the Evening Shade Sunflowers  in all it's glory....