I vacuumed the interior of my BMW. It amazes me the amount of dirt that I track into that car. Did I not notice that one of the “features” of my Polo Jeans Co. shoes was that they glommed onto all available dirt to later deposit it? It seems to me that Polo Jeans Co. should charge extra for that little hidden feature.

Went over to the in-laws with my wife in the afternoon. My realtives, Doyce and Shirley are still living in their RV out the front of my in-laws house after evacuating from Lake Jackson, TX. They still have no power back there (they are waiting on a call from some of there neighbors whom have already returned).

Doyce and Shirley had to put down one of their two dogs while they were here. I feel sorry that they had to go through that. I finally met their surviving dog. Quite cute and quite besotted with the both of them. Its attention focused on them constantly.

Home made grilled hamburgers for dinner. Yummo. I grilled my bun after the patties were done on the receding heat as I am not the fondest of soft squishy bread and the grilling gives it a bit of toasty hardness. My hamburger construction consisted of bun, patty, lettuce, Grey Poupon mustard, rings of raw onion, and baked Lays ridged chips mashed down on top. Very tasty. Especially washed down with a couple of Shiner Blondes.

Afterwards I fell asleep on my wife (literally) while watching golf. I attribute this unsociable behavior to a very long and exhausting week at work, a great meal, some beer, and that I find watching golf nigh on par with watching grass grow. Eventually, my wife suggested we go and take a little nap on the in-laws bed while we waited for the golf to be over which I eagerly agreed too.

Shortly after Ashley and Michael arrived so my wife got up and went to see them. I struggled to get up to do the same, but the clutches of sleep were too strong and pulled me back down onto the bed and into darkness.

Some time later my wife came back and woke me up with the news that the golf was over and everyone was ready to play some cards (Crimpit – a favorite for our gatherings). I mustered myself and joined them, disappointed to see that I had missed Ashley and Michaels visit entirely.

Crimpit was a lot of fun, and I was glad that Grandmom came to join us. George won the first game, and I won the second game (though it was touch and go, with Shirley for the winners circle, for several hands), netting myself a $7 pot!

My wife and I headed back home and ended up playing some more cards on the bed – a couple of hands of Double Solitaire and Gin. I won all four games, so my wife decided to call it quits in disgust.

To round out the evening Crickie showed me photos from her recent trip to Vail, Colorado. It looked like a beautiful alpine village. I am putting it on my list of places to visit one day.

My aunt and uncle in-law evacuated from Lake Jackson, Texas this weekend ahead of Hurricane Ike. They, with their dogs, RV and truck, came to stay with my in-laws for the weekend. We do not often see Doyce and Shirley, but Ike did us a nice favor. We ate jerky, drank homebrew and they did their best to fleece us at cards.

We regularly visit with the in-laws one day a week. This weekend was an added bonus. My aunt and uncle, Doyce and Shirley were there, having evacuated from Lake Jackson, Texas ahead of hurricane Ike.

I debuted my latest batch of beef jerky with the family, and it went over well.

They had called their house (no one is there), to see if the answering machine picked up (a good indicator of whether they still had power or not), and it did. My wife joked light-heartedly that their phone/answering machine was probably sitting there untouched surrounded by a pile of rubble.

Dinner was delicious – grilled filet mignon, side salad with my father-in laws homemade dressing. Mmmm.

We played several rounds of Crimp-It (cards) and, I am sorry to say, we fleeced the evacuees! My Father-In-Law won one round, and my wife won the other. Overall, the evacuees were down four dollars for the evening!

I also debuted my homemade beer for them, and they both seemed to like it so I think that was a small price to pay for some good beer