Chilling In Kansas City With The Grandchildren

I was up at 6:00, to a sunny but cold morning here in Kansas City.  It was in the 70's when we arrived yesterday afternoon but this morning, it's down to 45º.  Not that cold when you consider that the Chautauqua weather forecast for tomorrow is the possibility of SNOW.

Nick, Class of 2016, With His Proud Parents

We had an uneventful but interesting ride yesterday from Effingham to Lee's Summit, suburb south and east of Kansas City by about 20 miles.  We were cruising along, listening to the radio when the news had an alert for owners of 2016 Subaru Outbacks.  They announced that there was a problem with the steering columns and owners should not drive their cars.  Well, we have a 2016 Outback and we were driving in the middle of nowhere, had another three hours of driving to go.  What to do?  Evie got out her iPhone, looked up the number for Lee's Summit Subaru and called them.  They said not all Outbacks were on recall and asked for our bin number.  Fortunately, ours was not on recall, so we could relax and drive with confidence the rest of the way.  It's amazing to be so connected, to find out about the problem but also get info immediately to tell us we were OK.

Marlena, Class of 2021, With Nick, Class of 2016

After that brief snafu, we took our customary stop at Kleinschmitd's Western Store, where I usually pick up a Carhartt flannel shirt.  I almost bought a pair of jeans but thought better about it and we were on our way. We arrived at our son Tom's home around 2:30 and both Tom and Mary were home, having just arrived from a high school assembly, the final one for their son Nick.  Marlena ran in the house just after we arrived, excited as always to see us.  Around 4:30, we packed their car up with all the stuff, like paper plates, glasses, silverware, etc, because Nick was having a graduation party at the party center in their neighborhood along with two of his buddies.  So we, along with the two other boys' Moms, spent the next couple of hours getting the party center ready for the next day, moving tables, setting them, organizing all the stuff for the party.  It's a great center, like a well appointed house, with a great outdoor porch overlooking the neighborhood pool.  What a great place for a party.

Enjoying Photo Books With Grandchildren

Around 6:30, Nick and his parents left for Baccalaureate ceremony at the high school and Evie and I stayed home with Marlena, happy to do so.  The ceremony was short and sweet and they were back within the hour.  Tom then fired up the grill, plopped a huge filet of salmon on it for 15 minutes and Evie made spinach, salad and rice.  And we had a great dinner.  Tom has a way with salmon, something we always struggle with.  It was done to perfection.  Everyone was hungry because it was close to 8:00 before we ate.

Electric Smoker

Pork Shoulders After Nine Hours

At 9:00, Tom fired up his electric barbecue smoker, loaded four huge pork shoulders on to the grill, added wood chips, and began smoking the pork for the next 12 hours or so.

Once that was done,  we then spent time looking at the Shutterfly book Evie made from the previous summer and Tom and Mary presented Nick with the one they made for his graduation, spanning his eighteen years.  Both were really fun to look at.  We all were tired and went to bed around 10:30, looking forward to Saturday's party.