We Are Off!

I have once again been shirking my responsibilities and have failed to update the blog in a good long time. I can only say that I have been pretty damned busy lately between work and trying to get this child ready to leave for school.

A fair bit has transpired since last we spoke. Jake, Denise and I are at present riding the 210 freeway, the Pilot loaded to the gills with Jake's stuff, en route to a stop in Salinas for the night and eventually to Arcata and Humboldt State University. More on the trip later.

First, the graduation/recovery/going away/birthday party went off, more or less as planned, on Saturday, the 8th. Started cooking meatballs on Friday evening, then up early on Saturday to make pasta salad, then miscellaneous chores throughout the day getting the place presentable. We rolled out 121 meatballs in all (that's balls enough for 40 sandwiches, plus one for taste testing) and cooked them up in a huge vat-o'-sauce. Denise was expecting about 35 people, but guestimated that several extras could show up, so, rounding up, I figured I needed sandwiches for 50 to be safe. Consequently I cooked up another 40 Italian sausages and added them to the sauce for a total 80 sandwich capacity.

This by the way is typical of my culinary math; number of anticipated guests times 1.1 = total with surprise guests times 1.5 servings per guest times 1.1 for those few really hungry guests who'll want thirds times 1.1 for periodic taste testing throughout the day times 1.1 for leftovers. So, 35 * 1.1 * 1.5 * 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 = 76.86525 , and of course I round up to 80.

As is also typical, we had the expected 35 guests who ate about 1 sandwich a piece, so I had enough food left over for two more parties.

I also overestimated the beer consuming capacity of the crowd. This being Nick's 21st birthday we decided to get a small (5.0 gallon) keg. Unfortunately BevMo needed a week advanced notice for the Mirror Pond, so Nick made the executive decision to switch to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which was just fine by me. So, one would think that 5 gallons of beer would be a pretty decent amount for 35 guests, some of whom were either not of legal drinking age or, God forbid, just not fond of beer. But, some people might not like pale ale, so I added a couple cases of Pacifico, just in case. Next morning we had a full case of Pacifico remaining and what felt like a lot of beer left in the keg.

Guilt tears at the soul and none quite like the guilt of wasted beer. Hence, I was on a mission. The bottled Pacifico would keep, but the keg was another matter. I started pouring pints for everyone left in the house and dropped a couple tri-tips in beer to marinate. By the time I finished I figured I had had a gallon and a half of beer left from the previous evening, was able to find homes for all of it.

At some point in the evening some of the boys broke out cigars. I had bought Jake a couple for is eighteenth birthday and he decided to fire them up. I am not a cigar afficionado; I generally think they are best applied as mosquito repellent on backpacking trips. But, I will smoke them after the odd special occasion; birth of a son, wedding of a sister, suppression of a zombie uprising, high school graduation. So, I lit up with Jake to celebrate his eighteen years and suffered through the next 24 hours of cigar mouth. I have yet to find anything besides time that will remove that taste. I tried Jack Daniel's without success.

[Sorry, stepped away for a bit; took over driving for Jake after our stop at Tommy's in Valencia, so we are now comfortably ensconced in our fabulous Super 8 motel in Salinas.]

Ultimately, I think a good time was had by most. A few pictures are available here.

By the time things wound down and we finished some of the cleanup it was about 1:00AM and I was beat.

We had such a good time that Monday, August 10th, came and went before I ever realized that it was the 2 month anniversary of Jake's accident. When I stopped to think about that it was truly amazing. On that first night in the ER I would not have thought it possible that he could be doing so well. Well enough in fact that he is pretty much done with his surgical followups for the immediate future.

This week Jake had visits with his orthodontist to install braces to create some space to replace his missing front tooth and a followup with his dentist to install the permanent crown on another damaged tooth. The orthodontist wants to see him again sometime between now and Thanksgiving, so we will probably be flying him down. After that the next big event will probably be sometime around Thanksgiving or Christmas to get his implant installed.

Anyway, with a relatively clean bill of health he is off to college. Had a couple visitors yesterday to see him off; Giovana, her Mom and brother and Gio's boyfriend Mike delivered a chocolate cream pie as a little going away present. Here are Jake, Gio and Mike...
By the time we were packed and ready to leave this morning it was afternoon. We tried to get a family picture before the big departure, a photo for which Jacob refused to smile. Maybe he was just sad to be leaving home.
After that, Leo and Jacob said goodbye and we hit the road.
That is about all I can handle for today. Tomorrow we're off to Monterey and then San Francisco. More as the trip progresses. Good Night.