"Goober Peas"

"These folks come for the Festival" indeed.

I have been to the Suffolk, and I have seen the Peanut, and let me tell you, he comes for you and for me my brothers and sisters, uh yes he does.

Weekend 6 of 8 in a row is done. The Suffolk Peanut Fest was not exactly what I expected. I'll give you a run down a little further in the post, but for those of you without patience let me say, I liked it better than my weekend I had to work all week, but not as much as the Highland Games weekend. Not to say it wasn't fun, but I've had some pretty good weekends to compare with!

It started with the drive down. We were on the road for close to four hours. Traffic was bad, and there was a cat in the car. In case I have not made my feelings on cats known (and I know I have), I hate them. In general that is. In specific, I have made allowances for the cat I live with, and the cat that owns my girlfriend. I am ambivalent towards them. This means that when I see them and I am in the presence of humans who love them, I treat them as pets, when their humans are gone I ignore them and they ignore me. Cats are smart, I understand this now. I used to think cats were dumb, what with the pooing in the house and tearing furniture and clothes willy nilly. But I see now that they are smart. Dogs have to go outside in the elements to do their business; cats stay warm and dry. Dogs ruin something and they are swatted and told they are bad; cats have humans that blame themselves for the cat destroying things. But I, as usual, digress.

My girlfriends cat was a little noisy on the way down, not bad really, just a little to much with the whining sounds. We got into her folks house in Suffolk after midnight. The four of us stayed up for a few hours over drinks and then we headed off to bed. I slept in the pop up camper this time. With my recent back injuries and the general out of shape mushiness that is my body, I woke up with a neck cramp and back pains after sleeping too long. Thus began the day that should have been better, but was not so much my best day.

I popped a pain killer and a muscle relaxer before we hit the road. I haven't taken both at the same time since I came back to work after throwing out my back. We brought along my girlfriend's sister, but her brother wanted to stay at home so it was just the three of us. Like I said, it was a late start and that coupled with our slow pace around the festival meant we took a while to get around the whole thing. There was food out the wazoo, various people dressed up in costumes, a fair, two stages of entertainment, and some arts and crafts vendors in a big tent. But you know what they didn't have? Peanut stuff! Now sure, there was peanuts for free around the place, and a vendor selling peanuts and peanut butter, but nothing like I expected. I thought this would be a one stop shop for all my peanut themed Christmas giving needs. No peanut throws and wall hangings, no peanut earrings, no peanut quilts or t shirts or hats. Of course, I might have missed some things, I was pretty doped up by then. :0)

Late afternoon we met up with a couple of friends of mine who were also major players in the Festival hierarchy. We had a good time walking around with people who knew the game and how it was played, and because of them I tried this:



It's called a Bar-b-que Sundae. Baked beans, cole slaw and pulled pork in a cup. They put the coleslaw on the bottom on mine, and thank goodness, because it gave me someplace to hold the plastic cup without burning my hand. The amazing concoction was brought to me by Wood Chick's BBQ, a local South Eastern VA joint run by women. They are a fairly recent entry to the world of BBQ, but I would have gone back for seconds if we had stayed all day. In fact, we ended up missing most of what would have made the Festival cool for me.

We had to head back to do a birthday dinner for my girlfriend, and it was great. Fondue is a rare treat at her house, and even rare-er at mine, so I enjoyed myself. We did not make it back to the festival in time to see the two big name bands or the fireworks, but I hear they were great. Poco and Pure Prairie League are both well known southern rock bands that I would love to have seen, on the other hand; fondue rocks. We stayed up to watch the Indians and the Sox, but started passing out during the 9th inning. So back to sleep out in the pop up.

We did not see the rock bands play, or the high school bands play. We missed the demolition derby, and the Motorcycles. We missed the blues music and Jr. Walker's all stars. We also did not get a chance to ride death defying rides run by real life carnies! I'm sure the Fest was cooler for those people who got to spend a couple of days at it, and who were not doped to the gills.

The next day I woke up to a great bacon and eggs breakfast, and we packed up for the drive back. My girlfriend's parents had given her a GPS thing, so we played with it on the way back. The cat was more annoying than anything had a right to be. I didn't have pets growing up, and made what turned out to be some fairly inconsiderate comments about the cat and so the drive back up was... chilly. Not cold, b/c the trip had gone well, but still not the best weekend we had spent together as a couple.

We finished the weekend with my folks, grilling steaks and watching the Patriots dominate the over filled Cowboys. FSU also lost this weekend, not a good week for football for my Dad. Fortunately, he only really likes football, and is not one of those rabid fans who talk about "we just need to" or "I can't believe we". Dad will go to work this morning and be fine. Many other men I know who's Alma matter and favorite pro team lost this weekend will be grouches today. Notice to these people: go outside and read a book to your child. Also, stop refereing to your favorite team as "we". Unless you are on the payroll, stop talking as if Dan Snyder or Jim Tressel takes your calls.

It might seem odd to some of you out there that after a C+/B- weekend with my girlfriend, that included time with her folks; I would want to finish it out with my own. My parents are like my battery charger. No, that makes them sound boring. My parents are like my alternator. No, not enough people will get that. They are my rock makes it sound too religious, or alternately, too much like that Bob Seeger song that sells trucks. But I think I've made my point. Your weekend should fill you with energy enough to get you through the week. My weekend was fun, but a little tiring and straining to get me through all five days. Enter my parents; watching football, listening to new stories about old friends, grilling out with Dad, and Mom pushing home cooked food on me as I walk out the door. That's good for a least three or four days.

Answers to the last quiz later today or tomorrow!