Trivia at the Moose

I had to go to the Moose tonight...because I missed last night. You see ....last night I had to take Billy to the special Olympics in Dubuque. The Hopper was mad and so was the Puzzler because I told them I would be there. But Billy rang up my cell phone and told me about the Olympics and how he would be real good in the luge event......Well we headed for Dubuque.....actually it isn't a bad ride with the divided highway and all and we were looking forward to the sledding and all.......well i t all took place indoors and to say Billy was disappointed would we a huge understatement. We trucked home ...mostly in silence as Billy had the headphones "glued" to his ears most of the way, whilst trying to figure out the latest Wuzzle book.

I digress....So tonight I was able to go to Randyland aka the Moose.....The Hopper didn't show because he can only do one night in a row. Actually it is mostly unknown that the Hopper is a gourmet chef. He spends his free evenings glued to the Food Network. I suspect he was home preparing a soufflé. The Puzzler, a new spousal member of Elmcrust had to do a tour of the facility.....like he didn't know how to find the restroom or bar.....he was at both of them this noon.

Bernalidio and Deb were there....so was Big Al the Vegas odds maker. Also present was Electric Brian and Tom the interior decorator.....but my camera was in the car at that time.

I am a direct descendant of Christian Metz...the founder of the Amana Community in Iowa. He was the charismatic leader who become inspired from time to time and I am a lot like him in that respect. At certain times I become inspired to do a post to my blog and when Randy took charge of the group and suggested various trivia topics and started buying rounds of drinks....I became inspired and took note with mental recording and digital photos.

Jack the pill pusher was there, as was Rich the mortgage broker. Kirk the former roofer and Lowell in search of a recliner...made the round circle. the first trivia question was , "If you could party with any celebrity, who would you like to party with?" Mortgage broker began with Chicago....the band ...not the city and soon the rules committee established that it had to be individuals. Next the question came up as to whether living or dead.......it was determined that one or two dead people could be included. It should be noted that the cell phones were humming in an effort to get the trivia answers.

Andrea, the Moose's newest and very adept barkeep, kept us well watered and we were ready for more trivia.

The new categories included, "If you were in the center seat of an airliner and had to choose your two sidekicks for a lengthy flight, who would they be?" We also had a long animated discussion relating to Andy Griffith. Where was Steve Smid when we needed him?


Here are the answers...you make up your own hypothetical. Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, Anna Nicole Smith, Charlie Gibson, Burt Reynolds, Jack Nicolson, Hugh Heffner, Hillary Clinton, Alan Greenspan, Diane Sawyer, Dominica Davis, Alisyn Camerato, Courtney Friel, Julie Banderas, Tiger Woods...........

....but no Brian Kilmeade

Moose Rites

Right before a major holiday like Thanksgiving, frequently the Ex club guys and Ex club wannabes might be found all gathered around the conjoined tables at the Moose to settle a last minute world crisis or talk about a sporting event which already occurred. Favorite topics are deaths in the news or news about some grave illness which has plagued someone we know. Most often the discussion leads to religion or politics.


In the old days the subject matter might have been the opposite gender....if you know what I mean.

This particular evening it was about the pizza baron's doctor visit that afternoon. Gary was celebrating the good news with his trademark Funnie. Mary was all smiles, knowing that her sex life would not come to a screeching halt and the rest of them could care less. It was only natural that the discussion shifted to politicians.

To the people outside of the state of Iowa and in foreign countries who follow my blog, you may not realize how equally divided the state is. However, amongst our group, it is way lopsided and we occasionally have to import a democrat to give their view.

We do have a token Liberal, Naked Gun, but he spends his winters in Key West fantasying about Festivals and trying to control the chicken population. Naked Gun has won the agitator award many times. In his absence the Gentleman Farmer, Donnie A and the retired Advertising Executive, Tommy W. will fill in for him.

The Hopper usually leads the charge on the conservative view. The Hopper is a mild mannered, low keyed, laid back gentleman who has hot glued his caps lock key in the upper position. A memo from The Hopper LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. The Hopper drives a Ford Expedition with the Gas Guzzler Tax declarationn proudly displayed next to his Boston Red Sox decal and his Mitt2008 placard. The Hopper was a runner up in the Sexiest Red Sox Fan competition for Peoples Magazine. Click here for more information. He has the "I donated to the Police Dept Fund Drive" strategically placed on the drivers side window where a cop would surely see it in the event he was pulled over for a traffic infraction. The Hopper was in premed for a short time and now works for a local doctor, who shall remain nameless.


This particular evening, the table adjacent to the 'fountain of knowledge' was occupied by group of chicks who were celebrating a birthday. They were hitting on to the Ex Club guys, but the discussion had already escalated.


They could come back for Ladies Night, but the sign in the men's room(how many ladies are going to see it there) indicated it had been canceled due to the impending holiday.













[Bloogers Note this post would have published in a timely manner, but I was flat on my back for the past 36 hours fighting a nasty bug]

Obama comes to Amana

Billy thinks he's a liberal. I thought his family brought him up better than that. Well it was Tuesday and Tuesday is my day to take care of Billy. My day in the barrel euphemistically speaking. Tuesday is also the day that the Ex Club meets and these schedule clashes sometimes makes for tough decisions. They are after all both my "stepchildren". Regina is free on Tuesdays because she is now retired from Adult Bookworld.
Any requests to switch days with me, however, falls on deaf ears. She says its always been on Tuesdays that I take care of Billy and thats the reason not to do it any differently.

Billy wanted to go see Obama ever since we schlepped him earlier this year to Green Square to hear Bill & Hillary. ( I think he likes Bill because they have the same name or maybe its all about his "conquests" if you know what I mean.) It was the 4th of July and a friend of mine got us mafia seating. Last night we were not so lucky. The place was crawling with secret service and I remember the time the Hopper tangled with secret service during days of the first Pres. Bush and therefore we kept our distance.

There was no mafia seating and the SS looked upon the lung like it was some sort of Trojan Horse.
At first not even wanting to allow entry and later giving us the nod, but only at the rear of the Festhalle with the press photographers and writers. Everyone had their laptop going and they were checking their emails or their favorite websites. I'm not sure, but I could have sworn one of them had logged onto Billy Blog site.

Audrey had just gotten home from work and had on some high heel boots with pointy toes ,that could would work well eradicating cockroaches from the kitchen corners, and her feet were hurting big time. Actually the whole outfit was a killer outfit and she looked very Republican and stuck out like a sore thumb. Anyway, the lack of seating , the constant scrutiny of our entourage and listening to the same thing us Iowans have now heard for several months guided us to the back door.


OMG, as I'm writing this with Fox and Friends, at my side I hear Steven Colbert just announced that he is a candidate for President of the United States.

I'm sure Billy will want to see him too....I just hope it isn't on a Tuesday.

Wine tasting

Last night we took Billy to a wine tasting party. That was after I went to a self induced Vodka tasting and was brutally subjected to all the Sportstalk . The Vodka tasting was at the Dublin City Pub in Cedar Rapids. This eatery/drinkery (mostly drinkery) is noted for its reasonable priced measures of the poison and its cocktail servers/teasers. They are mostly" twinkies" but occasionally we are slipped a young male studly type to bring us our much needed fortification. [Hey, if we wanted a young man to serve us drinks, we'd go next door to the Dragon]

Now you have to understand I like Sportstalk and can do it with the best of them...but only as it relates to the Iowa Buckeyes, Billy's favorite team. When they start talking about the pro games its enough to make a goose puke. The Hopper was there and he was the moderator. He is the moderator because he talks the loudest. I wanted to leave several times, but he slyly kept refilling the glass that was in front of me.

Regina, is a regular hang out at the Dublin, but she always sits at the bar with her new beau. The years have not been kind to Regina and its just as well that she stays at the bar.

Off to Amana for the wine tasting. this wine tasting was on the second floor of an old Amana house with narrow staircase and no winch to help with Billy. I have been nursing a bad back due so self infliction which I can't talk about because my beloveds' mom also reads this blog, and I was thankful for the helping hands that pushed and pulled until Billy was parked square in the center of the tasting room as if we were at a funeral visitation. the hostess, A lady who calls herself a "wine Lizzard" or something like that told us all about the different varietals and graciously filled our glasses. Its sort of like a tupperware party without the tupperware...if you know what I mean. We thought we would have the wine glasses as a "parting gift" but the wine Lizzard picked them up and carfully inventoried them before packing up her bag.

The party progressed until we drank all her wine and then Alfred's Wine entered the room. Alfred is a rocket scientist and he makes rocket fuel in his basement. He drinks it and shares it with others and I'm sure NASA used it on one of their early missions.

There was a photographer there from the Gazette who arrived a little late because he came from an assignment with the expensive haircut candidate...his name escapes me....(initials J.E)

We are told that the article will appear in the Oct 28th issue of the Gazette, so look for our pics at that time.

Tonight its off to see Obama in the Festhalle in Amana
No fancy haircut...no US Flag pin.......

Stay tuned.