What is the deal with these Sunday trips home?...and other lessons of the elongated weekend

First, Amtrail decides to hit a shopping cart. Then the CTA lends me a ride in a bus that reeked of urine. The first half of today's trip back to the City of Hot Air went like this:
1) The Girl takes me to the station, and we're having a chill time,
2) I get my ticket,
3) I hear a loud voice,
4) A group of young Irish Lads step into the station and raise a ruckus,
5) One Irishman calls out the ticket window and orders a ticket from 10 feet away,
6) The Group of Lads chat up loudly and start flirting with an innocent traveler,
7) I notice that I can smell booze from ten feet away,
8) One of the lads puts his arm around another innocent traveler as she walks through the group, then kisses her head,
9) Innocent Traveler says: "Jesus Christ!",
10) The Girl wonders if they've been Festing it up,
11)I decide that I probably should avoid sitting in the same car as these gentleman of drumnken honor,
12) I got on the train,
13) One traveler yells at a passenger and throws her crutches into the stowage space,
14) Train starts to move,
15) We get to Sturtevant,
16) We stay there longer than usual,
17) We turn around and see some commotion in the car behind us,
18) Some people are moving back and forth, and the conductor seems to be engaged in lively conversation with one of the lads,
19) A policeman shows up on the scene and runs afoul of the Irish lads,
20) The policeman leads one of the lads off the train,
21) These people are on the other side of the bus are seen taking pictures of the train with their single lens reflex cameras,
22) The rest of the lads follow the excommunicated one out of the train,
23) The lads stand in the parking lot, turn around and begin to hurl inaudible insults at the engineer from twenty feet away,
24) The train starts to pull away,
25) The lads are last seen stumbing over each other as they walk towards the street,
26) I wonder how the hell those guys are going back to Chicago,
27) I laugh to myself and think of the possibilities.



This weekend was all about Minnesota. I support 'are' troops, too.



Birthday. A birthday celebration in 90 degree heat reminds us that it's never too hot to feel older.



Parade. Vets, shriners, horses, fat guys with tubas, and dairy queens...

[Scene Missing]

Outdoor picnic. Horseshoes, washers, corned beef dip, and my wifebeater tan.



Fireworks. I saw flashes and heard booms.

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .