R*n #4:
Venue: Memories, Irving Park
Hares: Soar Balls

Memories Light the Corners of My Half-Mind

It's a beautiful day for a hash!  A gaggle of hashers momentarily postponed their Sammy Sosa watch to meet at  Memories.  In attendance were Polly, Bloody Thighs, Rhotan, EZ Sunday, Full Term, Yer-Anus, Erect Da Red, and of course Soar Balls.  Wildman was there for a while, but left, and CICO was the wisest, showing up after the r-n.  A fine group!

The pack set off promptly at 3 something for a tour of the streets of Chicago, and we weren't disappointed.  A beautiful check right at the start got the hounds looking at each other in confusion.  On-On, and we scurried off.  As is always the case, Yer-Anus was off on his own, getting lost on the turkey trail.  It seems that pretty much Rhotan, Bloody Thighs and I ran around together, with Erect Da Red appearing out of nowhere occasionally.  Off the streets and on to the train tracks.  I was especially lucky, in a gruesome sort of way.  I found a headless, blue stuffed bunny on the tracks, apparently a victim of some sort of suicide.  Exiting the tracks, a ten foot drop onto broken glass--questionable at best.  Soar Balls still contends that he jumped it, with the trail setter.  He's the only one that actually did it.  The rest of walked down a gentle slope on the other side.  By the way, we've seen Yer-Anus' marks, but no Yer-Anus.

A true highlight of the trail was the lemonade stop.  Soar Balls chained a couple of the local kids to a tree, gave them 3 lemons and some water.  Rhotan was kind enough to buy Bloody and I one.

Very nice.  By the way, we've seen more of Yer-Anus' marks, but no Yer-Anus.

Back to the streets, through a backyard, with a party going on, and a BIG dog, a left, across the street, a left, a right between 2 buildings, a left, a slight right, a left, across the street, a left, a slight right, through a backyard with a party going on, and a BIG dog.........hey!  OK, one more time, yep, the pack was being successfully jerked.  Calm turned to chaos.  Rampant bickering.  SB's name sullied several times..... then resolve.  Some turned back, others went on through the backyard, and THERE IT WAS!  An arrow pointing right, neatly slightly off trail, that we had missed.  Back on, around and On-In.  By the way, more marks, no Anus.

A short jaunt down the street to a little international culture--The Irish Cultural Center.  The marks went in, so did we.  We learned a lot; all forgotten by now.  Rhotan, Bloody and I, wondered around, no marks.  Everything was pretty cool until we were asked to leave.  As we were leaving we saw more Yer-Anus marks, this time accompanied  by `` I don't know where I am, so I'm going back to the bar."

Pretty much, so did we.  Back at Memories, Sammy hit another home run; we cheered like this, ``YEA!"

A few down-downs later, the procession proceeded to Independence Park for a few more, some chocolate covered Nutter Butters, some other kind of cookies that CICO didn't like (believed to be strawberry newtons - ed.),and some competitive horseshoeing.  A fine time.

 SB ranking: 2 balls medium.

 - EZ Sunday