Coll'Euchre

What's up, readers.

The dudes eating some Mexican before the tourney started. 

We're in the slums of winter still, and it's been relatively dead around these parts for weeks, but tonight we had ourselves a slight break in the monotony: the Colliers' annual Euchre Tournament.

This one has never been one of my favorite parties our tribe throws; as much as I enjoy a good hand of Euchre, playing eleven rounds of it (or four hours of it, whatever comes first) is a bit excessive. I'd be cool with, like, half that amount of playing cards - after a few games I'm over it and ready to call it a night - but Collier loves hosting this so we all buck up in order to help the guy out.

Mitch the Pro and Mr. Collier partaking in some jello shots.

After all, Kris and I make all of these assholes dress up in themed Halloween costumes every year, it's the least we can do.

Kris, of course, never plays at these tournaments. Sometimes she makes up an excuse, other times she's just like, "Nope, I'm not playing," but this year she had a legitimate reason for bowing out of the tournament at least. Abby and Ella each got a few tickets to the Saginaw Spirit (the 'minor league' hockey team in our area) for Christmas, considering they're both huge hockey fans, and neither us or the Johnsons were cool with Ella driving them both into downtown Saginaw after dark. She volunteered to drive the girls down to the Dow Event Center for a game tonight, and then pick them up about three hours or so later so the Johnsons and I could participate in the tourney.

Out of the twenty or so players who pay the $10 buy-in for the winning pot, I usually place somewhere in the 8th - 12th place, comfortably in the middle of the pack. I know how to play the game and am competent at it, but I don't take a lot of ballsy risks like Going Alone, etc., so I never place in the top five. Honestly this game is like 95% luck of the draw, so that doesn't even really matter. This year, however, I was on fire, and was in the top three spots for most of the night. Ultimately, I ended up placing in 4th place, which meant I made my $10 back plus an additional $10 - not bad for a night's work of playing cards and drinking beers.

So here you go, folks - this year's Coll'Euchre (something Ryan's AI came up with, don't ask me.) Enjoy. . .

Some of the wives grab some shots of something or other that Mitch whipped up. Left to Right: Kirsty, Courtney, Mees, Lori, Beth (the wife of one of Collier's college friends who comes out to the Euchre tourneys ever year), and Danielle.

Grazing on some Mexican food.

Collier sets up the tournament's spreadsheet (a crap-load of formulas go into this thing, I have no idea how it works - Cory set it up for him.)

Morgan, Mitch and Erik talking among Collier's famous homemade cookie spread.

The taco spread they set out for these tournaments is pretty impressive. A few clicks up from what we usually do for our family on any given weeknight.

Different types of proteins.

I'm always grateful so many folks in this tribe of ours knows how to operate a grill - the food is always top-notch.

As we approached the 7pm start time, Collier once again went over the House Rules for all those in attendance (not that we needed a refresher, we're all old hands at this by now.)

Cory has won the last couple of years and is a notoriously aggressive player. Collier wanted blood.

The tournament begins. . .

After each round, as various tables concluded their two rounds, folks would come back to the kitchen to continue grazing on the spread and observe the scores as they came in.

We noticed at one point in the evening that the Collier's family room windows had plastic on them. Mees tried telling us this was probably for energy purposes, but we told her that that's not really a thing. When she told us that they had been up since they had moved into the house back in like 2017 or whatever, we tried telling her that the plastic wrap was probably just never taken off during the installation process (because the previous owners had installed the windows shortly before selling the house.) Mees had to run outside to investigate.

Holty and Morgan face off against Lori and Danielle.

Kris showed up shortly into the second or third round after dropping the girls off in Saginaw.

I brought my Oredock stein along for the night 'cause Collier had a keg of Miller Lite primed in his kegorator. The flip lid is awesome for events like this where folks are constantly knocking drinks over.

He had five tables set up throughout the main level of his house. We had eighteen players this year, so we didn't have to set up any tables in his basement (which is usually like twenty degrees colder than the main level - no one was complaining.)

I came roaring out of the gate this year, and was in first or second place for the first several rounds. Mees was on fire, though - she kept getting insanely good hands all night.

Erik, Kelli and Mees gang up on some over-zealous petting of the Collier family dog, Winnie.

Collier adjusts the spreadsheet as the tournament drags on.

I fell to fourth place in the last stretch of the tournament and remained there for the rest of the night. Would have been cool to make it to third place, which paid out like $30, but I was cool placing as high as I did - probably won't happen again.

At the end of the tournament, we were met with an unprecedented anomaly: a tie for first place.

Mees and the infamous Cory had tied for the top spot, so Collier decided to hold a final, sudden death round to determine the night's winner.

Stakes were high for Mees, who was the tribe's best shot at unseating the usual champion.

But there was no stopping the juggernaut - Cory came out on top once again.

Mees concedes defeat. Cory won a trophy mug for nabbing first place, but he was nice enough to bequeath it to Mees for her efforts.

Being inappropriate with some Vienna sausages. . .

This lil' guy is super excited about Collier's cookies. . .

Courtney tries dislodging something from Winnie's mouth. Dogs are a-holes.

Collier and Cory

An attempt at a group pic towards the end of the night, right before the vast majority of folks took off for the night.

At the end of the night, it was us, the Johnsons, Amy, and the Colliers remaining. The wives took up singing karaoke to the music Collier had playing in the background, which is pretty typical for midnight-ish around these parts.

So there you go, gang - this year's Collier Euchre Tourney. Hopefully next year Yours Truly will crack the Top Three, but I'm not getting my hopes up. . . 

- Brian

All Hallows Eve (on the Horseshoe)

Happy Halloween, folks!

The apex of October has, for at least most of the last decade or so, seemed more like an epilogue than a climax. That obviously has more to do with our own Halloween Party, which every year detracts attention away from the holiday itself by absorbing all of our energies on costume-hunting, party-prepping, and house-cleaning/decorating.

Not that I'm complaining.

Another win for Southern Tier's Halloween beer.

As we've done the last seven years, we rolled in to the Johnson's residence for their annual Trick or Treat the Horseshoe party. The Horseshoe is the nickname given to the neighborhood compromising their street (Sweetbrier), Highbrook Dr., and Westbrier Terrace (the outside outline of the 'horseshoe' shape), and Greenbrier Terrace, Canterbury Dr., and Lawndale Dr. (the inside outline.) It's all self-enclosed, so super safe for trick-or-treaters and their families, and a lot of houses participate in the distribution of candy.

Not nearly as good as we had it back in the 80's and 90's, but definitely a few clicks above the usual.

Erik had a fire going and several chairs set up by the time we got there, with their garage emptied of vehicles to accommodate Courtney's buffet-style table set-up. Like we always do in this group, everyone brought food to pass as well as candy to contribute for the evening, but after a measly two hours of giving it out we still had a crap-load on hand (which is par for the course, honestly - we all buy too much, every damn year.)

This isn't an all-night rager, compared to our party last week, but it's a nice, chill time and super nostalgic seeing all the kids running around in costumes having the time of their lives. We were home and in bed by 11pm or so, and I did my damnedest to help finish off the half-barrel of Miller Lite that we had worked on at my house the week before. . . but we didn't quite do it.

So here's one, last installment of pictures from October, gang - enjoy. . .

Another appearance of the Wild Kratz

I don't know all of these kids, but Julianna is left of Ella, and that's Harper in the Minions shirt.

And the obligatory weird one.

Before all the trick-or-treaters set off for their two-hour odyssey, we were able to get one picture of all of them together in the Johnson's front yard. This took multiple attempts, folks.

Erik set up a TV by the driveway, which was streaming old horror movies from like the 1950s for awhile, before some big football game or something came on, then folks wanted to switch to that.

After I had consumed my required Halloween, fancy beers (I always save a couple for the big night itself), I switched to our trusty keg.

Folks hanging out and snacking in the garage.

The food spread.

Kids eventually trickled in, coming into the house to start the usual sorting and trading process (good to see kids still do this sacred tradition.)

Loading up plates.

Brandon, Holty, and Collier

Womenfolk, probably talking about something super important.

Collier, Tom and Mitch, watching the game (sorta.)

If there's anyone who shouldn't be playing around with a hatchet, it's Holty.

My wife is special needs, don't make fun.

Holty and his wife, Alicia.

Collier and Mitch

As the temperature continued to drop, the fire became more and more popular. By around 10pm most of the folks had taken off (this party is definitely more a 'swing by' for a bit sort of an event, which most people hanging out in the 6pm to 8pm window of trick-or-treating.)

Most of the night looked like this right here.

Selfies in Ella's bedroom.

Hey look, I'm actually in a picture.

Another Halloween in the books. We'll see you guys next year.

- Brian