Saturday, November 6, 2010

Chickens

Well it is Saturday so it must be "Smoking Time". So we (translates to I, as I am the Smoke Master) decided today would be a good day to smoke some chickens. So off to the butcher Chris and I go. There is something about hearing the band saw fire up and work when you ask for 3 whole chickens cut in half.
So as we are heading home with the chicken halves in the back seat Chris in his infinite wisdom comes up with the idea that we should get some chicks and raise them in the back yard. Now never mind the dog who used to regularly kill a raccoon or two and drag them back to the old farm house we used to live in. my answer was that would be a wonderful idea but there is 1 small problem, "the 4 of you would name them and then they would become PETS."  So Chris not missing a beat says your right dad, I'm gonna name mine LUNCH. Gotta Love It.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Election Day Musings

Well first of all let me say that finding things to blog about aint always the easiest. Oh shure I could have got on here and ranted about my day at work or home for that matter, Hell it may even be therapeutic, but some things are just better left close to the vest.

So on to todays topic. I just returned from performing my Constitutionally granted Civic responsibility- VOTING! and as pulled up to my polling location "The First Church of Christ" Wondered to myself, self what ever happened to the "separation of church and state". I know some of you purists will say that we are only using their space. That may be true, but shouldn't it work  both ways? We can vote at a church but students can not chose to have a prayer at Graduation? God forbid some ones feelings may get hurt if they are forced to listen to a prayer. Students are given the option not to recite the "under God" phrase during the Pledge of Allegiance, so why can't they choose not to listen to that portion of the Graduation Ceremony? Or chose not to attend. I bring this all up because I do not have that option when it comes to where I vote. I must go to a church and cast my vote no matter how Ironic it truly is. I wont even go into the whole must provide a photo ID. part. But i do suppose this is a step up from my first voting experience. The year was 1984 and the polling place was at some ones garage down the street from the house. WOW! Did my vote for the late great Ronald Reagan actually count? Or is my ballot sitting in some box in some attic or crawl space some where on Astoria Dr.? We will never know. Ok i feel better maybe this therapeutic after all. LOL

No most of you who know me know I am quite the intelligent one, even though I may not always be the smartest one however. But my youngest one, Chris amazes me quite regularly with what he comes up with.
So here is the latest Christopherism:
The other day I was sitting on the porch tending to the smoker (my new favorite pastime), and Chris comes out with light switch and asks me for a screwdriver. Now of course my first thought is how did he take it out without one, which he did not do. He found it in a box in his room. So I had to ask him why he needed a screwdriver because I'm pretty sure all the switches in the house work. His response is "I need a screwdriver because I want to Reverse Engineer this switch". Now that is not quite as funny as the whole DNA one but very impressive none the less.

Well thats all from me today. Just one thing before I go. If you did not VOTE then I don't want to hear you complain. I will make an exception if you just couldn't bring yourself to vote at a church. LOL

P.S. I almost forgot you all can feed my Dr. Seuss fish by clickinh your mouse on the tank. LOL

Sunday, October 17, 2010

New Toy

Ok, well on Friday night Kim and I went to Wal-Mart for something or another. While we were there I happened to come across smoker on DEEP clearance. I said to myself  "self you know you cant live without that, especially at that price", so of course it magically jumped into the shopping cart.
So Saturday I finally assembled all the pieces and actually read the instruction booklet thingy (I know borderline grounds for turning in my Man-Card). After setting it out on the front porch and heating it to cure it was off to the market to find an hunk of meat to attempt to smoke for the first time. We settled on a 2 1/2 lb pork loin and looked forward to Sunday.
I will not bore you with all the details of the day or the prep, but at around 4:00 I finally set the loin to smoke.
A blend of both Hickory and Apple woods, 1/2 a bottle of some white wine I had in the frig and some water in the bowl, and a light (McManus style) dusting of Garlic Salt and Pepper, I began my patient wait for it to finish.
Now most of you know me well enough to know that patience in not only not my strong suits but I even had to ask Kim how to spell it. But i will say that as hard as it was to allow it to slowly cook for 3 1/2 hrs, it was oh so worth it.It is amazing what some time, some heat and a lot of smoke will produce.
Christopher had nothing but rave remarks and Kim, well lets just say she was real quiet while we ate. I do have to say I did a damn fine job for my first attempt at using a smoker. Here is a picture of the finished product just before we 3 devoured it, not even any scraps for Kipper.


Next weekend maybe a couple of Chickens will have to get smoked.

Oh and yes Mom I have already figured out a way to add it to the Pop-Up. LOL

A new old idea

Well I have decided to start a blog to share my life and thoughts with my family and friends. Please understand that this Blog will be totally random. I will share my cooking feats, idioms that i feel need to be shared, an occasional rant, and possibly a glimpse into my life trying to raise 4 boys.

I know there are other blogs that serve a much greater purpose and please understand that i am in no way making light or attempting to belittle them in any way.

With that said let the typing begin. LOL