Vacation so far.

We arrived at our cabin after running into Asheville for a late lunch and a little grocery shopping. We didn't get a lot since we didn't have a lot of room to put it the car still packed with luggage. We followed the GPS's directions and the hill just before you get to the turn off is a decent grade. I could definitely tell the car was laboring to get up the hill with 4 people with luggage, the groceries and such. When we turned off onto our road we snaked our way back along the twisty turning roads and before long we were at the locked gait to our cabin. After unlocking the gait and crossing the bridge we had a pretty steep drive way to go up to get to the cabin. I put my foot into the accelerator and with very little spinning made it up to the back of the cabin. The inside of the cabin was very warm, open and accommodating. We then lugged in all of our luggage and groceries. After deciding on bedrooms we then settled in to do a little relaxing after the seven hour drive. We finished off the evening with a late dip into the hot tub out on the deck. The water was nice and warm and after a nice long soak we decided to get out. The only problem it that it was 50 degrees outside and when we got out of the water the coolness nearly took our breath. We watched some TV and before long it was time to go to bed. The next day we had plans to go to LEAF (Lake Edens Art Festival). After we checked in we took a bus into the camp grounds. We walked through all the tents with hand-made items of all sorts and health type items. There was live music and food booths of all nationalities and preference. I got a drink called Buchi fire and it was very spicy. I believe it contained quite a bit of ginger. I guess it is a drink fermented but not alcoholic. Imagine very spicy apple cider without the sweet. For lunch I had a chicken pita that was very good. I think Needles had a mushroom and garlic crepe. We shared a lemonade and later on enjoyed a funnel cake for dessert. We watched part of a play and then watched contra dancing (think square dancing) and then some live music. By then it was starting to get dark so we wandered on into downtown Asheville to a neat lace to eat. The Early Girl Diner was a place we enjoyed the last time we were in Asheville. With the heavy Sunday crowd you could tell they had been busy as the floors were somewhat slippery from the deep fryer grease in the air. The food was warm and good. When we finished we headed out and on our way back to the cabin. When we arrived I don' t think I was in the cabin a minute before I changed and slipped out onto the deck and into the hot tub for another relaxing soak. The day to an end we went to bed still warm from the hot tub. This morning was a morning to sleep in. After getting up and a nice breakfast prepared by Cynical, Cynical and I did a quick hike up a over grown trail behind the cabin. It appears to be an old logging road that has long since grown up. We walked up the hill until we were well above the top of the cabin and could see a little ways across the valley we are nesselled in. We hiked back to the cabin for a morning dip in the hot tub and then settled in the living room to relax and enjoy the morning with no plans. I think we will be getting out this evening to do a little more grocery shopping and visiting with Ragged's family.

Leaving Tomorrow.

Tomorrow after work Needles and I are heading South to the land of Cynical and Ragged for a night and then we are all packing up and head to Asheville, North Carolina. We have been there before but loved it the first time and can't wait to get back there. While there we are staying at a secluded cabin and since we are there for peak leaf peeping, I imaging I will have the camera glued to my face for most of the trip. I will try to post some pics as the vacation progresses. Also while there we are going to attend an arts festival and the rest of it we will just take it as it comes. Hopefully the next time you hear from me I will be in Asheville.

Later

This morning Needles and I made our way to "L's" and I took my old deer stand down and replaced it with my new deer stand. After rolling around in knee high poison ivy we finally got the stand together and put up in the tree. After eating lunch and visiting with Needles family we came home to get showers to hopefully keep from getting poison ivy. Not long after that we got a phone call from my Mom saying they were 30 minutes out from getting here. We gathered the food and ll the things to take out to them and went out there for a visit. After eating way too much we went with them out to Rudy's for my parent to see the finished up stairs. While there we also looked over the Halloween decorations. On our way back we stopped out at the Dairy Dee and got some of the good stuff. We stayed out at Mom and Dads until just after 8pm and decided to come home and get ready for the work week. If you want to see a couple pictures from the trail cam check out my hunting blog. After I got home I received a phone call from a co worker. She told me that a part time EMT that works for the place I work was killed last night while responding to a car accident. Apparently when the Ambulance pulled out from the scene a truck crashed into the ambulance and the EMT which was in the back of the unit was ejected from the vehicle. He was transferred to a local hospital where he coded and didn't make it. My heart goes out to his family and If nothing else, please whenever you see emergency vehicles, slow down and pay attention and don't drink and drive. Something as easy as this could have saved three lives last night. There has been 66 EMS deaths so far this year. 93 last year. If you want to know more about the accident click here.

Busy Weekend.

Tonight Needles and I prepped 3 chickens and a pork loin for the smoker tomorrow. We have plans to go to Needles Mom on Sunday. While we are there I will be putting up my deer stand for the 2010/ 2011 season. I will also be checking on the trail camera. Sunday afternoon my parents are coming up from Kentucky for a visit. I will post more later.

What Weekend?

Friday after working a little late, I got home to find the replacement lid for my new smoker on the front porch. After Needles and I had supper we both went out to the garage to work on our projects. She had her fiber that she had dyed a couple of days before to braid and get ready to sell on her Saturday trek to a yarn and fiber get together. I had several smoker modifications to implement. I first mounted the 2 new temperature gauges and started on the baffles. The baffles make the heat from the charcoal box move across the bottom of the smoker instead of going straight up. It makes for even heat in the cooking chamber. Needles and I finally called it quits around 10pm. The next day Needles as off to her get together while I worked on seasoning the smoker. Like a cast iron skillet the smoker needed to be put through a heat cycle and be wiped down with vegetable oil. The seasoning takes about 4 hours but since my new baffle was a little more restrictive than I liked the heating took longer than I expected. It ended up taking over an hour to get the temps into the needed range. After I got finished with that it was close to 2pm and Needles was on her way home. That afternoon I was just simply wiped out. Every time I sat down I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I felt very tired and had a headache. The rest of the afternoon I spent on the couch. We went to bed somewhat early for a Sat. night calling it at 11pm. The next day we had plans to visit with Needles Mom and I need to to check my rail camera since I hadn't checked it for 3 weeks. If you want to see the results click here. This evening we both have just taken it easy in preparation for tomorrow and the start of new week. Hope you had a good weekend.

Main Street Costumes (New Location)

Weekend so far.

Friday night was uneventful. We ended the night with prepping 2 chickens and 2 lbs of Salmon for the Saturday smoke. Saturday morning I got up around 7:30am and started in on getting the smoker ready. Around 2pm I pulled the Salmon and the chickens off the smokers. The Salmon was for a late lunch and the chicken was later pulled off the bone to eat Sunday and early next week. This was the first time I had done a brine for the Salmon so I wasn't surprised that the fish was a little salty. I think I should have rinsed them before putting them on the smoker. The chickens were brined overnight and also dry rubbed before going in the smoker. They turned out pretty good. Unfortunately I was hit with a migraine about the time we started to eat. From 2pm to 6pm I suffered on the couch and finally gave up and went to bed. After about a 4 and a half hour nap it was 10:30pm and I noticed the TV was still on. I got up and felt a lot better. Needles and I ended up staying up pretty late. This morning we woke up and had plans to do a little shopping in V'cennes. Before we left I checked my email and noticed I had some email failure to send notifications. I thought this was strange since I hadn't sent an email to the people on the list. On our way to V'cennes I got a call from a co worker that say she had received an email from me last night. I told her to delete it, that it was a Virus or my email had been hacked. Not long after that I got a call from another co worker that received the same email. After we got home I changed my email password and did and full systems scan which showed no infection. Hopefully that is over with. Shopping in V'cennes yielded a pair of pants for me and several tops for Needles. Now we are home and enjoying what is left of our weekend.

Pulled the Trigger.

Since Needle's Mom got me the Brinkmann Gourmet Vertical Water Smoker I have been smoking meats almost every weekend to my hearts content. I have seemed to stumble upon an addiction of sorts. I have been thinking on getting another smoker. A larger one with an offset firebox. I found the website that I want to buy it from and as I slept last night I contemplated the purchase. I know we have another vacation coming up and the money would be best spent there but I happen to find the type of smoker I wanted on a end of summer clearance discount with an additional 10% off and free shipping. How could I pass this up so I pulled the trigger. It is supposed to be here Friday but we will see. I think this design will be easier to flip, mop and move around the meat instead of disassembling half the smoker and loosing you heat every time you need to do any of these things as I have to do with the vertical smoker.

From this.
To this.

Trail Cam Pics.

I posted some trail camera pics on my hunting blog. If you want to check them out.

CLICK HERE.

Just a few more pictures of the upstairs progress. This is Braden's room in Cold Stone Blue. We are progressing down the stairs with a stair rail. They are hoping to have carpet by next weekend. They they will have few finishing touches. Building shelves for the built in book cases, trimming and doors for the closets.

Braden's dormer with new window and air conditioner.

Built in book case.

Pocket door.

Doorway to large walk in closet.

Branden's room.

Railing just installed.

Upstairs Update.

Dry wall is done!

South bedroom.

North bedroom.

South bedroom in Wild Grape.

North bedroom freshly finished with knock down texture.

Close up of the knock down texture.

Summer Cleaning.

The last few days Needles and I have been going through a lot of our junk and decided to donate it to the hospitals rummage sale they are going to be having. You know what they say one mans junk is another mans junk to pack home a stick in a closet. The money made from the rummage sale will go to Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Our hospital is registered for the walk and we are raising money for the event. My boss has asked me to design the T-shirt for the walk so last week we brain stormed for a bit and came up with what we thought was a neat design. Since we have one of few Mobile Digital Mammography trucks in the Nation we thought this design was fitting. Have a look.During the clean up we were going through the pantry. In the past Needles Mom L liked to get us Easter baskets every year for Easter. This started a Easter basket collection that seemed to hang out in there. While clearing out the clutter we managed to set one of the baskets on the freezer top until I could take it to the hospital to donate the next morning. Well apparently that purple plastic Easter grass was just too much of a temptation on our simple minded Copper. When I came home from work Wednesday I noticed cat puke on the couch cover. Also amongst the food was purple plastic Easter grass. I bet that was tasty. Unfortunately Copper suffered the repercussions of his actions the next day too. Lets just say that he put the purple plastic Easter grass behind him... Anyway he is doing fine now and the incident hasn't effected his appetite one bit.

In other news Needles in a bid for her own safety has purchased a automatic cat feeder. Three times a day the feeder dispenses food on a programmed schedule. They get 1/4th cup at 6am, 1/2 cup at 2pm and 1/4th at 10pm. So far they seem to do well with the feeding. It is funny to watch them when the feeder goes off. You can hear when the food slides into the bowl so when it dispenses the cats run into the back room like a all day looser hitting the jackpot at a slot machine in Vegas.

Yesterday I did apple smoked pork chops with a Jamaican rub. They turned out OK but I think Needles and I are still looking for the perfect combination of rub seasonings.

Today we are going down to Needles Mom L house and since it is getting close to that time of year I am taking the stealth trail cam down to put out in the woods, so hopefully there will be some pictures of critters on my Hunting Blog in a couple of weeks. Either click the link or click the picture of the cabin in the gutter to the right. Have great day.

Not Much.

Not a lot going on in my neck of the woods. We have finished dry walling my brothers upstairs and the mudding is currently underway. They are thinking it will be few more days before it is done. Work has been work, not a lot to say. since Needles mom got the smoker from the auction a few weeks ago I have been trying my hand at BBQ and smoking meats. Over the last 6 weekends I have smoked something 5 of them. I think I have mastered a technique that works for me. The jest of it is smoke for 2 hours and then flip and mop. Then 2 more hours and then flip and wrap in foil and mop generously and put back in smoker for 2 more hours. This seems to be the winning combination. Not too much to report. Just making it day by day until Oct. I am hoping to work on some Halloween projects when the weather cools off a little. I am ready for Fall.

PS. The picture is of a funnel cloud that was spotted in Vincennes last week during the storms.

Whats is new is a pain in the arse.

Over the last few weeks my cell phone wasn't holding a charge very long so I decided to get a new phone. After getting the phone I decided to activate it and it seemed that calling to get my old number transferred was going to be a pain so I just decided to get a new number. Well now I am not sure if that was a good idea because now I am getting texted weather updates from a place in Indiana and also texts from some company that offers loans which must be amazing because that's what they say in the text. I have since contacted the place in Indiana to remove the number and also blocked the number from which these loan texts are coming from. All I can say is the guy that had the number before me was named Tony and he has been a pain in my ass. Also today I have found that I can receive texts but I cant send them.....Nice.

On another note we have been getting a notice on our satellite system that satellite signal 2 has been dropping in and out. After pulling out the receiver and inspecting the cables we have found that lightning must have ran in on that line because the center wire on the coax wire has been burned and fused into the coax port on the back of the receiver, so now we have to order a new receiver...It just keeps getting better. With the news that our retirement package has changed at my work and probably not for the better, the moral at work is in the dumpster. It seems that my already short fuse has just been getting shorter and shorter. This is getting old.

I am hoping that our visit South this weekend might help in this matter but I am not holding my breath.

Strange Moth.

This is a Hummingbird or Bee Moth. I am not sure if I had ever seen one before.

My Brother's Upstairs Addition.

In May my brother and sister in law wanted to add on a couple of bedrooms in their attic. Here is a few pics of the progress so far.


The Beginning...
May 8th ---Sub flooring.
May 17th---Framing.June 16th---Doors, Stairs and Insulation.



June 27th---Drywall.
July 11th---Still Drywall.

My hand at smoking.

The cajun rub on the left and the mesquite on the right.

Close up of the cajun rub chicken.

Last weekend I tried smoking a rack of pork loin ribs and a pork loin. They turned out OK. The ribs could have been a little more tender and the loin should have marinated longer. If I had to do it over again I would have smoked the ribs for 8 hours instead of 6 and at a little higher temp. The loin was only marinated for about an hour. I think over night would have been a lot better. This weekend I thought I would try chicken. Friday after work I picked up a couple of 4 lbs chickens and started preparing them last night at 6pm. I rubbed one down with a Mesquite rub and the other with a Cajun rub. I let them stay in the fridge over night and this morning at 7:30 I pulled them out and mopped them with brown sugar, butter, thyme, paprika, chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. They went into the smoker at 8:30am and the first turn was at 10:30am. They got turned and mopped at 12:30pm and pulled out at 1:15pm. They turned out pretty good. I think next on the agenda is fish.

Tugger & Copper VS. Laser Pointer.

Fourth of July and after.

Last weekend we had company. Cynical and Ragged came for a visit. The nice thing about the visit is since we had a holiday weekend, we got an extra day to visit with each other. Friday July 2nd, Rudy and Brando invited us to go with them to The Log Inn in Warrenton, Indiana. They had eatten there a few times but it was the first time for Needles and I. We arrived at the restaurant around 6pm and after a bit of a wait we were seated in the Lincoln Room. Rudy had the roast beef and the rest of us had the boneless catfish. The rest of the meal was what was called family style. This basically means bottomless bowls of peas, corn, sweet oil slaw, Germany style potatoes, mashed potatoes, brown and white gravy and corn bread. We were able to finish off everything but the white gravy and the ladies each brought home a piece of fish. After waddling back to the car, we headed home. We got home around 8pm and after dropping off Rudy and Brando we headed home to find our guests unloading their car. We greeted our weekend guests and headed inside to relax and catch up with each other. We stayed up rather late and called it a night just after midnight. The next day I thought we would head to Mt. Carmel and see if we might get a sight of the bald eagles. When we arrived at the area the nest looked abandoned. We searched the tree line to see if there might be some juveniles hanging around the area. After a fruitless search of the area we headed back to the viewing station and then returned home. Later that weekend I would find out that the young eagles had already fledged and even though they might still be coming back to the nest, they are out learning to hunt most of the day. When we got home we meet up with Rudy and Brando and went out to eat Mexican. It was very good and then we returned home to digest the food in our full stomachs. Before long it was time to hit the hay. They next morning we had breakfast and then lounged around the house and watched few movies to pass the time and a weekend wouldn't be complete without a run to the Dairy Dee. Later that night we were invited to visit with Rudy and Brando to watch the firework their family were setting off. At around 9:30 the fireworks were over and we headed home. On our way home we noticed some other fireworks near the Jr. High so we parked and watched while the display astounded us. We were shock that a home display was so elaborate. It went on for almost an hour and we finally got home at close to 11pm. We stayed up for about an hour before time to go to bed. The next day we grilled turkey filet mignon and asparagus spears. All to soon it was time for our guests to return home. We had a good time visiting and hope to do it again soon.

This weekend was a busy one although uneventful. I had plans to smoke a rack of pork loin ribs and a pork loin so Saturday morning I was up by 7am. I went outside to get everything together and do allot of the prep work. I sat the ribs out to come to room temperature while I got the charcoal ready I also soaked the mesquite chunks. By the time the coals were ready, I had the ribs covered in the rub and ready for the smoker. After a couple of hours it was time the marinate the loin. An hour of marinate and the loin joined the ribs in the smoker. After a 6 hour smoke for the ribs and a 3 hour smoke for the loin it was time to eat. Around 3pm my brother and nephew visited and ate with us. The ribs had really good flavor but I think they could have smoked for a couple more hours to get them a little more tender. The loin was good but I think a longer marinate, probably overnight, would have made it better. After my belly was full it was time for a nap. A nap to aid in digestion and to regain some energy for the lawn that needed mowing and the dry wall that needed carried inside. After all the chores were done Rudy and Brando teated us to a trip to Chilly Willie's. Needles had the Pineapple Dolewhip and I had the Fudgey Nutter Parfait. It was very good and we returned home at close to 10pm. I didn't sleep well last night so we slept in late this morning. We didn't get up until 10am. Even sleeping late I only got about 4 hours sleep. We had plans to take fixings for sandwiches to Needle's Mom's and for dessert Moose Tracks ice cream. I had a lot of stuff to do so we headed home around 2pm and when we got home I headed out to Mom and Dad's to mow. It is now 6:30pm on Sunday night and I am exhausted and still need to get a shower and head out to Rudy and Brando's for our True Blood get together. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I needed more sleep.

Whale Watching Boston, Mass.

Cape Neddick Lighthouse York, Maine

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