Weekend update 4.26.09

What a great weekend. I have just a hint of sunburn after two days of cloudless, summer like weather. When it's 88 degrees in April, it's hard to believe that less than three weeks ago, we had snow on the ground.

Thursday, I took Trevor fishing after work.We spent a lot of time on our deck this week enjoying the birds, trees, and weather while I cooked on the Big Green Egg.Friday night, we made Mom's cheeseburger turnovers but made them Philly Beef n Swiss style using the Egg as a "brick" oven. They were awesome!Trevor signed up for football on Saturday. I am REALLY NOT looking forward to that, but it's what he wants to do. Believe me, I pushed for summer basketball. He is playing for the Bearden Bulldogs, the "farm team" for Bearden High School, which he will attend years from now. They actually have a system to develop players by fielding youth league teams from ages 7 to 13.

Jack and Trevor had fun with smoke bombs in the back yard. Alexis tended to our gardens. She did her usual decorative stuff. I don't ever remember the names of any of that. But the important stuff, I know. We're growing tomatoes (several varieties), green bell peppers, bok choy, red cabbage, dill, several basil, oregano, rosemary, chives, mint, parsley, and sage. I think before long we're going to have to move to a small country home where we can have a proper garden because DAMN I love fresh veggies. (Bok choy, red cabbage pictured)I had better shots of this red tailed hawk but I liked the composition of this one better because of it being juxtaposed with the airliner. On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the pool. Here Trevor and Jack practice civil disobedience to protest the liberal agenda of "No Running At The Pool"Trevor and Olivia (Jack's older sister) jumping into the pool. He is SO IN PUPPY LOVE with Olivia although he won't admit it, since she's in 7th grade and he's in 3rd. They've all been friends for a few years but she's growing into a young woman and the poor kid but can't help but notice. He follows her around and thinks the world revolves around her.I swear I want to cut that hair off myself but "all the girls at school love it".
If swine flu raises the cost of of pork ribs and butts, I am going to be SERIOUSLY pissed off ;)

Have a great week!

Weekend update 4.19.2009

It was a crazy week with coordinating the water heater replacement (what a fiasco), Trevor's school having TCAP testing (feed 'em good, get 'em to bed early, no child left behind stuff), and just the general day to day stuff.

Trevor had a full, fun spring day yesterday. He practiced archery in the back yard.Climbed trees...Found a frog in the water meter casing....
Wrin spent the afternoon and night.
Alexis and I went for a weekend night drive just because we were bored.
I smoked a pair of baby back ribs yesterday that were perfect, absolutely perfect.
Oh yeah, speaking of food, the Knoxville paper is going to do a feature on me for their upcoming annual grilling articles. The interview is this week and I'm not sure exactly when the photo shoot is going to be scheduled yet. I'll let you know when it's going to run.

Robert, my martial arts instructor and friend, has started BBQing with my help. He went to Rendezvous in Memphis last weekend and got their world famous ribs. He told me theirs couldn't touch mine! I've taught him well because all he could think about when eating their ribs was that he couldn't believe he paid $27 for a rack of ribs that he could do better at home for 1/3rd of the cost.

Brett was Abbey-less this weekend since she was in Atlanta for a volleyball tournament. He spent the weekend fishing with his friends and playing midnight basketball. Yeah, the Rush has a midnight game every Friday. I'd think he was up to something else if he didn't come home at 2am each week sweaty as hell and exhausted.

The week that was

Our water heater died an inglorious death tonight. We still had to get bathed so we heated pots of water and carried them to the bath tubs. As I sank into the warm water, it felt different from the same warm water that normally flowed from the faucet. It reminded me of summer vacations spent at the farm in North Carolina.

After a day of playing in the fields and running up and down the dusty white clay roads, we'd be coated like Grandma's fried okra. But there were no garden tubs or fiberglass shower inserts to hop into. After dinner was done and clean up was done, Grandma would warm up some pots of water on the stove top. Then she'd fill a galvanized wash tub in the middle of the linoleum tiled kitchen floor(picture an oversized metal garden bucket) with the warm water.

I could still smell the remnants of a country dinner as I slid into the tub, hearing the water slosh up and down the tin sides. I could feel the ridges of the bottom of the tub, but they didn't really bother me, they were just there. The soap was a gooey goppy mess to be retrieved from a dime store blue soap dish that had a white plastic insert designed to supposedly keep the soap dry. I can hear my relatives chattering through the closed door and down the hall. Uncle Ricky is the loudest. He always was the loudest.

Bang bang! The door booms as Trevor brings me back to present day, "Hey Dad! Come check out what I did on Xbox!"

I smiled and thought about how great those days on the farm were. I wondered, how many people have ever bathed in a wash tub. I wondered how many people ever peed in an outhouse. I consider that one of the privileges I've had.

So splash back to reality, here's some pics from this week.

It's been a crazy weather week. Last Sunday it was in the 70's. Tuesday we had snow on the ground. Wednesday it was mid-sixties. Yesterday we had hail and tornadoes. What's next? Global warming?
Brett & Trevor about to head to the basketball court to shoot one afternoon this week.Even though my real camera has been at Nikon getting fixed since March 27th, I have still been playing with photography. I made this composition by putting myself between an accent window and a wall 20' away one late afternoon and shot it using Trevor's cheap ass pocket camera.Sofa is starting to get old. She isn't making here as much but her young cohort Doolee is. He showed up without her twice this week. It makes me sad knowing that before long, like Puff the Magic Dragon, she'll show up no more. I probably shouldn't snap pictures mid project.....Alexis looks like she's about ready to toss a wrench at my head! It had been such a long day at this point.We finished repainting Trevor's room in a suede paint.Normally, I have a menu written here, but thought this was a cute change.The easter bunny better watch his arse. We have a mating pair of red tailed hawks living next door at the horse farm. I wish I had my Nikon back because I had some great shot opportunities of them today. Gorgeous birds.Trevor snapped me while I was writing in my journal. At least I wasn't picking my nose!
Love you guys. Hope everything is going great for you all!

Game On

I've got two words for you.

GO TARHEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The menu is set, the guests invited, and I've started prepping in the kitchen.