Smoking meat

For a while I have been wanting to get a smoker to make Bar-B-Que and I finally did it. This one is an electric smoker and it works quite well. We have used it 3 times to smoke a brisket, some spare ribs, and a pork loin. All three were good but it takes some getting used to when you try to figure out how long and how hot. Most meat is smoked at about 225-250 degrees. So far we have used Mesquite and Hickory wood chips to produce the smoke and various combinations of spices for a rub to season the meat. As you can see it also makes a good cup warmer. You can't see the smoke here but there was some. The pork loin is inside and I failed to get a photo of that to include. I will next time.

This gives you an idea of the size. There are two racks inside for the meat and a water pan on the bottom. There is also a chip pan to put the wood chips in. All in all it is a very useful device and we like it.

We also got a couple of chairs to go on the patio and we used it for breakfast the very next Saturday. The chairs are quite comfortable and seem to be more durable than the ones we used to have.

Thanksgiving 2014

It is Thanksgiving and as usual we were at the Creek house trying to complete a few tasks. When we were there last, at Spring Break, we started on the counter-top but were stymied by needing to rout some wood from the cabinet so the new counter-top would fit, So this trip we were trying to finish it. We cut the Formica for the back splash and finally managed to get it glued to the wall. After routing the front edge of the cabinets we got the counter-top to fit but alas, we had left it standing on edge and it warped through the long hot summer. So we have weights on it and are hoping that it will straighten out by itself Here is a photo of the counter-top. We will put in a stainless sink and finish it next trip.

  

Martha did a great job of cutting the back splash to fit the electrical outlets in the back. Then she also worked on the fireplace. Some of the brick that covers the wall behind it and the floor under it had fallen off and she glued it back on. It worked very well. We ran out of glue before she finished so we will need to finish that next trip as well.

Here is a picture of the house from the road. There used to be steps in the front but they were rotten so we took them out. We aren't sure we will put them back but the porch is a nice place to sit.

Finally there are plenty of birds to watch and here are a few pictures. The pinkish birds are Roseate Spoonbills. The have a very wide beak shaped like a table spoon. The other two are Brown Pelicans of which there are plenty. They are very majestic in flight.

There are also Blue Herons and various Egrets and other birds. They can be seen at my Picasa site, there is a link in the right column

Solar Eclipse

 About two weeks after the Blood Moon in the previous post, we had a solar eclipse. It was on October 23 and I wanted to try to get some photographs of it as it occurred. I have an old Jason 313 Optical telescope and it was equipped with a projection screen so I was able to see it fairly well. At the bottom of the post is a picture of the setup. The maximum eclipse occurred at sunset and we had interference from clouds, trees and the house. In the pictures, the dark areas are mostly clouds or trees although there are a couple of sun spots that are visible.

The sun spots are visible here in the left center area of the sun. The shadow of the moon is beginning to cover the sun The telescope setup is below

Blood Moon

Today we had what is referred to as a Blood moon. These are caused by a total lunar eclipse. Today's occurrence was the second in a series called a Tetrad. The remaining two lunar eclipses in the Tetrad will occur next year in April and in September. The picture above was taken when the moon was almost completely in shadow.

The next picture was taken about 20 minutes later just before the moon descended behind a tree. It was very dim and we had trouble locating it in the camera viewfinder. The red color is caused by the sunlight bending through the earth's atmosphere. It bends toward the red portion of the spectrum and casts a red glow on the moon.

Lizard in the carport

Saturday I was tearing down a fence that had been damaged by termites and I rediscovered this lizard living among the boards and leaves, etc. The board he is on is about 5 1/2 inches across so this is a fairly large critter. I had seen him several times before but never had the opportunity to photograph him up close. This was it. If you recognize him, tell me what he is.

Here is another picture of him from a different angle.

Since the last post...

Well it may seem that I have dropped off the face of the earth but that really isn't the case. Perhaps I am experiencing writers block. They (whoever "they" are) tell me that that happens sometimes and you just can't come up with a word to write. Believe me it is not because a)nothing has happened, or b) we have been idle, in fact it is quite the opposite.

For several years I have had arthritis in both knees and I finally decided to get them fixed. That means having the complete joint replaced. This was scheduled for April 29th and involved several trips to Abilene for pre-op and examination. We decided to do both knees at the same time and I highly recommend that if you can do it that way. You only have to go through rehab and all the pain once. So I had it done. I was in the hospital for 3 days, in inpatient rehab for a week, and outpatient rehab for 2 months. Since then I have been doing my own rehab at the HPU Wellness center. I am still in the process of recuperating. The surgeon says it may take a year and a half to completely "get over it". I can't wait. I would like to get the knees back to where I could play golf once in a while and enjoy some time at our creek house down on the coast.

Summer has flown past and we have had very little rain. We are on stage 3 drought restrictions and can water the lawn only on Tuesdays, early morning and late night. We have done a few all night sessions moving the sprinklers because we don't have an automatic sprinkler system. We have managed to keep it alive but I am not sure about the pecan trees It looks like a good crop of pecans this year but we have to see how many are blown out of the trees and if the pecan weevils got into any of them.

Our son, Cory and his wife and kids came to visit in July and we had a good time. We went to the local water park with slides and stuff and I think it may have been the first time for them at one of those. We also went to a local park and  burned off some energy. Grandpa just sat most of the time due to the knees hurting. They are slowly getting better but it really takes longer that I expected.

School has started and Martha has been busy with reports and etc in the Registrar's office. She is taking some foundation courses and thinking of starting the MBA program. That will take a couple of years to complete and she hasn't made a complete decision to do it or not.

We are looking forward to the rest of the year and giving thanks for the cooler weather. Home coming at HPU is later this month, and then Martha has a conference to attend. We will spend Thanksgiving week at the creek house trying to finish replacing the kitchen counter. If my knees can stand it I would like to work on the pier some but I will have to see if that works out. We haven't been there since Spring break. We are studying Hebrews in Sunday School and I am the teacher so that keeps me busy as well. There really isn't any "slowing down" in retirement although the activity is different!

Business Showcase

Yesterday we attended a business showcase event put on by the Chamber of Commerce. Nearly 60 local businesses or organizations were represented and it was very good. Many of the booths had an opportunity to sign up to win something. There was a sort of bingo card contest with a drawing. You had to get a sticker or some indication that you had visited every booth and then you could enter your card in the drawing. We visited every booth but only Martha got stickers so she was entered in the drawing. We both signed up at many booths for the local drawings and lo and behold Martha was called last evening and informed that she had "won". The prize was a cook out kit with everything one might need to have a cookout. It included plates and cups and a stainless set of grilling tools including a fork with built in meat thermometer. There was also a Superhero blanket with a superman emblem, (that was their motif). There was even a Smore oven with the graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars. It all came contained in a blue picnic basket with the vendors name on it. It was and is very nice. There was also a gift card at a local supermarket to get some meat to go with the picnic stuff. We will get a lot of use out of it. The picture below is what it looked like.