Mmm...smoked meats

I got a new toy for Christmas - a Masterbuilt Electric Smokehouse smoker. My brother's been smoking meat for a while and now he's converted me.


My first smoke was a Boston Butt, pretty good for a first effort. Tonight I made some chops for Charmed and I. After an eight hour brining and about 3 hours of smoking...


I heart pork.

SI

Tool Time

A couple of weeks ago Charmed and I were feeling ambitious. (OK, she was feeling ambitious, I was somewhere between nervous and filled-with-dread). I've never been big on home improvement projects, but Charmed convinced me that we could handle this and the results would be worth the trouble.

The project? My old house has a narrow back room (about 7 by 23) that was wasted space and had carpet that had to go. It used to be a dining room but we moved that furniture to the front of the house where it belongs. Join me on a photographic journey, won't you?

I think most people have a room in which they keep golf clubs, a vacuum cleaner and a coffee table, right? Plus a bookshelf filled with mouse poop.











I don't know if this was the work of one or more dogs, the aforementioned poopy mice, or Father Time, but this is not what you want to see in a quality carpet.











If only this stain had been shaped more like the Virgin Mary I could have made a bundle, because no matter what I did it always came back.











So after removing the various junk seen above, the next step was to rip up the carpet. Not nearly as bad as I had feared, although prying up this crap got a little tedious.













The biggest unknown in all of this, and what could have made it a real nightmare, was the condition of the subfloor. As you can see, it was in pretty good shape. Not quite "baby butt smooth", as we declared to the Home Depot lady with our fingers crossed, but still in decent shape.

So we swept up the scraps and started making it spiffy.












I don't have a close-up of the floor, but I think you get the idea here. We did a heck of a job on the quarter-round trim too, I think.

I'm sure HGTV will be calling any day now.

Hunt the Wumpus

• Both postcards have been received by my new Euro-friends (see post below) but I have yet to receive my first. I'm not sending out any more until I get at least one! I think I have an idea for an artsy-craftsy kinda project when I start to get a few of these puppies in.

• A note to my neighbors: When I'm walking my dog, it's not necessary to ask, "Who's walking who?" or some such equivalent. Wasn't funny the first time. Not funny now. A simple "Nice dog, cap'n" and a tip of the cap will suffice.

• I haven't been this excited about Christmas in a long time. When you go somewhere else for the holidays it's hard to get in the spirit until you actually get there. I'm staying home this year and I'm already in the mood for egg nog, and I don't even like egg nog. Plus, we're getting a real tree. It's been a long time since I've bought a real tree.

• Made some chicken curry the other night - how do people who work in Indian restaurants not always have yellow under their fingernails?

• My dog won't stop licking things - she's already ruined two throw pillows. Maybe I should be giving her food and water.

• I did some cleaning out of my liquor cabinet last night - if you were wondering if Amaretto can go bad, I think the answer is yes. And why did I ever buy gin? I hate gin. Is it good or bad that I have four varieties of bourbon?

• That is all.
  

Postcards...the Other White Meat

First off, I have no idea what that headline means. Catchy though.

So I came across this website the other day which you may already be familiar with: Postcrossing. It's a pretty cool idea. You register on the site, then get an address of another user from somewhere around the world. (Currently there are over 34,000 users from 158 countries participating.) You send that person a postcard, and when they receive it, you get another card from some OTHER random person somewhere on Earff. Send a card, get a card. Get it?

So today I sent my first 2 - to Emma in Finland and Helen in Germany. (You can learn all about Helen, and brush up on your German, here). So some day, when I'm not expecting it, I'll get a postcard from some stranger in Brazil or Indiana or some other exotic locale. It will be nice to get mail that's not a bill or a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon.

I'll be sure to report on any interesting correspondence. Stay tuned.

Haikus for Youse

Anyone can write
Haikus. Just count syllables
Five, seven and five

My friend The Daver
Always says he'll visit me
But he never does

Best time of year is fall
Except for all the damn leaves
Rake, bend, bag. Repeat.

I still get angry
About how she treated me
Love is blind, stupid

Sox win the pennant!
Now on to World Series
Rockies are red hot

How to judge people
For being too judgmental
Is quite the puzzler

A site you should try
Is Radio Paradise
Good tunes for no bucks

Bullet the Blue Sky

• The concert mentioned below was excellent...I would have been pleased even if I actually had to pay for tickets. Plus, C and I were easily one of the 64 best looking couples there. (An inconveniently placed A/C vent necessitated the covering up of C's bare shoulders, keeping us from a certain top 35 finish. Yes, her shoulders are worth 30 places.) Per Michele's directions there will be no You Tube clips of the concert or her shoulders.

• It's only two outs into Game 7 of the ALCS and I'm already sick of Tim McCarver. Is this game on radio? Maybe I'll go sit in the garage and listen in my car. Dice K looks good through 3 batters, at least.

• I just returned from my first vacation with kids since, well, I was one. I'm not sure how I feel about being told I look good behind the wheel of a minivan.

I think that rental was the best money I've spent in a while, however. Two or more children should not be seated next to each other for any more than two hours of continuous automobiling. It's science, people.

• In retrospect, mad props to my folks for driving the three Dunn boys to Colorado from Iowa in a station wagon many times. Yikes. Funny how we didn't need seat belts back then...now I'll barely pull out of the parking spot without hearing a click from the back.

• And how oh how did we travel without some or all of the following: iPods, portable DVD players, Nintendo DS's, laptops, cell phones and Blackberries. Oh, and satellite radio and a GPS navigator. We were four blue shirts and a dozen unmanned cash registers away from being a Best Buy.

• Vacation was great - went to Destin for 4 nights. Stopped in Atlanta on the way down to see my brother and SIL - they were kind enough to score us tickets to Six Flags over Georgia.The Superman ride, my friends, kicks considerable booty. Plus...they had zombies!

• Then it was off to Destin, which was great, other than some rain and the dreaded Red Tide. Never heard of it? Me neither. They don't exactly publicize it on the Chamber of Commerce website. Didn't ruin our trip by any means, but we did spend a little less time on the beach than we would have liked. Oh well. Did lots of quality shopping instead.

• On the way back we spent the night in Decatur. No, not the good one. Decatur, Alabama. The hotel was, shall we say, less than 4 stars, but apparently Decatur on an October Thursday is a tough get. We stayed here so that we could go to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center the next morning. No time for Space Camp, but it was pretty cool. Good IMAX movie, too.

• By the way, would you look at that cast? Mrs. Steven Spielberg! Mrs. John Travolta! The gay guy from Revenge of the Nerds! Impressive.

• After tomorrow night I will be 3-4 and tied for first in my fantasy football division. We're the NL Central of FFB. Someone's gotta win this thing!

• I'm becoming a Crock Pot believer. Throw some stuff in a pot and walk away for a few hours. Plus, it makes the house smell less like dog, which is nice.

• Whole wheat hot dog buns are an abomination. Don't do it. Treat your wieners with the respect they deserve.
  

• That is all. Please leave all comments and suggestions with your immediate supervisor.
  

Yay me!

Late last night, drifting off to the smell of a Crockpot full of beer-braised chicken goodness, I heard Mr. DJ announce he had free concert tickets for caller #7. I hustled to the phone and two dials later I was the lucky caller, continuing my streak of winning something from WFPK about every 3-11 months.

Free tickets to Nickel Creek in 2.5 weeks!

Brush With Semi-Greatness

I caught an in-store performance of Colin Hay last night at a local record store. Those of you who are fellow 80's music lovers will surely know him better as the lead singer of Men At Work. Anywho, he was really, really good. Plus, he talked to me on his way in the store. I think I may have squealed a little.

He did acoustic versions of some of his Men at Work stuff, as well as some newer solo projects. He played for about 40 minutes - pretty long for this sort of appearance. It was very cool to be that close to, and listen to, the voice of so many big radio and video hits from my youth.

Here's a clip of Overkill, a really underrated song that's much more powerful when he slows it down like this:

Got the blahs?

People say you've been acting rude? Growing despondent? Perhaps you should offer them a drink...