“Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue by Tuffy Stone”
“She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants.” Proverbs 31:14-15 NIV
Well, y’all...I’ve decided to start smoking. No...not THAT kind of smoking. The BARBECUE kind of smoking. I keep seeing my cousin Mike’s pictures on Facebook of the wonderful things he makes in his smoker and I just had to try it. Mr. FixIt and I have been pricing smokers since it’s nearing the end of summer. I’ve had my eye on one particular model and I’ve been watching the prices, but just wasn’t ready to bite.
My other cousin Tom smokes a lot of meats, fish, poultry…you name it. He uses a pellet smoker and they are really pricey so I nixed that idea. He recommended an electric smoker over propane because you can regulate the temperature easier. Although, there are some models out now that are propane with a thermostat so maybe they’re ok. I just figured, the only place I’ll be using it is at home so I can just plug it in and not worry about it running out of gas mid-smoke.
“Gigantic Hydrangea in the backyard at the farm. One of my favorites!”
““As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”” Genesis 8:22 NIV
After meeting a group of friends for lunch yesterday, I was leaving the restaurant when a gentleman seated with his wife in a nearby booth stopped me. He said he couldn’t help but overhear me talking about the storm I heard during the night. He wanted to tell me they had been driving home to Ravenswood and got caught in the storm. He claimed it was the worst storm he had ever driven in but in ten miles, it was gone. Storms here are either small, isolated pockets...or weeks-long, grey deluges, it seems. There is no in between. Anyway, I told him my dad was from Ravenswood. His wife kept saying “You look SO familiar to me!” I sat down with them and we connected the dots until, indeed...we found the common denominator. They thought my dad’s name was familiar but couldn’t quite place him until I showed them his photo on my phone. Then they remembered him quite well. This guy’s grandfather’s property bordered that of my Aunt Marge. My cousin Donna was his nurse when he had surgery a couple of years ago. It is a teeny, tiny little world here and you have to be darned careful what you say about folks. We’re all related!
After lunch, Mr. FixIt and I went to the farm to mow. We are in the last bit of the Dog Days of Summer…a period of 40 days from July 3rd to August 11th. This period coincides with the rising of the Dog Star…Sirius…at dawn. The Dog Star doesn’t determine our weather, but the Ancient Egyptians used this celestial event to predict the annual flooding of the Nile River. It does coincide with some of the hottest, most sultry weather of the summer.
“Daughter #2 with her Great Grandmother that she doesn’t remember.”
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17 NIV
When I was visiting Daughter #2 a few weeks ago, she mentioned she was heading to Texas soon with her fiancé for a family reunion. She was in awe that this family was renting a beach house for a week. A large group were gathering from all around the country to play games, comb the beach, and renew the close relationship they enjoy. These reunions were started by a grandmother who wanted her family to really know each other. The younger generation decided to keep the reunions going after grandma’s death for the same reason...to remain connected by more than DNA.
I reminded #2 that I took her to West Virginia as often as I could. We had family reunions, too. But, unfortunately, they all but stopped after the older generation passed away. She didn’t really know my family. That made me sad.
“Thank goodness today there are modern conveniences!”
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
Back in the day, when I was married to Hubby #2 (the doctor), it seemed like every single bug that came along, I got sick. I had a chronic sinus infection that stretched out over two years. Using broad spectrum antibiotics caused my intestinal flora to get out of equilibrium and I developed C. Difficile. That is a bug normally found in the gut, but it’s not one of the good ones. However, it’s really hard to kill. So, the antibiotics killed off the good bacteria and allowed C.Diff to overgrow and that is not a good thing. C.Diff can kill your colon. That’s one of the reasons its important not to take antibiotics when you don’t need them. And that’s why I’ve been left with a wonky gut that gives me fits much of the time and forces me to limit certain foods.
Arriving at 65 finally has allowed me to catch up with a lot of deferred maintenance and tomorrow I’m spending a lovely morning with my gastroenterologist. Let’s just say it’s been a busy day and leave it at that. I know this is TMI, but it’s important to have routine healthcare screenings, one of which is a colon cancer screen. I had a precancerous polyp removed in my 30’s. The doctor came in to talk to me and said it was a good thing I had come in when I did or I likely would have had colon cancer by the time I was the recommended age.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:13-14 NIV
If you could go back to a fork in the road of your life, what would you do differently? Was there that one moment that you made a split second decision only to immediately regret it? Or, did you labor over some long term plan that just didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to go? We all have those critical junctures, don’t we?
Sometimes life does offer you opportunities for do-overs, but not very often. I’ve had a couple, and the privilege was not lost on me. When I hit the bottoms of my barrel and my second marriage ended, I had an immense opportunity to rebuild my life from the ground up. It was a tremendous amount of work, but it was also tremendously fulfilling.
“Your wedding day is your ‘Best Day Ever’. But what about attending weddings when you’re grieving?”
“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV
Weddings are joyous occasions for family and friends to gather and witness two people joining in a lifelong commitment. Just like baptism is the outward sign of an inward commitment, so is a wedding. Mr. FixIt and I went to his granddaughter’s wedding on Saturday and it was so touching to hear her voice thicken with emotion as they said their vows. Toasts were given, tears of joy were shed, as well as tears of sorrow as the bride’s step-father passed away unexpectedly last summer. My heart went out to her mom...his widow...my sweetheart’s only daughter.
There have been times when a wedding cut me off at the knees. After a painful divorce many years ago, a wedding was a slap in the face…a reminder that my marriage had failed. My second to do so, actually. Then, after losing Mr. Virgo, it was a stab in my heart…a huge neon sign that read “You are a WIDOW!” Which, translated meant…”You are not married anymore!” That’s not really true…yet it is. It’s a heck of a place to be in your head.
“Playing dress up is fun. Mr. FixIt and me…at a wedding.”
“Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”
Song of Songs 8:6-7 NIV
One of Mr. FixIt’s granddaughter’s got married yesterday. I bought an outfit when I was in Colorado. I needed something nice to wear to weddings...including Daughter #2’s when it comes around in the next year or so. It’s nice to have at least one dressy outfit, even though I don’t have very many occasions to dress up anymore.
Mr. FixIt came home with his tux the other day. He said he thought he would just dress at home and not bother toting it back and forth but I talked him out of that. First, he didn’t want his backside to look like he’d been sitting in a truck for an hour. And second, it was in the high 80’s…I knew he would be miserable.
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”
Proverbs 12:1 NIV
There are certain matters of etiquette one must observe when visiting State and National Parks. There is camping etiquette and fishing etiquette. There are matters of law. Then there’s just plain common sense.
It was taken by a Yellowstone National Park visitor and it clearly shows a man taunting a buffalo by yelling at it and waving his arms. I am not sure if he was trying to shoo the behemoth out of the way because he was in a hurry, or if he was just curious what the beast would do. Either way, he got much more than the sought after 15 minutes of fame.
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!” Luke 12:27-28 NIV
Mr. FixIt and I decided to walk up the road yesterday afternoon before we headed home from the farm. The heavy truck traffic from the gas pipeline construction has eased up slightly and the road repair crew had moved back toward the bridge, so walking was a little safer and more enjoyable. I was particularly interested in a mulberry tree down the road. I wanted to check if the berries were ripening so I could make some jam and jelly. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single mulberry on the tree. Last year at this time is was loaded so the only thing I can figure is the late freezes this spring got them.
Just as we headed out for our walk, this beautiful Hooded Warbler darted into the spicebush next to the porch. I have never seen one and had to look it up to find out what it was. What a beauty…and such a sweet little song it sings.
“West Virginians cook their green beans for hours with bacon or salt pork and onion, salt, and pepper. The house smells divine!”
“For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.”
Hebrews 3:4 NIV
One of my fondest memories is sitting as a little girl on the front porch of the farm house, my grandma in the chair to my left. She had the beat up lid of an old roasting pan turned over in her lap and it was filled with washed green beans fresh from the garden. These were old fashioned string beans, not the stringless bush bean variety you find nowadays. They were a bit more work to prepare. You took a paring knife and cut the tip of one end almost all the way through and pulled. This removed the long, stringy piece from down one side. Then you turned the bean over and did the same thing from the other end. Then you snapped the bean in half, or thirds, with one hand and dropped them in a cooking pot.
When you were done, you rinsed the beans again, and filled the pot with clean water to barely cover the beans. You cut up an onion or two and threw that in along with a few pieces of ham, salt pork, or fried bacon and the grease they were fried in. You might add a little black pepper and salt if the bacon wasn’t too salty. You covered the pot and set it to simmer midmorning, adding water when necessary. Come suppertime, the house smelled wonderful and the beans were nice and tender. Here in West Virginia, we COOK our green beans. None of this crispy “al denté” stuff! Oh, there’s nothing like green beans cooked Grandma style.
“Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue by Tuffy Stone”
“Gigantic Hydrangea in the backyard at the farm. One of my favorites!”
“Daughter #2 with her Great Grandmother that she doesn’t remember.”
“Thank goodness today there are modern conveniences!”
“Ahhh…the joy of youth!”
“Your wedding day is your ‘Best Day Ever’. But what about attending weddings when you’re grieving?”
“Playing dress up is fun. Mr. FixIt and me…at a wedding.”
“Buffalo taken with a LONG lens.”
“Hooded Warbler”
“West Virginians cook their green beans for hours with bacon or salt pork and onion, salt, and pepper. The house smells divine!”