2008 Texas Eggfest in Austin

Well, another Texas Eggfest is now under our belt (pun intended). It was held last Saturday, May 10th in Austin, Texas at The Oasis, a really neat restaurant/bar on a high cliff overlooking Lake Travis. We were joined by my Sweetie's sister Joyce and brother Curtis and their spouses, Allen and Sandra. Joyce and Allen helped us cook up four dishes: ABT's, Frito Pie, Chickaletta's and Shrimp over a six hour period.

Everything we cooked disappeared quickly to a hungry crowd of about 150. Only 15 of us were cooking. The rest were new to Egg'n or about to purchase their first Big Green Egg. They were loaded with questions. In fact, 32 Eggs were pre-sold and at least 10 more were sold after the people saw how easy it is to cook on one and how delicious the food is.

Other cooks met with the same results. Lots of great food for lots of appreciative people.

The location could not have been better. We were on a private deck, complete with tables and chairs and our own bar. Water and sodas were free and beer could be obtained with a ticket. Mixed drinks could be purchased for a very reasonable price. We really like this arrangement over having to lug a big ice chest with all our beverages in it.

The view was fantastic. Boats in the lake looked like ants. The only problem we had was the heat. It gets hot in Austin. So next year we're having it in April. Yes, we'll definitely be there, as will just about everyone who came to this one, plus all those who couldn't make it this year.

Our hats are off to BBQ Outfitters, Sponsor of the Eggfest, and The Oasis for allowing us Eggheads to have a really great time. Here's some photos to prove it.

Or watch the video...

Fifty-Seventeen

In two hours I will be a year older. Fifty-Seventeen to be exact. At least that's the way I prefer to think of it. Of course the traditional method would put me up in my sixties but that's no fun.

If I had thought for a minute that I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself. So here I am, overweight, on heart medication, arthritis in multiple joints, herniated disk in my back, one good eye, missing a prostate due to cancer, a bullet wound, rabid dog bite, cut arm almost off at the shoulder and many other serious threats to my well-being during that time. But I'm still better off than a lot of folks, and for that I consider myself fortunate.

So tomorrow when I wake up I will begin another chapter in my life, just like the day before and the day before that and so on for the 24,455th time. It will be a nice day and the love of my life will be by my side.

It's fun being me.

Happy Birthday

Unfinished Project Finished

It has been a couple of months since I sawed through the tips of three of my fingers while replacing new wood on Judy's hammock. The fingers are coming along nicely but the project never got completed, that is until yesterday.

It really urps me to start a project and not finish it. So yesterday I finished it. Yep! Got 'er done! Project completed.

No, there's no plans to use the hammock because we already purchased another one, so we will probably give it away. I don't even care if we throw it away. Unfinished, it was just a constant reminder of a project that never got completed. I suppose now I can pressure wash the blood off the garage floor to totally eliminate all evidence suggesting that I did a stupid thing.

At least I didn't let it get the best of me.

More Projects

My fingers are still healing from my little encounter with the table saw a few weeks back but things are still getting done around here. For instance, our fence that I installed myself almost twenty years ago was in pretty bad shape and needed replacing. We paid someone to do it and they did a great job.

While they were here we had them add to the French Drain I installed last year. They did a great job on that too.

Then we asked them to install a real concrete sidewalk to replace the stepping stones I put in last year. 90' and it looks good.

Of course all of this was expensive but since we've decided this will be home from now on, we wanted things to be for us, not the next owner. Heck, we even had a guy come install new attic stairs that lead to our A/C and water heater.

So the only thing left to do is mow the lawn tomorrow, and for that I purchased a new mower. Had to, my ten year-old mower pull cord finally broke. So since this is probably the last mower I'll ever buy I got one with electric start. That is so cool.

With all these projects being done I can now do something else with my time. Sawdust... I've really been wanting to make some sawdust. Lots of it too. Maybe now I will. And I've been wanting to read more. And I just started a new book by Greg Iles. And I want to do more cooking on the Big Green Egg. That's why I own three and built an outdoor kitchen for them.

But I also want to start a vegetable garden. A nice one. Raised with individual sections for each type of plant, and easy to maintain. In other words, tomatoes that might cost me 50¢ at the store will probably end up costing $4.00 by the time I do all the things necessary to make a tomato. But as any gardener will tell you, it's in the "growing" not the "buying."

And finally, I've really been wanting to make an outdoor brick oven. Yep! One that makes pizza and bread. Once again, it's in the "making" not the "buying."

Or I could just stop everything and become a vegetable myself. Naaaaaaaaa! Too much fun being me.

Tablesaw vs Fingers

After 20+ years I finally let my table saw bite me. Yep! I let my guard down for just a second and the three middle fingers of my left hand suddenly had divots taken out. No, I've still got all of them but they still look like they were in a battle and lost, even after four weeks.

Unlike a knife, a table saw makes an 1/8" wide cut. Fortunately I had set it up to only cut 1/8" above the board so my cuts were only 1/8" deep. Even so, it was deep enough to reach the bone and take a nick out of them too.

I marked my "WHATDOIDONOW" path in the garage with 294 drops of blood before I got it under control by wrapping my hand in Bounty towels. Then I drove to the emergency room where I was promptly treated, mostly because I take blood thinners that tend to make me bleed a lot. They didn't want me to mess up their new floor.

29 stitches, Xrays, a few bandages and some really good pain killer and I was done, at least until the next day when I had to see a hand specialist. He started out by saying I was one of the few lucky ones. Most of his patients lost fingers and even hands. But he was pleased with the stitches as well as the appearance of the wounds and scheduled me for hand therapy a couple of days a week. I go back to him next week. I think he will be impressed with my progress.

Surprisingly, for three weeks my whole hand didn't want to function properly, and the three fingers tended to hurt quite a bit although the tips were bone dead. I'm told that feeling will likely return in time as I finish the healing process. Also, scar tissue will be minimal if I continue my therapy.

So instead of thinking "woe is me" I'm thinking of just how fortunate I am. It could have very easily been worse.

New Year

Well, I survived another year. 2007 was certainly challenging what with a heart attack in January and that annoying/painful sciatica problem cropping up all year long. Then my Mom died and my two brothers are in dire straits.

But there are plenty of folks worse off than me so I'm really not complaining. It's more like comparing each year to each other. Let's just say I've had better ones.

But there was some good news too. I passed the "critical period" by being cancer free for four years according to my prostate doctor. Instead of seeing him every six months I'll only go every year. That's certainly a mind-settler.

Also during the year I finally finished the Chicken Coop, my outdoor kitchen. It is an absolute pleasure to cook in and I've made some very good meals out there. Not to mention having a lot of fun.

Then there was that period when I was making handles for Lawn Ranger to help him catch up on some back orders. I sent him enough rough cuts to give him some relief and now I'm in layoff status. I surely don't mind not having to worry about it but I really enjoyed making the handles for him. He said he would call me when he's ready for more.

Then there was Eggtoberfest in Atlanta. We really had a good time. Met old friends and made new friends, not to mention cooking and tasting some really good food. I am SO glad we got into Egging. Everyone is just like family whether we've met in person or not.

Then there was my goal of winning the Texas Lottery. I didn't win but that may be due in part to my not buying many Lottery Tickets. Small technicality. I may try harder in 2008. Worth a shot because somebody's gonna win.

Then there was the Clan MacMillan Society of Texas stuff. We went to Salado, Texas for a big Scottish Clan Gathering and Games where we helped man our Clan Tent. It was fun but the wind literally destroyed our tent the first day. And since I "volunteered" to prepare our Clan's newsletter I tried my best to do it up good. I was actually surprised at how nice it turned out.

Finally, we did Christmas in New Orleans. Actually, Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. My Sweetie's sister lives there. We really had a good time, well except for a terrible mattress at the La Quinta where we stayed until Christmas Eve. By then I had had enough and slept on a sofa at my sister-in-law's house. It was better than the hotel mattress.

My Sweetie gave me another Big Green Egg. A mini. I had been wanting one for a long time and it certainly lives up to its reputation as a good cooker.

Both of us are starting off the new year with a strong resolve to lose some weight. My target goal is 640 ounces. I think it's easier to lose ounces than it is to lose pounds. Just losing 3 ounces a day will reach my goal in 213.3 days. And 3 ounces is a piece 'a cake (pun intended).

We're both looking forward to 2008, all the while thinking it can be whatever we want it to be.

Happy New Year

EggtoberFest 2007 - Atlanta

Another fantastic EggtoberFest. And this one was made even more special by being the Tenth EggtoberFest. The two of us were right in the thick of it too. We even cooked.

The final figures aren't in yet but I heard 3,000 showed up Saturday. That's over twice as many as last year. There were 500 at the Meet & Greet the night before. And the weather was perfect the entire time.

Texas wasn't well represented this year so I made sure they knew we were there though. I made some Texas shaped waffles here and took them with us. Saturday morning I fired up an Egg, put my cast iron griddle on it and heated up the waffles. I added some butter and syrup and handed them out. They went over great.

Then my Sweetie broke out a Dutch Oven and made a pot of chili for her famous Frito Pie. It sure didn't take long for the hungry crowd to scoop that up. They loved it and naturally asked for the recipe.

Then we started making our version of a Muffuletta. We started with sourdough bread slices, then buttered one side. Then we added some Creole Mustard, ham, turkey, genoa salami, provolone cheese and then the secret ingredient, olive salad (Just like they use in the original muffuletta in New Orleans). Then we buttered another slice of bread to top off the sandwich. About 20 seconds each side on the hot griddle and it was ready. They loved it...

Naturally, we sampled as much as we could too. Most of it was close to Fantastic. We got full real fast and missed out on a lot of stuff we wish we could have tried.

Then there was the After Party, a gathering of souls who just didn't want the day to end. We had another great time there too.

Here are a few photos for you but they really don't do it justice. It's unique, it's fun and it's gonna be bigger and better next year.

Flagstone Patio

Home ownership... There's never an end to the challenges or the opportunities for improvement. No sooner than I finished my outdoor kitchen, called The Coop, we decided to cover a 200 sq ft area next to it with flagstone.

Easier said than done.

First of all, the sod has to be removed down about four or five inches in order to be replaced with decomposed granite for a solid foundation that can also be adjusted upward or downward for each individual flagstone piece according to its thickness. All of this is very labor intensive.

As for removing the old sod, that is a real challenge, especially considering the fact that there is a clay-like substance that sticks to everything. A shovel can quickly become heavy with the clay as it accumulates more and more layers. Then you just have to stop and scrape it off.

But finding a place for the old sod is also a problem. I've pretty much decided to put it behind some heavy Pampas Grass to make a sort of levy between our property and the cemetery where a great deal of water flows into our yard during heavy rains.

All of this is taking time, lots of time, primarily because I've been sick with a chest cold for almost two weeks. And the weather, dewpoint mostly, is really dragging me down. But I've got a goal, a pallet of flagstone and a yard of decomposed granite just waiting to happen.

Back Surgery

They call it "surgery" but it's really an epidural injection of cortisone to reduce inflammation of the area between L3 & L4. In other words, to fix my sciatica problem that I've had for over an year. This was the third one. I had it done last Tuesday and I feel great. In fact, I've been digging up dirt and moving heavy walking stones all day, something I couldn't do without some serious pain before.

Tomorrow I will resume the digging and hopefully be able to start spreading the decomposed granite base for the flagstone I will eventually use to cover the area.

If you've never had sciatica you are lucky. If you have had sciatica you probably understand the need for epidurals, especially if you plan to live a half way normal life.

In fact, I feel so good I think I'll go move some more dirt right now.

The Cough That Wouldn't Die

Ever get a cold and the resulting cough just won't go away? Well I've got one. Had it six days now and haven't had more than about two hours of decent sleep in all that time. It isn't just a cough, it's hacking up endless amounts of phlegm. So that means having to get up, find a place to spit and try to settle back down, only to go through the process again in five or ten or fifteen minutes... all night long.

So here I am at 4:30 AM during a lull moment attempting to put my frustration in writing with the hope that it will take my mind off the pending next round of coughing.

I really need some sleep too. Yesterday I was scheduled for back surgery (epidural) and needed to be at the hospital at 5:00 AM. I was home by 8:30 AM with instructions to take it easy because I was still under the influence of anesthesia. After being awake all night and undergoing surgery you would think I could sleep like a kitten. NOT! Not a wink.

Anyway, the coffee pot will automatically kick on in one hour and fifteen minutes and that's when my new day starts. My plans are to make some Big Green Egg handles for Lawn Ranger until about 9:30, then go to the heart center for exercise, and then start digging dirt to lay in almost 200 sq ft of crushed granite base with a flagstone top. It's all part of the Chicken Coop Project.

I suppose you could say, "Life is good." Well, except for this $#%^&@ cough...

French Drain

We moved into this house in 1988, and immediately noted some back yard drainage problems. The builder quickly responded and fixed the problem, that is until years later when settling and new landscaping caused the problem to return.

Then I decided to build the Chicken Coop and matters got even worse. It wasn't so bad that we were flooding or anything like that but it annoyed us to no end that water would not drain off quickly. Plus, we are in the early stages of expanding our deck by installing flagstone around the front of The Coop. We thought we needed good drainage for that project.

So a few days ago I started digging a French Drain that would hopefully give the rain water a new route to the front street. I finished Phase I today. That includes 70 feet from just off the deck, around the back of the house to the fence where it will eventually go on out to the street. I put in black drainage pipe and covered it with pea gravel.

According to my calculations this will greatly help transfer the water from where we don't want it to where we do want it. Phase II and another 90 feet will take it to the street where a pop-up valve will allow the water to flow directly into the street.

I dug the trench but my Sweetie and our neighbors helped by hauling the gravel and putting it in place. It was hard work and we're all tired and sore, but we're pleased that we accomplished something worthwhile.

Health - There's no end to it until The End...

My heart attack in January produced it's first "scare" the other day. I had just arrived in the parking lot of the Heart Center for my exercise class when I felt a slight pain in my chest. I didn't think too much of it but as I walked to the gym the pain grew in intensity from a 1 to a 4, and it didn't seem to want to slow down.

I went ahead and had them do the routine blood pressure check and it was fine. I told them I didn't feel that great and was going to pass on the exercise. They asked what kind of pain and I told them the chest.

Seconds later they had me hooked to a heart monitor and oxygen tank. They the nurse gave me two squirts of Nitroglycerin. All of this helped and within five minutes the pain was gone. Meanwhile they called my doctor who happened to be at the nearby hospital emergency room. He said to drive over and he would check me out.

A couple of hours later he said it wasn't a heart attack but he wanted to see what caused it and scheduled a heart cath for the following morning. I stayed there overnight.

The heart cath went well and he found nothing wrong with the stents he installed in January. So after all that he concluded that it was probably due to stress brought on by my mother's recent death and two brothers who also suffer from serious illnesses.

So the end result is that "stress" does manifest itself in harmful ways. Therefore, it goes without saying that avoiding stress is good for you. Certainly is for me.

Death In My Family

My 85 year old Mother passed away this week. Heart attack with too much damage to repair. We got to see and talk to her before she passed on.

Although I'm sad, I'm also joyful that she lived a long time. I'm also pleased that she avoided the two things she dreaded most: slowly dying of cancer and slowly dying in a nursing home. She is surely Up There looking down saying she won on those two points.

Her last three years were difficult but she didn't complain. And she was clear-headed enough to repeatedly express her wishes to be cremated and her ashes distributed by my father's grave, her parent's graves and her aunt's grave (the person who raised her from birth after her mother died).

There was a gathering of relatives and friends at her beloved Catholic Church in Jonesville. We laughed and cried together, all expressing a loss that can never be replaced. The Priest held Mass and spoke of her as if he had known her all his life, even though it was a few fleeting moments when he took Communion to her at home. All of this was followed by the traditional meal for all those attending the services. People far and wide brought food and flowers and photos and memories to be shared by all.

I saw people I had grown up with but had not seen for thirty or more years. We all talked like nothing had changed knowing full well that our accumulated ailments and wrinkles alone presented a more truthful expression of our unstoppable aging process. It was fun talking to them and in many ways it reflected their belief that I'm just temporarily away from home.

I had the good fortune to have my Judy by my side the entire time. She was my strength when I needed it the most.

And so ends another chapter in my life.