My "Chicken Coop" Outdoor Kitchen

I've been busy these past few months and neglected my Blog site. Shame on me.

Let me start by saying that a few months ago a Big Green Egger friend's house burned down because of a spark that came from his Big Green Egg (in the driveway, no less) and flew into his garage where it ignited something. Within minutes his house was on fire. Fortunately, no one was physically injured but I'm sure there will be emotional scars the rest of their lives.

So, with that incident fresh in my Sweetie's mind, I got instructions to move my Big Green Egg Cooking Center off the deck and away from the house. It took a while to figure out where and how but we finally decided that about ten feet from the house would be fine. That would permit a certain amount of convenience and a comfortable amount of security. And we would build it with the tools and skills I had rather than pay someone else to do it.

For the past four months I have been researching, planning, digging, cutting, nailing, gluing, and everything else necessary to build our version of an outdoor kitchen. We call it our "Chicken Coop." Here are a few of the construction photos up 'til 9-23-06.









As soon as I finish putting on the roof I will start on the cabinets and countertops. We already found a small refrigerator on sale and scooped it up. It sure comes in handy for cold drinks on hot days.

It's a slow process made slower by the fact that it was well into the upper 90° to 105° range much of the time. Plus, I've been somewhat lame due to a sciatica nerve problem in my hip and leg. And combine that with being 80 pounds overweight, blind in one eye and 65 years old and you get a very slow worker. But it is slowly coming along and everything seems to be working properly.

More pictures will follow as I complete the last remaining tasks. I hope you like it.

Leroy

Happy Birthday To Me..

I suppose when one reaches 65 years of age it is a milestone worth celebrating. And celebrating I did. My Sweetie and number one fan arranged for a few of us to meet at our favorite restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana on Saturday, May 6th. Actually, I share birthdays (May 8th) with my sister-in-law Joyce Schuyler (10 yrs younger) from Metairie, Louisiana, so Lafayette was a good half way point for us to get together. An added incentive is that the restaurant is operated by a friend of ours who wanted in on the action, Chef Wil Menard. He made sure that everything was perfect and that it would be a memorable experience. That it was.

Invitations were only sent to family members and two special friends I've known all my life: Emmilee Green and Carol Caprito. Emmilee and husband Joe live in Harrisonburg where we grew up. Carol and husband JT live just south of Lafayette in Franklin, Louisiana. Our friends and neighbors Pam & Tom Morris joined us and Tom did the driving when I tapped into the rum barrel. I'm pretty sure all had a good time.

Joyce and her husband Allen, asked their friends Liz and "Rat" to come help us celebrate. They came and from what I could tell, thoroughly enjoyed themselves too.

It was a good time, good food, good drink, good companions and good memories. Here are some favorite photos...


Allen and Joyce...

All smiles











Emmilee, Me and Carol

Just like old times












Tom, Pam, Rat and Liz

Thoughts of balloons...












Emmilee, Carol, Joe and JT

The start of a wave...











Leroy & Wil

We'll fatten you up some more Leroy...











Chef John Folse autograph

The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine











Leroy holding official Chitlin Party Shirt

Chitlin eater next year...










My Sweetie and Me

Making life worthwhile every single day...

Turning 65

Where did all the time go? It seems that just yesterday I was in my 50's and only months ago I was in my 30's. All of a sudden I'm retired, on Social Security and Medicare, a member of AARP, and suffer from arthritis. Somewhere along the line I mellowed and realize I'm probably not going to change the world.

Time," it seems, is relative. To what extent I don't know, except that by human standards, there is a beginning and an end. We're born and we die. And until humans invented the clock and calendar, the length of the period in between didn't matter very much. You simply woke up and tried to survive the day. If you did survive, you did the same thing the next day, and the next. If you were lucky you could do this about 10,000 times before you died. I've now done it 23,725 times and I'm still going pretty strong. Or, if I measured my life in hours and minutes and seconds as many humans do, then I have lived 569,400 hours. Or 34,164,000 minutes. Or 2,049,840,000 seconds. A lot of them were wasted in so many ways.

You know that age-old question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Well, I'm now "grown up" and I still don't know what I want to be. I suppose I could answer by saying "rich" or "famous" or "handsome" or "smart" but I think the point of the question is more toward what profession I would have enjoyed as an adult. But all things interest me, none so much that I would want to do it day in and day out for thousands of hours or millions of minutes or billions of seconds. So the hidden answer to that ageless question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" turns out to be, for me at least, "happy." Looking back, I think I have achieved it without ever knowing that it was my ultimate goal.

St. Patricks Day

Top o' th' morn' to ya.

Today is St. Patricks Day, a day when everybody is Irish. (Just what we need is one more excuse to party and drink with abandon.)

At first I thought about smoking a brisket on the Big "Green" Egg but changed my mind. Instead, I think I will make some IBT's (Irish Buffalo Turds). Oh so what if they look and taste like ABT's (Atomic Buffalo Turds)!!! They will be cooked and consummed on St. Patricks Day. For the Irish, that's close enough.

A New Phase of Life

In previous posts I mentioned that I was "semi-retired." That was true then but not now. As of December 31st I notified my customers that I was closing the business and planned to enjoy my retirement. So, officially, I am RETIRED.

It's interesting how I pay no attention to clocks or calendars anymore, well perhaps to make sure I'm at my doctor's appointment on time. Other than that, I don't care if it's Friday or Tuesday or Saturday or 8:00 AM or 1:00 PM. If the weather is nice, and it has been all winter, I may do something outside. If it's raining I have a cup of tea and maybe read a book, or take a nap. If I feel like doing something productive, I do it but on my own terms and my own pace. No pressure.

I think I have easily transitioned myself into the role of "Retiree" and I like it.

The downside of all this is the lack of funds to do everything I would like to do. For example, I really would like to have a custom built paver stone patio and outdoor kitchen. Some of it I might be able to do myself but with a bum knee and some kind of painful foot problem, it won't be done anytime soon. But I've got lots of time.

So here I sit, casually planning my day. The only thing that "Must" be done is feed the fish. Then I think I will do my exercises and maybe have a second cup of coffee. Life is tough on days like this... And I love it.

Hot Air Ballooning

When I was looking up the Sailing photos I happened on some other fond memories. My sweetie gave me a hot air balloon ride one year for my birthday. So cool! Only she would think of something like that.

We lived in Jacksonville, Florida at the time and since we were not into boating anymore, or golfing or fishing there was not much else left to do.

We met up at dawn at Jacksonville University in the Arlington section of Jacksonville. There were three balloons being set up for us and two other couples. We were in the yellow one.

It was interesting to see how the burners blasted hot air into the balloons and gradually they became upright. That's when we boarded and the pilot shot the juice to it. Man, the heat it gave off and the noise was something else, but we started lifting up, up, up, more heat (schuuuuuuu) and up, above the trees and climbing. We were on our way and totally at the mercy of the wind.

We went up about four hundred feet before the pilot decided to change directions. Yep! Total surprise to me that he could control the direction of a balloon. He dropped down about a hundred feet and instead of heading south we were now moving east. Then he took it up a bit and we were headed south again.

It wasn't long before we realized that we would be going directly over our neighborhood. He took it down some and we saw our house only a couple of hundred feet below us. We could hear our dog, Punkin, barking at the sounds of the balloon and we called to her. It was so cool.



Then we went up again and moved once more toward the south. We could see the other balloons going up and down and east and west as they did their own thing. Finally we were near Baymeadows Country Club and the pilot said we would be landing there.

We landed on a fairway that was still wet from the morning dew. We helped deflate the balloon and load it into the chase vehicle then we had our customary glass of champaigne, an old French custom dating back a century or more.

We decided to mosey over to Judy's Mom's apartment a couple of blocks away and surprise her. It was funny seeing the look on her face so early in the morning, especially when she learned that we "floated" in to see her.

It was certainly one of the highlights of our lives and will never be forgotten. Here are a few of the photos we took. We also took some 8 mm movies but they didn't turn out so good.

Sailing

A friend of mine just got a sailboat. I'm really happy for him. He's been wanting one for as long as I've known him. He had this one built special and he can't wait to put it in the water. The only problem is that it's still Winter up where he lives. Cute huh?

Well, his excitement got me to thinking back to when we lived in Miami back in 1976. We thought we would enjoy sailing in Biscayne Bay and perhaps on down the Keys, even to Key West. Never having owned a sailboat and not knowing the first thing about sailing, we took the Coast Guard Class on Sailing. bought a 23' Aquarius and became instant sailors.

It's funny how excited we were about this new adventure and every weekend we looked forward to getting the boat in the water and sailing off into the unknown (unknown because we didn't know much about our new found hobby). Meanwhile, we would clean and wax and practice setting up the mast and taking it down, stowing cargo and anything else we could think of.

We finally got it in the water and our practice paid off. We were sailing. And there were those proud moments when it all came together. Just the two of us or with our friends, sailing, sailing and loving every minute of it.

Even though my Sweetie and Number One Deck Hand probably wondered if we would survive, she seemed to have enjoyed it too.

It was fun but we soon came to realize that we were probably out of our league and we sold the boat. Looking back, I wish we had kept it. At least the adventure could have continued and we just might be real sailors by now.

Fredericksburg Bash

Fredericksburg... A night to remember.

One of the best things about owning a Big Green Egg is hanging out with others who own Big Green Eggs. It is a sight to see whenever there are two or more Eggheads and two or more Big Green Eggs. Such was the case last Tuesday, January 17th, in Fredericksburg Texas where a few friends of Mike "Lawn Ranger" Schweitzer from San Antonio got together to demo Big Green Eggs for the annual University Landscape Managers Conference.

When Mike asked if there were any Eggheads who wanted to volunteer to load their BGE's and drive to Fredericksburg to cook for 140 very hungry guys and gals, hands went up all over the Country. Eventually, a few had to back out for various reasons but we know they were there in spirit. Those who were able to come included Molly Shark, Sandbagger, One Shot One Kill, Mr. Popsicle and wife, GrillMeister, and Spring Chicken and Spring Hen, all from Texas, and SSN686 and wife all the way from Brandon, Florida. All experienced Eggers.

It also gave me an opportunity to show off my new small Big Green Egg and the transporter/cooking center I made special for the occasion.

Spring Chicken's Traveling Cooking Center

We lit our Eggs about 4:00 PM and cooked as hard as we could go until almost midnight for some obviously very hungry folks while a genuine German Ummpaaa Band played on. We also answered questions about the Big Green Egg and what makes it so special as a cooking tool. I think we created a lot of fans and possibly some future Big Green Egg owners.

Sandbagger and GrillMeister

Our assortment of food included ABT's, Beef Kabobs, Smoked Sausage on Pretzel Sticks, Chicken Teryaki on a Skewer, two or three kinds of shrimp, Wok Scallops, Pork Tenderloin, Rum Soaked Fruit Kabobs, Honey Maple Salmon and Pork Medallions.

Beef Kabobs

In addition, the night was just right for enjoying plenty of liquid refreshment. After abstaining for over two weeks a rum and coke tasted really good. So did six or seven others and I got a little "under the weather" so to speak. But I had fun.

Still Going After Six Hours

I can't wait until May when it's time for the 2006 Texas Eggfest in Austin. We've reserved a 26' camper trailer this time and will tow it from here.

New Big Green Egg

My Sweetie gave me a new Big Green Egg (small) for Christmas and it just came in today. By the afternoon I had it assembled and ready for cooking dinner. Here it is sitting on next to my large Big Green Egg.

I've been wanting a small BGE so we can take it with us sometimes. The large is much too heavy for easy transport although many Eggheads do it. The small is perfect because it only weighs 65 pounds.

Here it is sitting on the Spring Chicken Small Egg Transporter/Cooking Center. Notice the legs and feet.

Here it is serving as a transporter. Notice the cork padding under the Egg and felt band around the Egghole.

It came in just in time for us to take it to Fredericksburg, Texas next Tuesday for a demo for a group of landscapers. A fellow Egghead and friend is hosting the event and wanted the group to sample some of the food cooked on Big Green Eggs. There will be other Eggheads there to feed the 140+ crowd during their meet and greet party.

Now I will have to redesign my BGE Cooking Center to accommodate both of my Eggs.

Out With The Old Year and In With The New

2005 was NOT a good year for me by any standard. However, it is almost over and I'm looking forward to 2006. For one thing, I will finally become a ward of the government (Medicare). I've been without health insurance for some time now and no insurance company in their right mind will insure me. So Taxpayers, be aware that I will soon become an expense item.

It is only two and a half hours before the official countdown begins. I figure to be in bed by then. Then tomorrow I will cook some pork ribs while Judy cooks the cabbage and blackeyed peas, the wishful ingredients of a prosperous year.

My final post this year ends with a hardy Happy New Year to you all.

Eye Problem Continued

Well, I finally got the word that my bad eye isn’t going to get better. The damage is irreversible. Glaucoma, probably brought about by the trauma of infection and multiple surgeries. All they can do now is try to keep it from getting worse. Eye drops may do it but if not there are a couple of other tricks they can use. Oddly, my vision seemed to be better today than it was yesterday. Probably a fluke but I’m enjoying it while I can.

If you value your vision you should have your eyes checked regularly, making sure they also test for glaucoma. I recently read this about it:

Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can steal sight without warning or symptoms. Three million Americans have it. Only half know.

I’ll learn to live with one eye but for now I’m still in the treatment stage trying to save what’s left of the vision in my bad eye. I sure didn’t want to start my retirement off this way.

Leroy

Clan MacMillan of Scotland

I never spent much time wondering where my ancestors came from. I just took it for granted that we came from Ireland because someone told me when I was young that my grandfather's side came from Ireland and my grandmother's side came from Holland.

I just finished reading the sixth book in the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon in which she takes readers back to the mid-1700's in Scotland, and then brings the story right up to the eve of the American Revolution. Although it is a fictional love story mixed with a little time-travel, the meshing of day to day details about people, places and things, especially politics and medicine, fascinated me. More important, I found myself feeling somehow attached to every aspect of the story. In many ways I was wishing that I was there to see this history in the making with my own eyes.

It sparked an interest in learning more about my family history and it wasn't long before a Google search turned up tons of McMillin history, the most important being that my forbearers were from Scotland. Then I ran upon the official website of the Clan MacMillan. That really perked my interest and the more I read, the more I understood why I was so connected to Scotland and to the life and times of Jamie and Claire Frazier, the central characters in the books. They were caricature representatives of my family's Scottish history.

In addition to important events and people, the website explained a lot of things that I would never have known had I not done the research.

For example, the surname, McMillin, is but one of many variations of the spelling of Clan M'millan. In fact, according to the official records, "There are probably more variations on Macmillan than most because of the two Gaelic versions of the name - MacGhillemhaoil and MacHhaolain - each of which has been spelt in many different ways over the centuries, and in the various regions of the country in which members of the clan have lived."

Given the above, McMillin by any other name is a McMillin, and I can claim with full certainty to be of the MacMillan Clan. It won't make me rich but it sure makes me proud.

"Miseris sucurrere disco"

"I learn to succour the unfortunate"

If you would like to see and read more about Clan MacMillan you can go to: http://www.clanmacmillan.org/Index.html and click on any of the links.

Leroy McMillin - Clan MacMillan

2005 High School Reunion

What a Great time!

Well, the 2005 Harrisonburg High School Reunion is over and everyone has gone back to their homes with enough good memories to hold them until 2010. I know I enjoyed every moment of it.

Our friends, Pam and Tom Morris, came along for the ride and were quickly accepted by everyone we encountered. It didn't take them long to get with the program and you would think they also graduated from HHS by the way they fit in with the crowd. I think they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Judy and I also took them for a tour of the town and Fort Bouregard overlooking the town. Now they can visualize what I've been talking about for the last seven years.

The fun started with an open invitation party at Emmilee and Joe Green's beautiful house overlooking the Ouachita River just north of the Village of Harrisonburg. A beautiful setting for a wonderful party that went well into the night. There must have been 75 or 80 who came, and most brought food: absolutely delicious food. There was also a talented band, some adult beverages and a roaring pit fire to keep us energized and warm. Emmilee and Joe were the perfect hosts. In fact we were their guests for the entire weekend.

The next morning we had a great breakfast and proceeded to the High School where there was a Meet & Greet prior to the actual ceremony. For two hours I talked to people I haven't seen in over forty years. It was great.

As we moved into the gym we were directed to sit with our former classmates. There were classes dating back to the 1930's and some of them were well represented. Our class of 1959 only had twenty graduates but even though a few had died and at least one could not travel due to a broken leg, we still managed to draw a cheerful and vocal group of seven.

James Stone, Wayne Booth, Don Cannaday, Evelyn Meyers Stringer, Leroy "Jr" McMillin, Patricia Booth Kirkland, Emmilee Johnson Green

Class of '59

When the ceremonies were over many of us proceeded up to a classmate's restaurant in Enterprise, Louisiana and feasted on some really good food while listening to a great band. Jim Bowie's Relay Station. The place was packed with former HHS graduates. Then we toured some of the small buildings around the restaurant. They were built to reflect many different themes ranging from an old power boat, a small church, a grist mill, a Veterans memorial, a covered bridge, a school, a service station and other important reminders of the past. The owners, John Ed and Shirley Bartmess are to be commended for their wonderful contribution to the area.

We returned home exhausted but very happy we were there for a memorable event.

One Good Eye

Yesterday I learned that my right eye, the one that got infected after cataract surgery over a year ago, has reached its maximum level of improvement. What that actually means is I now only have one good eye. Fortunately, I can see to drive with it and recently passed my drivers license renewal exam. Unfortunately, my bad eye is dominate and is still trying to see. It creates a distortion of sorts while trying to see certain things. Thus, I subconsciously close the bad eye on occasion. Judy does not like to see it closed and reminds me to open it up. Easier said than done. In fact, I find it more comfortable to wear a patch over the eye. The doctor said my brain will gradually switch to the left eye as the dominate one and I will adapt to it. She said many people do not even realize they only make use of one eye, the dominate one, until it is demonstrated to them. I suppose things could be worse. She also said that my bad eye (legally blind at 20/400) is still considered "ambulatory" because, should I lose my good eye; I can see just enough to get around. I take that to mean I can see the door or chair or person although I cannot see well enough to describe the door or chair or person. I certainly can't read or watch TV or do anything that requires me to see clearly with the bad eye so I guess I should take every step to protect my good one.

Now I have to decide what to do with my woodworking tools. I might be able to build rustic birdhouses but I doubt that I can do the intricate cuts required to make my scale model trucks. If so, it just may be time to change my hobby to something I can do without the danger of losing a finger or hand or eye.

I plan to go see the Ophthalmologist who performed the original cataract surgery that started all this and see what, if anything, he can/will do about it, either medically or financially. I'm thinking the very least he can do is give me back the $2,000 I had to pay out of pocket for the Crystalens that he recommended, installed and now doesn't work. I will say he has been very good about trying everything he can to fix it.

We'll see (pun intended)

Leroy

Hurricane Rita (The surprises)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. I thought I suffered no damage from Hurricane Rita. Turns out that's not necessarily the case. The constant pulsing of electrical power apparently harmed a couple of appliances, and my pump/filter system for my Koi pond. They don't seem to want to work anymore. The most expensive is the ecosystem for my pond. The pump would not run today and the biological filter tank which is under pressure started to leak really bad. I concluded that variations in pump pressure brought on by fluxuations in power did both of them in. I worked on the pump and got it running but the filter looks hopeless. So I bought another one, this time gravity fed as opposed to pressure fed. The idea is that future power malfunctions will not harm the filter, a critical factor in the filtering of the pond because it is very sensitive to enzyme action. I just replaced the pump a few weeks ago because it had pretty much run its course after five years. $90.00. Pumps don't come cheap. And this new filter will require some major changes in the hoses, another expense I haven't calculated yet. I will also need more stones to cover the filter that will now be above the level of the pond, not below ground like the previous one.

The fish hate going through all of this because it greatly upsets the pond's PH and clarity factors. I hope we don't lose any fish.

Water gardens can get complicated, especially after a hurricane.

Leroy

Hurricane Rita (After)

Hurricane Rita, billed as the 3rd most powerful hurricane in the Gulf, took six days to get here, growing to a Category 5, but when it came time to pick a target, it slowed down, went east and spared the Houston area.

Instead of damage, most folks around here are going to talk about the evacuation of over three million people who were convinced that they would be harmed if they stayed. So they took to the evacuation routes and sat there, and sat there and sat there. Thousands of travelers never made it to their destinations and hundreds of cars simply ran out of fuel after only thirty or forty miles because they could not move.

We have leaves all over our lawn and a few small limbs here and there but that's about it. We actually got so little rain that I will have to water my lawn today.

Even with the boarding up of windows, moving things inside or tying them down, and now having to undo all that effort, we are glad we did. It could have been the big one...

Hurricane Rita

Well, it's starting. The non-stop news reports, the inevitible doomsday predictions, confusing evacuation orders, people buying anything and everything they can get their hands on, long lines at the gas stations, traffic backed up for miles, etc.

And worse than all that, everyone had to make that dreaded decision: go or stay. After considerable thought and discussion, we decided to stay. We're 90 miles from the Gulf and maybe 120 miles from where Rita is supposed to landfall. We know a Cat 5 hurricane, especially one of Rita's magnatude, will probably do a great deal of damage to our home either in the form of wind, rain or tornados. The thought of that sickens us but we have decided to be here when it happens.

When I saw this animated picture on the computer screen today my first thought was that Rita was a circular saw blade cutting its way across the Gulf. I suppose all my future pictures will be of the "sawdust" it left in its wake. I'm just hoping the sawdust is not mine.

It may be some time before we have power restored but as soon as I can I will post "after" photos of my little kingdom. Until then, goodnight.

Back in business

I own a staffing agency that specializes in placing building engineers with large commercial property management companies. My company is called M&A Staffing and I operate it from my home.

A few months ago I had to suspend my business because I could not drive, read, watch TV, operate a computer or do anything that required me to hold my head upright. Things were kind of slow anyway so I just settled into a "retired" mode and listened to books on tape.

Yesterday I received a call from one of my long-time customers saying he was sending an applicant to me to process and assign back to him on a temp-to-perm basis. In less than two hours the young man was processed, drug tested, his employment and criminal history checked and on his way to work.

Shortly afterward I received a call from the company's HR department asking for my help in filling a number of other positions.

I suppose this means that I am no longer in the "retired" mode.

Vacation

We finally took a vacation. For 32 years we just used our vacation time to visit relatives or do projects or just do nothing. It was fine with us but we never got to see new places or do new things. Well this time we flew to Phoenix, spent time in Scottsdale, Sedona, Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona, visited some cliff dweller ruins, rode the Grand Canyon Railway to the Grand Canyon, spent the night in the famous El Tovar Hotel, took a bus tour of the South Rim, crossed the Hoover Dam, held at gunpoint by train robbers and bet that our luck was better than the house in Las Vegas. And now we're home. It was fun but it was more than enough adventure for both of us.

Judy's sister, Joyce and hubby, Allen joined us and it made a big difference in how much fun we had because they like adventure. Unfortunately, their house in Metairie (New Orleans) was always in the back of their mind. They learned that it had water in it from Hurricane Katrina. There was nothing they could do immediately so we all decided to go ahead with the long planned vacation.

I missed cooking on my Big Green Egg and I'm very sore from all the walking we did.

I managed to take over 300 photos which I eventually edited down to 258. Here's a few of the more memorable ones...

It was a good trip.

Me and my Sweetie in front of our home.