July 4, 2012 Celebrate America Wamego Style Part 2

It was a 4th of July for the books, if I do say so myself.

CB played golf.

Luke studied then had a friend come for the night.

I read, napped, rinse, repeat.

Momma and her cousin came for dinner and fireworks.  We had an all American meal: hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, cucumber and onions, and corn on the cob.  What could be better?

Momma and Nola decided they wanted to go to the ball fields to see the fireworks.  For the last several years we've watched the show from our driveway but by doing so, we missed the ground works which we've been told are spectacular.

Because half a million (or thereabouts) people will be at the ball fields as well, we had a plan.  Luke and his buddy would get Uncle Jay's golf cart and take Momma to the show.  CB would tote Nola then come back to the house and get me.  

The plan worked perfectly and we were all there for 35 minutes of the most glorious fireworks ever shot off in the history of the universe.  What made it even better is that one of my physical therapists is on the pyro crew responsible for shooting off the fireworks.  It was almost as if I were doing it myself.  Almost.

Here you go:

What you can't tell from this picture is that there are 4 or 5 international people all filming the fireworks show.  They weren't really watching it, just holding their phones up filming the entire thing.  I thought it was hilarious.

We agreed that being at the ball diamonds with the multitudes is the place to be when the sky explodes.

July 3, 2012 Celebrate America Wamego Style, Part 1

At 3:30 today, I sold my Mazda.  When I bought it, it had 6,000 miles on it.  When I sold it, it had 192,000 miles.  I think I got my money's worth.

 Here is my car as it leaves Manhattan for the last time.  I cried a little bit.

Did you see the moon tonight?  It was big and orange and more beautiful than any firework display.

The guy who lives across the street from my mom has a huge fireworks display on the 3rd every year.  Thousands of people come from all over and cram into Mom's yard, the streets and the neighborhood park.

The fireworks lit up the sky.

The rocket's red glare,

the bombs bursting in air!

And, there's cake.

July 2, 2012 Car Sale

Have you ever seen those ads in the newspaper that say "We Buy Junk Cars"?  Ever wonder if they really do buy junk cars?  Ever had a junk car you needed to unload?

I found myself in the position of needing to find a suitable burial spot for my Mazda so I called one of the businesses to see if indeed they really did buy junk cars.

They do!  For $200!  And they will even come and pick up the deceased.

Just like Swaim Funeral Home in Dodge City.

Although Swaims charged $75 to pick up my dad and the junk car place picked up the Mazda for nothing.

July 1, 2012 Can't Photograph Smell

I intended to take several pictures of my second effort with pulled pork.  My camera was in my bag and my bag was in my car and you all know that I am not about to haul my fat, crippled ass all the way out to the garage just to take a picture of some raw meat.  (However, all bets are off when I am healed and walking like a real person.  When that happens, I am back to taking pictures of crazy shit.  I'll try to give you some notice.)

Here's how it went:  I brined a pork shoulder for 8 hours yesterday.  Beginning at 7:30 a.m. this morning , I put a dry rub on the pork and popped that bad boy a slow oven for what was suppose to be 12 hours.  Fifteen hours later, the internal temperature of the meat was 4 degrees short of where it was suppose to be according to the recipe.  I was getting sleepy and what's 4 degrees, anyway?

Here is where the smell comes in - my house smelled amazing.  It was like living in the backroom of Famous Dave's.

Anyway, I turned the oven off, as directed and let the meat sit in the oven until the internal temperature went down to 170 degrees.  After 2 hours (TWO HOURS!!) the temperature had fallen 10 degrees.  This had all the makings of a very long night.

I decided that sleep was more important than following a recipe (at my age, sleep is second only to a daily bowel movement) so I took the meat out and shredded it.

It. Was. The. Best. Pulled. Pork. Ever. In. The. World.  End. Of. Story.

and it only took 17 hours!

June 30, 2012 Something New

My contribution to the 4th of July celebration at my mom's is going to be pulled pork.  I had 3 options:  try a new recipe in the CrockPot; try a new recipe in the oven or buy pulled pork at Cox Brothers BBQ.

No, of course I didn't choose the easy route.  I chose, instead, BOTH other options!

This afternoon I put a pork shoulder in the Crockpot with some onions and a cup of ginger ale.  It was to cook for 8 hours.  Sounds easy enough except that it wasn't, easy enough.

First of all, the lid didn't fit quite right because of the onions, but I didn't realize it until 2 hours in.  So, basically those 2 hours were for nothing.  I fixed that issue and relaxed, letting the slow cooker work it's magic.

Then, at 8:30, the power went off.  For 2 hours.  Damn it.

Luke put the meat in the fridge so I wouldn't be serving a side order of food poisoning with the pulled pork  Tomorrow morning, I'll finish cooking it.

Cox Brothers is sounding pretty good right about now.

Then, I prepared a brine for the other pork shoulder I bought.  The second recipe calls for the meat to be brined, then cooked low and slow all day tomorrow.

We'll see how it all turns out.

Stay tuned.

June 29, 2012 Hire It Done

At first glance this looks like my living room.  But look again.  Closer this time.

See that?  No dust.  Carpet clean.  Cobwebs gone. Shit no longer in the middle of the floor.

Can it really be my living room?

Why, yes, yes it can!

I hired it done.


Thanks to Craigslist, I found 2 students who wanted to clean houses.  After spending a day at my house, though, they might reconsider their chosen extra-curricular activity.  It's been awhile since I was able to give my home the attention it deserves.

It was wonderful to come home to a clean house - a really clean house.  Now, my goal is to keep ahead of the dirt and clutter.  Actually, that's always been my goal, but for the first time, I have a head start!

And the bathrooms....you should see the bathrooms!

June 28, 2012 Job Well done

Remember last summer when I made "Knock You on Your Ass Slush"?  It's full of limeade, lemonade, tea, sugar, water and VODKA?  Remember that?

I made some this summer.  In this very container.  This container, one week ago, was full of slush.  Giggle inducing, temperature lowering slush.

Today, this container is empty.

The slush is gone.

I was not robbed.  

I simply giggled my way through the week.  And never broke a sweat.