Hey yesterday it hit the mid forties.  Maybe even 50 I am told.  So what does that mean?  A bit of cabin fever.

Let me back up a bit.  Saturday was almost 40 and sunny so I also did some stuff outside.  Like shovel off the deck, like doggy doo treasure hunting, summerizing the snow-blower  and some other yard and garage clean up things.

Sunday morning, I prep the grill for a bit of pulled pork.

 

9:00 AM (had to let the frost burn off a bit) Some wood chips for smoke, some beer for the steam and a 5 pound shoulder with a nice dry rub on it

Enter the grillers assistant.  "Can I have some, now?",  "How about now?", "Now?"  He's a slow learner.

  

And the smoking begins.  

This takes a long time.  So while that starts cooking I start cleaning.

Such a dirty pig.  Not washed since October.

Wait I have have something on the grill.... Oh yea.  7 hrs later...

I had to scoop it off the grill because it fell apart.  The best part is pulling it apart after it cools a bit.  The outside smoked crust.  It's like bacon and all kinds of smokey fatty crispy goodness.  I think I eat a sandwich worth just shredding it.  

 Two cars with the winter funk off of them.  Hey it's not supposed to snow until Thursday...Not too bad.

Time to get the grill on

Man this long ass winter has kept my grilling to a minimum,  hell who am I kidding, it kept it to a zero this winter.   Mostly because I needed to get a few parts for the grill.  So 2 weeks ago, they finally came and I installed them.  Then the temps dipped back to single digits and I was feeling defeated.

Well,  Sunday I was not to be denied.  23 degrees be damned at least the snow wasn't in my way any longer.  I fired it up,  threw some coal on and let it rip.   I let it get nice and hot, get the moisture (surface rust) out of everything and then placed some garlic and herb marinated Leroys Meats of Horicon (cha-ching) chicken breasts on.

Perfect.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife!

Trust me 45 isn't so bad.

Here is a picture from when you were 35.  Because it made me laugh...

Love Always!

Spring?

Ok I think that spring is officially the shittiest season we have.  It's still cold, its rainy and snowy and sloppy.  The yards look like garbage and the dwindling snowbanks look like tailings from a mining operation.  I know why the call it spring cleaning.  Because of the mess spring makes and tracks into your house. Seriously.

So I put away the skis and snowboard for another year.  I got out 5 times after Christmas with my new cross country skis.  I only put down about 13 miles not quite 3 on each trip.  Not as much as I would have liked to but next year I will get all of December and hopefully it won't be negative temps for 2 weeks straight. Plus now I remember how it goes, the first time out was kind of rough.

Its also the time of planning, what needs to be done to the house, the yard, any other outings and vacation plans for the real seasons.

I know I have a ton of stuff to do.  Fix a few windows (dry rot), paint all the trim on the house. Stuff no one likes to do, but you have to do.

I am also planning on more bike riding, and hopefully some paddling adventures too.

The snow on the deck is almost gone and this morning we reminisced a bit.  Reminded of how much Bailey loved his winter and hated to see his outdoor 'beds' melt.

Here's to a quick spring..

6 Years of Blog

Today is the 6th anniversary of this blog.

688 posts, 12,000 plus page views.

A little look at what goes on now and then and an little outlet for me.

Thanks for reading and clicking the comments buttons and such below.

Cheers!

-Jeff

Canoecopia

Well the long awaited trip to Canoecopia was this weekend.  I say long awaited because I have been wanting to hit this show for oh, a long time.  I mean 20 years.  I have always liked being on the water.  With the boy scouts doing the High Adventure camp in upper Wisconsin (which has since been shut down).

Good old Troop 260.  I remember Dad volunteered to drive some of the troop up for this.  Then he turned around and headed back all in one day - something like 12 hours of driving...

Then there was the trip to Quetico national park in Ontario with a friend back in 1988.  

A 7 day 80+ mile canoe trip in the heart of Canadian wilderness. I have always wanted to get back out there, but a lot of things took precedent over those wishes.

If you remember, Tracy and I took a paddling class last summer and liked it enough to get more involved. So fast forward to Friday where we headed out to Madison the day before we were to go to the show.  Call it a date night if you want.  We went to the Tempest Oyster Bar for dinner.   The first time I had oysters on the half shell, i.e. raw oysters. Yes you do chew them and no they really are not slimy, just different I can't explain the texture.  They were pretty tasty, very bright, like when you go in the ocean and get a mouthful of sea water.  It tasted like the ocean smells and tastes.  I ended up getting 3 in total.  Two west coast and one east coast and yes, they tasted different.  Another check off the culinary bucket list.   We also had an appetizer of calamari, scallops, shrimp, clams and cooked oysters.   For the main entry Tracy had a perch fry and I had scallops, shrimp and pork belly on a bed of creamy grits.   One of the best meals I have had in a long time.  

The next day we had a bit of breakfast and headed to the expo center.  Think of the sport show or the expo hall at state fair except for canoes and kayaks and all the gear that goes along with them.  Paddles, clothing flotation, transport, camping, fishing, pets etc, etc etc.   They also had all kinds of speakers:  How to, technique, beginner, trip's taken (many epic 1000+ mile type trips).  All in all very cool.  

Are we boat owners?  No, not yet anyway.  We found some boats we like and will head back when the weather is warmer and we can test paddle before we buy.   

Until then I will just have to keep the dream alive.