Burnt Offerings and Toasted Spaghetti

I'm sort of becoming a grilling guru. Ok, I'm trying to become a grilling guru. Most of the time, my grilled dishes turn out pretty good. Every once in a while I really make something great. And then, every once in a while I really mess something up. Really badly.

The other day I set out to make some hamburgers. Plain old ordinary burgers. And then, I decided that I should whip up some mushrooms on the side burner while steaming vegetables inside the house. So, there I was with 4 burgers cooking on the grill, a pan of mushrooms sizzling on the side burner, and a pot of steamed yellow squash on the pressure cooker. (It's really great with parmessean cheese, salt, and pepper).

Well, to make a long story short, everything turned out good, except I really burned the hamburgers. I mean bad. Black. Carcinogenic. Like Charcoal.

Later I was taking a shower while Anna was in the bathroom doing her hair. I chuckled to myself in the shower. She asked me what was so funny. I told her that I was trying to console myself by coming up with some sort of spiritual parrallel for my hamburgers.

She paused for a second and said, "Don't tell me you were trying to make a burnt offering."

"No," I replied, "All I could come up with was, 'This too shall pass.'"

Fast-forward a few days...to today! I came home from work and I smelled something burning. The stove vent was blowing wide open. Two pots sat on the stove. The burners were off. My wife was no where to be found. I tip-toed into the kitchen and gingerly lifted the lid off of the pan. It took a moment to identify the carnage, but I soon figured out that it was supposed to be spaghetti sauce. Only, it wasn't very saucy. As a matter of fact, the bottom half-inch or so looked remarkably like the hamburgers that I had made just a few days ago: black, hard, and crusty.

I sauntered down the hall into the bedroom and there was Anna, under the covers, with a pillow over her head. I pulled back the pillow and she said:

"I don't want to talk about it."

What's a man to do in a situation like this?



"So, where do you want to go?"

Tabasco

I'm starting to get used to living in Texas.

Today, I put tobasco sauce on my goulash.

(Think elbow macaroni, hamburger, and tomatoes).

Gillette Fusion

OK Guys... I know what you've been thinking. When you're out at Target or WalMart, you've no doubt seen the end-cap displays for the new Gillette Fusion razor. You've stared at them and thought, "Is it really a better razor? Is it worth it?"

Alas, curiousity finally caused me to buy one. I was leary, because a year or two ago I bought a Gillette Mach 3 MPower, which was a joke. It didn't shave as well as the Mach 3 Turbo and the blades are considerably more expensive. I ended up going back to the old razor.

I was not dissapointed by the Fusion. It's about the same size as the Mach 3 Turbo, but it has five blades instead of three. It's less uncomfortable to shave with, and seems to give a closer shave. The comfort guard on the front of the razor is larger and you can actually tell that it's doing something. In addition, the little Aloe strip thing doesn't wear out after 4 shavings. Finally, if you turn the razor over, there is a single blade on the back side that makes trimming your sideburns and under your nose really easy. Overall, I really like it so far.

Planting and Yard Work

Texas really is great this time of year. Yesterday, I built a garden bed with pavers / retaining wall stone in the back yard. Looks really pretty neat. There was just enough room to plant 4 tomato plants, 2 strawberry plants, and a banana pepper plant. Think about that.... I planted my garden on March 6th! Wow!

I also fertilized and watered the lawn, pulled weeds, and a few other odds and ends outside. It's going to be 90 here today.

It's all fun right now, but it has me a little worried. It was 82 yesterday and I got a real light sunburn because I was working in the backyard with my shirt off. (Gotta get my tan in, you know?). Anyway, if it's 90 in March, how stinking hot is it going to be in July / August?

Only time will tell. In the mean time I'm going to enjoy my motorcycle and my sun tan.

What a difference a little rain makes

As I've mentioned before, it's been really dry here. No doubt, you all heard about the grass fires up in Cross Plains and elsewhere in Texas and Oklahoma. I took this picture a couple weeks ago. This was taken in the empty lot next to our house. It's been so dry that the ground cracks. The cracks in this picture are almost an inch wide. There was an article in the paper advising people to water around their foundations to prevent heaving as a result of this type of movement and separation.



The good news is that we're finally starting to get some rain. About a week ago we had our first Texas thunderstorm. A few days later, I took this picture in roughly the same spot that I had taken the first image just a few weeks ago.



Amazing, isn't it?