smoker assembly

the foundation of the house of meat.


i looks like an out house, but it is packed with meat.



we used these baking racks as shelving, perfect fit and we were able to get a lot of meat in at once.
trimming and cutting the meat took A LOT OF TIME. like way more time than you really want to spend doing this sort of thing. plus we had to do it at night because the flies were so bad. the first time neil and i cut meat we were swarmed in the most disgusting display of winged creatures i have ever seen.

jeryky time

warning. the following pictures chronicle the demise of a 1600 pound bull with a bum hip and how we subsequently turned him into jerky over the last 3 weeks.



it took us less time to skin this year because we didnt gut it we just took the legs off to hang in the unfinished bathroom/meat locker. we cut out the briskets and brined them into corned beef. we cut as much other neck and shoulder meat as we could and left the carcass to the coyotes and mountain lions.

im on the night train

mycological wisdom

thanks to gil for sharing this paul stamets video. take 17 minutes and educate your selves!

6 WAYS MUSHROOMS CAN SAVE THE WORLD
(I cant embed it for some reason, here is the link)


http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html

pumpkins for obama

ashlyn and her jack o lantern

its hard to say and mean about too many people, but i hate this woman. she is the worst thing that has happened to the political playing field in a long time. everything she says irks me past reason; her accent, her "straight talk to the american people", her supporters and her perfect hair.

low carb diet from the mainstream media: medscape

DFamily Reunion

Camping on the Umpqua River. Neil and Crime Dog did a lot of fishing. Amanda and I played a lot of cards and made a lot of food. We hiked to some hot springs, watched the dogs swim in the coldest water ever and had a great time.

Crater Lake. Mom and Dad said this was the first place they took me when I was 6 weeks old. Just how I remember it.





Hello. Anenome.


Applegate Valley: Southern OR, Wine Country



Weird mini donkies. head scratchers.

all the way for this?

South Dakota
dont do it. no matter how tempting. this is worse than south of the border (and no pedro)


this was slightly better.

These mushrooms in Montana were way more worth it. Spiny Hedgehogs, they are toothed mushrooms that are slightly bitter but edible. Also called hawk's wings. We sampled some, not great, but if you're hungry. ...





Then we found these shaggy manes. MMMM. egg batter and sauteed? yum.

LET THE BROKEN HEARTS STAND AS the price you gotta pay

BISON. another national park grazing bison herds.

CAMPING IN THE HOT DRY SUN.

BADLANDS. YOU GOT TO LIVE IT EVERYDAY.

This is what creasy doggie looks like before she rolls around in fresh bison poop and smears it all over her entire body.

chi town with wilson

little poland. first a buffet with all the golomki, kraut and perogis you can eat then a sausage shop with more intestines and potted meat than you can shake a slim jim at.

larks bbq and car wash: the best of benton harbor

grandma jayne's & grandpa bruno's

dad brought home 3 perfect puff ball mushrooms from his walk the first morning. delicious! neil says they rival his love for king boletes.


homemade noodles and mashed potatoes: the requisite starch fest that is so good. ( i made some good dumplings from the bob's red mill GF biscuit mix, i added in some herbs to make them tasty and boiled them in chicken broth. surprisingly good).



dinner


grandma had a birthday right before we arrived, which deserved celebration.


family portrait. sara flew in, dad and nicole drove up with neil, creasy and i and nicole flew home a few days later while mom and dad continued the mich saga.

chapel hill schwagazine

I haven't seen the actual article yet, but this is really embarrassing. They got a number of things wrong in the very short ammount of words they chose to print including Sally's name, where I went to school and well, they published a giant picture of me with armpit fat and you cant even see my eyeball in that picture. Plus there is no picture of my dress or my family. Lady of the Lake? Seriously? That was the best you could do?

zoological experiment

the perfect way for babies and dogs to interact: their own private zoo.