Greyt Balls of Fire!

Sol Driven Train Stevie Song #3 Stripped Down

2010-09-25T10:22:00.003-04:00

Here's a cool video shot of the boys playing stripped down and unplugged. Love this band to death.

Thursday Night BEAR Down

2010-07-01T23:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's a bear track. We rode the Jasus Creek Forest Service road loop from Woody's shop in search of bears. We saw tons of signs - tracks and scat all over the road, and even heard one crashing through the underbrush, but no actual sightings. Maybe next week!

-- Post From My iPhone

Snow Bunnies

2010-02-15T09:26:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was one we were looking forward to for quite some time. Vmac and Tiff were coming up and bringing the bikes for some trail riding, and we were really ready to hit the trails. The weather has not been kind to cyclists, so we were hoping for a break. Vonnie foreshadowed the weekend in an email several weeks ago claiming there would probably be a "weather event" this weekend, but he was bringing his bike anyway. It was an epic weather weekend for sure - there was snow on the ground in 49 out of 50 states. I'm not sure when that has occured before, I certainly can't remember it happening in my lifetime.

After a leisurely morning and lunch on Saturday that saw snows melting in our neck of the woods, I told Suzy to get kitted up - we were headed to Jack Rabbit to give the trails a try. I figured there would still be snow on the ground there, and before the thaw and slop got too bad to ride in, we were off for an adventure.

As you can see, there was LOTS of snow on the trails. It's very different riding in snow - you can't see hidden obstacles, or know for sure exactly where the trail bed is. Luckily, there were 2 other crazy guys that were just finishing a loop as we were starting, and I prayed they picked good lines, as I used their tire tracks as a guide. In the spots where the trail was protected under trees, or that was exposed to the sunshine, it was extremely wet, so we got covered in mud, but had a great ride.

I hate that Vonnie and Tiffanie couldn't meet up with us for the ride, but it wasn't in the cards. Their plans were all jacked up from the weather, and we just couldn't connect. If we had waited until Sunday to try and ride, the trails would have been a huge sloppy mess and we probably would have done some damage to the trails by riding them. As it was, I don't think we hurt them at all, and we had a blast. Not very often that we in the South get a chance to do something like this, so it was a lot of fun, and we got to ride our bikes finally!

Anna Ruby Falls

2010-02-07T12:14:00.002-05:00

Saturday we had cabin fever from all the rain, so we bundled up in the afternoon and headed over to hike around Unicoi. Betsy had not been to Anna Ruby Falls yet, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to see them with all the recent rains. It was lightly snowing when we left the house, and was snowing pretty decently by the time we got to the parking lot at the base of the falls trail. The water flow was spectacular, and the trees provided some shelter from the wind and falling snow.

After we finished Anna Ruby, we stopped at the parking lot for Lake Unicoi and hiked that trail as well. Byt the time we were done it was 3:15pm and we hadn't had lunch, so we headed over to Nacoochee Tavern for some late lunch/early dinner pizza. Not a bad day to be outside if you were dressed for it!

TallBoy at Sunset

2010-02-03T18:49:00.001-05:00

The weather outside has been frightful, and with more rain/sleet/snow in the immediate forecast, I nutted up, suited up, and tackled the neighborhood climb after work. We've been walking it and partially jogging it, but I needed some saddle time in a BIG way. Not a long ride, but a ride none the less! Cheers!

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Starlight Dr,Cleveland,United States

I want to ride my bicycle!

2010-02-02T15:51:00.002-05:00

OK, so it's no secret that the weather has sucked for bike riding this winter. Beautiful during the work week, raining or sleeting or snowing on the weekends. Apparently, I am not the only one who feels this way. Apparently, Hitler wants to ride his mountain bike as well!

This hilarious video was posted on the SORBA forums by a member. Too funny!

I came to see Willie!

2009-11-02T11:28:00.000-05:00

We had the opportunity to go see an American icon this past weekend. Willie Nelson came to Hiawassee and the Georgia Mountain Fair Grounds. It was a great time, a 2900 seat venue with church pew bench style seating. We had straight away seats, about 4 rows from the back of the venue. Fred and Tammy came up from Florida to visit and catch the show, and we were trying hard to have a good time. I say trying, because the yahoos behind us kept talking and cackling in stereo right behind me. After listening to their inane drivel and laughter for about a quarter of the show, I finally turned around and said, "Ma'am, PLEASE, we are trying to hear the show!" That shut them up for a bit, but they started mouthing off about 3/4 of the way through the show, so Suzy turned around and snapped a shot of them for kicks. They made some comments about the "NOISE POLICE" always following them around where ever they go. News flash - if you get told to SSHHH everywhere you go, maybe YOU are the problem!

Anyway, if you find yourself seated next to these yahoos, do yourself a favor and find another seat!

I Don't Recycle!

2009-10-14T15:00:00.004-04:00

Tongue in cheek guerilla marketing slogan for the Georgia push to recycle. It just so happens that Jen and Joe both work for the State and are avid cyclists. We've met them before, and they just so happened to be at the Fat Tire Festival promoting recyling awareness. Turns out Maria and Tommy were there as well, although I found them a bit shallow...

Upon closer inspection, looks like I need to have a word with Tommy - he's snaking on my woman! Check out http://yougottabekidding.org/ for more info!

Helen Fat Tire Festival

2009-10-13T08:22:00.004-04:00

We had the return of the Helen Fat Tire Festival last weekend, after a several year hiatus. It was a great 3 day weekend filled with biking and related activities, to include the Series Finale of the Dirty Spokes 6/12 hour Mountain Bike Race Series. This year it was stretched to 4 races from the previous 3. I had high hopes at the start of this year for having a good race season, but for various health and family reasons, this has not been the best training and fitness year. The races have been in some pretty demanding conditions as well.

The first race was at Heritage Horse Park, and it was rainy, cold and windy. I was the only SGC member that braved the conditions since it was just over an hour from the house. I managed 2 laps before I called it, due to deteriorating conditions and no one in the pits to tell me to get back on the bike.

The second race was at Fort Yargo, and we had the full team in effect, but the elements were HARSH. I finished my second lap just before the torrential rains started, so I headed out for my 3rd lap in the drizzle. Before I even made it into the woods, the skies opened up and the water poured forth. I've never ridden my bike in those types of conditions, and don't care to again. The trail became a small creek, so I rode with the current downhill, and against the current uphill. Halfway around that lap, it stopped raining, and that was actually worse than the rain. There was no rain to wash the quickly accumulating mud from man and machine, and the trail was severely muddy. After rolling back in the pits, I was done - glad to be off the bike and in one piece. That race took it's toll - costing me a chain, cassette, cables and bottom bracket. Riding in the slop is EXPENSIVE!

The third race was in July at Tribble Mill, but I was off the bike, sidelined with a health issue, so I didn't even go.

Saturday was the finale at Unicoi State Park - my hometown trails. Unicoi is a tough ride, much less at race pace. It has lots of climbing and some technical descents. I was nursing a sore left knee from a crash Friday, and went down HARD on a slick bridge trying to avoid the guy in front of me who bobbled. Skidded along the black crud on the bridge for what seemed like 50 yards, picked myself up, went to remount, only to find my seatpost twisted halfway around. Pushed to the end of the bridge, took off the camelbak, fixed my seatpost with my multi-tool and was about to get back on the bike when a lost soul came pushing her bike over the bridge with a rear flat. It was her first race, she was doing 6 hour solo, and she had no tools, tube, levers or CO2. I had all of the above, and decided to put a few points back in the karma bank and fixed her rear flat for her. I finished the first lap in pain from the sore left knee and the newly sore right hip from the bridge and bagged it. My spare tube in Melody's rear tire however, made it the whole six hours and finished 3rd in the Women's 6 hour solo!

So, my racing season in a nutshell was not what I had hoped it would be, but life is funny like that. I'll try to work on the fitness level a bit this winter riding Forest Service routes for endurance, and singletrack for fun. I've almost completely abandoned my road bike for the woods, but I may have to get it back out for some base mileage. We have found it impossible to make any structured group rides during the week up here, so it's been just Suzy and me whenever we could go ride, and it seems we opt to load up and head to the woods instead of fighting with the cars on the pavement. We'll see what next year brings, but it was an interesting year of racing.

The Embryos @ Burnt Dog Lodge

2009-10-12T11:54:00.001-04:00

We had the Helen Fat Tire Fetstival up here last weekend, and it happens to coincide with Octoberfest in Helen, so we had a convergence upon Burnt Dog Lodge by two totally unrelated groups of friends, that just happen to collide in a perfect storm of a weekend. Len & Suzy's old pals, John Pennington and Bill Wellman, who were in a hugely famous band that actually played at the 40 Watt back in the day - The Embryos were meeting up in Helen for a drinking fest and just so happened to give us a shout. The results of that email wound up something like this.

4 Trails in 5 Days, or "Just Another Reason to Throw the H8"

2009-09-15T09:30:00.003-04:00

We really are blessed to live where we do. I know I've said it before, but we really feel like we won the lottery after we moved up here in December. I've made the comment to Suzy on numerous occasions that most people live where they do because of their job, but we live where we wanted to and brought our job with us. Not many people can say that, and we are truly fortunate in these tough times to have been able to move AND keep our business going.

One of the things we really love to do up here is ride mountain bikes. Back in Albany, we had one local trail along the Flint River that was pretty fun, and it was an awesome resource that just a few people really poured their energy into to maintain, but it was the ONLY show in town, and it sometimes got stale. To ride anything else was at least a 90 mile drive or more to get to other trails. That is not the case up here in God's Country. We can throw a dart at the map and venture off in that direction and find something to ride. There are SO many nice trails to ride up here, sometimes we get a little crazy and go overboard. Like this last 5 day stretch...

Thursday evening - Chicopee Woods in Oakwood. An awesome trail system about 45 minutes or so from the house.

Saturday morning - Jackrabbit Trails near Hiawassee. This trail is a 45 minute drive just over the GA/NC border on forest service land that is surrounded by Lake Chatuge. Awesome flowing singletrack with even more awesome views. A definite must ride if you are in the area.

Sunday afternoon - Fort Yargo State Park in Winder. A 75 minute drive for us, and the first trip back since Team Captain's crash on Easter Sunday that left her with a dislocated shoulder. A successful return to a great trail system, and we met some new mountain biking friends that like to eat post-ride pizza at Little Italy Pizza in downtown Winder - definite bonus there!

Monday evening - Unicoi State Park right here in Helen. Basically in our back yard, just a 10 minute drive from the house. I have a love/hate relationship with this trail, as it has a BRUTAL climb right at the beginning of the ride that just beats you up and spits you out before you even get situated in the saddle. It has lots of climbing on pretty non-technical doubletrack and some awesome descents that can get really hairy if the trail is wet. We tend to skip over this trail in favor of travelling a bit more for other trails we enjoy more, but this one is a definite fitness test, and it just so happens that it is the centerpiece of the Helen Fat Tire Festival in October, so I need to hit it more than I have been if I plan on racing the 6 hour event that is just around the corner.

I realize this was not a typical week for us, but the seasons are hinting at changing, there is a little crispness in the air on some days, and the leaves are just starting to change on a few of the tree species up this way. It's been a wonderful experience getting to live up here full time, and we are looking forward to even more off road shenanigans in the very near future!

My Mountain Bike Goes to the Beach!

2009-08-23T22:02:00.001-04:00

We went to ride the new to us Jackrabbit Mountain Bike Trail System today. Just over the GA/NC line near Hiawassee, it took us about an hour to get there. The trail system is situated on the banks of Lake Chatuge and you see the lake from most of the trail system. We got in 16.3 miles of possibly the best flowing non-technical singletrack that I have ridden. The pictures were taken on the "Saba Beach" trail segment. We'll definitely be going back.

-- Post From My iPhone

Suzy's Big Day Out

2009-08-22T16:53:00.001-04:00

Suzy attended a Chicks at Chicopee mountain bike skills clinic led by Norma Rainwater with assistance by Norma's husband Johnny. I tagged along and did a ride while the girls did skill drills. I finished up my ride and watched the girls wrap up their lesson and then we all went for a ride. I volunteered to ride sweeper to make sure everyone made it ok. We did and out and back ride and had a nice sag stop in the woods before returning to the parking lot and having lunch and the girls got swag. This shot was at the sag stop mid ride:

It was a great time, and I think the girls really enjoyed themselves. I know I had a blast.
-- Post From My iPhone

Salut!

2009-08-19T22:49:00.001-04:00

43 years ago, two youngsters ran off to Panama City via Alabama and stopped off at the justice of the peace in Alabama and tied the knot. Shortly thereafter, my sister appeared, then 16 months later, I strolled onto the scene. Fast forward a bit, and they are still some of the most in love couples I know. Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad, thanks for sticking it out all these years and teaching me a thing or two along the way!

-- Post From My iPhone

Fuck the System

2009-08-19T22:09:00.001-04:00

So, exactly when did it become de facto to employ a "Home Inspector" for $295 to absolutely wreck a home's attractiveness to said potential buyer? I mean I am all about disclosure and discovery, but damn it all, do you have to absolutely destroy a home in your report - especially one that was built in 1937 AND moved once? All your scathing report accomplished was a scared off potential first time home buyer who will most likely rent instead of buy and a disgruntled and disheartened seller. Can you tell I'm slightly miffed?

-- Post From My iPhone

Fight Cancer, Win an Orbea Orca With Dura-Ace Di2 Build

2009-08-04T09:40:00.004-04:00

Fight Cancer, Win an Orbea Orca With Dura-Ace Di2 Build

Posted using ShareThis

We shouldn't need a reason to help fight cancer, but Fat Cyclist is giving us a great one! Win an awesome Orbea Orca with Shimano Di2 drivetrain for donating to the Livestrong Foundation - hit the link for all the details, and let's all help fight cancer - and maybe win a sweet ride in the process!

All Fixed Up

2009-08-02T11:26:00.000-04:00

Mobile Blogger had some sort of a hiccup with the posting of photos from Friday night's extravaganza, but I got it all sorted out now. The images are again my own and SHOULD make more sense now!

-- Post From My iPhone

The Main Event

2009-07-31T20:17:00.000-04:00

OK. Here's the money shot. Grilled Ribeye steak marinated in the Burnt Dog Lodge special technique, sauteed green beans with garlic and walnuts, panini pressed garlic bread, paired with 2007 Trader Joe's Reserve Sonoma County Zinfandel. Enough words, let the picture finish you off...

Salut!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Intermission

2009-07-31T19:29:00.001-04:00

Appetizer course - Jalapeno poppers

Steak half-way point...

And something to tide you over - the girls Friday night camping:

-- Post From My iPhone

Taste of things to come

2009-07-31T18:59:00.001-04:00

Stay tuned...

-- Post From My iPhone

Cancer Sucks.

2009-07-31T08:35:00.006-04:00

Joe is recovering from surgery to remove a soft tissue spindle cell carcoma from his right front elbow. We discovered a lump on him several weeks ago on a Thursday. He was at the vet's office Friday having a needle biopsy done, results came back the next Monday confirming cancer. That Thursday he was having surgery to remove it. He had an extremely rough patch post-recovery. We weren't entirely sure he was going to make it through it, as he paced for 36 hours without laying down or resting, panting like a freight train in obvious distress. We tried several different drug protocols during that time, but nothing worked. He was even on a narcotic, but that just caused paranoid delusions and made him even worse. Tuesday morning, we had resigned ourselves to what might be our last day with Joe, as he was suffering mightily, and our hearts were breaking and we didn't know what to do for him.

He finally collapsed in the yard around 7:30 am and I got him to actually lay still on his side. I had to come to the office to open up and inform Lloyd that we would not be at work that day and handle a few things and I put a call into the vet's office to have our doc call us when she got in. I went back home, and Suzy was still out in the yard with him, and he was still resting in the same spot as I left him. We discussed what we thought we should do, and agreed to try to move him back inside to try and get him settled on a dog bed. The vet called, and I related all the troubles we had experienced and she suggested that he seemed to do the best on the pain injection they gave him during surgery, and once that wore off, his problems seemed to develop. Since Rimadyl is offered in tablet form as well as injections, she suggested we try a last ditch effort to switch him to that and see if it helped any. Off to Cornelia I went to pick up the meds.

Not expecting anything, but willing to give anything one last shot before we had to do the right thing, I gave him a tablet around 11 am. By 12:30, it had kicked in and he was finally sleeping comfortably. I am so thankful to Dr. Brooks and the staff at NEVH for not giving up on the boy and suggesting one last option, because I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Joe, but we had exhausted all of our bag of tricks to try and help him.

We've lost two wonderful greyhounds over the years to bone cancer. It's a terrible disease that robs you of dear ones before their time is up. Lily, our first greyhound was the first to succumb to this horrible disease. A beautiful brindle girl, she was the first ambassador that paved the way for all the others.

Then, there was my big goofy boy, Mallory.

Mr. Mal picked me out when we had gone down to Thomasville to a volunteer work day at NSRA, National Sighthound Rescue Association - the wonderful place where most of our greys have come from. It was supposed to just be a socialization exercise for the resident dogs - getting them used to people outside of a track setting. Walking them on leashes, petting them, interacting with them, etc. Well, I was handed Mallory's lead for a walk and I made the mistake of brushing him with a zoom groom after we were done with his walk. He and I bonded immediately, and I set about asking Suzy if we had room for another hound to add to our pack. She relented, and the rest is history. We lost Mal to bone cancer as well, way too soon.

Joe is on the road to recovery. His prognosis is not great, the type of tumor he had has a pretty high instance of reoccuring, even after surgery. The option of radiation on a 12 year old boy is not one we'd put him through, so we'll get him healed up from this surgery and just enjoy however much time left we have with him. Who knows, he might be like his cousin Maggie, who just celebrated her 15th birthday last week. I am just glad we will have a chance to spend more time with the boy.

Silly Greyhound!

2009-07-23T18:13:00.001-04:00

Joe had to have a cancerous tumor removed from his right front elbow today, and this is what he looked like when we picked him up. Quite a sight!

-- Post From My iPhone

Is this what they meant by the Dog Days of Summer?

2009-07-07T17:41:00.001-04:00

-- Post From My iPhone

STAYcation, all I ever wanted...

2009-07-02T22:29:00.002-04:00

So, new concept here for us at Burnt Dog Lodge. What do you do when you live where you have gone for vacation the last several years? This time is traditionally a flurry of activity - pack the car, load the dogs up, load the bikes up, load our stuff on the roof of the team car Clampett style and head North. But we LIVE here now! So, what would normally be a stressful lead in to the start of vacation was a blissful non-event. We simply left the office, drove home, and vacation started! Novel concept, but I'm stoked at the possibilities. Very few firm plans, except for July 4th evening at our neighbors, but I'm sure time will fly by regardless. I'll try to keep you posted - this new iPhone Blogger app is pretty convenient for on the fly updates!

-- Post From My iPhone

Don't Call it a Comeback X2

2009-06-28T18:33:00.001-04:00

Suzy was released to ride her road bike several weeks ago after 9 weeks of physical therapy and rehab from her dislocated shoulder. She hasn't officially been cleared to get back on the mountain bike, but we tackled a forest service road assault up Unicoi Gap. 23 miles later, her first successful ride was in the bank. It was brutally hot here today, but we sucked it up and got the job done. Congrats, Team Captain, glad to have you back in the saddle.
-- Post From My iPhone

Friday night Grilling and Chilling

2009-06-28T09:28:00.000-04:00

So, I got the results back from CT Scan, and they were negative. That called for a little celebration, so we fired up the grill. Ribeye for me, shrimp for Suzy, grilled yellow squash, hot crash potatoes and a few beers. Sat outside on the deck listening to tunes and enjoying the evening.

-- Post From My iPhone

Chicken Little, or why can't the chicken cross the road?

2009-02-27T14:09:00.002-05:00

Recently, on one of our many trips to area mountain biking trails, we were headed down HWY 365 and I saw what looked like white feathers sticking up from some roadkill. Having just caught it in my peripherial vision, I dismissed it. That is until the next greasy spot DEFINITELY had white feathers - a dead chicken. Gainesville is a large poultry processing destination for the many surrounding chicken houses scattered across the countryside up here. We continued on down the road towards Gainesville, and counted 13 dead carcasses on the pavement. I guess taking a chance on death by speeding car is better than surefire death at the processing plant.

I was on the same road last night on my way to do a SORBA sactioned night ride at Chicopee Trails in Oakwood, just south of Gainesville when I noticed what looked like a feather drifting across my windshield. I came around a bend, and there was a flatbed trailer, loaded down with wire cages full of chickens, trailing a trail of white feathers. I remembered our previous encounters with their not so fortunate kin and made sure I was in the left lane and gave the team car a bit more gas to get around the truck - I didn't want to meet a chicken with my windshield!

Clean Mountain Living!

2009-02-02T16:12:00.002-05:00

Over New Year's weekend, Tiffanie, Vonnie, Suzy and I rode mountain bikes up a forest service road that started out along the Chattahoochee River, then started climbing up, up, up, until we finally seemed to have topped out onto a ridgeline that we followed until it reached a big clearing that the Forest Service had cleared and marked as a wildlife feed plot. We turned around and descended back to the cars, since it was getting late. Later, we looked at the map and figured that the road we were on dumped into State Highway 17/75 that leads up and over Unicoi Gap, where the Appalachian Trail crosses. We figured that we must have been close to this when we turned around. That was about 4.5 miles of riding to get to that point.

Suzy's brother Len came up last weekend, and he brought his bike, so we decided to tackle the same route and continue on until we hit pavement. We figured it would be a nice short ride to start to get our legs back under us for the season to come. Well, the 4.5 mile mark came and went, then we continued on until we came to a gate across the road closing it to motorized traffic. Len uttered, "What would Tom Ritchey do?" and we set off scampering around the gate and continuing on. We continued on, climbing and descending ridge lines and admiring the views, and occasionally stopping to catch our collective breaths from the climbs. We eventually came to another gate, which we crossed and rejoined a road that was markedly more travelled, but it presented a conundrum - a fork in the road. Right was a continual gradual uphill path, and left was an inviting LONG downhill that stretched out of sight around a bend. My instincts said Right, even though I eyed the downhill longingly. As we set off to the right, we passed a minivan with 3 kids hanging off the bumper having fun, and I shouted to them as they passed if there was a paved road the way they had just come - they replied, "Yes - WAY back there!".

At least I felt good knowing that my instincts were correct. We continued on, and eventually came to the pavement, 500 yards below the summit of Unicoi Gap. We chose to turn left, ascend the summit, take a few pictures and pause to suit back up for the downhill run back to town. 1.5 hours of bike time climbing the 10 miles of Forest Service roads, 20 minutes for the downhill 7.5 mile run back to town = one hell of an epic ride for January.

Sunday, we topped off the bike ride experience with a hike to the top of our subdivision and showed Len the summit of Sal Mountain, which is privately owned, but undeveloped - so technically we were trespassing, but we didn't get busted by the man.

Times, How They Are a Changing...

2009-01-08T14:13:00.002-05:00

Wow. I admit I have been a bit lax in posting, and a LOT has happened since my last post detailing our Vegas trip. We lost my long-time companion, Ri, the lone Brittany Spaniel in our pack of greyhounds, a few months ago. She was a faithful companion who had been with me a LONG time - since I picked her out of a double litter of 21 pups back in the early Summer of 1994 when she was 5 weeks old. She came to live with me about 2 weeks after that day, after she was fully weened. I still look for her, and miss her like crazy, but, she gave me 14.5 years of happiness and constant companionship, right up til the day we had to say goodbye.

We also have moved to Burnt Dog Lodge full time - for those of you that don't know, Burnt Dog Lodge was our vacation home in Sautee, GA, in the North Georgia mountains just outside of Helen. We relocated here December 19, and we also moved our business to Cleveland, GA at the same time and had the doors open and hit the ground running the following Monday 12/22. Talk about hectic times! Suzy & I had lived in our house in Albany pretty much our whole married life, and 12 years is a LONG time to accumulate "stuff". We managed to get most of it on the moving truck and relocated up here. Thank goodness we have a generous basement to hold all of the overflow.

Our good friends from Albany, The McClungs, came up over the long weekend between Christmas and Nw Year's, and The Julians also came up and camped at Unicoi State Park with their kids. We had everyone over for a traditional good luck meal of smoked wild hog from Longpond Plantation (my parent's home). I put the boneless shoulder on the smoker early New Year's day, and we had pulled pork for dinner. Suzy made some off the hook black-eyed peas and collard greens - traditional Southern fare for good luck. We rode mountain bikes several times, hiked a bit and just relaxed and enjoyed good food, good views and great friends over the long weekend.

I'll try to make it a point to post more often in this new year, we'll see how well I do. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and look forward to a prosperous new year!

Molto Mario - Vegas Style!

2008-09-03T11:58:00.001-04:00

Vegetarians, I apologize in advance for this post. This one is for the carnivores out there...

So, I hit the big 4-0 this year, and Suzy, being the wonderul wife that she is, hooked us up with a killer trip to Las Vegas over Labor Day weekend. Having seen Vegas on the Travel Channel and many of the restaurants on Food Network, we set about studying the list of places we'd like to eat, if we could. The famous chefs have multiple venues here, and on our short list were one of the big steakhouses. Emeril had Delmonico, Wolfgang had Cut, but Mario, hugely excessive Molto Mario had his newest - Carnevino. Just the name did it for us - I mean how much better could a restaurant named "meat and wine" be for us? After looking over the menus posted outside the various restaurants, we liked what we saw at Carnevino the best, so we made reservations for 2 for 6:30pm Saturday night.

We had decided early on that the bone in ribeye for 2 was the protein of choice for us, and as this comes a la carte (if you can believe that), we inqured about sides and chose the special for the night - hollowed out pattypan squash stuffed with cheese and tomato confit and baked off in the oven, and potato and cheese zepoles - basically a fried mixture of potato and cheeses formed into little hushpuppy shaped dough and deep fried. The extensive wine list overwhelmed our modest knowledge, so with recommendations from our server, Chad, we picked an Italian wine that was just ok, in my opinion. Once we ordered, they brought us out the usual basket of bread, but since we were in Mario's house, there was a twist.

On the butter plate, there were two containers. A small crock of butter, and a small crock of lardo. Yes, lardo - pig fat, salt and pepper, served at room temperature, that was so decadent, I felt sorry for the butter sitting there practically untouched. Then the star of the evening, the ribeye appeared. They wheeled it out on a cart with a cutting board and Chad carved it up expertly, using a sharp carving knife and a spoon. Yes, a spoon. He pressed down gently on the surface of the steak with the back of the spoon so as not to pierce the steak while carving it. He portioned off all the major areas of the steak, from the tip, then on to the filet portion, then the flavorful tail that surrounds the filet. He plated it up, giving each of us bits of all the different regions, then sprinkled sea salt and drizzled just a hint of olive oil on the meat. No garnish, no salad, nothing else on the plate, except perfectly cooked and presented steak. The acidity from the tomato confit from the squash was a perfect complement to the richness of the beef, but the zepoles were just average.

Our service and dining experience were every thing we had hoped it would be. It was a wonderful Birthday splurge - the only regret was not being able to pick up the bone and gnaw on it or at least have it shipped home to Chloe!

Vacation - Revisited

2008-09-03T11:28:00.005-04:00

As I posted earlier this summer, we had some biking in mind for our vacation to North Georgia this summer. We had big plans of riding our own modified 3 Gap ride, which I posted details about here on the blog. We also had plans to meet up with Vonnie & Tiffanie to do some riding. Vonnie kept trying to coax me into assaulting Brasstown Bald with him. I knew Vonnie's prediliction towards suffering, as I saw him ascend Brasstown last year, and heard about his own personal journey through the pain cave. I have a healthy respect for Brasstown, as I have hiked up it's face several times to watch the mountaintop finish of the Tour de Georgia. I knew the effort required just to hike it was large, and was not relishing the attempt, but Vonnie is both persuasive and relentless. He wore me down with his enthusiasm, so I reluctantly said ,"OK.".

Brasstown is not terribly long, it is just steep and fairly relentless in the climb. Vonnie & I started out from their campsite at Trackrock and rode up the back side of Jack's Gap to the base of Brasstown. Suzy, Tiffanie, Cadie Bug & LuLu were our sag support, meeting us at the entrance to Brasstown in Vonnie's truck. The ride over started out innocently enough, but I should have read the omens when we saw a hawk swoop down and snatch a squirrel up and fly off with it in its talons.

I was admiring the beauty of the scenery, and not minding the rolling terrain until we hit the base of Jack's Gap and started the climb in earnest. All the idle chit chat subsided and we started concentrating on the climb - going into that place in our minds and settling in for the effort required. I thought I was familiar with Jack's Gap, having ridden the other side of the Gap last year with what I thought to be relatively moderate effort. The back face is a totally different animal, though. The pavement is much rougher, and the climbs are more steep. Once we reached the entrance to Brasstown where our crew was waiting, I was starting to seriously doubt my ability to tackle the big hill on this outing. Vonnie wisely left me to my own devices, allowing me to recover and regain my composure and let my heart rate return to some semblance of normal. After about 10 minutes or so, I had resolved myself to at least attempting the climb. Vonnie was already set and after a round of good lucks and knuckle taps, he was off, with me not far behind. I had no illusions of attempting to keep pace with him, rather I set about trying to set a tempo that was sustainable for me.

Not far up the first ascent, there were road crews mowing the shoulders with weed wackers and a tractor with a mower attached to an articulated arm, followed by a large dump truck. This was the first obstacle to get around. I had to stop periodically to regain my composure and allow my heart rate to subside. My legs never really felt like they couldn't handle the grade, but my heart rate would get elevated and I'd have to stop to let it calm down. After about half of the climb, I started tacking across the grade rather than attempting to ride straight up hill, and this helped somewhat, allowing me to go further between rest breaks.

After what seemed like an eternity, I reached the Team Vehicle and they told me that I was almost done, I just had to make it to the second power pole, then it was around the corner, and another more gentle ascent to the finishing area - the parking lot at the base of the final ascent, which we could not ride due to park regulations. Vonnie had already finished his ascent, recovered, and ridden back down to check on me and he regrouped with me for the final climb back to the parking lot. I was glad to have him helping me set a tempo and just having another person present somehow made me dig in and finish the last section without stopping. I even found enough energy to zip up my jersey before Suzy took my finishing shot, arm raised in the air in triumph.

Brasstown is a monster. I am not sure I will attempt it again, but if Vonnie is around, I am sure he'll be prodding me for a repeat. It was something I had on my big "TO DO" life list, and to cross it off before I hit 40 was icing on the cake. We didn't get any other rides in on vacation, but we did have loads of fun, and it just reminded us that our decision to buy property up here was the right thing to do for us. Trout fishing in some of the many streams and creeks up here, night hikes to view the fireflies and foxfire, tubing down the 'Hooch, good food, good friends and good times... Doesn't get much better than this!

Moose Hollow

2008-08-11T09:39:00.002-04:00

Here's a little You Tube Video of our new rental cabin - Moose Hollow. Suzy & I went up last weekend to survey the place and do a few projects and see what needed to be added to bring it up to our standards. It is a cute one bedroom cabin that was fully furnished.

Vacation Planning

2008-06-18T11:35:00.002-04:00

Clark's 3 Gap Ride
Find more Bike Rides in Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia

One of the things I THINK I want to do while on vacation is our own version of 3 Gap. Covering Hogpen Gap, Jack's Gap and Unicoi Gap, it's an out and back loop from the cabin that's roughly 50 miles long. The only issue with this route, is there are no stores or sag stops once you start the climbs. You go through downtown Helen, but it is too early to need a fueling stop, and once you commit to Hogpen, you are on your own til you descend Unicoi back into Helen. It's a pretty tough route, but we'll see if we are up to the challenge!

Karma is a Bitch...

2008-04-16T23:32:00.002-04:00

OK, so most of you have read Suzy's blog posting about her first foray into the strange trip that is mountain bike racing. If you haven't, I encourage you to hit the left sidebar and check out her blog - no, go do it right now, we'll wait on you to get caught up...

Now that you've read her first encounter with the sport, I'll bombard your senses with my spin on it, but first a little backstory...

I first got the hankering to try mountain bike racing after spending one too many nights hanging with the guys that dominate the local road riding scene, and who have had experiences with 6(!) hour mountain bike endurance races. After a few beers, most anything sounds reasonable, so I found myself cautiously mentioning that I might be up for a go at one of the races. After not hearing any huge outbreaks of laughter or worse, the sound of beer being expelled through nostrils, I got a bit bolder in my assertations.

"I WILL race in a 6 hour race!" I clamored. Yet again, no derisive snorts, only sparse words of encouragement were forthcoming. Fast forward til March, and it was time to go to my first race. It was just South of Athens, GA during one of the worst weather weekends our state has seen in a while. Friday night, tornadoes ripped through Atlanta, just to our West. Saturday morning, rain and awful lightning bursts punctuated the morning. Yet, somehow, come race time, the clouds parted and the weather lulled us all into a false sense of security, just long enough to start the event. What we encountered was nothing short of the hardest mountain bike trails I had ever encountered - and I had the pleasure of riding the course as many times as I could withstand over the course of the next 6 hours. After finishing 11th out of 23 total in my category, I was glad to be done with the day.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I found myself mumbling about trying a XC, or cross country mountain bike race in Columbus, GA. I figured if I had survived successfully in my 6 hour attempt, I could easily show up and turn in the effort required for a XC race (which, incidentally was only one 10.5 mile lap).

We decided to arrive early enough to get our camp set up at a nearby campground and then go pre-ride the course on Saturday. The race was on the following day. On the recon lap, Vonnie, Suzy and I set out to see what was in store for us the following day. After watching Vonnie fall very hard onto a large boulder in the first 3 miles of the course, and trying to negotiate a new section that was, to quote an unnamed source, "slick as owl shit", our spirits were flagging. Then, after having ridden the worst part of the course, and enjoying the flow of the rest, our pre-ride came to a grinding halt when my bike emitted a terribly loud "SCREEEE" noise, that was accompanied by a complete loss of pedal movement. Yes, I had broken my chain. So, 7 miles into the 10.5 mile course, I was dead in the water. Kaput. Finished. We turned around, and headed to the pavement and Vonnie managed to somehow wrap his crash damaged arm around me and propel me along back to the car. After asking around, and looking in vain for neutral support, I was having slim hopes of being able to actually start tomorrow's race due to a mechnical failure that no one seemed to have any parts to fix.

Next morning, Bill managed to scrounge me a replacement chain from one of his friendly competitors. I joyfully repaired my ride and set about preparing for my 11:30 am departure. Start time came, and I found myself on the line with 11 others in my category. Once we were released, I promptly got relegated to the back of the group, as I was close to last within the first mile of the course. As soon as the going got technical, I started regaining ground. I passed 4 people in short order, then I passed 3 more. I was steadily reeling in stragglers and was feeling really good about my chances for a high finish when all of the sudden, on a gradual climb, I lost all pedaling power. I looked down in disgust to confirm my worst fears - I had once again broken my chain, only 3 miles into my 10.5 mile distance for the day. Having no other choice, I shouldered my bike, picked up my broken chain, and walked the 1.5 miles back to the truck.

Now, with the second of our three 6 hour series looming, I look forward to the next round of adventure and adversity. The old saying goes, "what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger..."

Heritage Park 6 Hour Race Pictures

2008-03-18T11:40:00.002-04:00

Burnt Dog Lodge gets a new grill!

2007-12-28T11:34:00.001-05:00

Let's see if this video linkage does the trick...

New Year's Resolutions accomplished...

2007-12-25T10:20:00.001-05:00

Way back in January, while celebrating the New Year at Burnt Dog Lodge, the conversation eventually came around to New Year's Resolutions. Now, I'm not a big fan of making impossible statements about life changes or claims, but as folks talked about what they wanted to accomplish in the new year, I made a pretty bold statement - "Before the year is over, I will make it to the top of the subdivision on my bike."

Now, for those of you who have not been to Burnt Dog Lodge, our cabin is the second house in a subdivsion that goes up to the top of a mountain. It is only .8 of a mile to the top, but it is almost all up hill, at very steep grades, I'd estimate around 18-20% in places. I tried, unsuccessfully back in July on my road bike. I made it about 1/3 of the way up the first climb before I felt like I was going to puke and my heart explode from my heaving chest.

This time, on our Christmas trip up, I packed a different weapon - my mountain bike. It is geared differently than my road bike, more suited for climbing. Well, after laying around most of the day on Christmas Eve, it was time for an attempt. I got dressed, Suzy did as well. We hopped on, rode one of the side roads to get a little warmed up, and off we went. It was not to be Suzy's day, as she needs more warm up than I, and she stopped about where we did in July. I gave her the keys to the cabin, telling her I was going to attempt it solo. After catching my breath, and realizing I could not ride straight up the climbs without my heart exploding, I modified my plan of attack and started zig zagging up the climbs. I would stop and rest periodically to get my heart rate back under control, but I continued on until I rounded the last corner and saw the crest of the road. After I rested enough to start looking for a suitable place to take a self portrait, I saw a welcome sight - here came Suzy walking up the road! She had gone back home, put up her bike and gotten out her running shoes and her ipod and come on up after me.

It was a nice sense of acomplishment, and a heck of a fun ride back down the hill. I don't yet know what I will make as my resolution this year, but it feels good to have accomplished what goals I set for myself this year.

Merry Christmas everyone, and it's not too early to start planning that Resolution for 2008!

My butt looks better than yours!

2007-08-27T11:57:00.000-04:00

Well boys and girls, it's that time of year again, the month of Birthdays around here. Suzy's was first, mine is around the corner, and here at Regency, we have a tradition where we have a celebratory lunch for the special Birthday person. We usually get take out from somewhere, or occasionally we cook something. This year, Suzy asked me what I wanted for my special lunch treat, and I surprised her by saying that I wanted to cook my lunch myself - usually the guest of honor just requests what he/she would like and the others take care of it. But, we have been in the mood for good bar-b-que around here lately, and I have been wanting to try my hand at pulled pork, so I fired up my Google-fu powers and dove headfirst into making something totally new to me - pulled pork from a Boston Butt. I made a rub for the outside, and injected the inside of the meat with a marinade, and let it get happy in the fridge for the morning, then I fired up the grill low and slow on one side only and proceeded to cook it, and cook it, and cook it and cook it, well you get the idea. I put it on at 4:30pm, the gas tank ran out around 10pm, I swapped tanks and started everything back up again, it started raining around 11pm, so into the oven it went. And it cooked, and it cooked, and it cooked... It FINALLY came to the proper internal temperature right before the normal alarm clock would go off this morning. It cooked for 15 hours total, then I wrapped it in foil for an hour to let the juices redistribute and then I pulled it. I can't wait for the sandwiches tomorrow, but right now, all I want is a nap...

Vacation Day Three, Take One

2007-07-02T09:35:00.000-04:00

Well, today we actually got out on the bikes and went for a little hill climb. While we are posed by the sign for Brasstown Bald, we just actually parked there and rode down and up one side of Jack's Gap. Our friends from Albany, Tiffanie and Vonnie were leaving to go home today, so we met them at the base of Brasstown for a ride. Hill climbing is not for the feint of heart, it's a pretty tough endeavor. I think my next ride will be on a rolling section of road on a circuit I devised that leave from the cabin and makes a loop ending back here as well.

Bonnie also had a first, she got to have a marshmallow that Suzy gave the dogs while she was making rice krispy treats. That marshmallow wore her out. She went to sleep with it half licked, and stuck to her front leg, so I pulled it off her and gave it to Ri.

Len and Megan came up for the day, and brought Scully, Maggie, Daisy & Devon. We had grilled fish tacos for dinner, and they hung out and visited until late evening and then had to get back home so Len could go to work Monday - sucks to be Len!

Vacation, Day Two, Take One

2007-06-30T22:12:00.000-04:00

Today was white water rafting on the Ocoee River in Southeastern Tennessee. Fred and Suzy had never been, and it was a great experience. We had the stoner guide from Hell, but all worked out OK. Loco even channeled the Indian spirits to infuse himself with the power of the Mohawk on the return bus ride home. We met up with BaT Girl and her husband, along with Lulu, Vonnie's younger sister for an out of town, Albany style gathering for the rafting trip. We signed up with the Nantahala Outdoor Center to take us on our journey, and we were over all quite pleased with their operation.

Betsy and Doug are enroute, Tex and Megan are coming up for a day trip Sunday, and Felicia is on tap at some point, at least I think she is.

Tomorrow is bike ride morning, we go to meet Tiff at the base of Brasstown for a ride - we are not attempting the assault on Brasstown, but will ride in the shadow of it, somewhere near and around Unicoi Gap and Jack's Gap. Hopefully I will be able to snap some pics of our suffering in the morning to post for tomorrow's update. Stay tuned! It should be a good one.

Vacation Day One, Take One

2007-06-29T21:18:00.000-04:00

Well, as first meals go, this one is pretty fine. Stripling's ground Chuck hamburger, pickles, onion, mustard be nice... Oh wait, that's a Jimmy Buffet song... Anyway, Suzy's signature rosemary roasted potatoes and a big fat juicy cheeseburger is a heck of a way to start off vacation. Tomorrow is white water rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. Stay tuned for updates as they happen, we sure will be tuned in for the next exciting installment coming soon to a blog near you!

Chickens Marching

2007-06-01T22:35:00.000-04:00

OK, so it's more food, but I couldn't help myself. This is my attempt at beer can chicken, tried last weekend on several unsuspecting friends we asked over for dinner. They had no idea I had never tried to make this, much less 3 of them, but they turned out quite well. I busted out the big charcoal grill and cooked them over indirect heat and they were so moist it almost made me cry. They recipe curiously omitted garlic, but next time I think I'll toss some in, either in powdered form in the dry rub, or in smashed clove form in the actual beer in the can.

Loco, this one's for you...

2007-05-12T20:28:00.000-04:00

Lunch started off with me viewing this lovely sight in a presentation case at the cool little restaurant we found in Clarksville to eat lunch at. I'm a sucker for a beautiful cut of beef, and these 24 ounce, bone-in ribeyes with the rib bone frenched made me weep that they only had these on the dinner menu - at a reasonable $17.00 with your choice of sides, and a limited, but very nice looking beer and wine offering, I was almost ready to stay til sundown.

Alas, we ate our fill of the best philly cheesesteak I'd had in ages and headed to Cornelia to Lowes to buy plants to plant at Burnt Dog Lodge so we would have a splash of Summer color around. We opted to cook in tonight, since we brought the Lodge's namesake with us as a special treat - Ri was the only hound that got to come with us, and she was loving all of the one on one time with her peeps.

A quick trip to Betty's in Helen to procure some dinner provisions resulted in this:

An off the hook beef lover's dream. My new special marinade on 2 nicely sized ribeyes, some of Suzy's signature rosemary potatoes, some fresh asparagus, Suzy's (in)famous pesto poppin fresh crescent rolls, and a wonderful bottle of Coppola Claret 2004 to wash it down with. In case you weren't in beef overload yet, here's a closeup of the main attraction:

Not bad for roughing it in the mountains! Now someone tell me how to make this my permanent home and I'd be quite grateful!

Asshats and Asscracks...

2007-04-26T09:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a wierd day. Loco sent a link to a wacky article about some fools in England trying to protest GM crops being planted, so they organized a guerilla planting of regular potatoes in the field to ruin the crop - trouble is, they picked the wrong field and ruined an innocent farmer's crop instead, well here's the link for you: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/04/368698.html?c=on#comments

While the post is kind of wacky, the funniest part of it are the comments section, notably the use of the word Asshat. Well, being an online gamer, I have come across this word frequently used to describe idiots that do stupid things, but hey, I love seeing it in mainstream usage outside of online gaming. We had a good email session back and forth getting a good laugh out of the word, and I am glad to see it introduced to other people's vocabulary. On to the Asscrack portion of the day...

On the afternoon bike ride, there were the usual list of suspects that showed up to ride, but we had a new addition to the mix, some guy with tattoos all over his legs riding a Specialized S-Works Tarmac carbon - nice bike for sure, but he was rocking the full on Specialized Zebra kit, even down to the matching gloves. Zebroy, as he will now forever be known, committed several cardinal sins with his clothing choices of the day. First off, no one can rock zebra, unless you are the Lion King, Mario Cipollini( see above photo). Super Mario, as he was also called, was a great big Italian sprinter who could back up his flamboyant kit choices with his awesome sprinting prowness, thus he was able to rock the zebra stripes, and it looked good on him. Secondly, his shorts were abraded and scuffed, as well as looking to be about a half size too small. Now we all know that lycra tends to get a bit transparent when stretched, so let's just say when he was riding in front of you, the full moon was shining very brightly. We all know what happens to white when it gets wet, and what happens when you ride? That's right, you sweat. Enough said about that, but I almost ran off into the ditch trying to avoid the terrible sight in front of me most of the ride. It seemed no matter where I tried to position myself in the peloton, I was within sight of Zebroy's fashion faux paus. So, what's Superman to do? Outsprint Zebroy and Dreamweaver at the mailbox to escape the horrors that had been inflicted upon my delicate sensibilities for the bulk of the ride.

All in all, a good day, just a bit wacky in places!

Eating Good in the Neighborhood!

2007-04-20T08:40:00.000-04:00

For those of you that don't know, Suzy and I are watching Len & Megan's greyhound, Scully. Megan was in a bad accident and has been in the hospital for quite a while, and will be in a wheelchair for several months while her bones and all the attendant hardware fuse together to make her the bionic woman. Scully is very exuberant and likes to greet you at the door with her paws, giving you a welcome home hug, and she also likes to snuggle and try to be a lap dog. We figured these traits, while lovable, were not the best thing for someone trying to heal, so we offered to keep Scully until Megan got well enough to withstand her affections.

We had been noticing that there seemed to be more of Scully to love since we got her, and asked Len if she had put on weight. He said she had been getting some extra food. Well, curiousity got the better of me this morning, and she was in the bathroom with me while I was getting ready for work, so I scooped her up and stepped on the scales to see. I am happy to report she is a healthy 66.5 pounds. Seems she's like Applebee's - Eating Good in the Neighborhood!

Goodbye My Old Friend

2007-03-18T12:12:00.000-04:00

We lost Mallory this morning to his fight with what we believe to be bone cancer. He went out the doggie door after breakfast and we heard him screaming and found him laying on the deck, unable to stand. We calmed him down, and I was able to pick him up and carry him into the house, but he was in great pain when I put him on the front bed in a standing position. It was evident that he wasn't going to be able to put any weight on that leg again and so I cradled him in my lap and we made the call to the Vet's office. Dr Steve came to the house and we sent the big goofy boy to be with his sister Lily.

God speed Mr Mallory, and may all your days be filled with nice big pits to dig and lay in and may marrow bones always be with you. We'll never forget you and the hole in my heart is much bigger than your pit in the back yard.

Food of the Week...

2007-02-21T00:46:00.000-05:00

OK, so I have to admit it, I'm in a rut. A good tasting rut to be sure, but a rut nonetheless...

What's a food loving guy to do? Quit blogging about Friday night adventures or posting a new food shot here each week... Decisions, decisions. OK, since I had no other noteworthy news, heres the Baked Spaghetti we had last Friday night, since it was too cold and wet to grill. This is an adaptation of Thursday night's leftovers - an improvement if you ask me.

Suzy kicked up some crescent roll dough with some pesto and cheese and made pesto cheesy poofs to go with the spaghetti - an off the hook selection. Add in a few well selected bottles of grape squeezings and you've got a great weekend kickoff meal. Here's to creatvity and neccessity being the mother of all invention and all that jazz...

Homemade Roasted Rooster

2007-02-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

Since we had such good luck with our grilled pizza last week, we attempted to recreate one of our favorite pizzas from Harvest Moon - The Roasted Rooster pizza, with grilled chicken, crumbled bacon, caramelized onions, spinach, pesto and sundried tomatoes. This is a white pizza, with no tomato sauce.

Suzy made her dough, this time adding a bit of malt for sweetness, then we chopped up 2.5 pounds of onions and caramelized them in the iron skillet, following a recipe Suzy found in Rachel Ray's magazine. I grilled some chicken brushed with pesto on the grill while Suzy sauteed some spinach and cooked up some bacon to crumble up for the pizza. Once all the prep work was done, we assembled what you see here - chicken, bacon, spinach, pesto, chopped fresh garlic, basil, a blend of 6 italian cheeses, more parmesean cheese, sundried tomatoes, hot pepper flakes, and a drizzle of olive oil to make sure it didn't dry out while cooking. It was quite tasty, but I think next time we agreed a light layer of tomato sauce would help bring out all the flavors better.

Once again, it was great to be at home on a Friday night and have a nice meal at home. I talked to the rental office in Helen yesterday, and they had 5-6 inches of snow up there on Thursday!

Equal Opportunity Face Time

2007-01-26T23:57:00.000-05:00

Ok, to be fair, this shot of me in all my drunken glory enjoying my S'More got cut off from my last post, so here you go. I don't want to be accused of just showing Suzy in her finest moments and leaving my shots on the cutting room floor...

Flavor of the Week -OR- Good Eats? You Decide!

2007-01-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

OK, I guess this is a two for one night, where you get not one, but two posts for your entertainment dollar. I've been hearing about grilled pizzas for a long time now, Bobby Flay has made them on several occasions, as well as other Food Network chefs. I got to thinking - just exactly how good could pizza be on the grill? It's pretty damn tasty cooked properly in the oven. So, being the adventurous type, I asked Suzy very sweetly to make some of her awesome Parmesean pizza dough from the recipe we got from Nora Mill Granary in Helen, just around the corner from the cabin. She willingly obliged, so I got to work on the grill, prepping the ingredients for the pie. I grilled 3 bell peppers, one each of red, yellow and green, and one medium onion while Suzy was making the dough. After the dough was done and the vegetables grilled, we blind "baked" the crust on the grill at nuclear temperatures for about 8 minutes. The grill was full on - all 4 burners were going full blast, and the temperature was around 550 degrees. I then topped the crust with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, fresh garlic, fresh oregano, and ALL of the previously grilled vegetables, topped with some dried herbs and a little shaker parmesean cheese. Back to the grill we went, this time turning the heat down to low so as not to scorch the bottom of the crust for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes on the grill, the crust couldn't take any more heat, so we tossed it under the broiler for a few quick minutes to brown up the top layer and drive off a bit of the moisture from the veggies. The resulting pie was the best damn pizza I have put in my mouth in I can't remember when. The whole process took about 3 hours from start to finish, so it's not a weeknight type of undertaking, but it is definitely a do-over on a weekend night.

We then proceeded to make S'Mores for dessert, roasted over a roaring chiminary fire on the deck. I think you can tell form the pictures that they were off the hook as well.

Conclusion - It's good to be at home on the weekends and not running up and down the road to Helen back (get it? to Hell and Back...). Cheers, and here's to good eats and more importantly, good sports!

Picture Perfect Morning... er Afternoon!

2007-01-26T23:14:00.000-05:00

OK, I figured this was as good as any picture to replace the most recent post on my blog. I had heard through the grapevine that the picture wasn't entirely kosher with some of my viewers. While I didn't mean any offense by it, or see where it might be construed as offensive, I have finally decided to post something to bump it down out of the top spot.

This was taken Friday afternoon after work, at the local Harley dealership. The Budweiser Clydesdale horses were in town, and Suzy had never seen them before, so we headed over after work to get there just in time to see them taking their draft harnesses off and loading them back onto their custom trailers. These guys are HUGE. Suzy is a good 30 feet away from them and they still tower over her in this shot. The handlers looked dwarfed next to the gentle giants. It was cool to get to see them again, it has been a long time since my childhood encounter with the Clydesdales, and it is a shame we missed their performance, but a little thing called work got in the way...

Ever Had Days Like These?

2006-12-07T22:27:00.000-05:00

I was browsing through pictures on my computer at home tonight when I came across this gem and couldn't resist posting it. This was taken at Charley B's LATE one night after my 20th High School Reunion. I don't think I need to say anything else - the picture sort of says it all!

Decisions, Decisions!

2006-11-28T09:17:00.000-05:00

Man, I don't know what I like better, turkey the first time around, or the incredibly awesome sandwiches you get to make out of the leftovers! The first time around is good, with the turkey and gravy and all the good sides, but the killer sandwiches the next day could be argued as an even better experience. In this example, we have turkey, mashed potatoes, leftover bacon from breakfast, gravy and melted swiss cheese, all on artesian bread that was toasted. It is basically Thanksgiving dinner all compacted into a sandwich - a messy sandwich, but a sandwich of epic proportions none the less. Man, I hate that all the turkey is gone now, I made myself hungry posting this...

To see all of the Thanksgiving pictures, check out this photo album.

Thanksgiving at Burnt Dog Lodge

Burnt Dog Lodge - The Seasoning

2006-11-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

Well, we did it. We went to the cabin in a huge 26 foot Penske truck full of stuff, moved it all in, took several more deliveries, painted the ENTIRE place and somehow managed to have a pretty good time while doing it. Our good friend Fred and Megan were excellent recruits. They helped us out tremendously and we couldn't have gotten it all done without their wonderful help. Here's a link to the work in progress photo album, now I'm off to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Burnt Dog Lodge - The Seasoning

Cabin Fever!

2006-11-13T09:23:00.000-05:00

No, I didn't shoot six holes in my freezer, as the old Jimmy Buffet song goes, but we HAVE closed on our cabin in Helen, Georgia. We did an absentee closing last Friday at 3pm, and now we (and the bank) are the proud owners of a new mountain cabin, appropriately named Burnt Dog Lodge. Betsy was kind enough to rework the logos for Burnt Dog Brewery to serve as logos for both ventures.

We are headed up this weekend to do a flurry of activity - paint the WHOLE place, as all the walls are boring, plain white, move in the furniture and furnishings, and give the place a trial run. Loco is either crazy enough, or just so damned nice that he is coming up to help not only with the moving and heavy lifting, but also the painting as well. We have drafted Megan to help with the painting, and I believe Tex will be coming up to either help, or drink beer, whichever needs doing most, depending on his school load. We've got a lot to do in a short period of time, so I hope it all gets done. We have the fence people coming out Friday morning to set the posts for the chain link fencing for the back yard, to make it greyhound friendly, the satellite/phone/DSL installer is scheduled for Friday, and the furniture we bought in Atlanta is also scheduled to arrive some time on Friday as well. So, we'll get there Thursday night, put together the grill (a very important task), get started on the unloading of the stuff we brought from Albany, and settle in on air mattresses for the first night, then get up and get to painting so hopefully we'll be done in time for the furniture to be placed directly into the newly painted rooms when it arrives.

We then will come back up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and spend the long weekend up there with the pack and Len & Megan and their pack as well. I hope all the hard work will be done so we can just relax over the long weekend, but we won't know that for sure until the time arrives. You can get your very own Burnt Dog Lodge merchandise here. That should hold you over until you get to see the place in person.

You can see pictures of the place in it's former state, taken while the previous owner was still living there, and I'll be sure and post an update once we get our work done.

Burnt Dog Lodge

Sharks with frickin' lazer beams revisited...

2006-10-27T00:02:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'm not supposed to be taxing my eyes. Screw that noise... I am now 24 hours into my LASIK "enhancement" procedure, and I feel fine. So fine in fact, that I went out for libations and rations, which equates to chicken wings, crispy rojos and beer - lots of beer. Anyone who asks, I direct all questions to Fred, as he knows what constitutes ROJO BLISS. If you missed that train, scroll down a bit and read up to get up to speed. Really. We will wait for the slow peeps, just hurry up and don't make the rest of us start to contemplate our meager existance while we wait for you to read the Cliff Notes...

OK.

Since we are all on the same page, I had LASIK surgery December of last year. It was the best thing since sliced bread - well, almost, since I had an unresolved issue of being 20/15 in my left eye and 20/30 in my dominant right eye. I complained to the doctor almost constantly since the healing process was supposedly complete. He put me off til October of this year, wanting to wait til my eye stabilized (or I got tired of complaining, whichever came first) to make a decision to go in and make an "enhancement" to the original surgery. I went 2 weeks ago for a regular visit to see how things had progressed since my surgery. I had the fortune of talking to a doctor that is stuck cleaning up the messes that my original doctor creates - ie. post op visits that they don't get paid to perform. He has a much better post-op bedside manner than my original doctor has, explaining in depth the procedure and downfalls and pluses associated with said procedures. After talking to Dr Peaslee for about 45 minutes, never once feeling rushed or unimportant, we came to a mutal decision that I was an ideal candidate for enhancement. He was quick to point out that the 20/30 result we achieved in my right eye was within "acceptable" norms, but because of my specific complaints, I was a candidate for enhancement surgery, and I needed to come back the following week for a pre-op consult.

I came back for my scheduled pre-op consult the next week, and I was surprised to be told that I would be put on the surgical rotation the following week - no one said I would have to go under the knife that quickly! To make a long story short, they scheduled me for this past Wednesday, October 25, at 4:20 pm. We went, had the procedure done, and I am so glad we did. Just 24 hours after the procedure, I am at 20/20 in that eye, hoping for even better after the surgery has healed. The best part is they were able to just lift up the old flap they cut last December, not cut a new one, so the trauma is much less severe, and the recovery time is reduced. I can not even tell I had a precedure done to that eye, let alone one as serious as LASIK surgery entails. I'll keep you faithful readers informed of my progress, but I have high hopes for this enhancement procedure.

On a totally unrelated note, if you are in the market for some awesome new music to listen to, do yourself a favor and look up a band called Silversun Pickups - they are an indie group that is on ITunes - sample a song called lazy eye off the album Carnavas, and tell me you are not reminded of old school Smashing Pumpkins and Breeders, with a touch of Sonic Youth thrown in for good measure. They are a throwback to older, simpler days, still being an indie, unsigned band, but in heavy rotation on MTV2 for their video for the above mentioned song. I tried it, and I found myself pleasantly surprised - best damn album I have heard in god knows when. They also have another album available on ITunes, but I can't vouch for it - yet. Expect that to change in the near future.

Peace out, and all that good stuff, I am off to don my Spaceman Spiff goggles to fight off all the evil forces that beseige our planet on a nightly basis...

Carnivorous Cravings...

2006-10-09T09:29:00.000-04:00

I try to eat healthy most of the time, limiting my intake of red meats, and eating lots of soy products and vegetables, but dammit, sometimes you just want meat! I succumbed to my Cheeseburger in Paradise cravings and grilled us up a couple of burgers Saturday night. Not just any old burger, these were the mack daddy ones from our local butcher shop, Taylor's. They take lean ground beef, then wrap the outside in bacon, ala Filet Mignon style. These burgers were so huge that Suzy had to make a special trip to Publix to acquire big deli style buns for them to nestle in. Topped with REAL Pepper Jack cheese, and your typical burger toppings, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onion, pickle and tomato, it was just what I needed! We bought these in anticipation of eating them after a hard bike ride Saturday, but the bike ride never materialized, so we forged ahead and ate the burgers anyway! Nothing burns up the calories and creates hunger like jockeying for position on the couch for a day of watching tv.

Reflections of a Year in Blogging

2006-08-30T12:20:00.000-04:00

Seeing as how my very first blog post was about Outdoor Adventure and food, I figured it was only fitting to pay tribute to this little experiment called blogging with a similar picture from Outdoor Adventure X which was the weekend of August 4-6, 2006. This is similar to the very first post, except it's even better - instead of just ribs, we also have deep-fried tater tots and twice cooked wings. The wings were first smoked on the smoker, then dropped in the hot oil for a frying session. The results were pretty awesome - smokey goodness from the Pecan wood, and crispy goodness from the 375 degree oil.

I started blogging a little over a year ago, and have been semi-regular about posting things as time permits. I've been successful in recruiting others in the adventures of blogging along the way, with several friends and family members joining the bandwagon. I enjoy blogging when I get the chance, and I imagine I'll keep boring you all with my stories for a good long while to come. Enjoy!

Bonnie's New Trick

2006-07-25T11:56:00.000-04:00

Suzy & I were on our way out the door late Friday night to go eat with some of my classmates at Waffle House, and on our way out the door, we looked to see Mallory and Bonnie both hopping up on the couch to settle in. Now, this is no big deal for Mallory, he's been getting on the couch for years. In fact, he gets quite jealous of me when I have the nerve to lay on the couch with his Mommy, and he comes by frequently to check on me to see if I've left yet.

Bonnie, on the other hand, until this instance at least, has not gotten on the furniture. At least to our knowledge that is. Being the smart dog that she is, she's taken to it quite quickly though. She is quick to try and shoehorn herself into your spot, or snuggle with you. If you make the mistake of stopping petting her, she will bat at you with her paw to remind you that she is still there. So much for not teaching any other dogs to get on the furniture - I'm just waiting for the day she hops up into bed with us - can't be far off now!

Rojo Bliss Revisited

2006-06-28T13:51:00.000-04:00

OK, so we didn't think it could be done twice. But here is photographic proof of Rojo Bliss. I know it's a little fuzzy, but, hey, what do you expect from a camera phone? I dare say this batch was even better than the first ones. If you have no idea what I am talking about, scroll down a bit and read up on my Loco Motion post to get up to speed.

Old-fashioned South Georgia Redneck Shenanigans

2006-06-27T13:48:00.000-04:00

Can you even say shenanigans and Redneck in the same sentence? I think shenanigans has too many syllables, there's some kind of unwritten law about that I am sure. Anyway, that's besides the point, really.

A couple of Fridays ago, we set out to amuse ourselves the old school way - sitting on the tailgate of my SUV in the driveway(only because I don't have a pickup truck, and Fred's was parked in the street, thus we would have been on city property, perhaps inviting a public drunkeness charge...), drinking beer, and shooting off Coke geysers.

What is a Coke geyser you ask? Well, you take a roll of Mentos, drop them all into a 2 liter of soda - doesn't have to be Coke, any carbonated beverage would work, but we splurged for the good stuff. The Mentos cause a reaction, and instantaneously a fountain of coke spews forth into the air. The scientific explanation is that the arabic gum in the Mentos reduces the surface tension of the water molecules in the soda, thereby releasing the carbon dioxide that is in suspension - quite rapidly. We just call it damn cool.

Actually, we had a test run a few nights earlier, and were having difficulty getting all the Mentos out of the wrapper and into the bottle before ignition. So, Fred made a trip to Home Depot and procured the materials needed to create a MDD - Mentos Delivery Device. Basically, it consists of a length of pvc pipe joined to a coupler that has pipe threads on one end that you screw onto the 2 liter bottle of propellent. He drilled holes just above the coupler that 2 cotter pins slide into, and affixed a length of string to the 2 cotter pins. Problem solved. After loading up the MDD with ammo (a box fo Mentos) and pulling the detonator cord (hey, it sounds better than string), we acheived much better delivery of the payload and the attached length of pvc pipe acted as a barrel of sorts - not to mention the fact that it also made it look like a fountain with soda spewing forth from the drilled holes as well. We achieved heights that we estimated to be 10-15 feet high.

Sometimes you just gotta get back to basics to remember how much fun silly stuff can be.

Do the Loco Motion...

2006-06-16T08:53:00.000-04:00

Well, my good friend Loco, aka Fred, is moving in a few weeks back to Florida, where he got a promotion with his company. While he has been here he's been in search of a few things, nothing crazy, just a few things he'd like to do or obtain - call them personal quests if you will. Well, the stars must have aligned in his favor this week, because he accomplished two of his goals, both of which have up until this point, proved elusive.

First off, we eat a LOT at one of our favorite local watering holes, Harvest Moon. They have their own twist on french fries, called rojos. They are these little round potato medallions, similar to a potato chip, but thicker. Fred always orders them well done, usually asking the wait staff for "burnt rojos". They rarely ever come out the way he orders them, but it doesn't deter him from trying every time. Well, Monday night, we went for chicken wings, rojos and beer. Fred ordered his rojos extra crispy, as always. They came out not only just light golden in color, they were also cold. This was on top of the very disappointing batch he received Friday night when we ate there - that batch was greasy, undercooked, and looked terrible (I told you we ate there a lot). I took pity on Fred this time around, and told our very pleasant waitress that not only were his rojos cold, they weren't cooked like he asked. She immediately took them back to the kitchen, and came back a short time later with the BEST plate of rojos we have ever received - it was rojo heaven. Congrats to Fred for acheiving rojo bliss, if only once, before you leave town. Way to stay the course and not get discouraged by all the just average batches you went through to get what you ordered.

Secondly, we all ride bikes together. Suzy, Fred and myself try to ride several times a week, weather and schedules permitting. During the week, we typically ride the same route, as it's convenient, and it's just the right length to get done after work and get back before it gets too dark. Well, I gave Fred his nickname Loco in part because of his bike riding. I told him it meant either he was crazy for hanging around with us, or that it was short for locomotive, meaning he almost always is out from "pulling" for the rest of us. Now, being out front in a pace line while riding is hard. You set the pace, but you also are subject to much more resistance from the wind. It is said that if you are drafting someone (technical term for riding very closely behind another rider, taking advantage of them blocking the headwind) you use up to 30% less effort than the rider at the front of the group. We've gotten really spoiled by this. At first I used to feel guilty drafting most of the time, and would come up to the front to give Fred some relief. Well, he'd either just ride beside me, or after a few minutes, pass me and get back on the front. In time, I just came to accept the fact that he liked to be out front. Works for me, as I will take my share of the effort on the front, but I don't really like the extra effort required to stay out there for long periods of time. At the end of our normal route, there is an area that is the final sprint zone. It's right before we turn off the main road into the neighborhoods and do our cooldown ride back home or to the bike shop. Now Fred and I have different riding styles. He's a low rpm kind of guy, pushing a big gear at a slower pace, and I prefer to spin a higher cadence, in a lower gear. Same results, just different riding styles. I am guilty of taking advantage of Fred pulling the majority of the route, and waiting until the end to zip around him and out-sprint him to the line, almost every time we ride. My riding style helps me in this, as it's easier for me to spin up high rpms relatively quickly for short, high effort distances, which is what sprints are. It takes Fred longer to get up to speed, because he uses a bigger gear, at a lower rpm, but at a higher resistance. Well, after getting beat to the sprint line time and time again, Fred started trying to devise a tactic that would let him win a sprint. He would sometimes make me pull on the final stretch, tiring me out some, so I wouldn't be as much of a threat. Most of the time, I still managed to win. Then he started cranking the pace up farther and farther back, making me expend more effort earlier on, in hopes that I would run out of gas on the sprint. These distances keep getting longer and longer, and it really hurts to have to in effect, sprint for twice or three times as far for me. Hey, if he can't beat me, might as well make me suffer for my win, right? Well, his Kosmic Karma (yes, I know that is a pizza name at Mellow Mushroom...) was with him Thursday night. On the final stretch, Fred jumped early and I didn't chase him. Suzy was tired, and was falling off the back of the group, so I came around her and pulled her back up to the pack. One of the other riders went off after Fred, and caught him, so they were riding together a good distance up the road ahead of me. Well, me being the creature of habit that I am, and liking to win the sprint, I set off in pursuit from way back. I was riding as hard as I could, but he did it. His jump from way back was enough for him to beat me to the sprint line. I caught and passed the other person that was in the breakaway and beat him across the line, but I couldn't catch Loco.

So Bravo, Loco. You have achieved two of your personal jihads in one week. Take care and godspeed, we sure are going to miss you around here, man.

Mean Daddy

2006-05-23T11:07:00.000-04:00

OK. Time for some tough love around here. If you weren't aware, I'm the proud parent of 5. Well, 4 Greyhounds and my lone Brittany Spaniel. My 2 girl greys, Chloe and Bonnie have a very nasty habit that Suzy & I have been trying unsuccessfully to break. They have a penchant for turf nuggets. They think they are delectable treats, placed there for their snacking pleasure. We've tried putting powder on their food, giving them Forbid tablets, putting A-1 steak sauce on their food, all to no avail.

Today, I am unveiling my latest secret weapon in the fight against turf nuggets - Hot Sauce. That's right, if they are going to eat poop, by God, they are going to pay for it. I am waging war on their bad habit, it an effort to break them of this cycle. I am dousing turf nuggets with hot sauce, so that if they DO partake, they will get a mouth on fire. Now, I tasted this particular brand after we bought it last night, and it wasn't "blazzing" as the label proclaimed, but I will ramp up to hotter varieties if this doesn't do the trick. Some might call this inhumane, but I don't know what else to try. A few doses of hot sauce can't be any worse for them than the ingestion of, well, you know. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

My Name in Lights...

2006-05-23T10:08:00.000-04:00

Well, there I am, at the bottom of the middle row, on a 50 gallon barrel of Maker's Mark Bourbon that is now resting comfortably at the top of one of their aging warehouses. How I got to be on there is a long story.

I read deal sites on a routine basis. Mostly tech related, as I'm a nerd at heart and always looking for good deals to add to my geek collection or for any of my friends and family that might be looking as well. On one particular tech forum, they have a sub-forum entitled Free Stuff. It's usually links to promo items, new products, the occasional free magazine subscription and what have you. I would hazard to guess that probably 75% of the stuff you sign up for never comes, but several years ago, there was a post for a free Maker's Mark Bourbon sleeve of golf balls. Catch was, you had to sign up to be a Maker's Mark Ambassador. I have several "junk e-mail" addresses, so I figured I would sign up, and if nothing came of it and all I got was spam, it was no big deal. Turns out, this was probably hands down the coolest "free" promotion I've ever signed up for. Not only did I get the golf balls, but over the course of the last several years, I've gotten random care packages from them - sets of plastic insulated tumblers, wacky Christmas cards that I couldn't bring myself to mail out, but this one takes the cake. I got an official looking packet in the mail last fall, telling me that my name was scheduled to be placed on a plaque on one of their barrels of bourbon, and at some point in the future, I would be able to purchase a bottle of it - granted, it would be YEARS in the future, as they age their bourbon a LONG time. So, what started off as a ploy to get a free sleeve of golf balls has turned into something kind of cool. One of these days I hope to make it up to visit my barrel on it's journey and visit the distillery. Not bad for free...

My life as a Schmenge...

2006-04-24T16:33:00.000-04:00

No, that's not me on the podium. That's the overall GC winners of the Tour de Georgia. Floyd Landis in the center in the yellow jersey, flanked by Tom Danielson on the left in 2nd and Yaroslav Popovych on the right in 3rd. Suzy, Len & I hiked to the top of Brasstown Bald on Saturday to see another amazing bike race unfold at the finish line, once again reminded of the strength of these athletes who can ride long stage races and STILL have what it takes to attack with "Old School Fury" and ride "Deep in the Pain Cave" up this awesome mountain that is said to be steeper than the mountains in the Tour de France, just not as long a climb. Those euphemisms in quotations were provided by the colorful announcer calling the race at the finish line. Imagine staring at a tv screen and having to ramble on for 4 hours and still try to come up with interesting commentary...

We were joined on Sunday in Alpharetta by my old roommate Chris. We set up on the same corner of the race course as we did last year within sight distance of the finish line and on an exciting corner of the 3.65 mile circuit that they did 6 laps around after riding 94 miles to get to Alpharetta. The thrill of watching some of the same pros that will be in the Tour de France is awesome, and you can't help but root for the underdogs and the domestic teams as well. Our local favorites, Jittery Joes Racing Team, out of Athens, GA were there and they all finished the race. It was a beautiful day, with not a cloud in the sky, and we stuck around this year for the awards ceremony and I got lots of great shots of all the podium action. A great day to be a schmenge (if you don't know, don't ask - unless you ask Bob Roll...), and I can't wait til next year already!

The Power of Suggestion...

2006-04-19T11:12:00.000-04:00

Well, after reading Fred's blog about the goodness of San Joe's mexican restaurant for lunch, Suzy and I took his advice and went there for lunch ourselves Tuesday. I had the lunch portion of steak fajitas and Suzy had two tacos and a plate of refried beans. After feeling strange about ordering a soda and tea for Suzy, we settled in to our nice hot basket of chips and salsa. We almost always have beer when we go there, but it was lunchtime, so we were on our good behavior. They were their usual speedy service, and we were back at work feeling all full of mexican goodness.

We also went to the Albany Chamber of Commerce's Business After Hours function at Wynfield Plantation. Boy, is that place nice. Suzy said she might could even live in the country if it looked like that - really first class. We went with the intention of winning the $10,000.00 raffle that they were drawing for, but neither of our 2 tickets were drawn out of the 300 that were for sale, so no luck there. Someone that worked at a local CPA firm of Mauldin & Jenkins won - like a dang CPA NEEDS any more money - we pay them enough as it is! Our spirits were further crushed when we learned that 5 ugly people from Ohio won our Mega Millions jackpot and the dang MONGORRIAN lotto ticket sellers didn't bother to sell me the winning ticket... Oh well, guess we gotta keep on working. Sorry no pictures this post, too lazy to put any up, plus I didn't feel the subject matter lent itself to photos. Although my fajitas were photo worthy, I didn't have my camera handy at lunch.

We're Going to Disneyworld!

2006-04-04T21:09:00.000-04:00

Isn't that what all the athletes say after they win? Well, Suzy won her first bike race, so off to Orlando and the land of Disney we went. It was actually our Valentine's Day present to ourselves, but hey, this is my story, and I'm telling it like I want to! We went to an Atlanta Braves spring training game, where we got to see them beat the Cincinatti Reds on a glorious Spring afternoon, that, as Jim Stoll would surely put, "It's a beautiful day for baseball!". While we were in Orlando, we went to City Walk at Universal Friday night and had dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant, which was absolutely packed, but had wonderful service and great beer and drinks and a wonderful band that started a few minutes after we finished our meal. After we left the game, we came back to our hotel, and on a whim, I called to see if Emeril's had any reservation cancellations, but they did not. Since he has two restaurants in Orlando, I called the other one, and they did have a slot for us at 8pm, so we made a mad dash to the outlet mall to find something appropriate to wear out to Emeril's Tchoup Chop (pronouced "Chop Chop") restaurant. The restaurant was THE nicest place I've ever had the pleasure to eat in. It is a polynesian/asian fusion themed menu, and the interior decor was stunning. An elevated water garden with copper lily pads was the center showcase with seating all around. Bamboo hardwood flooring, bamboo on the walls, a waterfall over the open kitchen, complete with bar stool seating overlooking the working kitchen, the works. We were running a tad late, and were glad to see they had valet parking. We were seated almost immediately, and were called by name by our server. We actually had a team of 3 folks waiting on us all evening, and it was so unlike our normal dining experiences at home, or for most other places, for that matter. The menu was almost intimidating it was so extensive, but I chose a steak, and Suzy chose fish. Even the chefs at one of Emeril's restaurants can't seem to cook a steak to order, as I ordered it medium rare, and it came out VERY medium, medium well in some parts. It was still excellent, just a bit on the tough side. I mentioned it to one of our server team when they asked how everything was, and he offered to fix it for me by having another one prepared. I declined, knowing it would take them at least 10 minutes to fix another, and then Suzy's food would be ice cold, or gone. I just wanted to mention it to them, because at the price we were paying to eat here, I thought the food should be as ordered. A few minutes later, a manager came over and asked again if he could fix it, and I again declined, but thanked him. He returned a few minutes later and informed me that he had told the chef about it, and the chef insisted on buying us dessert. So, after drinks, an appetizer, a bottle of wine with dinner, and our meal, we managed to stuff in a fabulous dessert on the house.

We never did make it to Disney, but there's always next time!

Much ado About Nothing...

2006-02-13T22:34:00.000-05:00

No fancy pictures, no big fanfare, nothing much new to see here... Lest I be compared to my brother-in-law, who was chastised for not updating his blog in like, YEARS, I'm making an obligatory post to let the unwashed masses in on my life's events over the last couple of ten days or so. Now, if you fit into this category, don't silently berate yourself, because you haven't missed out on anything important. No clandestine late-night drug offers, no big events in the life of brewer and beer grunt at Burnt Dog Brewery, nothing important at all. It's been one of those lulls of activity that happens that is often referred to as real life. What? You thought that since you had no life you could live vicariously through me? Sorry to disappoint, but I'm human too, and I too have moments of mediocracy. So, while I have a spare moment, I'll bring you up to speed. It's not like the last several weeks were so boring that nothing was worth writing about, so, if you were part of my last several weeks, don't feel slighted, I'm not dissing you, it's just that I haven't felt moved to put it in words and highlight it on my blog. Whew. If you are still with me, take a breath, and a paragraph break, and follow on...

OK, so I haven't just been sitting at home the last couple of weeks, I did go to Atlanta to meet my afore-mentioned slackass brother-in-law at the site of his new domicile in Atlanta 2 weekends ago. After watching the home inspector do his thing, and pointing out a few things I saw that may have been overlooked, we ventured on to Metro's abode. After all, why pass up an opportunity to get the Outdoor Adventure crew together when Tex (my slack brother-in-law's nickname) is in town? So, off to Metro's house we go. Metro called Razzle and Robert over, and with them in place, we all went out on the town. Suzy got an inside peek on exactly what goes on during an Outdoor Adventure weekend - mainly copious amounts of drinking and eating... We ate dinner, some weaker (smarter?) members went back to Metro's house, while the rest of us went out to a local watering hole... Not much water, and a WHOLE lot of smoke - yuck. More was done on this trip, but I am getting tired of typing and not done with this story, so on to the next chapter...

This past weekend, we ventured to the land of NASCAR - Daytona Beach. Suzy's parents live there, and it was close to her Mom's birthday, and the only weekend in the upcoming month that we had free, so we loaded up the BMW and headed South for a long overdue visit. We had a great time, although we seemed to drag nasty, rainy, cold weather with us. The weekend was over way too fast, as they always are, and we soon found ourselves headed North on I-95 coming back home. Thanks to Ashley for watching the hounds for us and taking such good care of them that we never once worried about them while gone - this weekend or the last. Or any weekend that she is watching them for that matter. She is a godsend, allowing Suzy and I a chance to actually go out of town together without having to take the dogs with us, or drawing straws to see who will stay home and (gladly) take care of our crazy pack of hounds.

What? You are still here? I haven't bored you to tears? Well that's all - roll the credits, and vacate your seats, the show is over. Come back another time, hopefully real soon, for another installment of the life of me. Be sure to tip your server on the way out, as we only pay them a paltry sum... Ciao!

The Mad Scientist in Me...

2006-02-02T09:26:00.000-05:00

Everyone always wanted that childhood chemistry set to make cool things that smoked and bubbled evilly, as seen on TV. Well, I've got one better than that, I brew beer. It's a lot like a chemistry set, except I get to drink my results (hopefully) and not turn invisible, or grow extra appendages. Right now, I've got an Imperial Stout fermenting happily in my closet - well, I should say mostly in my closet because even in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy for primary fermentation, I've got a blowoff tube with lots of foam and stuff overflowing into a container filled with water. Periodically, the container gets filled up with foamy goodness and stuff, and overflows. I guess when you brew strong beer, you get active fermentations. If I can, I'll snap a picture and edit it in here soon.

EDIT - OK, so I did take a picture and edit it in, as evidenced by the image you see above! Yes, I know it looks kind of nasty, but that's just the yeast at work doing it's thing! This ought to be one tasty beer once it is done. Target alcohol is around 8.5%-9%, but it's got a monster hop profile to offset that heavy grain bill. Should be right up my alley!

Wednesday night has turned into Power Yoga night at the gym, usually followed by a gang of us going out to eat afterwards, so last night we wound up trying someplace new - shocker! Not the same old same old over and over again - not that there's anything wrong with that! But we branched out and tried this Japanese place called Shogun that happens to be in the same strip mall as the gym, so it was convenient. I even branched out and tried some sushi, which I normally shun. We ordered a California tempura roll, a shrimp tempura roll (which I ate none of, as I can't stomach shrimp), and a spicy tuna roll. The California roll was awesome - but of course, how could it not be when the whole thing was lightly battered and fried. The spicy tuna roll tasted kind of fishy and I had to eat lots of pickled ginger to get it down, but I did eat all that didn't get eaten by Suzy & Fred. Dinner was decent, hibachi chicken and steak with noodles, veggies and fried rice - the Sapporo 22oz Draft in a can beers were good and cold too. Something new on a Wednesday night! Who says married folks have no fun?

Speaking of new things, Suzy, Ashley and I went to see a live show at the State Theater last Friday night. Kevn Kinney, the lead singer of Driv'n n Cry'n was in town along with 2 other bands, and I drug the girls along for the show. I ran into an old buddy of mine from my single days at the show, and we caught up on old times. He knew the drummer for one of the other bands on the bill, so during Kevn's rendition of Honeysuckle Blue, we got invited backstage. So there I am, standing in the wings on the stage during the song, and realizing how cool that was. The sound was so great being 10 feet from the band and behind the wall of speakers. So anyway, the song ends, the drummer guy says we gotta go back out front, and my buddy Van wonders off to the bathroom. So I'm standing there talking to this drummer, who I don't know from Adam, and he asks me if I like to party. I said, well, in my younger days, yeah, some. Then he asks me if I want to hang with them after the show, as he's scored some particularly sweet coke - as in cocaine. Then, in the very next breath, he says, "You're not a cop, are you?" Anyway, suffice it to say, that's not my scene, so I politely declined his offer. Who says Albany is dull? Sex, drugs and rock n roll, baby! The show was great, and we cut out before the last band played their set, so I didn't have to stick around to diss the drummer's invite. Wacky stuff, I tell you! Can't be doing drugs, I felt bad enough as it was after my few beers and then having to ride my bike 50+ miles to Bronwood and back the next day...

Strength Training Continued...

2006-01-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

OK, since I couldn't let Suzy get too far ahead on me in the strength training, I went hardcore today, doing intensive 12oz curls on the beach.

I even got enough energy to cross train - those tri-athletes got nothing on me! You can't go to the beach in January and not test the waters. Those first two shots are pictures of what used to be the public beach access in Destin before the hurricanes wreaked their own special magic on it last year. Yes, that's the parking lot, or what is left of it, and the public bath house just sticking up in the air on pilings. There used to be a wonderful boardwalk with multiple beach access ramps leading to the water over majestic dunes. Now it appears that high tide water laps at the pilings under the bath house. Pretty awe inspiring to see Mother Nature's wrath in person, especially since this area is right across the street from the condos we like to stay at. This isn't the only activity we got in today, we also managed to drag ourselves to the heated pool, hot tub and sauna as well. I'd write up more of my adventures, but hey, I'm off to drink more beer and eat some fried blue crab claws dipped in drawn butter...

January Strength Training

2006-01-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

To be a strong bike rider takes extreme discipline and continued training, even in the cold months of the off season. Here is Suzy's secret to being an ass-kicking bike rider revealed for the first time here! No, it's not long, grueling miles on the bike in the cold, it's about refueling and refilling the stores needed to get through the upcoming year of riding. Here is a rare photo of Suzy at her winter training grounds - Mellow Mushroom in Destin, Florida. That's right folks, the secret to strong bike riding is pizza and beer!

Celebrity Poker Night

2006-01-19T14:47:00.000-05:00

Well, we had our Texas Hold'em poker party last Saturday night, and as you can see, we had some celebs sitting in on our table. It's obvious by the sunglasses that they didn't want to get recognized, so they were in disguise. We had a great time, had some of my famous margaritas, I grilled a ton of chicken for chicken soft tacos, Rue and Shannon both brought tasty desserts, Fred brought some awesome home-made salsa, and that was the highlight of my evening - the food. My cards sucked. Royally. I mean it. I didn't win a hand the whole evening, and my best hand was my first hand, which was a pair of 7's dealt to me - too bad nothing turned up on the table to help them out any. It was still a great time, and I'm looking forward to the next in the series, I think some of the Tifton crowd that was in attendence will be the hosts for our next attempt.

Bonnie the Bone Chewer

2006-01-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

Yep, who knew the little starving greyhound would love bones and rawhides so much? She just walks around with them in her mouth, not wanting to put them down. She takes her sweet little time, savoring every last bit of goodness out of them. This sometimes causes a bit of strife for the others in the pack, as they firmly believe in the "eat it all now, Mommy might give us more" mentality.

MAL Day, or Cheeseburger, Glorious Cheeseburger!

2006-01-19T12:44:00.000-05:00

Well, while all of the rest of the world was celebrating MLK, Jr Day, we here at Regency were celebrating our version of it. MAL Day is celebrated every January in honor of Mallory's birthday. Since we don't know the exact date of his birth, only that he was born in January 1994, we have chosen this day as his official day. And no MAL Day celebration would be complete without Checker's Cheeseburgers for the birthday boy! So, Happy observed Birthday Mallory, you are looking quite spry for being 11 years young!

New Year, New Day...

2006-01-13T15:10:00.000-05:00

Who is this girl and why is she on my blog? This is our friend Rue, who lives in Tifton. She was kind enough to invite us to her house for New Year's Eve, and we had a great time ringing in the New Year with her and a bunch of our Tifton friends who ride bikes with us. We played Texas Hold 'Em with 12 people - that was a challenge! Suzy had never played before, but she managed to come in in the top 3 and won a portion of the pot. A little of the old beginner's luck! Since I had fronted her buy-in, I managed to recoup my losses as well.

We had so much fun in Tifton, we decided to host a poker party ourselves, so expect an update after that happens. We'll see if Suzy can continue her lucky streak Saturday night against everyone clamoring for a re-match. Me, I'm just looking for an excuse to fire up the grill for a bunch of folks and not have to worry about having to drive home after some cocktails. At least Fred stepped up and was our DD on New Year's. I guess we are growing up after all!

Suzy and I went mountain bike riding on the Flint River trails last Sunday, and had a great time. Well, Suzy had a great time until some mean old tree roots kicked her to the ground, but you can read about that on her blog. I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! Until next time....

Spaceman Spiff!

2005-12-29T22:39:00.000-05:00

OK, due to much clamoring for a shot of me in the old man goggles, here's one for all of you out there that asked. OK, wipe the spewed beverages off your monitors from the laughter, I know it looks silly. Yes, that is a pair of the old folks shades OVER a pair of clear goggles. I had to sleep in those damn things for a week - at least I was supposed to. After the second night of sleeplessness, and awaking to find that I had pulled them off anyway, I decided to just go for broke and sleep without them.

It's amazing what a difference a week makes, my eyes are almost back to normal from the surgery, the pain is a not too distant memory that is fading fast, and my vision is damn near perfect. At my one week post op checkup this past Wednesday, I was 20/25 in both eyes, with a little blurriness in my right eye. I was told little fluctuations in sharpness and strength would happen over the next month, so, while I was disappointed to find out that I was "only" at 20/25, they are all optomistic that it will improve to 20/20 or greater in the next weeks to come. The blurry vision I had yesterday is much better today even, so let's all hope for some serious improvement in the coming month - I was told that 20/10 is not unheard of from the Custom Vue procedure that I had done.

Christmas Day, greyhound style...

2005-12-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

This is how you count your blessings and try and convince the nice lady that you've been a good dog this year. We've got visiting greyhounds and their parents from Detroit this year, Suzy's sister Betsy and her husband, Doug. They have three greyhounds as well, so yep, those of you that excelled in arithmetic counted 8 dogs at our house for the holiday - well 9 if you count Kelsey, who is not pictured here. This pack of wild dogs were in the kitchen eating the bits of turkey goodness left over from making the turkey stock for the gravy. You know, that stuff that comes in the white plastic bags stuffed inside the cavity that you forget to remove every year? Anyway, Merry Christmas and I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as I did.

Pay your damn utility bills!

2005-12-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

OK, this might be showing my age, but growing up, there was this cartoon about a crotchety old man who was blind as a bat and who always seemed to foil the crooks or save the day, despite not being able to see a thing. After my LASIK surgery yesterday, I am no longer Mr. Magoo! The procedure went well, but no one seems to tell you that it is going to hurt like hell! Suzy and I left Albany around 2PM headed to Valdosta to make my 4PM appointment. We get there about 5 minutes before my scheduled appointment and the office is jam packed with folks - always a good sign, along with the awards on the wall for Reader's Choice as best eye clinic in Valdosta. I go through the check-in process, and of course the payment process - guess they want your signature before the fact in case they mess up and leave you blind and not able to sign your credit card receipt. I opted for the Custom Vue LASIK treatment, which means they got me for even more $$ than just the standard procedure. They sat me down at a machine called a wave front analyzer which supposedly mapped out my corneas and created a custom profile for the laser to use instead of just a standard treatment based off my prescription. Anyway, they sit me in an exam room, put some numbing drops in my eyes, give me a Valium, and swab my eyes down with Betadine to sanitize the surgical area. They let me sit in the room for the numbing drops and Valium to kick in, then the led me off to the room with the laser wearing sharks. They had me lay down on a table and put a patch over my left eye. They then taped down my upper and lower eyelashes and placed an instrument called a speculum in my eye to crank open my eye lids so they could work without me blinking. Now comes the part I was dreading, the cutting of the flap. To say that hurt would be a bit of an understatement. I wasn't really prepared for the sensation of having an object pushed firmly against my eye tissue and then the feeling of the flap being cut, not to mention the loss of vision that entailed after that was done. Next up, the laser is turned on and you can hear it clicking away and doing it's thing, then they flush your eye, lay the flap back down, flush it again, then use some sort of tool to smooth back down the flap and make sure there are no air pockets there - think a small squeegee, and you'll get the idea. Total elapsed time for the first eye, probably 2 minutes total. The laser was only on for maybe 30 seconds or so.

Now for the fun part. They start to prep my left eye, taped down my eye lashes, placed the speculum, and are ready to insert the tool to cut the flap and the power in the building blinks. Yes, you read correctly, the freaking power shut off. So, there I am, already apprehensive and trying to be a good patient, and the lights go off. The Doctor and the 2 laser techs take it in stride, remarking how it's no problem, and even if we had been in the middle of the procedure, the laser has fail-safes and would save it's position and pick up where it left off. Well, I got to lay there in minor discomfort and major terror for about 10 minutes while the laser powered back on and re-calibrated itself. We then went through the process and finished up on my left eye. They led me back to an exam room, brought Suzy back, gave me my sporty goggles that I get to sleep in for the next week, as well as those old people shades to wear - over the goggles. Yes, I was the epitome of style, let me tell you. They go over my care regimen and give me some drops to use in conjunction with the antibiotic drops that I had already gotten from the pharmacy, and send me on my way.

The ride home was pretty uneventful, my eyes were starting to hurt more and more, so I kept them closed for most of the ride home. When we got home, any light hurt my eyes, so I called my folks to let them know I was ok, put in the first round of eye drops, drank a beer to fortify the effects of the Valium, and tried to sleep. Pain. Lots of pain, my eyes were tearing a good bit, they stung, burned, felt like I had sand in them, hurt to open, etc. I was laying there wondering just what I had gotten myself into, and finally drifted off to sleep. When I wok e up about midnight, the pain had subsided somewhat, and I COULD SEE THE CLOCK ACROSS THE ROOM! Hey, this thing really worked! I got up, put more drops in, drank some water, chatted with Suzy a bit, and went back to bed. I got up at 6AM this morning to drive myself to my Post-Op consult with the Doctor in Tifton this morning - by myself. They told me that my vision is 20/20 and that the procedure went perfectly. I've got some dryness, a little sensitivity to light, and a bit of cloudy vision, but I can see great. All in all, the discomfort will be worth it in the long run of being free from glasses and contact lenses. I'll be sure and update my progress as we go!

Sharks with Frickin Laser Beams!

2005-12-16T09:04:00.000-05:00

So, after driving to Tifton yesterday to meet with an eye specialist to see if I am a candidate for LASIK surgery, I bit the bullet and scheduled my surgery for December 21 at 4 PM. I hope his technology is a little more advanced than Dr. Evil's killer sharks and their head mounted laser beams, people! I'm a little nervous, but extremely excited. The doctor, Scott Petermann (no relation to J Peterman I am afraid) is 36, and has had the procedure done on himself for 6 years and he is very happy with his decision to have it done. This made me feel a little more at ease. So, this time next week, either I'll be blind, or I won't need glasses or contact lenses any longer! I really don't know what to think, as I can vaguely remember life before glasses, but it's been a long time since the 4th grade when my vision went south. The doctor said I'm a great candidate for the procedure, so think happy thoughts for me next week, and it looks like my Christmas wish of 2 good eyes is coming true! I must have been good this year or something...

She Loves me, She Loves Me Not...

2005-12-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

Well, after joining the gym last week with Suzy, and successfully completing a Spin class without too much difficulty, Fred and I joined Suzy Saturday morning for a class that used free weights in conjunction with those inflatable body balls. Let me just tell you this, I think Suzy was trying to cash in my life insurance policy. I STILL ache today, Monday morning, after this class. I thought my legs were in pretty good shape from cycling and that the squats and lunges would be no problem - well, I guess you work different muscle groups because I'm shuffling around like an old man who was beaten with a baseball bat. I guess that just is my body's way of telling me I need more work in certain areas. If I keep this up, I ought to be a much stronger rider come the spring time.

What does Ri's picture have to do with this post? Nothing, but I was told I needed some shots of her on my blog, so here she is. She's my 11 year old Brittany Spaniel who rules over the greyhounds.

Meet Bonnie!

2005-12-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

Meet Bonnie, our newest addition to our pack. She is two years young, a brindle and quite the little frisky girl. She hates sirens, likes to hop around like she's got springs in her paws, and is having fun chasing Chloe around. She's steadily putting on weight, from her emaciated 48 pounds and fitting in nicely. How did we wind up with 5 dogs? I'm not quite sure, but I've told Suzy in no uncertain terms that we are REALLY FULL now. We'll see if that sticks this time around.

In other news, I'm wearing glasses for a few weeks in preparations for a consultation with a surgeon for LASIK treatment. I've had crappy vision since the 4th grade, and worn glasses or contact lenses ever since, so the idea of being able to wake up and magically see is quite exciting. I'm a bit apprehensive, but I am ready to find out more about it. If I like the consult, and I am a candidate for the surgery, I might be having it done on December 21. Can you say all I want for Christmas is my 20/20 eyesight?

Spaghetti Anyone?

2005-12-06T14:54:00.000-05:00

Dateline: October 22, 2005
Yeah, I know I'm slack when it comes to blog updates, but better late than never. On Saturday, October 22, Suzy, Fred, myself and lots of other slightly insane folks opted for the scenic fat tired tour of Northern Florida and Southern Georgia Plantation dirt roads. This was one of the options of the organized Spaghetti 100 bike ride that oddly enough, did not offer spaghetti after this year's ride - something about a scheduling conflict with the usual space that they cook in... Totalling 68 miles on a combination of dirt and pavement, but mostly dirt, we left Miccosoukee, FL and headed North towards Thomasville, GA, then to Boston, GA, then back to Miccosoukee. Boston is where Chloe was found wandering loose after she turned herself in to the Police Station there. Speaking of Chloe, she just celebrated her 3 year anniversary here with us, hard to believe she's been with us that long...
Back to the ride, it was very scenic, but it was about 20 miles too long for my tastes. Suzy said she chose this option, since "Everyone knows that dirt roads are flat!". This statement was proven false MANY times over during the course of our trek, but Fred and I only called BS on her maybe 30 times or so. I had asked the ride co-ordinator about the condition of the dirt roads, and if they were sandy or hard packed clay, and she told me they were mostly hard packed, so I opted for skinny road slicks inflated to around 90psi for the ride - much to my chagrin, the roads were quite sandy, especially the leg from Boston back to the finish. This made for some interesting moments for Suzy and I, but luckily neither of us actually fell from the sand. Fred kept extolling the virtues of his fatter, more suited knobby tires at a much more reasonable 35 psi. I, of course, ignored him and continued my sand surfing on skinny tires. To pay him back for all of his snide comments, I laid the hammer down on Suzy and Fred at the end of the ride, just trying to get back to the truck so I could get off my bike. Little did I know that they were plotting to kick my bike and knock me off - if they could only catch me, which fortunately for me, did not happen. Shortly longer than 7 hours after we left the parking area, we arrived back, sore, dirty, tired and VERY thirsty. We changed clothes, (except for Fred, he opted to stay in his bib shorts, which he claimed were very comfortable - go figure) piled into Fred's 4 door Ford F-150 and headed for civilization and in search of food and cold beer. We found a Beef O'Brady's in Thomasville that had excellent food (isn't all food better after a long bike ride?) and ice cold beer on tap. It was a great experience, but Fred came home and immediately had me list his bike on EBay - I guess he wanted to ensure he would not be able to do this ride in the future.

Random Fun!

2005-09-15T09:29:00.000-04:00

Well, being new to blogging, and being sort of lazy, I haven't updated this in a while, so here goes. Hmm, since my first post, I got a new digital camera, a Pentax Optio WP - very nice camera, being that it is waterproof to 8 feet. Not just water resistant, but completely waterproof. Jack had one on our last Outdoor Adventure that was in my last post, and after seeing it in action in and around the water all weekend, I had to have one. It is the best convergence of technologies that I have seen in a while.

We also helped host a couples wedding shower on August 27th for our friends Craig and Michelle, who live in Naples, FL. It was a Luau theme, and I agreed to bartend for the party - well, that consisted of just making blender after blender full of margaritas - my own private recipe, of course. This was my birthday weekend as well, as my birthday is August 28th, so we spent Sunday with my family at Long Pond Plantation (fancy name for the 2600 acres my parents live on in Baker County, about 30 minutes south of Albany). It was a nice celebration, and one I always look forward to, as my Mom always makes me my favorite strawberry cake - one she has been making for me on my birthday now for oh, maybe 20 years or so. It's a classic, and one I never get tired of having for some reason - could be nostalgia, could be the fact that it's just so darn good. Since Suzy's birthday is also in August, and we typically have a joint celebration, she gets points for allowing me to continue requesting that cake every year - I think she likes it just a little bit as well...

Today, all of the dogs got new fancy jester collars courtesy of their Grandma Diane, who took the trouble to make them all by hand and ship them out. She even made one for Kelsey, our "extended family" greyhound, who was adopted by our good friend Ashley a little over a month ago.That about wraps it up on the news front, I'll try to be a little more diligent in updating this in the future!

Outdoor Adventure IX - Viva la PBR!

2005-08-22T15:19:00.000-04:00

Well, after a long weekend in the North Georgia mountains near Helen, eating lots of fried food and pork products, I managed to survive the onslaught on my arteries and make it back home to the land of soy products and veggies. It's great to have a blow out weekend of eating and drinking, but if I lived that way all the time, I'd definitely shorten my existence. It was a great time to be in the mountains, we went tubing down the Chattahoochee River into Helen and that was quite refreshing. Of course, as a welcome home present, when I got in the Pathfinder to go to the bank this afternoon, the outside temperature showed a balmy 106 degrees. Fahrenheit. I guess these are truly the dog days of summer. Heat index was supposed to hit 117 or some ridiculous number today.