ness

Cewl!

Good to hear, man! Keep it up. I've lost weight the last couple months and I'm feeling noticeably better. Sleeping better too. Joints don't ache as much now either.

Right after I type the period at the end of this sentence I'm not longer participating in this thread.

Look at you with your mis all en place

Oh crap!

Always loved the Larry the Cable Guy joke about his sister getting cancer from second-hand chew

Living in the city, every place I'm in or around is smoke-free. I know I'm not getting out to the hinterlands enough based on this conversation. Heck, when I was a kid my dad would be driving the station wagon with a pipe or cigar in his mouth while mom smoked her Salems. I'm sure our cars and house smelled like crap, but it never bothered me then. It's really noticeable now, of course. I don't mind it so much, I just avoid it. One thing that bugs me is that so many smokers feel it's ok to pitch a butt on the ground. It's not.

Shazbot and make whoopy are kinda new.

Oh, man. That sounds great.

Yes, it's possible. Making bread is kinda complex though. But, moisture in the oven fosters a crispy crust. I've got a recipe that calls for a pan of water below the bread dough.

Not sick of salads yet...

I've been working on losing weight due to some bad numbers from the doc. Kinda got me to thinking about stuff and I'm working on making permanent changes. One of the unexpected things is that bad-for-you food kinda loses its appeal when you go without it for a while. The tummy seems to adjust. So, I'm no expert, but things do seem to get a little easier.

What's this world coming to? I was in the coal mines at 6 working 14 hours a day 6 days a week. I'd smoke a pack of Camels before work just to coat my lungs for protection from the dust. Now you can't even get a decent rod boy. Gotta pay a grown man who calls himself a guide to do it, and he's gonna get pissy if you don't tip him.

ness don't doo dat. I'm using every single one of my remaining brain cells just to keep from being put into a home.

We've got a place in town called The Mixx that has a dizzying array of stuff to make salads with. It's actually kind of intimidating to try to order -- made worse by the guy that takes orders being very hard to understand both because of an accent and fast talking. I finally figured out that "Fajita go" is "Would you like that for here or to go?" and "Meat?" means "Would you care to add meat to your salad?" Anyhoo, I finally settled on a combo I like and so I loaded in into my phone so I can rattle it off super fast next time. Half Iceberg, half spinach, beets, cranberries, smoked almonds, candied pecans, mozzarella and Spicy Sicilian vinaigrette. A little sweet, a little heat, a little crunch.

Doesn't anybody use a rod boy anymore?

Come on up anytime! Bring some shrooms wid ya!

I didn't need it, but I wanted it, so that's kinda hard say if it was worth it. I love pizza and the people I love do too so I guess that's all good. Cost was around $140 for the unit, but I also got an aluminum peel and a new stone to go with it pushing the total bill to $205. I'm glad I got those two things. My old pizza stone is getting pretty rough on top, and the thin aluminum slides under a lot easier than my thicker bamboo ones. A lot of it is technique -- coals at the back, stone towards the front. Preheat the stone, then throw in the wood and let it catch fire driving up the temp. You could probably use that same technique with just the kettle and a stone.... A lot of the reviews I read said they were getting up to 900 degrees. I topped out at 700 and it only stayed there for maybe 20 minutes then it began to fall. I was waiting to see if it would go higher and used up too much fuel -- I only got one pizza done before the temp started to drop. I think it was in there around 4-5 minutes. After that, I lifted the unit off and tossed in more wood but I couldn't get the temp back up there. By then the charcoal was petering out too. Second pizza didn't brown as nicely on top with the lower temp (got up to around 600) but I had to take it out because the bottom was done. Should have started the first one when it hit 700 -- I would have had plenty of time for two or more. Bit of a learning curve. BTW -- that was store-bought frozen pizza dough. Next weekend it's gonna be ness dough. Maybe with sourdough if I get ambitious and can bring my neglected culture back to life.

Got a new toy. It sits on the Weber kettle. Charcoal and wood chunks at the back. No soaking the wood, just throw it on top of the coals and let it burn. That's where the high heat comes from -- around 700 or more

Only one thing in my mail box so far this week that made me smile Nice bunch of flies, guys. I had to put on my readers for most of them -- well, except for the a$$ kicker. That big momma's gonna get tossed in the water really soon! Only gripe with this swap is the lame-a$$ pheasant tail nymph. Who doesn't already have a bunch of those? Plus, it looks like it was tied by a kindergartner. Well, I guess you get what you pay for in a fly swap

26 this AM.

Always a good feeling to finally get your babies in the ground! Got my onions, shallots and about half my lettuce plants in the ground over the weekend. Such a busy weekend that I didn't even consider putting out the maters and peppers. They're doing fine in their new bigger pots under my jury-rigged light system in the kitchen. They've been hardened off and all look healthy. But I'm ready to get that mess put away! If I can get a halfway decent looking forecast for the next week or so, I'll try to get some stuff moved out this week. I've got hoops up and plastic ready if I need it. Never again will I follow BilletHead's lead and plant in early January. Seriously, I got such a late start last year I was overly anxious to get it right this year and went too far the other direction. Part of the issues is now I'm pre-sprouting peppers and maters in baggies on heat mats, and that takes a week or two out of the equation. Getting some asparagus from my small plot, and found 8 morels yesterday without trying too hard at a completely new spot.