More BBQ

After that last post about BBQ, I thought it was pretty funny Saturday when we decided to get out the grill. Unfortunately, our grill had begun to rust pretty badly in the bottom and the burners were not working properly. Kirby went to Lowes to see if he could get replacement burners and came home with this.

I knew when he left we would get a new grill before it was over. But, the best part of the story happened later. We spent about two hours putting the grill together. It was so hard to reach some of the screws you had to put in, and so hard to hold all the pieces together while getting a screw through a hole that you couldn't see. Anyway, we worked and worked and finally had a beautiful new grill. Then we went to hook up the propane tank and realized our old one was empty. So an hour later, after a trip to Krogers for gas and some buns and chips, etc., we have our tank hooked up. All the burners fired right up and we were good to go. By this time, we are both starving and completely worn out.

After coming inside to clean up and get the hamburger meat, we decided to just fry the burgers in a pan on the stove so we wouldn't get our new grill dirty!!! They were very good burgers and we ate them with Chili Cheese Fritos (our favorite).

Tonight, we will actually christen the grill. A neighbor is having a cookout and we are going to take our grill because theirs is much too small. I have made a big pan of jalapeno poppers (we split the jalapeno, stuff it with cream cheese, wrap it in bacon and grill - gooooooood stuff) and Kirby made two Key lime pies. I'm making myself hungry. Better go get ready.

Barbeque

I just realized that the entire 10 days we were gone this trip I only got on the internet once for a couple of minutes and I didn't add anything to my blog.

For some reason Kirby and I have been hungry for Barbeque this week. We have both eaten at Rudy's and love the sauce and the sides (creamed corn and new potatoes). This week, we stopped at a little ramshackle place called "The Shed" in Ocean Springs, MS off I-10 at exit 57. The building looks like it should be condemned, however, the food was fantastic. I love sausage and chicken, Kirby loves brisket, so we had all three. The sauce was a little too sweet, but still good. Like Rudy's, they serve it with slices of white bread. The potato salad was ok, but the macaroni salad was better. Kirby liked the beans. The place is decorated with hand written signs of all kinds that contain little bits of wisdom and humor. It was fun to sit at the table and read the walls. A lot of people have hung up dollar bills with their names and towns written on them. I don't know if the waitresses got a tip or not, but the walls were covered with cash. Next time we stop, I'm going to take my camera with me.

Having said all that, I come to the real point. We stopped at Famous Dave's tonight and I have to say it is fast becoming our favorite BBQ place. Their sausage is so good it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. They have 5 different sauces ranging from honey mustard mild to so hot you can't eat it. Of course, we like the Texas style!!! It's spicy and sweet (sort of like Rudy's). What makes me go back though is the corn muffins. Melt in your mouth corn muffins.

Rudy's and the Shed share the same style of service. At Rudy's, you get in line, get a tray to carry to your table and get your own drink. At the Shed, you get in line to order, get your own drink and when your food is ready, they come out calling your name and bring it to the table. Famous Dave's is a sit down restaurant where they wait on you and bring you anything you ask for and keep your drink filled for you. Thank you, Dave!!

Jen, there is one in El Paso!!! But you will probably have to call in an order and pick it up (they have a pick up window). I'll bet you wouldn't have to wait in line. http://www.famousdaves.com/

Houston, we have a problem

Here's another picture from the El Paso airport. I knew before I left El Paso that it wasn't going to be a good day. To begin with, they were asking people to give up their seats in exchange for a cash voucher and a later flight. By the time they boarded the plane, we were about 20 minutes late taking off. This wouldn't have been a problem, except that I only had 30 minutes to change planes in Houston. Even if the gate you are going to is right beside the gate where you land, you can't change planes in Houston in less than 10 minutes. I landed at gate C84 and needed to be at gate B76 in less than five minutes. I informed the Continental agent who met our plane of my problem and he advised me to get there as fast as I could. As fast as I could, considering I had to wait for their shuttle bus to take me to the other terminal, was about 20 minutes. Surprise, surprise when I arrived at gate B76 my plane had left without me.

At this point, I had a new understanding of Bailey and being 2 years old. He doesn't throw things and fall to the floor crying because he expects to get anything by doing it. He does it because it FEELS GOOD. I wanted nothing more than to knock the phone and computer monitor of the Continental agent to the floor, then fall down screaming and kicking in the middle of gate B76. I knew it wouldn't bring back the plane I had missed, or get me a cookie, but it just seems like it would have felt good.

Continental booked me on a Northwest flight to Detroit, where I was able to make a connection to Charleston, WV, on a propeller plane!!!! I didn't know they still had propeller planes. The stewardess was at least 65 years old, so maybe nobody has told this crew that they are no longer in service. FYI, the airport in Detroit is very nice, but they have this weird tunnel you have to walk through to get from terminal A to terminal B where the walls change color and lights flash to some kind of oriental music and you feel like you are underwater. They also have this really neat fountain in the main terminal that shoots water out of holes at different times and makes pretty patterns and splashes. So go through Detroit sometime if you get a chance.

Finally, I arrived in WV at about 10:30 pm and guess what??? My luggage didn't make it. So I filled out a missing luggage form and drove home. I was actually sort of surprised that my luggage didn't make the flight from Houston that I missed. I figured that would have been the greatest irony. My luggage did arrive today, so alls well that ends well, I suppose.

El Paso

Here are a couple of pictures from today. One is Bailey riding the merry-go-round at the zoo and the other is Maverick smiling at the camera. They are two beautiful boys. We had a good day. We went to the zoo and then picked up McDonalds for lunch. We made a quick trip to Burlington Coat Factory and Bailey got a new Thomas train (he really needed another one) and Jen got a rug for her kitchen. We had a really good supper of chicken and rice that Jen fixed. Then Bailey let us watch Shrek before he went to bed. I got to rock Maverick to sleep, which is one of the best parts of being a grandmother.

Paint

My son and his wife have their house up for sale so yesterday we got a gallon of paint at Big Lots for $3.50 to do some touching up on the front of the house. They have some green trim that we are restoring to the original off-white. Anyway, the paint is a little thin (as you would expect for $3.50) but after we painted yesterday, it rained last night. This morning I went outside and found that some of the paint had washed off!! So much for really cheap paint. I think we will use it as a primer and then go to Home Depot and get something a bit more durable. We are supposed to rent a storage unit today and take the things we have boxed up to storage. They are trying to empty out everything they can live without to make the house look more spacious for the new buyers. Hope that works. All I know is that everytime I take a vacation and come to visit them they have a big project going on around here. Is it just coincidence??? I don't mind, though. There's nothing like going through someone else's closets and throwing things away. A real sense of accomplishment without giving up any of the junk I have in my own closets.
Yesterday morning we had a surprise visitor. Jen will remember him from Bellmead, Jeff Winget. He and his wife were here for the Republic of Texas Bike Rally in Austin and they stopped by before returning to Waco. It was nice to catch up with some friends from years ago. After his description of the bike rally, I'm sure Kirby will want to be here next year.

Austin, Texas

I made it to Austin and I'm here at my son's house. The flights were pretty uneventful and even though I did have to walk too far in the Houston airport, I made my flight on time. I had about 35 minutes and got there with about 10 minutes to spare. Todd and his two step-daughters picked me up at the airport and we had breakfast before coming to his house. Since then the girls and I have been lying around telling ghost stories and funny stories. I'm sure they won't be able to sleep tonight after one of my really scary ones. I think we're going to watch "Night at the Museum" tonight, so that should be fun and get our minds off "The Grudge" and "Scary Movie". I think tomorrow we are going to Waco to see Kayla and Brandon. I'm going to try to do a lot in the next few days because I don't get to see all these grandkids very often.