Merry Christmas, all

No illustrious blog post here today, aside from to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

- Mark

New guitar, again

The pics that I posted a day or two ago show our girls with a new Squire Stratocaster Affinity that I bought from http://www.dannyraysmusic.com last week. Well, so much now for THAT guitar.

On Sunday, the output jack on the guitar broke (or so I thought), and so I took it in to Dan today to have it fixed. In typical Mark fashion, while Dan was fixing the Affinity, a different (and considerably more expensive) guitar caught my eye. Convinced in my mind that whatever fix Dan was going to have to do would be thereafter suspect in terms of reliability, and being absolutely in love with the other guitar up on the rack, I totally broke down and had Dan trade in the Affinity for the other. As it turns out, the jack was fine. The outer nut had just fallen off of it, and I hadn't noticed.

In the end, I walked out with this baby. She's a made-in-Mexico 60th Anniversary Fender Deluxe Players Stratocaster. I haven't named her yet. I guess that's next. Perhaps I should even learn how to play.....

Anyhow...two pics here.

Crazy kids with guitars

New toy time!

Yesterday I bought the family a new Squier Stratocaster guitar. No, nobody in the family knows how to play it, but that's okay. It should be fun to learn.

The kids are already having a good time. Here they are with my Seagull S6 and the Strat.

First pork foray

Despite being Texan (grin), I cranked out two cuts of BBQ pork yesterday, with excellent success. They were both done at the same time on my Brinkmann Gourmet water smoker. The first was a picnic cut pork shoulder, and the other was a Boston Butt. Both were rubbed liberally with a nice rub that I made from a recipe that I found in the book Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pit Bosses. They hit the smoker at 1:00pm, with the idea that I'd smoke them for about 5-6 hours and have them ready for dinner. As it turns out, it was so cold here yesterday that I found it tough to keep the temperature up consistently enough to meet that timeline. So...spaghetti instead for dinner. The two hunks-o-pork came off of the smoker at about 9:30 and were terrific. I wasted no time in pulling some of the pork off, tossing it onto a bun with some sauce and pickle slices, and savoring the results of my hard work. Good stuff.

Now...what we're going to do with all that pork is a bit of a mystery, but there was no way that I was going to stand out there in the cold and only do one roast. I'm sure we'll figure out some way to make sure it doesn't go to waste.

Incidentally, I really like that Legends of Texas Barbecue book. If you're into Texas BBQ and its history, I heartily recommend picking up this book.

- Mark

I know you're out there somewhere....

My birth mother called yesterday to let me know that she is another step closer to tracking down my birth father. He's supposedly somewhere in California, and Sharon (birth mom) has found his niece, who would of course be my half-cousin. She should be able to put Sharon in contact with him.

This is a five year story that may be coming to a peak by Christmas time. I always thought I would be just fine if this never happened, but now as it gets closer, the idea of finally meeting my birth father has me really excited. We'll see what happens.

- Mark

Quite a turkey

A few months ago, I bought a new Brinkmann water smoker. Since then, I have - with varying degrees of success - turned out two briskets, two beer can chickens, and a rack of pork ribs. So, for Thanksgiving this year, I decided to take a shot at smoking a turkey. With a few tips from this site and this site, I am happy to say that I was quite successful.

I smoked a 15 lb. turkey for about 12 hours, ending up with a smoked turkey unlike any I have ever seen. I'm used to the usual golden brown smoked turkey that you can get from just about any grocery store, so when I pulled out a black, somewhat leathery turkey from the smoker, I was more than a little nervous. My folks had driven in from Durango, Colorado, and I was eager to please. Thankfully, the black color was just the result of lots and lots of good smoke fueled by Kingsford charcoal, apple wood, and mesquite wood. When I pulled it off of the smoker, I could instantly tell that we were in for a treat. The turkey was practically falling apart under its own weight, and the smoky aroma was heavenly.

Anyhow...long story short, I now have a new awareness of what smoked turkey is supposed to be like. This stuff was delicious. Unlike the usual holiday turkey, where you have to rip the meat from the bone, the meat on this one literally fell away. And talk about flavor! It had a deep, smoky flavor that put to shame everything else that I've ever thought of as smoked turkey.

Guess I'm now in charge of all future holiday turkeys.... That'll work.

- Mark

All bogged down

I had the wonderful occasion last week to go fishing with my father in law and a local guide up in Watersmeet, Michigan. As if this wasn't cool enough of and in itself, it also marked my first opportunity to go bog fishing.

What's bog fishing? Well, many of the lakes up in that area are surrounded by thick layers of bog material. I'm not sure what exactly composes the bogs, but suffice to say that it has to be plenty thick and sturdy to support my big body. Anyhow...to fish these bogs, one needs some way to distribute body weight on the bog in order to avoid plunging straight through it. The trick? Snowshoes!

The snowshoe fishing is something that our guide, Gary Corsi, has introduced into the Michigan Upper Peninsula region and taught us this past Friday. We had a great time out on the bog but unfortunately caught very few fish despite Gary's stereotypical story of having caught several dozen fish there only a week earlier. In his defense, the nights have been cold in the UP lately, and so the fish have been pretty sluggish. I ended up catching the most fish, which was only two pretty average largemouth, one of which is shown here. This was the bigger of the two, but the other wasn't much smaller.

Little Darcy hitting the trails now!

Not one to be outdone for long by big sister, Darcy Leah has moved from her little-girl bike over to Kiara's old 20" mountain bike and is already on the trails. After first starting on a local neighborhood trail, Darcy has already done a few of the easier trails at Walnut Creek Park and is gaining more and more confidence with each outing. She is definitely Kiara's sister, because already after just a few trips she is already demanding to be the leader, even though her tiny little legs propel her along so much more slowly than the rest of us. She is confidently doing some of the easier downhills now and has even taken a few falls that would probably bring tears to the typical five year old. She has some guts though and so far refuses to cry.

Will post some pics later.

Kiara at Madrone Trail; Canyon Lake, Tx.

Here's just a quick pic of Kiara from our biking outing at Madrone Trail. Madrone is a nice trail alongside Canyon Lake near New Braunfels, Tx. We did about half of the eight mile trail before bailing out and hitting the lake for a swim. Her skills continue to improve with every outing. She pulled off almost all of the tough downhills, and her climbing is definitely getting better. Most importantly, we had a great time together on the trail, in the lake, and touring around Gruene befor heading home for a nice 4th of July with Cindi and Darcy. A great day all around. 

Hiking with DarDar

I took Darcy to the Goodwater Trail at Lake Georgetown yesterday. Here are a few pics of Daddy and DarDar out on the trail on what was a beautiful day at a beautiful location.

Cruising on "Red Beauty"

Kiara at Lake Georgetown, through the endless rock

Mountain biking with Kiara

Kiara at Lake Georgetown trail. Here she is with "Red Beauty" (her 24" Specialized Hot Rock) and "Eddie" (my Yeti 575). 

So what's up with me?

Alright....yes, it's been a long time since I've posted a blog update. Guess it's time to fix that.

So here's what up with me lately, in short.

• I'm officially old now. I turned 40 on June 10. Ugh.
• BUT, turning 40 brought with it all sort of major cool stuff; 30GB iPOD (!!), new Weber gas grill, Canon SD450 PowerShot digital camera, three cool model Ford Mustangs, and lots of love from friends and family.
• My Masters program is wearing me to the bone, but I'm loving every minute of it. Only one year (only!) until I'm done.
• Cindi (my wife) has started her own equine photography business and has already begun getting orders. This is a big step for her, and the family is very very proud of her.
• Kiara (now 8) and Darcy ( 5 1/2) are both doing well. Kiara turned 8 in May and got a new mountain bike for her birthday. She and "Red Beauty" have been out with daddy a few times and loved every minute of it. Red Beauty is a full-fledged 24" bike, so she's finally able to do some real trail stuff now. Darcy has inherited Kiara's 20" bike but isn't quite big enough to ride it well yet. We're still working on her skills on her little-girl bike though, and she'll be ready for that 20" bike soon.
• My workouts at Lifetime Fitness have dropped off big-time because of the emphasis on school, but I'm getting back in there today and getting back to it in earnest.
• Life is good. If you ever doubt it, try skipping a day.

Mark

Hooked `Em!!! National Champions, finally!!

This is old news by now, but for the sake of record I should post this:

Hook `Em Horns!!!!!


Last Wednesday, Jan 4 2006, by beating USC 41-38 in the Rose Bowl, the UT Longhorns became National Collegiate Football Champions for the first time since 1970 and undisputed champions for the first time since 1969. Hard to believe that it really took 36 years for the heralded Longhorns to get there again, but they did it, thanks in no small part to the mighty efforts of Vince Young. Hard to say for sure if he deserved the Heisman more than eventual winner Reggie Bush, but there's absolutely no questioning that he was the overwhelming dominant force in this game, running for 200 yards and throwing for another 267. I can't help but agree with all of the other common sentiment that this was the most dominant personal performance ever in a significant college (and perhaps even professional) football game. Vince was just incredible.

Unfortunately, Vince also announced his intent to come out early and enter this year's NFL draft, meaning the Vince Young era at UT is now over, and it is up to either Colt McCoy or an incoming freshman (whose name escapes me right now) to step into some incredibly large shoes. Best of luck to both men and to the Longhorns in 2006.

- Mark