Tag Archives: cooking out

June 24, 2023 · 9:25 am

Heat Index of WHAT?!

Adobe

Summer became official last Wednesday and it’s already pushing the boundaries of the season.

We’re going to try to cook out for the first time for the summer this evening. The heat index today is going to be 108. GREAT. We may end up eating at midnight.

Meanwhile, after we finish our errands this morning, I’m going to TRY to get some things done outside. I need to –

  • check for ripe tomatoes
  • finish weed whacking
  • and continue cleaning out my spring garden

I know I’ll check the tomatoes, but am not sure what else on that list will actually get done. If I DO continue out there, it will be really short sessions followed by longer resting periods and lots and lots of water.

I AM looking forward to cooking out, though, even if it’s really hot. We have a rope of LED lights around the deck cover and they give it a festive air. I can put my feet up, enjoy a drink, play with our animals, and enjoy talking with my husband while the charcoals get ready and then we cook. Tonight we have steaks – a splurge we haven’t done since last year.

I’m having to watch my husband carefully because he doesn’t ‘prepare’ for being outside. I have to TAKE him a hat and sunglasses as he mows, and bring him a cold drink if I can get him to take a break, or when he finishes. He works until he can barely get back in the house. We talk about it rationally, he agrees to try to do better, and then repeats the same behavior. Arrrgh!

He did get the mowing done yesterday, so if he’s out today, it will be puttering, cutting down branches that get in the way of his riding mower.

Be careful wherever you are, making sure that you weather the temperatures as well as possible, and watch for storms popping up that can cause problems.

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June 20, 2021 · 9:20 am

A Bit of Success

WiffleGif

I finally had a bit of success on losing the lard. I’m almost back to 30 pounds down since my heaviest now – hoping to hit that officially in the next day or so. I’m learning once again how much easier it is to put it ON, rather than taking it OFF.

Yesterday I was moving most of the day. I was in the shop working on the refurb of our Box Turtle Yard art piece. It was hot in there, but I had a fan. I was up and down, pulling and hauling. After resting a bit, I weed whacked, doing two sessions that I had to stop when the weed eater started to smoke! My husband will look at that today to see if it is salvageable. Anyhow, it was a lot of work out in the hot, so I guess that helped finally shed a bit more of the lard.

Today I’m going to put the refurbed box turtle back where he lives in the yard, take pics to show you, start work on another piece, use the leaf blower to clean up the two sidewalks and garage pad, and then cut up lots of veggies for the “kielbasa and veggies” cookout for tonight.

I hope you have a happy Sunday, too.

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May 29, 2021 · 9:51 am

Thoughts on a Sunny Saturday 5-29-2021

Omaha Steaks

These aren’t the steaks we grilled, but we had a GREAT time grilling steaks last night. It was too light, still, to enjoy the colorful rope LED lights we have going around the roof on the deck, but the weather was perfect. Our dog, Amber, and our cat, Abby, were on the deck with us and we truly relaxed while the steaks smelled better and better.

It’s been a long time since we had a cookout. Our weather has been super rainy, and will be again next week, but yesterday was as pretty as it gets. We’re supposed to have a possible two more days of really nice weather before a really rainy week starting Monday. I’m going to spend as much time as possible outside, trying to catch up on yard work. My husband is planning to mow the lawn while it’s possible, as well, so it will look like someone actually lives here. :0)

I was good, trying to keep my diet alive last night. We cut one of the three steaks we cooked in half to share. I had half a baked potato. I’m hoping to continue really watching my portions this weekend to hopefully get through the wonderful holiday weekend at least at the same place I was in my losing the lard efforts. Fingers crossed.

I hope that you are spending the weekend with people you care about, having a relaxing and fun time.

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May 5, 2020 · 10:50 am

Thoughts on a Tuesday – May 5, 2020

Simply-Beautiful

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Some really good friends of ours celebrate an anniversary today. I wish them many, many more happy years together.

Last night my husband and I cooked out on the grill for dinner. Severe weather was forecast, but we decided we would go ahead with it, hoping we could finish before the rain started. We have an LED rope light that we strung around the deck top, and I plugged those in while we sat and talked, enjoying the cool down and the breeze while the meat cooked. The lights instantly make us feel festive!  We got our dinner cooked, and I stored the grill cover on the back porch as we went inside, having lost one before in the same situation.

As we sat down in the living room with our dinner, the rains started. They came in waves, sometimes quite hard. It was loud, too, with lots of lightning and wind. I closed the garage door, finally shutting the front and back door due to the blowing rain. It was quite something.

This morning the sun is shining and all is quite beautiful. It amazes me that it can be so fierce during the night and so lovely the next day. There are leaves and small branches all over the front yard again. (I just cleaned up a big bunch from the last storm.) I have not found any damage yet. Our tomato plants are still looking good. I’ll give them closer attention this morning, as well as check on our garden veggies to see if all is good out there, too.  I’ll try to get some pictures to share with you.

I had a wonderful thing happen this past week. I received an order for a set of glassware on my painted glass website.

I was slow acknowledging the order due to our severe weather causing Internet problems. I wrote the customer, apologizing for the delay. He was very nice, saying they had the same problem where he was. He received the glassware yesterday. I wrote to see if they arrived safely and if he was pleased. He said, “Hi. I just opened them and they are wonderful! Thank you so much. I will be using them a lot.”  Needless to say, I’ve been walking about 3 inches off the ground, grinning like a nut…

My friend Kay from Lunch Bunch called me yesterday, asking if my husband and I wanted to meet this Friday, having our lunch served outside at the picnic table our restaurant has set up. This will depend on the weather cooperating, of course, but I said an enthusiastic “YES!”  Fingers crossed Mother Nature will be in a good mood.

I hope that you are having a good day today.

Hope is in the air!

 

 

 

 

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September 29, 2017 · 12:54 pm

Steaks, Potatoes, and Woofles

I just love this picture!

We’re cooking out tonight – steaks and baked potatoes – we’re not really cooking ‘woofles,’ (sorry, Amber and Molly) but I just HAD to share this picture. :0)

I love cookouts. It’s only going to be my husband and me, plus most of our animals. We all end up in a pile on the deck, surrounded by aromas that make my mouth water just thinking about them. Most everyone is there – the dogs (Molly and Amber) the cats (Abby and Smoke ) – everyone except the fish, who couldn’t care less about cooking out, and our son who is living across the world from us.

As the evening gets darker, we turn on the rope multicolored LED lights, and then, finally, the yellow light that allows my husband to see to cook. :0)  He has a beer in hand. I usually have coffee. We’re gradually getting Amber to quit dive-bombing all the others…

It’s a time to enjoy the wonderful weather. A time to r-e-l-a-x. A time to play with the animals. And a time to talk – all of us enjoying being together in no rush to accomplish anything or go anywhere. The potatoes have been nuked and then transferred to the oven to finish. The charcoal is getting hot and ready to use. The steaks are ready to bring out.

If we’re lucky, we’ll still see a hummingbird or two, maybe a firefly, maybe the pair of doves who sit on the electrical wire together.  I would love it if deer would visit us, but our animals keep that from happening. We did see a deer on the way to Lunch Bunch this morning. I’m glad he decided to dart back into the woods, rather than running into the car. He was there and then gone in the space of a second or two. A beautiful bright spot of nature reminding us to be in the moment, appreciating everything around us.

I hope you have a nice evening planned. I know a special lady who is having a birthday today who I hope is being treated like a queen in celebration. Even if this is a day like most others, I hope you enjoy it to the fullest.  Maybe you can make some ‘woofles!’

 

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