the show

My Wife and I have been married almost ten years this month. We agree on most things, and disagree on others, as couples always do. It is a rare occasion that we both like the same music, as she is slanted towards 80's alternative and I towards guitar noodling.

We both love the Minneapolis-based Jayhawks, pioneers of alt-country. They have few albums, but the ones they released made a huge mark on the lives of so many songwriters of the 1990's and 2000's. We both love the Jayhawks to the core, and have never had the chance to see them, as the band has gone through breakups, reunions, permutations and a general lapse of 'being around.'
 
There also a newish band that we both love dearly, Band of Horses. Southern-rooted rockers with a beautifully written catalog of songs that will make you both dance and reflect. They are my new musical heroes, and they refresh my belief in the power of rock and roll with each release.

So, both bands are our favorites. Our best-est favorites. If you asked what concert we would love to see, it would probably be these two bands in any order.

I cannot adequately describe the way the planets aligned last Saturday night in our own respective worlds of music. The Jayhawks opened for BoH at a venue not 20 minutes from our home. Both acts brought their absolute A game, and the somewhat smallish crowd was engulfed in a wave of musical beauty and power I will probably never experience again. I was with my best friend at the best show on a beautiful night in our town.

Thanks for saying Yes, babe.

Beautiful Sounds

Once in a while I will get the chance to play guitar with friends, and it is always time well spent. Last weekend several families went with ours to the southern Blue Ridge mts for a bit of a getaway. The acoustic guitars came out on Saturday night as we all sat (kids fast asleep) picking and singing on the back porch of a cabin, overlooking the Toccoa river. It was very close to what I would describe as the ideal evening.

This song came to mind, as it always takes me to a far away place. I love Mark Knofler's sound, even more now than in his heyday with Dire Straits.

If you have a moment to listen to the track, it's worth the time.

Naima

Today is the late, great John Coltrane's birthday. Sit back and listen to one of the smoothest jams ever, and try to remember the first time you heard it.

The Last Best Place

Here is a 3,000 word essay on how our recent Montana trip went. If it were not for the 6 feet of snow that they sometimes get in the winter, one could lull me into living there.

There's a first time for everything...

and this time, it was Cash's first fish! I have been fighting off the urge to drag this kid to the river for about a year now. So glad we waited until he was a little more ready. Cash reeled in this little guy last Saturday afternoon at Lake Murray in SC. He screamed that he wanted to catch "this many more" while holding up all ten fingers. Pride. Elation. Awe. I fantasize about being the crusty dad with the "old guy hat" rowing in the middle of the boat with two sons fishing in the bow and stern. Weird fantasy... I know.

Way to go buddy!

P.S. He named this fish 'Nemo', patted it on the head and then we let it go. (Thanks to Disney all of them were named Nemo or Dory)

File Photo

Sometime circa 2004 Scotty and I went to Medieval Times to see if Cable Guy was completely accurate. It was. They also take your photo on the way into the place, and the results were too funny not to purchase. Found this photo while were were cleaning out a closet this past weekend.

Cash

Forever, the P51 Mustang has been my favorite aircraft. No idea why. The look of the plane just screams victory, and it does it in style. Cash and I went with his buddy down the street (also named Cash, random) to our first air show last month. It was way better than I expected. There were WWII and Korean Conflict era planes all over the PDK tarmac. Stunt plane displays punctuated the day's events, and Cash was impressed by the upside-down flying skills demonstrated by the daredevil pilots.

Somehow I think Cash's favorite plane will also be the Mustang.

Hank

Our boys were with us when crossed the Continental Divide for the first time last week. We really enjoyed the trip up the Old Fall River Road while in RMNP. If you have a chance to get out there, take the trip up this gravel track. The views are spectacular, and you can have lunch at 11,000+ ft, or just pick some grass.

Hope this wont be Hank's last time up there. We'd love to go back in a few years.

Bessingers... the whole story

I was reminded today of a great article from 2001 in the NYT. Thanks to Karl Z for turning me on to this story a while back. The Bessinger family has a long history of BBQ in the South, and this is worth the read if you're a fan of all things porky.

Customer Service

I lost an old friend two weeks ago. It was sad, but he went out fighting the good fight. I will miss him.
I'm speaking of course of the fly rod I broke while casting on the Chattahoochee River in Roswell, GA. Yeah, put up the Kleenex.

The point of writing this is to let anyone interested know that Orivs, although they have gotten a reputation of being more of a clothing company lately, still stands by their fly rods with a 100% guarantee. My old (circa 1999) Trident TL 906-2 broke under strain while I was hauling a back-cast a couple of weekends ago. The rod disintegrated at the ferrule, and I knew it was probably beyond repair. Hopeful for the best, I sent it off to Orvis in VT for inspection.

The call came in from customer service this AM, and they have decided that the rod is beyond repair. They are replacing it with a NEW T3. I'm pumped. They even let me pick a different configuration on the replacement rod, one that will actually work better than the old TL.

Orvis stands by their rods, and I will continue to be a happy customer for years.

It's important to note: their rod policy has changed recently to a 25-year guarantee instead of a lifetime guarantee. That's still pretty stand-up. 25 yrs is a lifetime in rod years (excluding bamboo of course)

Imitation of Life

Roswell GA has great community art programs. Several times a year, the city parks and rec department offers classes at all times of the day on a variety of subjects. The instructor I ended up with the first time my wife forced me to get out and try a class was Maureen Engle. She is a fantastic painting teacher for all skill levels.

I'm addicted to Maureen's "Palette Knife Acrylics" class and have taken it three years in a row now. We just wrapped up the course for the Spring 2010 session, and there is a free student show at the Roswell Visual Arts Center from late May through early July.

Many of the current students have art posted there, so you should go take a peek if you're in the area.

Here's my favorite work from this year, an acrylic of a juvenile brown trout in a mountain stream.
Makes me want to go fishing or at least go take some more photos.

If your community offers public classes through the city, county, or university nearby, I urge you to take advantage. You just might find that you love to create!

Little ones mean big ones

Erik Masefield and I floated from Abbott's Bridge to Medlock Bridge durin gthe nice low water period yesterday and caught 20 fish, of these 16 were wild browns. Our river is supporting a fine population of S. trutta and their numbers seem to be growing.

 I applaud Chris Martin for originating the study which will possibly grant the Chattahoochee a higher priority with regard to protection against sedimentation. It's working, keep it up. If it can be tagged as primary trout water, we'll all be better off down the road.

Mmmmmm

"Mmmm! I can't wait to take this sharp knife and fork and dig into this plate of... WAIT A MINUTE!!" "That's PORK! - That's ME!"

I chuckle every time I see the Slopes logo. The image may be cannibalistic, but they do cook a fine ham. The sauce is yummy too.
Check em out next time you're in metro Atlanta and are craving a not-so-messy BBQ sandwich.

Eight years ago today...

Scotty and I were married. We're still best friends. I wouldn't change a minute of the past and I look forward to every second of the future. She's a brave soul, a beautiful wife, a fantastic debate partner and a great mother to our children.

Happy Anniversary.

Love you babe,

T

The clique

I made it up to NC to reconnect with some of my Kappa Sigma brothers again this weekend. It is always good to see them and catch up on news on their lives, families, and get in some R&R.

We've known each other longer than we've not. That's powerful, and I hope we can keep up the contact each year. It's always a fun trip, and this year we hiked up to Storyteller's Rock near the Blue Ridge Parkway. The trail was snow-covered, and the route crossed several creeks, when we made it to the top, the view was worth the climb. Its always good to see these guys, and we're making plans already for 2011.

Bye Bye Win7 (for now)

Sadly, but probably prudently, we have decided not to migrate to Windows 7 at work quite yet.
I have been running the RC for several months now, and really liked its navigation properties, speed and general appearance. Time to dump the 7 OS before the March 1st shutdown process begins.

If you had the RC, and need to uninstall it properly, here is a video detailing how to remove the dual boot options.

Back to XP SP3... good old patches. Hey, it works.

Creo Design

My good friend Andrew Davis has a very talented sister who is artistically wise beyond her years.
Must run in the family, because Andrew crafts a very fine beer, which I view as art.
Check out Caroline Davis's new site for handmade jewelry.

I think you'll likey.

T

Beautiful

Every now and then I have to pop open the link Karl sent me some time ago, for the Retro Matchbook Museum. Wading through these designs is a look back into advertising's true golden age.

I like it, a lot.


T

Big Green Egg - Pork Butt (1)

Working my way through the user's manual recipes for the BGE has been a lot of fun this month. Saturday evening was the start of a long, slow, low temp cook for a 9lb pork butt.

Here's the way things went...

I trimmed the butt of exterior fat, leaving lots of marbling. Most of the fat is supposed to render out during the long, slow cook.
At least that's what Dad and Alton Brown say.



Rubbed it down heavily with a dry mixture of brown sugar, kosher salt, black pepper and everything worth using from the spice cabinet. Nutmeg? Why not?

Injected the 1 remaining tablespoon of rub along with 1/4 cup of worchestershire and cider vinegar.

Wrapped in plastic for 4 hours in the fridge

After 4 hours, took the butt out of the fridge to sit for 30 mins at room temp.

Fired up the egg for indirect heat. Including some large chunks of hickory in the coals.
Dropped in the BGE plate setter, legs up, drip pan in the gap.

Dropped in the rack and placed the butt over the drip pan.

Lots of beautiful good-smelling smoke, smoke and more smoke.












Adjusted the damper and top vents on the egg until it hung around 225 degrees.



Watched football (9 PM Saturday) went to bed (midnight)










Woke up at 7AM and went to check on the egg, which had gone out completely (DOH!!!!)

Popped the butt in the oven at 225 degrees, covered the top with foil, stuck in the probe thermometer and went about the day's activities (watching more football, diaper-changing, etc...)

Pondered what I had done wrong to make the cooker go out, lamented on the phone to David Henderson, a Big Green Egg veteran. Turns out I had not put large enough lumps of charcoal in the firebox, and sometime in the night, ash had probably fallen into the air intake holes. Chalk it up to experience.

At 5:30 PM (20 hours after starting the cook) the internal temp of the butt hit 195 F

Took the butt out of the oven and covered it in foil, set aside on the counter for 30 mins.

Unwrapped, pulled out the bone and shredded the whole thing using two forks









6:30 PM... DINNERTIME! (burp) more football, satisfaction

Got any good BBQ recipes, sauce or rub mix ideas? Email me. I won't divulge secrets... promise.


Smoke & Spice,

Travis

8x10Fakes.com (you should go there, now)