Smoking the bird & infusing the pig

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE......

We're spending the day at home and doing all the cooking because we'll be having Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow at my sister, Karen's house. I'm smoking a turkey today and just got it on this morning about 8am. 

The old fireplace isn't part of the smoker. A friend of mine gave me this old fireplace and I envisioned it being a great piece as an outdoor fireplace on our patio that we still have to build.

Turkey is wrapped to steam for a few hours. I'll take the foil off later and let the turkey get a little crispiness on the skin. I used the recipe from this site to brine the bird,  

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/out-of-this-world-turkey-brine/detail.aspx

Ingredients

• 2 gallons water
• 1 1/2 cups canning salt
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 
  
• Directions

1. In a large bucket or container large enough to hold your turkey, mix together the water, salt, garlic, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Store in a refrigerator, and soak turkey for 2 days before smoking or roasting.

I'll put on the spiral cut ham later today just to infuse a little extra flavor into it. I'll probably make a couple of Buttermilk Chess pies later today also. So, we're just having a laid back Thanksgiving day watching the tube and cooking a few things for tomorrow.


Patsi & I have a lot to be thankful for. We have been so blessed. I met Patsi 31 years ago and we've been together ever since. We dated 3 years before we got married. We are best friends, love to do things together, but we also have our own likes and dislikes. 


I like to go to the races and get into all the action, noise, and dirt. Patsi is more content working on crafts of puttering in her garden or the yard. Patsi likes crafts and art as do I, but our crafts and art are completely different. We have similar tastes. I'm so thankful to have been blessed with a beautiful wife that I get along with and she is the most understanding person. 


A couple of years ago we built a shop in our backyard which has been dubbed as my man cave. We have a house across the alley that we bought for Patsi's parents. Since they have both passed, Patsi uses that house as her woman cave. She is Stampin' Up representative and holds custom card classes over there. She can go over there and work on cards for hours on end, just as I can get lost in projects in the shop.


We've both been blessed with being able to retire. Patsi retired from Chevron 3 1/2 years ago and I retired in March of this year. Patsi thought she'd probably be off about 6 months or so and then go back to work. But, according to her, she hasn't even thought about going to work again. She keeps busy, being on the board of Faith In Action, a local non profit organization that helps people with prescription drugs they can't afford, card making, member of Master Gardener, and busy landscaping in our yard.

This is the rock planter Patsi built this past summer

  

Here it is with flowers and morning glories climbing up the side

Here is the flowers by the mail box that Patsi planted

This is the other bed that she planted and takes care of

Here is the hill I built earlier this spring. Just a few flowers on it at this time.

Here's a couple of shots above with it in full bloom

This is how it looks today with a new cover of wood chip mulch. I've planted in the neighborhood of 300 or so tulips and daffodils on the hill and in the new bed in front of the tree.

This bed just north of the hill is one I've just nearly finished working on. I plan on planting about 500 bulbs of tulips, daffodils, crocus, and iris's. So, if they all come up this spring, we should have quite a show of color on the east side of our house.

I guess to sum it all up, we love working around our house, working on our projects, love to travel, love spending time with our friends and family, and at times we love to do nothing. We are very grateful for all of our blessings and our wish is for everyone to be as blessed as we are. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Until next time.........

Overthehump