I took off on Wednesday at about 9 AM and the drive was terrible including a stretch of I-20 being shut down in Augusta for reasons unknown to me, but with everyone being shunted off the interstate by the cops after a long, long time sitting and creeping along the road. I got to the kids house later than anticipated but safe and sound.
Thursday began a bit cloudy and we did get some pretty good rain for a while but by the time it was time to cook the bird, things had cleared up and warmed up a bit as well. Samantha had spent most of Wednesday cooking and getting things ready and continued on Thursday as well. Hannah was having a good time picking what was left of Samantha's roses for a centerpiece.
Hannah preparing the roses by picking off most of the petals. Perhaps it was the beer that made her do it.
Hannah had selected the 'eccentric dowager' look for the first part of the day, including the 'mink' coat.
David was going to treat me to his deep fried turkey which I looked forward to not at all. I'd swear I had it before (not his) and even for me, a devout jerky lover, it was terrible. Dried out... hard... totally tasteless. Besides, I've never really cared for turkey. But David was quite happy to be cooking it for me and I tried my very best not to damper his excitement.
Samantha and David looking so happy having the turkey cooker fired up and heating. David couldn't find the thing you use to lower the bird into the oil -- and remove it -- but neighbor Donny came to the rescue that morning. Oh yes, there's another little reason that they're looking so happy... they're letting people know that they're making another grandchild for me!! Yep... Samantha found out recently that she's about 8-9 weeks along so there will another family member coming into this world somewhere around August 2011 :) Hannah knew all about it and didn't spill the beans to me but she is very happy to be having a baby brother/sister on the way. Good thing... there isn't much she can do about it!
The big time arrived and David got to cooking. Here he lowers the bird into the perfectly-heated oil. Giving credit where credit is due... David did a good job getting the bird into the hot oil. No splashes... no spills... no boil overs... no catching the garage on fire. Actually, it was pretty unexciting all in all.
Well, the bird was fantastic. That's the only word to describe it. Moist, delicious, and flavorful with absolutely NO flavoring injected or anything like that at all. No kidding. I have not had so much fun picking at a turkey, and a turkey carcass, for many, many years. I give David all the credit he figured he was going to earn... he did. Normally the only thing I like on a turkey is the skin. Without a doubt, the meat was as good as the skin this time :)
I forget if this was before or after we ate but it doesn't really matter. David had started a beautiful, roaring fire... NOT... and it was time to just kick back and relax a bit. That's Michelle standing behind David. Michelle had brought a considerable amount of food that she had cooked up as well.
Friday was a sleep-in morning somewhat for all but David who was out at 6 AM to go to work. More on that to follow. Samantha and I chatted while Hannah pulled out the Play-Do and played at the table like an angel. Somewhere along the line I grabbed some of it and rolled it out thinking I was making a snake. No way, baby! Hannah declared it to be a necklace that whe wanted to wear, so that's what it became.
All I did was roll out the necklace part. Hannah made the flower to go on it. It was quite wonderful watching her little creative self with absolutely no help or guidance from either myself or Samantha.
And this may have been the best part of the session. In all we probably made 3 or 4 necklaces. Well, after wearing each for a short time, it was time to move on. Hannah would carefully take it off being careful not to have it come apart and then she made something else... rice :) I know that all little children are creative and wonderful and all that, but come on... have you ever seen a little child purposely make Play-Do rice? I didn't think so!
Somewhere close to noon I drove downtown to meet up with David and ride along with him for the rest of his shift that ended at 3 PM. We stopped for lunch and kept Fayetteville safe. It gave us time to talk a bit about this and that and gave David a chance to become very proficient with the radar setup in the cruiser. It was kind of neat setting up on a highway and then nailing a couple of folks :) After the shift we made our way back to the house where we talked, played games, had some Barbeque, watched a few episodes of Frazier and called it a night. I said my good-byes to David because I wouldn't see him in the morning and we all called it a day. Today, Saturday, was a day of good-byes and I really don't like them. All in all, as said at first, it was a wonderful, wonderful holiday weekend and I hope it was just as wonderful for all.
No comments:
Post a Comment