Suggestion

Use rustic bread or exotic rolls as buns on hamburgers.

Today we used "slipper" buns (chiabatta, a chewy bread with crispy outside).

Yeah us.

Pile o' poo.

We're pseudo-hippies.

We like our milk organic, our yard natural, and (for the most part) or veggies and other foods to be au natural.

By no means are we perfect (heck, the new labeling laws allow too much stuff into 'organic.')

However, we like sustainable, and sometimes that trumps organic ... at least in our yard.

Right now, in the 80 degree afternoon sun, I have a big huge pile of our fair city's biosolid soil amendment.

How big?

Big.

A generous 5 yard load of it, to be exact.

So what am I doing today, as temperatures are warming up to get into the mid 90s by tomorrow?

I'm shoveling and leveling 5 generous yards of dark biosolids.

Yeah me!

And our garden will so kick your garden's butt this fall and next year.

Friday's thing

A brief bit of advice on this end-of-the-Fourth-of-July-week:

Flip your burgers only once, if that.

It keeps the juices in, and when you spice them, the spices mix with said juices. It's good.

Works the same in life.

Leo? Vergo?

I was born 6 weeks early.

Right dab smack in the Leo department of the astrological sign store.

So, for the past 20 some years I've just assumed Leo. Then I turned 30 and things just weren't reading right.

Hmmm; so I upped the game, and went to reading the horoscope for Vergo.

This week and next are full of complex issues in an organization that I'm involved in. And today's horoscope sums up exactly what I'm thinking:

If you said everything that you think, it would complicate your life quite a bit. The problem is that, although you may have a very clear idea of what you want and why you want it, you are unable to put it into words. If you do try, be as concise as possible. But rest assured that once Mercury turns direct on July 9, it will be much easier to communicate your needs.

It's about neighbors

So, back in 1776 a group of white, male landowners got together and declared that we are endowed, just by mere existence, the right to life, liberty and (on the second draft) the pursuit of happiness.

Today, these rights extends to everyone.

Any movement or lobby that insists on infringing on these fundamental human rights for any person goes against the intent and purpose of our country.

It boils down to how we treat our neighbors.

Happy Independence Day, and may we keep our ideals in line despite dogmatic rhetoric.

Geneology of my grills

If I ever decide to grow old and wise, the one thing I will pass along to my son, in hopes that he will pass it on to his son, and so on, is wisdom that is quite contemporary. Granted, this speaks loudly of the consumerism of our lives, and our perception of value.

Growing up, having a grill meant one thing: a charcoal grill of the Weber design. I was actually surprised to learn that grills could be square, rectangular, heck they could even sit about 1 foot above the ground.

The first gas grill I encountered was in the late 1980s. My dad got one ... you know, propane with propane accessories. It worked well; we both were quite effective at burning things.

Being young, I swore that charcoal worked better, wasn't as hard, and 'when I grew up' I would be a BBQ purist. Regardless of what Hank Hill said, it was charcoal or nothing.

Things were looking great. I got married. Not only did I get married, but we got a Smokey Joe by Weber. Now we had portable charcoaly goodness.

About three years later, after finding out it's not fun to: 1. Find a suitable surface to set the small Weber on, 2. Wait, wait and wait for the coals to turn, well, coalish, and 3. There is a difference of opinon as to the qualities of lighter fluid's taste on a steak.

At that time I was at a Big Lots about 30 miles south of home. There they had a propane grill for about 50 bucks. I had been secretly shopping around, and decided that this was a good deal.

What could go wrong with an overstock grill put together in Korea?

Oh yeah, maybe the INSTRUCTIONS could go wrong. They were written in some hybrid Korean/English hybrid. Maybe to conserve fuel or something, I don't kow. But it basically sucked.

I faithfully put it together, called over friends to share in its bounty, and prayed that it would not explode in a firey inferno.

Well, it eventually worked, and for the most part, it sucked.

It was the last grill I ever bought.

Really.

After about 2 years, I cruised Craigslist and found a grill 15 miles to the north for, get this: free.

That grill disasembled nicely and squeezed into the trunk of my 89 Camery. I kid you not.

It was re-assembled and worked excellently for a year.

I then sold it for $5.

Why the heck would I sell a FREE grill? Well, my neighbors across the street felt their grill was too dirty, rather than clean it, they asked me if I would like it. So I sold a free grill to get another free grill. So, essentially I'm not doing too bad. I only needed to relpace the propane tank after a year (the valve was behind code).

This year, the grill's upper rack rusted through.

But another neighbor got wind that we're having a block party on Independence Day, so he HAD to get a new stainless steel grill for the shindig.

No problem.

I only had a grill up front, and if I wanted to grill in the back yard, I'd have to actually move the thing. Heck, I even had TWO propane tanks for the joy of grilling.

So now, I have a grill in the front (with out an upper rack, so it's perfect for veggies, long roasts or other big things that need the space). And one in the back with a side burner, I guess it's for making pancakes or something in the event the power goes off.

Oh, the advice to my son?

Never buy a grill.

Ever.

Too many people will be willing to spend extra money to either upgrade or they won't clean the grill. But somehow you'll benefit from the grill karma.

Okay, maybe one purchase.

Farewell to Kentucky Porch

I honestly don't mean to offend Kentucky.

But it's the best image I've come up with.

For the past year there has been a toilet on my back porch.

That's correct, a bona fide porcelain God on my back porch.

It was empty, save the few leaves that blew into it over the course of the past 50 weeks (so not quite a year).

All that needed to be done was 4 feet of 1/2 inch grout needed to be replaced in our bathroom. So, I chose a night where my spouse took the kids down to her folks' house before we took off for a week in San Antonio, Texas. (though being there in July is a different story completely).

I had removed maybe 1 inch of grout when the tile popped up.

Not. A. Good. Sign.

More followed. I realized that there was something wrong, and that this particular installment of tile had a unique underlayment.

It was black.

In my limited experience of tile work, I know that the backer should either be: Gray, or gray.

Black is not an option, and that typically means mold. Which, in turn, explained many problems that I've had with our basement ceiling.

Oh joy.

So two hours later...no bathroom, and a discovery that the floor itself is actually built up nearly 2 inches from the original subfloor.

It took until this December or so to get the subfloor in and sorta level.

The new hardibacker went in around April of this year, and the tile was laid this Memorial day (thanks, Joel).

So today, after giving a presentation I stopped by the best little hardware store in Tacoma and purchased the items necessary for setting a toliet.

It's in.

No leaks.

Only a little wobbley, but that's to just have the boy say it...it's cute.

Now time to paint and put in the trim.

Fun times.