At Sky Harbor. Waiting for plane home after visiting sister, brother in law and mom. All around a good day. Merry Christmas everyone!

Spent the last couple of days with my wife's side of the family for Christmas and good time was had by all, even though half folks couldn't make it for various reasons.

Got home tonight to find out the lens I bought off eBay recently doesn't work. I had received it late last week but didn't get around to trying it till tonight due to work and holiday travels. Now I wish I had checked it earlier.

Al and Claire graciously invited Joanne, a friend and myself to their family holiday gathering of the clan. The headcount was mid thirties, and division of labor had been applied to the food situation. Claire had jokingly assigned me "bacon surprise". Be careful what you wish for Hence last nights cooking marathon And a production line this morning. But the resulting chocolate covered bacon, candied bacon and bacon wrapped goats cheese stuffed dates were well received. I think I may corrupted some vegetarians on the way. Thanks Al and Claire for a great time, hope you managed to find time out from your hosting duties to enjoy the evening and the great company (and the Bacon )

Sounds like a lot of fun!

Wow that looked awesome

Drove to Cleveland with the family one day early yesterday to avoid driving in a snow storm today. Now waking up with pugs on top of me. Will celebrate Christmas #2 today with my parents and brother's family, as well as Daniel's 8th birthday.

Hmmmm bacon

Just to add, there was more to the gathering than just Bacon. Al was on Traeger duty outside in a downpour to ensure that there was more than enough tasty meat for everyone, and Claire overcame the obstacle of having the stove die on them to produce a sit down meal for the multitude. A triumph over adversity. With bacon.

Grahame's Bacon Surprise was over the top and a huge hit. My favorite was the candied bacon -- or as my meat deprived 13 niece called it Honey Bacon -- but all three were great. Joanne was a trooper for allowing the massive bacon manufacturing effort and remarked that she helped with date and cheese variety because it was the only proper appetizer. A true Brit.

Here is the one shot of the Traeger in action right before removing the turkey and the larger of two boneless legs of lamb. The lamb was especially tasty, but the Traeger rarely disappoints and both came out nicely.

Damn that looks tasty

Yay Traeger.  I have been using a Big Green Egg the last week and I really miss my Traeger.

Yup, looks like Al's got that Traeger down!

I could almost smell the pics you posted Grahame.

Looks like a killer time for all.

I transformed the tractor from summer to winter mode in prep for the 6-10" of white bullshit forecast for tonight.

I transformed the tractor from summer to winter mode in prep for the 6-10" of white bullshit forecast for tonight.

Well, I hope you didn't get much, Nate.  Around here, we probably got couple inches of slush, which is now melting away from the rain.

It was rain all night but appears to be changing over to snow now so we'll see what therest of the day holds. The kids are at daycare so we can try to clean up the post Christmas mess (and relax of course).

Took my son to the airport for his first solo flight. Hoping to go back to sleep now.

So many great stories here ...

 

- Shelly's bi-coastal Christmas

- Al's Mayberry bash with bacon ala Grahame

- jp's journey back to the hood

- Ric, Stephen, Nate, and others with the precious little children

-  Vicki out of the cast

- and others I'm forgetting

- finally, Santa Wayne's great stories here and elsewhere.

 

So nice to se all the holiday cheer and HC love.

Edited December 27, 201213 yr by agile_one

The power's been off for 3 hours here. This, with -20C temperatures, makes me uber glad to heat the house with wood.

 Glad you have heat!

Edited December 27, 201213 yr by shellylh

x2....stay warm, and good luck with getting power back on

dealing with this.  when some asshole sells you aluminum screws that turn out to be tinned brass...

 

^ Ouch, Justin.

 

And also glad you have heat acidbasement.  That sounds horrid otherwise.  Hope your power comes back soon.

Thanks guys - it was actually a great day. As long as they don't last a really long time, I find power outages very relaxing. I decided to skip work and go in tomorrow instead (I only work 3 days/week), since the power was out across the whole region and I can't do much in the office without the computer. So, we (my family) went to Brandon (~1 hr drive, city of ~40,000, regional hub) and went swimming, shopping, and dining with some other friends who met us there. Good times!

Oh, and I should mention that the power was back on when we got home.

Edited December 28, 201213 yr by acidbasement

Woke up to no water due to a water main break in Miami Beach West Avenue area. Ironic since I work in the water and sewer arena.

donated my honda to charity.  end of an era.

 

tried using the satellite radio in the new car today (3 month trial)

good lord, this sounds awful.  the fm stations blow it out of the water.  wtf.