other dog

Ad in Heavy Duty Trucking-

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Another grill picture- Another from Smith Mountain Lake-

Yep, it's a shame but it's true!

I'm sorry sir, but none of this crap is OSHA approved!

The electric stove- I made it because my son said he wanted an old stove in his back yard too- I was touched. Saw it just up the road for sale one day for $35. It was actually a perfectly fine fully operational 'lectric range. All wires removed- The electric stoves need the drawer in the bottom- that will be your fire box. I bought him a big, but very cheap, wok at the Wal Mart store to use as a fire box- the bottom of the drawer itself would burn out quickly if you didn't put something in there for your fire. Here's my gas stove- like I said, it ain't much to look at, but it makes a fine smoker- the electric stoves do too, but if you can find a gas stove there's no wires to remove, no holes to drill, you just pull that door open at the bottom, put some charcoal on that tray that slides in and out, put some boston butts in the oven, close door, add wood as needed, drink beer, wait for meat to cook. And this is the end result- And yes, I really did make that in that old ugly-ass stove!

It's a Char-Griller, I got it at Tractor Supply- it's been a good one! ...but as far as smokers go, this old gas oven that I use is the best! I just put a fire in the bottom, and with the insulation all the way around the oven except for in the bottom, it will cook a boston butt way quicker than the Char-Griller. I can only get the temperature up to about 175 in the Char-Griller if I only use the offset firebox. An old gas stove is ready to use for a smoker. I have another one that I made out of an electric range. With the electric stove you have to pull all the wiring and stuff out, and get in there some kind of way and pull all the insulation out from under the oven, leaving it all around the sides and top. I bent a coat hanger and pulled it out through a hole I found somewhere. You need to keep both bottoms though, with the empty space in between. Then you just drill a bunch of holes down through the bottom of the oven without going through the second bottom, and more from the bottom without going all the way through into the oven itself- that way the smoke can get through, but if the holes are not directly in line, the flames can't get through and char your meat. And you can drill away around the edges of the oven, it doesn't matter if the holes go all the way through. It ain't much to look at, but they make a hell of a smoker.

That is a nice smoke ring on that brisket- I smoked it for about 11 hours I think. It's only the second time I tried a whole brisket, it came out way better than the first one.

I was well pleased with the brisket too- I saw a lizard too-

Since I didn't go anywhere yesterday, and i'm smoking a brisket today, I added a few poorly photo-chopped pictures from the previous road trips. I should change it up a little, use a different Winfall Wimmen, eh?..

Yep, and everywhere we've been is just a short drive from home. But if you were impressed with Long Island, you should see Gladys- it's way bigger than Long Island!

I really watch too many barbecue shows on TV, it made me want to smoke a brisket while I was off this week. I looked in all the local supermarkets last weekend, but nobody had whole briskets. Then when we were coming back from Smith Mountain Lake the other day I saw a bill board on rt. 29 advertising a butcher shop in Gretna. So we went to Gretna yesterday, and took a roundabout way to get there, through Long Island. Old store in Long Island- Dog- with a big tongue! Downtown area- Long Island Community Center- 7 Old mill- Old PIE chip trailer. I even saw a big Mack truck with a chip trailer. Saw a Peterbilt too, just as we were coming into Gretna. And we finally got to the butcher shop, where they had about anything you might want, from whole-hog to brisket. I'm pretty sure they even had scrapple, I forgot to ask.

If I had switched the camera to auto-focus from manual focus I could have gotten a good picture. I was holding the camera down by my side and accidently snapped a picture of two wimmens in short-shorts, but it was blurry.

Wasn't a little guy, it was a big ass rattle snake! But it was alive and well when I left though, might have felt a little woozy from being run over, but it was crawling off into the grass while some guy poked it with a stick.

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There was a structure like this on both sides of the gorge when the dam was built, with a cable running all the way across-

Yesterday's trip took us over to the dam at Smith Mountain Lake.

That wasn't a poor little snake, it was a big-ass rattlesnake! Damn right i'm skeert of 'em, I'm with that guy that wrote that song that has that line "I don't like spiders and snakes..."

That's what i'd have done to the snake too. I ran over it with the pickup, but I didn't slam on the brakes. When I left another guy that had stopped on his motorcycle to take pictures of it with his phone was still poking at it with a stick. That's when it coiled up like that and struck at the stick, when the guy was poking at it. I was chicken then too, it was time for me to go!

I've been saying for a while that I was gonna ride up to Apple Orchard Mountain and take some pictures of the radar station, and yesterday was the day. Sharp Top Mountain, one of the Peaks of Otter, from rt. 43. Flat Top, from rt. 43. Sharp Top from the Peaks of Otter lodge. Close up of the summit- After leaving the Peaks of Otter we saw a big rattle snake crossing the road. I turned around and went back to take pictures of it. The rattles- I hate snakes, moving on...this was the last overlook you could see the radar unit from... so I pulled over on the shoulder and took more pictures from a little closer. The gate was open at the road going up to it, but this sign deterred me from going in. I did walk a little ways, but all I could see was the very top of the big giant ball over the trees.

Grrr...i'm already out of likes!

I've been watching Fox News to see if they interview Randy and Ron while they're enjoying some scrapple at the Penrose Diner...haven't seen them yet.

They say there's a straight stretch on some road in West Virginia that's almost half a mile long, i've never actually seen it though. This is on rt. 30 in Pa. though, somewhere between rt. 219 and Bedford. I don't know how far it is, but it's a pretty good ways. I was driving a Columbia when the red truck was broke down here.