other dog

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.

The original plastic heater control valve in my 2002 Ranger pickup lasted over 10 years, until one day it broke. A piece just snapped off right where the heater hose connects to it. I found a bumper guide stick in the junk pile and cut off about a 2 inch piece that the hose fit perfectly on and just bypassed it for a while, but the heat and defroster come in handy in the winter. I went to NAPA and got a new valve- made in China, and it leaked from the day I put it on. Went to O'Reilly's Auto Parts and got another one- made in China, and it leaked from the day I put it on. I ordered another one from some on-line parts place, and when it came it said "made in China" on the box. I just threw it in the tool box on the back of the pickup because I assumed it would leak too. The leak was just a drip, so i'd just add water or antifreeze about once a week. I finally put the one I ordered on a few weeks ago and so far so good.

It was on 29 just north of Charlottesville. Traffic was at a crawl because of an accident ahead and I just happened to look over and see it.

Sounds like the "Cafe Risque", there was one on I 95 in N.C, one on 85 in Ga, and one on 75 in Fl. The ones in N.C. and Ga. both closed several years ago.

...big Mack trucks, girls in cars, the moon, a frog, a bird, and Other Dog. I guess I did see a lot!

...more girls in cars- and Jeeps- smokers, job sites, pteradactyls...

I don't have much this week, didn't do too much either. Still been very, very, hot though. I saw some girls in cars, Superliners, a single axle R model for sale, an F model with the cab up, girls jogging, girls walking the dogs,..

ok.......?