TUK FXS game day

Waking the next day, the briskie was rubbed with some coarse grained spices and then placed onto the smoker....26 hours later, it would be done.....

With an even mix of mesquite and hickory, the smoke begins to rise with the excitement of the day....the game is still a day away but the smell of the wood reminds me of my first OU game so very long ago....

Closing the lid on the meat....my only interaction with it other than to add wood to the smoke is seen through these two little guys....their remotes always within earshot to wake me in the middle of the night in case of temp spikes.....

As the meat slowly rose in temp....I prepped the other foods for the next day....here my TUK FXS coleslaw has taken shape.....

Fire roasting poblanos and Anaheims which are added into the polenta along with Gruyère cheese which is then formed into wedges and grilled fresh the next day....

With all the food prep done....I had nothing to do with the rest of the day before the game....but plot the internal temp profile of the briskie on it's march to completion.....

At 9 the next day.....The ribs went on.....here they're done with their first 2 hrs in the smoke and are now being wrapped in foil and juices for another 2 hrs.....the 2-2-1 method being employed....

With folks arriving and the game going well....halftime afforded me the opportunity to spread things out....

Prior to serving....I set aside the point on the brisket.....to be used as burnt ends later.  Happy with yet another successful gastronomic execution and a win this year by OU....the memories of friends who helped me celebrate over some of the best bark on a briskie ever will keep me fueled until next year....

TUK FXS preparations

Simple words....simple food....complex logistics.....that's TUK FXS.  The 8th annual celebration has begun.....some pics from today's events.

16lb packer....cleaned and ready....as a point of reference.....that's a 12" blade folks......

 The Briskie is all rubbed up.......this is going into the cooler for a rest until tomorrow when it gets another dose of seasoning before its 24 hr sit in the smoke......

Rendering bacon for the original brisket sauce......Beer and Bacon......Dr. Sooner states "it can't get better than this".....it really can't......

The ribs have also been rubbed......16lbs of brisket....and 15lbs of ribs.......these guys sit until Saturday morning where they get the 2-2-1 treatment under mesquite smoke....

Having rendered a cup of bacon drippings.....the sauce takes hold with celery, tomato, onion, garlic, hickory chips and plenty of other good stuff......the sauce will be strained and the fibrous material along with the hickory chips will feed the smoke......

TO BE CONTINUED.......

Everyone wins with Brisket (or tofu)

This post is belated, mostly due to the time it took for me to get out of my self-pitty pool....but I've decided that everyone wins, regardless of the games outcome...as long as you have Pecan Pie, Beef and Beer.

Mrs. Maad and I started off early in the week by getting the baking out of the way, so this meant applying the finishing touches to my Pecan Pie....

And a new addition for this year....some longhorn cookies...with plenty of OU themed icing....all served upside down. I even ensured, in a kosher manner.....that all cookies were prepared, inserted into the oven and served upside down....

After picking up Mr. Adams from the airport Thursday night....Dr. Sooner came over and helped out with the prep of the largest piece of Bevo we had planned....a 15lb briskie.....

We had a good thing going...one man on foil...one man on the Tuck Fexas rub....and me...beating and pounding the hell out of Bevo with the rub....

Into the fridge this beast went for an overnight flirtation with the dry rub....only to be kicked out of bed early the next day (Friday) by me to apply a layer of good ole' mustard.......

and then some coarse grained spice to promote a nice thick bark....

Starting the smoke out with a mix of 1/4 mesquite, 3/4 hickory.....

The plan was for a 24 hr cook time at a dome temp of 220 F, cesation of smoke at the plateau somewhere around 165, and a pull at 190 F internal temp...or whenever a probe into the heart of this beast felt like soft butter.....

as you can see from the internal temp....it's got a way to go.....

Leaving this beast for a while with the flowers and smoke (if you're lookin', you aint cookin)....Mr. Adams and I took a quick spin around Hawes before commencing on the beer drinking proper out on the patio.

Since this was Mr. Adams first time out at Hawes....on a loner bike from me....and his first time on the bike in a while...I took it easy....by doing Mudflaps at the beginning of the ride....

At least the air was clear of dust and other inhibiting pollution....

However as we rode on and the temp began to climb......my mind drifted to the sweet smell of mesquite smoke and thoughts of the meat....so we pedaled on...

After getting home, cleaning up, eating some burritos....we went to pick up the keg and prepare the second round of life....Longhorn ribs....

By this time....I was running a fever with chills and cold sweats...I had clearly been coming down with something all afternoon....but I'd be crazy to sit this one out....so chugging down some more beer(which was soooooo good for me)....I weathered on with the able help from the meat crew once more to make a meat train.....

which then transitioned into the Tuck Fexas dry rub train.....

Which were then foiled up for a rest overnight in the fridge just like the briskie which was now at an internal temp of 150....getting close to that heat plateau and stall point....Dr Sooner and Mr. Adams continued to drink and shoot some fuzzy pictures while I collapsed on the couch with a raging fever, passing out with the meat probe alarm next to my ear....

Beep-Beep.....Beep-Beep.....Beep-Beep.....I rubbed the crust off my eyes, looked at the clock which read 2:12am...I had only been sleeping for an hour and 45 minutes...but saw this.....

190 F internal temp achieved over the course of 18 hours, I grabbed my headlamp and headed outside to probe the meat...felt like soft butter...so I grabbed it and brought it inside to be foiled and placed into a cooler stuffed with blankets to continue to heat up and rest unassisted for the next 9 hours.....I was quite pleased with the look of this bark.......

Passing out in my bed this time, still with a fever...I set my alarm for 0500 so that I could get the smoke started again for the ribs....targeting a serving time of 1100. Waking up in the early dawn, my fever broke...I felt like a crisp 10 dollar bill as I lit the fire to keep me and the ribs company....

The rest of the day went as planned (except winning the game and seeing Sam Bradford's last collegiate snap). Folks came and went...no more pics were taken...except for the pic of the spread prior to eating. I was very pleased with the outcome of the briskie....it came out so tender...it was falling apart. I managed to dry the ribs out a bit though...trusting the 2-2-1 formula above my common sense. Lesson Learned....Next year they'll be as good as the briskie....and OU will beat texas! Many thanks to all who came and brought good cheer....and special thanks to the folks who showed up early to help drink some beer, prep food and hang out. I'm not sure how I would have managed through the fever without your help.

Tuck Fexas 09 RSVP

Alright my Sooner faithful.....it's that time to start thinking about The 7th Annual Tuck Fexas celebration at my place again this year. Kickoff is at 900am....again....so the folks staying here will either not go to sleep the night before...or we'll be setting our alarm clocks to begin drinking. I'll be using the same supplier of Texas Longhorn this year located west of Texas and will have both ribs and brisket on the smoker....a tofu cow for the token vegan in the bunch....and some Bevo Nuts (see below menu)....all mesquite smoked of course.

Please respond with your RSVP by leaving a comment below so I can start to get an accurate count of how many racks to buy and how many gallons of beer we should get (On second thought....I don't care how many folks don't come....we're still getting a keg). Some of you may be coming a bit later given the early start, if so; please indicate that in your reply. The menu for the day is listed below with an addition to last years feast. Lastly....we filled the bevo pinata full of booze last year....this year, I'm going to have a Mack Brown effigy in place of the pinata. He-otter and I felt it would be better to spread the hate around some more and include Mack as well. He will be wearing a big asterisks since that's how he rolls with his football stats. Enjoy this lil' snippet....it gives me chills every time. If it does not give you chills....you probably should not come to the party....

Tuck Fexas Menu


Bevo – Certified Texas Longhorn Back Ribs: Organic, free-range, all grass-fed, no additives or preservatives from the RidgeRun ranch in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. I tenderize em’ (he’s already kinda soft, but I kick the shit out of’em for good measure), rubbed generously with my Tuck Fexas blend of spices and, smoke’em with mesquite chips using the 2-2-1 method while surrounded by a bunch of jackass Sooners with nothing better to do than set their alarm clock so they can start drinkin’ before 6:00am.

– Certified Texas Longhorn Brisket: sourced from the same range as above. This hunk of cow flesh will be pummeled by me and anyone else wearing the Crimson & Cream 2 days before game time. After the beating, I will then rub it in my Tuck Fexas spice, coat in mustard and rub more Tuck Fexas spice on for good measure where it will marinate in the fridge for 24 hours. Then sometime on Friday when I decide to leave sobriety behind for the weekend, I will throw ole' Bevo on the smoker for a long and slow trip to smokey mesquite goodness for the next 24 hours whereby a Dionysian group of Sooners will descend and consume thinly sliced, juicy bits covered in BBQ sauce from none other than Jake's Rib in Chickasha, OK.

– Certified Texas Longhorn Nuts: OK.....we're not really going to have Rocky Mountain oysters (gonads for you biology types). The dudes won't tuch'em....and since this show's pretty much a sausage fest already, I don't expect the remaining females (one of em' vegan) to consume a bunch of Bevo brethren bean-bags. So instead, we'll be having Longhorn meatballs as a starter. I won't tell you what's in'em, only to say that they're good.


Tuck Fexas Coleslaw - The usual, time-tested recipe with my Tuck Fexas blend of herbs and spices…ok, no herbs…just spices. Hell son, you gotta have something to chase that Bevo through your lower GI with. With all the beer, Bevo and Burbon you’re gonna consume this fine day, you need some greenery otherwise you’ll be swearin’ that Bevo hisself is poppin’ out your poop-hole.

Grilled Polenta – Polenta mixed with freshly roasted Hatch green chiles, aged cheddar and fresh grilled corn, grilled and served in wedges. I know what you’re thinking, Polenta? It sounds like one of those Texas Tech-“Harvard on the Plains” fancy-nancy recipes that’l have you dancin’ round like Mike Leach at one of Donald Trump's soiree's. It's fancy alright, but believe me, this is the real deal.

Pecan Pie – My Grandma Jewel’s recipe complete with the attitude her Cherokee 1,000 yard stare warranted. If you don’t know what goes into a pecan pie, don't bother asking; your endocrinologist will remind you later. I, of course, will only use Oklahoma sourced Pecans.

Beer – Cold and lots of it.

Wow!

Don't even say a word.....don't call me...don't text me....don't tweet me....don't ask me what happened.....all I can say is......10/17/09.......whatever happens in life....it will all be answered on 10/17.

Mack Brown rewrites history....again

All I've been posting lately are bike or ski related posts.....but nearly at the same time, two different people who know me brought something to my attention which drew me out of the powder-lust and bike riding fantasy world I've been living in since the end of college football 08'.

Some of you who were following the blog last year may remember a tongue in cheek article I posted which was written at Mack Brown's expense regarding his revisionist history. Now....I'll be the first to admit it was a farce....lest you really believe that Hitler invaded France simply for style points....but I digress.

However....this time....it's for real! Mack Brown and the university of texas whorns are rewriting history because they can't stomach the fact that they didn't win the Big-12 trophy this year........The University of Oklahoma won that distinguished trophy. Granted...it was through the BCS formulation....but can anyone(aghem....Mack) actually claim to be the real winner in a game such as chess, even though they lose, simply because "the rules suck"? Of course not.

If any of you would like to see how this sleaze bag is rewriting history....it involves the "removal" of an asterisk and a Bevo size pile of hubris. Oh yeah....the president of that stockyard of a school down in Austin is also spending school money to "award" the coaches for winning the Big-12. Shocked that even the administration would get involved? Don't forget; over-sized egos combined with delusions of grandeur have been a UT hallmark since the Alamo. I guess even the president of UT was not immune to the sultry advances of ole Mack which have been perfected in numerous illegal recruiting trips and smarmy tactics aimed at wooing impressionable youths. Sounds to me like these guys think they're the Ewing boys off of the TV show, Dallas. It's as if they'd rather spend money better spent elevating the academics of that penis colony (err....penal colony) they call a university on more plasma screens for Mack Brown's house.....think I'm making that up too.....well after you watch the video above....read this. By the way.....is it too soon to put my "Countdown to OU-texas" up on the blog???

Mack Brown's BCS declares Huns winners!

BCS DECLARES GERMANY WINNER OF WORLD WAR II
US Ranked 4th

After determining the Big-12 championship game participants the BCS computers were put to work on other major contests and today the BCS declared Germany to be the winner of World War II.

"Germany put together an incredible number of victories beginning with the annexation of Austria and the Sudetenland and continuing on into conference play with defeats of Poland, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands. Their only losses came against the US and Russia; however considering their entire body of work--including an incredibly tough Strength of Schedule--our computers deemed them worthy of the #1 ranking."

Questioned about the #4 ranking of the United States the BCS commissioner stated "The US only had two major victories--Japan and Germany. The computer models, unlike humans, aren't influenced by head-to-head contests--they consider each contest to be only a single, equally-weighted event."

German Chancellor Adolph Hiter said "Yes, we lost to the US; but we defeated #2 ranked France in only 6 weeks." Herr Hitler has been criticized for seeking dramatic victories to earn 'style points' to enhance Germany's rankings. Hitler protested "Our contest with Poland was in doubt until the final day and the conditions in Norway were incredibly challenging and demanded the application of additional forces."

The French ranking has also come under scrutiny. The BCS commented " France had a single loss against Germany and following a preseason #1 ranking they only fell to #2."

Japan was ranked #3 with victories including Manchuria, Borneo and the Philippines.

It has begun

0530 AZ time.....woke without the alarm, everyone is sleeping off the night before....I'm amped.....fire is started, oatmeal is eaten......it's game time......................it's now 1810 AZ time......all I can say is don't talk to me for a week.





























Alright...now that I've had some time to sulk, here are some pics of how we rolled, before, during and waaaaaay after. This is what happens when you fill a bull shaped pinata with mini-bottles of booze.

Meat woes

I'm actually losing sleep over the BBQ logistics.....vacillating over cooking day of the game, or a pre-cook the day before. Both have their merits, but both have their downsides as well. Generally low and slow the day of is the old school method...but the times vary wildly as to how long a piece of meat will take. It can take anywhere from 1hr/lb to 2hr/lb depending on the quality of the cut. That's a lot of variability when you're trying to target a serving time. In addition, the low and slow methods offer a few temperature plateau's which make things interesting....the meat will actually stop raising its internal temp given a constant 220 degree environment and in some cases, will fall in internal temp; only to rebound, climb and stall once more. It's enough to make your hairfall out. The upside is that this is the method which produces the tenderest piece of brisket possible with that smoke ring of mesquite-ey goodness that everyone likes to see and the dark bark found on the outside with the carmalized sugars from the dry rub. So....If I go this route, it's either gamble on a 1.5 hrs/lb average time and wake up at 0400 to start the process for a 1200 serving time....or cook the day prior and just let the chips fall where they may with the reheat the day of the game. I've heard that the reheat does not translate into much lost in the way of flavor and texture...still, the style points here irk me. If it's not ready at 1200....it's going to be tough.....the one piece of meat that the longer you cook it....the more tender it gets...as long as you keep it between 220 and 250 dome temp.

Compounding this, I'm also simultaneously planning to cook the ribs low and slow utilizing the 3-2-1 technique. This is the easy part since ribs are not as nearly as fickle as the brisket. So...my tentative itinerary is as follows:

Friday Morning:
-Coat ribs and brisket in Tuck Fexas rub. Then coat brisket in yellow mustard and apply more Tuck Fexas rub. Saran wrap each and fridge.

Saturday Morning:
-0400 - Put brisket on rack on grill, fat side down with drip pan below filled with a beer for the BBQ gods. Keep active smoke going on Bevo with a temp range of 220-250. Drink a beer.
-0600 - Put Ribs on rack over second drip pan filled with more beer for the BBQ gods. Drink more beer and wake the Sooner masses with an extremely loud Pride of Oklahoma version of Boomer Sooner.
-0700 - Gameday in Dallas begins...men drink their Arrogant Bastard, ladies drink their Bloody Mack "Mary" Browns.
-0855 - Curse Scooter for picking Texas to win the game...then cheer because when Scooter picks Texas, OU usually wins.
-0859 - Foil ribs with some mop sauce thrown in, put back on the grill
-0900 - Watch the game, trying not to spill beer on freshly cleaned carpets....why did I clean the carpet BEFORE the game....guess I'm a dumbass.
-1000 - Hope to the BBQ gods that OU is kicking ass and the brisket is close to an internal temp of 160. If so....put the briske in an extra duty foil wrap, stuff in a preheated igloo cooler with blankets to take up air volume and let it coast to an internal temp of 190 via our old pal Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot.
-1100 - Make my way to the grill while diligently trying not to fall into the pool on the way....un-foil the ribs and put back on the grill for the last hour. Watch as Auston English and DeMarcus Granger snap Colt "Oppie" McCoy in half....literally snap him in half. Half of the stadium in Dallas is vomiting and crying, the other half cheering and throwing empty wild turkey ass pocket flasks at bevo.
-1200 - Unwrap all the meat while celebrating total dominance over texas and chow down on some bevo....Soy Bevo for the holdout vegan in the audience.

Ohh yeah....I rode today before work:







9.4 miles, 1103ft elevation gained

Stay thirsty my friends

The cut is healing up on my hand thanks to some medical super glue. I was able to take my first ride in 10 days today and it felt pretty good. I took it easy though since I've noticed it takes my knees (IT band) a while to get back into the groove. Plenty of stretching and low-angle rides for me until I get things springy again. Hopefully I will be ready to hammer down on a long day this Friday since it is my off-day. Taking a week off due to an injury sometimes does more damage than good. I'm also looking forward to getting back to the weights since I was unable to do anything to include a simple push up as long as the gash kept splitting.

On the OU-texas front, Bevo shipped today and is arriving on Wednesday. I ordered one extra rack for use during some preliminary tests based upon two different theories as to how to tenderize this tough cut of meat with a marinade. The back ribs are generally lean and tough on a corn-fed cow...so the Longhorn being extremely lean will provide for an even tougher back rib. I'll give a full after-action report this weekend, but I will say one marinade we will test with is a live-culture yogurt and buttermilk marinade, the other will use Dr. Pepper. Obviously one approach is the bio approach utilizing enzymes to break down the meat; the other is the chem approach to use the acidity to break down the meat. The rest of the preparation will be the same (Tuck Fexas rub, slow and low with mesquite smoke). I also have the Oklahoma grown pecans arriving on Thursday as well as a gallon of Jakes Rib sauce from none other than.....Jakes Rib in Chickasha, OK. Lastly, Dr. Sooner down the street has generously paid for and ordered a keg which we will be picking up early the morning of Friday the 10th. I guess I could also mention that OU is now in the #1 spot thanks to some horrible performances by USC, Florida, Georgia and a bunch of other teams which should not have lost...but it's all moot until we send Bevo packin.

And last but not least: Not to be outdone by himself, Dr. Sooner is not only providing the beer, he has also arranged for a special guest appearance by Billy Sims. Stay thirsty my friends.

Pinata Help

I'm back from my trip and a little frazzled. No riding and no lifting due to the hand have left me feeling pretty lame. I tried a few pushups this morning, but the wound kept ripping...so I'm gonna have to lay off of it. So, given this; I thought I would solicit your help in generating some ideas as to what to do with this beast shown on the left. I've ordered an orange cow pinata that looks a lot like Bevo for the dance down in Dallas coming up here in a few weekends. The question I have for you intrepid folks is twofold: 1) What to fill the pinata with and, 2) What sick twisted game can we play with it other than the standard blindfold, bat and "Oh, the suspense, the drama, will she hit it, oh god, there goes the glass window".

Please consider the following: I have already thought hard on filling it with beer, our demographic for the festivities will be noticebly older (>30 annum), we will most likely be inebriated.

First of all, the physical constraints prohibit me from stuffing this full of canned or bottle beer for the 2009 OU-texas game. Given that particle physicists are STILL searching for the Higgs Boson....all because some jackass at CERN gassed up the LHC a little too fast by releasing a tonne of liquid helium which melted down a few superconducting coils....we will have to cancel the beer filled pinata for the 2009 OU-texas game. Oh, and regarding the amount of helium released; you saw it right folks...a tonne...not a ton....a tonne. I had high hopes that when they fired up the Large Hadron Collider prior to OU-texas, we would be well on our way to enabling the rollout of a beer filled pinata, but alas; it goes to show you that one can never trust a room full of multi-national, post-graduate and distinguished members of the Max Planck Technical Staff with a 6.4 Billion euro piece of equipment. I guarantee you this would not have happened had you employed a few Geologists on hand! Ohh...and by the way...those superconducting coils that are now melted down...that's gonna cost another 120 Million euro.

Secondly, the demographics of the celebration will be a little old for the whole, "Oh whoopy"....candy is falling from the sky trick. Surely there must be something we can stuff in the pinata which is much more age appropriate than a bunch of high-fructose pills. Again....get over it.....we just can't put beer in there.

Lastly, I'd like to see if we can contrive a different game than the traditional, blindfolded whack-a-mole exercise. Granted, we will have been up since 0-dark-thirty drinking and the thought of blindfolding any of us with a Wiffle-ball bat in hand is pretty funny....I think we can make it even funnier. Golf clubs, chainsaws, shiv's made out of toilet paper...all fair game. Also consider sick and twisted rules like running a 40-yrd dash with your left and right shoes switched before running through a flaming hoop....and then having to smash the pinata. Before you all get up in arms about actually having to run 40 grueling yards all by yourselves....I would propose a 10x4 relay with drink stops in between each relay.

So....let the creative juices flow. Just remember: No beer in the pinata, what to put in the pinata (other than beer), and how to kill the pinata...er...bevo. Let the games begin.

TUCK FEXAS!!!!

I'm hosting the 6th Annual Tuck Fexas celebration at my place again this year. Kickoff is at 900am....so the folks staying here will either not go to sleep the night before...or we'll be setting our alarm clocks to begin drinking. I've found a wonderful supplier of Texas Longhorn this year outside of Texas and have upped the ante with a new tenderizing technique bound to punch through that Texas stubbornness like a Sam Bradford passing attack. Please respond with your RSVP below by commenting to this post so I can start to get an accurate count of how many racks to buy. Some of you may be coming at halftime given the early start, if so; please indicate that in your reply. The menu for the day is listed below for those of you who have somehow forgotten from last year. To get the stoke up, here's the "Roy Williams kills UT" video from 01'.

Boomer Sooner!

Tuck Fexas Menu


Bevo – Certified Texas Longhorn Back Ribs: Organic, free-range, all grass-fed, no additives or preservatives from the RidgeRun ranch in Wagon Mound, New Mexico. I tenderize em’ (he’s already kinda soft, but I kick the shit out of’em for good measure), rubbed generously with my Tuck Fexas blend of spices and, smoke’em slow and low with Mesquite chips while surrounded by a bunch of jackass Sooners with nothing better to do than set their alarm clock so they can start drinkin’ before 7:00am.

Tuck Fexas Coleslaw - The usual, time-tested recipe with my Tuck Fexas blend of herbs and spices…ok, no herbs…just spices. Hell son, you gotta have something to chase that Bevo through your lower GI with. With all the beer, Bevo and Burbon you’re gonna consume this fine day, you need some greenery otherwise you’ll be swearin’ that Bevo hisself is poppin’ out your poop-hole.

Grilled Polenta – Polenta mixed with freshly roasted Hatch green chiles, aged cheddar and fresh grilled corn, grilled and served in wedges. I know what you’re thinking, Polenta? It sounds like one of those Texas Tech-“Harvard on the Plains” fancy-nancy recipes that’ll have you dancin’ round like Graham Harrell without an open receiver. It's fancy allright, but believe me, this is the real deal.

Pecan Pie – My Grandma Jewel’s recipe complete with the attitude her Cherokee 1,000 yard stare warranted. If you don’t know what goes into a pecan pie, don't bother asking; your pancreas will remind you later. I, of course, will only use Oklahoma grown Pecans.

Beer – Lots of it. If you don’t know what this is; I believe Cornell is playing at Harvard during the OU game and suggest you go watch that instead. How you deconfict that with the scheduling nightmare that is Yale at Dartmouth AND the Cornell-Harvard game is your problem, not mine.

Ty Willingham is not a good coach

Granted....OU is a pretty phenomenal team this year compared to the Huskies, but ole' Ty just can't help himself. His guys looked tired the whole time, committing stupid errors and generally looking undisciplined....kind of like his past teams. Maybe I'm being hard on the guy, but not nearly as hard as his AD will be at the end of the season if he keeps this up.

Anyhew, after watching that rout; I was feeling a little....ahem...dehydrated this morning ahead of my ride. At least the temps were down from what they were two weeks ago. However, that did not stop me for exclaiming to myself and the ants I was staring at while catching my breath that "This is f-in hot!" To add insult to injury, I got smoked heading up the hill today by a Lycra clad cardio-freak....I could hear the guy breathing 3 minutes before I even saw him. He sent the hill....I hike-a-biked part of it. This was not the hammer weekend I had anticipated a few days ago. Did just 8 miles with 1070ft of elevation gain this morning before doing some yard work. Damn OU football....too many college football games and good beer, so little time.





I'm off to go do some yard work: Crazy mesquite tree is growing into the neighbor's driveway again and the pool is looking a little swampy after last weeks rain. While I'm choking on the intolerable heat, enjoy this winter stoke from earlier this year.