GrillSgt's Firepit

Tropical Turkey Day

I sincerely hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We travelled down to South Florida from Central Virginia to visit Stephanie’s dad, Ed, and his wife, Judy, for the weekend. Stephanie’s sister, Stacey, and her husband, Mike, flew in from Las Vegas, and one of Judy’s sons, David, came down from New York. Unfortunately, David’s wife, Melissa wasn’t able to make the trip. Neither was Judy’s other son, Josh, and his wife, Liz.

We left Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport at about 5:30 AM arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida around 10:00 AM. We had about an hour layover in Charlotte, North Carolina, just enogh time to grab Starbucks and a quick breakfast. For the most part, the flights were uneventful, although there were a few small children on the Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale flight. They weren’t too bad, I guess. The one in the seat next to us fell asleep once we were airborne.

Stacey, Mike and David all arrived before us. Mike and Stacey took a red-eye from Las Vegas and got in around 5:00 AM EST. They weren’t able to get any sleep on the flight, but they were able to get a short nap before we arrived.

While the food was being prepared [Ed cooked the turkey on his barbecue, Stacey made the stuffing and Judy made everything else] we all talked and caught up. Dinner was around 4:00 PM and consisted of turkey, Stacey’s stuffing, mashed potatos, green bean cassarole, fresh and jellied cranberry sauce, sweet potato pudding and a Jewish noodle dish (called Kugel, I think). I think I’m missing another dish, but I can’t remember. Judy served Matzo ball soup as an appetizer. After dinner, the dishes were cleaned and the trytophan induced stupors started. A little later dessert was served. By the time dessert was done, several of us were really beginning to feel the effects of a long day enhanced by the tryptophan drowsiness.

About 6:30 PM or so, Stephanie and I took our leave and headed off to our hotel, Boca Raton Plaza Hotel and Suites. It was a pretty nice place. Not 5 stars by any means but it was pleasant. We had a balcony where we could sit and read and enjoy the tropical weather when we weren’t out with family. Stephanie and I were exhausted by the time we got settled into the hotel room as Stephanie had been up since 2:00 AM and I had been up since 3:00 AM. So we were in bed at 8:00 PM!

Oh, our rental car was a white convertible VW bug. It was nice, but small. We brought one large suitcase. It wouldn’t fit in the trunk. The only way to get it into the car was to put the top down, put the windows down and lift it into the backseat, where it proceeded to take up all the room. Reminder to self: NEVER rent a VW bug on a trip again. There just isn’t enough room! Still, it is a nice little car and we did enjoy having the top down on a few drives.

There’s more to our Tropical Thanksgiving weekend. Those posts will be coming soon.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary (belated on the blog) Mom & Dad!

Mom & Dad’s 46th wedding anniversary was October 27. The week before they took a road trip through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massechusetts, New York (again), Pennsylvania (again), Maryland and Virginia. They drove through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and back to Mississippi after their visit with us on October 27 and 28. They went to Niagara Falls and a bunch of other places looking at the autumn scenery, churches, covered bridges, old buildings and such.

On their anniversary, they stopped in to see us. We showed them the new "house" (rental) and sat and talked for a little bit. Then, we went for a late lunch at a burger place in Charlottesville called Cheeseburger in Paradise and drove around a little. Mom & Dad then went to their hotel for a little while. In the evening, the four of us went to Sakura for a Japanese dinner. We surprised them by picking up the tab for their anniversary dinner. We dropped them off at the hotel after dinner. It was a very enjoyable afternoon and evening.

On Sunday, Mom and Stephanie went out for coffee for a couple of hours and had a good conversation. Dad came over to the house and we talked and wathed a little TV before Mom and Stephanie came back. We talked for a little longer. Then Mom and Dad took off to go see Monticello, after which they took to the road and stopped near Bristol (VA / TN).

We had a really nice visit with them. Thanks Mom & Dad for letting us be a part of your anniversary this year. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do that!

Sir Slash

The company I work for tries to make work fun and enjoyable. They cater lunch everyday and soft drinks and juices are free. For Halloween, we had a small party in the afternoon. There were three contests: pumpkin carving, costumes and treats. For the treats, people were encouraged to bring a treat to work. A committee then judged the treats on presentation, and of course, taste. The winning entry was called Kitty Litter, was served in a litter box and looked like kitty litter. Second place went to something called Moneky Brain Bread. For the pumpkin carving contest, the company supplied the pumpkins and carving kits. Carvers had but 30 minutes to carve their pumpkins. Then the committee voted on the top three. The costume contest was voted on by anyone… they had a voting box in the lunch room and anyone could vote for their favorie costumes. I dressed up as Slash (Guns ‘N’ Roses, Slash’s Snakepit, Velvet Revolver). But since I work night shift, I wasn’t around very long before voting was cut off, and, as such, I didn’t garner many votes. Still, people thought the costume was cool. After seeing the pictures, it came out better than I thought (and, yes, I even shaved off the stache to pull it off!).

Nature Calls

We live in a somewhat rural area. There is a little copse of trees separating our house from the house on the right (as you look toward the house from the street). So there’s quite a bit of interesting critters about.

• Several mornings I’ve heard the “thock thock thock” of a woodpecker. One morning it was on a tree near the edge of the copse and I got a glimpse of it.
• We have a few squirrels that run around the yard.
• I’ve come home at night to see a couple of rabbits eating the grass and hopping around the front yard.
• One night I saw a couple of deer feeding on the grass near the parking lot at work.
• That same night I saw a coyote run off the road into a field. A couple of other times, I’ve heard them baying and yipping at night.
• Last weekend, I hear a bunch of geese honking. Later, I saw a small flock fly by.
• Once in a while, I’ll hear an owl hooting at night.
• Not sure if it’s a bat or a nocturnal swallow, but I’ve seen one zoom through the backyard by the security light to pick off its insect dinner.
• I’ve seen a small group of buzzards or vultures (not sure which yet) gliding around a couple of times.

Since we’re heading into winter, a lot of the birds are probably moving off to warmer climes. Maybe I’ll see some cool stuff in the spring.

The leaves on the trees are starting to turn colors and drop. I’ll try to get some pictures posted soon.

LET THERE BE ROCK!!!

Addendum: After I wrote this post, I pulled into the driveway after work (about 11:30 PM) and there was a deer in the front yard. Pretty cool!