First Snow of 2024: A Lazy Saturday and a Promise to Ride

First Snow of 2024

Snow had been in the forecast for a week or so leading up to Thanksgiving. It disappeared and would reappear a few times, but it did finally happen today on November 30. I was remembering a year ago we had our first snow on this day too as Carrie and I went to a Washburn basketball game when it was snowing after Thanksgiving break. There was a game today, but Carrie and I were both tired, so we decided to stay home today. A pretty snow although I have not heard how much snow we had. 

The Saturday following two Thanksgiving celebrations is a lazy Saturday for us. We have dishes to do, but I have taken a few naps throughout the afternoon. Watched the Jayhawks lose their last game of the season in football to Baylor with Baylor being too much for us after knocking off three ranked teams in a row, we stumbled with Baylor.

Sleepy Oliver

Oliver is enjoying the lazy day as he relaxes on the couch in a pile of blankets where he is sleeping and staying warm. I think we had his heated blanket on too that he is using through the day. Yes, he's quite spoiled, but we adore him.

Not a lot planned for tonight. I had leftovers for lunch and will have leftovers for dinner too. They are so good! I love Thanksgiving leftovers. We have homemade pies to eat tonight which include sweet potato pie and dixie pie.

Yes, you guessed right that tomorrow I plan to start riding my bike again. I have been away from bike riding, or exercise, for a few months, but I plan to get back on the bike tomorrow and start the journey. That's what always happens following Thanksgiving where new gym memberships are started and people make decisions to start working out again. That is me this time too and hoping to stick with bike riding two or three times a week. I am feeling excited to start riding again, so that will help to keep me motivated to do so.

Until next week, have a great week and stay warm.

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a Great Thanksgiving 2024!

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend. I may have mentioned this before, but Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love the food, a little too much, and I love spending time with family and friends.

A friend shared the classic Charlie Brown quote earlier this week: "What if today, we were just grateful for everything?" It's so fitting for Thanksgiving, and I thought it would be a great way to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

I know I'll be enjoying turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and, of course, pie. What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving dishes? Or do you have a different family tradition?

However you choose to celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and get to spend time with loved ones.

Thanksgiving Cooking, Family, and Fun Plus Basketball and a Snow Storm to Finish Out the Weekend

Oliver and His Friends

Thanksgiving morning and Oliver was at the fence with the neighbor dogs. He hung out with his friends while I was cooking turkeys on the Big Green Egg. Beautiful morning to be outside and Oliver was taking advantage of the weather being with his friends. 

Would you believe that I did not take any pictures of the prep or completed turkey that I made on Thanksgiving? Well, it happened again but the turkey turned out great. Had good color and tasted good. Did two turkey breasts that took about three hours and thirty minutes to cook. Carrie and I realized at the end of the day that we had not taken any pictures throughout the day. We hosted this year having a total of eight adults and two children in our home. It was a great day!

Mom and Family

Friday late afternoon, we went to Lawrence to spend the evening with Mom and family. We had a great time hanging out, talking, enjoying wine, and seeing one another. We stayed rather late Friday night and I recall Mom saying that it was the latest she had stayed up in a long time. We had a fun time! 

Oliver has the best time at my Mom's house. He thinks he owns the place, so when another little dog was there, there were a few times when Oliver was growling and they got into a little battle at one point. All was good and no blood was lost.

Carrie and I After Game in Snow

Carrie and I got home about 12:30 or 1 Friday night, so we slept in a little on Saturday morning. We did make it to our first home Washburn game of the year Saturday afternoon. The snow had started falling and was barely covering the ground when we went to the game at about 2 pm and when we came out, the ground was covered. It would go on to snow into the late hours of the night.

Birthday Dinner

We went out to North Star Steak House Saturday night to celebrate Eddie's birthday. With the snow storm, we were the only ones in the place for most of the evening. The food was really good and we have leftovers for us to enjoy this week while working. I got a Kansas City Strip and then there was a really good dessert we all split. It was a fun night!

Sunday we have lounged around and preparing for the Chiefs game. I think we are going to bring up some holiday decorations to get ready for Christmas.

A lot packed into the past few days. It has been a fun few days off of work, being with family, and then of course eating really well throughout the last few days. 

Until next time, have a great rest of your Sunday and a fantastic week!

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a Great Thanksgiving 2022!

Thanksgiving is Time for Pie!

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving! For the first time since 2020, my family will be getting together on Thanksgiving Day. We are meeting at my Mom's and enjoying company and food. I cannot wait! It will be the first time in a few years that we will all be together. It will be good to see everyone. Later in the day, Carrie and I will head back to Topeka to celebrate Thanksgiving with Shirrons' which is always delicious food and good company.

Please be safe and take care of your family and friends. Reach out to them and let them know how much they mean to you.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Follow up on Thanksgiving Day Turkey Breast Cooking Plus Oliver Not Feeling Great During the Holiday

For Thanksgiving this year, we did turkey breasts on the grill. We decided not to do fully turkey, but only the breasts. We did salt, pepper, some other seasoning, and then butter over the top. We were debating on whether to put them breast up or down. We thought we had them breast up as we thought they would cook better that way, but then after I posted the picture to the left on Twitter, a friend commented how they were breast down. Possibly thinking they were whole turkeys, but I am sure they were breast up. 

I cooked them on indirect heat using the convEGGtor at 325 degrees sitting on a rack. The turkey breasts were around 7 lbs, so we figured it would be about two hours to cook. Got the rest of it set up and going without too much trouble and let them sit in the BGE cooking away while we got ready for the day.

After a little over two hours, they were looking really good. I rotated them a few times to get even cook throughout. Using thermometer that I monitor remotely with my Apple Watch and iPhone, I was able to watch their progression to completion while watching parades and getting ready for the day. I have to say, these two turkey breasts probably turned out the best I have ever done in terms of appearance for how they look. Nice golden brown overall which I have not had happen with previous turkey cooks regardless of whether they were whole turkeys or just the turkey breasts. I believe this is the second year in a row where we did turkey breasts and these turned out really good in appearance.

I did have some issues having them cook evenly which is why I was rotating them to move the one in front to the back and then later reversed. The internal temp was high for one bird or in one part, but not to the target temp of 165 in another portion. So, I probably left them on a bit long which meant they were a little dry, but that is what gravy is for to help with dryness. 

We have one turkey breast remaining which we will do one weekend as a treat. It is back in the freezer waiting for the next time we cook and do some favorites of Thanksgiving Day food.

I did have my little dog, Oliver, out helping me with the cooking. He was not feeling well the days leading up to Thanksgiving and then he got a little worse going into the weekend from that Thursday. In fact, we were planning to take him to the vet first thing Monday morning to have him checked over. In the picture to the right, this is Oliver enjoying the sun, but you can see he is not feeling the best. I think on Thanksgiving Day he was not eating and not a lot of energy.

As we went into Saturday and Sunday, he went over 24 hours without eating anything. We had tried doing this to him the Tuesday or Wednesday of that week, but he did this on his own. It helped and by Saturday/Sunday he was back to himself. He was eating, running around the house, and not having any issues. We were so happy to have our Oliver back to "normal". We decided we would play it by ear for the vet Monday morning and he was doing great, so we did not take him into see the vet. He has been good ever since which we are grateful happened.

Overall, we had a fantastic Thanksgiving. The weather was beautiful, ate a lot of wonderful food, and we had a good day talking with family. Plus there was sports, so that was fun too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oliver and Dina
Thanksgiving 2011

Dina and Oliver on Thanksgiving 2011. He was so little. What a fun time of year with Thanksgiving. The good food, the beautiful weather, and connecting with family. I look forward to Thanksgiving each year and while some of that has to do with the great food, I enjoy everything about Thanksgiving. The time leading up to the holiday when the trees are changing and dropping leaves. Even the change in weather as it gets colder and frost starts occur overnight. Soon, we will have our first snow fall. No, I am not ready for snow...

I will spend this Thanksgiving with Eddie, Joan, Greg, Erin, and Carrie. We will eat a lot and then possibly play games or certainly there will be some football watching and basketball watching taking place. I will talk to my mom and siblings on the phone throughout the day. We might even see if we can do a Zoom call to connect with everyone, but sometimes that proves to be a difficult task, so maybe just phone calls.

Kansas plays basketball on Thanksgiving Day at 1:30 pm, so I know I will be talking to my sister Dina following the game, but likely before too. I know that I will watch for her half-time report on FaceBook she posts each game and we will connect afterwards. I will conference in my Mom on the call to discuss the game. I think this will only be the second game my Mom will be able to watch as the others have all been on ESPN+.

At some point during the day, I will have spoken to all of my family. I will hear what they are doing on Thanksgiving Day and what they are eating. Maybe even share information regarding what wine or beer they are enjoying during the day. 

I am grateful for my family being healthy. I look forward to the day when we can be together once again on Thanksgiving Day as we used to do not many years ago.

Jerry Ready to Eat and Drink
Thanksgiving 2009

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving Day! I know I will be like Jerry, pictured to the right, where I will be ready to eat, drink, and be jolly on Thanksgiving Day 2021.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving in these Unusual Times... Stay Connected to your Family and Know You are Loved!

 

Thanksgiving from a Few Years Past with Pies from Mom Shirron... So good!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful and safe celebration. 

We will have an unusual Thanksgiving to say the least. We all know that COVID-19 has changed how we live every day. We were told back in March, April, and May when we were stuck at home that the worst was yet to be seen. They said it would be bad once it started getting colder and they were not kidding. Here we are on Thanksgiving Day and the hospitals here in Topeka are at near capacity or full with preparations being made for additional beds in our convention center as it is expected to get worse. Yes, worse!

It is going to be an odd Thanksgiving not spending time with family in Topeka or Lawrence. We were planning to meet with family in Topeka, but had to change plans the day before. I am sad as I have not been able to see my mom in months. We did see her a few times over the summer where we would visit on the patio being sure to keep our social distance. I saw my sister Betsy and Dina a few times over the summer in the same fashion as well as my brother Tim on the patio while we were visiting Mom. I do not recall the last time I saw my sister, Jennie. It was probably last Christmas the last time I saw Jennie.

Yes, we tried a few times of doing Zoom to connect with everyone. The first time was back early in the pandemic when we connected with just my mom and siblings. The next month we tried doing all siblings and grandchildren. I think I spent most of the time troubleshooting why the session was not working for my Mom, but we got it worked out. 

As we approached Thanksgiving this year, I thought for sure my Mom would want to do a Zoom session to be able to see all of our faces and connect. When I asked her about it last week, she laughed, and said phone calls will work. 

I am going to make a point to call my siblings not only on Thanksgiving at least once a month... I miss them! The only good thing we have going is that Kansas basketball will be starting up today (Thanksgiving), so Dina and I will start talking more often as long as there is Kansas basketball and we continue to play. 

Granted, I speak to my Mom every night on the phone. I talk to my siblings occasionally, but we need to do more talking just to interact with one another. I cannot wait until we are able to be in a room and spend time together talking about anything and everything.

All of this to say, Happy Thanksgiving to my whole family, my friends, and everyone. I hope you are able to enjoy some Thanksgiving favorites even in these unusual times. Stay safe and stay in touch!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It is a time to be with family and friends. It is a time to give thanks and remember those we love. It is also a time of fantastic foods. Turkey, dressing, green beans, and pies. Oh then there are the liquid drinks that go along with the day. It is a good day for wine, maybe a glass or two of scotch. It is a wonderful day of relaxation, watching football, and enjoying family and friends.

May each and every one of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Be sure to reach out to those you love or those that do not have a lot of family to give them thanks too.

Happy Thanksgiving!