Good Food With Good People

Yesterday we had some friends come over for a little get-together to celebrate the 4th of July. With COVID-19 on the run and everybody vaccinated, it was time to have a little celebration.

Terry smoked a turkey breast in our Orion convection smoker, and there was no question that it was going to be a hit with everybody, along with her red beans and rice.

She also made a loaf of banana bread and this delicious pie, which had blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and peaches in it. Topped off with vanilla ice cream, it was amazing.

Our guests also brought lots of goodies, including hot dogs and hamburgers to throw on the grill, a couple of kinds of salad, and another pie. I’m sure there was more that I can’t remember right this moment.

In this picture, on the left we have Jennifer Smith-Sommers, Kim Gilbert, Gary (whose last name I don’t remember, Jesse Bolton, Pam (Gary’s wife), and Scott Gilbert. Pam is Scott’s mother and Gary is her husband.

These two shady-looking characters are Rhonda and Chris Fisher.

Not pictured are Jim Lewis, Miss Terry, or me.

Chris and Rhonda live across the street from us, and Jennifer and Jesse live next door to them. Scott and Jesse have been best friends since they were schoolboys, and sometimes I suspect they’re not too far removed from that. I think Kim would agree since Jesse spent some time throwing spitballs at her. I told her to relax, I was sure once they got past puberty those two would straighten right up.

It was a great crowd with lots of laughter and good times as we enjoyed the wonderful food. And no question about it, nobody left hungry.

Rain had been threatening so I moved the Pacifica and Mustang and one of the kayaks on its trailer outside and put down the screen door of the garage. With the window air conditioner in the back of the garage running, as well as the overhead fan and three box fans, the air moved around enough that it was relatively comfortable.

At one point it rained so hard that the screen over the door was so wet we couldn’t see through it. When the party broke up, the kayak that I had moved outside had a lot of water sitting in it from all the rain, so we had to tilt it to let the water run out the scupper holes before we brought it back inside.

Thanks for coming everybody. It was a memorable day, and we will have to get together and do it again soon.

We weren’t the only people with guests. These are nine Hotshot firefighters from Virginia working to combat the forest fires near our old hometown of Show Low, Arizona that my daughter Tiffany and her husband Kenny hosted for the holiday. I know what it’s like to spend a holiday posted away from your loved ones and I know how much these folks appreciated it.

Congratulations Carsten Wiemken, winner of our drawing for an RV camping journal donated by Barbara House. Barbara makes several variations of these, and they all have pages where you can list the date, weather, where you traveled to and from that day, beginning and ending mileage, campground information including amenities at R.V. sites, a place for campground reviews, room to record activities, people met along the way, reminders of places to see and things to do the next time you’re in the area, and a page for notes for each day. We had 37 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon. Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with U.S. addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

Thought For The Day – Exercise gives you energy, but you need energy to exercise. Sounds like a pyramid scheme to me.