Kenny’s Gut And Terry’s Butt

Thank you to everyone who sent emails or comments about son-in-law Kenny’s gallbladder surgery yesterday. Tiffany said they did a laparoscopic procedure, and afterward the doctor said it was in pretty bad shape. They had a bit of trouble controlling his pain after the surgery, but they got it taken care of. Tiffany stayed at the hospital with him overnight, and they finally got to come home yesterday afternoon. When I talked to her later, she said he was sleeping. I’ve always thought sleep is one of the best ways to recover from anything.

Most of the people who read my blog understand my somewhat twisted sense of humor, but apparently one reader didn’t. They sent me an email chastising me for being so insensitive that I expected Kenny to work on my car the day after he got out of the hospital. But that’s okay. I’m sure Kenny understood. I’m going to let him sleep in until at least 10 clock this morning before I start calling asking him when he’s going to get over here and get to work. You can never say I don’t care and won’t adjust my schedule to accommodate somebody when they’re having difficulties.

As for the second half of the title of today’s blog, yesterday Terry fired up the Pit Boss and smoked her first pork butt, using mesquite pellets. She cooked it for about 8 hours, stopping about halfway through to wrap it before putting it back in the smoker. Once it was done, she kept it wrapped and let it temper for another 1 1/2 hours. I sampled a bit of it while she was pulling it apart, and it was delicious. She said she didn’t get the bark she expected, but it’s a learning experience.

While she was busy with all of that, I wrote another chapter in my new Tinder Street book, The Forgotten Years. I’m just a little shy of 40,000 words so far and having a lot of fun with the story. Will I make it to my hoped for deadline at the end of the month? That remains to be seen. I never work toward a specific word count or set a date on the calendar in stone. I keep working until the story is done, whenever that might be.

Congratulations, Bridget Wiemken, winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of The Guatemala Reader by Mark Walker, who was recently profiled in an Author Spotlight. Join Mark on an epic journey through this fascinating yet often misunderstood Central American neighbor. The author has studied and written about Guatemala for fifty years, and this book focuses on some of the extraordinary people of Guatemala and their amazing stories. Given the crisis of democracy in Guatemala and the continued turmoil on our border, this is the time to understand the human realities better and take action to secure a more promising future. Guatemala draws up to 1.8 million tourists per year, whose visits start in the largest city in Central America with brief visits to ancient Mayan ruins and contemporary Maya villages, which provide a partial folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. Over the years, Mark has traveled to places most Guatemalans have never seen and uses encounters with ordinary Guatemalans, profiles, and stories from local Mayan leaders, advocates, writers, and poets to bring a new appreciation and understanding of this amazing country.

We had 29 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 US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – It’s hard to believe that before the internet, we thought every village only had one idiot.