And When The Bough Breaks....

Dang ... this was a pisser ~ a HUGE limb broke off the big maple tree in my front yard earlier this afternoon ... and came crashing down on my garage & driveway. This is the same tree that I just had trimmed a couple weeks ago, so this exact thing would NOT happen. LOL It was a whopper ... I was sittin' in my living room about 10 feet away, watching a football game when it hit the house ~ scared the bejesus outta me!

Game Day Munchies

Good ol' saltine crackers, a dollop of whole grain mustard, slice of room temp longhorn cheddar, topped with some garlicky homemade giardeneria ~ washed down with a frosty mug of red beer. Ain't no fancy city vittles!

Monica Taylor ~ Red Dirt Girl

My friend, Monica Taylor, was on the Prairie Home Companion radio program last night ... with Garrison Keillor. I got an email from Monica a few hours before the live program aired on NPR ... so I heard the whole show ... and Monica knocked it out of the park!! I knew she was a great singer, but I've never heard her sound better than she did tonight ~ performing with the great Cindy Cashdollar, Elvin Bishop and Hot Club Of Cowtown. I've known Monica since 2005, when she joined us for a bluegrass jam session at my buddy's farm in Big Cabin, Oklahoma ... and took the above picture of her at that session. If you missed the program last night, it will be archived on the Prairie Home Companion web site in a day or two. Here's Monica's web site <----click

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

Doyle Lawson ~ When I Lay These Burdens Down

Keri C's Blue Ribbon Cornbread

Keri C is a frien of mine, lives down around Tulsa ... is a helluva cook, and her recipe for cornbread is the standard by which all other cornbreads is judged!! I make it in my ol' Griswold black iron skillet ... I preheat the skillet then add a lil' bacon grease to it before dumping the batter in ~ gives the cornbread a yummy crust. Had it hot out the oven last night ... crumbled what was leftover, and am making a cornbread stuffing today to go wit some baked/smothered pork chops.

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Paul Butterfield Blues Band ~ One More Heartache

Mighty Fine Grindin'

Mais ... I admit I was skeptical when I first heard about bacon-wrapped watermelon rind pickles, and I certainly wasn't gonna go buy a jar of storeboughts ... but since I had a jar of homemade watermelon rind pickles, I figured what the hell ~ how bad can they be. Friens, lemme be the first to told you ... these lil' morsels are very good ~ sweet and sour, with a generous dusting of fresh cracked black, wrapped in bacon & smoked ~ whooooboy, ain't no fancy city vittles! I also took one dem smoked pork butts, and about 5-6 links dat smoked sausage ... sliced it, and pulled it, and shredded it, and chopped it, and I don't know whut all ... and mixed it together to make some mighty-fine bbq fer sandwiches ~ portioned it into a buncha 10 ounce portions (just enough for 2 sandwiches) and froze them ... BBQ On Demand ... fast food, my way ~ gimme 2 BBQ McChez Combo Sandwiches, lickety split!!

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Walter Trout ~ Blues Deluxe

John Fahey - Poor Boys Long Way From Home

I Like Big Butts

Results of yesterday's smoke session ~ started at 5 AM and the butts came off the smoker about 4:30 PM ~ took almost 12 hours to get meat to 195* internal temp ... WSM chugged along at about 240-250* the whole time ~ used maple wood. The pic of the butts above was taken at about the 9 hr mark. Also smoked several kinds of homemade sausage, some bacon-wrapped watermelon rinds, and made some kicked-up baked beans.

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Hot Club Of Cowtown ~ Lil' Liza Jane

Early Morning Smoke Session

OK ... it's 5 AM ... just put 2 big pork butts on the WSM ~ rubbed with Rib Stars and smokin' with maple chunks. Got some german stout/mustard sausage links, a coil of homemade sweet jap/cherry sausage, and a homemade apple/maple fattie going on pretty soon ... soon as I can git a couple cups of cawfee in me & a few more neurons start firin' ~ got half a notion to make a few bacon-wrapped watermelon rinds, too ... why? ... because I CAN, dat's why. I made these sweet watermelon rind pickles several months ago ... 'bout time i cracked open a jar of them, eh? God Bless America.

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Jerry Garcia/David Grisman ~ Down In The Valley

Hard Times Come Again No More

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Hazel Dickens ~ Lonesome Pine Special

Grateful Dead - Ripple

Grateful Dead - Peggy O

I sure do miss the fat man.

Old & In The Way - Pig In A Pen

Recorded in 1973 ~ Released in 1975

Vassar Clements – fiddle
Jerry Garcia – banjo, vocals
David Grisman – mandolin, vocals
John Kahn – acoustic bass
Peter Rowan – guitar, vocals

The Woodcuttin' Crew

Mais, here's a pic of some my friends who came in last weekend & cut/hauled away that big maple in my front yard ~ was quite a job, but this crew made short work of it ... hauled away a couple trailer loads of trim, a cord of good firewood, and about a rick of maple smokin' bbq wood. From left, Robin (Lil' Missy), her son Mike, my nephew Alex, me, and my buddy Rob (NoBob)

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Bluegrass Album Band ~ Big Black Train

Italian-Style Roasted Strip Loin

This is that Italian/marinated beef strip loin roast - roasted in it's natural au jus, with onions, bay leaves, whole garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, basil & oregano, thyme and some red pepper flakes ~ 145* internal ~ badda boom, made some killer au jus.

Sliced thin as my trusty ol' Henckels would slice it.

Quality control sample ~ sliced Italian beef, dunked in dat au jus ... piled on a slice of bread & topped with some homemade giardeneria mix. Mama Mia

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

Paul Butterfield & John Sebastian ~ Amazing Grace

Nanci Griffith - Tecumseh Valley

Fat Johnny's Butcher Shop

Did some butcherin' today ~ cut a choice grade strip loin that I'd been wet-aging for about 3 weeks ... 2/3 of it cut into these big beautiful KC Strip steaks above, and then I trimmed up the other 1/3 of that strip loin to make a nice sirloin roast to slice thin and make Italian beef combo sandwiches.

This is the strip loin roast, rubbed with EVOO and Italian herbs & spices ... will roast to medium & make a good au jus for the Italian beefs. After roasting, will chill overnight so I can slice it thin ... and reheat in the au jus.

I also cut up a couple whole pork butts today, for to grind & make some homemade Italian sausage ... gotta have Italian sausages for the Italian beef combos. I also saved all the trim and scraps from the beef strip loin, and will grind that into the Italian sausage also. While cutting up the pork butts to grind for sausage, I cut the sweet meat out of each butt & made these country-style bbq ribs ~ rubbed'em with Rib Stars rib rub, smoked'em with maple wood, and sauced'em with some dat good PeeDee River Swamp Sauce.

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Nanci Griffith ~ Ten Degrees & Gettin' Colder

He was standing by the highway
With a sign that just said Mother
When he heard a driver coming
About a half a mile away
So he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day

He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singing songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder, I don't know

Chorus
And she told him she would take him
For a ride in the morning sun
Back in Boulder he had told her
I don't know when, I've had a better friend

It was out in Arizona
That he heard the lady listening
To each word that he was saying
To each line that he would write
So he sat down at her table
And they talked about the weather
98.6 and rising down by Boulder Dam that night

Chorus

Now he's traded off his Martin
Though his troubles ain't over
His feet are almost frozen and the sun is sinking low
Won't you listen to me brother
If you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder
If you're goin' Milwaukee way

It's ten degrees and getting colder down by Boulder Dam today

~~ Gordon Lightfoot

Hunter's Moon Rising

Unbelievable Hunter's Moon tonight ... is that a wolf I hear howlin?

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

I made 10# of breakfast sausage this morning, then hadda do a lil' quality control, don't cha know! I ground a whole pork butt and some cheap bacon scraps, added some homemade apple/maple syrup 'n seasonings, mix mix, badda boom, done deal. Fried up a couple patties to check seasoning (fried 2 patties so I could check dat seasoning real good, yeh) ... tasted mighty fine, so rolled it into 10 one pound rolls, wrapped good and into freezer. Tomorrow ... 20# of Texas Hill Country Hots!! Slide show <---click

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David Grisman / John Sebastian ~ Jug Band Waltz

Booker White - Poor Boy Long Way From Home

Pork Butts & Succotash

Well, succotash is one my favorite vegetables ... with bacon & onions, but this time it was especially good ~ kicked up with the addition of a handful of homemade sun-dried tomatoes. Put them fancy pot passers away, these ain't no fancy city vittles...

It's autumn, and that means it's sausage-making time ~ found these pork butts on sale yesterday $.99/lb so I backed up the truck & hauled off about 80# of them. Over the next few days, I'll be making homemade apple/maple breakfast sausage, andouille, texas hot links, italian sausage, some chorizo, and mebbe even make a lil' tasso while i'm at it. My grinder and stuffer gonna git a good workout, ah garrontee!!

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Bachman Turner Overdrive ~ Gimme Your Money Please

Autumn Leaves

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John Prine ~ Killing The Blues

Leaves were falling ... just like embers
In colors red and gold they set us on fire
Burning just like a moonbeam ... in our eyes

Chorus:
Somebody said they saw me
Swinging the world by the tail
Bouncing over a white cloud
Killing the Blues

I am guilty of something
I hope you never do because there is nothing
Sadder than losing ... yourself in love

Repeat Chorus:

Now you ask me ... just to leave you
To go out on my own and get what I need to
You want me to find ... what I've already had

Repeat Chorus:

Mississippi Fred McDowell - John Henry

Apple / Maple Syrup

The top picture shows the reduced apple cider syrup on the left, and the real maple syrup on the right. The pic below shows the two syrups combined. The apple cider syrup is delicious by itself, and I'm thinking about making some more of it & mixing it with some bbq sauce: Apple Cider BBQ Baby Backribs????

I like to make a pint of this syrup every fall, when the local fruit orchard (Rees Fruit Farm) starts making their fresh-pressed apple cider. The apple/maple syrup is made by reducing down about 2 quarts of apple cider to 1 cup of thick, sweet apple syrup ... then mixing it with an equal amount of real maple syrup. The resulting apple/maple syrup is very delicious, and besides being great on pancakes and waffles ... I love it in baked beans, in candied yams, on baked squash, brushed on grilled or smoked pork, as a baked ham glaze, etc.

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Bob Childers ~ I Walk The Wire

Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train

Italian Giardeneria Mix

Well ... I hauled off this past weekend & made this spicy garlicky giardeneria mix, for to put on some Italian Beef Combo sandwiches I'm gonna make next weekend ~ got a whole beef strip loin in my fridge, aging, and will cut KC Strip steaks out of about 2/3 that loin, and roast the other 1/3 of it to make the Italian beefs.

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Bachman Turner Overdrive ~ Takin' Care Of Business

Country Fried 'Taters

Mais ... as a general rule, I don't git too excited about 'taters ~ but these were about the best I ever ate. These are some baby new Colorado Gold potatoes, fresh out of the garden ... Lil' Missy's Perrydize Garden ... I scrubbed'em & left the skin on them ... left them whole, except for a few the bigger ones, and fried'em in a lil' pork fat with onions. Lawd Have Mercy, I never thought a 'tater could taste this good!!

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

Jeannie Kendall ~ The Old Rugged Cross

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Burning Leaves

There's orange and gold and scarlet on the fields
Beside the somber black of earth new-plowed;
A woman burning red and yellow leaves
The pale blue spiral twisting to a cloud.

One afternoon like this we walked alone
Through orchards and beneath a bent old oak,
The spice of ripened apples mingling with
The faint and stirring pungency of smoke.

No need of words to mar that perfect hour
Which hangs star-bright against the midnight blue
Of other days. A whole eternity
Is etched in poignant silences anew.

These many years! Again the flowing flame
Of scarlet oak. Again the autumn sheaves.
Love, laughter, pain and parting, life and death
Are blended in the smell of burning leaves.

Zula Bennington Greene aka "Peggy of the Flint Hills"
October 17, 1942

What It Was, Was Football

Andy Griffith ~ What It Was, Was Football

Creamed Swiss Chard

ok ok ... so i git up from my lil' siesta yesterday afternoon, and turn my attention to supper ~ hadn't given it much thought on account i already had the entree' covered (italian sausage & spaghetti) ... but i'm thinkin' a side dish would be good ... something green & veggie like. a quick scan of the pantry & freezer turns up a package of fresh swiss chard from lil' missy's perrydize garden ... she brought me that chard earlier this summer, and i cleaned & sautee'd it then froze it for just such an occasion as this. made a quick bechamel sauce, added some grated romano & provolone cheese - making a mornay sauce ... folded in the sautee'd swiss chard ... lil' red pepper flake & cracked black ... pinch of salt ... into buttered casserole dish ... into the oven to bake & git all bubbly & happy. never had creamed swiss chard before, but it was very good....for a vegetable.

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Jimmy Hall ~ Rendezvous With The Blues

Homemade Italian Sausage

Friend of mine ... Rawtalent Gary, him, he hauled off yestiddy & slapped a sausage ahnvee on me big time by sending me a couple pics of some beautiful homemade smoked andouille he'd made & then made a pot of red'n'white with it. Sooo ... off to the freezer I went, and pulled out my last package of homemade Italian sausage links I made mebbe 8-6 months ago ~ commenced to cookin' up a storm, and when the smoke cleared I had some kinda sausage ragout dat I put on some 'sketti & called it supper.

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Norman Blake ~ Little Joe

Cheesy BBQ Beefer Melt

Well, I had dat fresh-baked cheesy/beer bread ... so I sliced off a big thick hunk of it, toasted it under the broiler, slapped a couple slices baby Swiss cheese on it while still hot, then topped it with some shredded bbq beef and caramelized onions & drizzled with a lil' homemade Arkansas Shack bbq sauce ... pretty tasty lunch for an ol' cosmic plowboy ~ took 2 beers to wash it down, and then I had to go take a nap! Crisis ... what crisis?? LOL

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Anson & The Rockets ~ The Blues Seem To Follow Me

No Beer Until Tomorrow??

Cheesy Beer Bread

Baked a loaf of cheesy beer bread yesterday, also chopped some homemade sun-dried tomatoes & added them to the dough ... made a delicious loaf of quick bread ~ went great with the pot roast I made for supper. They both smelled up the house real good, ah garrontee!

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Mickey Newbury ~ Ramblin' Blues

All Go Hungry Hash House

Mais ... all hash is not created the same, ah garrontee. This humble hash was created by using all fresh ingredients from Lil' Missy's garden in Perrydize ~ fresh new potatoes, bermuda onions, 3 kinds of fresh banana peppers (red, orange, green) & fresh garlic...then I added some shredded beef that I had braised in homemade adobo sauce ... whooooboy, topped with a couple over-easy eggs & I had me a mighty fine breakfast. Tru dat.

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Norman Blake ~ All Go Hungry Hash House

Sunday Morning Gospel Hour

HeeHaw Gospel Quartet ~ Camping In Canann's Land

Sourdough Pepperoni Loaves

Fresh baked sourdough pepperoni loaves ~ this bread made some killer garlic toast.

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Blood Sweat & Tears ~ God Bless The Child

Hey ... It's Red Friday in Chief's land!!!

Ahh ... who cares.

Fat Bottom Mary's Moosehead Chili

Got some friends coming tomorrow, to help clean up all the limbs dropped by the tree trimmer. Weather has turned cold, so I made a big pot of chili con carne ~ using a couple tricks I learned from an old cook I once worked with (Fat Bottom Mary). There's so many good ingredients in this chili, I can't even begin to list them all ~ but hey, I can't give away ALL my secrets, now can I ... HUHHH?? BTW, my legal department requires that anyone fixin' to eat a bowl of my chili must first sign this chili release waiver. <----click

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Rusty Wier ~ The Devil Lives In Dallas

Big-Assed Burgers

Big-assed fresh ground chuckeye steaks and thick slices of grilled sweet Vidalia onions.

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Grateful Dead ~ Ramble On Rose

BBQ Pigmeat ~ It's What I Crave

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Merle Haggard ~ Big City