Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Blog goes Fishing!!!
Well Mac is in town for a little R&R and the Crockett has the day off on Monday so we made the most of it. I called up a friend that has a little piece of land with a little pond on it and he gave us the ok to come on out. We swung by the local wal-mart to grab a few extra worms, spinner baits, hooks, weights and sunscreen. We didn't actually get started till mid afternoon and we were just filling the place out for about the first 30 minutes or so. Mac snagged him a bass, I snagged a log, then snagged a limb trying to drag a spinner underneath a tree on the bank. Mac was working on a backlash at the time so he wasn't paying much attention to what all was going on with me. I was in a heated battle trying to retrieve a $4 spinner bait from the clutches of the branches of a small cypress tree. Well, after a few minutes of thrashing the rod to and fro in an attempt to loosen the lure, the tree won. I guess I just put to much muscle into the last thrust and the Wal-mart special fishing pole snapped somewhere in the middle. I still had one eye left on the pole, so we did a makeshift cane pole type contraption to enable myself to continue fishing. Meanwhile, Mac is killing a worm with all the strikes he is getting on the end of his line. He'd grab one here and there but it only happened when he back lashed the reel into birdnest status. He did a swell job reeling in 5 fish for the day, but this blog supports "Catch and Release", so we let the youngsters back. I didn't fair well at all, as a matter of fact, I reeled in zero. I had some action with my shattered pole and had several strong nibbles and a few good strikes. Some several minutes after my rod snapped Mac decided to see how far he could chunk that lure......well, in his backswing of the cast he hit the side of the roof of the pier and lost control of his fishing pole and 'splash' into the drink the rod and reel went. It was a loner, as Mac has no gear here in town, but like a trooper, he took a swim and retrieved it so he could continue. Ironically, the fishing picked up a bit after Mac took a dip. I guess he 'chummed' the water and got the fish hungry. We continued to battle into the later part of the afternoon, trying to set the hook, trying to snag one out of the large conglomerate of small fish that were in a frenzy for something to eat. We did have a rather exciting moment when a rather large fish took my worm, I set the hook (no joke), and then the line broke. This fish had a bigger mouth than anything else Mac had pulled out but it got away. Then some 10 minutes later, the exact same thing happened to Mac. Had to be the same fish. This fish was a 3-5 pounder, had to be, and it was tough. Now it is really tough because it has two hooks stuck in its lip, hypothetically speaking. All in all, it was a fine day and we were grateful to have the opportunity to enjoy something outdoors for the day. The fish are still safe with us on the water, but hopefully we can change that one day. We do apologize for not having any photos as we took none.
Correction to the real story of "Skillet Shot"
Seems that ole Crockett was not entirely correct on his facts in regard to the life and times on the BBQ circuit. Got a call from a former team member of "Skillet Shot" and he set the record straight on the lowdown of what took place at the "Jubilee Jam" in Clarksdale. I was not there for judging so as you can see it was easy to miss this bit of information. Turns out at the Clarksdale event the team actually won an award that was known as the T.A.R - Tough Ass Rib. Now that in no way puts a damper on the 2nd place we took a month earlier at "High Cotton". Every team goes through some ups and downs and maybe a little inconsistency. But you also have to take into account that there were other variables in Clarksdale that weren't present at the Greenwood event. The pool, the golf cart, the bandwagon had grown. At this point we weren't a travelling BBQ team, we were a small Delta town with a grill and a dream. Must of had 30-40 members at this point. Lots of different backgrounds, personalities, and dependencies. So I reckon it was a fitting ending for the core of the team to go out with an award of such dubious recognition. Oh well, can't win em all.
To the Yardman on Riverside Drive....
I don't know if you will ever read this. I doubt you will, but I wanted to apologize to you if I came off as a smarta$$ this morning. You kinda caught me off guard when you asked me, "Do you know anything about snakes?" and although you laughed when I responded, " I don't like em..".... I still feel that I should have stopped and at least investigated your inquiry. I didn't, I was in the middle of nowhere in my head, just cruising along on my bike and I didn't even consider checking up until I was well down the road. I'm sorry. I hope that you were able to identify and control whatever situation the snake threw at you and were able to get back to more productive things other than some problems with the local wildlife. Again, my apologies. Crockett
Saturday, May 15, 2010
ONLY IN TEXAS
As the saying goes "Everything's Bigger in Texas". Well I witnessed that first hand the other day at work. About ten yards from the range we were firing on there was an ant pile that could swallow a man. Walking up to the range I noticed it and was thinking, why is the grass not growing in that one spot? Here's what I found when I got to it. Not only was the pile huge, but the ants were enormous. They were about the length of my thumbnail. The last picture is the path they had worn down walking to and from the pile. Click on the pictures to make them bigger.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Real Story Of "Skillet Shot"
Many years ago there was an event that took place in these parts called "High Cotton Cooking Contest". It was a weekend long affair of BBQ, Bands and Fun. Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you were there, maybe you had a team. This is the Story of one team that came out of obscurity to place 2nd in the "One-Rack Rib" category. There is no need for names for this story, as names are irrelevant and there were too many members to even try to name them all. And despite the statue of limitations being expired, there is no need to bring up the names if any crimes were committed during this timeframe. This is not embellished, as it needs no embellishment. If you were there, you know.
The BBQ contest had a pretty good following despite the fact that it was held around April every year and it usually poured rain for the entire weekend of events. Crowds would have been better had patrons not had to literally swim around the park of the event locale. This year was different. The weather was perfect.We were the youth movement. Most of us nearing the end of a Sophomore campaign of college, a few pounds heavier and the tolerance of Jim Morrison. We could party, we were trained, a little educated, and extremely insane. For the most part the event was held down by people that actually cared about the competition aspect and they all thought they could do the best shoulder or slab of ribs this side South of Memphis. There were some partiers in other crowds. Some with Corporate Sponsorship. That wasn't us. We were just a bunch of guys that pooled our money together, stole a grill(we gave it back), re-painted the grill(John Deere Green and Yellow), swindled a dad into scoring us some quality food products from a purveyor, and just went after it.
We arrived on Friday afternoon to setup what would be our home for the next 48 hours, give or take. Each team has there on designated area in which they can cook and engage in consumption and fun. We bought two spots, we had the numbers....we could afford it. So, we got the grill and a few chairs. A few calls from an old analog truck phone and an hour later, the couch and love seat arrive. Classy. We hang out in our locale for the remainder of the afternoon, carnival is getting setup close to our cooksite and it just so happens that one of the workers from that carnival comes strolling by with a duck in a cage. I know, what the heck is this guy carrying a duck in a cage for? We made him an offer, he took it. Every team needs a mascot and we had ours. We named him "Elbow". Not sure who came up with it, but we all agreed to it and it stuck. As the afternoon winds down and people start filling into the park for what is sure to be a good night of music. We notice that there is a tremendous amount of young people congregated at our location. No biggie, we had a large team and we knew allot of people. Apparently, the kids in Starkville and Oxford had caught wind of our efforts and decided to join us. In a matter of a few hours and several beers later, we had a crowd somewhere in the area of 150-200 people. I am willing to bet there wasn't 200 people up front listening to the band. Now consider that everybody in our area was underage and what you have is the potential for a problem. Security was there but fortunately we weren't buying it. Obviously, you had to be of legal age to purchase a beverage from the vendors in the park. However, we had a loophole. We were a cooking team, so we were able to bring in our own drinks and we brought plenty. As the crowd remained in our area around closing time of the first night, we were engulfed by the local police. It looked like a standoff in some old western, each side just waiting for the other side to make a move. We weren't violent, we just wanted to not get arrested. Fortunately, the friendly officers dismantled the crowd and everyone left. Some peacefully, some not. I survived and reconvened with my people at an after hours joint that is now a car dealership. Upon leaving there we decided to head back out to the park to get a leg up on the cooking, as the food had to be turned in the next day at noon. A quick stop by the grocery(it stayed open 24 hours back in those days) for some munchies and we were set. We somehow managed to get a fire going in our haze. We were set to compete in shoulder, ribs, chicken and wild game. The few of us that stuck it out watching the sun come up over the horizon, beer in hand, while inhaling the sweet perfume of meat burning on the grill, felt as if we had conquered something. All we conquered was what was going to be an awful hangover. In all our conversation and good time, we forgot that we had put some of our grocery store buys on the grill. So much for dinner/breakfast. We hadn't damaged any of our competition goods, shoulder was away from the fire and ribs and chicken were still in the cooler.
Time to get serious, fire is pretty stable so its time to put some ribs on for a long and slow cook. Its around 8 am at this point, no sleep, still sipping cold ones. We have about 6-8 people hanging around, sleepless. The folks that wisely went home and got some sleep arrived about 10 am and we were relieved. I split and headed home for a shower and a nap. My intent was to come back around 1 but that didn't happen. I got there a little after 2 pm. When I arrived there were more than a few modifications to the cooksite. First off, we had a nice orange fence, the kind you see on construction sites. It had an entrance and everything. Our humble mascot, Elbow, had acquired a more suitable setting than his cage. Someone had gone and purchased a pool. So duck is swimming around and loving life. Few pieces of bread in the water because he has to eat to...right! Our other unofficial mascot, a team members dog, Tookie, was there as well. Tookie was an aggressive pooch. He had to be constantly reminded, "Tookie, no kill". In addition, we also had set up a rather large flagpole that was tied to the smokestack of the grill. The pole extended some twenty some odd feet into the air and housed a trio of flags including a State flag of Mississippi, a Rebel flag with Hank Williams Jr. face planted right smack in the middle and an Ole Miss Flag that was added since our team swung in that majority. So we got pets, A tower of flags, a large congregation of friends, some family and allot of strangers.
Mid afternoon, time to announce the winners. Obviously, we did not expect to even be in the running for anything. As you have probably gathered, we were there for the party and we won that event no contest. Even the Corporate team will tell you that. So you can imagine the pure shock and joy of hearing our team announced as second place in the "Rib" category. An honorary shotgun of a beer ensued after that as we felt it was only fitting to slam one down. I don't know how many teams were in competition, but it was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment to have placed in a competition. This was the kiss of death. After that, we felt the need to travel the region to compete in all the other BBQ cooking contest. At B.B. King in Indianola, the fire never got lit because half the team was still in jail and the other half never showed. Still don't know the whole story of the incarceration that took place. At Jubilee Jam in Clarksdale, same couches, same dog, converted the back of the truck into a swimming pool and acquired a golf cart. All bad touches but great ideas at the time. We did nothing there as well. After that event, well you guessed it, the money ran out. The fire was gone. It was a good run...3 events and 1 silver. Not bad for a team of kids that didn't care in the first place. The grill was returned and I am often reminded of how we "destroyed" this mans grill because we painted it John Deere green and yellow. I thought it looked nice. Green body with Yellow doors and smokestacks. Come on!!.... Elbow tragically lost his life at a nearby pond in the foothills of Carrollton. Seems he was victim of a predator attack. I like to think that saving Elbow from the clutches of that carnival worker was the best thing that ever happened to that duck He got to live, he got to be the star attraction for a BBQ team. He was like the solo duck in the fountain at the Peabody, just our Lil' ducky. You just have to think that the carnival guy was just going to eat him anyway, but at least he got a taste of freedom. Tookie lived on for several more years, randomly attacking cars and people that he knew. Upon his untimely demise, a rather large congregation of friends and fellow BBQ team members assembled for an appropriate wake for the pooch. We had a party in his honor.
Fortunately, the former team of "Skillet Shot" have remained close over the years. While there is no aspirations of reuniting the team for another run, we often reminisce of the time, along time ago, when we got 2nd in the One-rack Rib category at High Cotton Cooking. Those were the days!!!
The BBQ contest had a pretty good following despite the fact that it was held around April every year and it usually poured rain for the entire weekend of events. Crowds would have been better had patrons not had to literally swim around the park of the event locale. This year was different. The weather was perfect.We were the youth movement. Most of us nearing the end of a Sophomore campaign of college, a few pounds heavier and the tolerance of Jim Morrison. We could party, we were trained, a little educated, and extremely insane. For the most part the event was held down by people that actually cared about the competition aspect and they all thought they could do the best shoulder or slab of ribs this side South of Memphis. There were some partiers in other crowds. Some with Corporate Sponsorship. That wasn't us. We were just a bunch of guys that pooled our money together, stole a grill(we gave it back), re-painted the grill(John Deere Green and Yellow), swindled a dad into scoring us some quality food products from a purveyor, and just went after it.
We arrived on Friday afternoon to setup what would be our home for the next 48 hours, give or take. Each team has there on designated area in which they can cook and engage in consumption and fun. We bought two spots, we had the numbers....we could afford it. So, we got the grill and a few chairs. A few calls from an old analog truck phone and an hour later, the couch and love seat arrive. Classy. We hang out in our locale for the remainder of the afternoon, carnival is getting setup close to our cooksite and it just so happens that one of the workers from that carnival comes strolling by with a duck in a cage. I know, what the heck is this guy carrying a duck in a cage for? We made him an offer, he took it. Every team needs a mascot and we had ours. We named him "Elbow". Not sure who came up with it, but we all agreed to it and it stuck. As the afternoon winds down and people start filling into the park for what is sure to be a good night of music. We notice that there is a tremendous amount of young people congregated at our location. No biggie, we had a large team and we knew allot of people. Apparently, the kids in Starkville and Oxford had caught wind of our efforts and decided to join us. In a matter of a few hours and several beers later, we had a crowd somewhere in the area of 150-200 people. I am willing to bet there wasn't 200 people up front listening to the band. Now consider that everybody in our area was underage and what you have is the potential for a problem. Security was there but fortunately we weren't buying it. Obviously, you had to be of legal age to purchase a beverage from the vendors in the park. However, we had a loophole. We were a cooking team, so we were able to bring in our own drinks and we brought plenty. As the crowd remained in our area around closing time of the first night, we were engulfed by the local police. It looked like a standoff in some old western, each side just waiting for the other side to make a move. We weren't violent, we just wanted to not get arrested. Fortunately, the friendly officers dismantled the crowd and everyone left. Some peacefully, some not. I survived and reconvened with my people at an after hours joint that is now a car dealership. Upon leaving there we decided to head back out to the park to get a leg up on the cooking, as the food had to be turned in the next day at noon. A quick stop by the grocery(it stayed open 24 hours back in those days) for some munchies and we were set. We somehow managed to get a fire going in our haze. We were set to compete in shoulder, ribs, chicken and wild game. The few of us that stuck it out watching the sun come up over the horizon, beer in hand, while inhaling the sweet perfume of meat burning on the grill, felt as if we had conquered something. All we conquered was what was going to be an awful hangover. In all our conversation and good time, we forgot that we had put some of our grocery store buys on the grill. So much for dinner/breakfast. We hadn't damaged any of our competition goods, shoulder was away from the fire and ribs and chicken were still in the cooler.
Time to get serious, fire is pretty stable so its time to put some ribs on for a long and slow cook. Its around 8 am at this point, no sleep, still sipping cold ones. We have about 6-8 people hanging around, sleepless. The folks that wisely went home and got some sleep arrived about 10 am and we were relieved. I split and headed home for a shower and a nap. My intent was to come back around 1 but that didn't happen. I got there a little after 2 pm. When I arrived there were more than a few modifications to the cooksite. First off, we had a nice orange fence, the kind you see on construction sites. It had an entrance and everything. Our humble mascot, Elbow, had acquired a more suitable setting than his cage. Someone had gone and purchased a pool. So duck is swimming around and loving life. Few pieces of bread in the water because he has to eat to...right! Our other unofficial mascot, a team members dog, Tookie, was there as well. Tookie was an aggressive pooch. He had to be constantly reminded, "Tookie, no kill". In addition, we also had set up a rather large flagpole that was tied to the smokestack of the grill. The pole extended some twenty some odd feet into the air and housed a trio of flags including a State flag of Mississippi, a Rebel flag with Hank Williams Jr. face planted right smack in the middle and an Ole Miss Flag that was added since our team swung in that majority. So we got pets, A tower of flags, a large congregation of friends, some family and allot of strangers.
Mid afternoon, time to announce the winners. Obviously, we did not expect to even be in the running for anything. As you have probably gathered, we were there for the party and we won that event no contest. Even the Corporate team will tell you that. So you can imagine the pure shock and joy of hearing our team announced as second place in the "Rib" category. An honorary shotgun of a beer ensued after that as we felt it was only fitting to slam one down. I don't know how many teams were in competition, but it was an overwhelming sense of accomplishment to have placed in a competition. This was the kiss of death. After that, we felt the need to travel the region to compete in all the other BBQ cooking contest. At B.B. King in Indianola, the fire never got lit because half the team was still in jail and the other half never showed. Still don't know the whole story of the incarceration that took place. At Jubilee Jam in Clarksdale, same couches, same dog, converted the back of the truck into a swimming pool and acquired a golf cart. All bad touches but great ideas at the time. We did nothing there as well. After that event, well you guessed it, the money ran out. The fire was gone. It was a good run...3 events and 1 silver. Not bad for a team of kids that didn't care in the first place. The grill was returned and I am often reminded of how we "destroyed" this mans grill because we painted it John Deere green and yellow. I thought it looked nice. Green body with Yellow doors and smokestacks. Come on!!.... Elbow tragically lost his life at a nearby pond in the foothills of Carrollton. Seems he was victim of a predator attack. I like to think that saving Elbow from the clutches of that carnival worker was the best thing that ever happened to that duck He got to live, he got to be the star attraction for a BBQ team. He was like the solo duck in the fountain at the Peabody, just our Lil' ducky. You just have to think that the carnival guy was just going to eat him anyway, but at least he got a taste of freedom. Tookie lived on for several more years, randomly attacking cars and people that he knew. Upon his untimely demise, a rather large congregation of friends and fellow BBQ team members assembled for an appropriate wake for the pooch. We had a party in his honor.
Fortunately, the former team of "Skillet Shot" have remained close over the years. While there is no aspirations of reuniting the team for another run, we often reminisce of the time, along time ago, when we got 2nd in the One-rack Rib category at High Cotton Cooking. Those were the days!!!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Buzz Bin Tuesday....On Thursday
Second time posting this here on the homepage....I guess it just works
Monday, May 3, 2010
AND SHE'S DONE...AGAIN...SERIOUS THIS TIME
Ok, so if you read my post from the other day before I was able to remove it, you thought I was done with my rifle on Saturday. Well the magnifier I bought was defective so I returned it and got a scope instead. So now I have a scope and a red dot sight. Now I'm really done.
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