new grill for fall weather

Regis and I bought a new grill. We have loved our Weber kettle and have used it faithfully for three years but it's gotten too small as we've learned to cooked vegetables and other things. We bought another charcoal grill but it's rectangular and has about three times the cook space. It's called a Super Pro Charcoal Grill/Smoker. We spent most of the day assembling it and seasoning it so we could try it out tonight. It's a little different technique than the other grill but the pork chops were great.

I think there is a design flaw in this grill. See where the wheels are? In order to make the wheels function, you have to grab it by the shelf on the other end. I would have put the wheels on the end with the shelf and put another handle on the end where the wheels are now. Ta da!

Regis took Kramer to the vet this morning. I was really worried about him because he was acting so weird, like he had a brain tumor or something. He wouldn't open his eyes much, especially the right one, and they looked red and irritated. Since he has terrible cataracts, I thought this could be the end of our dog. Not that cataracts are usually fatal but when he was young and they were talking us into doggy eye surgery, they told us about the terrible things that could happen and that's why we should do it. We had a talk before they left this morning about extraordinary measures, opthalmology, and MRIs for dogs and such. Turns out it's just allergies and only cost forty bucks. Allergy drops for his little doggy eyes and he feels much better.

We've hardly seen our friends Tom and Betty all summer. Seems like they were gone or we were gone or something like surgery came up. Tom retired from the PO last fall but is currently re-employed by Patrick's as the one-man morning cleaning crew. He has to work on Labor Day which is a pitiful irony after all his years of work for the government. I told him to quit today and see if he could get rehired Tuesday. They gave him a pitcher of Schells as a bonus last week, though, and I said a job that pays bonuses in pitchers of beer is not all bad. We're getting together tomorrow for a cook-out and a game of croquet so there will be stories the next day.

It was a no lawn mower day in our neighborhood! This is not something we enacted into law but that's not a bad idea come to think of it. We were outside all afternoon and only heard one short spurt of mower noise pollution. One neighbor had a carpet cleaning service roaring in the driveway for about an hour but we tried to be patient with that. Our grass is quite long and shaggy but it really doesn't matter. We might be able to squeak by with only a couple more mowings before winter. Or we'll get a flock of goats. They don't make much noise.

I had a glass of white wine tonight. I like it chilled in the summer but I'm thinking it's time to start the shift toward cabernet which is my winter favorite. Maybe a pinot noir for the fall months. I'm not really a connoisseur...I drink my wine from a box usually and when I do buy a bottle, I tend to pick one because I like either the label or the name. Fat Bastard always catches my eye.

If you know where we live, the houses are quite close and we have quite a few trees. This makes it easy for squirrels to leap from tree to house to garage like trapeze artists. I think they must be building a winter nest in the tree outside our porch. The most incredible wrestling sounds come from the trees, like apes are swinging in the branches, then thud, one lands on the roof of our house, runs across to the garage, and disappears into the trees on the other side. It's like living in the jungle. Callum would love it, Amanda!

I can't believe it's Labor Day already. July and August have such beautiful months. Let's hope for the same kind of fall.