Reed's Rat Race

'nough said. **Disclaimer: The above image does not express the views of the entire Reed household since Angela read the books and watched the movie.

Today, I taught my son how to skip rocks down at the river. I hope he had as much fun as I did.

Normally, on the 4th, we go hiking. In the past we've gone to the Dismals or the Sipsey Wilderness. This year, we did something, umm...less adventurous. We ate meat...and lots of it. Between the hours of 5pm Friday and 4pm Saturday, I cooked 2 pounds of beef chuck roast, a 9 lbs boston butt, a 14lb brisket and one lb of bacon (for BLT's) on my smoker/grill. The butt and the brisket were smoked for 12 and 18 hrs respectively. It was my first attempt at smoking a brisket and I think it turned out pretty well. And then, we launched a few small fireworks into the inky blackness of the night sky. Well, not all of them left the ground. And the new joke in our house-hold is the "Rising Flrg" firework. After about .137 seconds of puny sparks up pops the "Rising Flrg". I also called my youngest sister, Becky , to wish her a happy birthday. When Becky was little, we'd take her to the city fireworks show and tell her that everybody was there to celebrate ...