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 ...

You know that phrase "Its not what you know but who you know"? Allow me to add my twist to that phrase: "Its not what you have but who you know that has what you need." Yeah, that's it. See, I don't have a dirtbike nor do I have the land a dirtbike requires (our 0.33 acre lot is barely big enough for Lil' G's 50cc dirtbike). But, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of friends that not only have dirtbikes and the land but they are nice enough to let me use 'em. Oh lucky me. And lucky Gavin. This past saturday I loaded up the family into the Jolly Green Giant and we headed down to Pearl, MS to spend the day riding dirtbikes at The Cornerlot Resort, an offroad park for motorcycles only. My friend Mark T. and his wife Ada built the Cornerlot out of sheer love for riding. Mark recently completely overhauled the area by adding a new supercross track, a new kids MX track and completely overhauling the big MX track. In addition to those thr...

Just a warning: this is one looooong, drawn out post. Those of you not really interested in motorcycles probably won't find anything worth reading. The Lead-Up I don't know exactly when it occurred, but at some point several years ago I learned that there are organizations that rent race tracks and for a fee will allow anybody (well, almost anybody) to ride on the track. It was at that point that I knew I wanted to get my bike onto the track. To ride without worry of stupid cages (motorcyclist speak for cars) crossing into my lane or pulling out in front of me would be sublime. There would be no dogs or deer or slick diesel fuel spills or cops on the track. It would be the PERFECT riding environment to test and improve my skills. And it would be fun! So last weekend I finally got the chance to fulfill my dream. Only now I want MORE! I think I know what if feels like for an addict to take that first hit of crack. It was better than I anticipated. The lead-up to this blessed eve...

Ya know how families tend to have a theme when its time to take the annual family picture? Don't know what I'm talking about? Picture Mom, Dad, and all eight kids dressed in faux cowboy shirts with those mother of pearl buttons, blue jeans, and cowboy boots and to top it off, they are all sporting home-made denim vests and cowboy hats. Everybody from teen-age Billy right down to the still-in-diapers toddler all dressed exactly alike. The family is neatly arranged on bales of hay with a cheap looking barn back drop. Get the picture? Anyway, I think I found a family photo that takes the cake...and no, this is not us or anybody I know...its from the internets, so feel free to laugh AT them!

Few things are as deeply southern as a crawfish boil. Only the folks from Louisiana would be crazy enough to come up with an idea as awesome as boiling these dirty critters in really spicy water to make 'em taste good. And I guess with modern farming techniques and fast transportation, the availability and popularity of eating crawfish has spread to the neighboring states as crawfish boils are not uncommon up hear in north eastern Mississippi(aka God's Country). A crawfish boil is an event as much as it is a method of preparing food. Its a gathering of friends, a time to relax and converse, but its also a time to chow down! Anyway, our good friends the Allens decided that they wanted to have a few friends over and cook up a few mudbugs. We were lucky enough to be invited. So last friday we showed up and got to work. Now the Allens are actually from Idaho so I gotta give them some serious credit for even attempting to hold such a southern event. But T. Allen had done h...