Some appropriate tunes for the day.... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-i6Q86T6I0[/ame] [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb-0ZCqga48]Canned Goods by Greg Brown - YouTube[/ame]
I forgot I still had this in my phorobucket album from last year. Here, made it into a poster: I have Waaaaay too much free time on my hands. :lol:
I had a FIRE at my house for thanksgiving! :eek6: And I'm not talking about the fire in my grill, an actual fire, in my garage.....and it was my fault. The house is untouched, the garage is mostly just smelly and very little was lost, but it was very close. I'll swallow my pride now and explain, if only to remind all how easily we can do something stupid and not get away with it. Admit it, if you think about it, you've all done something stupid and come away lucky...probably many times for most of us. I decided to smoke a turkey this year. I don't usually eat turkey for thanksgiving because everyone says that's what you have to do. I don't like it when people tell me what I have to do, esp. when they tell me what I have to EAT, of all things. So I usually have lasagne, fajitas, whatever, something different. This year I decided I would appall folks just as easily by smoking a turkey. That's not how it's done! :devil: Problem. I have a gas grill and no smoker. Fortunately I found a few expert opinions that said it would work as well with a smoke box and wood chips on my gas grill. It was going well until the chips in the box ran out of smoke. I decided to dump them out and put in a new batch. I dumped them out on a metal pan and let them sit for a while. Unfortunately, after a while I assumed they were cold and I dumped them into the plastic trash can in the garage. There's my idiotic moment of the day. I know better but had too many things on my mind, and I dealt mentally with the dumping of the chips as an afterthought. Remember (and read this in your best Frankenstein voice) FIRE BAD! When there's ANYthing fire or fire-related, slow down and focus on what you're up to. And now, back to our story... I stepped into the house for a minute and when I went back out to check on the bird I saw the window of the door on the side of the garage looked orange...that was odd and it took me a second to process and realize what was up. The plastic trash can was full and almost everything in it was on fire. The plastic can had melted and the burning trash was spilling out onto other things and starting more fires. Thanks to good training (thank you US Air Force) and a charged extinguisher and a LOT of luck, the fire was out about a minute later. At that point I stepped back out of the very smoky garage to get some fresh air and I spotted a couple cars stopped along the curb with folks getting ready to dial 911. I waved the extinguisher at them and thanked them for their concern. Not only was the MINI in there only a few feet away, when all was done and I was cleaning up I realized my spare (full) tank of propane was less than 2 feet from where the fire was when I started to deal with it. :eek6: Yes, I should have grabbed the phone instead of the extinguisher and called 911 myself, but my first thought was to just deal with it. I wasn't really thinking about it much, it was more instinctive reaction than deliberate thought. All's well that ends well. No one hurt (a little smoke inhalation) and a few things to replace. And now I have a much better appreciation for making sure there are always fully charged fire extinguishers around! Fire/smoke alarms are important, but a few of the right sort of extinguishers strategically placed are worth their weight in gold...literally!
Damn Steve... I'm glad it all turned out OK... Now... For next year.... Don't eat Turkey.... I'm telling ya... Don't eat Turkey.... Glad you are OK buddy....
But it was so tasty! I brined for a couple days first, then smoked it. Found a couple recipes that turned out to be outstanding. Anyway, that's not the sort of take-away I expected...but I agree! Who has a better excuse than I for my strange, contrarian, non-turkey, turkey day tradition? "See what happened the last time I made a turkey on thanksgiving!" :lol:
I would think so! :crazy: Good it turned out well in the end, count your blessings. My son in Texas, smoked two Turkeys this week, sounds like you and him did it right. Stay safe and fire free. Don
The top item on my shopping list is now "fire extinguisher." I'll be out tomorrow to pick up another despite all the annoying Black Friday nonsense. The one I emptied today was worth many thousands more than it cost, well worth the price. :yesnod:
:biggrin5: (warning: a bit of language not for very sensitive types, the rest of you click away) How To Eat Your Leftovers: A Guide For Slobs