A Busy Thursday Night

After work Becks and I headed up to Thomasville to have dinner with our friends Jeremiah and Jami.  We had not seen them since their son, Jackson, was born six weeks ago.  Jami made a delicious dinner of pot roast, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole and rolls.  For dessert she made brownies. 

Jackson has also grown a lot since we last saw him and was much more alert during our visit.  I feed him a bottle and he attacked it with vigor.  It was a very tasty meal and it was nice to chat with friends and relax. 

We said goodbye to Jeremiah and Jami around 9:00 p.m. and headed to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping.  Wal-Mart was fairly empty and we were able to collect what we needed in preparation for the Jimmy and Millie coming to our house this weekend and the Low Country Boil on Friday Night. 

Once we got home we unloaded the groceries and Becks headed off to bed at 10:30 p.m.  I touched up the hallway, gave Jackson Dogg a bath (he was thrilled) and brought all of my painting supplies to the shed.  By the time I was finished it was almost midnight.  I am now exhausted and plan on heading to bed in a few minutes. 

Mowing Grass

I got home, ran inside to change and then fired up the lawnmower.  Our friends, Jimmy and Millie, are coming to visit us from Vidalia, Georgia this weekend and I wanted the yard to look nice for them. 

Since I will not have time to cut it on Thursday and they arrive on Friday I had to do it tonight.  The yard was very dry, since it has not rained in our area for quite awhile, and by the end of mowing I was covered in dust. 

After I finished mowing I cleaned up the patio, edged the front walkway and curb and then used the weedeater to neaten up the flower beds.  It took me a little over 2 1/2 hours to finish and the yard looks really good now.  I like how it looks immediately after the grass is cut and everything is neat and clean. 

Since I have engaged in manual labor this evening I think that tonight I will watch baseball, drink a beer and relax with my dog.

Monticello Pines

Tonight at the Local Planning Meeting reprenatives from Monticello Pines (formerly Monticello Plantations) were present to discuss their preliminary plat prior to the formal review in June.  This development is planned for the large piece of land behind the Winn-Dixie and be accessible via U.S. 19 and Coopers Pond Road.  Although the land is zoned for over 700 homes the developers plan to only build about 450. 

Our engineering consultant, Robert George, went over their proposal with us and pointed out areas where additional work was needed before they would be in compliance with several of the city’s regulations.  It appears that the issues are minor and the developers plan to have them resolved by our June meeting. 

The larger issues for Monticello Pines appear to be with the county concerning  acess to Coopers Pond Road.  This is a county road, and  the new subdivision will increase the usage of the road which will push it into a new use category.  As it stands, the county planner is recommending that the new subdivision not be allowed to connect to Coopers Pond Road.  The traffic consulant indicated that he would be meeting with the county in an attempt to resovle this issue prior to our next meeting.

Overall, from the plans we reviewed it appears that Monticello Pines will be a quality development.  The developers indicated that the looked to both Southwood in Tallahassee and Celebration near Orlando for inspiration.  There will be cottage lots, manor lots and esate lots mixed in the development which will allow for a wider pricepoint of homes.  They also plan to utilize alleys to have rear access to the lots in an effort to promote traditional neighborhood design.  I hope the housing market improves so that this development can be successful, and I am looking forward at reviewing the revised preliminary plat proposal in June. 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I just finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and I have to say that it was my favorite Harry Potter to date. I saw the movie before I read the book (unlike books I, II and III) and was curious to see how faithful the two were to one another.  As usual, I enjoyed the book more than the movie, and I think that the parts they left our in the movie, (S.P.E.W for instance) were justified.  Although I knew that the book would ultimately conclude in a one on one confrontation with Lord Voldemort, I found it very entertaining.   

As I was reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the subject of what we were reading came up at work.  One associated noted she was reading a book about an orphan’s struggle in Sierra Leone and she asked what I was reading.  When I said Harry Potter she laughed.  I felt a little embarrassed until another guy in the office said he was rereading the entire Chronicles of Narnia in preparation for the next movie coming out.   Nice to see that I work with at least one other person who is a dorks like me.

I think I will take a break before reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Like book number IV, I have seen the movie before reading this book so going into it I will already know how the story unfolds. Regardless, I am sure there will be enough new elements crammed into its 700+ pages to keep me interested.

Smoked Chicken

Yesterday after returning from our mini-vacation I decided to break out the smoker.  Becks bought me the little Brinkman Smoker a couple of years ago and in the past I have cooked ribs and Boston butt on it.  I like smoking food as it gives the meat a really great taste. 

This time I decided to cook two whole chickens.  I made a dry rub of salt, pepper, chili powder, paprika and garlic powder and coated each chicken with the rub.    As I was letting the rub set in I filled the water pan, cleaned the grates and lit some charcoal in my chimney starter.  When the coals were hot I placed them in the center of the fire pan and surrounded the lit coals with additional charcoal.  By doing this the hot coals would slowly  ignite the other ones and this would result in a longer burn time.  It also keeps you from having to open the door to add more charcoal which can lower the temperature inside the smoker and alter the cooking time.

Once everything was set, I placed both chickens on the bottom rack above the water pan and placed some hickory chunks onto the charcoal.  The smell of the chicken cooking mixed in with the wood was very phenomenal.  After three hours of cooking I opened the smoker and took the temperature of the chicken.  They were done and I removed them from the heat.  I wish I had taken a piture of the chickens because they looked great and tasted even better! 

Cheshire Family History and Home

We left Hilliard this morning and headed for home.  As we were driving on I-10 West I asked Becks if she wanted to get off in White Springs to look around.  Since we were not in a rush to get home she decided that she wanted to find the cemetery where he great-grandparents were buried. 

After unsuccessfully asking for guidance from some locals she called her Uncle Kinsey who pointed us in the right direction.  Although there were a lot of Cheshires buried in Riverside Cemetary we were eventually able to locate her relatives.  Becks snapped some photos and was very happy she had been able to locate their graves.

We decided to drive the rest of the way back to Monticello on the back roads instead of the highway.  On the side of the roads wildflowers were blooming and they made the countryside look amazing.  There were black-eyed susans along with other varieties in brilliant pink and purple that I do not know the names of.  Our journey on FL 6/U.S. 90 took us through Genoa, Madison, Greenville and then Monticello.  The route we followed took a lot longer to get home, but it did allow us to see parts of Florida that we normally do not get a chance to see.  It was also nice not to have to travel I-10 which at times can be a bit boring.

We were greeted at home with Molly, Jackson and Willie all waiting for us at the gate.  I had a lot of fun on our mini-vacation but I was glad to be back home. 

Home for Becks on the St. Mary’s River

We dropped Krissy off after spending the afternoon with her on Amelia Island and headed towards Hilliard.  Becks grew up in this little town and her family still lives in and around the area.  We pulled into her house just as her Uncle Mike got back from power washing a house.  Becks had bought a book about the history of Nassau County and we decided to drive down to King’s Ferry to see if we could find some of the old buildings that were in her book.  Uncle Mike accompanied us on our drive and was very entertaining. 

Although we did not find the homes we were looking for we did get a chance to hang out on the St. Mary’s river.  We watched some kids fish and watched the water flow by the banks.  It was very pretty and made us all wish that we had a boat to spend the afternoon on.  The weather was perfect to sit in the sun, drink some beers and let the afternoon pass us by. 

Later that evening Becks’ dad came home and we ordered a pizza.  We all sat there, eating pizza, drinking a few beers and talking.  It was interesting to hear him talk about growing up in Hilliard, his dad and the truck stop his family used to run. 

By 11:00 p.m. I was ready to hit the sack and turned in while Becks and her dad kept talking.  Mitch’s air conditioner was not working but luckily with two fans going I was able to get a good night of sleep.