Why I have not been blogging

by Keewee


MrC has not been doing as well as he should this past week and I was very concerned.
Here is the email I sent out to friends this morning.

Last night, we took a ride up to the hospital to have MrC checked out.
Our friend Lorie, came over to the house with all her nurse equipment, (she is a retired nurse) and took MrC's temp, listened to his lungs and took his oxygen level. She was of the same opinion as I, and suggested we go for the ride.
After waiting, it seemed for hours, MrC was finally taken back to ER where they performed all the necessary tests to determine what was causing all MrC's discomfort. Their conclusion was, that he may still have some infection going on. (just what I suspected all along) so gave him a couple of antibiotics at the hospital and sent us home with a prescription for more.
MrC finally managed to get some sleep last night, so did I. Let's hope he will soon be on the mend.

e-Postal Match Reminder - Last one of the Year

Don't forget there's an e-Postal match going on, and the deadline for getting your entries in is November 30th. I WILL be getting an entry or so sent in for this match, so I don't want to hear any "lame-donkey" excuses why you didn't get your entries sent in. You can shoot just about anything you've got, from just about any distance, and with just about any technique.

Here's the link that takes you to the targets and rules.

Have fun, be safe, and punch a bunch of holes in the targets...............

Hollywood Squares

The last week or so has been a bit light on funny stuff, so here's a little change of pace for us all.

If you remember the Original Hollywood Squares and its comics, this may bring a tear to your eyes. These great questions and answers are from the days when ' Hollywood Squares' game show responses were spontaneous, not scripted, as they are now. Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions, of course..


Q. Do female frogs Croak?
A. Paul Lynde: If you hold their little heads under water long enough.

Q.If you're going to make a parachute jump, at least how high should you be?
A. Charley Weaver: Three days of steady drinking should do it.

Q. True or False, a pea can last as long as 5,000 years.
A. George Gobel: Boy, it sure seems that way sometimes.

Q.You've been having trouble going to sleep. Are you probably a man or a woman?
A. Don Knotts: That's what's been keeping me awake.

Q. According to Cosmopolitan, if you meet a stranger at a party and you think that he is attractive, is it okay to come out and ask him if he's married?
A. Rose Marie: No; wait until morning.

Q.Which of your five senses tends to diminish as you get older?
A. Charley Weaver: My sense of decency.


Q. In Hawaiian, does it take more than three words to say 'I Love You'?
A. Vincent Price: No, you can say it with a pineapple and a twenty.

Q. What are 'Do It,' 'I Can Help,' and 'I Can't Get Enough'?
A. George Gobel: I don't know, but it's coming from the next apartment.

Q.As you grow older, do you tend to gesture more or less with your hands while talking?
A. Rose Marie: You ask me one more growing old question Peter, and I'll give you a gesture you'll never forget.

Q. Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?
A. Paul Lynde: Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.

Q.Charley, you've just decided to grow strawberries. Are you going to get any during the first year?
A. Charley Weaver: Of course not, I'm too busy growing strawberries.

Q. In bowling, what's a perfect score?
A. Rose Marie: Phil, the pin boy.

Q. It is considered in bad taste to discuss two subjects at nudist camps. One is politics, what is the other?
A. Paul Lynde: Tape measures.

Q. During a tornado, are you safer in the bedroom or in the closet?
A. Rose Marie: Unfortunately Peter, I'm always safe in the bedroom.

Q. Can boys join the Camp Fire Girls?
A. Marty Allen: Only after lights out.

Q. When you pat a dog on its head he will wag his tail. What will a goose do?
A. Paul Lynde: Make him bark?

Q.If you were pregnant for two years, what would you give birth to?
A. Paul Lynde: Whatever it is, it would never be afraid of the dark.

Q. According to Ann Landers, is there anything wrong with getting into the habit of kissing a lot of people?
A.. Charley Weaver: It got me out of the army.

Q. It is the most abused and neglected part of your body, what is it?
A. Paul Lynde: Mine may be abused, but it certainly isn't neglected.

Q.Back in the old days, when Great Grandpa put horseradish on his head, what was he trying to do?
A. George Gobel: Get it in his mouth.

Q. Who stays pregnant for a longer period of time, your wife or your elephant?
A. Paul Lynde: Who told you about my elephant?

Q.When a couple have a baby, who is responsible for its sex?
A. Charley Weaver: I'll lend him the car, the REST is up to him.

Q. Jackie Gleason recently revealed that he firmly believes in them and has actually seen them on at least two occasions. What are they?
A. Charley Weaver: His feet.

Q. According to Ann Landers, what are two things you should never do in bed?
A. Paul Lynde: Point and laugh


Thanks to Uncawho for sending this my way!

back from the hospital

Thanks to everyone who sent emails and/or left comments. You have no idea how much they helped to keep pushing on towards full recover.

You guys are the greatest..........

Now back to bed.

Update on MrC's condition

Here is a link to Keewee's update.


UPDATE: Wednesday

Mr C is home and resting. He does not have much energy, but is able to walk out to the kitchen and back. Last night he asked for a couple of mouth fulls of Mac"N' Cheese and pumpkin pie.
Yes, he is on the mend.

Why I have not been posting

This post by Keewee.

The short version.

Thursday evening MrC was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. He had his gall bladder removed early Friday morning.
Thank goodness it was not his heart, although the gall bladder surgery and it's aftermath has not been, and still is not, a picnic in the park.

His stats as of today are: there was infection involved with the gall bladder, so he is on heavy duty antibiotics.
He lost quite a lot of blood so had been transfused twice.
This morning I was told he has puemonia which is been taken care of with more antibiotics.

MrC will probably bere here at Whidbey General Hospital for a couple more days, depending on how well his body responds to all the treatments.

Please remember my honey in your prayers, he is not out of the woods yet.

Live Election Results - Real Time

Election Live Blogging at Chuck's Place

Chuck Ziegenfuss, proprietor of From My Position - On The Way, is live blogging the election, along with some friends. Be warned that the language may well be PG-13 (or worse!), but you might want to drop by and join the fun, or at least check it out.

Here's the link to take you there

If Chuck's name rings a bell but you can't quite place it, Chuck is the guy who started Project Valour-IT.

October e-Postal Match Results Are Up

The results for the October e-Postal match are now posted over at Traction Control. This was an interesting match as the farther the distance the higher the score multiplier, so it awarded not only accuracy, but accuracy and distance. That's part of the fun of these matches, as the creators dream up different ways to challenge the shooters.

Here's the results

The November e-Postal Match is now underway over at Curtis Lowe's blog.

November e-Postal Match Rules and Targets Here

The November match will be the last one of the year, so even though the weather may suck, it's your last chance to get in on the fun, so go for it!!

Smoke 'em if You Got 'em

Next Thursday is the Fishin' Club's Smoked Salmon Derby, where club members smoke up salmon fillets using their own secret recipes, herbs, and spices, and take them to the club meeting for judging by the members. For this year's derby I decided to smoke up two versions, and I also smoked up a good sized batch of salmon jerky. One version was a sweet, slightly salty and slightly hot recipe, and the second version was more of a soy sauce and sweet style.

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to go catch a couple of fish for the Derby, so I took the next best route. A fellow I know is a commercial salmon fisherman and when the fish are running you can sometimes buy a few fish from him directly off the boat. He knows how to take care of his fish when he catches them, bleeding them and icing them down immediately, and keeping them on ice until you buy them.

For smoking I like the Chum salmon as they produce good sized fillets and are very mild flavored, although any salmon will smoke well. This year KeeWee is going to try a "Wet Brine" style of smoked salmon for the Derby, where you marinate the fillets for 12 hours. Watch her blog for a post in the next few days.

Here's a typical Chum salmon, this one was caught in Alaska. This one was about 17 lbs.

The first step is to fillet the fish into smoker sized pieces. I use a Big Chief electric smoker, and it will handle fairly large fillets. By the way, in this part of the world if you pronounce it "fill-it" we know you aren't from around here! It's pronounced "fill-lay".

Fillets ready for brining.

For my jerky recipe I also skin the fillets and remove all the fatty parts. It's very time consuming, but the results are worth it! For full information on my smoked salmon, salmon Jerky and dry brining, click here.

Salmon jerky in the dry brine process.

Dry brining is a really quick process. Typically you cover the fillets with rock salt for 10 to 20 minutes, then was them off, let them dry a bit, and put them into the smoker. You can add soy sauce, Teriaki sauce, of whatever you like, in the dry brining step. After the fillets have been dry brined and have dried a bit I like to sprinkle on a little brown sugar before they go into the smoker.

Everything on the racks, ready to smoke.

I use only alder chips for salmon, as anything other than alder on salmon is a felony, or at least it SHOULD be....

I like to keep constant smoke going for at least the first several hours. I smoked this batch for almost 12 hours, although I started to pull out some of the thinner jerky strips after 6 or 7 hours. Most of them smoked the entire time.

The end result!

How did it turn out? Wonderful!!

Here's a post on my basic smoking methods, and here's another post about the methods used to win two or three of the previous Smoked Salmon Derbies.

These methods also work well on trout and other fish, so give them a try!