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Scents are very evokative of memories...it's a survival thing from back when our sinuses were virtually cavernous, comparitively speaking, and we had to rely on our sense of smell more than we do now to identify foodstuffs and/or things to stay away from that even our senses of hearing, touch and sight can't interpret as well. I am sure that there's some scientific jargon for what occurs when a scent triggers a memory, I think I recall something called "Proustian Phenomenon" (a reference to Proust's book "Rememberance of Things Past"), but I don't know if that's just a theory advanced by folks who speculate about these things, or if there's anything actually scientific to it. I know how it works, however! I have an incredibly acute sense of smell. That's not intended as a boast because believe me, having a sharp nose is not a wonderful thing when you work in forensics, as I once did! To this day I can "smell" my way back to my childhood in Oklahoma, or to specific, very clear events in my life...some wonderful, others, not so much. Despite the memories that my sense of smell may trigger, I am thankful for the experience of it, and every time that it occurs I still marvel at the way it works.

Wow! I know that I am REALLY late reading this, but it's still something of a shock. Ultimately, TY and I didn't get along very well at all, whether we were here at MFRC or over at another haunt, it seems as though he and I were just made to attempt one upmanship on each other. The last exchanges I had with him at another board were very negative indeed, and apparently he had enough -- TY left that board with very little grace. To the point in fact that other members at the board suggested that I had run TY off. I was left with the most horrible feelings for the longest time, so I emailed him in an attempt to resolve the matter to our mutual satisfaction. TY never responded to my email. However, after a little while, it seemed that he and I managed to get on well enough here...even in the Fighting Words board, and we ALL know how that can get! At this moment I feel a bit heartsick knowing that there were bad moments between TY and myself and that now I can never make things completely right with him. Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things it's not very important, but still.... I had missed TY's presence here at MFRC in the past, and I miss it now that I am trying to visit more often. I still offer my good thoughts to TY's family, my condolences and my prayers for his rest.

Horsefly -- I just got into smoking meats when I moved here last year...bought this little, bitty smoker that barely accomodates a full beef brisket...but I STILL use that thing like nobody's business! It's just me and a roomie here for the most part, so there's usually no need to fire up some monstrosity for a little brisket, or some chicken. The meat I smoke most is definitely brisket though, and I made up a recipe for a rub that is very good...incredibly flavorful and combined with the hickory smoke I prefer is an excellent compliment to the meat. This rub recipe is approximate in measurements, adjust to your own taste: 3/4 cup of light brown sugar 3 Tablespoons of kosher salt 1 Tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper ( I use tellicherry) 1 teaspoon of paprika (smoked paprika would be best, but regular is fine too) 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder 1/2 teaspoon of cumin 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder 1/4 teaspoon of allspice I rinse and paper towel-dry a brisket about an hour before cooking time, put the rub on generously and massage it into the meat, letting it rest until I put it into the smoker. I start the smoker with lump charcoal in a chimney without using lighter fluid. Earlier this year I removed a Russian olive tree and I heavily pruned some fruit trees here on my property, thereby having a lot of fruitwood to use for smoking meat as well. I purchase bags of hickory chunks at Walmart, and I stick with hickory for the most part because it reminds me of the barbecue I used to get back in Oklahoma. My smoker is so small that it would be pretty labor-intensive to chop chunks out of a stack of oak firewood, so the use of bagged hickory, while a tad more expensive is worth it to me at this point. Anyway, once I have the temperature in the smoker at around 275 degrees, I put the meat on, fat side up since over the long smoking time the fat cap will melt into the meat, keeping it juicy and artery-clogging! I then go about my business, doing various odd-jobs around the house or what have you, checking on the meat and basting it with a mop sauce about every hour. I make my mop sauce from just about anything and everything. I use whatever fruit juice I have on hand, squirt in a little spicy mustard, some balsamic vinegar...actually just about ANY vinegar, and fresh chopped garlic, and take it out and slather it on when I am checking the fire. This whole thing smoking business goes on for about 8 hours, then I commit an act of sacrilege and take the brisket inside to an oven preheated to around 225 degrees to cook, wrapped in foil, for another 4 hours or so. Here's the deal though, I have yet to have anyone be able to tell that I didn't smoke the brisket, from start to finish, on that smoker. I tell the truth about it too. There's a beautiful 'smoke' ring in the meat, the flavor is fantastic, it's tender and juicy...it's just a little more convenient to finish it up in the oven. Though, if you're a purist you can do it ALL on the smoker. I tried that the first few times I smoked meat and frankly, it isn't worth it to me. There just aren't a lot of mistakes you can make in smoking meat...well, except don't over-smoke chicken in strong wood smoke, like hickory or mequite...it makes the chicken taste so strong as to be unpalatable! Also, if you have a live fire going in the smoker, don't use too much sugar-based anything on the meat...if it burns it'll taste nasty too! As sauces in general go, it's all a definite matter of taste there too...some folks like the sticky, sweet sauces that are tomato-based, or really thick and sugary. Other people like a fruit juice/vinegar-base to their sauces, a little zippier and tangier than what most people associate with barbecue sauce. I like a combination of the two...I like a sweet, tangy sauce, very sparingly used after the meat is off the smoke/out of the oven. Sometimes I don't use a sauce afterwards at all. Generally, the combination of rub, mop sauce and a good smoking is sufficient to flavor my meat adequately. I hope that you can glean some ideas from my experiences with my smoker...I'm far from being expert with the device at this point, but I can turn out some pretty gosh-darned good eats myself! Alton Brown might even be impressed!

Oops! See how bad I am, only reading this thread now! I do truly appreciate the sentiments expressed by the members here around my occasional fly-by on this board. It's quite flattering! I will do my best to participate more frequently, and to do so with wit, intelligence and grace ( I know, why start now, eh? LOL!). Forgive my absences, whilst I allowed myself to get mired in all the bland machinations of life. I generally find these forums that I visit to be a wonderful respite from the mundane, so I can't for the life of me figure out why it is that I don't visit more often...maybe if I actually turned my computer on a little more frequently that would help? LOL! Anyway, thanks again for the warm welcome!

Horsefly -- Your comments on "N-rigging" remind me (particularly today, it bein' Father's Day and all) of what my Dad used to refer to in place of "N-rigging". He called it "Afro-engineering". The phrase still pops into my head whenever I am forced to improvise some sort of fix on my own. The fix that fritz improvised is quite good, and I hope that it holds up. Back in the '80s, I had to "fix" my truck's exhaust pipe with some muffler tape and a beer can (from the bed of the truck), I added a couple of twists of baling wire for effect. The fix held up just fine, and was duly admired by the mechanic who inspected my truck during its annual "check up" for the state sticker. I left the fix in place even when I sold the truck...it was so solid I'd be willing to bet it's STILL on the truck!

Yeah, swamprat...the key is a photo hosting site. There are plenty of free photo hosting sites if you want to search 'em up in your favorite search engine. I too have a photobucket account and have had for years. I hardly use it because most of the time whenever a good opportunity presents itself, I never have a camera to hand! I guess I could do what my friends do and take pictures with my cell phone.

Strait Shooter -- Sorry that I have missed all the information about your wife's medical issues and the emergency status. However, your most recent post to this thread suggests that things are much better, and that is wonderful news! I will continue to keep the good thoughts goin' out for her continued recovery, and pray for you both that everything is going to be just fine!

ShooterTom, I can't imagine how you could scent my return to this forum since your own head is generally up your hindquarters...about the only thing you should be able to smell is Eau d'Colon. Ah well, it's nice to "see" the rest of you folks!

Hello everyone! I see that Stan in SC has communicated my sentiments around my visits, or last thereof, to this forum. He had also posted to a forum that I do frequent a bit more regularly that some of you folks were inquiring of my whereabouts. Thank you Stan in SC! There are many reasons why I have not visited any number of forums over the past year since I moved here to NM, most of which have to do with nothing truly substantial. I am definitely not mad at anyone...even that pesky ShooterTom fellow here! I will try to stop in more frequently and I appreciate those of you who've asked after me...very sweet!

Not to pre-empt fritz here, montea6b, but the "3 Ss" are "Shoot, Shovel and Shut Up"...a method brilliantly adaptable to a multitude of uses, as well as a multitude of creatures. Personally, I like the plan but haven't yet had much of an opportunity to use it. My neighbor has a dog that she clearly detests, a foundling that some suburbanite dumped out here in the area less than a year ago. She could probably benefit from the "3 S" plan, but secretly she probably likes having the dog around...it gives her something to yell at when she's out cutting her hay! LOL! Montea6b, organizations like PETA and the Humane Society are really only into soliciting funds from people under the premise of disbursing those funds in the "defense" of animals, but they don't do it. What these people are best at is generating great PR at the expense of the truth, they don't really give a large poo for the animals, they just want to tell the rest of us how to live. Check into it here: Activist Cash.com

You damn skippy! I'm nearly 43, and proud of every second! Good post, fritz!

I think it's on the Shotgun World forums where I saw an Aussie who posted a photo with him and his biggest (shot, dead) cat yet. The Aussie's post seemed to get a few folks at that forum in a tizzy because I think they thought of the cat as most of us do. We seem to conveniently forget that it doesn't take cats long at all to go feral, and they can therefore be dangerous. And yeah, I don't blame the cats for doing what it is in their natures to do...that's survival, but man, I would love to kick some serious butt on the idiots who are so despicable as to dump their unwanted animals out in the "country", where they potentially become someone else's problem. I wouldn't want to have to deal with having to shoot any animal that was dumped close to where I currently live here in beautiful, non-CA, New Mexico -- LOL, but if it came down to saving my livestock or my own pets, I would load up my rifles with those lovely little subsonic cartridges and take care of business, probably crying as I did it. But that's because I'm a wuss about those things.

Well, I don't have what are euphemistically called "stones", but I do have guts on occasion, and had there not been an early suggestion of feeding these feral cats a lead lunch, I would have gone with fritz's idea of the "3 S" plan. In this case, I think that approach is the right thing to do. Yes, that's even as opposed as I am to cruelty to animals. I think it's far crueler to allow these animals to roam at will, spreading their toxoplasmosis-infested feces and indiscriminately inbred progeny over everything. I do not remotely view a feral cat on the same level as that of my own fat, happy kitties. The sad thing is though that if I were to dump my cats into the wild, provided that they survived, in only a matter of weeks they would go feral. Such is the nature of a cat. There are times when I am willing to see matters from an animal's point of view, for example, when a subdivision is built smack in the middle of a deer wood, and the new human inhabitants start crying about how they can't grow a garden because it gets decimated by the deer. I say "tough", the deer were there first. But feral domestic cat colonies have a direct line to humans, particularly irresponsible humans who didn't get their animals fixed and didn't stick to keeping the animal for the long haul. I would think it would suck to be behind the trigger aimed at some former "Fluffy", all because "Fluffy"'s former owner didn't have the stones to do the right thing in the first place. I also think that I would have to pass on cat meat...it's not kosher!

Yeah, I'd really want to be a viking, particularly after waking up in the morning and getting a little wash from the community bowl. That scene just about made me throw up. However, I love Antonio Banderas, and that's about the only thing that saved that movie for me. I thought the best scene was where Banderas' character was lying away from the vikings at night, and he listened to learn their language. The transition between Norse and English was pretty cool. I also thought that the scene where the village woman putting boiled cow urine on Banderas' head wound was pretty funny.

I think I did just about everything in that list! LOL! I remember when I was 3 or 4 years old, I had gotten into my Mom's purse and taken out what I thought were candies, but what were actually "diet pills" or basically, speed! I took the pills out to the curb in front of out house and plopped down to eat my "candy". There were maybe 3 bottles of pills, and without child-proof caps on them, I got the pills out easily, I had probably eaten a few of the pills when I was found out, though, I don't remember who found me out. That was OK with me though, the "candy" tasted like crap! The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital emergency room, surrounded by scary people in scrubs. A doctor was trying to give me some syrupy stuff out of a little dosage cup. I asked him what it was, he said it was something that would make me throw up. I told him that I wouldn't throw up, but, alas, the syrup of Ipecac did it's job and I heaved up everything I had eaten that day. Including sunflower seeds, I remember that because the doctor couldn't tell what they were, and my Dad had to inform him. Once the speed was out of my little, delicate system, I remember going over to my grandma's house, where my Mother was cussed out by my grandma (my Dad's mother), and I wasn't remotely fawned over. I was chastised and berated for doing something totally stupid and you know what? IT WAS STUPID! I'm definitely lucky I didn't die. But I have a sneaking suspicion that if I was 3 or 4 years old now, my Mother would be in prison and I would not have gotten my butt chewed out for a lesson that I sorely needed. And no, I never got into my Mother's purse without permission again! LOL!

Thanks for the welcome back y'all! I have finally legitimized myself somewhat and have returned to the workforce here in the county. I am telling you, it's hard trying to re-adjust to a standard daily grind after being my natural night-creaturely self for so many years. Therefore, I probably won't be by to post as much as I used to, but perhaps I can try to make more of an impact with the posts I DO add. It's an idea anyway! I'll be back...that's a promise and a "threat"! LOL!

Hello all! I just checked the last time I was here when I logged on to the forum and it said that I was last here on April 19th, 2006! Wow! A lot has happened in the past 3 months...the most significant of which is that I have moved to New Mexico! I've been here since the middle of May. Ironically, even as amazingly gun-friendly as this state is, given my "escape" from CA, I haven't been to a local gun range yet...in fact, I have yet to pull a lot of my guns out of storage, if you can believe that. Thus far, I have met a few amateur gunsmiths and a smattering of firearms instructors so we can converse about all sorts of gun-related matters, which seems to act as a placebo for the moment. Still, it's just not the same as being able to get out there with a beloved rifle and just plink away! I have yet to check back on a lot of the posts here from the past 3+ months, so I'll have to rely on you folks to tell me what's new and exciting in your lives...I hope everyone is well and I look forward to catching up on stuff here...as long as I stay away from the "Fightin' Words" forum anyway! LOL!

Thanks karlunity! I didn't win the MegaMillions lottery, but that's OK...I now have far more time to direct my attention and energies toward Jimro's efforts! Like Doble Troble said, maybe "dazzle" wasn't the best choice of words, but what do I know, I never served in the armed forces, though, my grandmother did once try to pack me off to the Marines. Essentially, Jimro, just know who you are, what you can do and be honest about it...integrity goes a long way no matter who or where you are. And, as I already indicated, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers!

Jimro -- I will pray for you to get your commission and I hope that you totally dazzle 'em! Now, if any of y'all get a chance...could you send me some good energy to win the MegaMillions lottery tonight? LOL!

I can't have children. Interestingly enough, I owe THAT fact to some Mexicans who um, damaged me severely in the ultimate invasion of my personal space. However, I can say that my cousins and the Indian side of my family are MORE than making up for any "losses" sustained by my own uterus being out of order! LOL! I'll just be sure to ply this next generation of my tribespeople with sweetness and candy so that they love me enough to grow up and let me teach them marksmanship and national pride. What do you think? It'll have to do for now.

I apologize if I have left the wrong impression and if anyone thinks that I am in any way in support of this influx of nastiness and misguided zeal. I'm not. Let me order up some more ammo, and I will stand with any of you fellas...though, I haven't been to the range as much as I would like, so we're going to have to take a chance with my marksmanship! LOL!

I don't understand the Mexican mentality at all. They claim that they would like to "reclaim" the U. S. southwest for Mexico and all "indigenous" peoples of the Americas, but where is their alliance with American Indian groups? Let me tell you...NOWHERE, it doesn't exist, so clearly, that can't REALLY be their agenda. Secondly, Mexicans, for the most part, aren't honestly any more indigenous than I am...most Mexicans today are descendants of a mixture of Spanish and Aztec or Mayan "natives". Mexicans are all "breeds" like I am. Thirdly, no one has ever said that Mexicans can't keep Mexico...in fact, they are welcome to it...but dang it, they need to remember they still HAVE their own country. This stuff that Mexicans are doing makes about as much sense as, say, American Indians going over to, oh, I don't know...Alcatraz Island and "reclaining" the United States for the native people. The U. S. southwest belongs to the people of America...period. But IF it were to "belong" to any particular cultural group, it should belong to American Indians before anyone else. Mexicans claim that the U. S. southwest was "stolen" from them in the 1800s...well, la de da...it was "stolen" from American Indians hundreds of years before Mexico allegedly got screwed! I lived in Mexico for a while as a teenager, and while I can honestly say that there were many beautiful things about the nation, topographically, as well as architecturally in some instances, I will concede that the majority of urban areas in that country have been despoiled by the residents. In other words, it seems that some folks of this culture don't mind living in squalor and filth around them. This is regardless of income level. When I lived in northern CA, I remember leaving an Indian (as in the subcontinent) restaurant, which was located in a strip mall. The surrounding area was inhabited by a large number of Mexicans since the housing in that region was a bit more affordable than other areas. In the strip mall, next to the Indian restaurant was, I believe, a check cashing place. The day that I was there, I saw a Mexican woman enter the check cashing place, leaving her three children outside the front door. There were two cement planters near the door of the check cashing joint. Those three kids proceeded to demolish everything in those planters whilst waiting for their mother, and one kid even decided to take a whiz in the planter...he had to be about 8 years old. I was completely disgusted. I told my companion, "If you ever go to Mexico and see how it's denuded of vegetation...THAT'S why!". It seems that Mexicans are "finished" with Mexico and are ready to move on up here to wreak their havoc here.

LMAO! I was crying laughing over this video. First off, the kid said he was going to "pound" the beer...if that's pounding a beer, then I just might be a record holder, because I can get an entire 12 oz. beer down in about 3 seconds. I beat an Aussie at it...it was a matter of national pride! Then, when he heaved up his "cheesy angus" burger or whatever, "pounded" the rest of the beer and heaved it up as well...that doesn't count! Roman rules shouldn't EVER count in feats of drinking or eating! I'm just saying.... Have I ever been that stupid? Why yes I have! Once I was completely drunk but needed to go somewhere, which meant driving, so I ate a can of cold, gelatinous chili con carne really, really fast in order to make myself puke up all the beer I had drunk. It worked too, I yakked up the chili, beer and whatever else was in my stomach, I brushed my teeth, felt pretty sober, and was out the door in like 30 minutes! Coffee only makes you an alert drunk, chili will make you un-drunk in a hurry! That's probably WAY too much information, but a question was asked....

Ooo, "Rebel Yell"...Billy Idol! You know, I was a teenager when Billy came to the US with "White Wedding", and the moment I saw him I was totally in love! My dad just hated how much I was ga-ga over that guy. LOL! Of course, things change and people age, but whenever I look back at that time, or see these old videos, it's a hoot! I was never too fond of the Police, or Sting...their music was a little too "samey" for me. Jimro may disagree, but as I was a concert-level pianist when I was a kid (and while my favorite composer was Beethoven, I did play a little Mozart here and there!), I would like to hope that I know a little about music too, though I didn't study it in the same ways. The Police were pretty formulaic if you ask me. Early Police songs like "Roxanne" or "Don't stand so close to me" were cool however. As for A-ha, I don't really think that it's their music as much as their lyrics that were stupid...sorry about that, I misspoke. The synth connection to the Who's "Baba O' Riley"? Oh, yeah, in the bridges...I can "hear" it now. I really still like a lot of '80s music...I have compilation CDs and I watch the anthology shows on VH1 when I can't find anything else to watch on TV, but at the same time, there was a lot of idiocy in the music of that era...but it doesn't make me enjoy it any less. I certainly like it a lot more than music today...for the most part.

Yeah, but you can't trust anything Columbus said...that man couldn't navigate for poo! Hmm, come to think of it, he sounds just like some men that I know! Not you fellas here of course!