Tiny's Tantalizing Text

Hi. I'm going to start with some bad news, as I know that my lone remaining reader can relate to it. On November 12th, I lost my best buddy in the whole world...my cat Sherman. He hadn't been doing real good all summer, seeming to battle a neverending case of the sniffles. On Sunday the 11th, I noticed his left eye didn't look right, so I picked him up and looked closer. The eye was pretty much blocked off by some "mattery" stuff that had dried in place. I took a washcloth and wiped at it, it moved without him trying to get away so I continued and did get it off, revealing his real eye.

I gave him a hug and started to apologize for letting it get that bad without me noticing it, and he stuck his paw up to my lips, sort of as if to say "don't worry about it, I feel better now and you fixed it".

On his last day, he was laying between the living room and dining room, but still strong enough to say "Good Morning" as I walked by to get stuff ready to wrap my leg for the day. A short while later, while watching TV before going to work, I saw him get up and walk toward the hall that leads to the bathroom, he stumbled a bit, but then continued on his way. He then let out a wierd sound, so I went to check on him, he was laying down, but still living. I pretty much knew at that point that the time had come to say goodbye.

There was nothing I could do, so I left for work and told Dad about it, and that he'd probably find Sherman deceased when he went home for lunch, and that's exactly what happened.

Upon realizing just how long he'd been my buddy compared to other people in my life, it made sense, but at the time I couldn't figure out why I was crying more over the loss of a cat than I had for many of the PEOPLE who I've gone to funerals for (I gotta know somebody pretty well to go to their funeral). I had contact with him almost daily for nearly 16 years. My next best friends, I had met prior to meeting Sherman, but didn't become friends with them until a few years later. I can't believe that almost 2 weeks later, I'm still getting choked up typing this.

Anyway, enough of the sad stuff. On a happier note, I went to Thanksgiving Dinner with my Aunt, her Daughter, Son-in-law, 2 granddaughters, and another Nephew, at a restaurant that had a buffet for both Dinner and Supper crowds. I didn't stuff myself for once, only hit the buffet line once and didn't pile the plates 2 feet high.

I had also bought a Turkey earlier in the week that I was intending to roast for myself and try my hand at making some gravy. Well, when the location changed from my Aunt's basement to a restaurant that I could easily walk into, that plan changed and I suddenly had a project for my smoker. On Saturday evening, I put some water in a big pot, added half a bag of Morton Tender Quick (basically a curing agent), set the turkey in there, and topped the water off to cover the bird. Since I didn't really have a cool place to put the bird and the sink under the kitchen window stays cool anyway, I just poured ice in the sink around the pot and covered with foil and some insulating material.

On Sunday, I pulled the Turkey from the brine and transferred to a rack at about 1:30, then went and started preheating the smoker. About 2:45 I took the bird and 4 hours worth of Hickory Bisquettes and started smoking it at 250*. Five hours later I looked at my remote thermometer and it had dropped the signal, so I went out to the sender to see the temp of the bird and it said 159. That was good for me, so I unplugged the smoker and took the bird inside to cool a bit over the sink. A couple of hours later, it was time to carve and de-bone the bird and I set to it with my nice sharp Santuko knife, tasting a few of the delicious morsels as I went.

This project had the least amount of thought and effort put into it than any other, and I have to say the results are some of the best I've done.