Day/Night Owls Chit Chat

[Texan]

Good on you for building a smoker. Some pointers: The air intake by the fire pit and the exhaust valve on the smoke stack are adjustable for temperature regulation. Mine has a thermometer built in on top of the main compartment. Many swear by a good meat thermometer to monitor the core temperature of the meat. Many thermometers have blue tooth connectivity with a monitor so you can be alerted if your fire goes out and the meat begins to cool. Not necessary, but nice. Cheap thermometers are about $20 at Walmart or whatever you have there. Other than that, they are pretty simple. You should make your grill surface removable in both compartments, so you can grill directly over the coals in the main compartment for steaks and cleaning is more simple.

I know people who smoke a lot. They have a smoker that doubles as an automotive trailer and they tow their smoker to whatever gathering they are cooking for.

[BigP]

Good on you for building a smoker. Some pointers: The air intake by the fire pit and the exhaust valve on the smoke stack are adjustable for temperature regulation. Mine has a thermometer built in on top of the main compartment. Many swear by a good meat thermometer to monitor the core temperature of the meat. Many thermometers have blue tooth connectivity with a monitor so you can be alerted if your fire goes out and the meat begins to cool. Not necessary, but nice. Cheap thermometers are about $20 at Walmart or whatever you have there. Other than that, they are pretty simple. You should make your grill surface removable in both compartments, so you can grill directly over the coals in the main compartment for steaks and cleaning is more simple.

I know people who smoke a lot. They have a smoker that doubles as an automotive trailer and they tow their smoker to whatever gathering they are cooking for.

Thanks Tex, I need to start sorting out the parts I need as summer is not to far off

[Texan]

Our Summer seems to be over. We may see 33-34C once or twice more, but a massive cold front just came through and had temperatures in the teens last night. I actually considered wearing a jacket this morning and the temps were in the 40s just 2 weeks ago. We are gathering some cold weather supplies to send to my son in Korea. He says that they don't have much snow, but a lot of freezing rain, kind of like Texas Winters.

We need to send him some chili recipes and stew recipes. He gets tired of the same old thing from the military chow hall and can't always get off base to try the local dishes.

Here is his living arrangement if you are interested in how our enlisted troops live in remote long term deployments at foreign bases:
His "dorm" is four single occupant bedrooms with private baths that share a common kitchen. His multistory building is full of these "quads". They have internal laundry facilities and the dining facility (D-fac, but we always called a chow hall years ago) is nearby. He has to either walk or ride a bicycle to go anywhere on base. The base has exercise facilities, movie theater, commissary(grocery store), BX (general store for most non-food needs), and a few American fast food restaurants. There are "hooches" on base, where they can get a drink and play billiards and other social type activities. The covid has them restricted to base most of the time, but they can walk off base to get a meal usually if they have the time.(usually weekends) One of my son's friends is a native South Korean in the US military, so he sometimes gets the guided tour with a native speaker.

[BigP]

Our Summer seems to be over. We may see 33-34C once or twice more, but a massive cold front just came through and had temperatures in the teens last night. I actually considered wearing a jacket this morning and the temps were in the 40s just 2 weeks ago. We are gathering some cold weather supplies to send to my son in Korea. He says that they don't have much snow, but a lot of freezing rain, kind of like Texas Winters.

We need to send him some chili recipes and stew recipes. He gets tired of the same old thing from the military chow hall and can't always get off base to try the local dishes.

Here is his living arrangement if you are interested in how our enlisted troops live in remote long term deployments at foreign bases:
His "dorm" is four single occupant bedrooms with private baths that share a common kitchen. His multistory building is full of these "quads". They have internal laundry facilities and the dining facility (D-fac, but we always called a chow hall years ago) is nearby. He has to either walk or ride a bicycle to go anywhere on base. The base has exercise facilities, movie theater, commissary(grocery store), BX (general store for most non-food needs), and a few American fast food restaurants. There are "hooches" on base, where they can get a drink and play billiards and other social type activities. The covid has them restricted to base most of the time, but they can walk off base to get a meal usually if they have the time.(usually weekends) One of my son's friends is a native South Korean in the US military, so he sometimes gets the guided tour with a native speaker.

Great post Tex. I dont think of Texas as a place that gets a lot of rain, My sisters son is in the NZ army ,he was deployed in Iraq a couple of years back, the local guys were always hitting on him, they appear to have some unusual sexual preferences lol. They only excitement the got was when a group of isis fighters hosed them down with some small arms fire and popped a few RPG's into the base , no casualties thankfully ,It sounds like the US army take good care of their troops serving overseas , I would be interested in some of your recipes, rubs , chilies etc ,if you can be bothered posting them

[Nom De Plume]

Our Summer seems to be over. We may see 33-34C once or twice more, but a massive cold front just came through and had temperatures in the teens last night. I actually considered wearing a jacket this morning and the temps were in the 40s just 2 weeks ago. We are gathering some cold weather supplies to send to my son in Korea. He says that they don't have much snow, but a lot of freezing rain, kind of like Texas Winters.

We need to send him some chili recipes and stew recipes. He gets tired of the same old thing from the military chow hall and can't always get off base to try the local dishes.

Here is his living arrangement if you are interested in how our enlisted troops live in remote long term deployments at foreign bases:
His "dorm" is four single occupant bedrooms with private baths that share a common kitchen. His multistory building is full of these "quads". They have internal laundry facilities and the dining facility (D-fac, but we always called a chow hall years ago) is nearby. He has to either walk or ride a bicycle to go anywhere on base. The base has exercise facilities, movie theater, commissary(grocery store), BX (general store for most non-food needs), and a few American fast food restaurants. There are "hooches" on base, where they can get a drink and play billiards and other social type activities. The covid has them restricted to base most of the time, but they can walk off base to get a meal usually if they have the time.(usually weekends) One of my son's friends is a native South Korean in the US military, so he sometimes gets the guided tour with a native speaker.

[Black Orchid]

A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favor of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung-over."

Her father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That's a crazy idea, how would that
be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done
next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the conservative side of the fence."

If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

*If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one. If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

*If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

*If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him..

*If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

*If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and Jesus silenced.

*If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

*If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh. A liberal will delete it because he or she is "offended."

*Well, It's Your call.

[Neferti]

I like that story. Very true. I must be a conservative.

[Texan]

I agree, but i didn't do either. I guess it's the libertarian in me.

[Neferti]

I agree, but i didn't do either. I guess it's the libertarian in me.

I always show up as a Libertarian whenever I have done one of those online political test things.

[Texan]

I agree, but i didn't do either. I guess it's the libertarian in me.

I always show up as a Libertarian whenever I have done one of those online political test things.

I'm in the area between conservative and libertarian.