New Layout and a Birthday Party!

We've been lax in posting lately, but in a flurry of activity, Melinda modified the blog layout after months of our unhappiness with the default parameters. It seemed so wasteful to have almost 1/4 of the screen on the left and right of the blog content be blank (nearly half the screen), so she found an alternative and here it is! As a result, most all of our old posts (older than this first page on display, anyway) will be a little funky-looking with text and photos rather haphazardly strewn, but I think it will look better in the future as we better fill out our new space. Who knows, I may go back and re-edit the previous 160 entries (or not!). If anyone has issues seeing the entire page (best viewed in full screen mode), or knows why default parameters are the way they are, let us know!

And speaking of letting us know, with all the hits we get, we seldom hear from anybody... We know you are out there, so drop a line once in a while! Someone complained today that you need to have a blogger profile to comment, but I think not - at a minimum, if you click our names under the "Author! Author!" label (currently under the world map), you can send a private e-mail that will not appear in the public comments. So let us know what you think - you know who you are!

So, in catching up with old business, last Saturday evening, we attended a party at the home of TAAA members Michael and Mary. It happened to coincide with John Kalas' birthday, and also for the seasonal visit of Mary's mom Elaine. We've not previously attended a soiree at their home, but they are known for their smoked meat cookouts, and in fact, the listed "guest of honor" was a leg of lamb, as well as a side of ribs and a beef tri-tip roast - a true "meating" of friends! The smoker that they've been refining their skills on is the true Cadillac of smokers - the Komodo 7. It is quite the functional piece of art, available with custom tile patterns, colors and accessories. And it is so heavy (over 600 pounds) that it is unlikely to be stolen out of your yard (I've had lightweight grills stolen from my yard before)! Here Mary oversees the last entree (the beef) before the meal.

Their abode is in the foothills of the Tucson Mountains west of town and besides their obvious interest in grills, their view extends into a minor valley of the range. They also take advantage of the sky view for night time observing. Melinda was particularly interested in the tile work in their home, not only on the floor, but the kitchen counter tops had granite tile instead of the more usual solid counter tops. We both liked the effect of the grout work, and knowing that tile would be less expensive than a solid counter top. Someday we'll get to that at our homes and the wheels were turning!




Here Ellen is working on carving our "guest of honor". Interesting that with the birthday boy, the celebrities present (comet discoverer David Levy) and the other 3 guys there, I only seemed to get photographs of women!

And to finish up, Ellen and Liz are dishing out desserts, including a birthday cake, as well as a black-bottom dessert. We literally had to run - Melinda had to leave for work at 1830 from our place, so we needed to depart pretty much as soon as dinner was finished. Unfortunate for us - it would have been fun to stay and converse on topics from smoking meats to observing programs. Melinda is working on keeping her weekends a little more open - she is still working the schedule she was first assigned when she started work - all the least desirable shifts including most weekends... It will be getting better soon!