uncommonly feeble and random thoughts

Yep. Back to my roots. On FB I said, you can take the boy out of Kentucky, but you can't take the 'billy out of the boy. First, behold, flank steak strips marinated in Kentuckyaki, paired (god how I hate that term!!) with pineapple (yes, but for the alliteration it never would have crossed my keyboard!!). This is the commonly-used two-stage fire, with no coals on the left, and a heap on the right, under the Grill Grates. You want gentle and rip-roarin'. Next, last night in celebration of National Hamburger Day, we got a bit fancy with straight burgers. Wrapped sweet onion rings in bacon, smoked those for a couple hours at 225 degrees. Then I got out the BBQ Dragon and pumped up the fire to maybe 400 degrees, banking the coals again for a two-stage heat source. In the cast iron, garlic, shallots, and mushrooms, a little butter: the bacon and onions staying warm, both on the left. on the right, go burgers go!!! The nearest one is lagging so it s...

The storm clocked 64 mph at Capitol City Airport, 5 miles south of our house, earlier this spring. We lost about 15 shingles. A year earlier, we lost 22 shingles in another windstorm, and that's when we investigated a new roof. $14,000. We blinked and fast-forwarded... So this time around, we decide to invoke State Farm, the good neighbors. Called Jake and said, hey, can you help an old retired couple? Long story short, bill was $13.6 k, State Farm covered $9.6 k. Woo hoo! Here's the visual evidence: Oh, the reveal? OK....

To prove that I am not 100% about food and drink (80% grillin' meat, 10% bourbon, 5% vodka) I post this tale of photos in the 'hood... 5%, right?? Apple tree, crab, a gift from Dr. John Bukovak years ago, provoked this study. First, the Pixel and iPhone 7: (oops... technical issues... will fix this by and by...) Tried to fix it a lot... apologies. The top phone is the Pixel XL, the bottom one is the iPhone 7 Plus: Next, an image from the Nikon D80: The point of this post is to demo that, as good as the Pixel XL (better) and iPhone 7 (weakest) are, they do not compare in terms of color repro, depth, range, and many other photo pro terms I could throw out there but, alas, I'm not a pro. So like booze tasters who note "hints of lavender and old leather", rather than ask them when last they actually tasted those from the primary sources, I'll just say, the Nikon is better and not engage anyone in a litany of descriptors. And yes, I did ...