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Friday, August 27, 2010

Geocaching

One of my other hobbies is Geocaching. I have not done much caching in the past few years. I was a little disillusioned with all the micro caches in the bushes I was finding. We still cache on holidays and at other odd times. We still use our old Garmin Legend but recently I got a new cell phone. I now have a smart phone, an Xperia by Sony Ericsson. I love the phone and now there are many applications for geocaching. I have downloaded many of them but the one that I have now and I really like is the one made by Groundspeak. Their app for the Droid market is very good. I have been trying it out for the past week and I am impressed. The GPS in my phone is more accurate than my Garmin but the battery life sucks big time when using the GPS, only about 3 hours. I can see myself using the phone for caching when we go into Vancouver or somewhere in the province and we have a few hours to kill, go online with the phone grab the nearest caches and off we go. Very handy. I would not use it for everyday caching but for grabbing a cache on the go when you do not a PQ loaded up in the GPS or the GPS is sitting at home a great way to grab a few.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

BBQ

Well I went and did it, I took a course and became a certified BBQ judge for the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association. I am now able to judge BBQ competitions. I did not know until I took the course how many there are in the Pacific Northwest. From May to October there is a competition just about every weekend. The region I judge for goes from Oregon to Saskatchewan. As a judge I am not allowed to see the BBQ competition we are in the judges area and are not allowed to leave until our job is over. Now being a judge is hard work. We have to try and judge food from ten competitors. Now that does not sound like much, but each competitor will do at least four different types of meat. The most popular are Chicken, Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork and Ribs. If you eat all the meat that is put in front of you as a judge you will eat about ten pounds of meat in a day. I am looking forward to judging my first competition this September here in Langley. I will let you know how if goes and if I want to continue to Juge or if I become a competitor.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Salmon Season is Here

Well it is that time of year when the salmon are starting to return to the rivers and I start to get itchy feet to go after some springs. Now I know that my chances are slim fishing the lower river but I still like to try. In my heart I know that one day my efforts will pay off.

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Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Monday Fishing

On Monday my buddy Rick and I went fishing. Rick picked me up at the unholy hour of 5:45am. We loaded the tubes and gear into Rick's little Honda and we were off. Thankfully Rick brought along a Extra Large Timmies coffee for me. Off we go, about two hours later we arrived at our destination, Coquihalla Lakes. We unpack the car, inflate the float tubes and gear up. We hit the lake in a torrential down pour, we were in the clouds ( the lakes are at an elevation of 1145meters) and it was cold. We braved the elements until 11:30, then we were just down right cold, felt like my feet were blocks of ice, but we did get into some nice 18 inch fat rainbows.


Rick fighting a fish on Coquihalla Lake

After we packed everything back up we headed back down the mountain toward home. Another quick stop a Timmies in Hope and we were off to Lake of the Woods just outside Hope on the #1.



Lake of The Woods
Now the water here is crystal clear and warm, 62 degrees F. compared to Coquihalla Lakes 48 degrees. I could see the bottom in over 20 feet of water. Within five minutes of being on the water I was into 3 fish. One which I landed. Over the next 3-4 hours both Rick and Myself were into lots of fish.

Nice Fish about to be released
They would be hitting our flies fast and hard for 15 minutes then there would be 30 minutes of nothing then they would start again. We came off the lake at about 5:00 in the afternoon and headed home. A great day fishing with a good friend, thanks Rick.

Father's Day

Well fathers day was a good day for me. All the boys came over to eat my food, so I drank their beer. I was up at 6:00am on Sunday to get the Pork Shoulder Roast in the smoker. I set the Bradley up on the back deck and had it preheated to 250 degrees by 6:30. The Roast went in the smoker at that time with enough bisquettes to last 4 hours.

4.5lb pork roast seasoned and waiting for smoke.
I used and equal amount of Hickory, Mesquite and Cherry for the smoke.



In the smoker ready to cook
At the end of the four hours smoking the internal temp was 168 degree and that is were it stayed for the next 3 hours, then it slowly rose to 194 degrees when I pulled it out of the smoker and wrapped it in foil with a splash of apple juice.


Just out of the smoker ready to be wrapped
During the time the roast was at 168 degrees I made some BBQ sauce to go onto the pulled pork sandwiches. The sauce turned out great.


The Sauce
I think they liked the pulled pork as a 4.5 lb. Roast was made into sandwiches for 2 of the boys, my wife and myself and there was just enough left for me to have a sandwich on Monday. Heck even Alex, my vegetarian son had some pulled pork and asked for more.


The Pulled Pork ready for Sandwiches

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Pulled Pork Part 2

Well in my search for a good pulled pork sandwich I am going to attempt to make my own pulled pork. Tomorrow I am off to the butcher to get a nice Pork Butt Roast about 4-5 lbs. Going to slather it with CYM (cheap yellow mustard) and then a coating of a good rub that I am going to make up, recipe from the Bradley smoker forum. This is going to happen on Saturday night. Then the butt will get wrapped in plastic wrap and into the fridge for the night. Bright and early on Sunday, I will get the Bradley heated up and put the butt in by 7:00 am. I plan on smoking the butt with a combination of Cherry and Mesquite for 4 hours, then letting it cook for the next 4 hours at 225 degrees. I will pull it out of the smoker when it reaches an internal temp of 195 degrees. Hopefully if everything goes according to plan I will be eating a pulled pork sandwich about 6:00pm on Sunday. I will be posting pictures of the smoke next week.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Pulled Pork

Last night after work Lisa and myself went out to South Surrey to do some shopping and to go for dinner. It was my pick so we went to Memphis Blues, a rib house were they smoke their own ribs, pork and brisket. I had heard good reports on this place and I wanted a pulled pork sandwich so off we went. The restaurant is like a fast food joint were you go to the counter to order your food, strike one, but we forage ahead giving them the benefit of the doubt, after all I have heard good things about Memphis Blues. When we received our food, we both ordered Pulled Pork Sandwich, I knew I was in a fast food restaurant, the beans and coleslaw that came with the meal were served in little paper cups. The portion was a good size for the sandwich itself, beans and slaw on the small size. The taste of the food itself was a 7 out of 10. I found the sauce on the sandwich to be on the heavy side, coleslaw was like anyone else s, nothing to make it stand out and the beans were OK. Will I go back to Memphis Blues, I doubt it. The local Mr. Mikes has better food. So I continue my quest for a good Pulled Pork sandwich in the Lower Mainland.

"The Yard" part 2

Well last week I did get out and cut the lawn on the only nice day we had, Saturday after I got home from work. The forecast is for Sun tomorrow and cloudy for the next three days. I need at least two days to put the weed killer on the lawn. If I do not get the lawn done soon I am going to give into the weeds and let them take over the lawn. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Geocaching

Looks like some of the travelers that I have released into the wilds are starting to reappear. My BCGA geocoin has been criss crossing the country for a few years. I took the coin to Alaska in 2007. Since then the coin has had a great journey. The coin did make it's way back to Vancouver in 2009 but the day before I went to pick it up a cacher found it a took it east. One day I hope it does make it back to us.
Our Travel Bug Tigger Too has been traveling the world since 2004. Once Tigger too made it to spain he went missing for two years. Now Tigger is in California and we hope on his way north. After all he has had the adventure of a life time and needs to come home.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Urban lake fishing


So on Monday I went to my favorite urban lake to spend a few hours on the water. The forecast was for rain, but once again the weather man was wrong. I hit the lake at 10am and kicked around the lake in my Fishcat float tube for the next two hours. Fishing was spotty at best. I did manage to land two nice 12-14 inch rainbow trout in that time. Not my most productive day at the lake but it was nice to get out and feel that tug of a fish on my line. Both fish were caught on a pumpkin head fly pattern, using a clear intermediate sinking line. I had a relaxing time that was needed. Next week will take me to a new lake, one that I have not fished before. Stay tuned.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

The Yard

After two weeks of rain and not being able to cut the lawn, I had a good look at it today. I have my job cut out for me. The grass is getting long, the weeds longer and now we have creeping buttercup through out the lawn. I am going to try a cut the lawn tomorrow after church, hopefully it will not rain. I need a few nice days to be able to try and get a handle on the creeping buttercup. Never mind the flower beds or the vegetable garden. But then again those are Lisa's problem, well at least until she needs some digging done. If I can get the lawn done tomorrow I can get out fishing on Monday. I think I will go over to Rolley Lake, if it is nice out Lisa will come along and try out her new float tube. Might even have some time to grab a few caches while I am there. Wish me luck.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

It is getting to be that time of year when this old guy's thoughts turn to fishing for Rainbows in the interior of BC. Taking day trips up to Merritt and area for some high mountain lake fishing. This year I think I want to try some of the hike in lakes. Pack my float tube in a fish for a day or two.
The first one I think I will give a try is Falls Lake just off the Coquihalla.
My two sons and I tried to get to this lake years ago but we did not know at the time that it was a hike in, or how long the hike was. Now armed with all the information I need, I will recruit my eldest to go with me. Now I am just waiting for the snow to go before heading up. Time to tie some flies for the trip.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Hello World

Hello world well it seems as that I have entered the world of blogging. After long hours and many rum and cokes I decided to actually try and blog about my two favorite non work related activities, fishing, actually fly fishing and cooking, just about forgot about geocaching.

Most of the cooking I like to do is outdoor. For my outdoor cooking I utilize a few different cooking methods. I use my gas grill for some cooking, a Broil King propane grill, an Original Bradley Smoker, a Little Chief Smoker, a Big Easy 16 oiless turkey Cooker and my cast Iron 12"Lodge Dutch Oven.

Most of my fishing is now done with a fly rod. At last count between my wife and myself we have over 12 fly rods.. I hate to think how many gear, spinning, mooching and other rods we have. All I know is that the "Man" room is full of fishing stuff. Once I get it cleaned up, (like that is going to happen) I will post a picture of it.

Geocaching is a great sport for getting you out of the house and into the outdoors. We have found lots of parks and hikes that we would never have found without geocaching. We always cache when we are away on holidays and we inevitably find nice little out of the way places that most tourist do not find.

More to come later.
Thanks for dropping by.

Ross