The tale I'm gonna tellIs about the group who couldn't sayTogether they discovered with each otherThe perfection of an outdoor day

I had a busy day today.

I made a big breakfast, did a ton of laundry, cleaned some of the house, watered the plants & garden, did the dishes, planted some tomatoes, sat in the hottub and listened to This American Life, and prepared a killer dinner for later:

Pork shoulder, rubbed with a mix of salt, pepper, paprika, garlic, etc., etc. (Rubbed the pork, heh heh heh.)

Chopped up an onion, threw it in the bottom of the crock pot. Put the pork shoulder on top of the onions. I added chives and cilantro from the garden, poured in half a can of coke, covered the crock pot and let it cook slowwww and lowwww for ten hours. Oh yeah.

Fast forward... I sauteed garlic, chopped green pepper and more chives in the bottom of a big saucepan in olive oil. Then, I added two big cans of baked beans, two dollops of stone-ground mustard and a healthy squirt of maple syrup & let it all simmer for a while. Double oh yeah.

After the ten hours, I strained all the savory juices out of the crock pot and put the pork & onions back into the crockpot on "warm." I took two forks and shredded the pork and onions (soooo tender it fell apart... triple yeah), then poured about half a bottle of barbecue sauce in and stirred.

I split and toasted some small rolls.

I blanched (wilted) some swiss chard with sea salt in olive oil.

Voilla, pulled pork (heh heh) sandwiches with baked beans and greens.

And Alicia brought a warm, gooey tray of brownies.

Infinity yum.

The best part? The total cost of everything was just over $ 18.

It fed four adults, two kids, and I have leftovers that will tide me over for tomorrow.

That's some good livin' right there.

Bells and I played with a new guy, Todd. I recently met Todd, and found out he has been playing drums in bands for years and years... and he lives five minutes from my house. Oh my goodness, that boy can play. And loud. He can play some guitar, too.

We rotated through different configurations- 2 guitars & drums. Guitar, bass, drums. Bass, organ, drums. Guitar, organ, drums... etc.

We rocked some Metallica, Sir Neil Young, Stones, Pearl Jam and this outer space, free-form, freak-metal with Todd on drums, Bells on bass and me on a Strat run through distortion, delay and phase. It was pretty good, if you like outer space, free-form, freak metal.

For the final number, I sat at the organ and serenaded the group with a super-slow version of Loving Cup, while giving my best basso-profundo Robert Goulet impression with the lyrics.

That was damn funny. Bells might have peed his pants a little.

I promise I will hone it and put it on video for you.

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I haven't written about it, but Stanette's sister, Stephanie, is really, really ill. She has been in intensive care for three weeks, following a surgical mishap. Stanette has been down in Georgia by her side for the last 2+ weeks. Tomorrow, they start the process of bringing her out of an induced coma.

They say she has another month in the hospital if all goes well.

Send some kind thoughts.