Weekend Update: Sept 24-25

Last Friday at work, I was antsy. I mean REALLY antsy. It was gorgeous, and I was stuck inside the office....staring out my window....nearly drooling at the idea of being outside. Right then I decided we were going to be out enjoying it, the minute I got home. And, the rest of the weekend would be more of the same.

It won't be long before it's dark when I'm driving home from work, and darn it, I want to take advantage of the perfect weather and daylight while I could!!!

Actually, I wanted to go camping that weekend, as both Mot and I had it off (which never happens)...but the weather forecast didn't sound appealing to him.

"rain, wet black lab, small tent....let's not"

So, instead, the two of us put on our walking shoes and headed to the Lewis and Clark Monument close to where we live.

It's up in the Loess Hills...and has a great hiking trail along the top.








Trail closed? But that's why we came!

Oh well...let's go on anyway. Sign? What sign?






(my favorite tree...I have a picture I once took of it hanging on the wall at home)


The further we went, the less "trail-like" the trail became. :-)




Hmmmmm....maybe this huge sinkhole is the reason they closed the trail? Oh well, we'll just step over it and continue on!!!!

We didn't continue on for long though. The mosquitoes were out in full force, and I was a walking buffet. :-(~

So we turned around and headed back.



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From there we went to the Old Market, and ate dinner at 'O'. If you live in Omaha, or are planning a visit....you have to go here. The food is amazing...and the people are great as well!!!!***

We went home stuffed completely full, and ready for bed!!! :-)

On Saturday, my "sit on my rump as little as possible this weekend" mission continued. It was pouring rain, so we got up and hit the bookstore.



We grabbed the necessities. 1) Bug spray, boy do I wish we'd had that the night beforet!!! 2) Dramamine, I can't read in a moving vehicle without it! :-)



We grabbed lunch at Subway really quick, then Mot picked a direction (North - there weren't any rain clouds up there) and we drove down the highway. Without a plan.


We stopped at a small fruit stand. Mot saw "plums" on the sign....but they didn't have any. Instead he got a bag of apples and a jug of raspberry juice cider stuff. Yummy!!!

Eventually we ended up in a small NE town, where Mot spent a number of years teaching high school. Dodge, Nebraska


While driving around the country outside of town (looking for the house he rented and lived in while he was there - unsuccessfully), we passed this little church and cemetery.

I wanted to go inside the building. Mot vetoed it. :-)


Only in a small town do you see a sign like this!




I love older building like this. I always sit and think about what they looked like....in the prime of their existence.


All the small little architectural touches make them so cool!!!

While in town, we drove past a Jeep dealership. The town is maybe three or four blocks square, but they still have an auto dealership. We stopped really quick to check out the new Jeep Wrangler. The salesperson came out to greet us.

"Mr. Weaver?"

Yep, she was in his high school class when he taught in town...however many years ago it was. :-)

We stood and talked to her for a little while, but had to leave after a little while.

Dave Bertelsen, my sister's father in law, was in a horrible accident. He fell from his deck, while putting up the railing. He suffered some pretty sever injuries.

The family and church he belongs to hosted a fundraising event for him that afternoon, so we drove to my hometown to check it out.

We ate dinner, were able to talk to Dave a little, and met a ton of people in town we hadn't seen in ages!!!!!!


Lauren took advantage of the face-painting booth! :-)

It was a pretty full day!!!!
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*** I was not, in any way, paid to say that. The place rocks!!! Don't believe me, go try it out yourself. :-)

Weekend Update: Wine Barrel Smoke-Off

A month or so ago, Mot came home from North Platte, NE....visiting his brother and family.

In the back of the Jeep was his luggage, Sam (our black lab), and an empty wine barrel.

Since then, the barrel has been converted into a device of smoking meaty goodness.

There's a winery in North Platte, that decided it would be fun to put the retired barrels to good use. They asked that interested parties take one home, and make a smoker from it. And in return, they were to come back in August to compete in a BBQ smoker contest. Only wine barrel smokers were allowed.

The idea intrigued Mot....and his barrel turned out gorgeous! We've hosted a get together or two, and used it to cook the food.

Two weekends ago, Mot loaded the Jeep back up......our luggage, our dog, the smoker, and me (sorry Sam, the front seat is mine this time!!)...and headed west.

Feather River is a gorgeous winery, on the outskirts of town. There are nothing but hills of grape vines to be seen.

We spent the whole day prepping the food, cooking the food, and then serving the food.

Each smoker was paired up with a wine from the winery. We were to give samples of the smoked goods AND the wine to go along with it.

Ours was called Redneck Revenge. A sweeter blend of three different grapes....with a note of apple and a citrus finish.

(boy, that sounds like I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it? fooled you!!!!)

Along with serving the wine, we were also given vines from the wines we were serving, and used those to smoke the meats with. Very cool idea!!!!!

So, without further ado...I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!!!!
























































Bob, Mot's brother, doing a radio interview for the event!






Jeff, owner of the winery announcing the winners.


The secret judges!!



The event was a great success (if you ask me). Can't wait to do it again next year!!!!!

If you want to see more of the pics I took, check them out here.