The Pump Boys

Brothers Zak and Devon from Aqua Man in Tucson are here on Rock Crest this fine Saturday morning to replace the water pump on our back yard water feature. The pump dumps water over some rocks, down a stream and into a pool then draws it back again, and again. It was installed back in '98 or sometime like that and the old pump just got tired. Zak is the eldest, and he's the one who gives the orders and knows what to do next. Devon, the younger, is the willing helper, learning from his big brother. He is trusted to cut the power to the pump.
But we know all about how that works.
Zak says he loves his job. Why are they working on Saturday? It's busy, he said. Very busy.
We like hearing that.

Flash 3:55 p.m. Doris is Done!!

I will make golf after all. Pulled Doris off when her breast popped out. Now she will steep and rest under an aluminum foil tent while Leno and I finish the round he started alone.

Nosy neighbors. . . 3:40 p.m.

My pal Leno claims he can smell the turkey from across the street and he just walked in to mention that. Does it smell good?

Yes!, Gourmetish! he exclaimed. And I think he means it. Here he is getting that nose close to Doris. He spotted Steve's onion right away. It's a part of the essence wafting over Rock Crest on this windy day. That, and Steve's Italian dressing that I spooned on, since all we have here are used paint brushes and I decided not to improvise -- after the dental floss loss. Now Leno is heading out to the course and will play a few holes. I threw my clubs on the back of his cart. He'll come back and pick me up at 4 p.m. Doris is supposed to be ready by then. I will toss her into a pan and cover her, then go with Leno IF the temp button on her breast has popped.
Won't be time to stop and take photos too, so standby for final photos after golf sometime.

Bulletin 3:36 p.m.

My sweetie just called to remind me that it is my sister's birthday today! Sorry this is late, Becky, it is Friday the 13th and I guess I am just unlucky.
Catch Becky on the Jerdee blog below, or better yet, enjoy her AbbeyStyle blog everyday. It is a wonderful, relaxed, classy spot that's inspirational and clever at the same time. I love it, and my sister too, of course!
Happy Birthday, Becky. Wish you could drop by for a turkey sandwich!

Your Brother Stan
(Now back to the turkey.)

Doris: 3:15 p.m., post baste

Doris: 2:10 p.m.

The turkey (on the right) continues to spin at about 375 degrees with the lid down. Still juicy on the surface, we'll begin basting her soon. Some tearing around her neck, we won't worry about it.

Turkey update 1:20

Doris went on at 1 p.m. 
I preheated the grill with the lid down, it got to 500 degrees, too hot. It cooled while I locked Doris into the drive and settled both ends of the spit. It started turning and was in pretty good balance, but I adjusted the weight a smidge just to refine it.
Doris started flopping around when the wing came down. It just wasn't trussed right with that dental floss. An emergency call to the neighbor Leno and a dash across the street procured real string.
When I got back, the temperature had climbed to 500 degrees and Doris was sweating like a pig.
I pulled Doris off the spit and brought her inside to retruss her wings.
She's back on the spit now, turning and humming. I turned off one of the three burners to try to keep the temp around 375. The others are on low. Time to monitor.
Doris is about 11 pounds so she should take three hours to get ready -- that's about 4 p.m., and that's about a half an hour past the tee time we had set up for the afternoon. Oh well.
There's a pop-out on her breast that will signal internal doneness. It's the red dot in the photo below.
Doris continues to spin. Now to figure out some basting routine.

Turkey adventure

Stan writes from Tucson:
There's a built-in gas grill here in the backyard. It works great for burgers, etc., but it could use a little maintenance, so every now and then during the past week I have been cleaning and rebuilding it. It's over 10 years old, but things age well in the desert so even though it has been outside all that time it still operational.
During the course of taking it apart, I found a spit assembly in the base. That hasn't been used for at least 5 years. Will it work now?
I cleaned the crud off of it and plugged it in. A cranky sound came out of the black box. We're in business. We need a test. Earlier this week I bought a $5 turkey from Wal-mart. A 12-pound loss leader. It wasn't a Butterball, (They were more like $11), but I reasoned that a turkey chick doesn't know if it is going to grow up to be a Butterball or not, so I went for the less expensive bird. It has been thawing all week.

It is now 12:30 Mountain Time here in Tucson. I have never grilled a turkey in my life, but I am prepared to put my $5 at risk. You can be the judge as to how I do today.

I have gotten this far. I pulled the giblets and gizzard out of the turkey, along with the gravy bag, thereby avoiding an ordinary neophyte error that ends up on America's Funniest Videos and such. I read on the internet that you have to heat the bird indirectly. I don't have a pan, so I made an aluminum and stone pan to help redirect the heat and catch the drippings. Then I took a picture of it. (See photo, below)

The bird got a shower in the sink. We'll call her Doris. Then I took the sharpened end of the spit and placed it in Doris' backside, then through an onion Steve left behind in the fridge, and then out through her neck. Time to truss it up to keep in balanced. There is a weight on the spit that can be adjusted to balance the load, but it is important to tied down the legs and wings to keep them from flopping around.

There is no string in this house.

I looked everywhere, even on packages. I considered using the shoelaces from Steve's old sneakers, but thought better of it. A ha! Dental floss. We're good to go.

So I will smear some oil all over Doris, tie her up, adjust the fire and load the spit. I will let you know how this goes. Stay tuned.

Small world

Stan runs another blog besides this one. It reports the activities of his 1965 Alexandria high school class and coordinates occasional reunions. It's a conversation with classmates that has been going on for six years and gets about 70 visits a day. Yesterday, Stan received an email from a woman he's never met, a woman who graduated at Alexandria in 1974. She said she was inspired to start a class blog for her Jefferson High School after seeing his.

Stan posted her remarks on the class blog then wrote her an email, thanking her and then asking if she had  drawn Erling Rolfsrud as a teacher. Here's her response, with a couple of surprises in it.

She writes:

"Yes, I did have your father as my 9th grade English teacher - forgive any dull verbs please.  Your niece, [Shana Letnes Erickson] I believe, is married to Erik Erickson - who was a student of mine when he was a 2nd grader in Circle Pines, Minnesota, where I still teach.

"It was an interesting coincidence.  I've been friends with his mom, Marilyn, for a long time. We taught Title 1 together our first year in the district.

"My sister, who owns a Minneapolis bookstore, was just reading a book called A Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. On page 16, Louise referenced a compendium of historical biographies that was written by your father.

"That's about all I can do with the Six degrees of Kevin Bacon with you.  I'm sure there are several more Alexandria connections.   Nice to meet you online."

Taryn Nelson Flolid


(Editor's note: Adding still more to the small world, Stan's sister lives near Circle Pines)