My Memorial Day Weekend

I had intended to write this earlier in the week, but the heck with it. Better late than never. It almost felt like a mini vacation. If there's one thing I enjoy about long weekends it's that I don't have to go to a job I despise for three consecutive days instead of two. For me that was three whole days of much needed time with my wife and baby daughter. Saturday I woke up and started things off right with a pot of coffee and getting a Venison pot roast in the crock pot. We later decided to capitalize on the beautiful day by heading out to the Detroit Zoo.

We almost didn't go in because on a Saturday the zoo traffic can get discouraging, especially when you look at overflow parking being utilized in the empty field across the street from the zoo grounds. It looked like a madhouse, and it sort of was. But we soldiered on and we're glad we did. As packed as it was The Zoo has had some makeovers recently, including a new penguin house and a few new animals. One of my favorite sites was seeing the bison out laying in the sun, as well as getting a nice close-up shot of this majestic motherfucker right here.

Our baby slept through almost the entire walk through the zoo. But it was a nice break for the missus and I to just get out and get some fresh air, and enjoy each others company. Sometimes I think we forget how easy it is to get outside, get some sun and fresh air, and just enjoy being out of the house. A 5 month old tends to take that sort of motivation away from you sometimes.

After the zoo we went home for dinner. I took all the jus from the crock pot and made a nice gravy for the roast, whipped up some mashed potatoes, and some steamed broccoli to go with it. I love venison. It's lean, tastes great, and you can cook it almost the same way you would cook beef. I feel like I could completely replace beef with it, and it leaves me looking forward to hunting season.

Sunday was spent mostly getting the grass cut and getting the weeds trimmed. It wound up raining by about 4:30pm so I was stuck inside the rest of the day and my wife suggested a movie. At this point I don't even remember what we watched, but we did popcorn and pop with it, which we always consider a fun treat. I had a special treat planned for dinner the next day. We pulled a whole chicken out of the freezer earlier in the week and I made a quick brine of water and chicken stock, salt, sugar, and a few spices.

Monday morning I improvised my charcoal grill into a smoker and got the chicken going nice and slow. We were quite sore and tired from the past busy couple days so we spent the day relaxing on the couch and playing with the baby. The chicken got a decent five hour smoking. We made a salad and then had the chicken with garlic bread. My wife made a quick dill chicken gravy for it and we ate really well.

Is there a point to all this? Let's find one. I spent three great days with my family that I hardly feel I get enough time with. I laughed, I loved, and I made the most of the time I had. I'm grateful that I live in a country where I can freely do such things. I'm thankful for the sacrifices of our soldiers both present and past. And while it has it's flaws, there is no other country on this earth that I would rather call home than the good old U.S.A.

Thank you for reading.
Booms out