It's time for football and not much else

Football season is my favorite time of year. I help coach a high school football team, I'm in a fantasy league, and every Sunday is just dedicated to enjoying the sport. The down side to all of this is my time is limited. Coaching is a 5 to 6 day a week job, Sunday to just enjoy the sport, plus keeping up on stats and bye weeks for my fantasy league. Football season is a very busy time in the Mitchell home but a lovely time too.
So far this season is looking to be the best yet. My team of guys this year is the most dedicated and athletic we have ever had. Go ACA Bulldogs!!!
Even if its just wishful thinking this year Go Cardinals! I have more faith in my high school team this year but who know maybe I will be shocked.
The man holiday season is upon and its going to be a great holiday season.

It's not cheap, it's nasty, and I love it!

Have you every just enjoyed something and your not sure why? Fernet is a nasty tasting liquor that has grown on me. If you are a Guinness drinker you might understand. The majority of people that try Guinness the first time don't like it but it grows on them and now there is nothing better. This is the best way I can explain Fernet. Every night before bed I pour myself a shot of Fernet and sip it until it is gone. It brings a great amount of relaxation to me and makes me ready to crash out. It is classified as a digestif. Maybe this is the reason for the relaxing feeling I get from the it. I don't recommend you go buy a bottle and try it because it is nasty and about $26. If you do try it though, make sure you keep it in the freezer and remember that I told you it is addictive.

Best vacation ever (part 5: Food Porn)

We started our First night with this ridiculous mountain of cheese fries. 4 people split it, and we all were sorry that we did in the end. We won the battle but in the end we lost war. We also enjoyed some large mugs of beer. I had a Drop Top Amber Ale and my brother-in-law had a Guinness. He was in much more pain at the end of the night than I. Mostly because a large mug of Guinness is a meal in itself.

My brother-in-law has been doing many different things with pork. He purchased 20 pounds of pork butt before I arrived. He made me 5 pounds of hickory smoked thick bacon. It was amazing!!! Me and him split up the remaining 15 pounds into 3 - 5 pound portions. We made 5 pounds of pork sausage, 5 pounds of breakfast sausage, then smoked the last 5 for pulled pork. My brother-in-law is amazing man that satisfied all of my pork, food porn dreams. To check out his food adventures read his blog. http://www.youngslog.blogspot.com/

This is a picture of the pork sausage that we made. I was bummed that I didn't take any picture of the bacon or pulled pork. Pictures could never do this food any justice. It was all so amazingly good. I would say that it made sweet love to mouth.

When eating amazing food we all have the tendency to over eat. This is when the greatest and most awful tasting stuff ever was discovered over my Vacation. My wife's cousin introduced me to Fernet. It taste like Jagermeister soaked in potpourri. Yes it is disgusting at first but it brings a crazy amount of calmness over you. Once you get over the taste it is actually a very enjoyable drink. I have plans to seek out a bottle of my own this weekend so I can enjoy a glass of it every night.

Best vacation ever (part 4: Trip to Fullerton)

So Monday and Tuesday we just hung out and relaxed in Tulare. We went to Fresno for part of a day but that was about it. On Tuesday afternoon I took my Jeep up to the store and discovered that the A/C was blowing hot. My father in law had a can of freon, so we added it. Every thing was blowing cold again and I was excited it was such an easy fix.

Wednesday morning we packed up and started to head down to the Fullerton area to visit more family. After about 3 hours of our 4 hour trip the A/C was blowing hot again. I'm pretty sure it was getting worse 2 hours into the trip but I was in denial until it was just cooler to roll down the window. I concluded that I had a leak in the cooling system and didn't have the money to get it fixed. After making it to Fullerton I looked into renting a car because it would just be cruel to make my daughters and wife cross the desert during the summer in a jeep with no A/C. We got a car for about $80 one way and figured that was much cheaper than trying to get my A/C fixed. We made it to Fullerton, checked into our hotel, and prepared for the food porn marathon.

To be continued.......

Best vacation ever (part 3: motor-home fun)

Thursday morning we left Tulare in a motor-home with my father-in-law and headed for the Santa Cruz area. After some very confusing detours due to construction we made our way to the camp ground. We stayed in a very nice trailer park with Redwoods all around and next to a river. When setting up camp we discovered we had the wrong attachment for the power box so we would need to go into town and get that on Friday. No power the first night but we just got around the fire and had smores. The people that ran the park said we could cross a little river with a short walk and get on a train that would take us to the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. We thought that would be fun so we got directions and decided to do it on Friday.

The first challenge was this ridiculous cliff we need to go repelling down on ropes.

The second challenge was to cross the river. Not on a bridge but wading through a freezing cold river knee high. The funnest part of these challenges was doing them while holding a 3 and 6 year old.

We survived and made it to the train on time. It was a very nice train ride and we spent the day in Santa Cruz. The Boardwalk was pretty crazy so we mostly just stayed on the beach and walked the pier. They had see lions near the pier and the girls thought it was very exciting to see them so close and in the wild. After about 5 hours in Santa Cruz we took the train back and forged the river again to get back to our camp spot.

When we got back to our camp and got the power going we discovered we had a very bad water leak and it had gotten a large amount of the carpet in the motor-home wet. I was able to isolate the leak until we could walk into a small town near bye in the morning and get some parts to repair it. This Friday night was when I meet my black friend with the white strip. I already posted the late night pee story. Saturday morning me and my father-in-law asked the camp hosts how far away was the town. They said about a mile so we figured we would just walk instead of packing camp to drive the motor-home into town. After walking over 2 miles we arrived in town to get the parts needed. Apparently when you drive it it seems about a mile long but it is really over 2. We were able to temporally fix the leak and got plenty of exercise to go with it. After fixing the leak, Saturday was pretty nice and relaxing. Sunday morning we headed back to Tulare and we made it back with no major issues. We found it to be very boring considering our trip has been packed full of adventure until now. When we got home that night we made an awesome fajita dinner and had some great conversation over beers with family.

To be continued...

Best vacation ever (part 2: the first leg)

The first leg of our trip was to meet up with some family in Palm Springs the first night and make our vacation seem less rushed. Once we pulled out of town and hit the 75mph freeway we discovered that my soft for the Jeep vibrates in the wind like crazy. Anything above 65 was almost ear piercing. So I drove 60 to 65 depending upon what the wind outside the jeep was doing. After 4 hours of the mind numbing humming nose we made it to Palm Springs. We went out to dinner with family and recovered from the drive. It was a nice night except for a quick scare that we lost a wallet with hundreds in it but it was quickly found and all was good.
Wednesday morning we slept in, had breakfast with family, and started our trip to Tulare in central California to visit some more family. After getting on the freeway and not missing 1, but 2 exits we made our way up to Tulare with a our extremely loud soft top flapping in the wind the entire way. This was a 5 hour drive plus about an hour long stop in the middle, too try and calm our buzzing minds. We made it and was glad that the Jeep wound be parked until Wednesday when we would be head down to southern California. The stop in Palm Springs was good call. There is no way would could of done the 10 hour drive all at once in the jeep. I think the buzzing could of drove us legally insane.
To be continued...

The best vacation ever (part 1: getting going)

I just recently got back from the best vacation ever. It was full of adventure and challenges!
It all started Monday July 26th the day before our vacation started. We learned the brake booster was out in our van and it would be 3 to 5 days before they could get the part. We decided the vacation must go on and looked into renting a car. After seeing what it costs to rent a car for 12 days we decided that was not an option. We decided my 2 door Jeep Wrangler was going to have to work. We down sized all of our bags and a family of 4 lived out of 2 suitcases and a cosmetic bag for 12 days. The Jeep doesn't have much room left after you put 4 people in it. Monday night I got new tires for the Jeep and it looked like all was going to work out. Its was pretty easy to pack our 3 bags and hit the road on Tuesday as soon as I got off work. California or bust was the plan.
Tuesday I got off work early and we headed out of town by noon headed for our first stop in palm springs.
To be continued.....

Last day

Today is our last day of vacation and we will be heading home tonight. This has been the best vacation I have ever been on. We have had many challenges that have created many memories that will last a lifetime. I will detail our trip in the following days. Now I have to load up the computer and hit the road for a wild 6 hour driver to Phoenix. Right now it is 72 in Fullerton, California. I will not see 72 again for months.

Fiction vs. Reality

I'm looking to make some changes in my life and they all sound very exciting and fun. These changes are still all fiction at this point but, could become a reality soon. Reality scares the hell out of me! Change is a part of life. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is stupid. I understand that, but comfortable is also very nice. I think I have reached a point in my life were it's time for change. Let hope reality doesn't crush my fictional dreams.

How the Mexican Hot Dog was made. (My Version)

Tonight I introduced my in-laws to the blissful taste of the Mexican Hot Dog. They have never had such a delicacy before and wanted to know how it became. I could of told them that my grandma used to make it for my dad but I made up a much better story.

A long long time ago William and Juan were in the kitchen on the farm preparing dinner. William wanted Hot dogs but had no buns, Juan wanted Chimichanga but had no Carne meat. William and Juan did not always see eye to eye but they both were very hungry. They decided to join forces to make dinner together with what they had. They took the Hot Dogs and stuffed them with Green chillies and Cheese. Then they wrapped them in a corn tortilla and deep fried them. William was excited with his ketchup and mustard in hand. Juan came to the table with Salsa and Sour cream. They didn't agree on the condiments they would use, but the both agreed that they had made a better meal together than they ever could apart. William and Juan accepted each others differences and became great friends.

I just wish we could all just come together and make Mexican Hot Dogs together. We might not agree on the ingredients but at least we could all be friends.

Late night pee

So last night in our campground I woke up around 1am and needed to pee. Instead of disrupting everybody's sleep I thought I would just sneak outside and go behind the motor home. So I stumbled out half asleep and made my way to the back of the motor home. I find a nice little spot on the edge of the brush line and began the evacuation. Just as I finish up I hear a quick rustle in the bushes and out pops a skunk about 2 feet from me. I almost all in one motion jumped about 5 feet to the back of the motor home, quickly climbed up the ladder on the back of the motor home, and got up on top, cussing all the way up. The skunk ran away with his threatening tail up in the air, but never sprayed. Yes, I woke everybody up anyway rocking the motor home back and forth, cussing. Tonight I will just pee in the motor home.

Day one of vacation

Yesterday we left Phoenix and headed for California. We ended up taking my Jeep instead of the van, because the van is having issues. After the first 4 hours of the trip we have decided we are going to buy a hard top for the Jeep before we ever do this again. I can't go over 65mph or the vibration noise of the soft top becomes ear piercingly loud. It's not quiet at 65 by any means you just don't think you should plug your ear because of possible ear damage. Our first stop was in Palm Springs to meet up with some family that is heading home from their vacation. We are very glad we did this because I'm not sure we could of taken another 5 hours to our final destination in the Jeep with all of the noise. We have already discovered that this trip will be full of adventure that will make this trip very memorable. I don't remember the vacations as a kid that went smooth. I remember the vacation that we broke down or had crazy things happen. We are in line to make this the most memorable ever:)

Disconnecting the BB for vacation again

Tomorrow we leave on vacation for almost 2 weeks. On our last vacation I shut down my BlackBerry and it made the trip seem very long. I didn't have so much of my time consumed by my social media. We will be taking the laptop this time so I will still have that and my tweets by text from my regular phone but that's it. I love my BB but sometimes it can get in the way of the family time. This trip will be family time all the time. Tuesday night I will power down and walk away from it. Love you all but it family time.

The $4,000 6 week class

This summer I was in an automotive class. At the end of the class I discovered that I had not been properly taking care of my vehicles. Realising I had a big vacation coming I wanted to get so preventative things done on my van. I did this and then things went down hill from there. Right after a lot of preventative things were done I then ran into things that broke like the alternator, battery, tires, brake booster, and I thing you get the idea. In the end I have had many things replaced and the van is in tip top shape. After a recover period I will then be starting to get some much needed work done on my jeep. Knowledge is power but when it comes to car repair, it is really expensive.

Man raising girls!

Little girls are hard to raise for a man. They are just wired different. Men are hard and tough and girls are soft and sensitive. Being a man I forget that and hurt my sensitive girls feelings. I still have a lot to learn about relating to my little women but I think I'm starting to get a little better.