Marinading & Cooking a Brsiket..Western Style!

More about BAR-B-Que!


Ah, Yes, back to that bar b que brisket we talked about rubbing down the other day.

I think we about covered the rub part of the whole thing and, as simple as it sounds, that rub will do more to add flavor to your meat than anything I know of.

However..............BEFORE you rub.....you could marinade if you wanted and that's a good thing too. Sometimes I marinade and sometimes I don't depending upon which way my wind blows on any given day. It's kind of a matter of taste, if you will.

Ok, let's now talk marinade if that particular activity floats your boat.

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons or more of Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of pepper

OPTIONAL but doggone good!

1 can of beer or 12 oz of apple juice from concentrate

Lay out the beef in a shallow pan and pour this mixture all over the brisket and then cover and stick it in the ice box.
Go watch movies, work cattle, roundpen your colts, change the oil a couple of times in your pickup truck, do something for several hours or even overnight. The longer you marinade, the better this works.

When the beef is done marinading and patted dry with some paper towels, and you have lightly slathered the brisket in some good olive oil, then you rub it down with all the spices we mentioned earlier.

Get out the heaviest skillet you have and turn up the heat under that booger until it's hot more than just a tad more than medium high then stick the meat in the hot skillet and sear it so the outside is brown and deliscious and the inside is juicy and tender.

Make sure you have fired up the grill. Now, if you are cooker or grill handicapped, meaning you aint got one of these things and for the life of me I have NO idea why anyone in their right minds would live life without a grill or cooker, why then you can wrap the brisket in tinfoil tighly and put it right there in your kitcken oven at 300 degrees for about 3 or 4 hours or until the meat is falling apart tender.

What you want is indirect heat here. Lot's of smoke too. One way to make sure you get smoke is to soak some apple or oak or pecan or better than any of the above, MESQUITE woodchips in some water overnight and then drain the water and spread the chips all over the whitehot coals.

LOW & SLOW is the key to any good bar b que and your brisket is going to need to cook for about 3 or 4 hours under indirect, low heat to make it mouth-watering and Texas tastin!

I am assuming here that yall arent going to own a cooker the size of a one ton dually Ford truck. If you do, fine, turn the heat down and forget about the meat for about 10 hours but if you dont then this is a good way to have the taste of Texas without all the trouble.

Just make sure you do all this on a low fire and v-e-r-y slowly.

GOOD STUFF TO GO WITH BRISKET

Mexican Horseradish Sauce

Easy to do and GREAT with bar b que! In fact, this is a great compliment to any kind of cooked beef.

1 little jar of prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
little bit of lemon juice

Mix this up and enjoy a dash on your beef.

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FIRECRACKER JALAPENOS

30 to 36 good sized whole peppers
About a pound of ground pork sausage.
Enough bacon strips to wrap the stuffed peppers in.
( 12 or 15 pieces of bacon, halved)
cream cheese
diced onion
garlic powder
parsley
cayenne pepper or paprika
Shoot you can even chop or dice some cooked shrimps if you have them, dont be shy this is YOUR appetizer, after all!

Wash the jalapenos and cut a slit lengthwise in the peppers and scoop out the seeds and membranes with a table knife or a spoon.

Cook sausage and drain well.

In a bowl mix up the cream cheese, parsley, onions, sausage, garlic powder, and/or shrimps and then...

Stuff the jalapenos and wrap them in the bacon slcies and stick them with toothpicks to keep them from coming apart on the grill.

Grill your peppers on one of the tin grill pans available at the grocery store, the ones with the little holes in it for about 15 or 20 minutes or until all is crispy and happy.

Well, that's about it! This all started because Tamara asked me to pass on some of our version of in-home, easy to do bar b que that still tastes like bar b que.

Sauce you say? What about sauce??? Dipping sauce or bar b que basting sauces? Pardner, thats a whole nother blog!

Remember food is sharing. Food is reaching out from right here in East Texas and taking the taste and aromas all the way to California or Maine or anywhere folks enjoy good cooking.

Food is laughter and family and friends and fun, memories both good and bad and it's all rolled into a meal!

Say, how about YOU sending me some recipes form your family kitchen to mine?


Yall Can send me stuff at ralph@nutrader.com or POST A RESPONSE to my blog, whatever makes your monkies chatter!

Thanks yall and be sure to holler at us on the RADIO show...MONDAY from 2 until 4 in the afternoon cst, and also FRIDAY 7 until 9 in the evening CST. The CALL in number to the show during airtimes is 347 215 8849.

You can listen to archived shows at www.blogtalkradio.com/ralphsbackporch too!

BAR_B_QUE RUB and how it feels to rub your meat

Tamara says I should blog more. Heck, if I knew what a blog was....I might do it more often but the very word is reminiscent of things stepped on in a cow pasture or feedlot, something one might find behind a horse's tail on a trailride and step around. "Whoa! Don't step in that blog!" kind of thing.

But, I reckon I will blog because it isnt that I dont have anything to say or dont enjoy saying what's on my mind, but I feel somehow a bit pretentious when I blog.

Like, I'm blogging and here is all these folks wanting, nay, NEEDING a good dose of 'blog' for the day and they happen up onto MY blog and there it is....sighs, the disappointment of a watered down blog, a blog that's a hamburger shy of a Happy Meal, a blog that's a brick shy of a load...a blogger that built the buliding but his elevator don't quite rise to the top floor.....and I am to be held responsible for all this blog.....something you might just find behind a cow's tail anyway.

OK, I just heard from Tamara that this kind soul living way out in California wants to understand the concept of Texas bar-b-que. Here agian, friends and neighbors, I am bowled over at the very thought of leaking some of this information.

And, NOT cause this wonderful woman is from California....not one iota of snobbery here, nosirreee Bob! I happen to LOVE California!

Soft gentle ocean breezes...bikini clad girls strolling down the roller-blade paths, The Farmer's Market in Los Angeles....oh yeah, I LIKE California, but I shiver when someone asks me to do Texas bar-b-que cause heck, bar-b-que here in Texas is more an institution than a mere food.

But, in the interest of Gulf state and West Coast relations, here goes and my apologies in advance to those folks who slave away behind a smokin bar-b-que smoker for ten hours at a time.

The RUB

Depends on how large your TRIMMED brisket is.
Please trim some of that fat offa there! Doggone, some fat is a GOOD thang, a whole bunch isnt and if you really want to make it right, get a 'market trimmed' brisket and let the butcher do all the work.

Chili Powder....

Cayene Pepper....

Salt....

Black Pepper.....

Paprika.....

Garlic Powder.....

Onion Powder.....

Little bit of Oregano......

Mix this up in any order and in any amounts you like, all things being equal, all ingredients should be about equal. Bout a quarter cup of each should do it.

Take the brisket out and wash it...not like 'car-wash' washing it, but wipe it off for cleanliness sake anyhow.

Then rub the meat with olive oil on both sides and prepare to rub.

The mixed rub should be handy....the timing just right...the suspense about killing yall.....when first you grab a handful of rub and...attack the meat!

Rub like a couple of Asian massueses breaking down muscle tissue!

Rub the rub into the very fiber of the meat.....making sure you don't sneeze directly onto the brisket while your rubbing cause this stuff generally causes one to sneeze mightily!

Do this on both sides of the meat and even make up more rub if you aint got enough.

There! You have rubbed your meat!

This is going to form a pretty crust on the brisket called a 'bark' on the bar-b-que.

With this all done and in good shape, now comes the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of bar-b-que everywhere!

Time to COOK!

I suppose unless someone REALLY wants to read more blog....I'll shelve the cooking process for another day.

Ralph
www.ralphsbackporch.com

www.blogtalkradio.com/ralphsbackporch

www.NuTrader.com

Paying It Forward

Paying it forward sounds like something we could all do, right? The concept is amazingly simple, yet profound when you actually do it.

Paying it forward is when you're standing there at the gaspump or in the grocery line and you simply and quietly hand the cashier for the person's gas or groceries who's standing behind you.

It's really moving and touching to do this and goes a long way towards cleaning out the stuffy old attic of your soul. It don't work if you make a big fuss about it or crow about it to those folks who think you're kind of grouchy all the rest of the year. Just do it, go on about your business and try not to sneak a peek at the recipient of your kindness to see the absolute shock, then pleasure on thier faces.

How this all started with us had to do with the Fly Lady Organization and, of course, the Starbucks thing our west you see on the news this time of year. We heard about Paying it Forward and thought, how cool is this?

So, we have a radio show called Ralphs Back Porch (shameless advertisement here... www.ralphsbackporch.com) and we decided to devote one whole show to all the people we could get to Pay it Forward in real life and talk about it on the show.

It's only the 12th of December and the show airs on DEC 21st (check this website for times and dates) and already we are getting emails from folks who have paid it forward and have already reaped benefits from small acts of random kindness during this Christmas season.

We recieved this email today


THIS IS FOR ALL OF YOU THAT THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY FOR SENDING TWO CHRISTMAS CARDS TO TOTAL STRANGERS. THIS IS ALSO FOR ALL OF YOU THAT BELIEVED IN WHAT I WAS DOING.

TAMARA HERE IS YOUR MIRACLE CHRISTMAS RADIO SHOW STORY, FROM WOODCHUCK AND FAMILY. WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

I RECEIVED A CARD AND A LETTER BACK FROM ONE OF OUR CHRISTMAS CARD RECIPIENTS. I WAS BOWLED OVER BY WHAT I READ AND NEARLY CRIED. I WILL REWRITE THIS LETTER FOR YOU ALL.

DEAR WOODCHUCK AND FAMILY,

WE WERE SO HAPPY TO GET YOUR CARD. THIS TIME OF YEAR IS VERY HARD FOR US BECAUSE THREE YEARS AGO, ON DECEMBER NINETEENTH, WE LOST OUR SON. HE WAS FIFTEEN AND MENTALLY HANDICAPPED. HE WAS YOUNG IN MIND AND HEART. YOUR CARD MADE ME WANT TO THINK OF SOMEONE ELSE AT CHRISTMAS, WHICH IS WHAT THE SEASON IS ALL ABOUT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CARD, IT PUT A SMILE ON MY AND MY HUSBANDS FACE. THANK YOU.

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

CHRIS AND BOB

THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!! I TOUCHED THE LIFE OF SOMEONE WHO WAS HURTING AND IN NEED. I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WOULD HAPPEN. I GUESS LIFE IS FULL OF SURPRISES.
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Now, if you read that you know what it might feel like if we ALL Paid it Forward during Christmas or any other day of the year!

Simple, sweet acts of kindness.....it sure does make life go a little better!

God bless yall

Ralph

www.NuTrader.com
www.ralphsbackporch.com
Ralphs Back Porch Radio

MONDAY 2-4 pm cst & FRIDAY 7-9 PM cst CALL us at 347 215 8849 and let us know about YOUR Pay it Forwards!

Didja Hear this?

I guess news isn't anymore shocking or extraordinary than in days gone by, we just seem to have better access to the news now. Or, we seek out the strangest stories we can find and fixate upon them, something like that, anyway.

And, what's the deal with our attention span? If it doesn't fit in a paragraph or can be heard in a few seconds we don't seem to want to deal with all the overwhelming input bombarding us from all angles and all levels.

I enjoy the offbeat, the persistantly odd and outrageous. The truck chock full 'o donuts stolen from a convenience store parking lot and chased down by siren blaring cop cars. A big old truck with it's back doors swinging wide in the night, cops careening along behind it being pelted with fresh krispy treats.

Jennifer L. Hewitt's backside emblazoned on the covers of tabloids in grocery stores all over America. A cellulite smorgasbord for all of us who want to feel at least a bit better about ourselves now that we've seen a young female Hollyweird heartthrob with her butt hanging out of a binkini.

Is Brittany preggers or is she not? Can Brad indeed rebuild New Awlins almost single-handedly? Pink tents notwithstanding, perhaps he can, and if he does, more power to him, I say.

Can Senator Craig GET any stranger with all these men hanging around claiming the good, honest politico cruised them or had sex with them at one time or another. Sheesh, ever since that particular story broke I have been squeemish about using public restrooms. I keep my feet very still while in any public stall doing what business we all must do in those situations.

Perhaps we could stop a minute and take a breath in between all the strange stories about people who frankly seem to have way too much time on their hands and reflect on what is news and why it needs to be reported.

News is something that affects us all in some way. Natural disasters come to mind. Politics is another news event we can all learn from. Every now and then we need a "Forrest Gump" tearjerker moment to keep some balance but overall news used to be, and should be, something that inspires, educates, or whips us into a passionate frenzy.

News should be reported in a bit more detail than the current fare of blips and bleepswe seem to get today on any given newscast. For once I'd like to hear an early morning newscast that will tell me, to the best of anyone's knowledge, WHY some nutcase kid walks off an elevator in a mall in Omaha and blows away 8 innocent people with a stolen ak-47.

I'd like to actually hear the ideas and goals of politicians who are poised to be elected to run the free world this coming go-round. I am thristy to hear more of the nuts and bolts of how they intend to go about fixing a severly flawed nation.

News is important. Done well, it can inform a great many people and inspire true change. I just don't think Eva Mendez and her wardrobe choices for the next big awards show or the clandestine romances kindled on Dancing With the Stars qualifies as news.

Friday Night Ranch Round Up & Josh Lyons

Howdy! So, how cool is having JOSH LYONS on http://www.ralphsbackporch.com/ last night, huh, huh?

Mighty doggone cool, I'd say!

Josh, as ya'll know, is a young, but already famous and nationally known horse trainer and equine specialist who stands within his own world as one of the best in the field today. However, Josh and a whole lot of other people would say that his daddy, John Lyons had something to do with Josh and his philosophy and techniques, after all John Lyons is a pioneer in the horse world and "the most trusted horseman in America"...not my words but words used to describe Mr. Lyons and I venture to guess one day will be sued to describe Josh.

How the heck could Josh NOT be a horseman living and growing up in that kind of environment, anyway?

And, Ralph's Backporch, our humble little old radio show was blessed to have Josh as our extra special guest last night and boy, was he good!

We spent our time with Josh talking about regular things to a regular guy who is caring about horses and the people he trains to work with horses. We talked about the business end of the deal and what it might take for someone like you or me to become certified in his certification program and what limitations there are (none) and what dedication on the person's part there has to be ( a lot) and how to get started in the program (email Josh and ask!).

Josh impressed me and Tamara on several levels not the least of which is his simple and effective way of communicating and the appreciation in his words and tone that let us know he enjoyed talking horses out there on our back porch.

We liked what we heard and we look forward to talking more with Josh and asking more specific questions about specific circumstances in the near future.

For now, it was a simple pleasure to talk with a world class horseman and get to know a man who truly IS growing into his own!

Thanks Josh!

You can find the entire interview on http://www.ralphsbackporch.com/ or just take a listen right here!

Oh, and by the way, ya'll are always welcome to come and share the porch with us and our guests...you never know who's going to drop by and sit a spell with us!

Ralphs Back Porch for Nov

Welcome to the Back Porch! Nov. 10th 2007
Johnny comes marching home agian......
Tucked away in a grove of old cedars near Keatchie Louisiana is one of the most peaceful places on Earth to my way of thinking. The sunshine seems a little softer there, the morning fog shimmers in the light of dawn and the sun sets turn the sky a rosy color as day after day comes and goes for this patch of ground.
It's hallowed ground there with almost two hundred soldiers buried among the cedars, white marble grave markers worn away by wind and rain but still standing giving us the information about regiment, company, name of the soul buried and dates, of course, all old dates from a time long, long ago.
Those soldiers wore gray uniforms and came from all across the country to give up the last thing they could, and that was life itself for a cause lost to eternity and circumstance and isn't that the way of soldiers? To give so much for causes and governments?
We have been honoring these boys for a long time because of a date some group or club a long time ago decided was the right date for us to do so and we honor them still by tending graves and mowing and making eternity in that grove of cedar trees peaceful and calm but we also honor others who have fallen, and some who haven't fallen and some who never did but still limped home and began new lives after our Civil War, The Spanish American War, World Wars 1 & 2, Korea, Viet Nam, the Gulf War and now the war in Iraq.
We honor them because we owe them, plain and simple. We owe them what freedoms we enjoy, we owe them the best of years because they sacrificed the best of their youth to make us able to enjoy the home front.
NOVEMBER 11 Veteran's Day
While you wave the Stars & Stripes this coming Veteran's Day think of this. 1 out of every 4 homeless people on our streets today are Vets.
Yearly charities collect millions of dollars to make veteran's lives easier and yearly some of the charities, not all of 'em mind you, rip off Vets and pocket the money they so desperately need.
Today somebody somewhere is standing at an airport gate waiting to shake a Vet's hand or hug a Vet's neck welcoming them home.
Vets buy high-priced gasoline and like us, most of them pay outrageous sums of money for bread and milk and they tend to families and care for children, just like us, but unlike most of us, they have stood in the horrible gap and watched as the thunder of war rolled over them.
My son, Jess is a Vet. He spent 18 months as a Stryker Vehicle driver in Baghdad and other nameless patches of God-forsaken sand in a land that absolutely hates us for the most part.
Jess was rotated home to Ft. Wainwright in Alaska last year and is right now facing the prospect of going back to Iraq for another tour of duty and you know what? Amidst the flag-waving and the speechifying of politicians across our land, the only thing Jess has asked for in years is help getting him and his daughter home for a visit around Christmas and to even make reservations with a surly airline we had to make several phone calls and speak to people barely able to converse in English about his tickets.
Just to let you know, I'm not just griping for the sake of griping. I STILL and always will believe we live in the best country in the world and that if it is worth having, it is worth fighting for.
So, we send our best youth to fight in lands thousands of miles from home. We trust in men and women in Washington who sometimes don't deserve this trust and we BELIEVE in the values we hold dear, liberty, the justice of our system of government, unalienable rights ordained by God Himself and we send our young men and women away to protect and to defend....us.
And Johnny comes limping home agian......
Say a prayer Monday for all the boys and girls who never make it home other than to spend eternity in a small patch of ground in a cemetery. Never forget why those kids are in Iraq and a hundred other places in harm's way.
Be sure to shake a Vet's hand and say the one thing they all want to hear more than anything, "Welcome HOME, soldier"
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When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address. If we pass this on and everyone sends one card, think of how many cards these wonderful special people who have sacrificed so much would get.
A Great Idea!!!
When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following:A Recovering American soldierc/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Sent in by Shirley from San augustine, Texas.
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www.pva.org Paralyzed Veterans of America. Please contact to donate or to send an E-Card to a vet who desperately need to know you care.
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Ralph's Back Porch
As all of you must know by now, Ralph's Back Porch is on the radio in the form of a national SWAP SHOP and Boy! Are we having some fun out of this!
We air on Monday 2 PM Central Standard Time and also on Friday evening 7-9 CST and the way to CALL is
347 215 884
Why Call? Well, cause we LOVE hearing from you and we also read a LOT of Nutrader ads as well as ads from people who don't even KNOW about NuTrader but who do know about the radio show, so we get in there and mix it up, talk a bit, ask questions, play some music, mostly have a good time.
347 216 8849
All you got to do is pick up your princess phone and dial that number to talk to me and Tamara and we do need your help with this!
If you want to go and HEAR an archived version of the Back Porch just click into www.blogtalkradio.com/ralphsbaclporch and give us a listen.
Either way, we thank you, Good Neighbors and hope we hear from all of yall soon!
This coming Monday we will feature Don & Sue Lummus. a local duet who sings some fine old-time country music with a twist. Lot's of fun and lots of laughs so be sure and drop by and hear Don & Sue Lummus with us on Ralph’s Back Porch!
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RED HOT Business!
Tamara was down in Woodville, Texas the other day talking to Tommy Bell at T-Bell Services and Tommy was telling her that he has had a nice response to his ad in www.NuTrader.com
Tommy is a dang nice man and easy to do some business with so why don't yall go on down to Woodville and see what Tommy can do for all your flat-bed, utility trailer and welding needs?
Here's his Business Directory ad and be sure and CALL him or Drop by and when you do, make sure you let him know NuTrader sent ya, ok?
Trailers
TRAILERS NEW AND USED TRAILER REPAIR WELDING
Address: Location: woodville, Texas

Tommy Bell
Phone: 409 283 8414
Additional Phone:
Cell:
Fax: 409 283 2570
Website: www.tylercountytractor.com
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Clinton Gore & Bush
Now.. I have to admit.. "THIS IS FUNNY!!"
Joe
Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and George W. Bush went to a fitness spa for some fun. After a stimulating, healthy lunch, all three decided to visit the men's room and they found a strange-looking gent sitting at the entrance. He said, "Welcome to the gentlemen's room. Be sure to check out our newest feature, a mirror that, if you look into it and say something truthful, you will be rewarded with your wish. But, be warned: if you say something FALSE, you will be sucked into the mirror to live in a void of nothingness for all eternity!" The three men quickly entered and upon finding the mirror, Bill Clinton stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most intelligent of us three," and he suddenly found the keys to a brand new Bentley in his hands. Al Gore stepped up and said, "I think I'm the most aware of the environmental problems of us three," and in an instant, he was surrounded by a pile of money to fund his next Presidential Campaign. Excited over the possibility of finally having a wish come true, George W. Bush looked into the mirror and said, "I think...," and was promptly sucked into the mirror.
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Well, that's about it for this week's Back Porch. I have to admit in my old age I'm getting a little lazy but it IS so much more fun to do the radio version of the Back Porch!
We hope you all will stop by and tell us WHAT VETERANS DAY means to you and your family.
Remember, all you have to do is CALL 347 215 8849 on Monday, 2pm CST.
We jabber away there from 2 until 4 so please call us and say "Howdy!"
Until next week, may God bless & keep each and every one of yall.
Ralph
www.NuTrader.com
www.blogtalkradio.com/ralphsbackporch
Ralphwww.NuTrader.comwww.blogtalkradio.com/ralphsbackporchhttp://www.ralphsbackporch.blogspot.com

Who are the New American Po Folks?

It's all a matter of mathematics. A simple, ordinary, garden variety math equation and not even "new math" at that! Ok, raise your hands....who remembers 'new math' now days?

Back to the subject, and that is the New Po Folks here in America. America is no stranger to Po Folks by any means, heck they been around since the first settlers stepped off rickety ships just landed on these shores and I reckon they are going to be around for as long as we are a nation so we aren't talking about OLD po folks, we need to take a long, hard look at the NEW po folks and how they got that way and what can be done about making them at the very least middle class once more.

New po folks are...well, us, in a word. We the people. You and me who aren't quite making it out there in the land of milk and honey.

The math part? Here's the deal, we each have so many dollars to use as we see fit at the end of the week or however you out there get paid and those dollars have to last until the ink dries on the next teensy-tiny check the boss man hands us and how we manage that money usually determines whether or not we get the medical care we might need, our household utilities being cut off or staying on so we can light up our modest homes and play our X boxes, car repairs...no, not even repairs cause the clutch don't go kaflooey on the family vehicle every week, but we DO have to suffer the humiliation every day of buying gas that is now in the range of a precious commodity kind of like diamonds or gold...being $3.00 a gallon and all, and food.

So, we start out with X dollars and we mentally countdown each expenditure, "I got two hunnerd and if I buy this, I'll have a hunnderd, sixty-seven left....now if I can catch a sale at the grocery store I can buy corn dogs and frozen pizza and mac n cheese for at least three nights worth of supper....sigh" And, if you are like me you hang around wistfully staring at the meat counter each time you stroll by it, not looking people in the eye cause then they might now without a doubt you can't really buy anything you are just looking at meat skyrocket in price and remembering when you could feed your family good old American beef for a reasonable amount of money.

You agonize over every dollar that dwindles away and makes your wallet lighter and lighter as the bills mount and the the stress takes it's toll. Sometimes when it gets too much to bear I have seen women and men alike get that "Po Folks" look on their faces and you can tell these aren't people living in shacks with cars on blocks in the front yard, these folks work and pay taxes and make a little money and try hard to hold their heads up even though the mat problems of making a buck stretch get harder and harder by the day.

Politicians and government? Don't make me laugh! In the first place it isn't the governments J-O-B to make all our troubles go away or to protect us from all the bogeymen out there in life. We swallowed hook, line & sinker all the BS the government fed us back in the sixties and we bought into the theory that they, the slickers and the scammers who took over Washington, spooned into our waiting and wanting mouths.

WE allowed government to make our decisions for us, to order our lives and to "protect" us from the many waves of change blowing like sour winds across our nation's landscape and we thought, some with the convictions of an old timey revival meeting, that government could and would coddle us as a people from the cradle to the grave.

Nope. We can no longer blame government but we CAN change the course of how we feel and what we believe and how we vote. Whatever happened to crippled Frank Roosevelt leaning on the podium in front of Congress and assuring us all that "The only thing we have to fear...is fear itself!"? Where did the America that fought World Wars, pulled itself up by it's bootstraps and overcame dust bowls, depressions, droughts, unemployment and a host of other ills go?

The generation that achieved so much sent the next generation off to universities and educated them so that they could grasp for the torch of time and carry it into another era. Trouble is, those kids got taught not what the universities KNEW for a fact, but what the teachers THOUGHT they knew and it was mostly hog-wash. And, look what happened? Don't we all wished they would've just stick to the facts?

We have a lot of issues social, economical and downright personal that need to be addressed but I am told the height stupidity is doing the same thing over and over the same way and expecting different results. Right now we are battling all these issues with the same mentality that gave us $3.00 gasoline and a $12. rump roast from the grocery store.

While people still run this government who have no clue whatsoever who we are out here in America and what we go through on a daily basis to survive, we won't ever be able to do anything more than the simple grinding, heart wrenching mathematics of trying to make a dollar stretch far enough to just exist.

"Let's see....I can do without a phone this week, maybe new tires next payday, well ONE new tire....Awww man, whatabout food?"