A Grilling Split-Decision

Greetings Readers

Alright - this is going to be another what would have done situation.

Are you Readers ready? Remember, you have got to put yourself into my shoes, but you are not me - you are you. Okay, let us begin.

Let us say over the Memorial Day Weekend you bought some chicken and decided that weekend you are going to grill / barbecue some chicken at the local community pool.

You get to the community pool a little after noon and immediately see that the pool is packed with people. You walk to the area where the barbecue grills are located. You can already see that out of most them smoke is coming from the closed grills. You happen to see a closed grill with no smoke. You walk over and open up the grill - filled with food. OK. All the grills are being used. Basically, first come first serve. Not a problem. You leave just as quickly as you came since you got to go back home since you can not have raw chicken getting warm. Perhaps try again later in the evening.

Flash forward - it is after 6PM that same day. You do the exact same thing and it appears nothing has changed at the community pool, except the angle of the sun in the sky. All the grills are still being used. At this point you leave again - this time for good. Either grill at home or cook the chicken some other way.

Now, two days later you bought some steak two days ago and basically now it is time that you have to cook the steak you bought from the store.

You bought the steak on sale for 21.32, although the original price was 38.06. With all good steak being expensive these days you need to make sure you cook the steak the way you want it.

You decide that you are going to the community pool to use the outdoor grill at the pool that evening. After a full day of work earning that American Dollar and then some, you get home after 6 PM that evening. Your steak was prepped with a marinade and now is ready for cooking. It is about 6:45 PM that you finally get to the community pool. Immediately, you see that all the grills are available - you can pick and choose which one you want to use.

So, you choose a random one since there is no clear favorite that you want. Now, with this expensive piece of steak, mind you a package of three steaks being of New York Strip Sirloin Steak you decide you are going to cook this slowly and over medium heat.

After a while the grill is ready for you to use and all that time you were waiting for the grill to be ready all other grills filled up with other people and their dinner. Although, not a steak among them. Just hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken and bratwursts from what you can identify when looking around.

Your steak is the most expensive food there at the grill area. Anyway, with these steaks ready to be cooked you decide that you are only going to use the top rack of the grill as opposed to the bottom of the grill. One reason is to keep the steak as far as from the heat and two - to keep the steak juicy. Since you elected to cook the steaks this way you know that you are going to have a longer cooking time from the other people there.

Oh, before even coming to the community pool you packed a book since you know you are going to be cooking for a while and you wanted to keep yourself occupied. You also set your watch timer at 5:00 minutes since that is what you are going to go by and flip the steaks over.

Back at the grills, while you are reading and grilling you notice some other people showing up, but turning away even before getting to the grills since they can see that all the grills are in use. Although, you happen to see one person with a plate of hamburgers walking and talking on the cell phone coming to the grilling area without stopping.

The person eventually takes a table behind you since you can hear them talking on the cell phone almost right behind you.

About five minutes later that person leaves the area still talking on the cell phone and you now see that person is not holding their plate of hamburgers. You have to assume that person left their plate of hamburgers on the table behind you since you do not care to turn around and verify. You are still cooking and reading.

Another five or ten minutes later that person shows up again still talking on the cell phone. Whether or not that is the same phone call or not that is irrelevant.

Now, another five minutes later and at this point in the scenario all the grills are still in use. No one has left their grill nor finished cooking.

You hear that same voice that has been talking on that cell phone came from right behind you.

"Excuse me? I see that you are using the top of the grill. Can I use the bottom of the grill?" is what that person that has the plate of hamburgers and been talking on the cell phone asks you.

Readers - you have a micro-second split decision to make and answer this person. What do you say? I have laid out the facts as well as all what I remember.

Remember Readers, you have the background as well the luxury of what has been read and what you may have already decided. Yet, in life you never know what is going to happen in the future.

I do not remember word for word, verbatim, but I answered

"No, I do not want your 3.99 hamburger's aroma in my 38.00 dollar steak."

There was no hesitation in my answer to her question. I said no for many reason - for example another reason - I was there first. And all the other people came thereafter. Meaning, first come first serve. Basically, when a grill becomes available that person is the next in line to use an open grill.

Whether or not I am not using the bottom of the grill - I am using the grill. Two, how do I not know what ingredients are in that person's hamburgers. Three, the fat from the hamburgers are going to drip and that will cause the grill to flame below thereby causing the heat to rise as well as the possibility of fire flaming up to your steaks.

Now, you Readers are not the first people I presented this to. I actually asked alot of my friends and about 90 percent of them would have said yes - no problem. But, none of them even thought of the hamburger's aroma cooking into the steak. They did not have a problem sharing, but they did not think of that factor of the hamburger's aroma seeping into your steaks. And half of them did not think that the fat from the hamburgers will cause flame ups.

So, with most of my friends saying that they would have share the bottom of the grill I had to find someone like me. Hah hah - impossible, I know. Let me rephrase that - I had to find someone with a type C personality. And yes, I know of two friends who are Type C like me.

I decided to ask one of them since that is all I need the opinion of. I told the above story and here is their answer.

"No. I am cooking a special dinner and I do not want your hamburger's aroma cooking into my special dinner."

I was not surprised. Type C's are always thinking "beyond the path."

For example - you get into an elevator going down. You get on and soon after a few stops the elevator gets crowded with people at each stop. Eventually, the elevator is packed and you have not reached your floor. What are you thinking? Anything? Nothing? Could care less? Not the Type C's - they wonder about the other occupants of the elevator, the people next to them, and more importantly the weight of the elevator with the elevator car filled with people. How many stops are there going to be before you reach your floor?

Bottom line - I was there first and that person, or any person, needs to wait until a grill opens and was out of line asking me to use my grill I was cooking on. It is generally known that if something is in by another person you wait your turn until it opens up for the next person to use.

Oh one more thing to add - one friend asked me - What if your hot next door neighbor, and if she was single that you knew of, was that person with the plate of hamburgers and asked you to use the bottom of the grill you were using? I said I probably would have had said "no problem" without a second thought. They laughed and I laughed, but I will admit I would have most likely said yes and not said no. Discrimination - I know. I might have even said "Sure, but I am gonna need some sugar" LOL.

And yet - another friend pointed out that plate of hamburgers was for three's children dinner and I made those kids go hungry for another hour than they had to. My friends are relentless.

Now, time to end this blog post - by the way Readers that person who asked me to use the bottom of the grill was just an average looking woman about late 20's / early 30's.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Back from Vacation

Greetings Readers

I am back from a short little vacation from our Ranch in New Mexico, The Charley’s Ranch.

I needed some time away from Denver as well as from Corporate America.

I decided to take about two days off and make it a four-day weekend.

There is really not much else to add that is any different from my previous visits to our Ranch.

I arrived in Albuquerque on Friday morning; we had breakfast, did some shopping as well as take in my Dad’s new Truck to the Toyota dealership for a check up.

My brother was working so he could not join us for breakfast, shopping or the weekend while I was at the Ranch.

Later that day when we got to the Ranch it was time to relax in a manner of speaking. Get settled as well as feed the animals on the Ranch – the cats, dogs, Guineas, the horses and some of the cattle.

I got my gear and headed into the bedroom that I normally sleep in. I also grabbed some of the grocery and started to bring in those too. We bought Smoked sausage, steaks, ribs, breakfast materials and some fresh green hatch chili and broccoli.

We were pretty tired so we just took it easy. I was tired from the bus ride and my parents were tired since they have been traveling for the past three days and have not had time to be at the Ranch.

Saturday. Apparently, today my parents had plans for me. Nothing unexpected mind you, but it is part of our ritual where I complain and talk like Forrest Gump

“I’m on vacation.”

Then, my mother says my first name as well as my middle initial indicating that I better not cause any trouble.

This is something that we do every time I am on “vacation.” It is funny, but not funny hah hah.

The calfs that were born earlier this year needed to have a respiratory shots in order to get them ready for selling. This will help the calfs when they intermingle with other calfs and cattle at the stockyards.

So, my parents let me sleep in while they rounded up the cattle in the morning.

Probably an hour later I got into my cattle clothes and got ready to go and work on the cattle.

Boy, those calfs got big; except for the calf that lost its mother the last time I visited the Ranch. That calf was still kind of small.

My mother, my father and I then started the work. Separating the calfs from the cows. Not as easy as you think. We soon funneled them into another fenced portion of the corral and were just about ready for the shots.

My Dad got the shots ready and I got the camera ready for their “mug shots” or record keeping. We had to use the big cattle chute since the calf table was too small to handle these calfs that were now larger than they were months ago.

Our cattle are not like other cattle. Meaning, we treat our cattle with care and do not yell, hit or chase cattle like most ranchers do. Our cattle are pretty tame and use to humans being near them. We try not to frighten our cattle when they are young or make the shots, branding, and spraying of the cattle a frightening experience for them to dread the next time we round them for the next time. Cattle do remember certain experiences.

Yet, such as myself there is always one cow in the group that is ornery. Readers, I am actually scared of this one particular cow when we get her riled up. She will look at you and will give the indication of charging when you get too pushy for her liking.

Other than that we use sticks to strike their hindquarters or head in order to get them go in the direction we want them to.

We finally got done about an hour or two later and this time I was injury free; however my mother got her hand caught while pushing a cow through a cow chute to the cattle chute for their shot.

After working on the cattle I got to smoking. Meaning, smoking those rib as well as the sausage for our dinner tonight.

Sunday – was spent moving things around the Ranch as well as cleaning up here and there in the morning. In the afternoon we had barbeque to go to.

Readers, do you remember me showing you the plaque from the 4-H club? Well, the 4-H club was throwing another barbeque and my parents were once more invited. I was actually excited to go since I have never been to a 4-H function or a function that was honoring my parents.

My parents made a donation of $ 500.00 to the 4-H club. What I found out that donation help out a young girl in high school to buy a sheep and helped her raise that sheep for showing.

What I did not know and what touched me the most about this was my parent’s contribution helped a girl who lost her mother on September 11 last year. She was staying with her stepbrother or brother since her father was abusive and she did not want to be with her father, from what I gather was said.

A 4-H member, the speaker of the group I imagine, brought over the young girl to the table we were at and personally thanked my parents for their help and also what was done with their donation. As you Readers can read I was touched that this girl came over and thanked and shook both of my parent’s hands for the sheep she was able to purchase and raise. I think what was important to me was that she looked happy and was happy. I do not know if this was the reason why, but I want to believe that it did since this young girl apparently seemed to have a hard life already – which her life has yet to begin for her.

After the barbeque, I wanted to fix some of the erosion that has happened around the road to the Ranch. This is my thing that I do – meaning when I do work on the road I feel I am contributing to the state of the Ranch as well as earning my room and board while I am on “vacation.” I also do most of the lunch and dinner cooking as every now and then I will cook breakfast, but tend to leave that up to my Mother.

Sounds kooky, but that is what I believe. I do not ask for help since this is something I do on my own. I grabbed a wheelbarrow, a shovel and two cans of Coca-Cola’s and headed off to the areas I was going to work on.

Here is the crazy thing Readers. I listen to my Ipod when working down there. Music and working seem to go hand in hand for me. Anyway, the weather is still hot during this time of the year and with that said the rattlesnakes are still out; meaning they are not in their burrows hibernating for winter yet.

I always forget that I cannot totally put in my earphones and crank the volume up. After all, without the music all that can be heard is the wind blowing and me shoveling dirt into the wheelbarrow. I would not be able to hear the warning sound of a rattlesnake rattling its tail should I come close to the area that snake is at or if that snake slithers into my area I am working at.

And should I get bit or anyone else, death could be very likely since the nearest hospital is over 40 miles away. Of course the older the snake the less likely; whereas if the bite was from a younger rattlesnake the bite is so much lethal than a full-grown rattlesnake. Yet, multiple bites from a mature rattlesnake are just as fatal.

I digress Readers. So, I have to be alert to any rattlesnake’s rattler when working with my earphones pumping music into my ears. There are a couple of other snakes that are where we live, but Rattlesnakes are the ones to be careful of.

Monday – Just this and that were done before I had to leave the Ranch once more.

Soon, the time arrived that we had to left the Ranch for Albuquerque. My brother has plans to take us out for dinner before I leave for Colorado.

As we left the dirt road of the reservation behind we sometimes make a stop at a Trading post for something to drink, since our drive to Albuquerque is about 2 hours further from that point.

I was not interested in getting something to drink this time around, but my Mother indicated she saw a Mountain biker and perhaps we should stop for something to drink and find out where that biker is riding. I have to admit I was curious.

I got out of the vehicle and proceeded to walk to the Trading post. I immediately saw the bike rider, a white older guy, and saw that he has the same bike set up as Colin, the guy I met in Salida in June during the 2009 Ride the Rockies. Matter of fact, the same heavy duty looking mountain bike with the same type of bike trailer rig. That bike did indeed look like it was ridden long and hard and yet this bike had the rest of New Mexico to traverse before the United States / Mexico border.

I looked, but made sure that he did not noticed that I was looking at him. Now, even though I was on vacation I sure as shit did not blend in with the locals. I looked and talked like a “white man,” even though I am 100% pure Native American Indian in this part of the Navajo Nation. Matter of fact, I bet I was only the only Navajo in this part of New Mexico who could not fluently talk Navajo.

I went into the Trading post with my dad and bought drinks for all of us.

Soon I left the Trading post and knew this was the moment to introduce myself to this biker.

I cannot remember what was exactly was said, but I asked if he was riding the Continental Divide. Readers, if I never met Colin during the Ride the Rockies I would not cared to talk to this bike rider, but since I learned something new about another core of bike riders in the world I was curious. Now, when I see a bike rider in the middle of nowhere along the Continental Divide I now know why there is a bike rider out in the middle of nowhere. As oppose to me just an ordinary bike rider and not thinking whom, where, what about that bike rider.

The bike rider nodded yes while he was eating some Nachos outside the Torrean Trading post in New Mexico.

He said yes and that he was riding South. Which of course made sense since it is probably getting too cold to be riding North on the Continental Divide.

I told him to be careful of Navajo Gangs at night, but otherwise he should be okay. I also told him to be careful of drunk drivers. He asked where he could camp – I said nowhere really. What about Chaco Canyon? I said that is bout 60 miles west and another 30 miles north from the path you are taking. Also, with the rains in the evening you make get stuck in the mud since the mud out in the part of Southwestern United States is slick and sticky.

We talked a bit and soon I told him that I met a Continental Divide Bike Rider in June this year in Colorado during the Ride the Rockies bike tour. His name was Colin (Amazing how I could re-collect his name without thinking about Colin since the first of August). He replied that he did not recall that name, but he said to me “he is not that crazyguyonabike is he?”

I replied “sure enough”

The Same. This rider outside the Torrean Trading post said he met him in Canada or Montana about a month ago.

What a fucking small world. Yet, Readers I would not know this information if my mother had not mentioned this particular bike rider outside the Trading post. Further more, if I had not mentioned this information to my Mother after the Ride The Rockies I did earlier this summer she probably would not have even mentioned this lone bike rider in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico. I probably would have never given this bike rider a second thought.

Knowing that I was talking too long with the bike rider and my parents waiting in the truck for me we had to get to Albuquerque. I soon bid him farewell and hope the best for the rest of his trip South.

On the way to Albuquerque I could not believe that I actually ran into some one that knew someone that I met months earlier.

Back to the story, we soon met up with my brother and had dinner. Dinner was nice, but our waiter sucked. He must have been new or did not want another table at the late hour we were eating at – who knows. We ate our dinner, which was great. We talked about this and that and soon the time for me to catch the Americanos Bus was approaching.

We left and soon they dropped me off at the bus station downtown and that part of my vacation was over.

Fast-forward – I went to the Colin’s website when I got back to Denver and sure enough on his website I spotted the picture of the rider I met at the Torrean Trading post in New Mexico. Wow. What a small world indeed. I am so grateful that my Mother pointed out this rider to me as well as I am grateful to myself for not being the typical me and introducing myself to a total stranger on a bike, which I probably in all honesty would never given him the time of the day. The link below is the link to see his journal and I have posted the only picture that I know of the guy I met that last day of my vacation.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=126321&v=2I

And that my Readers was the re-cap of my short vacation.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Our Cattle Branding

Greetings Readers

In keeping with the Cattle theme I will show you readers our family brand for our Black Angus. And yes the brand is registered. I think, this is the second most part of branding that I do not like to do. Except that this year with the new Calving table this year's branding went so smoothly. So smoothly in fact that I did not get one bruise on my body. Fucking amazing. Since we were doing the branding the "old school" way and that meant holding the calf down on the ground for branding. That usually took two people and then another person to do the actual brand. And when that brand touches the Calf you hold onto fucking dear life of that Calf. Otherwise, you will either get kicked, get trampled, or get knocked around. I can laugh about this since it was the worst and best of times for me.

I have to say that I enjoyed holding onto dear life of that Calf. I knew that Calf was going to struggle. I know I would. I earned my keep holding onto that Calf while it was being branded. And at the end of the day I earned a beer. And in my eyes, I am a cowboy. Hah hah.

Though this year, the Calving table took care of holding the calves in place. All we needed to do was to let down a side panel on the Calving table and then brand away. I was still nervous with me being responsible of taking down the panel to brand and then put the panel back into place once done branding. I knew that the Calving table was holding the calves in place, I was still nervous of the hot branding iron that was just inches away from my arms and hands, not to mention the right side of my body.

Oh yes readers, I am very, very familiar with how hot that branding iron is. I have many times gotten burned by the branding iron. I also have ruined many clothes to the branding iron. Nope readers, I was never smart enough each year to bring the same clothes that the branding iron touched / ruined the year before. I have gotten probably a second degree (if not a more severe) burn by just holding the brand due to the heat travel up the branding iron. Let me fucking tell you readers that the handle can get mighty, mighty hot. And you can feel that burn for the rest of the day. Just a dull burning sensation in the palm and fingers of your hand. Mind you that the burn received was received through the work gloves one wears already for branding. That's how hot that branding iron gets and needs to be.

Now, with experience, I can tolerate (basically I am used to) the smell of that burning hair on the calf and skin from the brand itself. There is a smell that once you have smelled the branding smell you can not forget that aroma. Never, ever.. I have had heard that there is about a five percent of people who do get a whiff of that branding process smell and never, ever eat meat from that point on. Me? Nope, I still love the Porterhouse, the T-bone and the occasional sirloin steak. Rib eye is too fatty, but will eat if presented as a meal. After all a steak is a steak.

Although I will state this right now for the record - A Fillet Mignon is not all that and a bag of potato chips. Just a nice cut, well a nice small cut, of steak with bacon wrapped around the sides of the steak. Some places, some people add various spices / seasonings, but after all that - the presentation is just a small cooked cut of steak with bacon wrapped around the sides and over priced. Yes, the Fillet Mignon is delicious, but not my cup of tea nor will I fucking pay 30 bones for a 10 ounce cut of steak that will probably shrink to 8 ounces. That is messed up.

Now, the other picture is the tools that we use for branding these days. Our family no longer needs to build a fire for heating up the branding irons. We hook up a propane tank to this branding device and the irons get placed and heated up inside that little container - hopefully you can make out the container on the picture. And yes we have learned to put dirt over the branding iron handles in order to keep them from getting hot, hot. Of course, the branding irons still get very hot, but the dirt over the handles helps keep the heat from travelling to the handles ends. In addition, we have a extra work glove to use to pick up each iron for branding. And unfortunately, this year my dad got his left hand burned through his work glove while holding the branding iron a bit longer than usual.

Yes, we only have one family brand, but as you can see from the picture we have many branding irons. Depending on fast and how hot the branding irons are we found out that you should have more than one branding iron for use. Also, sometimes the branding iron does not heat up evenly, so with that you have other various brands to "touch up" the branding area in case the brand did not brand right. And once a brand gets used for branding it does take some time to heat up to branding hotness. So, if you do not want to have branding lasting all day we suggest that you get two or three branding irons so you can move and brand Calves one after another without waiting for the one brand to heat up. Branding is fun, but not enough to make it an all day affair.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Completely In the Zone

Greetings Readers

"I'm calmer than you."

The line from The Big Lewbowski from Walter (John Goodman's character)

Wow. Is it not amazing how one can feel after accomplishing something that you worked for. In this case - just one day.

As I blogged a few days ago with the Blog title "Something's Rotten in Denmark" I was bent out of shape about something that was small, but yet I could not let this slide no matter how hard I tried. it was eating my conscious away.

I mean - what is a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich without the bread?! (I will not go into that again - please read the post - Something's Rotten in Denmark)

Anyway, I was fired up after that incident and I guess I was on a mission to out do everyone else that was involved in the food bringing/making festive period. Nothing was going to bought pre-made from the store from me.

I mentioned I did a test run on grilling ribs this past weekend.

Sure enough that was what I decided on - Grilled ribs. But then, I decided to go over and beyond. I also made tossed salad and potato(e) salad. Damn straight I made all items. Hell, I can multi-task and cook.

I had to go to three different stores on Tuesday night to get the beef ribs. I don't do pork ribs, but that does not mean I would eat pork ribs, if not made by me.

I got the grill fired up at about 4:30 AM in the morning on Wednesday. I had my infamous Natalie Merchant stocking cap and a long white T-shirt on while cooking yesterday morning.

While I got the grill going (I used charcoal in order to get the best, I think, taste of ribs) I started the stove for boiling eggs and potatoes. Then, while that was going I started on the green salad (red leaf). I was watching the grill while chopping green onions, shredding radishes and cutting mushrooms for the salad. I wanted to put more in, but I had to be careful since the food that I was making was not just for me. I definitely held back on the salad ingredients.

The grill was really going about 30 minutes later. I did not realize how much meat I had on the grill. There was a lot of meat and I was moving and re-moving ribs from one part of the grill to another part of the grill. I was stacking up ribs on the top level of the grill. Yet, 5:00 AM I was the cooking miester of the Centennial / Englewood area that morning.

By the time that the meat got to a certain point where they would not cause a flare up I was back into the kitchen and got to work on the potato salad. Again, I decided to hold back and kept the ingredients to a minimum. I added the basics - Mayo, pickles, onions, eggs, and a bit of mustard (Damn, really a bit since there was hardly any mustard in the bottle!). Then, the rest of the ingredients are a secret since I have "the bomb" recipe. yeah right. Note: Yes, all the potato salad was finished yesterday so I did not have to waste anything and feel guilty that a country in Africa went hungry since I threw away food.

I also finished up the green salad at the same time. There was a lot I did and I was running around the kitchen, but at least I was not out of control nor did I feel overwhelmed.

I hate to admit this, but I was "In the Zone"! I was happy. I was content. I was at peace. While I was cooking I had the Ipod going - a bit of dance music and Tiesto. Still no TV so I was not distracted by the news or anything else that might cause me to burn something or chop off a finger while looking at the TV.

The charcoal actually burned down quickly to ash so I had to add some more to finish the cooking. Darn, I was so close, but oh well. This was the first time that I had the entire grill full of ribs and judging the amount of charcoal to use was just shot in the dark.

As I said - I was in the zone, I was just cooking, which I like to do. Especially when I have a goal in mind.

All in all everything went well, except for not having any mustard left for the potato salad.

After reaching my destination for bringing the food I plugged in the crock pots in order to keep the ribs warm. There is a microwave, but I will not use a microwave to heat up my ribs that I bought.

After everyone had their fill almost everyone said it was good. Not to mention that it smelled good. I was "a hit" and not to mention that my "spread" was the talk of the town. People were wondering did I actually cook and make all this. This guy can cook and yes I am proud to say that I can cook.

I did not take one rib home nor was there any potato salad leftover. Only a few spoonful of salad was leftover so that was great!

When I got home last night I put everything on the counter, laid down on the couch and I was able to go to sleep right away. I was at peace and I did not let anything "get to me" yesterday or "get me down". I know I made up for what I blogged about the other day, but mind you that was not the reason why I made the meal like I did. I just wanted the attention and to be "the talk" of conversation. After I woke up about 2 AM I moved to my bed and then the next the you know it was 5:00 AM.

Yes, sometimes I need to hear "nice" things. Whether from someone I know or do not know.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

The Home Stretch

Greetings Readers

I may have mentioned this, but then again I am not sure if I got specific about what I want to mention.

There is time in the morning that I love. The coming of Dawn. There is that small amount of time, a window of opportunity, to see a gorgeous sunrise.

The time was earlier this week when I was going to work early and I happen to catch the "orange glow" that marked the rising sun over the horizon. Yet, I just did not see coming, but I saw it being reflected off the mirrored windows on a couple of business buildings that are located in the DTC (Denver Tech Center) Area. Wow. I did not have my digital camera that morning, but had I then I would be sharing the picture with you.

Though, this event happened twice this past week.

Saturday Morning I decided to grill some ribs. Well, actually truth be told I had decided on Friday that I was going to have ribs for breakfast. I got up at 5 AM or so and got the grill going with charcoal. There I am - in one my white T-shirts, underwear and my Natalie Merchant stocking cap on the patio. I wanted ribs and I did not want oven cooked ribs. I wanted a excellent breakfast and I desired something good that morning that came straight off the grill.

As I waiting for the coals to get burning and going, I saw the morning come. What was nice about this cold, cold morning was that the clouds in the south were sort of "stretched" out as opposed to "normal" fluffy clouds. When Dawn was approaching on the horizon the clouds were turned orange by the sun approaching the Rocky Mountain Area. The southern sky looked like a blanket of orange fire and uniform, in a sense.

After the sunrise came and went I guess I did not realize how far south the Sun is in the sky. I do not know why I did not really notice until that morning. Yet, the other thing that I was reminded of was that we are getting so close to the shortest day of the year and from that point on the days will start getting longer. As my blog post states - The Home Stretch.

In closing, I guess I have not really mind that the days are short and I have been riding home in the dark these days. Yet, I think that the thing that makes me unaware is that I have been going to the CAC after work. Working out is something that I actually look forward to.

The CAC is so above 24hr fitness in quality and expense. AND - it was worth every penny I spent on the membership.

The past week has been cold, but just seeing the sunrise this past week has kept me warm. Not to mention the Dry Sauna and whirlpool at the CAC.

Until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

A mis-mash of Information

Greetings People

What a beautiful morning to be living. Some days I wake up to tackle the world and there is nothing in the world that is going to stop or topple me from my pedistal.

I had grilled, BBQ, more chicken last night. Pretty nice dinner once more. No "other" fragrance was smelled.

I had stopped at the 7-11 this morning to get my Litre of Coke and who do I see staring at me from the magazine rack? A fat little child in a red shirt, blue gloves and hat and would say "You just got F'd in the A"? Come on readers. Yep - Cartman! To see him on the front of the magazine this morning was just the icing on top of the cake. I was smiling ear to ear and now I am going to have to buy the magazine later tonight. I also saw the words 10 years. Has it been that long? I mean Cartman came into my life about two or three years ago and since that time I can not let him go. His voice even got into my head when I left 7-11. It was his infamous song that starts out "Kyle mom's is a..." well, I could not get that jingle out of my head this morning and even now while I blogging I can heard him singing the version from the Southpark Movie.

So, as you can see readers, I have a smile and in a good mood for whatever reason. The sun was shining in and out of the clouds this morning. Apparently there is storm moving in and the sun will disappear for a day or so. Rain is forecast for tomorrow and I guess that means that I will be staying in the house. No big deal. The abode needs to be cleaned up and I have nothing else really to do.

I did not mention this yesterday, but guess who I saw on Channel 4 news yesterday morning? She was from Fox News 31. Did the weather. Starts with a "S". Okay - Stacey Donaldson. I was sort of surprised to see her. I guess she got a good offer from Channel 4 to switch to them. Unless she was "tired" of Fox news.

Speaking of which. I was watching Fox news this morning and there was this story about a Hummer that was "torched" by an someone who left the initials ELF in the Cherry Creek area. Now, Steve, the anchor on Fox news says that the initials stand for Earth Liberation Front (or something another to that effect) and then he talk a bit more then wraps up the story about the Police are investigating the fire and have not made any connection (or something to that effect) to the ELF. So readers, how bias is Steve indicating on his own, that the Earth Liberation Front is responsible for the fire when the Police do not know, according to Steve's reporting, that the Police do not know if "ELF" did the torching or not. That is assuming in Steve's part and could be slanderous. For all we know readers "ELF" could be an "Edward Lynn Frank" and could be pissed off at the Hummer (or the owner) for whatever reason and decided to torch the Hummer. Whatever happen to telling the news straight and not "bending" the news.

I guess with that I am going to bid a fond adeiu

until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete

Ga-Ga on the Patio

Greetings People

There are a couple of fragrances that just drive me wild. Or makes my heart go thump-de-thump. You kind of get the idea.

With saying that. Yesterday evening I had made up my mind to have chicken for dinner. More importantly, I wanted to have grilled BBQ chicken. Once I get stuck on something I want - I got to have. Almost did not happen last night. I had forgotten my wallet at work and all I had on me was some change in the side pocket of my biking pack. Whew! Luckily I had enough to buy at least one package of four thighs.

I got home, started the grill with Charcoal and got ready to cook. Hour and a half later I was finishing up and then I smelled this other smell out on my patio. The smell was a woman's fragrance that I just absolutely love. Anyway, I sniffed & sniffed and I could not locate where the smell was coming from. I know that my downstairs neighbor is a woman and I know that she had been hearing my door probably open and close when I was going out to the patio to cook. Also, I got a new next door neighbor and I not sure if the smell was coming from their window by my patio. However, there I was sniffing my dinner and also sniffing for the fragrance. Whether or not they knew they got my attention I was sniffing for that smell and my dinner at the same time. How stupid is that. hah hah. I enjoyed the last five minutes of cooking with both of those smells. Someone definitely caught my attention.

I know that is an irrelevant blog paragraph, but thought to mention that since I am sharing to you readers my thoughts and daily adventures. Nope, sorry woman readers, I am not going to tell you what specific fragrances that I love. Knowing you women, you would come over and take advantage of me at one of my weakest moments. Perhaps I would not mind, but that would defeat the purpose of winning my "cold hearted" heart.

until the next time

Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete