What's that smell?

Every Friday night at the our house, it's "homemade hamburger night", whether we need the cholesterol or not. I'd just as soon eat a good hamburger as a steak. Perhaps it has it's origins in the early years of my life when my mom made ground beef everyday for what seemed like years on end. Well, it didn't hurt me too much, it just gave me roots based in humility. I mean , look at it this way: ground beef ain't exactly steak. It is comprised of many parts of the beef. A mongrel of cuisine if you will...or to make it more palatable, one could say "the quarterhorse of beef cuts". You know, a little of this, a little of that, mixed to perfection. It's interesting that hungry friends of my sons, past and present, seem to show up right as Ma is taking the critters off the grill.

Then there's Hoot Gibson, the famous cowboy, who shows up without a formal invite every Friday. He's always good for "Show and Tell". You should see some of the stuff he brings to dinner. Just ask my son Tyler about his pouch full of jelly beans. Tyler got it as a graduation present and curiously held it up, full multi-colored jelly beans, one Friday nite and said ,"What is it?". "Well", says Hoot, a.k.a. Bob, "it's a bull's pouch, you know? I bought it down at Cowtown Boots. Tourists were snapping them up like hotcakes.... eeer... Bull pouches. You know what I mean?" By the time Tyler finally figured it out what exactly he was waving around, we were all hysterical. A tanned bull's pouch, complete with hair, filled with jelly beans...Oh my God! Ronald Reagan must have been rolling over in his grave.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there's something that they smell wafting on the breeze when they pass our house. Saute a few sliced jalapenos and onions in olive oil and "voila !" Dinner is ready. I must say that Donnita gets most of the credit as she is the Grilless around these parts. This is just one of the secrets of life. Shhh, don't tell too many people. "Great homemade hamburgers are a part of life. The pouch makes for good conversation and laughs. And the jelly beans? They're for dessert."