Birthday Boy

I'm alive, I swear!

Just wanted to take this opportunity to tell all the friends that I've made here on WMT, I'm sorry for being MIA. Life grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, and I've been so busy that I've lost 35lbs this summer.

Sorry to my fellow Mods, for 'dropping the ball' lately; I know you've all been nice enough not to say anything, but I'll be making a larger effort to carry my own weight around here again.

I've been trying to get my life in order all summer, as I just started college on the 22nd of September. So there's been some outdoor projects, some indoor projects, as I try to tie up loose ends that I knew I wouldnt have time to deal with when school started.

Anyways, I care enough about you all that I figured it deserved an explanation. I hope you're all having a great day. I turn 28 today, and for my birthday I asked for the family lasanga.

So the meats simmering, the noodles get cooked here shortly.. I'll be back to make you all drool.. And there should be some updates to my Journal here soon too.

Welcome back and happy birthday buddy. We missed you.

Happy b-day

welcome back and happy b-day deezil

Good to have you back

Happy Birthday! Enjoy that lasagna. We want pics!!!

Happy birthday, Deezil! What are you majoring in?

Happy Birthday Manley!

Good to hear you are doing OK and congrats on going back to school! IIRC you didn't have 35 lbs to lose buddy! Enjoy your day and the Lasagna!

Welcome back and Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday! Hope ya had a good one! I know you had a good meal!
Barbie

Runningwolf said:

Welcome back and happy birthday buddy. We missed you.

Click to expand...

You've all been missed as well.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes everyone.

Boatboy24 said:

We want pics!!!

Click to expand...

Kind of behind schedule, been trying to finish the front door. It had 5 layers of paint on it, so we've spent the last 6 weeks working on it; scraped and sanded all the paint off, only to find that the routed detail work was rotting and uneven, so I ended up chiseling it off by hand. After it was all chiseled, 80 grit, 120 grit and 220 grit sanded it then hit it with 3 or 4 coats of polyurathane. I'll put a ridiculous amount of coats on it next year, but that will get it through winter.

So the lasagna is just going in the oven, because we just finished putting new weatherstripping around the front door, and new L-bracket on the bottom. Looks pretty sharp, but my stomachs wondering what the hold up is.

I'll show you guys the door tomorrow, when I can get a picture in the daylight.

Julie said:

What are you majoring in?

Click to expand...

Biting off a transferable Engineering degree.. Thinking something along civil or structural engineering lines. Lots of math, lol.

ibglowin said:

IIRC you didn't have 35 lbs to lose buddy!

Click to expand...

Lol, you're pretty spot-on there. I haven't been this lean since the first time I weighed this much (Pretty sure I was 13-14, so half my life ago?). Holiday's are coming up though, and this lasagna is just the 'tip of the iceberg'.


The door, man, the door.. It's purdy. Pretty sure it's oak. Could be wrong.. I'm proud of that one, but you'll have to excuse the runs in the polyurethane, I was racing a few storm fronts and didnt have time after that last coat to go back and sand my mistakes out. I was more worried about getting it covered before it got wet because it had been 80-90F for the ~6 weeks prior to the storm while the chiseling and sanding was happening.. So I'll sand the runs off and add more coats in the spring, but she's lovely. The linseed oil really popped the grain.. Another love of mine, the wood.

There will be another pic when the lasagna comes out, have no fear!

Hamburger
Pork Sausage
Italian Pork Sausage

Tomato Sauce
Tomato Paste
Crushed Tomatoes

Onions
Garlic
Mushrooms
Olives

Basil
Parsley
Thyme
Salt
Pepper

Ricotta
Parmesan
Mozzarella
Colby Jack

A recipe passed down from my grandpa, so I cant really give out much more than that, but it's heaven in a pan. Holds a special place in my family, so having it on my birthday is a real blessing.

A Happy B'day to ya!!! Great looking lasagna.. And what Viticulture did you top it with???

Happy birthday!!

Floandgary said:

And what Viticulture did you top it with???

Click to expand...

I actually went back and forth between Organic Agriculture/Botany/Horticulture/Soil Science type of thinking, and Engineering type of thinking. I realized though, that I'm smart enough to teach myself the soil and plant stuff and I can be successful with that. And I'm smart enough to be an engineer, and be successful at that. What I can't do though, is pay myself the 70-95k/yr that engineers in this area make (after ~5 yrs experience, being good, knowing folks). But that kind of money can afford whatever kind of farm I think I can dream up..

And I have been, dreaming..

Go for it Deezil and you can live your dream.

Deezil said:

I actually went back and forth between Organic Agriculture/Botany/Horticulture/Soil Science type of thinking, and Engineering type of thinking. I realized though, that I'm smart enough to teach myself the soil and plant stuff and I can be successful with that. And I'm smart enough to be an engineer, and be successful at that. What I can't do though, is pay myself the 70-95k/yr that engineers in this area make (after ~5 yrs experience, being good, knowing folks). But that kind of money can afford whatever kind of farm I think I can dream up..

And I have been, dreaming..

Click to expand...

Think your re; may have been meant for Julie. My question of which viticulture may have been a stretch as to what wine you may have enjoyed with the Lasagne