Central Planning Meets The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Central planning is frequently (and erroneously) considered synonymous with socialism or communism.  Central planning is a legitimate economic model.  Socialism and communism use central planning as a way of achieving other social and political goals, but generally operate within the construct of a mixed economy.

Does that sound familiar?  It should, because that is a Trumpian economic model.  However, President Trump puts his own nuance on the concept; he, alone, is the decider. 

The president has downplayed the economic stresses arising as a consequence of his tariff policy and unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.  Asked earlier this month whether the financial situation of average Americans was a motive to end the Iran war, he said not even a little bit.  And you know what?  I believe him.  The president is adept at saying the quiet part out loud.  After-all, just like going to war, he alone is the decider.

There is a weak link in the chain of a centrally-planned economy orchestrated by a single individual.  Particularly if that individual is surrounded by sycophants.  In the absence  of hybrid vigor,  economics becomes inbred and less resistant to disruption by outside forces.  Add a war to the mix and things get more complicated.

Consider this; the percentage of credit card balances at least 90 days delinquent rose to 13.2% in the first quarter, the highest level in 15 years.  America's total credit card balance reached $1.25 trillion in the first quarter, the highest first quarter balance since the Fed began tracking it in 1999.

The average interest rate on these cards rose to 21% in February from 14.6% in February 2022 putting an additional strain on consumers.  Why is this important?  Our economy is not driven by manufacturing; it is a service-based economy driven by consumers.

Soaring interest rates and rising inflation have led to the highest delinquencies since the financial crisis; a pattern economists refer-to as survival debt. 

And, of course, the Strait remains effectively closed leaving global supply chains seriously messed-up with all sorta unintended consequences.  So I'm still waiting on President Trump to improve everyone's (not just the investor class) prosperity and general lot in life.  Along with making the world a safer place.

I sure hope he gets this right.  After-all, he's the decider.... 

Cryogenic Critter

 Member of the local frog chorale, adept climber of vertical surfaces and personal friend.  

click on image for a closer look

 

Meet Hyla versicolor - the gray tree frog.  

This amphibian sports a number of chameleon-like qualities allowing it to change in coloration in seconds from green to gray with darker mottling or a solid color.  This wonder of camouflage allows the frog to blend-in with tree bark and foliage. Field marks for this frog include a white spot below each eye, white belly and bright yellow-orange skin beneath its thighs.    

The gray tree frog is nocturnal – foraging in the evening for insects and other bugs and resting during the day in cover.  I found this guy hanging out on the shady side of the house.  Yes, on the siding.  The toe pads are pronounced and produce a sticky substance allowing this critter to cling to various surfaces.  

While the breeding season is presently in full swing - this species will sing beyond the breeding season, especially on warm, rainy or humid days.   The female selects a mate based upon his call, lays up to 2000 eggs in groups of 10 to 50.  The tadpoles hatch in four or five days and will change into froglets in about two months.    

The gray tree frog overwinters under leaf litter, logs and rocks and actually freezes.  Yup, it can freeze solid and thaw out perfectly fine when spring rolls-around.  It produces large amounts of glycerol replacing water in vital organs which acts like antifreeze (called a cryoprotectant) and prevents ice crystals from forming in the cells.  The frog’s body freezes and its heartbeat and breathing stop and the critter enters a sate of suspended animation.  Even the brain cells are barely functioning with demand for energy and oxygen dropping almost to zero.  This state of suspended animation require no upkeep.  When the temperature warms up – the frog thaws out and emerges to serenade us with its calling.

Now that, pardon the pun, is cool.

From a couple of nights ago taking Doggo out for potty call before bedtime I captured 30 seconds of this frog's chorale.  Turn-up the volume...

 

May Astronomy

There are two types of Blue Moon and neither has anything to do with color.  Ordinarily a Blue Moon is a second full moon that appears in a calendar month. The 1937 edition of the now defunct Maine Farmers' Almanac (not to be confused with The Old Farmers Almanac) explained in their calendar that a Blue Moon occurs when one of the four seasons contains four full moons instead of the usual three.  The August 21, 1937 moon was the third of four full moons that summer when for no apparent reason it was reported as a Blue Moon.  Ever since, a seasonal blue moon refers to the third full moon in a season that has four full moons.

Anyway, at sunset this evening the second full moon of the month will rise in the east very close to the bright red star, Antares; the brightest of stars in the constellation Scorpius.  It will appear full both tonight and officially tomorrow.

Because it is the second of three consecutive smallest of 2026 full moons it is also what is called a micromoon.  This moon is 252,360 miles (406,135 kilometers) distant.  Ordinarily, the average distance is 238,900 miles (384,472 kilometers) distant.

Fingers-crossed for clear night skies tonight and tomorrow.

Frog Chorale

 

It’s a bit past 10:30 PM; bedtime.  So I took doggo out for potty call and the opportunity to record 30 seconds of gray tree frogs. 

If you’re into amphibian courtship rituals; this is what it’s all about so turn-up the volume. 

Music to my ears….

 

 

 

Another First

While we're on the subject of lilacs a pal suggested I pick some lilac blossoms (no stalks or leaves) and do this.

Steeped overnight in the fridge, yesterday morning I removed the flowers and poured myself a glass of lilac-infused lemonade.

It was good. An interesting combination that has possibilities.

ChatGPT tells me this:

The flowers of common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) contain small amounts of plant compounds such as antioxidants and aromatic oils.

Historically, lilac was also used in folk medicine for fever reduction and parasites, but there’s little modern clinical evidence supporting those uses.

The scent component may be the most noticeable “extra” effect. Floral aromas can influence mood and stress levels through the olfactory system, similar to lavender or elderflower, though lilac is less studied.

And while lilac flowers are generally considered edible in small culinary amounts, they are not a major medicinal herb.

So the honest answer is: mostly flavor and aroma, with possible mild antioxidant and relaxing qualities rather than strong health effects.

Anyway, I’m inclined to try most anything once and this is a first.

Sláinte!

Friday Music

Baby Elephant Walk" is a song composed in 1961 by Henry Mancini for the 1962 film Hatari! The tune was written for an impromptu scene in in which Dallas (Elsa Martinelli) led three baby elephants to a waterhole to bathe. The catchy simplicity has made it one of Mancini's most popular works, appearing on many compilation albums.

Lyrics by Hal David were not used in the film version. The instrumental earned Mancini a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement in 1963. 

A recording by Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra peaked at #48 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1962 as well as #10 on the Easy Listening chart.

Baby Elephant Walk.... 

Another Springtime Event

A previous settler had the foresight to plant lilacs around the original homestead.  That house was sold to someone who coveted the logs before our time. 

Nevertheless, over the last century the ancestral (and ancient) lilacs persist having grown into a massive 20 foot tall hedgerow. 

They’re putting on a show right now and the scent is incredible!

I cannot recall lilacs on this scale ever.

 

Further evidence of spring.....

 

 

 

 

How To Build A Raised Garden - Chapter Three

With the final assemble of the two raised bed planting boxes site prep was next.  A trip to Home Depot snared a couple of rolls of Vigoro 3 ft. x 50 ft. WeedBlock Weed Barrier Landscape Fabric with Microfunnels.  The product is designed to channel water away; yet maintain some semblance of moisture.  We'll see.  Like I said previously, this raised bed gardening is a learning curve.

My site was not level and was going to require some earthmoving to level it out.  It was with some trepidation that I went to start the tractor; which fired in the first crank.  Whew!  We had a couple of yards of soil on hand but moving it was going to require the use of the loader.  There was additional soil amendments and mulch - all of which are better hauled with a loader.  More on that episode momentarily.

As best I could I transferred dirt from here to there, leveled it out and stapled-down a layer of weed barrier.  

Following that, I carefully lined both planters with a layer of weed barrier fastening it with stainless steel staples.  A further nod to extending the life of the cedar by means of delaying immediate dirt to wood contact.  We'll see.

The Missus and I placed the boxes in position, shimmed them with treated wood blocks and added three inches (give or take) of untreated, natural wood mulch.

This was followed by a thick layer of additional soil from our stash.  At which point a high pressure hydraulic hose blew on the loader.

This added a day of delay in the project as I had to remove the culprit hose, make a trip to Sturgeon Bay to get a replacement fabricated and install it.  

Crisis averted.

On top of the first layer of soil went ten total bags of organic raised bed soil.  And don't get me started about what I found in that "organic" blend - shredded plastic, bits of debris, and sorta whatnot and nonsense including a stainless steel bolt.  Sheesh. 

An additional bag of composed manure was added over all.

Then everything was dressed with more natural wood mulch which I'm happy with as there's no mud to my gardening experience.

Nevertheless, we did have delivered three yards of "fancy" wood mulch for general landscaping purposes this summer and some of that might find its way to the raised bed project.  Time will tell.

Anyway, be sure to check back periodically for updates on what's growing, harvested, cooked, consumed or preserved.

This old man is looking forward to no longer raising vegetables on his hands and knees.

Praise the Lord and Vive le Jardin Magnifique!

Speaking of which; I've got a solid-running rototiller that I'm willing to part with for not a lot of money it it goes to a good home.  If you're interested you know where to find me....

How To Build A Raised Garden - Chapter Two

As a building material cedar is naturally rot-resistant.  I switched to cedar for bird box construction and properly sealed have had excellent results for something that is subject to the elements 24/7, year-in and year-out.  The only exception is a half-dozen pine-constructed boxes that I literally (and liberally) soaked in Thompson's Waterseal wood preservative decades ago.  They're persisting despite being held-together with galvanized nails because as a preservative Thompson's mummifies your wood.  But I digress.

For my raised beds I thought best to treat the cedar before assembly and some research on the interweb let me to the choice of this product.

It is technically a deck stain, but is labeled as nontoxic when used for growing foodstuffs.  You can have it tinted in any number of colors, but I chose to go with clear untinted and the result was a mat (non-glossy) finish that really enhanced the natural elements of the cedar while hopefully extending the life expectancy of the planter.

It dries fast and earlier this month as the weather began to warm I dragged a couple of ancient sawbucks over to the granary lean-to and set-up  to stain/seal the boards and corner assemblies with two to three coats of product.  

It took three to four days and just about the time I was more than half-way thru the can this happened.

I wouldn't ordinarily cry over spilled stain but at $78 a gallon this was a near disaster.

Fortunately, and with the help of the missus, the spilled product on the surface of the boards was scraped back into the can and anything on the lean-to floor was sopped-up with a brush and applied to the boards.  Dirt and all.  I'd like to think it adds character; besides, it's a planter after all.  Disaster averted.

After the sealant was dry assembly followed.

 

And after assembly I touched-up any scrapes, scuffs and edges with more the sealant/stain.

I added handles on each end to facilitate moving the boxes to their final resting spot so as to not stress any of the fittings.

It occurred to me that with the addition of two additional handles on the long sides of the box I would be half-way to a coffin.  All that would be needed would be a bottom and a lid.  This notion has morbid possibilities so I'll leave it at the raised box planter stage of the discussion.

Tomorrow I'll share installation and planting material tips.   

How To Build A Raised Garden - Chapter One

I'm an old man and after more than three decades of working crappy Door County dirt I am done gardening on my hands and knees.  

At the close of last season we tilled and sowed the garden adjacent to the machine shed into pollinator plants and for us anyway permanently put it to pasture.  My plan was to install two to three raised beds in the front yard above the rock wall.  That way I could still scratch my gardening itch, give my back and knees a break and if I wanted to freeze or can a large quantity of anything there's plenty of ways to source vegetables from a local grower or farm market.

After researching designs and availability of material locally I decided-upon a box roughly three by six feet and sixteen inches in height.  Western red cedar deck boards closely resembling the material used in fashioning bird boxes.  Whilst bird box boards are planed smooth on one side and rough-sawn on the opposite surface the deck boards are planed smooth on all surfaces with rounded edges.  They're also thicker (one inch), closer-grained and seemingly have more knots.  More character I like to say.  

Sure, I could have simply used green-treated lumber but I figured on something easier on the eyes yet durable.  Oddly-enough, materials were cheaper sourced from Amazon Prime than anywhere else locally.

Last week, and just in-time, I installed two of them and on Wednesday planted the first with various vegetable seeds and some potted sugar snap peas and a trellis.  Two days ago the tomatoes, peppers and herbs were plugged-in.  After 48 hours all the plants are looking happier to be freed of their pots.

There's room for one more box, or a half-sized box, if needed.  I figure I'll give it a go for one growing season at a minimum before engaging in further expansion.

Raised bed gardening like this is new to me and likely has a learning curve.  Stay-tuned for a couple of further installments on the build and installation and harvest as the season progresses. 

 

 

   

First Monarch

Considering how long it has taken for spring to manifest itself around here even seemingly small events are a big deal.

I has outside yesterday planting potted vegetables and herbs in my two new raised garden beds and this happened.

First monarch I've seen this year and I was lucky to snare a video to prove it....

  

Memorial Day

It is, in a way an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country....in wars far away.  The imagination plays a trick.  We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise.  We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired.

But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives - the one they were living and one they would have lived...

- Ronald Reagan

Originally called Decoration Day - Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service to our country.

There is an American Cemetery and Memorial located in Colleville-sur-Mer on the bluff overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy, France.  Dedicated in 1956 the Cemetery and Memorial is situated closely to the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 - the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II.  

This is the final resting place of 9,388 of our military dead - most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations.  If you were to visit this place you will note that upon the walls of the Garden of the Missing are inscribed an additional 1,557 names.  And because old battlefields continue to yield their dead - rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

In Plot E Row 26 Grave 37 rests James D. Johnston - Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army, 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division.  Jill and I walked this sacred place on a typical rainy Norman morning and while I have no direct connection to James Johnston, his life before the war, or his survivors following the war what you can discern from the marker is that Johnston was from North Carolina and was a commander in the same division and infantry regiment my dad served.  

Some of you know that my father landed at Utah Beach as an infantry replacement.  He was a machine gunner in a heavy weapons platoon.  Dad fought in the battle of the hedgerows, the breakout at Saint-Lô and Patton's mad dash across northern France.  His participation in the liberation of Belgium was interrupted by wounds incurred in combat.  Following his recovery in England he served for a brief period in the US Army of Occupation in Germany.

Dad returned home from the war and lived a full and rewarding life. He worked quietly in a public school system and never spoke about his war experiences in any great detail until I was in college. I am alive today to muse about this subject because he survived.  James Johnston never had the opportunity to sit on the stoop and share closely-guarded feelings about the war with a son.  

This is why Memorial Day is personal to me.

A bit of reading reveals that Johnston died from wounds suffered from the detonation of a German 88mm shell at the blood-stained Crossroads 114 near Acqueville just outside of Cherbourg.*  Death in combat was fickle in the skirmishes and battle for mere meters in the uneven and mixed woodlands and pastures of the Bocage.  PFC Gaertner survived - Lt Col Johnston did not.

When it came time for a permanent burial, the families of the dead were asked if they wanted their loved ones repatriated for permanent burial in the U.S. or interred overseas.  Lieutenant Colonel Johnston's remains lie here with approximately 461 graves belonging to 9th Infantry Division G.I.s.

Today it is useful to remember and honor the lives that brave men and women sacrificed.  

Both of those lives.
 

click on images for a closer look

 

 

_{*Eight Stars to Victory - Mittelman, The Battery Press}

Talk'n Turkey

While working on a gardening project a few days ago I could hear a big male turkey gobbling-away.  I couldn't see him, yet within earshot I knew precisely what he was up to.  

It was making my dog nuts, but delightful to know someone was strutting their stuff likely across the road or on one of the trails closer to the house.

Like this dude....  

Return of the Timberdoodle

While out walking the dog recently she flushed several doodle birds.  I have mixed feelings about this; on one hand I do not care to discourage a flusher retriever’s natural instincts. On the other hand it is nesting season for all birds and I’m loath to allow a dog to trample or otherwise molest an active nest.  So I try to keep her close at all times. 

About those doodle birds, they’re common around here because of the remnant alder and willow thickets in the lowlands and younger reforested uplands.  Nevertheless, outside of the local situation this curious bird is becoming less common every year.

The American woodcock - Scolopax minor - also known as the timberdoodle - is a ground-dwelling shoreland bird species found in young forest and shrublands. Woodcock breed across eastern North America with Wisconsin part of its western range.  This migratory bird winters in lowlands from the Mid-Atlantic south to the Gulf Coast states. 

Like other shorebirds, American woodcocks, also known as timberdoodles, are well adapted to life on the ground. The location of their eyes allow them to be able to look skyward for predators while probing the earth with their beaks.

 

Earth worms are their meal of choice. Their long, flexible ~3 inch beak is great for digging through soft, moist soil. Their beaks function like forceps allowing them to eat their body weight in worms daily.

 Like other ground birds, woodcocks are precocial when they hatch. Meaning they hatch in a more advanced stage of development compared to other nesting birds and are able to leave the nest a few hours after hatching.

Historically, woodcock were found in much larger numbers.  This was a consequence of a landscape that included larger amounts of early successional habitat - the technical nomenclature for younger forest.  Not surprisingly those younger forest have evolved and grown to mature forest where woodcock do not live. Fire is suppressed and logging is in decline so the extent of younger woodland habitat continues to shrink.  Urban development also destroys former habitat and because of all of these factors the woodcock population has fallen by about 1 percent each year since the 1960s. 

Aldo Leopold’s - A Sand County Almanac - describes the courtship display of the male Woodcock.  This is one of the true harbingers of spring around here and a delight to observe before sun-up.  From the chapter titled Sky Dance in this excerpt.

I'm tickled to listen to the courtship ritual.  It is another sure sign of the arrival of spring.

Porch Beer

Now that spring has decidedly arrived it is seasonably conducive to sitting on the porch to have a cold one after quitting time.  

Not every day - but most days.

Doggo approved...

 

The Oriole Ranch

 

 

Made with real fruit juice.

No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

Gluten free.

32 oz bird food.

$1.99 at Econo Foods.

Jar number 5 so far for the 2026 season. 

Friday Music

Distinguished as possibly the only father and son rock band duo Tom and Ian Spanic had a moment in the sun in the mid 1980s thru the early 1990s.  They gained national attention in 1990 after they filled-in on Saturday Night Live  as a last-minute replacement for Sinead O'Connor.  This was followed-on by  appearances on Letterman, Conan O'Brien, MTV, Entertainment Tonight, World Cafe, Morning Edition and more.

Known for solid performance on their Fender Telecasters their rockabilly vocals were eerily evocative of the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly.  After an album on Permanent Records in 1988 they signed-on with Rounder and the rest was history for a couple of local boys previously known only around Milwaukee and Waukesha.   

The group remained active until Tom's death in 2016. 

The Spanic Boys - Face The Facts..... 

Sunrise

Yesterday evening I posted a couple of photos of a peninsula sunset.

This afternoon I bring you a video of a peninsula sunrise.

And you though trail cameras were only for wildlife....

 

All Wound-Up

I can remember this from my childhood.  We didn't have one as it was a luxury feature on your typical suburban lawnmower.  A neighbor had one however; and come to think of it, this was a technological marvel of the time.

The Briggs & Stratton wind-up starter, technically an impulse starter, was a mechanical alternative to the more common rope-pull recoil starters that persist to this day.  (My cursed rototiller has a rope-pull).  

Anyway, in the 1960's this breakthrough allowed a user to start a lawn mower without yanking on a rope multiple times.

The technology relied-upon a spring that stored energy as it was wound with a crank. Flipping a release lever allowed the spring to snap back, spinning the crankshaft much faster than a yanking on a rope and starting the engine.  The Briggs Easy Spin version incorporated a patented camshaft feature that kept the intake valve open slightly longer on the compression stroke thereby reducing the force needed to turn the engine over.  Spiffy.

A victim of their own complexity and as electric starters became more affordable this technology fell out of favor.  It persists - although you won't find it in your garage.  In situations where there is no electricity (lifeboats, military applications, generators, disaster relief) impulse starters are used for diesel engines.  

Speaking for myself, rope pull starters suck.... 

Sunset

From tonight there was this...

View to the northwest

And the reflection in the view to the southeast  

 

Lord Of The Flies

I read this book as a youngster. 

Written in the midst of the Cold War the power struggle on the island was an allegorical microcosm of the ideological divide between liberal democracy and the totalitarianism of communism.  

I suppose nowadays if parents allowed a preteen access to such literature they’d be turned-in to county social services.   Or it might already have been banned in your community as it has in others. 

Anyway, this is a riveting redo of a very dark tale of stranded schoolboys attempt to build a democratic society on a deserted island. 

Order quickly dissolves into tribal savagery and murder as they succumb to their primal instincts and a terrifying imaginary beast.

We got hooked after the first of four episodes.  Like I said; it’s dark.  View it at your own peril. 

British novelist William Golding’s Lord of the Flies….

 

May Astronomy

 

click on image to enlarge

A clear dark night, 11:16 PM, last potty call for doggo and me.  This is a time-lapse photo using the iPhone 14 Pro stabilization feature and Snapseed filters to enhance the exposure.  View is directly at the heart of the spring triangle featuring three constellations.

View south from the porch.  Because camera filters pick-up a lot of faint stars that the naked eye filters out finding the shapes can be a bit of a connect the dots puzzle.  

Leo the Lion, high in the southwest (upper right quadrant of the image) is easily identified by the sickle asterism that appears like a reversed question mark.  The anchor stars include Regulus the period at the bottom of the shape and Denebola to the left.

Virgo the Maiden, located lower and to the left of Leo is the second-largest constellation in the sky and the largest constellation of the Zodiac. It also contains the bright star Spica.  Look for a lazy, sprawling "Y" shape of stars lying horizontally just above Spica which is situated in the lower right center of the image. 

Boötes the Herdsman, is situated upper left quadrant high in the southern sky and resembles a kite shape.  The very bright star is Arcturus; the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere.  Extending up and slightly left of Arcturus you can trace an elongated kite of ice cream cone shape.

The Spring Triangle is a large asterism (an equilateral triangle) formed by the three bright stars from the preceding constellations: Arcturus (top left), Spica (bottom right) and Denebola (upper right). 

You can be sure..

  ...if it's Westinghouse!

This vintage commercial for the Westinghouse Food File Refrigerator highlights the product's design solutions for growing families who now find their post-war models too cramped.

Storage capacity offered more than twelve feet of storage space - considered cavernous in the mid-1950s.  Westinghouse's Food File organizer with a place for everything and everything in its place; included patented roll-out shelves, a Meat Keeper, Humidrawers for produce, in-door storage sections for fruit, cheese butter and eggs and a full-width freezer overhead. 

Naturally, the commercial concludes with the brand's long-standing slogan:  "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse"

Other brands of that era included Frigidaire, GE and Kelvinator.  I cannot recall seeing full size Westinghouse fridges on a showroom floor when we were looking a few years ago.  The US market for this brand is mostly compact, beverage and specialty models.  Nevertheless, kitchen models continue to be manufactured and sold globally.  The interweb tells me they're the top choice for Australians.  How 'bout that, mate!

Before the tariff regime hit we replaced all of our major kitchen appliances and our three-door GE Profile fridge sports many of the same features 70 years later.  Except it has 27 cubic feet of storage space and manufactures ice faster than a thirsty deer camp can consume it. 

Grilling Tip

It's raining today; consequently, it's an indoor day.  A far cry from the glorious sunshine and warmth of the latter half of the week. 

I’m going to let you in on a secret to making something we call a California Burger.  Although, it has nothing remotely associated with California.  Let me explain.

Start with a 1/3 pound ground chuck patty and bakery Kaiser roll from Marchant’s in Brussels and light a fire in your Smokey Joe.

Anoint your beef with Penzey’s English prime rib rub and a spritz of EVO. Sear over hot coals taking care to turn 90 degrees for grill marks and flip only one time. Medium to medium rare. Remove to rest.

Meanwhile, toast your sliced rolls on the grill. Butter is optional (but recommended).

Assemble as follows from bottom-up.   Roll, Duke’s mayo, raw Vidalia onion, burger, two slices of tomato, lettuce, mayo and bun top.  Wavy chips on the side.

Cheese, ketchup, mustard, sautéed onions, pickles, jalapeños, etc. all optional. Make your burger your own.

The last coupla days have nearly felt almost like summer. Grilling completes the circle.

Real men grill with fire; not with electricity….