It's the Wood that Makes It Good

We’ve been busy lately on the weekends with trips to see Virginia Tech play football, traveling to Kentucky, going to out-of-town 40th birthday parties and attending local ODU football games so there hasn’t been a lot of grilling going on at our house. This is somewhat unheard of for our regular weekend routine.

Tim is a dedicated griller and this past weekend was no exception. You already know he weighs his meat to make identical sized hamburgers. On Thursday, he mixed a concoction of spices to inject two pork butts before creating his own spice rub for the outside. They were refrigerated all day Friday and he started the charcoal grill on Friday night about 11 p.m. He slow smoked the pork all night and into the next day with some apple wood branches thrown into the fire for more flavor.

My parents were in town for the weekend and we were expecting a large crowd on Saturday for dinner somewhere around 16 including kids. There were three televisions on with three different college football games on and a lot of movement between rooms with frequent stops at Betty, the kegerator.

I forgot to pick up my camera very often but did catch a few.

Chris The Neighbor entertaining the kids.


Caroline The Neighbor with my mom June after dinner.

The Neighbors’ youngest kid Ethan with my mom.

My sister hoping I’d go away for a number of reasons but mainly because I was holding the camera.


The pork was delicious and with Tim’s vinegar-based homemade barbecue sauce it was even better. Like Kenny Roger's said, It's the Wood that Makes It Good.

My contribution, besides emptying the dishwasher three times in 24 hours, was heating up beans as a side.

I do what I can.