Category: Random Stuff

As Peoria city council elections are heating up again, I just have to take a stand against Bridget Binsbacher. While she acts so smooth and polished in her online videos and what she says, it is becoming more and more clear to me that she is just another RINO who is in the pocket of special interests. She seems just like another slimy Clinton to me.

According to public records that I found links to from this site, it appears she’s not quit her taxpayer funded $80k a year (or whatever it is) job as she said she would if elected. Self serving much? She’s voted to increase spending and taxes, given jobs to the family members of her campaign personnel, and taken donations from special interests.

While this doesn’t surprise me of someone who is a professional politician, it disgusts me! I only wish that more people in Peoria knew about what she has done to put herself first, along with the other corrupt members in local government. It’s time to vote them all OUT!

Photo credit: I found this great pic on a Bridget Binsbacher Voted Out of Office Facebook Group.

This whole bathroom debate is kind of nuts. We should just have individual private rooms and a common hand wash area. Problem solved.

Original Photo: manonthelam

Since NOAA stopped their free email alerts for hurricanes, I have been looking for another service that is simple and doesn’t fill their emails with a bunch of junk.

I found this one, hurricanealertemail.com which is super simple and no frills. Hope its useful for someone else.

Photo: Wikipedia

We stayed at the Voyager RV Park in Tucson, Arizona after our well below freezing stay in Bisbee and accompanying sucky border town experience. We had a couple days left on our week in Bisbee, and had planned to head east afterwards but the winter weather hitting the entire country wasn’t motivating us too much, so we just headed back to Tucson for a couple nights to get some above freezing weather (at least during the day) while we waited for the storm to dissipate.

Voyager RV Park is a city of it’s own. When you pull in, there is a guard shack that you have to either show your pass at or let them know you’re registering and they will direct you where to go. We pulled in next to the office, got registered and then they require that a guard escorts you back to your site. I know some people think this is a perk, but for me it’s more of a nuisance since I can read the simple map they give you when you register, know how to back up my trailer, and don’t want to have to wait for the escort to arrive which almost always takes 5 minutes or more. I was cold, frustrated and grumpy!

The spots are all gravel in a raised ‘bed’ with paved streets, rolling curbs and a concrete patio pad. The rate was like $44 per night including their ‘resort fee’ which I wasn’t too happy with being used to having the 50% Passport America discount or finding a place around $27 per night almost everywhere else but I was just happy to not have to run 4 heaters and be able to walk outside during the day, so we accepted this as the price of luxury.

There are numerous tennis courts, pools, hot tubs, laundry facilites and their own restaurant, store and bar on site. Store prices were actually reasonable, maybe about 10-15% more than at the local grocery. The food at the restaurant was terrible, your typical Chef Gordon Ramsay would cuss out the owner on Kitchen Nightmares frozen then microwaved variety, but we stomached some nacho’s with fake cheese and watched the live music that wasn’t all that bad although they pretty much sang Frank Sinatra type of music. The next night was Karaoke night which was entertaining like any other Karaoke place where you get the bad that know they’re bad, the bad that think they’re good, and the good that think they should have been professional and the rest of us should be super appreciative to hear them sing.

We didn’t take pictures of the amenities, but here are a few of the space we stayed in, plus the restaurant, bar, and the music being set up:

A couple nights ago we had some friends over to our “house” for the evening, so I decided to smoke some ribs. After visiting Uncle Billy’s in Austin and having just about the best dry ribs I have ever eaten, I came up with a rub that I’ve been playing around with. It’s not a very sophisticated process, I just go through the spice bin and grab the stuff that I think would sound good. I really need to look up what others are doing and spend some time looking for spices at the store, but until then this has been working.

We have an el-cheapo Brinkman smoker that I picked up from Home Depot last summer for use at home and have been carting around. It’s light weight and I can store some of the supplies inside it so it’s not a huge pain, but I am starting to get dissatisified with how it cooks. The problem is that there’s no dampers at all so you can’t control the temperature very well, and the way the lid sits on top LOTS of smoke escapes. I know you need some to travel out, but you also want to be able to control how much.

So now we need to find a new smoker. We have a cheaply-built-but-not-as-cheap-as-it-should-have-been-to-buy Coleman propane stove/grill combo and for just charring up some chicken or even steaks it works slightly worse than OK as long as you watch it and move the meat around to avoid or take advantage of the hot spots. I like the idea of a grill/stove combo though, and if I were to do it again I would get the one made by Camp Chef and try my luck with that one. My biggest complaint about the Coleman is that the gas control valves/dials have about 4 full turns in them, but the difference between off and full takes only about 1/16 of one turn. I think they design it that way on purpose so everyone has to buy a lot of disposable Coleman propane bottles.

I’d like to find a smoker that can also be used as a charcoal grill when I want to put in the effort to make things taste better. Lately I have been eying the Old Smokey 14-inch. It’s not a true smoker, but I wonder if I can’t make it work. I don’t plan on smoking sausage, just ribs mostly and maybe even a brisket one of these days. It’s small, light and durable and kind of an iconic BBQ, and the price is right for sure. I just don’t know if I’ll end up having buyers remorse again, and wish I would have gone for something like the Weber Smokey Mountain instead. I’ll keep thinking about it I guess, till I make up my mind. If any ya’ll (getting ready for Texas) have any suggestions I’d love to hear them. Preferably I’d like charcoal fired and something that works both as a grill or a smoker, although smoker only would be acceptable. Electric won’t work since we will be in places with no power, and propane is okay but I’d really have to like the size and quality of it since we already have a propane grill and I really prefer the flavor from charcoal much more.

If you’re curious about what I use for the rub, here is a list of ingredients:

• Brown sugar
• Oregano
• Garlic powder
• Onion powder
• Chili powder
• Garlic salt
• Paprika
• Ground black pepper
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg

I don’t measure the amounts so you’ll have to play with that, but don’t go dumping equal parts of everything. I can say there’s more brown sugar than any of the other things since it clumps up easily and I think it helps to keep the bitter edge off the taste. Maybe next time I’ll measure them out (prolly not, don’t hold your breath)