Our neighbors raise a few pigs and wanted to know if we would be interested in one. They were all small and thought they would dress out around 20 lbs. or so. We thought this would be the perfect size for us to rotisserie on the BBQ. Of course we said yes, so this was the beginning of a Big Ol’ Barbeque. We picked a weekend when the weather was going to be good and invited a bunch of friends over. When the pig was delivered it turned out to be a little bigger than we thought. He dressed out at 40 lbs. and was too big to fit on the grill. So a last-minute decision was made to take the head off in order for him to fit. Not exactly the presentation I was hoping for, but in the end, it really didn’t matter. He roasted on the rotisserie for a good five hours and turned out all golden and juicy.

Once the pig rested for a while it was time to get him off the grill. Kelley wasted no time and went to work carving him up. We have cooked a lot of pigs in the past and this one was definitely the  juiciest.

This of course being a Big Ol’ Barbeque and not just a pig roast there had to be other meats. The night before the barbeque, we put 2 big beef briskets in the smoker and cooked them low and slow till the next day. Once the briskets came out we put some chickens in the smoker and had them ready when everyone arrived. Now we had enough meat to call this a Big Ol’ Barbeque.

Since the theme was barbeque, everyone brought sides that went great with all the meats. There was deep-fried mac cheese, cornbread, potato salad, deviled eggs, baked beans, cobbler and more. A great time was had by all and according to everyone it was “OMG delicious”.

After everyone got their fill of all this great food it was time for a few games of darts. As the sun was going down some people were starting to head back to their homes. Being a Saturday night, some of us still had a lot left in us. So it was off to the garage for some beer pong that went into the wee hours. Sunday was definitely a day of rest for us, which is something we never get to do.

Last year at a friend’s fundraiser we won the high bid on a 3-night stay down in Hopkins at https://www.villarisingsun.com.  So Kelley’s birthday weekend we decided that just the two of us would head down, even though there was tropical storm Julia heading this way. The storm was staying south of Belize, so let’s go enjoy the beach and do some fishing we said. Well, the storm did blow in with lots of wind and even more rain. We spent a lot of time indoors staying dry and watching tv.

Between the rains, we did manage to frequent a few of our favorite places for some cold beer and good food. One evening as we were heading home along the flooded roads in Hopkins, the road was alive with crabs. We had to drive slow and swerve just to miss hitting these crabs that were as big as my fist.

I don’t like posting pictures of animals that aren’t alive, but just outside of Hopkins there was an animal on the road that had been hit by a car. This wasn’t your typical squirrel or possum, so we had to turn around and check it out. It’s not every day you see a crocodile on the road that had been hit by a car.

On our way back home a neighbor of ours reached out, saying to be careful as there is a lot of rain. Once we finally got home there was water running everywhere like we have never seen before. Water was running across our driveway big time.

Our roundabout driveway we put in the front yard was a big river that you could have floated down.  It was all running down in front of the casita and down into the creek behind it.

The road just 20′ past our gate use to flood, so they installed a 24″ drain pipe under the road which usually works out fine. There was no way it could handle the amount of rain we had just gotten. This picture is of the road with the drain pipe under it.

All in all, we received 12+ inches of rain over the weekend with 8+ of that falling the day we got back. This is by far the most amount of rain we have seen at one time. Luckily the only damage we had was landscaping. It’s going to take us a while to get the yard all back in shape, but that’s nothing compared to some of the people in our village and the rest of the country. A lot of people in our village were sandbagging their homes, but that didn’t stop the amount of water that was running through. And to make things worst, the main water line into town washed out and broke. By the next day, the water had receded and the sun was out, plus they got the water line fixed. People are amazing, no matter how bad it is, they will always come out to help a neighbor or someone in need.

Usually, when we get a good rain it brings out burrowing toads and turtles, but this was a first for us. After the water receded we were out walking around the yard, and there in a puddle was a live fish. Not a little tiny one, but a good-sized fish. We started looking around and there was another one. We think they were tilapia that probably came from someone’s pond. Anyway, we took them down to where the creek was still running and let them go. Always something exciting around here, we never thought we’d find fish in our yard.

Earlier this year I mentioned that our marigolds from last year took over the yard when they started growing again. There were so many that I had to get the lawn mower out and cut them down before they were too big and got totally out of control. We did seem to contain some of them in a small flower bed where they still grew up to 8′ tall. I can’t imagine what the yard would look like if I hadn’t mowed them down when I did. Sure it would have been beautiful with all the hummingbirds and butterflies, but we wouldn’t have been able to get to our house.

Peanuts are ready! A few months ago we planted a bunch of peanuts and they were finally ready to harvest. Kelley and I got the pitchfork out and went to digging up peanuts. We will let them dry for a couple of weeks out in the sun before they get roasted. Once roasted and shelled we will make them all into peanut butter. Homemade peanut butter is so much better and healthier than store bought, because we usually only add coconut oil and a little salt. Not sure yet how much we will get, but it should be enough to last us till next year when we plant again. Luckily the peanuts were drying in the garage when the big rains hit.

Our little meat venture seems to be going well. We pretty much sold out of everything we’ve made in the past few weeks. So we just made up another 30 lbs. of Italian sausage and another 20 lbs. of breakfast sausage, which we already have orders for. Next month we will start making up our summer sausage just in time for the holiday season.

The next couple of weeks we will be getting the yard back in shape, other than that all is good. Hope to see you soon!