Two things.
I got a new voice recorder (it’s actually a spy pen - so cool) the other day and, on the hour-long drive into work this morning, managed to talk through the entire second half of my in-progress short story and figure a lot of things out. Including the fact that this is probably going to be the first in a series with these characters.
My muse seems to have come back!!! (See point 1.)
Taking my bff’s dog home for a week so he doesn’t have to board. He’s big and slobbery and hairy and all the things i dislike about certain breeds.
But he’s the best boy ever, and it’s allowing her to have a relaxing vacation without worrying that his geriatric arthritic self will be sad and lonely and uncomfortable in boarding. And when she happy I’m happy. 
I learned something very cool about the Black Panther movie the other day that, according to the quick check I just did in a search engine, no one else may have noticed yet. I’ll clue you in after I go see it again this week so I can double-check what I found.
Netwrix Auditor.
Works.
Now I can log who’ve gone and deleted some files.
I got MEAT!
My deer meat was finally ready at the processor a week or two ago, and the Cub Scout outing for Saturday got cancelled because thunderstorms were forecast, so I was able to go pickup the meat! (about 4 hours away). Drove up Friday after work, spent the night, and got to the processor before they closed at noon. My buddy’s order was ready, too, so I picked up both orders. It was a good excuse to hang out with him for a few hours and have lunch. We used a different processor than I had used previously, though my buddy had once before. I was pleasantly surprised by the quantity I picked up - each order almost completely filled a cooler. (I’m glad I brought two larger coolers!) My 2017 deer wasn’t a whole lot bigger than the 2016 one, so the new processor did a much better job of [what’s the word, harvesting?] than where I took the first one, because the 2016 meat only halfway filled my cooler. Being about two hours closer is a bonus. Still, the whole trip is a lot easier to make in two days than one…
@RoadRunner has The Meats.
Anyone up for a midnight raid at @RoadRunner ? 
Come on down! The wife already suggested we fire up the grill tonight.
You have a four hour drive to get a deer processed? Or is there something special about this one?
I can drive 20 minutes and pass at least a couple, not including the amateurs. My son-in-law used to work at one so he does his own.
Four hours from where I live, but relatively close to where we were hunting, 1.5-2 hours depending on route and traffic.
I’m a noob; only went hunting for the first time ever in 2016. So far, when I’ve gone hunting, the weather has been cold enough that I can drive the deer to a processor and pay a little extra to let them do everything. There are plenty of places near me that do processing, but having no experience, I’m not prepared to clean and quarter in the field.
Dan (and I’m pretty sure it is mostly or only his sons/family working for him) does a fantastic job; they’re good folks. While I was there previously, there was a guy who stopped in to buy a couple cases each of Dan’s jerky and meat sticks - said he has to travel from OKC down to Waco a couple times a year and always stops in to stock up. (I got the impression he gives some out to customers - sales guys are like that.)
Also, it gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a weekend. The wife likes riding along as long as I’m not in a hurry, so I set the cruise control on ‘Chill’, which also helps with the MPG. On the way up, my average was 25.5 at the halfway point with the cruise set on 75. I hit some traffic in Ft. Worth then upped the speed to 80 for the last leg, which brought the average down to 24.7, I think, which isn’t bad for a truck. Had a headwind and lots of traffic on the way back, so I only got about 22.6 running 75-80.
I’ve always wanted to try making venison jerky. Unfortunately, there isn’t anywhere around here to get venison that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
I ordered the equivalent of their beef sticks. I didn’t count, but there are probably 10-15 in the package, but they are vacuum sealed all together and frozen. I’m thinking I might put them in the fridge to thaw tomorrow and try them on the weekend.
How much would you need? I was trying to figure out how much it would cost to ship a piece or two of venison to you; between getting an insulated shipping box, freeze pack and express postage, looks like around $20-25. Probably be on par with buying locally.
I usually make 3-10 lbs of bison into jerky at a time. Bud’s is the custom meat place around here, and I think it’s about $12-15 for ground venison, more for steaks or other cuts.
I’m assuming you would need not-ground for jerky. I’ll see how much of the steak cuts I have that weren’t prepared as bacon wrapped filets.
Definitely not ground. The “cheaper” cuts of meat work just fine, though. I usually turn roasts into jerky. Steak only if I don’t have roasts.
The good venison should be all leg, no arm. If they’re giving you arms, there’s something wrong with that venison!
You guys YOU GUYS!! Seattle has this little hole-in-the-wall called the “Living Computers Museum”. There are so many geek-tastic things to do there, like run robots and play with neat technology – but the best part is the third-floor vintage computer museum. @sig and I revisited our grade-school days (though he had to identify a bunch of things for me, because I don’t have a great memory for that), and the kids got to build a little model computer out of cardboard in the workshop. It was SO COOL!! 
I think we’re going to go back, maybe even get a membership, so we can take the kids to their homeschool events and kid workshops. 
Yeah, that sounds like someplace I’d love to visit if I’m ever in Seattle.
We have talked about doing a ‘west coast’ vacation one year. Fly out to one end, drive to the other.
