Misty, Humid, Gray, Some Rain: Tommy and Jill and Families Arrive

Pizza Queen and her Boys

A muggy morning, 71 degrees, the outside seems to be dripping moisture, though we have not had that much rain so far, about 3/10ths of an inch over the last 24 hours.  It was comfortable enough for us last night with just a fan, but we may need the air conditioners tonight, especially for the wimps from VA and KC, who are used to it full time.  Why cannot they be tough like we were in our youth on Edgecliff, laying in our beds, sweating, hoping we could get to sleep.

As I mentioned, yesterday was a throw away day, shopping, getting ready, not doing much exciting though the kids swam quite a bit and fished, typical for a gray rainy day.  We did make our own pizzas last night, dough and all, and they turned out really good.  Evie would roll the dough, put on the various toppings, put it on a rounded, cut piece of parchment, send it outside to me.  I have a 14" pizza stone on the grill, slide it on for two minutes, then using a spatula, pick the pizza up slightly, and Mitch would slide the parchment paper out.  I cooked them for a little over 5 minutes, then slid them out on to a pan, and Tyler would bring the next one out, and we would do the same process over again.  The grill was very hot, reading about 600 degrees, which accounted for the quick cooking.  Everyone loved it, the crust and all, but a few suggested I could cook the crust a bit longer, maybe six minutes.  It depends on how thick it is, ours was very thin actually.  I usually just check the bottom to see that it has browned up some what.  The favorite, by far, was the Neapolitan, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil.  So simple, so good.

Evie's getting the brisket ready for tomorrow night's dinner.  Because the kids will be in late tonight, we are having a casual dinner, Linda's sloppy Joe's, hot dogs, cole slaw, so that it can be eaten at any time.  Tomorrow, we hope to hit the Chautauqua Gorge for a few hours, have lunch, explore, then come home to a dinner already made of brisket, corn, slaw, and other goodies.  I am getting hungry already.

Just walked down to our neighbors houses, the Foxes and Schultz's, and a huge tree fell down in their front yards, not hurting anyone but damaging the porch on one house, the gutters and side of house on the others.  I guess they had an arborist out this week, and he said it should be taken down in the next six months, as it was rotten inside.  He was only six months off.  The storm last night seemed brief, but it must have had some strong winds.  We still have not gotten a lot of rain, despite the clouds, the humidity, the lack of wind and gray skies, as if the Gods are playing with us  "Like flies to wanton boys/Are we to the Gods(King Lear)."  It's only 75 outside right now, but the humidity is 87%.  It's time to go jump in the lake and figure out where to park six cars.