Thursday, December 1, 2011

Uncle Ken

Thank you Uncle Ken for all of the good times, I have some great memories. Rest in peace





Sunday, November 20, 2011

Turkey Kill'in

So 4 years ago we were all turkey killing virgins. We only had five of them to do, but it took us 4 hours to compete along with a case of beer. Today we did 4 in and hour with only a few beers. We did have one new virgin this year but no more. Thing sure go well with a little practice.













Location:Brookfield, VT

Monday, November 14, 2011

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Cookin a 40 pounder

So in case anyone wants to know how to cook a 40 pound turkey I think that after the past few years have come up with a good plan. Now just because the bird is twice the size of those that normal families have doesn't mean that the cook time is doubled. A few things that need to happen before the cooking starts is
1. Do you have a pan that is big enough for the bird?
2. Will the bird in the pan fit into the oven?
3. Is the rack inside the oven strong enough to hold the bid, pan and stuffing?
4. Check the with the rack pulled out and the bird setting on it that the oven doesn't tip over. Most ovens and not hooked to the floor and this size and weight is close to the limits of most residential ovens.
5. Get yourself one of those meat thermometer that allows you to monitor the temperature from outside the oven, it's a pain to have to pull the bird halfway out to check the progress.

And then all the fun begins on cook day. Go to bed early if you plan on eating early the next day.
Wash and stuff the bird, rub down the skin with oil, install remote meat thermometer and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Add 3 cups of water into pan

Hour 0 - preheat oven to 325 and put it in oven.
Hour 4.5 - reduce oven to 275, meat should be 110
Start basting every hour, putting juices into stuffing, helps keep the bird from drying out
Hour 5.5 - reduce oven to 250, meat should be 150
Hour 7.5 - meat should be 160
Hour 9.0 - meat should be 170
Hour 10.5 - uncover, increase oven to 325
Hour 11.0 - done when meat is 185

Remove from the oven, cover tightly and let rest for 1 hr.



Location:On the farm

Sunday, September 4, 2011

BAD bbq

First meal from B.A.D. BBQ on the new pit that I had made last week. Split chicken breasts and roasted corn for 60 guests attending the private show at Murphy's Barn. All proceeds went to the flood recovery effort.
































Thursday, August 25, 2011

Old Friend


Navy SEAL Jon Tumilson lay in a coffin, draped in an American flag, in front of a tearful audience mourning his death in Afghanistan. Soon an old friend appeared, and like a fellow soldier on a battlefield, his loyal dog refused to leave him behind.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Toy Run 2011


Dean and I made the Toy Run on Saturday. 900 bikes and slow ride through Barre and Montpelier. First time in 25 years that the Governor didn't meet us at the state house. I would guess that there weren't many of his supporters in attendance.





Monday, August 15, 2011

The Transition Program

By Stefan Hard
STAFF WRITER

Published 8/15/2011

Times Argus

They call it the The Transition Program.

Designed for at-risk kids about to make the move from Barre City and Barre Town middle schools into bustling Spaulding High School later this summer, the program is much more lively and innovative than its name would imply.

Located high and remote in the hills of Brookfield at Midnight Mountain, the home and horse farm of married couple Georgie Stapleton and Brian Locke, it seems like an unlikely setting to help kids make a successful transition from one brick-and-mortar school building to another.

There’s a horse corral, dense woods, a pond and a rustic barn next to a white clapboard house. With an atmosphere more like a summer camp than a “program” — no academics taught here — the six-day second half of the Transition Program this month, building on a three-day session in May, takes a closer look to understand what’s going on.

The Transition Program might consider changing its name to Self-Awareness Camp to promote the number one skill taught here.

“One of the first things we teach is to feel your feet on the ground. What am I feeling right now? Stay present as yourself even as you have to feel the emotions of others,” said Stapleton.

Stapleton, in her day job, works for Washington County Youth Services Bureau. She gets help from Locke, who is a manufacturing engineer and performance artist (his license plate is “CLOWN”) and Tom Murphy of Waterbury Center, who co-founded the program three years ago with Stapleton.

Many of the roughly two dozen kids involved in Transition Program this year have faced more unpleasant changes and uphill battles in their childhoods than many outside of the program face in an entire lifetime. Most of the kids have had little chance to relax with their peers or to put aside how other students in school react to the obstacles they face. Learning disabilities, speech impediments, physical and sexual abuse trauma histories and multiple foster care placements are just a few of the challenges faced by kids in the program.

By design, The Transition Program little resembles a classroom with its horse-handling ring, ropes course, and improvisational comedy and body movement workshops. There are also campfires and storytelling before lights-out.

Another dimension is the inclusion of a few Spaulding teachers as camp counselors, allowing some of the students to start forming relationships with their soon-to-be teachers: A real lifesaver once they’re thrown into the big pool of high school.
ac
Ryan Malone, 15, of Barre Town went through the program last year and is back for a second stint, but this time he is a student leader in the program. Malone boldly went before the school board and lobbied for the program’s funding to be sustained, telling school directors that he gained the confidence to handle a half-ton horse in the program and as a result, could handle the taunts of a bully in school.

“I also learned communication skills and I learned concentration skills,” said Malone recently as he watched another student take that horse around the ring at Midnight Mountain. “I’m getting better. I know I am because people are telling me that I am.”

Rebecca Benoir, 14, of Graniteville, stepped out of the corral where she’d been working with a palomino quarter horse named Shelby, first with Stapleton in the ring with her, and then by herself. Benoir joined Malone and a half-dozen other students watching outside the ring.

“I was a little nervous at first, it’s so big, like 1,000 pounds, but after I saw she was relaxed, she’s calm, I knew that I should be calm, too,” said Benoir. Benoir admitted the horse has a little bit of attitude, but that she had to stay steady and firm in her commands to get results.

Over at the ropes course, the kids took a break from spotting each other on low ropes suspended above the forest floor from a circle of large trees. They played a strategy game where you can’t see your own three playing cards, but you can see everyone else’s, and you have to try to line yourself up sequentially with others by the numbers on the face of the cards. The group, mostly students but with two counselors, lined themselves up perfectly after a few minutes of sideways glances and rearrangement.

Tyler Therrien, 15, of Barre, in the end, put himself first in the line-up and explained afterward that he watched how others were lining up, and their reaction to his movements, to figure out his place. These and other games teach students to be aware of subtle (and not so subtle) signals from others in a social environment, and respond appropriately.

At the other side of the horse pasture, in the house, Murphy was playing “freeze” with a group of kids and two Spaulding teachers, P.J. LaPerle and Nick Connor. In alternating fashion, adults and students would go up in front of the others with an object in hand and improvise act until someone in the group yelled “Freeze!” and the actor would have to change his routine.

After much urging and suggestion, then outright prodding and finally lead acting from Murphy, Casey DuBois, 15, of Barre Town slipped into acting in reaction to Murphy’s movements and had everyone laughing and surprised.

“I didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of everybody,” said DuBois afterwards. “I didn’t want to be as shy … their reactions made me nervous.”

“I learned that I’m capable of a lot of things,” chimed in Nick Dune, 14, of Barre Town.

Murphy explained to the kids that sometimes they have to push themselves past what is comfortable and familiar to find something inside that they perhaps didn’t know they had.

At the end of the afternoon, with some of the kids swimming in the pond, and some lying on the grass chatting with some of their soon-to-be high school teachers, it was clear that, despite the day’s difficulties and challenges, the kids were left relaxed and maybe even a bit pleased with themselves. Perhaps, the skills they gain in The Transition Program might be useful out of more than just that difficult leap into high school.a

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Short Sunday Ride

Took a ride up home with Georgie





Monday, August 8, 2011