Prayers Needed...

My dad's sister, Loretta, has been like a second mom to me over the years. We talk often, send notes to each other, and I always make a point to visit at least once a year.

She is an amazing woman. As you can see below, I inherited her skills in gardening. She has taught me cooking lessons and numerous life lessons. She has always been there for me, and I've been told she just lights up when she hears my voice or gets to spend time with me. I'd say the feelings are mutual...

Her spirituality is her strength. She loves the Lord with all of her heart and soul. She has demonstrated grace under pressure, and has always been "the rock" for her family.

When I visit, we spend hours talking: Either on the swing on her front porch, or running around to various places around Port Arthur... we have an amazing bond, and I love her with all of my heart.

Right now, she needs your prayers...

On Friday evening she was leaving her shift at Wal-Mart in Port Arthur when she collapsed in the entryway. She was rushed to the hospital and it was discovered she had had a stroke. Now strokes are prevalent in our family. My grandmother had several. In fact, Loretta had a stroke a few weeks ago, but had recovered as it was a minor one.

This one wasn't a minor one.

Yesterday was pretty upsetting for me. It started with early-morning phone calls from my cousin Lori (who is like a sister to me - in fact, she calls me "Bro" instead of Cousin Regan) informing me of what had happened. I was stunned...

During the day, I received numerous calls... all getting worse and worse. As it turned out, my aunt didn't have just one stroke, but multiple. And, they were on both sides of her brain. Even worse, the stroke she had earlier in the month had re-stroked. And then the worst... she was still bleeding in her brain almost 24 hours later and there was nothing they could do but wait it out.

I went out with my friends last night... honestly, I kept it to myself. I didn't feel like talking about it. It had been an overwhelming day already. While I had planted my garden (according to Loretta's tried-and-true directions), there were many tears shed. I guess I just couldn't believe this was happening...

We had to wait overnight to see if the bleeding would stop. That would show up on this morning's scan.

Well, good news! The bleeding has stopped, and they can now administer her drugs that will break down the clots. And, because they don't believe she will suffer any more strokes, they are going to move her out of ICU and into a room.

The damage is done. We just don't know how bad it will be for several days or weeks. She currently cannot speak, and there's very little movement. She can open her eyes and can squeeze your hand, but that's it.

My entire family is gathered at the hospital, and I probably will be joining them later in the week. Ironically, I'm on vacation next week, and my plans were to visit my Aunt Loretta and other family members...

We ask for your prayers - that whatever God has planned in this situation, He will receive the glory. It's been a tough weekend for Loretta Thompson and her family... but God's grace will get us through.

Thank you in advance...

The 3 AM Call

This skit from SNL this past Saturday night is hilarious. Click the image above... Enjoy!

Grilling the Perfect Steak

I've been on a quest for quite a while to grill the perfect steak. Notice I said, "quite a while." Each time I felt, "it's good... but maybe it needs a little more __." And that "more" could include a variety of things.

To me, the perfect steak has to be medium rare. I want that sucker red on the inside and scorched on the outside. I want juices... lots and lots of juices! And I want the slab of meat to be big and thick!

This past Saturday I got a hankerin' for a steak. I had been running errands when I got the idea, so I made a final stop at Tom Thumb to get the things I needed.

I actually purchased the last single steak. Now, it all begins with the choice of meat. For my Saturday night grilling experience, I "selected" a rib eye. There might be better pieces to choose from, but I was in a rush to get home and this was fine by my standards.

One thing I did differently was to marinade it. I had about 2 hours before I wanted to eat, so I was doing ok. Here's what my marinade consisted of:

6 oz Shiner Black Lager beer (12 oz would have been too much for 1 steak)
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Thyme
Basil
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic
Lemon Juice

I whipped all of that up in a little container. I forked the steak on both sides, then placed the steak in Tupperware. I then poured the marinade over the steak and put the Tupperware lid on.... and placed it into the fridge.

An hour later I flipped the Tupperware over and closed the fridge. I started the grill to get the coals ready. About an hour later, I took the Tupperware out of the fridge and flipped it one more time. I then took the lid off so that it could warm up to room temperature for the last hour.

I grilled some other things while all of this was going on - sausage, burgers, etc. I then waited until the coals were very hot (they say 600 degrees is perfect... I didn't have a thermometer) and brought the steak out.

The plan was to cook it 5 minutes on one side, and 5 on the other. After 5 minutes after the first flipping, I realized it might need a little longer to cook as it was still a bit raw inside. I guess my coals weren't 600 degrees! So, I cooked it for a total of 10 minutes... the last 2 I opened up the lid so the flames would really work on the outside and make it almost "burnt."

Inside, I sauteed some onions in my skillet with beef broth, butter, and some cream. I then poured all of that over the top of my steak and opened up a bottle of Chianti.

Man oh man... all I can say is this steak was just about the most perfect steak I've ever grilled. It had so much flavor... it was cooked just long enough... and the topping was pretty darn good!

So was it perfect? Almost... I'd say it was the perfect rib eye. I'd like to try other cuts of meat to determine "the perfect" one. And... I might want to marinade it longer... like all day!

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to you and your future grillings!

Beef... it's what's for dinner!

"When Should I Plant My Garden???"

Something must be in the air. I have been asked FOUR times today from different people, "When should I plant my garden?" Wait... I know what it is... SPRING is in the air!

I'm a gardener. Yes, it's true. I confess. I love gardening. To me, there are two types of gardeners. There are ones that love to landscape, and there are others that love to plant vegetables. Well, I love doing both. I love mowing. I love creating different "scapes" in my yard, and trying different plants. And of course, I love to plant "THE GARDEN!"

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of space. I can usually grow 6 tomato and 8 pepper plants. I've tried a variety of tomatoes... Big Berthas, Better Bush, Whopper, etc. However, the ones that I've had the most success in the Dallas area are Carnival tomatoes. Sometimes those are hard to find... they have another name: Celebrity.

They don't get too huge - 4 inches would be very large. However, they go on and on and on. What would you rather have: A few large tomatoes, or a bunch of mediums that last until October? :-)

So, here is what I recommend. Check the date. I usually use March 15th as a "planting" date. The next thing I do is check Accuweather.com. If they don't predict freezing temps in the next 10 days, then we're good to go. As of now, my going is good! So this weekend is planting season at Casa de Regan.

Now, a few tips. You don't just dig a hole and put the plant in there. I do a few things.

My friends, I'd like to share with you "the few things" that each of you should do each planting season. These directions were passed down from my grandfather to his daughter, my Aunt Loretta. She passed them on to me. And, as some have seen (and tasted!), the results speak for themselves.

Tomatoes 101:

Most of these products can be purchased from your local Feed Store. You can also get the manure at Walmart. And this is for an area that is 5' x 20'.

Products:
20 lbs. Bone Meal
15 lbs. Cotton Seed
10 lbs. Garden Lime
1 Bag of Peat Moss
2 Bags of Manure

Directions:
1. Mix Bone Meal, Cotton Seed, and Lime into Garden. Till in.
2. For each plant, dig a hole about 6" in diameter.
3. Add 3 parts Cow Manure, 6 parts Peat Moss in bucket. Fill bottom of hole.
4. Place plant in hole up to first stem.
5. Remove bottom stem and add more mixture from #3.
5. Put dirt over everything and all the way to the top of the first leaves.
6. Fill with water.
7. If leftover mix, just dump it around the remainder of the soil.
8. Cover with mulch.

Season:
Every other day, go out and remove “suckers.” A sucker is a stem that begins to grow between two stems. These take away nutrients from older stems/vines. Tomatoes require a lot of water and sunlight. Plan to water every 2-3 days. If the soil is dry, your plant is dry. One way to combat this is to add a soaker hose around your plants after you finish planting. Remove yellow leaves and vines. They’re dying. As soon as the tomato starts to turn (ripen), remove. It’s not going to grow any larger and the birds will get it.

So that's it. Happy gardening!

In the Shadow of the Moon

Not a lot of people know this about me, but I have a major fascination with space travel. Particularly, the United States quest for the moon during the 1960's and early 70's.

I guess my first memory was a simple t-shirt I received from my dad. You see, he worked for Rockwell International, and they were a major designer of the Space Shuttle. He gave me a t-shirt with a picture of the shuttle emblazened on the front. When I received it, I remember him telling me that it would be several years until the shuttle blasted off.

Of course, growing up in the 1980's, I was very familiar with the shuttle program. We'd watch the takeoffs and landings at school. And, like most people, I remember the day when we lost the Challenger.

When Apollo 13 came out in 1995, I was amazed at the technology (or lackthereof) used during the Apollo years to launch men into space. Since then, I've watched as many "space" movies as I could to get a better understanding of the science of space travel.

Which brings me to my latest movie: In the Shadow of the Moon.

It's a documentary that shows what it took for NASA to reach into the heavens back when going to the moon seemed more "fantasy" than reality. When President Kennedy said that by the end of the decade (1960), we would land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth, it was an incredibly ambitious goal. We were trying to beat the Russians. Period. And to do that, we had to figure out how to do it.

The "how" is amazing to me. Thousands of technological advances had to be invented. How would we leave the earth's atmosphere? Can we orbit the earth? Could we send a crew to the moon (which takes 3 days of flight) and return them safely? What about actually "landing" a craft on the moon? Not only that, but the amount of people it took to accomplish this mission was staggering.

This dvd takes the viewer on the journey from the earth to the moon through the voices of the people who were there: The Astronauts. They tell their stories from the early events of the space program all the way to the moon to the ultimate demise of the lunar missions.

When you look at the moon, do you know how many men have actually walked on it? Twelve. That's it. These twelve men were launched into space through the ingenuity of thousands of people brilliantly working together to achieve an impossible goal.

And get this... through it all, the world was united. People in every country said, "We did it!" upon the successful landing on the moon. The world looked up... even through the turbulent 60s. It gave people hope! Maybe that's something that I like about it - the inspirational messages contained in this one goal.

So if you're a person who likes intellect, science, technology, or achievement, this is definitely a movie for you. If anything, you'll come away with some knowledge of our space program and the men and women who made it happen.

It definitely focuses on the time when the whole world looked up, and how amazing it was when people worked together to accomplish a dream. I think that's something we could all use today.

It's Time To Make the Doughnuts!

My friend Chandra has been a bit busy these days. You see, she took a job with Dunkin' Donuts to head up their marketing in Texas.

They are in the midst of expanding throughout the West - and Texas is about to get a lot fatter because of it! Ha!

Today they opened their 5th store in the Metroplex. It's located at Preston and Campbell. In a month they'll be opening another store on Alpha near the Galleria.

But you know what? You don't need me to tell you about all of this. Why not hear from the girl herself. She was interviewed on Channel 5 about the expansion. Several people have commented to me about how "professional" she looked and "wow, she didn't look nervous at all!"

Here is a link to her interview:
http://video.nbc5i.com/player/?id=225319

And this morning, when the store opened, she arranged for the local sports radio station to come out and do a remote. The Ticket came out and did some crazy stuff that she arranged. I supported her through my "listening skills." Too bad I had a meeting to prepare for or I would have showed up...

Anyhoo, enjoy Miss Celebrity in all her glory! And if you live in Texas, get ready for the Dunkin' invasion!

Gardening: Spring Has Almost Sprung!

First of all, I'd like to introduce you to my greenhouse. We'll get to that in a bit...

I am VERY excited about Spring! I'm ready... I don't know about you, but I've been chomping at the bit to get out in the yard.

Maybe it's because last year I spent so much time running (actually doing something!) that I've been a bit bored this year... but with Spring just around the corner, I couldn't resist: I had to get out and work in the yard this weekend.

In Dallas, we had a great "warm" weekend. The first thing I did was to clean out some of my flower beds. This meant cutting the dead Lantana back and removing anything that had died over the winter.

I then got the lawnmower out, dropped it several levels, and began mowing. Ahh... the sound of a mower (after it got warmed up!) was awesome! I used the side discharge, so dead grass was blowing everywhere. It was great! I think my neighbors were a little surprised to see me mowing, too. Unfortunately, my eager beaverness wasn't able to motivate them... sigh.

I couldn't get past the greenhouse to mow, though. It's still too early to bring it down. That decision has really been beneficial to keeping plants throughout the winter. I keep a variety of warm-season growers in there... Hibiscus, Geraniums, Ferns, Sago Palm, and other species.



I would highly recommend investing in something like this if you have the space. It's like a big tent, and it takes about an hour to put up (if not less). I bought mine online at Amazon.


Notice there is some "dead" showing in the picture. Well, that was my fault. I didn't know the breaker had flipped and caused the socket to stop working that had the heater plugged into it. So for almost 5 days, and temps in the 30s, my greenhouse was only being warmed by the son and the heat that plants emit naturally.


Anyway, everything was fixed and growth came back! The heater runs on an automatic setting of 70 degrees. I probably could let it go down to 60, but I wanted to provide a tropical feel. In fact, I water each week and routinely spray the entire interior of the greenhouse so that the humidity will increase. It really works! Man, it is freakishly humid in there during a cold spell!


Ok, back to my chores. The final thing I did over the weekend was to purchase 30 rectangles of St. Augustine grass. I'm using them to change the grass in my front yard from Bermuda. While I like Bermuda, it doesn't grow well in the shade... and I've got some areas that are in desperate need of grass!


Anyway, it was a great weekend in the yard. I'm sore, my hands and arms are scratched up, but I've definitely got a head start compared to last year!


Bring on Spring!!!