Meeman Shelby State Forest

Recently my family and I went down to the Meeman Shelby State Forest outside of Memphis, TN.  With a little fog coming off of the parking lot, I walked down the boat ramp to take a couple of shots.  In this first one you can see the marker up above with the fog coming around.

 

Down on the ramp was this  amazing looking piece of driftwood. 

Purchase Prints of my Photography

I am in the process of setting up an account at Art.com and ArtistRising.com.  These sites will give me a place to post my photography for sale as Fine Art Prints.  Please be sure to check out my galleries often as I will be uploading new works as I get them ready.

Currently I have posted some photos taken at the Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennessee.

http://www.artistrising.com/galleries/brokenkrayon

Show Different Content to Facebook Fans...

In this post I will show you how I created a tab on my Facebook page that will show different content to those people who are not fans.  I use this feature to run specials from time to time for Facebook Fans only.

Spiral Design Tube Scarf - Round Loom

The other day I decided to make a scarf, but wanted to give it a spiral look.   After searching online I was unable to find an existing pattern to make a spiral stripe using the Knifty Knitter Looms.  I found several patterns that would allow me to do solid vertical stripes, but this was not what I was looking for.  After giving it some though I came up with this design.

More after the break...

Photos by Derek Jeffries: Trip to Shiloh National Battlefield

Photos by Derek Jeffries: Trip to Shiloh National Battlefield: Earlier in October we decided to take PJ to the Shiloh National Battlefield in Tennessee for a home-school field trip.    It has been about 15 years since I had last visited Shiloh during Boy Scouts.  This year represents 150 years since the start of the Civil War.  The battle of Shiloh took place over two days in April of 1862 at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee river.

Be sure to check out the rest of the post and pictures on my Photography Blog.

Gluten Free Spare Ribs

I tried out this recipe, from Craig Weaver, for Spare ribs tonight. The outcome was fantastic. On Craig's site he has several cooking methods for ribs depending on what you have available. I used the Oven Slow Cook Method with Sauce on for the entire time.

I cooked two racks of ribs, the first using Annie's Naturals Organic Smoky Maple BBQ Sauce. This BBQ Sauce is Organic, Gluten Free and Vegan. The taste was amazing.

The second rack was cooked using KC Masterpiece Honey BBQ Sauce. Not Gluten Free but still great flavor. There were no complaints from the family, other than they could not stop eating them even after getting full.

Note: This was my first attempt at cooking ribs, and I WILL be doing it again.

Lightning Shots from 6/18/2011 - Columbia MO

The storm last night was throwing some amazing lightning...  Added to the fact that the storm was far enough away from my location, and no rain, led to the following images.  Please let me know what you think.

Salty-Sweet Rub

Tonight I tried a new Rub for my Grilled Chicken.  My family had nothing but good things to say about it, so I better write it down.  Note all measurements are not exact.  I usually just go by taste.

4 Tbsp of Brown Sugar
1 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/4 tsp Paprika
1/8 tsp Sweet Basil
1/8 tsp Ground Oregano

Mix well, and rub on skin of chicken.  Grill via indirect heat or Bake, until chicken reaches desired internal temperature.

I have also used this rub on Grilled Pork Steaks with a similar effect.

If you give this recipe a try, please let me know how it turns out.

Lemon Pepper Baked Chicken

If you know me, I love to come up with recipes at random.  Occasionally I will remember to write them down.

I came up with this recipe the other night and thought I should write it down so I could repeat it later.  I started out to make some Lemon Pepper Chicken.  All measurements are estimates.  Most of the time I just add ingredients to taste.

1 Stick Butter
2 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
1/4 of a Onion Chopped
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Ground Sweet Basil
Ground Oregano

1) Place Chicken into an un-greased baking dish. 
2) Add stick of butter in the middle of the dish.
3) Spread Chopped Onion evenly over Chicken
4) Evenly Season chicken with the rest of the Spices.
5) Bake in Oven until chicken reaches the desired internal temperature.

If you give this recipe a try, please let me know how it turns out.

Dug Out from the Snow...

Just got finished digging the car out from the snow.  I would say we had a good 2 feet or more due to drifting.

The process of digging out was made much easier by a very nice neighbor and his Snow Blower.  He has been working all morning clearing out a path down our road, and also clearing paths up the driveways so that we can get at least one car out, if needed.

He was able to get the bulk of the snow out of the way, and then I just had to make a path from the door to the Truck, and around it.