Hootie #1 (The Original)

This is the Original Hootie, he was born at Greawahl Farm in Charlestown RI on August 30, 1989 and I was able to pick him up on the 28th of October. He was such a cutie and we instantly became best buddies, he looked to me for everything. He pretty much grew up on my truck as at that time I was a trucker. He knew people from Rhode Island to Seattle WA. and when I would go to a regular stop to deliver a load, everyone would not care that I was there but instead they would ask, where's Hootie.I don't have any pictures of him young as at that time I did not have a digital camera. I do however have pictures that at some point I will scan and enter here. He has an anal tumor and could not be saved and on May 12, 2000 he had to be put down, the saddest day of my life. I Love and miss Him every day still.

Here are some pics of him with my sister Rosey, my niece Lindsay and myself in his later years.

Smells-good ones

• Lilacs,
• An Apple Pie baking,
• Messingill Summer Breeze (did I say that)

Notes from inside my head (Brain Mush)

Wow! This will be a long post, what's inside this head is unbelievable even to me so I cannot imagine what is going to look like in black and white. I will get started on this soon so be sure to check back often so you will be able to say " I remember the day he finally lost it completely". The top picture is the most recent me and the other two are from 2000.

My Trucking career

Later

My Recipes

Pete's Fishcakes

Ingredients:

• 1lb Fresh FLounder or Tautog (Blackfish) chopped fine ( I run mine through the food processor)



• 
  
  1 small Onion



• 
  
  1 Tablespoon of Hellman's mayonnaise



• 
  
  1 Egg



• 
  
  1/4 to 1/2 cup of bread crumbs



• 
  
  1 good squeeze of a fresh Lemon



• 
  
  1 Tablespoon of Fresh Parsley

Mix all the ingredients well in a medium bowl and place in the refridgerator for a couple of hours (this makes it easier to work with, the colder the better)

Remove from the fridge and form into about 6 equal patties and return to the fridge.

Put about one half inch of oil in a medium skillett and cook on medium heat until golden brow

Serve with a good Cocktail Sauce and YUM!

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Apple Stuffed Pork Roast

Ingredients:

• 2 Cloves of Garlic, minced


• 1 t coarse salt


• 1 t dries rosemary


• 1/2 t dried thyme


• 1/2 t black pepper


• 1 boneless center cut pork roast (4 to 5 pounds)


• 1 T butter


• 2 large tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (about 2 cups)


• 1 medium onion, cut into thin strips (about 1 cup)


• 2 T brown sugar


• 1 t Dijon Mustard


• 1 cup apple juice


• 1/3 cup of Apricot Preserves

Preperation:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine garlic, salt,rosemary, thyme and pepper in a small bowl. Cut lengthwise down roast almost to, but not through bottom. Open like a book. Rub half of garlic mixture onto cut sides of pork.


2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add apples and onion, cook and stir 5 to 10 minutes or until soft. Stir in brown sugar and mustard. Spread mixture evenly onto one cut side of roast. Close halves (rolling like a jelly roll); tie roast with kitchen string at 2 inch intervals. Place roast in a shallow pan. Pour apple cider over roast. Rub outside with apricot preserves.


3. Roast, uncovered, basting often with pan drippings, if it needs more apple juice put it on, being sure to keep it moist. bake. Roast for 2-2 1/2 hours or until the thickest part is at 155 degrees. Remove to a wire rack and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!

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Baby Back Ribs

Ingredients:

4 pounds of baby back ribs

1/4 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Barbeque Sauce

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 T paprika

1 1/2 t chili powder

1 1/2 t salt

1 t ground cumin

3/4 black pepper

3/4 t white pepper

1/2 t cayenne pepper

1/4 t splenda ( or sugar if you must)

Preparation

Trim excess fat from the ribs and remove the whit fat off the bones. Combine dry ingredients and rub on the ribs all over. Place ribs in the crock pot standing up on edge with the meaty side out. Cook on low for about 8 hours, take the ribs out and brush with the barbecue sauce and return to crock pot for about an hour. Use a little more sauce if you prefer. Enjoy!

My favorite places to eat

Well, if you know me then you know how I love to eat good food. I have several locations spread out from Maine to Texas to Seattle. I will try to get my brain in gear and recall some of the better ones and I may even recall some of the worst.

Rhode Island, Galilee

George's in Galilee

George's is a great place to go on Thursday's and Sunday's. First of all on Sunday they have a great Buffet and it is reasonably priced. I have been too many times to count and have introduced many of my friends to it. They have Pot Roast on the buffet that is the best you will ever have (real New England style) YUM!

On Thursday's they have a special Lobster dish called Lazy Man's Lobster and it is the best and the price is unbelievable ( very low). Find George's and you too can have this oversize figure that I have.

http://www.georgesofgalilee.com/

Illinois, Morris

Romines Standard Truck Stop

Romines is located in Morris Il. off of Interstate I-80 at exit 112-B

This place is one of the best I have found all through the country. It has two restaurants, one for truckers and one for the regular patrons. The only differance is that they understand that truckers are on a strict time schedule and therefor they get you right in and out quickly without skimping on service or quality. They have the best cuts of meat money can buy and it has a salad bar to die for. They feature a 5 pound hamburger that is free if you finish it in an hour and they have had a few do it. The dacor is of all antiques everywhere in teh entire truck stop. If your in teh area and want a great meal, great service stop in and enjoy!

Telephone # 815 942 5690

Vermont, Springfield

Penelope's

Settled in the center of Springfield VT is an old apothecary that has been transformed into a very quaint and unusual restaurant. It was originally an old drug store with the old hand tinned ceilings. It started as just a lunch place but business was so good that they applied for permission to dig underground and even under the road next to the place and tunneled under the street and now they have the quaintest place on earth. As you are waiting in line and it is usually a very busy place you are passing by the kitchen and it is equipped with full length windows so you can see what is going on. One of my favorites about it is watching the French onion soup crocks coming out of the oven with the cheese melting down the side of the crock,mmmm I am getting hungry just thinking about it. Hope you get to Springfield and try this spot, I have many times. Enjoy!

My Amesbury and the Jeep

This is my Amesbury 16 footer and my 1995 Jeep. Neither of them looked like this when I bought them but that is normal for me to take something and redo it. I has a good time retro fitting this boat an also the Jeep. I also caught a lot of fish out of this boat. I kept it for a couple of years and then it was time to move into something a little bigger.

I do have one story of a friend who liked to Fluke fish and goes out when he has time. Dave Jannelle and myself were going out fishing on Tuesday July, 26 2005. We were to launch the boat at West Beach boat ramp and fish outside Misquamicut Beach and so we were getting a fairly early start. Now we all know that early in the morning our brains are not in high gear and mistakes are made. I backed the boat down the ramp and Dave guided me then I pulled the trailer out and went to park it. I had to take a pee before setting out on the water so I took care of that also. I was taking my time and making sure that everything was locked and set until I returned. When I got back to the boar Dave was standing there looking at the boat and to my surprise it was sinking. I had forgot to put the plug in the transom but the thing was, Dave never said anything. When I asked him he said I thought something was wrong. The best is yet to come!

After a great day of fishing we headed back in and it was kind of rough so we took our time. After all we were very happy with our catch and nothing could ruin our day, I had 5 keepers and Dave had 3 nice fish. When we got back to the ramp it was blowing pretty good and I told Dave to not let the boat hit the ramp as it takes its toll on the Gel-Coat. There was a young boy standing on the rocks and he offered to have Dave throw him a line but Dave declined. What happened next was good reason for anyone to have to change their drawers. Dave thought he could step out of the boat and stop the boat from bottoming out. As he did he fell into the water and it was all the little boy and myself could do to keep from dying of laughter. Now you have to know Dave to really appreciate this story because Dave is not a small man. I laughed my ass off that day and will never forget the look on his face when he got up out of the water.

USS Lexington CV16

I did some Flight Qualifications aboard the USS Lexington CV16 which at the time was based out of Pensacola FL. I only spent about a month aboard her and we sailed out towards the equator and we practiced launching and recovering aircraft as pilot training. I was once again chosen as "Flag Man", landing the rescue helicopters with my trusty wands or flags. It was a good job and I enjoyed doing it. I was with a bunch of friends on that cruise and we made the best of the short liberty we got in Pensacola. Oh Yeah! Below is a link to the Lexington web site. She was scrapped many years ago. My time on board her was from March 1966 thru April 1 1966. I met a lot of good friends and had a lot of fun. It was a bucket of bolts compared to the Forrestal and the food was terrible. It was only for a short while and I managed to put up with it but I used to think about all the guys that were permanently assigned to her permanently.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/16.htm

USS Forrestal CVA 59 Detachment HC-2

http://twaintimes.net/hu-2/wboct65.html

http://www.forrestal.org/

This is a link to an article I found from the days when I was in the US Navy. It is from a Mediterranean Cruise I did on the USS Forrestal CVA 59. I am mentioned as one of the deck crew where my job was to land Helicopers on deck. It was a great time of my life and one I will not forget. Went to Italy, Spain, Malta, Gibraltar,Greece, France and returned by way of Bermuda. I enlisted in the US Navy on February, 23 1963 and was on active duty until July 1 1966 and then on inactive duty until February 23 1968. I spent some time in an aircraft maintenance group in Norfolk VA and was transferred to Helicopter Squadron HC-2 in Lakehurst NJ in May 1965 and was put out to sea on carrier qualifications aboard the Forrestal CVA 59 and USS Lexington CVS 16 out of Pensacola FL and back to Lakehurst NJ. Those were the good old days, when life was simple!

The Marina and some Fishing Friends

This is one of my very good friends and fishing buddies,on the right, Bob Brodeur fishing for Fluke in June of 2006 aboard Passing Thru. Its not a good picture of Bob, he is only 39 (same age as Jack Benny)

Great guy to have for a friend and he is a real good fisherman and loves being on the water.

The guy on the top left is George Axelson, a Massachusetts native. George is a very unique person and his friendship is invaluable. One of George's talents is rock carving and sculpting. He can make almost anything out of rocks. Can't wait to do some boating with George this summer!

The guy in the upper left hand corner is Steve Kavanagh. We have been friends for what seems like forever, or maybe I should say brothers forever. We have lived together several times and have had many a battle like brothers do. Steve is a good guy and not a good fishing buddy as he gets seasick at the first sound of going out on a boat but he goes sometimes anyway.

The picture on the right top is Lavin's Landing is the marina where I keep my boat and the picture on the left is the bait shop at the marina. The guy in the picture to the left is another great guy, Dave Jannelle. Its not a good picture of him but I will get a better one this year of him fishing.

http://2335248.usdirectory.com/default.htm?wr=1&afid=1517&tbid

Retrofitting Passing Thru

These are some of the pictures I have taken since we started work on Passing Thru. It started in January 2006 and this set of pics will take us to about May. I have stripped everything off the boat that I did not want on and sent her out to get new Awl-Grip. The guy in the respirator is John Nomer for Fiberglass Tech in Perryville, RI, does fantastic work.

1973 Aquasport 22.2 (Spindrift)

This is Spindrift when I purchased her in November of 2005 She was in tough shape but is very structual and mostly needed a lot of cosmetic work (I thought). Well I will let you be the judge after you have seen all the pictures and read all about her. Her name was "Sprindrift when I bought her but most of my boats have been named "Passing Thru" so this one is also.

http://www.classicaquasport.com/content/news

Hootie #2

4/23/2007

HOOTIE

This is "Hootie"my 7 year old Labrador Retriever. If you know me then you know that Hootie is usually with me. He is a true friend and a lot of fun. Here he is doing what he loves the most,swimming and playing ball.! He is my best friend and has many friends of His own. His girlfriend's name is Holly and his entire disposition changes when he is around Her (macho man). He loves his walks in Ninegret Park but his favorite is Burlingame State Park, it's mine also, it is big and there is a lot of areas to play a game of ball or just go for a walk. The woman in the picture is Sheila, Holly's mom and a good friend whom I walk my dog with sometimes. July 2007, it is a sad time as Holly has been put down due to cancer. She had developed it back last year and the Vet had told Sheila that it would eventually take its toll due to the location and the pain she would encounter. It is a shame and I will miss her because she was a little cutey. Hootie does not know as of yet and even though I know He will never forget Her, He will go on loving Her. She was only 7 years old.