Alphageek attends a Pig Roast


Pig Roast
Originally uploaded by AlphaHokie
The Alphageek recently received a challenge: could he make an activity in a retired person's life sound interesting? I replied of course.

We set out on a bright shiny day to make the drive to the mountains of Floyd. Mrs. Alphageek and I loaded material into the car and began to drive. About 30 minutes from our house, I said the words nobody wants to hear on a trip: what is that funny noise the car is making? I got out to check around and found that the rear car caliper brake was sticking. All I could smell was burning brake material. We turned around and headed home. We had to switch over the Alphageek's sports car instead. This meant we had to leave a bunch of stuff at home, so our apologies to the Retired Lawman for being understanding when we brought only a kitchen knife.

We arrived in Floyd, several hours late, but none the worse for wear. We took some time to admire the new pig pit that he constructed. The pit was very impressive, with a large fire burning inside.

We took the opportunity to look around the house. The last time I was there, it did not have a roof, so the amount of progress is pretty impressive. The progress is not as impressive as it needs to be, but I will let him tell that story.

We then moved on to prepare the pig. We removed the oinker from the cooler and laid it upon a prepared sheet of aluminum foil. After some hard work, the pig was stuffed with a pinapple and coated with some seasoning, inside and out. The pig was wrapped up in foil and a discussion began about how much more the fire needed to burn down.

After some thought from all present, the decision was made to remove one of the large logs that was present in the fire pit. An impressive tow cable was produced and used to remove the biggest of the logs.

The fire pit now properly prepared, the pig was place on about 20 feet of chicken wire and lowered into the pit. We then covered the pit with some fiberglass covered particle board, and left for the evening. While everyone wanted to stay, the torrential rain that had started prevented us from staying and enjoying the pig.

On the drive home, the amount of rain increased. The rain increased so much that I wondered if it would put out the fire.

We awoke next morning to a text message. It informed us that the rain did put out the fire. It has been a while since I have seen that much rain fall in that short amount of time. We returned to the mountains to see the results several hours later. The pig had to be finished on the grill, but was great none the less.

A large party ensued, with folks from all over Southwestern Virginia showing up. The Alphageek has not seen some of the folks in many a year, so it was an exciting event. Unfortunately, the weather became very cold, and everyone huddled inside for some collected warmth. Judging by the food consumed, a great time was had by all.

Yet another successful road trip weekend from the Alphageek. If you want to see more pictures, click this link.