I'm in mourning....

It's a sad sad day around the Cox household. No No, not because school starts this week...we're excited for that! Because....you see....back when I was 12, my grandpa (my mom's dad, Paul) and I started a hobby of making beef jerky. Kinda weird, I know. But it was so fun! He bought a dehydrator, and I thought it was super cool. Plus, I love jerky...it's basically the sole reason I quit being a vegetarian after almost 3 years! Anyway, about once every other week or so, I would walk from good ol' Clayton Junior High to my grandpa's house. We'd head to Albertson's, where my grandpa knew all the butchers, and pick out the best meat for the job. Then we'd head back, carefully cut the meat up, marinate fit or 4-6 hours, then cook it for 8-12 more hours. My dear grandpa was an engineer, and a VERY precise man, so, you can imagine the process this was! He would set an alarm for every 2 hours during the night to get up and rotate the jerky so it was equally dehydrated. Wow, it was delicious. Good stuff.

Anyway, there are things you could always count on being in my grandpa's fridge....coke, strawberry fruit roll ups, oreos, and the yellow tub of beef jerky. I got so close to him on these afternoons of jerky making. It was like "our thing" together, and I loved, admired, and respected him so much. He passed away on January 26, 1996. It was, of course, very hard for the whole family. As we were going through his home, we came across the dehydrator. Of course, I took it! I've been making beef jerky since....and I'm sure it drives him nuts because I am definitely NOT the exact science, measure everything, rotate everything type! I toss all the ingredients in, marinate it for a while (sometimes too long...hello salt!), then dry it for a while (again, sometimes too long..who's home for 12 hours at a time?!). More or less, it turns out. Not nearly as good as his work, but, alas, it's good.

And there's the background for you....here's the sad news of why I would be so devastated...that my dehydrator is out of commission. Gone. Not working. Done for. I'm so sad! I whipped out the loyal thing before our Vegas trip to make the classic road trip goodie...and it was unusually noisy, but seemed to be working. Well....12 hours later, no done jerky. So...I had my friend Sarah come check on it later after we had left for the trip...and I think about 3 trips and 18 more hours later, it was mostly done. So, RJ and I made the sad trip out to the garage for the disposal of the dehydrator. Yes, we even took pictures.

Anyway, just thought I'd explain the sadness behind losing my 14 year old Shopko dehydrator....I'm not a mountain man, just a granddaughter who loves and dearly misses her grandfather, even 12 years later.