Ed Icionsub

Different hamburger joints have been voted “Best in Town” over the years, but my favorite has always been “Backyard Burgers.” This is a small chain of quick service restaurants that is based in Memphis and slowly growing their presence throughout the South. There is one just a mile from my house and I go there often.

Their drive through window is always full at lunch rush, so I try to go off peak for faster service. They also have a small dining room inside, which is nice if you have small children and don’t want everyone eating in the car.

Their”Backyard Burger” is a 1/3 pound pattie of black angus beef. The standard fixings include a thick slice of fresh tomato, a leaf of romaine lettuce, a slice of red onion and a little squirt of ketchup and mustard. They offer french fries or onion rings, a great dessert of fresh fruit cobbler (a different flavor every day) and some really great hand dipped milkshakes made with Breyer’s Ice Cream.

Saw a great sign in front of a church near here. The white sign with black channel letters that they change every week or month or whatever. Anyway, the sign said:

“What little ears should not hear

Big mouths should not say.”

I thought that was profound and very much needed in this world of trashy talk and potty mouths. Kids hear everything and absorb it whether you intend to have that impression on them or not. So think about what you are saying and maybe clean it up a little before it comes out your mouth. Make everyone’s world a nicer place.

When we eat at home we are given a plate and sent to the kitchen to fix our plate. We help ourselves to the variety of foods that have been prepared, the we all join together in the dining room to sit at the table and eat our meal together.

As we are accustomed to heaping our favorite foods on our plates, we probably have strayed pretty far from what the guidelines say are serving sizes:

• a serving of vegetables or fresh fruit is about the size of a lightbulb
• a serving of meat is about the size of a deck of cards
• a serving of cheese is about the size of three dominoes
• a serving of peanut butter is about the size of a ping pong ball

I discovered Americana Music this year. I hope it starts to catch on – the artists are an incredible assortment of very talented songwriters and musicians. You might be surprised to see what names are included on their artist roster.

This is an 84 Ironhead that I picked up over the weekend from a guy heading to jail for a while. It wasn’t going to do him any good sitting around for 15-20 years, so I told him I’d take it and make sure his house payment gets paid this next year so his wife and kids don’t have to move out and live in some dump. I think it was a win-win situation.

This is the trike that my father-in-law has put together. He doesn’t ride it much but he likes having it and likes the attention when he takes it on a run.

I don’t really like the yellow, but it suits him. I think I would have gone with a black and some details in red or blue. But it’s all a matter of taste and its not my trike.