Chicken on the Grill, Pumpkins, and Ducks

Whew, how's that for an all in one title? Sorry folks, I have a lot to say!

First, how to cook a whole chicken on the grill.

This is one of our favorite summer meals. Take a whole chicken. Prepare and rinse well. Get a can of something. Beer is recommended, but I think Coke or any Cola works as well (you know, in case you live in a house where you don't keep can's of beer around and you don't remember to get one until Sunday, when you can't buy beer).

Drink about 1/2 - 2/3 of your canned beverage.

Jam the can (with the rest of the liquid) up the chicken's bottom.

Stand the chicken up, using the can and it's two legs to make a kind of tripod.

Smear it with something. We went with a Caribbean Jerk Marinade this time (tasty) but plan oil, salt, and pepper works fine too.

You want to use indirect heat to cook this sucker. Go if you have a gas grill, only light the outer burners and leave the ones under the chicken off. If you use charcoal, the when they are ready, use a shovel or stick or something to scrape them off to the sides.


Cook for about 1 - 1 1.5 hours over medium heat. (Use your meat thermometer to check for doneness).


Okay, so now that you have a recipe for chickeny goodness, check out our baby pumpkin! He's the first one! How exciting.

We also have some peas. The kids had to try one.

After dinner we went to feed the ducks and geese at Prickett's Fort. We do this pretty often (you know, every time someone leaves the bread open and it gets all stale!) and the kids love it. These are probably the fattest, best fed fowl in all of creation. Everyone in Fairmont brings them bread to eat!






While we were driving to the Fort, I asked Chris, "Do you want to feed the ducks or do you want to take pictures?" He decided he would be taking pictures because he's good at it (he is).


But the lure of feeding the animals was too great for him and I had to take the camera away. What is this thing he's feeding anyway? A duck or a goose? We couldn't decide, but they were very docile and nice.


Unlike this guy. He was not nice. Honking and hissing, nipping the other geese, and generally just flapping his wings at everyone.



After we've fed them all our bread, we want to make sure they get enough physical activity, so Jordan gently encourages them to fly.


I mean, hey, they've got to work off all that bread somehow. Right?