The 81st Annual Firefighter’s Booya advertisement is actually a folding sign, but if I can use the Cycle365 platform to help My Town’s Fire Department, then I’m going to call it a BANNER. The two or three thousand Hastingites that follow Cycle365 will be glad I did. Add to that my thousands of followers from all over the world, and I’m guessing this post will result in at least $50,000,000 in Booya sales for our firefighting first responders.

I should probably explain what a Booya is, since I think it’s a delicacy found mostly in America’s upper-midwest.

Basically, a Booya is a big soup. It has water, salt & pepper & spices, lots of just about every kind of root vegetable you can think of, and gigantic chunks of beef, pork, wild game, sausage, and bones–lots of bones–for their delicious marrow. It’s simmered outdoors over a gas flame, in huge 30-to-50-gallon vats or barrels, for at least 24-48 hours. The concoction is stirred frequently and must be attended to by at least one person the entire time. The flavors meld, the vegetables and meat and bones break down, and the result is an incredibly flavorful broth. Then more chunks of meat and vegetables are added during the cooking process. Oh man, I’m drooling just thinking about it.

You might be thinking that last paragraph was the part that raised a lot of red flags for lies and exaggerations, but everything I wrote is true. The lies and exaggerations were in the first paragraph.

Here comes a few LEGITIMATE entries for this month’s challenge:

Heading off to Iowa now. See you in a few days.