Good grief….you guys are sure in for touching the dead animals (mouse, bird), please tell me that you go in the house and wash your hands!!!!
and
What are you doing picking up worms and dead things with your BARE HANDS?!
I picked up the mouse with my bare hand because (a) I was only touching its tail and (b) I was too damn lazy to walk all the way to the garage for a pair of gloves or a piece of paper towel. And I washed my hands.. eventually. After I ate breakfast and made dinner. I KID. Of course I washed my hands immediately! What kind of germ-carrying Typhoid Mary do you take me for?
* * *
As you are the only person I know (well sorta) that is canning. Do you have any non-pressure cooker recipes for pickles? The daughter has grown some and now “wants to make pickles”.
Actually, pickles don’t need the pressure cooker because the vinegar you add to the jar makes it acidic enough so that a trip through the water bath canner works just fine. However, of the pickles I’ve made so far, they’ve all come out mushy. I hate the HELL out of a mushy pickle, and I don’t know if it’s the recipe or me or the fact that I’ve been using zucchini (since the cukes aren’t ripe just yet) or what, but if anyone has a recipe for a nice crisp pickle, feel free to share!
If you want to give it a trial run,
here’s a pickle recipe, though not one I’ve tried myself. They’re all pretty similar, though, so that should give you a feel for what they’re like.
* * *
My recipe for dirty rice – get in the car, go to Trader Joes and get Tony Chachere’s Dirty Rice Mix. It is fabulous and the easiest thing EVER!! Don’t use Zatarain’s – yucky!!! Of course I feel that way about all of their stuff, so there you have it. I use either ground turkey or 94% lean ground meat. And make sure you put green onions(tops only) into it…mmmm, heaven.
Look, you – stop teasing me with the Trader Joe’s! There’s no Trader Joe’s within miles and miles of here (there are some in Georgia), and every time y’all mention that place, I get sad and jealous because we don’t have one (yet!). For those of us who might want to give Tony Chachere’s a try, check
Froogle for places to buy it online.
(I can’t speak for Zatarain’s, though – I don’t believe I’ve had anything they make, at least not yet!)
* * *
Yay! Rain! Is the drought over?
It might be too soon to say that the drought is really over, but we’ve certainly gotten plenty of rain in the past week. I mowed the lawn last Friday, then the skies opened up and over the past week I think we’ve only had a couple of days when it didn’t rain for at least a little while. The plants in the garden are loving it, and so is the lawn – it needs mowing again!
On the down side, I had to use the DRYER to get my laundry done Wednesday, and then it was nice and sunny yesterday, so I spent all day doing laundry (sheets and towels) and hanging them out. The last set of sheets weren’t quite dry by dark so I left them out there. And naturally it started raining first thing this morning.
After all that time spent wishing for rain, Fred’s now getting antsy because the rain is making the weeds in the garden go wild, and it’s too muddy to weed. It’s a conundrum!
* * *
Your previous years entry got me to wondering if you are going to go visit Tigers for Tomorrow again?
We are, one of these days. We’ve talked about it, but just haven’t found the time to do it yet!
* * *
Just curious if you have ever eaten frozen squash? I made a casserole a few weeks ago with some and it was bad, the bad part being it tasted nothing like squash at all. I’ve always heard frozen squash will loose almost all it’s taste. As for the ones I had it was very true.
I don’t know that I’ve ever had frozen squash, and I’ve heard that it looses its taste when frozen, too. Which is why I bought a dehydrator and am dehydrating squash from here on out. I don’t know that dehydrated squash will taste any better, but like Fred keeps saying to me, this is our learning year. If dehydrated squash tastes bad, we’ll plant fewer plants next year and just eat them when they’re in season!
* * *
I am so glad that you do what you do with the fosters and volunteering at the pet store. I want to do something like that, but I’m not sure I could take it. Do you ever get weepy over the kitties?
Oh do I EVER get weepy over the kitties. I get weepy every single time I have to take a kitten to the pet store and leave it in a cage, because it’s scared and doesn’t understand what’s going on, and I can’t say “Look, I know it’s scary, but it’s for the best! Someone’s going to come along and fall in love with you, and they’ll take you home, and it’ll be AWESOME!” – well, I CAN say that, and I often do, but they don’t understand and I hate how frightened they are. But I do know it’s for the best and I trust the adoption counselors for the shelter (they don’t hesitate to say “no” to people, which is why I could never be an adoption counselor), so as hard as it is, I’ll keep on doing it. The difficulty in saying goodbye is very much offset by the fun part of being able to play with them and watch them grow.
* * *
Well, I had a dinner-related meltdown at my house last night! I didn’t get home until 8, and had things to do, so I had a plate of the meal my bf cooked, and when he offered me seconds, I refused, although I told him I liked what he had made. He went to bed, and I finished my business, and by that time (close to midnight), he’d woken up from his nap, ready to pout. I asked him what was wrong and he told me he was really angry because the meal he made was difficult. I inadvertently insulted him by not eating more of the food. He thought I’d eaten before I got home even though he’d told me he was going to cook. He said in the future he’d just make something easy, like eggs. Well, ho ho ho! We haven’t known each other long enough for him to know all my buttons, but fucking sulking like a giant-ass baby when I didn’t even do anything is probably my biggest, reddest button and he was jumping up and down on it. I told him that even if I had known how difficult the meal was to make, I still wouldn’t have had a second helping because it was rich and I wasn’t that hungry (and I had things to do so didn’t want to linger at the table). HOWEVER, IN THE FUTURE I GUESS I WILL HAVE THIRDS IF IT WILL KEEP YOU FROM THROWING A TEMPER TANTRUM, THERE THERE, HERE’S A JUICE BOX.
I just had to put this comment in here because it cracks me UP. For the record, I’d never get pissed off if someone didn’t have seconds on whatever I made; I’d just figure Fred could take it to work for lunch the next day, or I could eat it myself.
I’m going to adopt HERE’S A JUICE BOX and use it next time Fred’s acting like a big baby. Hee.
* * *
Ummm…pickled watermelon rind?
Pickled watermelon rind! (You have to scroll down a bit) I’ve never made this stuff before, so I can’t swear to how good it is. I’ll have to let y’all know.
* * *
(Regarding the spud leaving)
Great. Now I’m all teary-eyed. Thanks a lot! (Are you all teary-eyed? Hope not!)
I got a little teary-eyed when I was saying goodbye to her, but I’ve been fine (except for the part where she’s driving a million miles to get to Rhode Island). Like I said, it’ll probably be this Fall before it really hits home that she’s not coming back.
* * *
For a woman that loves to go out to eat at any opportunity (and I, myself, join those ranks,) you sure do cook a lot. What, may I ask, is your favorite dish to cook and/or eat?
I’d say either hamburgers cooked on the grill (because then all I have to do is make the hamburger patties; Fred does the cooking), or meat loaf, because I really like meat loaf and it’s something I can make ahead and just pop into the oven when the time comes. I like both
Core meat loaf and
Mini meat loaves. Meatloaf with a side of
oven fried zucchini and some green beans sounds just about perfect to me.
* * *
Speaking of green beans, I opened a jar of
the green beans I canned last weekend, and I am VERY pleased to report that they weren’t mushy at all. I cannot abide a mushy green bean, and so this weekend I’ll be opening a jar of the pressure canned green beans I made a few weeks ago to test the mushiness of those and compare the two. All things being equal, though, I think the sugar-and-vinegar beans (I rinsed the sugar-and-vinegar brine off the beans and except for a slight tanginess, you couldn’t tell they’d been canned in sugar and vinegar) are easier than the pressure-cooked ones, because I don’t have to deal with the pressure cooker. That pressure cooker always makes me a little bit leery; I don’t want it to explode and decapitate me.
Because then I’d probably poop my guts out, and that just wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
* * *
Some sights from around the back yard area this morning:
Just sitting there, all casually, atop the gate leading into the chicken yard. Bastard.
I assume this cicada shed his shell and was hanging out for a few minutes ’til he was ready to take off.
I don’t know why, but our sunflowers are falling over. Maybe the rain?
I hate these goddamn Japanese Beetles. All they do is chew on the plants, then sit around on the weeds and fornicate, making new baby Japanese Beetles. UGH.
Baby grasshopper.
The girls are really starting to look like chickens, with their red.. head thingies (I don’t know what they’re called) coming up, and their red wattles developing. They should start laying eggs in the next few weeks, I think.
* * *
Gilligan, Maryanne, and Spanky are adapting well to not having Tina Louise around. In fact, they don’t really seem to notice that she’s missing. Gilligan’s starting to get more affectionate – he’ll sit and let me scratch behind his ears and on his back for a long, long time. He freaks out if I try to pick him up (I just want to kiss him!), but he’ll come over if I wiggle my fingers at him, and let me pet him. Definite progress!
In the morning and evening, the kittens get a little snack of a spoonful of plain lowfat yogurt on a plate. They like it a lot, but Gilligan has decided he doesn’t like it anymore. That’s fine with Maryanne and Spanky – more for them!
“I just don’t see what all the fuss is about, lady.”
“You hear that, Elizabeth? I’m coming to join you, honey!”
* * *
Previously
2006: I think I need a nap.
2005: Hey. What’s worse than not being able to stop yourself from crying? WHEN A MOTHERFUCKER KEEPS LOOKING AT YOU TO SEE IF YOU’RE CRYING.
2004: She looked simultaneously confused and disgusted. “When do I eat CHICKEN eggs?” She wrinkled her nose.
2003: No entry.
2002: No entry.
2001: Sh’yeah. I’m sure Brad’s reallllly worried.
2000: Could that paragraph have been any more rambly and pointless? ]]>