The weekend continued...

Well Friday we had Daryl (the grill man), Claudia (my new friend) and her son Daniel, Curt and Beverly and their daughter (more new friends) and Jay Johnson. Unfortunately Teri couldn't make the trip with Jay on account of her being quite sick. We hope you're feeling better :)

The guys all worked on getting the meat and the smoker ready while us girls got the side dishes, ashtrays, garbage cans, Citronella candles and tiki torches ready. Friday ended up being a mini version of Saturday with so many people over but it was fun. I had taken out some chicken breasts for dinner (not knowing all these folks would be here) so once Daryl had the smoker going, Daniel seasoned them up and threw them in the smoker. It wasn't long before they were cooked to perfection and we knew we had made a successful trial run on the outdoor smoker.

We got most of our chores done and sat around relaxing, enjoying the early evening temperatures as they dropped and having a few drinks/beers. It was a nice night for being outside even though it did drizzle on us just a bit. We didn't mind because it helped to cool things off enough for the rest of the night to be enjoyable. Debbie took a bunch of pictures which I hear are posted on FB and some of which she sent to me. You'll see Claudia in the picture with me and Debbie by the outhouse and Daryl is riding the dime store pony. I haven't seen the other pictures but I hear they are good. I put the one of Debbie and I on the blog as it does a good job of representing how much fun we were having together.

I went to bed before everyone else. I was tired and I knew I wouldn't have another night in me if I didn't soon get some sleep. Rather than have everyone try to make me stay up with them, I skipped saying good night to everyone and just slipped off to bed. They were at one end of the cabin and they were downstairs. I was at the other end of the cabin and upstairs so no noise could be heard when I crawled into bed and crashed. zzzzzzzzzz

Saturday came quick and we still had work to do. Wally and Jay took off to town to get electrical and plumbing supplies, beer and ice. I made breakfast; country ham & Swiss cheese biscuits (Debbie insisted), sliced tomatoes, scrambled eggs and bacon. On full bellies we headed off to get the rest of our chores done. Debbie hung a lantern on the wall of her apartment (I think you can see it in the pic of me, Claudia & Deb) and she made a sign for the gate "Enter at UR Own Risk." Wally hung the flag and Daniel pressure washed the outhouse and the front porch. Daryl had already loaded the pork in the smoker somewhere around 6am so his job for the rest of the day was to tend to that. Daniel stayed busy chopping the cedar which was a perfect choice for the wood smoke.

Me and Debbie canned another batch of corn while other guests began to arrive. I would say we probably ended up with about 20-25 people throughout the day and night. Jeff brought his karaoke stuff so just before dark the music and singing took off. There are always those who will sing, those who can sing and well, let's be honest, those who someone must have told could sing - but we know better...lol  It was a lot of fun when Jr. did his Elvis impersonation and very emotional and touching when Daniel sang "American Soldier." Claudia's husband is in Iraq so it was dedicated to all soldiers past and present.

Yes, I sang. I'm sure you all know what song it was (Harper Valley PTA in case you didn't know). The only reason I did it was because Dizzy Debbie wanted me to....ha ha ha  My new friend Beverly wanted to sing Delta Dawn and asked me to sing that with her so I did - thank goodness we had the words. I couldn't remember any of it but the chorus. She sang my song with me and fortunately everyone else took over from there. whew!  Wally sang a few songs for those who had never heard him it was a real surprise. For those of us who had heard him, it was a real treat because he doesn't sing very often even though he has a really good voice for it.

The food came out and everyone stuffed themselves, even the dogs and horses were happy. The horses had all the corn cobs and the dogs had whatever people were feeding to them lol. The pork and chicken that Daryl smoked was wonderful. It was juicy and smokey (of course) and seasoned with his homemade BBQ sauce. Claudia's German potato salad was awesome - Debbie and I had to taste it before it came out and we both agreed it was very, very good!

We got some rain on our party but we gathered up under the deck and waited it out. Once it quit, we swept the water from the porch and got right back at it. The bonfire was lit and it was so big it singed the leaves on the trees. I offered the couch and sleeper sofa to whoever wanted to stay but as Jeff told me, "we're country boys who drive trucks, we'll be just fine sleeping in them." They are, they did and they were. LOL

Debbie and Claudia were up with the sun and cleaned up all kinds of messes from the outdoor kitchen to the inside kitchen and all around the porches. When I got up, everyone was gone except Jay and he was still sleeping. I condensed all the leftover food into smaller containers and made a sausage and egg casserole for breakfast. There was still a lot of clean-up to be done but the guys would have to get the rest, it was all the heavy stuff.

We decided to pressure can the leftover meat since there was quite a bit of it. The chicken had to be pulled from the bones so Wally and I got to work on that. He got out of it when visitors showed up. They were only there for about a 1/2 hour but that was enough time for me to finish the chicken...lol figures!

We ended up with two batches of pork and 1 batch of chicken. I think Jay made off with a jar of the pork while forgetting his jar of corn. LOL I'll save it for him - it won't go bad. I posted a picture of the first batch of pork jars so you can see them. Only 7 fit in the canner at one time so it took several hours to get it all done. The house sure smelled good with all that cooking going on and it will be nice to have warm, smoked, pulled pork come winter - if it makes it that long. We ate part of a jar yesterday - couldn't help it!

Wally and Jay fixed the ceiling fan and speaker cover in the living room and they also hung lights outside on the front porch. I got my laundry out on the line and cleaned the kitchen and the floors. By the time I finished the canning and the floors my back was done for the day. I took one of Wally's arthritis pills and within about 20 minutes it was all good. I was very relaxed and no more back pain. 

All in all a very good weekend. Tuesday on my way to work I saw two deer standing on the side of the road eating grass. There was one car in front of me and none in back so I slowed way down so I could watch them. This morning I saw a mama deer and her little fawn following along behind. That was a first for me. I'd never seen a deer so small. It was maybe a foot tall and still wobbly - cute, cute, cute! Of course I had to call and tell Wally - no one else is awake with me that early. He just laughs at me when I get excited about stuff like that. Well, that must be part of my charm... lol ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Tonight is the big night at Pee Wee's Place. Who knows if we'll make it - sometimes we just don't feel like leaving the farm :)  It's a beautiful place to be so why go anywhere else? Hope to see you here soon.


"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~Dr. Seuss