While I'm on the subject of chickens, we did finally get some! Wally went and picked them up yesterday. We now have four roosters and two chickens - at least I think that's the count. I've only seen them from afar as they are too "chicken" to come near me... ha ha ha ha ha!! pun intended :) I stopped at Tractor Supply and picked up some sweet feed for the horses and some scratch feed for the fowl.
Wally said when they first got to the house they were making all kinds of racket. He let them out of the cage and of course the dogs tried catching them. Well the guy from whence they came said they were dog-proof and apparently he was right. Those dogs couldn't catch em for nothin. LOL I suppose Wesson probably could have if he really, really wanted to but Smith just doesn't have the hind end to carry it off. Poor guy, Wally said he gave it his best but those hind legs just won't go with the front ones anymore. Meanwhile the birds were all out in the woods in fear for their lives. In the hope that they would return, we threw some scratch feed out over by Dizzy's Apartment and within about 1/2 hour they were all over there just pecking away at it.
Just before it started to get dark they must have decided to let the crowing begin! One of the roosters was out in the woods behind the house and another one was over by the burn pile. They were cockadoodle- dooing back and forth for a good 1/2 hour and just cracking me up the whole time! I think the one in the woods must have lost his way and was calling for the other one to come and get him - ha! fat chance of that, he would have to get past the guard dogs LOL.
Until we build a chicken coop we'll likely end up with eggs everywhere... that's okay, once the tomatoes have finished coming in, we're going to let them use my garden area. They can roam during the day and then have a place to stay at night - especially once it starts to get cold. As an added benefit, I'll have all the chicken poo I need for next year's garden :) and I won't have to shovel it this time - just add some compost and till it over a few times. Free fresh eggs and chicken poo. Tell me I don't have it made folks :)
So on to supper... (not a great follow up to chicken poo but who cares). I caught the ground chuck deal at H.G. Hills Supermarket where they had it for $1.79 lb. This isn't run of the mill ground beef, it's ground chuck y'all. I don't know that I've seen it that low since I was here last October. I put about a pound of it in a bowl and mixed it with some Worcestershire sauce, water, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Into my trusty cast iron skillet they went and man did that cabin smell good. Beefy good. You know what I mean. After flipping them and adding the softened, mild cheddar slices, I let them sit and rest for a few minutes.
I found some really fresh, whole wheat buns at Food Lion so I got those out and spread them with mayo and mustard (for Wally), just mustard for me and since I still had a few of my homemade pickles left I put a couple slices of those on them too. Then onto the buns the burgers they went! We had some green beans that were sauteed with onions on the side and dinner was served. Talk about being stuffed... ever wish you wore your stretchy pants for dinner? That was me :)
Oh yeah, we went to check on the horses. Over the weekend, if you caught the blog posting, we let the horses go back down to the pasture where they normally stay. There's plenty of fresh, sweet, grass growing down there and we knew they would go to town on it. Well, when we got there Jimbo was right by the fence in the upper pasture which surprised us both. We thought he would stay down by the spring but I guess he had other ideas. Smokey and Rebel were up in the shade near the condo (a.k.a. mobile home) getting their fill of grass too. Good ol' Rebel comes right over even if he doesn't right away spot any food in your hands. lol Smokey, well, he came over too but as always it took a while.
We filled a bucket with some sweet feed and let Rebel start eating out of it. Slowly but surely here comes Smokey wanting to get some too. He nipped at Rebel's backside and Rebel moved away. They did a little circle dance and, by whatever means they decided, Smokey won out. He came and ate from the bucket and let me pet him while he was at it. He seems to be softening up for a while and then NOPE, not havin nuthin to do with the likes of me. But I have had the pleasure of petting him twice in one week and that could be a record.
We ended up pouring the rest of the feed on the ground in two different places so they could both finish it up. This morning Wally took them and had new shoes put on and we are definitely riding tonight or tomorrow.The weather is nice so it won't stress them (or us) out and we've been petting them and feeding them from our hands enough that they aren't shy anymore (stubborn, yes, but not shy). I'm excited! Those trails are perfectly suited to riding side by side on horses and there are miles to travel... what a great way to spend some time together. When are you coming up?
Claudia gave me some quinces from her trees and I started peeling them last night in preparation for getting ready to make quince preserves. Those little buggers don't peel easily...maybe they aren't ripe enough I don't know but it took me 20 minutes just to peel about 6 of them. I put that aside and figured I'd give them a day or two to maybe soften up a bit before I try it again. I've never had quince before but all recipes warn against eating them raw so I can't tell if they're ripe or not since I'm not supposed to taste them. The recipe is very simple once they're peeled and cored. All you do is put them in the pot where you have three cups of sugar and a half gallon of water boiling rapidly. After the quince slices are added, they'll turn red and get soft. Within about an hour they're ready to be poured into 1/2 pint jars. I just happen to have some of those handy :) thank you Ernie. Supposedly, after cooking down to release their juices and combining with all that sugar, they get really sweet in the form of preserves. I'll keep you posted on how the quince-preserve-making episode turns out. If it ever does... lol
I found and had developed a roll of film from when I was here in January during the biggest snow storm in who knows how many years...the pictures are pretty cute and I'll try to remember to bring them when I come next week. There was soooooo much snow! The car was under the deck and it still got snow all over it just from it blowing in. Yes, I have to come down for a little medical procedure. No big deal but necessary nonetheless. I'll only be in FL the latter part of Thursday, Friday (is the procedure) and then I'm flying back out Saturday morning.
I'll try to visit with as many of you as possible but you know how that is. My Mom is having knee replacement surgery on Monday and will likely still be in the hospital so my first stop will be to visit her. After that, it's up in the air.
I found the boxes that had my Fall decorations -woo hoo!! I have scarecrows decorating the little side table, another one in the bathroom on a little step stool we have and my table runner is on the coffee table with a really pretty fake pumpkin in the center of it. On either side of the pumpkin is a little collection of red Indian corn all tied together with raffia and a little collection of acorns that are kind of woven together. In all they make a fine fall picture without over doing it. My supper table has the ceramic turkey on it, flanked by the Publix "Pilgrim People" dish towel and matching pot holder.
I'm gonna have to get to the trailer to get the rest of the Pilgrim People out of storage but I'm good for now. The rest of it is really for serving food and it's not Thanksgiving yet... but just you wait! I bet Ernie has all her stuff out already :) any takers on that???? lol
The Steelers are coming to town to face the Titans and the Vols are up against the Florida Gators. My money is on the Titans and the Gators. Big Ben is still on suspension and unless their second string QB is off the injured list, the Steelers will be playing their third string QB. I prefer the Steelers win but if it came down to the money, I'd have to bet on the Titans. You don't win by betting with your heart... lol I'm pretty sure the Gators will take the Vols - it could go either way though now that the Gators lost their star play (my daughter's future husband). I'll probably play this one safe and not bet at all. Either way, it'll be a good football weekend here!
Seeing as how we now have roosters I kind of expected to hear from them first thing this morning but nooooooo, those roosters were still sleeping when we got up! I turned on the light in the kitchen so I could pack my lunch and left it on so I could see the way to my car. I guess that finally woke them up because Wally called me before I was even on the main road and I could hear them all in the background just going at it. ha ha! After he turned the light off, they went back to being quiet, probably sleeping again - guess they didn't appreciate me waking them up :) You know it's pretty bad when you leave so early in the morning that you are responsible for waking the roosters! Either that or we have some seriously lazy roosters... lol
You watch, the one day that I am actually able to sleep in, that's when they'll get me back.
The horses are shod, the chili pot is out and awaiting the addition of ingredients, we have a huge burn pile just ready to be lit up and both Saturday and Sunday have good football. Sounds like our weekend is pretty well laid out for us. I hope your plans include just as much fun...
"Trying to maintain order during a legalized gang brawl involving 80 toughs with a little whistle, a hanky and a ton of prayer." ~Anonymous referee, explaining his job
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