DAILY TIDBIT

What color will your hen’s eggs be? The color of a chicken’s egg is related to the hen’s earlobe color - the darker the ear lobe the darker the egg. Green eggs and ham is more than just a children’s book after all!

DEAL OF THE DAY

I was going today after work for another load of rabbit poo and had forgotten my tarp to "protect" my truck and make off loading easier.

So I headed to Dollar General at lunch. they didn't have tarps in the automotive section but by that section was the gardening section with lots of 50% off markers.

They had large heavy vinyl table covers normally $4 for 70% off. That will do the trick. I got two.

Then I saw these. Regular price $1. 50% off. Heavy iron hooks which is what I need to hang plants on the front porch next year. I bought them all.



At the check out I noticed something odd. From my angle it looked like they were ringing for .01 each. I pointed this out and the checker said that she had to go and pull the rest off the shelf because they were ringing up wrong but they were going to let me have these for .01 each!!!! How cool was that??

1/2 SICK DAY

Still could not put in a full day of work. I worked from home but spent so much time hacking and coughing it makes me wonder if my co-workers will want me around tomorrow.

My voice sounds like a growling bear so I am sure that my customers on the phone won't know if I am a man or a woman.

Anyway...as I sit here my homemade granola is baking in a slow oven. As this is an experimental batch I am keeping it small:

4 C oats
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup raisins
1/8 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey

In a wok I heated the oil and honey with a pinch of salt and stirred until they were mixed. I turned off the heat and mixed the rest of the ingredients and stirred well. I preheated the oven to 300 degrees and placed the wok in the oven. I set the timer for 15 minutes and then stir well. I repeat this last step until it looks toasted (update with photo of granola cooling)



I got a call from the doctor today and was told I have a severely low Vitamin D level...so low they are putting me on 50000 ul of vitamin D a week for 3 months. I also have a very low potasium level. So I have to eat raisins and bananas and I started an ultra multivitamin today.

So the homemade granola is a step toward the potasium level going up...served with skim milk and 1/4 sliced banana each morning and it should be quite filling.

While the cereal is baking, I am separating my garlic cloves getting ready to plant them.



As the saying goes: a clove a day keeps the cold away

I started a bottle of grape soda. I am excited to see if this one is as good as the ginger ale.



I also put about 1/2 pound of pinto beans in to soak. Tomorrow I will put them in the crock pot to slow cook all day. when I come home I will make a pot of chili for dinner. The left overs will go into jars and get canned. I will be using some of my newly purchased garlic as well as the peppers from the plant I moved to the front porch. Both plants are thriving and producing lots of peppers even though I yanked them out of the grown (not too gently).





I am grilling chicken breasts on the grill.



And I am making baked potatos in the pressure cooker. Dinner should be yummy tonight.

A BAD WAY TO START FALL

Went to the Doctor today. I have been coughing like crazy and miserably tired all weekend. I don't know how I survived Cuboree!

Antibiotics, cough meds with codene, and some little tiny clear pill that is for my throat. I am getting ready to google it.

Now I am going to try to get some sleep.

Sipping cool ginger ale...helps sooth the throat

***Ok I googled it...it is a cough supressant...thank goodness now maybe I can stop coughing.

While I was out doing the doctor thing, I made a trip down to Southwest Feed Mills
in Mesquite TX.

From what I am told this mill was owned by a husband and wife and when husband died the wife kept the business going. You would not have believed the activity around this old building on Scyene Road. The website is very modern but the mill looks like a place that is well used and loved.

I wish I could have spoken more to the woman at the counter but she was busy. I imagine she is the owner. I was helped by a strapping farm lad who threw around the 150lbs of rabbit feed like it was a bag of feathers. Cheerful also.

Every worker was friendly. I even peeked into the back room where the mill machinery was running and the workers there waved!

What a difference when I opened these bags and dumped them into my metal can. It smelled fresh, and although there was some dust nothing like what I had been feeding the bunnies from the store down the road.

I read somewhere that rabbit pellets make good chicken food. I had changed the egg chickens food a couple of weeks ago and did not like the results. They tore into the food daily like they were starving to death and were eating twice as much of that as the old kind.

We will see how they do on these pellets. I love supporting a high quality local business!

New Soda Ideas

Ok the ginger ale went so well, I have decided that I will try some others:

vanilla soda
grape soda
lemon lime soda
apple soda
pear soda
in the spring blackberry soda

Can you guys think of some other ideas?

I might have to get a fruit press!

BACK FROM CUBSCOUT CUBOREE

I have to admit Camp Wisdom outside of Dallas is a very cool place. The boys don't mind the sound of I20 which is only about 1 mile away. they only cared that there were woods to run through, rock lizards to catch, two pirate ships to get in and fight battles in, a real air plane to climb up in, a cave to go into (flashlights needed), a full sized fort and a castle too. The nature center had snakes and turtles to look at as well.

Daughter didn't appreciated the active armadillas that ran marathons around the tent last night. And she is as sick as I am. We are living on Dayquil, Niquil and Musonex.

I went back this morning and took down camp and they were on the road by 9:30am back to daughters home. They had a lot of fun.

I have decided that if the world as we know it comes to an end, there will be one thing I must figure out how to continue. Long Showers...either hot or cold...either one is fine...but I love showers.

Ok I came home and did a little work in the garden. I pulled out the remaining peppers. I planted the following:
Romaine Lettuce-Little Gem and Parris Island
Swiss Chard-Fordhook Giant
Mesclun lettuce-Valentine
Spinach-Teton Hybrid and Monstrueux de Viroflay
Carrots-Little Fingers (these get 3" long)
Lettuce-Black Seeded Simpson

I covered all with composted rabbit manure and finished compost. I watered it well and covered it with semi clear 6 mil plastic. I did not have the energy to cover it with wire like I wanted to. I have to protect this bed from my cats. I lost all of my new broccoli plants to digging cats and guineas.

Tomorrow I have the day off. Electrician gets here at 8. To the Doctor at 9:30, then when I come back if I am up to it I will mow and plant turnips.

HOMEMADE GINGER ALE

This morning before leaving for cubscout campout, I decided to mix up a batch of homemade ginger ale. The recipe goes like this:

1 Cup sugar
1.5 T grated ginger (use the fibers also)
1/4 t yeast

Mix all together and pour carefully into an emply washed 2 liter soda bottle. NOTE: DO NOT USE A GLASS CONTAINER FOR THIS!
Fill the rest of the way up with cool fresh water leaving 1 inch headspace.

Shake a couple of times a day and leave on the kitchen counter to ferment.

Test the bottle by pressing in with your thumb. As soon as the bottle is hard and doesn't dent with your thumb, put the bottle in the refrigerator to stop the fermenting process. It is ready to drink. You can filter out the floaties if they bother you.