Dawn419 & doc's LSTA: Confounded Computer!!!

[Mickey328]

Doc did the town run before that project and checked out the new health food store in Highland, looking for Bragg ACV and Kombucha. No luck with either one. I figured Kombucha was too weird for this area so I'm not suprised on that one but apparently there is a shortage of organic ACV due to a bad apple crop. No one is carrying gallon jugs of it and the local place only had 5 pint jars. So, we'll be going to Batesville again tomorrow as we found a hfs with quart-sized jars of Braggs.


Why not make your own? I bought a pint bottle quite a while back and dumped half of into a gallon of regular apple cider vinegar. That innoculated it and we now have a gallon...when that one gets lower in the bottle, I'll do the same and just keep 'er going. Sure cheaper than buying the Braggs

Mickey

 

[Dawn419]

Good civilized visit at moms, yesterday, as always!

We were thrilled to see that the new lights on the reef tank didn't cause the hair alga to explode (seemed to have the opposite effect and I was able to thin out a bunch of it on the back wall), the diatom alga was non-existant on the sand and the mushrooms and new polyp frags were looking fantastic! And then I remembered that I'd forgotten to pack the camera and tripod! Gave the polyps and clowns some new frozen food and gave the 'shrooms some phytoplankton and they were all looking even happier, after that.

Nabbed a gallon and a half worth of Braggs so I can get my next gallon of fire cider tonic steeping while docs at work tonight. Got the extra so that I can get some of the cheap ACV innoculated. Ran myself out of the good stuff with the last gallon of tonic that I made a couple weeks ago.

Mom sent us home with a couple pounds of sweet potatoes that she picked up today and I asked her if I could have a couple of the apples in her fridge, as I want to try making sweet potato apple bread. Well, the apples were starting to get soft so she sent them all home with me and what I don't use in the bread with become an experiment in homemade ACV.

We've got a cold front moving in tomorrow and there are a couple nights that we're supposed to be in the mid 30's so I plan on going into a baking frenzy with the 10-in-1 instead of turning the heater on.

We've disposed of two more mice in the last 24 hours!

Mom also brought home the cutest little partial pallets that I've ever seen from the store she works at and let me know that they are mine. She'll be bringing them over on Monday. Have no idea what I'll use them for just yet but will come up with something useful.


Alrighty, back to the creepy-crawly convo...

I'm weird and love most spiders and snakes and fascinated with lizzards! Red Wasps terrorize me though!

The first time I'd ever seen a tarantula was when I was in 4th grade (just a few years ago ). The family (grandparents, mom,dad, aunt and uncles) had gone in together on 40 raw acres of land 9 miles outside of Branson, MO. For Easter vacation, the grandfolks, mom and dad hooked up the campers and out to MO we came (from Jersey). We went to Silver Dollar City on of the days and when we came back to the property we saw a virtual herd of tarantulas crossing the dirt road back to the property. Craziest thing I think I've ever seen and still remember it like it was yesterday. Told ya's I was weird!

My BIL is a big boy, about 6' 2", 275 pounds and if you so much as say the word snake, you can almost see him going into a meltdown! I get so tickled if we're around when he sees one. The last time was when they were working on a retaining wall behind moms house and he moved a cinder block. We were inside, with the doors and windows closed and heard him scream "snaaaake". I ran out the door and there's this harmless little snake, maybe 8" long, and I go right up to it and try and identify it, he's already up on his tractor that quick and my sis decided to kill it. Made me sick to my stomach! I can see killing poisonous ones that are too close to the house (especially with children involved) but to kill every one you see that is harmless and kill it just because it's a snake isn't me, at all. Like I said, I'm weird!

Well, time to close this for now, but will back later today!

 

[Denim Deb]

Dawn, I've probably freaked out a few people when they find a snake, and I'll pick it up! But at least in Jersey, we don't really have to worry about the poisonous ones. And I've had people try to freak me out w/snakes only to find it doesn't work.

Years ago, when I worked on the fruit farm, we were getting things set up for irrigation. One of the guys was in the pond setting something up. Well, there was a snake in the pond, not real big, hog nose snake if I remember correctly. He flew out of there! All 6'7" of him. It was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen!

And I hate it when people kill a snake just because it's a snake. When my son was little, there was a snake partially out in the road right next to a farm field. I pointed it out to my son and explained how good the snakes were for the farmers because they helped keep the rodent population down. I had just finished my explanation when someone swung wide and deliberately ran over the snake. I HATE it when people do that. (Now if it was a ground hog, I may not have had that problem. )

 

[~gd]

Count me in with the creepy-crawer Lovers! Though my granduncle died as the result of the bite of a harmless snake [infected before antibiotics, infection set in and he died] my policy was give them some space to get away, if they coiled or acted like they would strike I would walk away to get my gun. If he was still there when I got back then I would blow his head off with bird shot from my 22. Bird shot was always on the top of the clip followed by 22LR even on my hand gun. Even when someone placed a small Copperhead in my mailbox he was crawing out before I had gone 3 steps. I only killed two all the time I lived there one wouldnt leave my tractor seat than I had warmed with my butt and another wouldnt leave a goose nest where she was warming eggs to Hatch.
We had the wonderful wolf spiders in NC big but without hairy legs, No webs they ran down or ambushed their food. A really big one used to hang around the plant employees door [bug zapped insects there] we would have to swipe our ID cards. He was so big and well known that someone photo-shoped his own tiny[1/4 x 3/8] card with his photo on it, Management was not amused, RIP Fred! He got a tiny grave with a tiny headstone. I also like the leopard frogs and tiny lizards that gather at my outside doors for the insects attracted by my porch lights
~gd

 

[Denim Deb]

BTW, how was the chicken?

 

[Dawn419]

I never did mention that, did I? It was absolutely scrumptious, Deb! The skin was nice and crisp and the meat was sooo moist! It got just the slighest bit smokey, close to the end but it was nothing major. We just turned on the fan and cranked a window to clear it out.

We feel like the 10-in-1 has already paid for itself! I love to bake (doc is the cook) but the old propane oven really turned me off on it since it doesn't hold a steady temp and once it would get up to temp, the pilot would go out! I feel a baking frenzy coming on!


Well, it has been raining almost all day here! It's mostly been a nice slow and steady rain! There's things that I would have like to have gotten done outside, but we need the rain, so I'm not complaining! Had a high of 62 today, down to 57 now...time to break out the sweats!

Once doc leaves for work, I'll clean up a couple half gallon canning jars and get the fire cider tonic put together. If I'm still feeling froggy once the tonic is steeping, I just might try baking this bread recipe. Will cut it in half though, as I want to experiment using both sweet taters and apples in it.

Well, I'm outta here for a bit. Need to get a baking list together for doc!

 

[Denim Deb]

That does look good. I might have to try that soon. But, I'd make both loaves and put one in the freezer. (Hopefully.)

 

[Dawn419]

I'd do the double loaves too, if I had room in our itty-bitty freezer. If my first attempt turns out good, I'll do the double loaves on Sunday night and send mom home with 1 of them on Monday.

We had a thunderstorm roll through around 4:30 this afternoon. Didn't expect that at all since it was down around 50F by then.

The rain slowed down enough by 5:30 that I was able to get out and get the critters fed/waterered.

Got my jars soaking for clean-up for the second round of this evenings fire cider tonic marathon and have a gallon of regular ACV innoculated with the Braggs that we picked up yesterday (split the gallon of regular ACV between 2 jugs and added 2 C of Braggs to each jug).

The wind has really picked up since the storm blew through (Hello coldfront) so I broke out the tie-dye micro-fleece curtains and got them hung back up.

Since I wasn't able to find raw, organic Kombucha yesterday, I went ahead and ordered a starter kit today using the amazon gift cards that I've been racking up through swagbucks! Doc and I discussed it first and with the time and gas we've already spent trying to find it locally, I'm coming out way ahead and haven't spent any actual money since I used gift cardss that I've earned. I might stand a chance of finding it in Jonesboro but that's a 3 hour round trip plus gas so decided the kit was a much more reasonable option.

Well, I'm going to close this for now, get into my comfies and get the marathon started!

Happy Weekend!!!

 

[Dawn419]

Well, got a half gallon of the tonic made up and decided I was done for the evening. In all actuality, the lack of horseradish root was the deciding factor of not doing the second half gallon, but I appreciate it!

Am in no mood to mess with baking after finishing the tonic so that's on hold until later this evening.

Broke down and turned the heat on. It's damp and down to 40 outside, indoor temp was hovering at 59 and I said the heck with it and fired it up as I was getting cool, even with sweats on. Probably wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the wind and damp. Cheyenne is hugged up back in our bed so I know my side will be nice and toasty when I get back there...I'll just have to fight her for her warm spot and she's good about sharing it, thankfully!

Well, I'm outta here for now!

 

[FarmerChick]

I had the AC on last night.

seems crazy when I read you were at 59 in the house
I would fire up the heat too