Have I mentioned my ........ daughter?

Everyone who visits me here knows that I have more testosterone in this house than I know what to do with. Well, I know what to do with the Milk Mans testosterone but thats another post.... or 6. Anyway, I dont think that I have ever mentioned my daughter Hope the Dope. Yes, that is her name but we tend to call her - hosebag....sorry - cover your childrens ears, eyes, nose, throat - wait that's a doctor - sorry. You cant pick your family and God knows we love her, but this has just got to stop - Please, send your children from the room as the following pictures can be considered a bit - risque'...



See how rough she looks in the first picture? We have tried to talk to her about her behavior, ya know, the staying out all night coming home at the break of dawn. Letting the boys get a little to close and then feeling bad because they just take off and never call.... but she still choses this life - and we still love her.

ON a better note - Milk Dud is 2 months old today! Happy Birthday baby squeeker!

He is so sober all the time...


Until he sees - titty...


Then - theres the loveable Lispy.... He just got home from helping his dad trim feet on the cows. He was hot so he needed to strip - like he needs a reason. See the dinasour on the right side of the floor..... he was helping....

Then I get the what for when I scold him about getting a cold from not wearing any cloths....

Then his dad told him he had a grass hopper in his shorts...Lispy hates bugs as much as I do...

Of course we cant have a post without helping the foot fetish freaks like myself get a fix...



Milk Dud is a bit self concious about his feet - so he feels the need to....

In Memory of John Rongholt....

Sorry to be a downer today, but I have to get this off my chest. One year ago yesterday, September 27, 2007 we lost our 'pack' leader in a motorcycle accident. John was a great guy, who always had a smile or kind word for everyone, wether he knew you or not. He had a soft spot in his heart for his dog Moses, who is now with John in Heaven. Moses was the oldest black lab I have ever seen, yet he was healthy till John died. Moses lost his will to live and with that was no longer able to walk, eat or even move. He was put to rest a few days after John left us.

John was my brothers best friend and if you know my brother you would understand that he doesnt have close friends - except John. My brother is SO differant than the rest of our family, in a way he is the black sheep, yet we have never pushed him away - he is just a loner. John understood my brother and accepted his faults because they share so many of the same ones!! John did not have a lot to do with his family, he always said that they just never got along after his dad passed away. After Johns sister went to his work to pick up his things, she came to my mom and dads home to give them some pictures that he had at his desk. They were of our family, not his. On his computer he had a slideshow of pictures of OUR FAMILY - he called us his family - not his own. Its so sad that now his 'real' family is fighting over his property, belongings and his will.....that is why he had nothing to do with them - they are greedy, all but one sister. I so badly wanted to write a beautiful tribute to John, but I dont have the words today. My heart is breaking because I miss him so, yet I have hope that John reached out to Jesus in his last moments. When we call on the name of Jesus he will be there for us and will keep us for his own.
We all used to ride our Harleys together and John was just the natural 'leader' to us. He had ridden longer than the rest of us and he was just reliable. Never a speed demon, show off or ever felt the need to 'be better' than anyone. He was ALL of our family functions, birthdays, reunions, weddings - EVERYTHING. He was divorced and had no children, but was great to all the kids we have around. John was killed while riding home one evening with my brother. John was leading, as he always did and a deer ran out from the ditch and side swiped him. It threw him off of his bike and he hit his head. He died at the hospital a couple of hours later of massive head injurys. John didnt have a scratch on his hands, his face or anywhere on his body. His jeans were not torn his boots were not scuffed, his shirt showed no signs of distress. Yet, he left us. My brother was riding right behind John, saw the deer coming out of the ditch but was helpless to help John. My brother saw the hole thing and continues to do so when he closes his eyes at night. Prayers for him would be so appreciated, he loved John more than he loves us and that is ok - no they are not 'special' friends if you know what I mean - they were/are just BEST friends.

I miss John.....

Dancing undies...

The other day I got home from getting grocerys and the boys wanted to listen to some music on line. We do this often so that they can get a good musical education that consists of 50's, 80's and 90's - Ya know what I mean - those were the best years for music.... Anyway, we all know that my children have an underwear problem, that being thats the only thing they want to wear... Here is a video of the boys dancing to one of thier favorite songs - dont mind the The Count from Seasame street laughing in the back ground - its not me I promise.. really its not.... um and the grocerys on the floor, forget em - I had just unloaded the car and remember I feed between 7-11 people per meal so thats A LOT of food!! Here ya go
What is really good is that Lispy, when he turned around said he was pointing to Winnie the Pooh on his shorts..... He said - I vas vanting you to wook at my dancin beawrs.... Well, I said it look like you were pointing to your winger dinger... He looked at me like I had 3 heads then rolled his eyes. Big Son is such a fun kid - he laughs at everything. His legs are so skinny that those boxer briefs look like a grass skirt blowing in the breeze - they are supose to be tight on his legs!!

I may pull this off of here later, if Big Son gets freaky about it. He's at school now so you better get your laughs in fast!!

Lispys heifer chasing....

Well girls, I have the peaches done but have the post only half written. Its going to be a long one, so hang on to your hat. I have had a couple of requests for a Lispy story, SO Karen dear this is for you!!
Yesterday the older boys - Dale and Palmer - were cleaning what we call the 'sidebarn'. Its our hiefer barn that is built like a lean-to against our barn. When this is cleaned the heifers go out into the barnyard that is a COMPLETE mud hole from all the rain... its bad. These heifers are kept inside most of the time because they are to small to be bred by our bull and he is to hard to keep in a pen when cows/heifers come into 'heat'.... that means they are ready to be bred. Anyway, when the heifers get to be out in the sun and fresh air they get a little bit frisky - not my kind of frisky so stop thinking like that - frisky like happy! Anyway, the heifers were in the barn yard and were running through the mud like my boys do every chance they get. Once in a while they go through the fence because they have no idea its even there. Being inside, they have never seen a fence - but they will....soon! I know it probably seems cruel to not have them outside everyday, but it is impossible to have a pasture for them seperate from the bigger cows. They get out about 2-3 times per month to run - but they are clean and well fed. When they are about 350lbs they are put into a pasture outside with a run in shelter. SO they dont live long confined and thats good. One of them did go through the fence yesterday, really 5 of them did but this one was being - well, in Lispys words.... an asth-hole - baserd pig.... thicken titter which translates to chicken kicker.... dont know where that one came from. At first I thought he said chicken kisser, but he said this...
"Mamma top (stop) bein stho (so) tupid would ya" I taid a thicken titter... not titter..... ya know a titter, he then proceds to kick at the calf in explanation. He was trying to help herd this calf, although Milk Man stood gaurd behind him so he would not get hurt. Them cattle get minds of thier own at times and can be pretty unruley. Sorry about the lack of clothing, but thats how we roll out here in the boonies - naked - or I would'nt have so dang gum many childrens.....



Notice Sam Dog keeping an eye on Lispy - he doesnt want him to get to close to the calf or the other way around either. He is SO valuable to us around here. When we do have to pen up the bull, the danger falls to him. He chases the bull, by biting his tail. He crap ski's - literally - he holds the bulls tail in his mouth while the bull is running to his pen through the crap. The bull HATES that dog and we love him...


Lately I have had tons of requests to kiss Milk Dud in various area's of his little peachy body, like his bum - I do that - his throat - I do that - the back of his neck - I do that, but the newest one is behind his ears - I am gonna try that thanks to Whiterock.....

Here are a couple of pictures of Milk Dud in his favorite postion - hungry! He looks like a baby bird with his mouth open!!

And for those of you who are fellow foot fetish freaks - heres your fix....

Stinky good stuff....

Sorry for such a long delay in posting my dear friends. I am truly trying to keep up and as soon as the first frost hits - life will slow down a bit. Then I can bore you daily with my little corner of the planet!

I am going to post about the Saur Kraut that I canned a couple of days ago. Before I go further, I must explain that this kraut had been 'potted' last fall. To make saur kraut at home you must have an old fashion 'crock' to put it in. This is the canning process after it has fermented - so in other words I am putting the cart before the horse as far as this is concerned. I had to can this kraut before I could 'pot' the kraut for this year. So anyone confused yet... almost as bad as - I dont know what it is as bad as.

When you can your kraut it has to be done all at once, no waiting a day. This is a picture of the kraut still in the crock. Please understand that this crock was FULL, about 6 inchs from the rim, with kraut last year. We ate most of it but I had to can the rest so that it doesnt go to waste - I hate to waste anything. When I pot the next bunch of kraut it will explain things a bit better. This is a 10 gallon Red Wing crock... and my dirty foot - please dont look at my dirty foot. I had been running in the mud with the boys that morning....and did not wash it - sorry...

This is the uncanned kraut in the crock...



Looks kinda snarky dont it...However, it must ferment to make good kraut. My granny and her mamma used to leave it in the crock all year, but she told me that they usually had eatin it all by the middle of the summer. When I pot the new batch I will go into detail about it. The old timers really knew what they were doing. Now days, we think that this is going to make us sick or that will make you sick... that thinking - makes me sick - sick I say!!!

The canning process is pretty darn easy. I sterilize my jars in boiling water, keep my lids hot and my rings dry. I usually do this outside on my deck with my King Cooker propane burner but this is what it looked like out the deck door the day I did it.

First you must pick off the stuff that is not good and throw it in the 'slop pail' - yes I have a slop pail that is taken out daily for the chickens now that the pigs are gone. Chickens eat anything too - just in case you were wondering. Especially Lispys rooster - Baserd.


I filled my jars till there was only about 1 1/2 inchs from the top. There is some juice left after the jars have been filled, so I divide that out between the jars evenly. Don't mind my ole coffee pot - its outlived the animals that it came over with on the Mayflower.


Then I put them in a hot water bath for about 15 min - no longer because the kraut does not need to be 'cooked', just sealed.
.



Then ya just let them cool. I got 15 quarts out of the little bit of kraut left in my crock.
This was distracting me the whole time - my mamery glands were kicking in overtime!
I am going to be doing more peaches today - I hope to post that a little later today or tommorow. Please dont leave me and not come back - I promise to post more when I have gotten the garden under control -or at least went into complete denial of how much I have to do and that I will get it all done!

Freezer corn and ample apologies!!!

Hello there corn fans!!! My HUGE apologies for not getting this up sooner. Like I said before, the farm has taken over - I repeat the farm has taken over - put on your crap kickers and be prepared to work HARD and FAST all day long!! Anyway - here is the corn procedure. When we 'do' corn, it is simple and yet its great! I really dont have a 'recipe', most of the cooking I do is *gulp* the dump and pour method - let me explain - I dump or pour stuff into whatever I am making and taste it after each D or P for flavor - I rarely if ever measure - except for baking!

Freezer corn -

First step - you need a big gunny bag full of FRESH corn that is NOT overripe. Ladys, if you are going to go through the labor of giving birth to great freezer corn, it MUST BE FRESH. When I say fresh, I mean find someone with a corn patch and if they are willing to pick it for you, have them do it the morning you intend to freeze it. Better yet, if they will allow you to pick yourself great, cuz then you can leave the over ripe or 'compromised' (full of worms) corn right in the feild. In my personal opinion NEVER NEVER NEVER buy it from the grocery store. Once you have had fresh sweet corn picked the same morning its Heaven on a cob....
When you get your corn only husk a kettle full at a time because after you husk it, it will start to pull the sweetness into the cob and get dry. No I am not kidding.
Here are some pictures to help with the rest of the process - hang onto your corn knives, cuz its gonna be a longer post.... sorry....
This is my mother in law, she is 72 and an anchor for me for so many things. She alone has taught me more about cooking with the dump and pour method than anyone else - Thank you Granny Farmer.





When you have procurred your corn and have it husked you start by boiling it until its just about cooked. I never dump the corn out to drain, I use a tongs to retrive my corn and put it in a container to be transported the sink. I fill one of the sides to my sink filled with VERY cold water to cool the corn. The faster the corn is cooled the faster you can cut it off of the cob. I keep the water in my kettle for my next batch and add to the water if I need to. This way you dont use so much energy reheating water - its Earth friendly.



While your corn is cooling, I put on the second kettle to be ready and fill up the other side of the sink. When the corn has cooled from the first side - it takes a bit but you can tell that it has cooled the cob - say 10 min for those of you who have to have a time line... I used to be that way too - timelines, measurements, presicion.... now its by the seat of my pants baby and thats only if I am wearing pants!!! Sorry, I was day dreaming of the Milk Man... When the corn has cooled it needs to be cut away from the cob. I hope the pictures that follow will help with my explanation.
The cooled corn:

You must cut the corn from small end to big end and towards you - you cant cut it like your peeling a carrot, just wont work.

This is what your cob looks like after you have cut it mostly off. See the milk in the cob yet? That needs to come out too - there is the sweetness baby!!!


Next you need to take the back of your knife and run it down the cob so the 'milk' comes out..

When your done with all this, I just put it into plastic freezer bags and freeze it. I dont put sugar, salt or butter in it at this point. I do that when I heat it up for supper. This way you only take 5 minutes instead of hours while trying to freeze it....




So thats it for my 'recipe' for freezer corn. When I heat it up to eat at a meal, I taste it first to see if it needs sugar or not. At times if the corn was not sweet that year, I add a bit of sugar, salt, butter and a tad of cream... like a 1/2 tsp..

If you have questions, just post them in the comments and I will do all that i can to explain.
The whole time I was doing this there was an air guitar contest going on in the living room... Please dont mind the mess... Lispy was trying to help by vacuming and the baby has taken over the living room, because I have no nursery for him! He sleeps in his crib in our room...




For you who love baby feet - here ya go..