Scorpion Sauce

Last year we saw an advertisement for a new line of sauce from our pals at Tabasco. It was called "Scorpion Sauce" and it was supposed to be the hottest sauce they have ever offered. So the day we saw the ad, we attempted to possess it. The first offering sold out a few hours after it was announced, but the Tabasco website offered a waiting list for the next batch. We paid for three bottles and pretty much forgot about it, until Saturday when the package arrived.

First thing we did was open one of the bottles and dipped our finger in it for a taste. We regretted that decision for a couple of hours. This stuff is off the chain hot. Lawman, not being one to be slowed down by a little heat, tried some on his Sunday morning eggs. It opened up his sinuses with the first bite. Later in the day, we added a few splashes to the jar of wing sauce and mixed it up. We can't wait until we can make a fresh batch of sauce and include this into the mix.
If you like spicy food, we recommend having this in your pantry.
Other than the Tabasco arriving, we really didn't have much to report on this week. It's the end of the month for Cupcake, so that means 12-18 hour days and it leaves Lawman unsupervised. We both recognize the potential for injury, so he stayed close to the house this week.
One thing he did get done was a repair to the flag pole out front. The wind snapped the halyard last week and when Lawman took the pole down to repair it, he found the truck was worn and would probably fail before long. He took the opportunity to replace the truck and to install a new solar powered flag light on top of the pole. He also had a 50ft clothesline that was steel wire coated in rubber that was left over from the clothesline construction. He thought that would make an excellent halyard. He cut it to length and used the high tensile crimp tool to make the loops on either end.

We are two weeks away from changing out the summer flag for our winter flag, because we get a really nice breeze in the winter.
Speaking of winter, we had to bring in our banana trees and lemon trees this week. The temps got down in the 30's and the forecast is for a chance of snow this weekend. We brought in Cupcake's lavender as well, and will try to keep it going over the winter. We also started a pot of basil to get us through the winter. We've gotten used to having fresh picked basil in our dishes.

A couple of dishes we had this week were fried backstrap.

We started the week with a backstrap biscuit for breakfast, then we fried up some more to make Sunday gravy.
The second dish of the week was fried chicken legs.

Since Cupcake has been working long hours, and she is usually the chicken leg fryer, Lawman stepped up and tried his hand. Frying chicken is a complex ballet of proper oil amount, temperature, seasoning, and time cooking. This was not Lawman's first attempt, but he's showing promise of mastering the moves of this difficult dance.
We ended the week with wings. Very spicy wings.
K&K

That Time of Year

Jake took to the woods this week in search of the elusive Muy Grande. We had not seen any large deer around The Acre this year, but there is a four point buck that has been scraping the fruit trees. Lawman has put a bounty on his head, after a year of eating pumpkins and green beans, we can not allow deer to ruin the fruit trees.
Jake called us to let us know he had a buck down, and Lawman crossed his fingers, but it was not to be. He did put down a nice nine pointer, and a first for these parts, it had a "down tine"

So as is tradition, the harvest of fresh deer meat means fresh tenderloin gravy for Sunday morning breakfast.

Old man Castle

Cast iron is the only way to fry deer

And the only way to make deer gravy

It was great with frosty weather. We got enough frost to show on the cars this week.

Frosty mornings go down smooth with fresh made English muffins and cowboy coffee.

Or maybe scratch made buttermilk biscuits and pork chops

Paprika chicken and homemade dinner rolls?

We started the week with buttermilk pie for dessert

Lawman tinkered with the crust. This is the new recipe from now on.
We ended the week with a pumpkin cheesecake made with our from the pumpkin patch pumpkin.

Gingersnap/pecan pie crust

"I'm Batman"

Before we ended the week with wings, we had to make another gallon of wing sauce.

We ended the week with said wings.
K&K

Do You Like Pie?

We had a couple of different pies this week at The Acre. Cupcake had to work late Friday evening, so we stayed in and Lawman made her his soon to be famous meat lovers pizza.

Fresh basil? Yes Please

It changed Cupcake's life

We even made a fresh batch of pizza sauce for the occasion. We used canned tomatoes from the garden, then fresh basil and oregano from Cupcake's herb garden.

We canned enough for a few weeks worth

Earlier in the week, Lawman went to his "go to" pie, and made a buttermilk pie. He tried a new crust recipe this time around. We liked it, but he wants to tinker with it and make it his own.

There was a lot of garden goings on this week. We picked a basket of our late green beans and canned them.

Cupcake had never had fresh turnip greens, so Lawman picked a mess for dinner one night.

And this coming week, she has fresh collards to look forward to

Saturday we picked a basket full of jalapeno peppers and made more "Lawman Candy"

Our jalapeno plants are as tall as Cupcake now. Lawman said she could pull up a chair and sit under them for shade.

Our fish peppers started coming in. We added them to the mix

Wade's had their sirloins on sale this week. We picked up three and cut them into thick steaks. We did the baking soda prep and will let them sit for a week or so before we freeze them. Three more months worth of Thor's day red meat offerings.

And we had to make another batch of laundry detergent, because someone has a problem.

We ended the week with wings. And another nap.
K&K

"That Boy Can Cook"

Denephew Henry came to stay with Pop this weekend, and he stopped by for a meal or two while he was over. One afternoon we were all sitting around taking a break when Henry started running down his wish list for dinner. He pointed at the Lawman and said "that boy can cook". Cupcake said "you know I can cook too, right?" and Henry replied "yeaaaaahhhhh".

Henry had a small schmear of peach jelly on his biscuit

The first thing he wanted was baked burritos. Lawman used a pack of the neighbors self slaughtered hamburger and a few fresh from the garden onions and jalapeno's to make it a special spicy blend.

Prior to dinner, Henry put us all to work. He really enjoys piling brush when we cut wood and as it would happen, we had a tree down near one of our hunting stands. We had breakfast then took the mower off Pop's tractor and put the blade back on.

Then used the blade to raise up Lawman high enough to hook the chain to the broken tree.

And down it came

Henry followed close behind, collecting the branches as they pulled off

Now the stand is all clear.

We got the tree pulled to an open spot where we could work on it.

While we were taking a break, Henry decided he wasn't happy just stacking brush, he wanted to work the saw. Lawman told him he had his own saw when he was Henry's age, so he held the saw while Henry got the feel for working one.

After we got the tree worked up and cleaned up, we dug potatoes.

Henry wasn't happy with just picking up potatoes, so we let him work the plow for a couple of passes.

After we got all our chores for the day squared away and dinner cleaned up, Henry said he wasn't leaving until "Uncle Bubbles" cut his hair. High and tight

We didn't go quite as short as we did the first time. After Henry, Pop climbed up in the chair for a trim. Guess which pile of hair belongs to which?

Henry came back for Sunday breakfast and seemed to enjoy himself.

Prior to the big weekend, we did a few day to day things. On the food theme, Lawman brought Paprika Chicken back into the rotation.

Somebody had to sneak a bit of crust

And there's nothing like fresh from the garden green beans to go with a chicken dish.

Lawman made a new batch of lye soap, and used Cupcake's lavender to flavor it up

One thing that had been on his "to do" list was fix a split board on the back porch.

We mentioned last week that we planted new fruit trees. The first night we had them out, the rotten deer ate every leaf off them as high as they could reach.

We were all excited early in the week. We woke up to a tiny patch of frost below the house.

And there was the "Harvest Moon" the same time

Then by the end of the week it was hot and muggy. Mother nature needs some meds. Maybe "Crazy Granny" could spare some of hers?
We ended the week with wings. And a nap.
K&K