Signs of Spring

Most people look out their windows this time of year, and rejoice to see a robin. Or Nightwing, or Red Hood. We don't know. 

Anyway, we look out our window and see the guineas. They like to see whats for dinner in the evenings.

Because spring is bearing down on us, Lawman figured he had better start doing some of his "to do" list. One was clearing a spot for two pear trees he started from seeds. They are two years old in pots, and it's time to make the big dig. He picked a spot near the bitch barn so he can sit on the porch of the barn and shoot deer with his bow. 

So he took the DT's down with him and crawled up in the wild rose bushes with his chain saw. The first scrub he came across, the chain came off the bar. Which is about right.

While he did field repairs on the saw, Willow went for a swim.

Augustus sat and watched

After the saw got back in action, Lawman cleared his spot and used the scrub to add cover for the small pond.

The day after, it started raining. Lawman was stuck inside the rest of the week, so he did some shackbitch stuff. 

A fresh batch of laundry detergent.

We found a pack of sliced pork belly at the local store, so he rendered it down for the grease one day. The only down side we've found to the Blackstone so far is the grease runs into a trap, so our bacon grease is mingled in with steak grease and chicken grease. Pretty much everything we cook. So we reloaded the bacon grease cans this week.

One day was new cookie recipe day. This week, home made Oreo's. No filling, he used white choco chips for contrast.

Then he baked a pound cake for one of the neighbors

Then to end the week, we found a local distillery that makes whisky (they use the "e", we don't) and vodka. Or as they say, it's all made in Virginia, so it's VAdka. So we stopped by and picked up some local flavor.

One the way home from the distillery, Cupcake found a bag of jelly beans. Lawman asked her to save the black ones for him, and was sad to learn there were no black beans in the bag she bought.

So in true 'Bender' style, he bought his own bag of jelly beans. 

We ended the week with "steak and tater" night. And naps.

K&K

 

Crazy Cookie

We bet you thought this was about crazy granny? You see the title, you see bananas. Easy leap. But nope.

This week we broke in the new baking sheets with a couple of batches of cookies. Starting out the week, Lawman had a banana left over and it started getting soft, which is perfect for banana bread, and we hate to waste food. Nobody but Lawman eats banana bread, so he hit on the idea that maybe cookies would be a better seller. A quick search of the interwebs, and he was in the kitchen with flour.

Later in the week, Lawman made a batch of his favorite, oatmeal raisin. 

Other than that, the week seemed to get away from us update wise. We had our usual 'steak and tater' night Saturday night, then used the leftover steak for Rubens Sunday. Because we don't like to waste food.

Food processor is a must have

Dippin sauce and kraut heating up

We got our seeds for this years farm in the mail this week, so we ended the week planning our gardens (five of them) and a nap.

K&K

Holy Shiitake

 We had several meals with shiitake mushrooms this week. Cause we're fancy like that. The big one was a steak and mushroom pizza on "National Pizza Day"

As always, home made pizza dough. None of that 'pop n fresh' can stuff that Crazy Granny uses

Early in the week, we had leftover steak and mushrooms so Lawman whipped up a batch of beef veggie soup.

We also used some of our fresh made bone broth. It rocked.

While we were on the topic of veggies, we wanted to recommend spinach to anyone who wants a fresh green something all year long. Ours survived being buried under at least a foot of snow and sub zero temps. We added some to the soup, just because we could.

Sunday, there was some kind of sporting event that a lot of people seemed excited about. We always have a big spread and "graze" all day, instead of doing a proper meal. This is where Cupcake really shines. First, she made a cherry cheese ball that was to die for.

Then she made BBQ chicken pizza tacos.

Weenie tots

The DT's didn't know what was going on, but they stood vigil, just in case some stray food was to hit the floor.

We also celebrated Valentimes day. Maybe you did too? We don't know.

This represents us, because Lawman is 'warm and soothing, like a bowl of tomato soup' and Cupcake goes with him like a grilled cheese sammich.

And what's a new stove without new cookie sheets? We found these on the interwebs. Made in America, so no waiting on a boat in the Pacific Ocean for delivery. And they are without a doubt, the heaviest and sturdy baking sheets we've ever seen.

We ended the week with a full belly and a nap.

K&K

New Equipment

 We added some new equipment to The Acre this week, but it wasn't without drama. A few days after the new year, we blew the last of the control switches on the old stove. Lawman has replaced the switches on all four eyes twice. Left front was the last holdout, but gave up. Rather than keep replacing the switches, we decided to pull the trigger on a new stove. Cupcake did some online shopping and found a silver stove with a blue inside that she fell in love with. And what Cupcake wants, Cupcake gets.

Since "The Boy" works at Home Depot, we decided to throw some business their way. They had the very stove Cupcake loved, so we put the money down on the barrel head. They said the earliest they could get it to us was 1/28. So we signed on and ticked the days off of the calendar. 1/28 arrived and we got a window of 1500-1900hrs, and around 3, the driver called and said he was twenty minutes away. So we moved out the kitchen table, pulled out the old stove and stood at the window like a couple of kids waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. Twenty minutes went by, then an hour, then two hours.....

Nearly three hours later, Lawman called the driver back to see if a search and rescue effort needed to be activated. The driver said his truck broke down and 'somebody should have called you.' (Like him, maybe?)

Later that night, the delivery company (private, not affiliated with the Home Depot) called to reschedule our delivery. No 'sorry' 'our bad' boo, scat, or kiss our ass. Now we thought, OK, the truck broke down so tomorrow morning you'll be first? Nah. Next Tuesday is the best they could do, and again, a four hour window. Lawman's knee jerk reaction was "hells naw" but called them back and agreed to the Tuesday delivery. Tuesday rolls around and no word from the delivery company, so we inquired around noon. Turns out, we were not on the schedule for Tuesday, best they could do was Friday. Four hour window. 

Friday rolled around and the crew didn't give us any heads up they were coming, just showed up. But at least we got our new stove.

Cupcake made a Mexican casserole for dinner Friday night, and Lawman made a fresh batch of cookies. So we both got to use the new equipment the first night.

Saturday morning as we rolled into the kitchen to start our day, we noticed a brand new stick of deodorant on the kitchen table with the sun hitting it just right. 

Not only is everything doubling in price, the product is getting a little smaller. Go team us.

We still use the Blackstone along with the new oven. It's great being able to cook an entire meal at the same time together.

Saturday is still steak and tater night, so now Sunday is Reuben sammich night. And the topper is always the home made kraut.

We ended the week with a trip to the K-Rogers where we ran in to our pal Marc E. Then came home for a nap. 

K&K