Keeping It Going

We are kind of history buffs here at The Acre, and we enjoy the tales of the ancient peoples bringing greens into their homes to keep the spirit of growing things alive through the winter. We're not so much purists in that tradition, but we do keep citrus trees and a pineapple growing through the winter as we look forward to spring and getting back in the garden. It's our passion.

Pineapple

Blooms on our lime tree

Year #3 with the same basil plant. Stayin Alive, Stayin Alive.....

And along with everyone else, we celebrate Christmas. This time of year means baking and prep work for the fatman's arrival.

Several requests for fruitcakes this year

Cupcake made Oreo Balls

And Cupcake demands boiled custard

Almond Joy cookies, new this year at The Acre

To counterbalance the fatman, Lawman picked up a limited edition "Krampus" mug for Christmas morning. If you're not familiar with Krampus, "Google it, Boot"

Along with holiday prep, "The Boy" had a birthday this past week. He requested a blueberry streusel cookie for his birthday.

We have a crazy critter entry this week. Lawman caught a skunk in his predator trap a while back, and it just stopped stinking enough he could remove it from the trap. And since buzzards have to eat, same as worms (thanks to Clint Eastwood for that) we left it out instead of burying it. So, the buzzards found it and the guineas wanted to know what these big black birds were doing in THEIR yard.

The two gangs squared off with each other, but no blood was shed.
And on a blood shed note, we have a bit of pride/controversy to share.
"The Girl" asked if Lawman would train her to shoot a handgun. If anyone local is following the news, you know that the incoming state government wants to make training anyone to use a firearm a felony. In a show of defiance to said proposal, we both took her out with a boatload of bullets. We started her out with a small .380 since she's never picked up a gun before. We thought this would be more suited to training. After about half of a box of rounds down range, Lawman asked her if she wanted to try his model 1911 in the .45 caliber. She indeed did, and after one mag of shooting it, she turned around with a sparkle in her eyes and said "I like that one".
We then moved her to the 10 yard line and gave her the 1911 with a target to shoot at. The Boy had been steady shooting at the same target for a while, but in his defense he was almost 50 yards away from it.
The Girl cranked off several mags with the 1911, and to her credit, hit the target every single shot. We could not believe such a small lady could handle that much handgun on the first try.

First time with a handgun at 10 yards. So proud

The Boy hit most of the rounds along the bottom and sides, but The Girl hit the small black box almost every shot. Then she requested to be shown how to break the gun down and clean it. So, if the new gun laws pass after the new year, we've got a really good start on being felons here at The Acre, but we'll have one more trained shooter by then.
We ended the week with a big ol grin, and tomato soup.
K&K