Woodland Creatures

 It's spring time, and for us country folks, that means it's woodland creature time. Brother Kevin had an encounter with a skunk, we had raccoon and 'possum visitors. We also had an owl, a first here at The Acre. Well, first one that wasn't bringing a death notification anyway. 

We were lucky enough to be able to sleep with the windows open several nights this week, as an added bonus, we got to stick a finger in APCO's eye. Anyway, there we were, sleeping away, minding our own business, and we hear the guineas going nuts around 2200hrs. Lawman jumps up and grabs his night time sniper gear and scans the fence line. He spotted a set of eyes but couldn't make out what it was. After about ten minutes the owl spread it's wings and flew off. The guinea birds were out because they've gone feral and started laying eggs, so daybreak is now get up and get going time for us, because they stand under our bedroom window barking at us until we get up. 

We also had something coming up on the porch every night, that would wake up the DT's, who would wake us up to let us know that something woke them up. So, Lawman set a box trap on the porch and caught a raccoon the first night, and two 'possums the next two nights. 

Other than our night time visitors, we didn't have much going on this week. We did pick up Serendipity from the fixit shop and get her home. And since it was warm, we took an afternoon and went fishing. Lucky for us, the fish didn't bother us at all, so we just enjoyed pond time with the DT's.

Augustus still wants to be a part of it, but swimming is for suckas.

We ended the week with a couple of naps.

K&K

Chief's new Station

 As promised, pictures from the new house this week. We helped move a couple of things, but most of the week the new homeowners were busy pulling out carpet and prepping to paint the whole crib. 

We took the DT's with us so they could check out the big back yard and whatnot.

They also enjoyed the new water bowl

Back at The Acre, we had some drama. Not really, but there was potential. In Cupcake's previous life, the heating element stopped working on her dryer, and had to buy a new dryer. Fast forward to present day, our heating element stopped working, and Lawman tried to find a new one locally, but the area fixit shops didn't have the part in stock, and would order us one for double what we could get off Amazon. So, Lawman went to Amazon and had a new element delivered. We had to live like the Ingalls for a few days, but we're back up and running. 

Early in the week we had an appointment to get some work done on Serendipity, so we had to clean out the fridge before we dropped it off at the shop. We found a jar of dill pickles we bought for a trip that we had forgotten about. It had huge chunks of garlic in the brine, and we hated to waste them, so Cupcake hit on the idea of making pickled eggs with the juice. So that's what we did.

And while we were at it, we made some of The Outlaw's favorite, pickled beet juice eggs

We tried something new this week. We've been enjoying a cup of hot tea every night before bed, and after watching Mr. Worf, bane of the Duras family, slayer of Gowron, enjoy chamomile tea, we thought we would give it a try as well. Worf may be on to something.

We even bought a tea box for all of our tea

And as usual, we ended the week with a couple of naps. And wings.

K&K

So. Chief Walters did a Thing

 Big news around The Acre this week. Chief Walters and his girlfriend bought a house together. They closed on it over the weekend, so a lot of pictures are sure to follow. They want to do some painting and whatnot to make it their own before they move in full time. But proud of them, we all are. 

They already have spots picked out for a garden and a chicken coop, and there's plenty of back yard for Ember to run and jump and play. Updates as they become available. 

Speaking of gardens, Lawman borrowed Pop's tractor. We swapped out the blade for the plow and he went to work.

After he got the barn garden squared away, we went to work on the garden behind the house.

After we got the gardens plowed up, we dumped a load of dirt and potting soil in Cupcake's new planter that "The boy-in-law" gave her for Christmas, and she planted some strawberry plants.

Just in time for our first, and probably only, snow storm. 

Another farm related thing we had going this week, we bought a flat of strawberries from the Auburn FFA. Cupcake requested more strawberry jelly. And what Cupcake wants, Cupcake gets.

What's fresh jelly without home baked bread?

And if you have fresh baked bread, you have to have homemade butter to smear it with, right?

Lawman made two batches. The first batch he made 'smoked butter' by using smoked salt. He also drained off the buttermilk and saved it for biscuits and whatnot.

The second batch, Cupcake came along as the butter was just starting to whip up, and she requested a batch of whipped butter. See above for Cupcake and what she wants.

We glassed two quarts of fresh eggs.

We bought the dogs another batch of pig ears. They were very excited.

And lastly, Cupcake has been wanting to try home made fajitas. Lawman made a batch of dough, rolled them out and cooked them on the Blackstone along with fajita fixings. If you have the means, you really should pick one up. They're so choice.

We ended the week napping while it snowed and making plans to walk around naked when CW moves in to his new house full time. Y'all might want to call before you pop in The Acre.

K&K

WE ARE GRANDPARENTS!!

 Yes, new life has been brought into our world. Chief Walters and "The Girl-in-Law" adopted a new puppy this week. They've named her "Ember" and she is a bouncing baby furball. Everyone is excited, except for Augustus and Willow. Them? Not so much.

The next day, the girl and "The Boy-in-Law" came out to celebrate his birthday a couple of days early. A request was made for Lawman's soon to be famous choco cake and boiled custard. 

The Outlaw's favorite. It's a shame he's batshit crazy

None of that crazy granny cake box mix, all scratch

And speaking of cake, both of us had grandparents who used the round cake pans with the lever to release the cake from them. Both of us lost track of where they got off to, so we scoured the antique shops and found these. They're not family, but they're going to get a lot of use soon. We promise.

After the celebration, the kiddo's wanted to get in a little trigger time, so we set up a 'spot' and we peeled some caps.

After the girl shot her pistol, we broke out the 1911 and her eyes lit up. She sure does love the big frame handguns.

The old man going old school MP

Earlier in the week, the weather broke, so Lawman cleaned up some downed tree limbs from the DT's running path and we got a little fire pit fuel to boot.

Food related stuff for the week was busy as well. Cupcake felt like baking some muffins, and not those in the box, crazy granny muffins either. Old school scratch made.

Lawman doctored up the first batch of steaks that our neighbor gifted us a while back. We fried the jimmies up Saturday night.

The wheat bread that we've been making is going so well, we tried to go all hippie and add oats to the top before baking. We liked it.

To end this weeks update, we have fruit trees starting to bloom. It's too early we think. Maybe with a little luck the blooms will fruit out and frost won't kill them off, but we're afraid we've got at least one good freeze left before mother nature gives up on winter.

We ended the week with  baked sketti, choco cake, boiled custard, and naps.

K&K