The Hunting Times

Well, season opened on October 1st.  It's been quite warm and I've been busy, but those are just excuses for not getting out.  Alex and I finally got out tonight. I picked up Alex at 4:15pm.  I went to Marshall's bottoms and Alex sat in the East stand on Neal's (since the W stand straps are all broken).  Alex jumped a 6-pt buck with a doe in the fence row walking in.  I saw one large deer (buck? doe?  too far to tell) at the far end of the bottoms.  It never came by. It was 45F when we went out, but with the wind, it felt like 35.  I stalked the bottoms until about 6:30 pm.  I walked back to the truck as Alex texted me that he had fired his crossbow.  Upon confirming blood on the arrow, I drove back to help him track. We tracked E to where the doe jumped the fence heading S.  We walked S to the Neal / Marshall line and found blood crossing onto Marshall.  Alex left his crossbow there as it was getting dark, and we tracked...

So I joined Mama at the grocery store this week.  Good thing.  I saw Leinenkugel's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter is out!  Whoo Hoo!  Got some.  So I decided to use an old recipe I got from Leinenkugal's newsletter and make up some meatballs. I mixed two pounds of pork sausage with one pound of hamburger.  I threw in onions, garlic, BBQ sauce, Club crackers, Country Bob's, and worcestirshire sauce and mixed it all up with my hands.  I made 67 uneven shaped meatballs from this mixture.  I put them in cooking pans and baked them at 350F for 20 mins.  After cooling, I put them in a roasting pan. While those were cooking, I chopped an onion and sautéed that.  To that pot I added two bottles of Snowdrift Vanilla Porter, brown sugar, more BBQ sauce, and some cayenne pepper.  I brought that mix to a boil and then poured it over the meatballs. The entire batch is now in the fridge, soaking up all the goodness.  I will put the roaster i...

Our front door was leaking, putting water on the floor - the old tile floor that had been in place since 1965.  So we decided to replace the door and the floor. Here are some before and after shots. Old tile and oak door. Leaks around lower-right (see spot on floor). Also note decorative glass. Outside view of old door.  Termite damage at bottom. Door gone.  We measured FIRST to ensure it fit before pulling the old one out.  Smart! New door in.  Looking from the outside. New door has plain 3/4 glass.  Lets in lots more light. New floor installed. No, I did not do the work.  And the deeper we got into it, the more happy I became I chose NOT to do this myself.  I did not have the proper tools to take out the old stuff, especially the flooring.  I did not have the skill to put in the new door and hang it square.  So, we hired our favorite local contractor Mark Bond, who did all of this in 1.5 days. ...

Tony Sykes handed me a bag of chilis, jalapenos, and banana peppers at work on Thursday.  I had already pulled out ribs to smoke on Saturday since Sandy would be working (and she enjoys neither peppers or smoked meat). I figured, what the heck, the smoker is going, so what else could I throw on.  I landed on a pork loin and two Cornish hens.  All the following were smoked at 200F internal air temperature. I put the ribs in 8 hours before eating time.  I turned them at 2 hours in the smoker.  At 4 hours, I pulled them and put them in an aluminum foil pan filled with beer and BBQ sauce.  They went back on for 4 more hours.  This, of course, was after they had marinated in apple juice for two days.  I also coated them with a Southwest Char mix we had in the cabinet.  This turned them black, but they were not burnt.  The taste was awesome - but I should have pulled them off sooner as they were just a tad on the dry side. The loin I cov...

I went over to Kathy and Alex's the other night to retrieve our dog - he went looking for people while we were away in San Antonio.  While I was there, Will, Alex, and I went out on their porch.  They have their "Fall" decorations up, which includes a straw bale.  I taught Will how to chew on the straw like a true hillbilly. Note the bare feet!   Then, when Will was over visiting last Wednesday, he wanted to use Papaw's computer.  So I hooked him up.  Turns out he did about 2X the work I normally do in a day! Pushing the button on the headset to start talking via Skype! Finally, Boppum and Pa Jerry came over for a visit while we had Mallory.  Took this photo of one proud Great Grandma... Boppum and Mallory (3 months)