The Hunting Times

 Kathy & Alex have a small garden with many different types of peppers growing.  They brought me some jalapenos, banana, and pepperoncinis.  I sliced them and put them into Mason jars.  Then I poured a broth of water, vinegar, and dissolved sugar on top of them to fill the jars.  I had previously boiled the broth on the stove.  Then I put all the sealed jars into a large pan of boiling water until the insides of the jars boiled.  I pulled them out to cool.  I have found that it takes about six months for the peppers to soak up the juice and become a sweet-hot.   I shall use the jalapenos on everything from chili to open-faced salami sandwiches.  The pepperoncinis will be used for Italian goose.  The banana peppers will be grilled in barbecue sauce and eaten with deer or steaks.  Looking forward to it!

I finally got me 160 tons of fill dirt.  I hired a guy to push it up into a backstop for the shooting range - until we ran out of dirt. I have 60 more tons on order.  The hope is to get the backstop to 12' in height.  Then I will probably have to add railroad ties in the front to maintain the soil - I fear erosion.  I am in no rush.  I cannot actually utilize the range until the crops come out this Fall. I took a couple of pictures to show the progress.  I put both Will and the Gator in these so you can see the size of this thing.  It is going to be epic! Will on top the current backstop. It is at least 6' tall right now. Farther back to show the length of the backstop

I got me a muskrat in the pond.  She/He is digging holes into the bank for a place to live, like muskrats do.  Ain't got nothing against muskrats.  But I do got problems with them digging holes in the bank of my pond. Anyway, this one had been seen swimming around during the evenings.  I snuck over to watch it a couple evenings ago.  I had no luck in capturing the thing, but I was treated to a beautiful sunset.  Even the sunflowers made an appearance.  I win.