kappydell

once you believe in relativism you are so easily misled by the dark side....what fools they be.  We are not MEANT to live forever the way THEY mean.  Obviously they do not consider souls in their machinations, I mean equations.  (Well, that would make it easy to sell your soul to you know who.  Probably at a discount because they think it is not necessary.)  And the soul is the most critical part of being human.  That is the part that lives forever without any help from them.  What they will end up with wont be...human. 

How come I am reminded of the Tower of Babel?  They are cruisin' for a bruisin' from the Big Guy upstairs.

the transhuman goals do much to explain many of the questions.  No way, Jose.  I googled it.  No way do I want to physically interface with computers or any machines for that matter.  Franken-science strikes again.  The claim is that we will get to live forever, since they consider "life" to be your memories and experiences and they claim to be developing ways to transfer that into another creature, or machine, or.....?????  Guess I'll be opting out of living forever then.  Now I need an emoji for "shudder"....

LOL Mt_Rider at the GPS dependent drivers!  For months after we moved to this little corner of rural Ga, even UPS could not find us!  They kept telling us our address did not exist, because their GPS system did not show it.  So we had to have things ordered sent to a friend until they figured out that yes, we do live on a real road and our address was for real.  I try to look at the bright side....we wont be inundated with people fleeing the cities if they are afraid of the 'wild animals' in the un-street-lighted dark of the real countryside and cant find us in the rural wilderness. 

Today we did Christmas light inventory.  Three HUGE totes of lights, checked to see if they worked.  Most, fortunately did, especially as we would be hard pressed to replace 14 sets of net lights and I-dont-know how many strings of lights. Mary put in the posts to hold our light strings off the ground high enough so the cats would not get tangled in them at night, necessary to delineate the HO HO HO Resort we are putting up for our display this year, in addition to HO HO HO Logistics in the upper acre.  Mary discovered today that the temp garage we put up last spring was 80% filled with Christmas stuff....well, thats why we put it up.  It works well to give us more room to store out garden tractor and such in the other shed & carport.  

The garden is basically in, that is the transplants we planted for fall.  Only a couple small beds remain which will hold some herbs.  I'm trying to establish one perennial and one annual herb bed of the most useful medicinal and culinary herbs for us, but its still a learning curve.  Once we dig the sweet potatoes we will throw in some seeds for winter growing.  (Hmm, I wonder if it is too late to get some walking onions?  I'll have to call the Southern Exposure seed company and ask.  I could make room for a onion and garlic bed on the side.)

After Christmas we will need to lay out trellises for the muscadine grapes, they are growing fast and will need pruning and trellising to optimize their potential.  The pomegranate is flourishing near the apple trees, the elderberry I brought from Wisconsin is growing larger but we will probably put in some more blueberries near the apple trees, as the ones we planted in the sunny spot do not like THAT much sun!  And we may get an apple or two next year.  It is not as big an orchard as I dreamed of, but then again, we are not feeding the neighborhood, just enough for us two and to put some up.  I still want a tea bush, a bay laurel bush (that I can pot and keep trimmed), wild plums and a hawthorne tree or two in my "wild" area.  Unfortunately Moringa does not grow here, its a tropical tree, or I would grow one of those (talk about useful!).  But slowly I can keep adding native (and adapted) "wild" plants.  Oh yes, I need to prune the blackberries, they are thorny as all get out.  But with both berries and leaves being useful I certainly dont want to waste my volunteer landcaping plants.  Its an ongoing process...thats why I love gardening.  Its dynamic and always something new.  The bougainvilla plant we tried was a success, it was very pretty.  The person we bought it from said in mexico where he got them, they are used for fencing/hedges as they are thorny.  And deer dont eat them.  Something to be said for thorns, they keep out the riff raff, LOL.  

Have any of you ladies ever grown tobacco?  It might be nice to know how and have some growing in case the health police decide to outlaw tobacco.  Mary looks cool smoking a corncob pipe, and quite a few folks around here 'chaw' so it would be a viable barter item.  Oh yes, for insecticide as well (us old folks know about that trick!)

But it been years since I knew anyone who raised it.  Hafta hit the books...I think Foxfire had quite a bit on tobacco back in the day.  

So is the firing of one of our ER doctors because he would not take the shot.  Ane he is the last person who is generally anti-vax....but he is concerned with the side effects and refuses.  So he was fired.  He went to another state where they have no vax mandate.  We will see more of that stuff Im afraid.  Then I hear on the V that employment numbers are much lower than anticipated....my laughter was not happy, more like rueful.  The elephant is in the room, but nobody is acknowledging it.  Im hearing scare stories about social security being denied to anyone with another income source (like a private pension or investments).  I suspect that one is just to scare folks into demanding their congress reps vote for that bloated budget though, politics as usual.  Its turning into the twilight zone......

Midnightmom, I tracked down that video and watched the whole thing.  I scares me, but does not surprise me.  Of course the vaccine morphs into our worst nightmare....how else could they lie to us and say there is nothing in it to be alarmed about?  Nothing as long as you keep it refrigerated, of course....nothing-burgers for lunch again, get in line folks, step lively.....

I need a gagging emoji....

my sister has developed severe short term memory loss issues after getting the covid shot.  After considerable digging I discovered other "anecdotal" reports of the same thing from other victims of the covid clan.  Of all things, this was totally unexpected...my poor scared to death sister.  Prayers please.  Dont know if it is permanent or not.

got quite a shock today.  My sister was on the phone and said she was having short term memory loss big time.  Came on suddenly, and she is scared, naturally, since Mom had Altzheimers.  Mary & I just looked at each other and thought the same thing....covid shot reaction?  Did considerable digging, and found out that other people have had the same thing happen to them after getting covid injections.  Memory loss....cant remember what they went into a room for....one was asked by a co worker if he was drumk after he e mailed her a memo at work, his typing and thinking were so fuzzy.  Of course, this is all denied by the powers that be.  Funny thing, a world renowned virologist in India is suddenly a consipiracy theorist when he predicted such problems.  My heart aches for my sister.  She was so insistent I get the shot that she cried and told me she was frightened to death for me because I did not get the shot.  I blieve she was, she sounded scared spitless.  Now I am hurting for her and worried about my brother that did take the shot.  I do not know if I will tell her or not....it wont help now, and I want to help her get thru this, not say "I told you so".  I will have to sit down and cry and get it out of my system tonight then pick up and carry on.  we are putting in the winter garden, and there is no time to sit around.  Our freezers are refilled with meat as we broke the budget replacing our meat supplies.  We can now coast for quite a while if things get wierd.  or should I say wierd-ER?

That high ropes course looks like FUN!  Im strong albeit crooked....love to try such a thing.   Instead we shall just start clearing out some of our wooded parcel and put in a shooting range instead.  Noiser, but still satisfying.  

We love our oven fried chicken especially with my home made low sodium shake and bake.  Lately after putting the chicken on the pan I had extra crumbs left so I made potato wedges and tossed the on in a baggie with a little oil.  After massaging them to coat with oil I tossed them with the extra shake and bake.  The crumbs stuck nicely and all I had to do was toss them on the other end of the sheet pan and bake along with the chicken for around 25 min or so.  Just like carry out but less salt, spices the way we like them on the mild side and crispy coated.  A new family fave was born that is fancy enough for company.  

there are quite a few virologists who fear just as giving out antibiotics when not necessary creates "super bugs" that the covid shots will create bigger and badder super-covids.  if you go to website americasfrontlinedoctors.org you can get hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin thru their docs.  no insurance will pay of course.  doc televisit $90 then they can prescribe and you can order.  if interested i wouldnt wait too long incase TPTB outlaw telemedicine or pull their licenses or some such skulduggery.  you need not have symptoms to get prescribed...these are preventative and early treatment options

LOL!  Have you decided what kind of cow to get?  Some are far too high producing for a homestead (just my opinion, maybe you can make lots of cheese).  But the Jersey cow was bred to be a homestead breed, smaller, and tolerates wearing a halter and being tethered out to eat if you do not have much pasturage.  They give around 3 gallons milk a day.  Another "mini" breed is the Irish Dexter with a milk yield of 1 1/2 to 2 gallons.  The Dexters are also reported to be a more hardy breed.  Holsteins (the black and white ones) give 10-12 gallons a day!  

WOW.  I do have to get here more often.  Catching up now tho.  We took 2 weeks off to lose our vacation weight (mostly water from all that SALTY restaurant food.  No cooking allowed in rooms where we stayed, so we packed my electric skillet for naught.  They did have a micro & a fridge, so we did try to warm stuff up, but....not much unsalty stuff available when you have to nuke everything.  We ate out and I ate a lot of omelets & salads.  Went back to PT yesterday and gave them a pecan kringle for their coffee break room, and one therapist got some cheese curds.  They have never heard of either onoe here so they are in for a treat.

We are starting to clean out the summer garden for tilling and preparing for fall and winter plantings.  Today we pulled out the enormous walking stick collards, and although we had plenty of (we thought) bug damage, I wanted to cut as much good stuff out and dehydrate it.  Wast not want not.  Well....we finally discovered why the insecticide we used (Sevin powder, usually reliable) did not stop the collards from being eaten up.  Unbeknown to us, we apparently have an escargot ranch.  I did trim off some good collard leaves, but pound for pound we had more "locally farmed" escargots, had I wanted to purge them and cook them, LOL.  Nice to know we have another food source if things go goofy on us.    We got plenty of thanks from our friends in wisconsin that we were able to take meat to.  We had a marine cooler (the HUGE one from Walmart....the entire width of the pickup bed long).  In May when meat sales were on we bought plenty - jam packed all 3 freezers) and delivered them.  Some went to one of Marys relatives, some went to a friend living in a halfway house (he did buy a freezer for his room) on food stamps.  I will never forget the look on his face when we offloaded all the chicken, pork loin roasts, pork loin chops and ribeye steaks.  Then we took him out to get some chewing tobacco and some diet pepsi since he was at the last part of the month and his money was all gone.  It was WORTH all the blood, sweat and tears to make that delivery. )  Busted the budget too, but it aint the first time and wont be the last I reckon.

Prices here have almost doubled on meat since we bought all that so Im thanking God daily for those blessed freezers!  

BTW....if anybody knows how to can escargots...???  LOL...Mary ate them in Germany and said they were delicious.)

Well we made it b ack from Wisconsin.   Marys reunion was fun.  We saw the water ski show 3 times (they took world championship again this year).  We got to our favorite stores (that are not available down south), ie, Menards (Where we bought a drip irrigation system for our two greenhouses, ans solar lights, neither of which they carry at Lowes); Woodmans (where we got lots of racine kringles (to freeze), wisconsin cheeses, Eileens candy (Made in Green Bay Wis...they make excellent bridge mix, better than Brachs who has gotten cheap lately) Franks sauerkraut, Milwaukee dill pickles, and mung beans for $1.18/lb for sprouting.)  We also went to a local health food store and got several packages of alfalfa seeds for sproutintg too.  (Down here, they keep telling me "alfalfa is for horses" LOL.)  Oh yes, rye flour.  In short supply in Wisconsin but nowhere to be found in my neck of Georgia.

Then we revisited the Basilica of Mary Hope of Christians in Hubertus Wisconsin.  Loved it.  The basilica is beautiful!  Brought home numerous souveniers.  We hadnt been there since the last century (1997, LOL)

We were not going to stay more than a week but the another hurricane hit the exact areas we had to travel to ge home so we waited till the waters receeded, running between hurricanes going up and coming back.

At home we discovered that the cats had torn out the plastic accordian curtain next to the air consitioner to get into the house. We sealed things up.  Then we discovered a litter of new kittens in my bedroom 48 hours later!  That explained mama cats insistence in getting into the house,.  So I went outside in my jammies and called the kitties and carried mama in to reunite her with the little ones.  We did not know she was pregnant! (The reunion made me teary eyed.)  I have to admit, that is one smart mama cat and determined too.  I have seen her scale a 7 foot chain link fence like a ladder, so I have no doubt she found her way in thru the AC wing curtain.  I dont begrudge her that, in light of being pregnant; in fact I kinda admire her for her resourcefulness. To paraphrase the outdoor sportswear ad from years ago, "She is one tough mother" !

Needless to say nobody is going back outside anytime soon, til the "littles" get some size and the weather turns cooler and less rambunctious.  

Little Claudette (saved from drowning during the hurricane of the same name) turned out to be a Claude instead.  He's doing very well eating regular kitty food, zooming around the house, and growing like a weed. 

I just picked a head of cabbage for more keto friendly eats.  Mary is getting irritated at eating different food than I do, she says it makes her feel guilty.  No matter what I say, it does not seem to help.  I am hoping she will come to terms with my adjusted dietary instead of looking on it as a "crackpot" diet.  If I ate like her I would have to cut back to portions so teensy it would not even be worth eating.  I keep telling her I do not mind her eating homemade bread and the other goodies I make for her to eat alone.  Even those goodies I used to relish, I am losing my cravings for.  But one bite of high carb foods, and, as I have learned from experience, all the cravinge return with a vengeance.  So I cant - won't - go there.  I wish I had something I could say to reassure her that I still enjoy eating with her, but I cant eat the same goodies.  Our bodies are different.  Just as she cannot eat high fat foods, or spicy foods, because she has a finicky stomach, I cannot eat many carbs at all because of my hypoglycemia and weight gain issues. I am FRUSTRATED! 

OY!  MtRider, that must have upped your heartbeat...after it started back up,k that is.  I went to my doc today, and she is NOT AMUSED that the ortopedic surgeons office is passing the buck on why I cant stand straight after hip surgery.  Glad she agrees with me, I was beginning to feel like the lone ranger saying there is something wrong that needs correction.  I did get more PT tho.  I will go for X Rays because she wants to see a set, and maybe send me back to the neuro surgeon that did my back.  If I need correction because the hip was botched, I know a good paralegal who will help me thru the paperwork.  I think somebody screwed up somewhere, just cant prove it.  But I dont think I should feel things shifting and hear a klunk occasionally in my lower back area on that side.  I was getting a little discouraged and down thinking I was doomed to live with the pain and wobbliness and bent over (again) but my doc gave me some hope.

Our latest kitten, Claudette, we named after the hurricane storm when we found her desperately trying not to dreown under our front steps (since boarded up TIGHT so nobody else gets under there.  She has teeth now, but not eating solids yet, just chewing on me when she gets hungry.  We had another little one get under our car and ride 40 miles before we spotted her hobbling away at a gas station where we had stopped.  We named her Bounce, because although she had a limp, the vet said she had nothing broken and would heal up from the tumble she took jumping out of the truck. 

"Keep her inside for a week or so until she walks normally again."  We are grateful that we spotted her limping away, she would probably have been hit by another car coming into or leaving the gas station.  She is inside with Claudette, showing that little chit hot to handle soft mushy cat food, and licking the formula  off that gets on Claudie when I feed her - she is very messy.  A wet washrag is nowhere near as good as a mama kittie's tongue, but we are not sure where/who Mom was so she is a bottle babie for now.  She is growing, so I must be doing something right.  

Our garden is kidking out tomatoes, yellow snap beans, okra, collards, and tonight Mary had creamed new potatoes.  One of the potato vines was dead and she pulled it, delightedly finding 8 or 10 good sized spuds underneath.  So tonight she had her favorite veggies for dinner, wax beans and creamed new potatoes.  I had roast pork and beans, declined the spuds (very reluctantly but they are too many carbs).  Yesterday I apologized to her for the "boring" dinner of steak and tomatoes.  We both laughed at that one, because it is a favorite quickie summer dinner at our house.  If that is boring, lets have more of it!  Mmmmmm.

No on street parking for this thing.....

Tonight I made "keto friendly" refrigerator slaw (keeps for weeks in fridge)....with shredded collards!  I can hardly wait to see how nicely they marinate and mellow as the sweet-sour oil and vinegar dressing (sugar free of course) is assertive enough to compliment the greens.  

LONG KEEPER SLAW (modifications in parentheses)

Slaw veggies:

2 lb cabbage, chopped  (2 qts chopped collard greens - chopped fine in blender with 2 c chopped cabbage)

1/2 c chopped green pepper (substituted carrot)

1 c chopped onion 

3/4 c sugar (sugar substitute)

Dressing:

1 c white vinegar

1 tsp sugar (substitute)

1 tsp salt 

3/4 c oil

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp celery seeds

Combine slaw veggies of your choice.  Mix until evenly mixed.  Stir in the sugar/substitute.

Boil dressing ingredients, leaving out sugar substitute if it is not heat stable (sweet & low).  Mix into vegetables.  Add sweetener and mix in.  Refrigerate, covered.  

Stays good in fridge for weeks IF you can keep from noshing on it.  About 18 cups.  Per cup = 90 calories, 8 g fat, 4.5 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber (net carbs 2.2 grams!)

sodium 124 g, calcium 72 mg, potassium 110 mg.  

       Such a deep green!

  we are desperados, fer shure!   jeepers you are as cray-cray as any of us!    m\Midnight Mom thsat aint a bad idea...wish I had a metal roof.....

Went to my doctor on Monday.  She was pleased with my weight loss.  She also still does not like my gait and sent me back to the orthpedic surgeon to ask why I still limp, stagger, and hurt after months of healing and physical therapy.  I was not pleased with the result of the visit.  Basically I was told...we did nothing wrong, the x rays look good, everything is fine.  They suggested I go back to my back surgeon, blaming the back for the issues I am having.  When pressed, the physicians assistant suddenly remembered an article that had been sent to them which said that if someone had back surgery prior to the hip surgery it increased failure rate for the hip surgery.  In short...we were told "It aint our fault,"...then "you aint gonna get any better"....."how about a cortisone shot?"

I took the shot.  It was all they had to offer along with pain pills.  I was rather upset at being what I felt was "dumped" by them.  They did authorize yet more PT.  No problem there, the PT people are the only ones that seem to be even trying to help.  

I was rather upset for a couple of days, but have come to terms with the fact that I am on my own as far as getting back as much function as I can.  

OK, I accept that and will take as much PT as I can get, then switch over to the gym menmbership I can get from my insurance.  I refuse to just give up and hobble around being miserable.  If I must be sore, let it be from exercising.  If I must be crooked, well, I will be as straight as I can get and go on from there.  But I am NOT going to just quit and go away and be a nice, quiet cripple.  I have too much to do.  Adapting will be my way of life if needed.  I will prove them wrong.

What hurts is that Mary too is starting to give up hope.  She supports my efforts and helps me keep going, but I do wish I was not the only one believing in the fight.  Oh well.

Now that I have vented, the good news.  Our rescured kitten (from under the porch) was taken to the vet for a quick check (she has a cough).  She is about 3 weeks old.  She eats, poops, and sleeps, much like any baby.  We bought a baby bottle and formula, which she thankfully is big enough to drink from, and she just guzzles at meal time.  We are optomistic about her survival.  Dont know her daddy tho...she is a tabby striped kitty, the only one we have.  Surprise!!

The garden has been suffering with the sudden summer.  Vine borers killed out summer squashes.  Using the newspaper mulch did not help, so we will have to do a drench next time we prepare the beds.  The tomatoes are having blossom end rot issues, but we are getting some good ones (for gifting) and fall back on our childhood-learned habits of "just cut the bad parts away" for the impergect fruits.  So we are enjoying those vine ripened, dead ripe tomatoes.  I even went off my diet, ONCE, to enjoy our few ears of sweet corn (we did not plant much) and they were deeeeee-licious!  I cut some off the cob for Mary since she cant do the on-cob dining.  She was delighted as well and we both agree we need to plant more next time.  The watermelons & cantelopes have baby fruits growing on them.  The collards are HUGE....6 or 7 leaves make an entire armload for me.  I tried out a collard slaw idea I read about and my-oh-my it was delicious.  I liked it cut about 30% with regular eabbage so it does not overpower the low carb mayo dressing I use.  Next time I go grocery shopping I will get some bacon and try the full collard slaw with a hot bacon dressing instead.  We are eating and gifting cabbages right now as the spring planted ones are mature and ready to go.  Broccoli was delicious, but all gone now, and it is not regrowing heads due to the heat, it is bolting.  So I will cook up some of the long sprouts like broccoli-raab and then the plants will come out to make room for the rampant sweet potato vines.  

The okra is starting now too.  I have to pick it daily or the pods get too big, but it does not take long to get enough for me to eat....Mary does not like the texture of it.  I have a pork rind shake and bake that is low carb and I toss it in that, then bake.  Not too shabby.  I am already planning what to put into the empty spots...

All in all things are progressing nicely here and we are anticipating a fine blow out for the 4th of July.  Lots and lots of fireworks!  Looking forward to it.

FINALLY THE RAIN WENT AWAY!  The rains were not kind to us.  Outdoor kitties were miserable.  We made extra rain shelters around the yard so they could run for cover.  And we found out where new mama hid her little ones...under the front -porch...where it FLOODS.  Rescued kitties several times (she was persistent in going there).  What fun...face down in mud, fishing in a down-pour thru the hole where we pulled up the boards on our front steps, for kitties we hear screaming for help.  The stuff nightmares are made of (if you like kitties).  Only a couple did not survive.   We have one survivor inside, bottle feeding her - she was bone-cold after we found her.  Now she is doing well, fortunately big enough to drink (guzzle) replacement formula out of the mini bottle.  We dont trust mama not to stick her in a bad spot again, so she stays inside till she gets bigger.  We named her Claudette, after the storm.   The male cat who was attacked by the owl (according to our vet) with the throat woulds is healing nicely, too.  From what the vet said, his wounds were caused by talons of a large predatory bird.  We do have owls here.  He was too big to fly away with and he fought himself free, and came home with a scary looking throat wound.  The vet stitched him up nicely.  He too is inside, where we try to keep him from scratching his stitches.  He does take his antibiotics nicely though.  We just hide them in his food. 

I cringe now when I hear the owl hooting at night.  Then I go grab a spotlight and shine the trees until I drive it away.  He can go hunt elsewhere.   They are proteted so I am loathe to shoot it.  Maybe I'll start throwing firecrackers at it to harass it.   

We busted the budget again.  Usually it is food, this time it was...fireworks.  Mary especially enjoys doing a fireworks show (she was licensed up in WIS to do shows, and loved every minute).  I still remember the night the finale put the street lights out, and rocked the fire trucks (fire dept on scene in case of sparks setting a fire).  We could feel the concussions in the air pounding on us as the ground shook.  Whew!  However, I digress.  Down here in GA fireworks are legal (!!!) so we go early when the selection is good.  They only sell a couple weeks before the 4th.  While Mary bought 3, 4, 5, and 6 inch shells, and multiple firework "cakes"  I nosed around.  My purchases were a little more "survivalist"....string pull activated smoke grenades in several colors...strobe light fireworks....large military smoke pots....pull-firecrackers of low power (aptly named "booby tyraps" ) to make perimeter alarms.  Strobes to create distraction, ruin a lurkers night mision and light up the hot zone.  Smoke is for hiding in and creating view obstructions for lurkers as well.  And...of course some M-120s, nice and LOUD to startle.  Between us we spent...brace yourself...1200 dollars.  It will be a great show, though, with leftovers for Haloween, Christmas, etc.  We saved half the year for it.  Now we start saving for Christmas decorations!

So chainsaw Mary is sitting in her easy chair making multiple-shot sky-rockets from singles (a trick she learned shooting professionally) and putting longer fuses on the larger fireworks giving us more time to get further away after firing them.  We work together well after all this time, and have a good rythym.  We are expecting lots of applause from the boaters who travel around the lake at night to watch others shoot fireworks over the lake.  Our prep-friends live on the lake, we do the "show".  

A good time is had all around, and Mary grins for a month afterward.  Her favorite holidays are 4th of July and Chrostmas.

On the personal side, I am disgusted with going to the doctors.  Every time I do they find some new issue that needs addressing.  Went to the eye doc and he found cataracts.  Now taking eye drops to bring pressure down in eyes so I can get cataract surgery done.  Then saw my primary doc.  She was pleased with the 25 pound weight loss, after making certain that it was intentional.  She adjusted my blood pressure meds down because with the weight loss, the blood pressure dropped too.  Too low.  Then she asked me to walk.  Uh oh, she did not like my gait (again) and said that I should be walking well after all this PT work.  Not to mention the ongoing pain, which I just assumed was arthritis.  She got me in to go see the ortho doc who did my hip in two days flat (we go tomorrow at 9:00 AM).  I don't know what she told them, but she expects correction to both my gait and pains.    OK by me, Im tired of hurting.  I have no idea what they will do though.  No surgery allowed during August...we go to WI that month.  

I could stand some boredom for a bit....nice, restful boredom.   

No such luck...the garden is starting to produce summer squash and tomatoes a-plenty, all of which will need processing. Okra and collards are going crazy.  (BTW, collard slaw is delicious!) All of which attract pests.....we do tomato hornworm picking at least once a week. Then our trip.  Then we return to get transplants started for the autumn garden.  The wierd weather just adds to the excitement.  I'll never complain about being bored again, LOL.  

ELMOLINO MILLS BRAN MUFFINS

(from el molino mills cookbook, recipe #125)

1 c El Molino Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 c El Molino Bran Flakes

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 TB Honey

3 TB Oil

1 Egg

1 c Milk

Sift then measure flour; add baking powder, salt and Bran Flakes.  Beat egg, add honey, oil, and milk.  Stir in dry ingredients, stiring only enough to mix.  Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full.  Bake at 125 degrees for 15 minutes.  (For variation a cup of raisins may be added.)

Is this the one?  LOL I had to edit out the typos...for some reason typing the word "honey" created the most amazing mutations.....

She forgot to add (buy a bull) and make more cows, LOL.  I thought this was succinct.

Today I finally got all the meat from the freezer canned up.  I ALWAYS underestimate how long it will take.  However I did 2 canner loads today - it this was my major kind of food processing I would have to get another canner to speed things up filling them alternately.  I got 6 qts chicken pieces, 3 qts "steak bites", 1 quart from a ham tenderloin, and 1 quart of cured ham bites.  Finally one more quart of all the extra pieces- a mixed meats quart with beef, ham and pork tenderloin.  It would make a good Brunswick stew or Booya.  

Mary was quite patient with all the sputtering (from both the canner, and ME).  I hate it when every critter in the house insists on getting as close as they can, just in case a might drop a tidbit.  Makes it hard to move around, LOL.  Cats, dogs, even the parrot came walking over to see what was going on.  I just figured out what the drawback of an open concept kitchen is....you cant shut the door to keep critters & children out while working.  Frankly I always thought a kitchen with a dutch door would be the coolest thing ever....I would leave the top open for ventilation, and keep the bottom closed for critter control.  

All I heard on the news today was stuff about Fauci and covid's origins.  I have my own opinions on that, but this is not the forum for speculating.  But something is rotten in Denmark, "fer shur".  

Had an extra diet pepsi today to celebrate my first 20 lbs weight loss.  More to go, but its starting to show, which is fun.  Another 20 and I'll have to start taking in clothing, LOL.  

I laughed out loud...and promptly sent the link to my older sister....

Bless you LittleSoster for being such a help to your friend.  Her son should not be such a stinker about not shopping where she wants and needs to go unless he is willing to subsidize her going to the fancier/pricier store.  So many children nowdays just assume their parents are well fixed when they are NOT and it aggravates me no end.  I have to keep telling myself "they are their children, do NOT make trouble between them" and bite my tongue.  I guess the part that really pops my cork is that when they visit they immediately demand the steaks (that we gave them) for dinner and NEVER pay or bring anything to help load the pantry back up.  GRRRR.  I was raised different.  When my husband and I visited his mother we would always take her anywhere she wanted to shop (on our dime) with dinner afterward at her favorite diner.  Plus we always brought things to restock her cupboards "just in case, look what we found on sale!"  None of her other children would do that and they were considerably better off than we were at that time.  Oh well...sigh...cant change the world I guess, just my little assigned corner of it.  

Today I started cutting up meat, as it thaws in the cooler, and when I get enough to run the canner I will brown it in the electric skillet (keeps the house cooler) and can it up.  Its kind of a hodgepodeg of chicken-bee-pork but they all can in the same time and pressure so its all good.  I also have to pot up the herbs I picked up at the garden center.  Thyme and savory.  Im always looking for perennial herbs so I can grow my own fresh seasonings each season.  Savory is the summer kind, an annual, but nobody seems to carry winter savory (perennial) any more and my favorite herb sources over the years shut down when their owners retired.  Still looking for a good source for some of the perennial herbs I like.  Oh well.  At least I have found some wild patches of a few of them.  

Otherwise I am having a quiet day, enjoying all the various kitten litters as they tumble aroujnd playing (and watching where I step! LOL).  Fresh yellow snap beans for dinner, creamed and served over potatoes (Marys favorite) with that pork roast we took out to make room in the freezer.  

Yesterday we cut meat.  LOTS OF MEAT.  Mary talked to her friends up in Wis that we are going to visit in August about the meat sale.  They were shocked.  So we bought more to cut up and take up to wisconsin when we go.  Since we are taking the pickup truck, whats a cooler or two.  However, 12 whole rib eye primal cuts later (10-12 pounds each), all the freezers (yes all three) are packed to the top with meat...some for us, some for others.  We have steaks and pork cuts for one friend; another asked if there were T-bones on sale (there were, about half the price she had been paying) so she gets rib eye steaks and T bones.  Then Mary's cousin who is going to the class reunion with her (50th for both of them) mentioned that she was cooking a lot of chicken trying to save money, but chicken is getting expensive up there, too.  Down here it ALSO was on sale for $1 a pound, be it drumsticks, thighs, or breasts.  So she is getting steak and chicken pieces.  Im starting to feel like we own a meat locker, LOL.  (Do they even have those anymore??  Ive not been able to find one, or we might have rented one for a while.)  We figure after Memorial day prices will skyrocket and sales will become scarcer.

So last night we cut jmeat, today we went out and re-arranged the freezer, removing older cuts of pork, beef and chicken to a wheeled cooler, to make room for the other wheeled cooler full of those fresh cut steaks.  We cant fit another thing in there, LOL.  Tomorrow, if it is thawed enough to start cutting, I will cut it up then can it up.  We found canning jars at our local Walmart for $10 a dozen so I got three dozen quarts, which should hold all that stuff.  It is quite a bit of work but very satisfying to me, even if we have to break down the job over longer time because our energy is more finite lately.

Today after arranging the freezers we went back to Walmart to pick up some of my meds.  Tonight I cut up the rest of the trimmings.  Rib eye steak in the primal cut has a "tail" of fat and lean mixed together.  It is a bit fiddley, but I gleaned 4 pounds of stir fry beef from those trimmings.  I almost wish I still made soap.  That beef tallow was beautiful, white and flinty hard.  It makes very long lasting soap.  But I have so much stuff on my to do list Im not starting soap, too.  And I cant freeze it for later, because those freezers are PACKED and we both refuse to buy yet another one!  Once all the canning is done I start on the sewing.  We bought some new scrub pants for summer.  They need to be shortened, but we do like that they are roomy and lightweight for summer activities.  While I am at it I will probably take the leg shortening cuts and make the pockets deeper if then are the loose pouch kind. If they are sewn down forget it.  We will just have to wear fanny packs for those necessities we would normally pocket.  

Now picking yellow squash, broccoli, scallions, cabbage and collards.  Lots of collards, as they are low carb diet friendly and VERY high in fiber.  Kills two birds with one stone.  Did you ladies ever try collard coleslaw?  I was intrigued, as I have been slipping shreds of it into mixed salads quite a bit.  But I re-visited using the blender to shred the slaw ingredients and it works extremely well for collard slaw.  I had mine straight, but the mayo was too wimpy a dressing.  Next time Im going to try the hot bacon & vinegar dressing over the usual hand cut strips.  Those flavors should complement the collards very well.  I also will try the collard wraps I saw...You shave down the mid rib and cut off the protruding part of the stem.  Then blanch until flexible, just a few minutes supposedly do it.  Then use in place of tortillas to wrap burritos, salads, what have you.  I do love to play with my food!

Im also quite pleased to report my first 20 pounds weight loss...took 6 weeks.  No hunger...I am using a low carb diet, helps with my reactive hypoglycemia.  I do watch the fat though choosing lower fat proteins (except on steak night, LOL)