BIRDFARMSOUTH.COM

You Politicians Are Fired!

2010-03-05T14:22:00Z

OK, I think I understand what is going on right now in the
United States.

The elected officials (who work for us, right?) are working
HARD, hard, hard. Problem is, they are not working for us;
they are working to get re-elected. They not only do not
work for us, they are owned by the big business PACs who
fund their campaigns.

These PACs are funded by, now lemme see, big insurance,
pharmacutical companies, big banks, brokerages and other
for profit businesses.

I think you can see where this is going. Our elected officials
are workin' for themselves, not us. What the hell happened
to public service? Well, it is gone. What we now have are
self serving, some times for many generations, polititians,
NOT public servants.

Let us just stop this. We elected them, let us fire them.
If they are working for big Pacs and not us, let's fire 'em.

For Friday

2010-03-04T17:23:00Z

"May all beings everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid, and may those bound be free."

Because today - Buddism works too.

At the bird farm, we are gearing up for spring. The birds know that the days are getting longer.

Wednesday, the farrier will be here and the horses will get new tennies. Travis Swanson is our farrier and he is VERY good w/ the equines. I will take some pictures. Should be good. Gotta get the horses as well as the riders legged up.

I'm gonna burn some brush and move some compost; clean up the garden area this weekend.

We are planning a bit of sausage making over at the cat ranch. We have some elk, some venison, a bit of antelope and the odd duck and goose floating around. Since this is not something we have tons of experience with, we are gonna try breakfast sausage and italian sweet and hot. Least as far as I know. We've got a nice pork shoulder, some pancetta and some bacon for fat.

May your weekend be productive, whatever that means for you.

When I Am Queen - Thursday

2010-03-04T14:26:00Z

I watched the national news this morning. I was disgusted and nauseated. Do the citizens of the USA allow the media to drive them to this level of stupidity? Evidently, we do.

I am going to begin planning my platform and behavior for when the time arrives that I am made Queen of the Universe. Here is my list for today -

WHEN I AM QUEEN-

1. If a politician is proven to me to be a self-serving twit, be he/she Democrat or Republican or Green or Libertarian or what the hell ever party they represent, he/she - AND his/her family - will spend the next 12 months living at the federal poverty level without insurance. And, no they cannot use their savings or family money or campaign coffers to pad a cushy lifestyle.

2. When this country is fighting 2 wars on 2 different fronts, any media person who makes a MOUNTAIN out of a molehill on national TV will spend the next 12 months living in one of the war zones.

3. If I deem a study to be stupid, it will neither be funded nor take place. Today's example is the local study to determine whether or not a teacher may touch a child.

I will stop this list for now...

Beware - there is more to come.

Sunday This & That

2010-02-28T17:59:00Z

Don't ya love Sunday? I do; no agenda, no push, Olympics on TV.

Yummy leftover Not Quite Red Beans & Rice for dinner. Pancakes for breakfast.

There is a big photo shoot contest about doggies over at PW page. I did not enter.

Here is Albert-

Here is Fred-

Albert is the 80lb. rescue greyhound dog/cat.

Fred is the 140lb. rescue Anatolian Shepard.

Since out female dog died Christmas '08, the boys have gotten lazy. Fred has gotten fat.

Nuke Plant Doors or YOUR Doors.

2010-02-27T18:08:00Z

How is it that we have all been trained to replace what doesn't work? Just buy a new door; solve the problem. That is what we hear over and over.

What happened to fixing problems?

Given the knowledge (this is a big given) to repair, it is ALWAYS cheaper. Most of the time, it is infinitely faster too.

Well hey there world - Strafford Door Company has the Door Guru. He knows doors. He has active security clearance.

Call us first.

Or just sent this blog a message.

Lots of times...it's better just to fix 'em.

Interesting Question for Friday

2010-02-26T20:56:00Z

Today I read a couple posts about why people cook.
http://blog.ruhlman.com/2010/02/why-i-cook.html
http://smithbites.com

I commented on the first;

I cook because I eat and I’m worth GOOD food.
I cook because hubby hunts and the game deserves my best effort.
I cook because it makes all my friends happy.
I cook because I want REAL food.
I cook because I love cooking and eating the results.

It is worthwhile to consider. My list could be pages and pages long.
It is truly all about the joy.

May the joy be yours.

Something To Say

2010-02-25T16:55:00Z

I'm not much on resolutions.

I tend to avoid 'em. I have posted before about the fact that the DG & I bought a Wii Fit Plus deally-bobber.
We bought the Nintendo (computer game world famous, renown, yadda, yadda & yadda) after Christmas. Evidently this particular machine and the board thingy that goes with it has become EXCEEDINGLY popular. Like, you cannot find it in stores anymore. Golly, were we ahead of a trend? Hmm, weird.

Anyway, I have been using the Wii Fit each and every day since New Years. When out of town, I've been using somebody else's Wii Fit Plus machine. The reason for this fitness fixation, without subjecting you to reading a bunch of other posts, is fat. I quit smoking in late September or early October and began an eating campaign.

I think that the technical term is oral craving. Sounds dirty but is not. I just went through a period of time, well, I'm still going through the time when I want to EAT EVERYTHING I see. I want to eat ALL THE TIME.
This fixation resulted in a 20 pound weight gain. Dammit.

The 20 or 25 pound weight gain resulted in my trousers not wanting to button around my middle. Dammit.
I am entirely unwilling to buy an entire new wardrobe to accommodate the fat belly babies who have taken up residence around my torso. The news flash for today -

My trouser buttons fasten. I have not lost a pound, but apparently the every day exercise is having an effect. The explanation - that muscle weighs twice what the same volume of fat does - makes sense. The high falutin' term is tone. I'm getting some muscle tone.

So, I'm keeping my fitness fixation. I will not buy a new wardrobe and I will modify my food intake. I am not eating less, in fact I'm eating more. Fruit, veggies and fiber. Course, I'm doing something else regular too. More tomorrow.

Flowers in February!

2010-02-17T18:00:00Z

My brother David and his wife Cathy are pretty intense people.

They are raising 2 fabulous children, Harrison and Jacob and I'm lucky and grateful to have 'em all. Many many families in the Illinois Quad City area are lucky that David and Cathy are teachers. Lots of kiddies benefit.

Anyhow, my brother called me last night. DG & I were just about ready to go to the movies. We were killing time at the office before the show started. David asked us to come right over to his house. Concerned, I asked if everything was OK. David replied, "Well, yes and no, come on over."

He went on to say that Jake had gone down to the basement to get ice cream out of the freezer. When he got back upstairs into the kitchen, he commented about how something down there smelled rotton. My mind, like my brothers, immediately thought of a bad freezer and how darned much meat could be lost to a freezer malfunction. Anyway, I'm thinking about spoiled venison and DG & I dash the 1/2 mile or so over to Dave & Cathy's.

Here is what they found in their basement, blooming without soil in the dark. David's expression indicates that he doesn't care for the odor, pardon me, perfume of the flower. Evidently flys are fond of the smell. They DO smell like rotting meat. It is nasty for a day or so and then the smell fades.

The sheer sized just amazed us. It's gargantuan. Look here -

This is a Voodoo Lily. I think they are just a neat as anything cultivated. Cept that you don't want to eat it. You don't want to eat anything after you've been around this baby. Phew...

When the voodoo lily is done blooming, it will be planted outside and will throw strap like leaves all spring, summer and fall. Then it is dug and stored until it again begins it's search for flys next year.

We are glad that this was a flower power problem, instead of a REAL one.

Olympic Time

2010-02-14T04:07:00Z

DG & I are glued to the Olympics. If you need us, be aware, we DO NOT WANT TO leave the television. Until the games are over - we're glued.

Anybody else?

Universal Requests

2010-02-02T21:58:00Z

Will the universe please conspire to keep Sarah Palin's stupid mouth shut?

Doesn't the republican party have anyone with brains? HELP!

RMEF - Quad Cities Chapter - Banquet

2010-01-31T20:41:00Z

The Door Guru and I attended the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation QC Chapter banquet last night.
The banquet was at the Milan Community Center and catered by Reife's. Good food and a nice bunch of folks. In Illinois they are particularly working to fund workshops, clinics and other ways to introduce women and children to the outdoors and the joys of hunting and conservation.

I learned a bit about the group that I certainly didn't know before. The Elk Foundation is, of course,
a 501 c3 charity. 90% of every dollar collected goes to support elk in this country. That is pretty darned exceptional, to run a huge organization on 10% overhead. They have lots of dedicated volunteers and the Charity Navigator has given them a 5 star rating. Pretty impressive.
An understandable explanation of how much land the Foundation has helped to preserve for habitat was given last night. A 3 mile wide strip from Mexico to Canada would hold the same amount of land. WOW - I can get my mind around that and it's a lot of land.

I'm pleased that we can participate and help such a good group. There are chapters darned near everywhere, we sat with some life members from Aurora and the Sterling/Rock Falls area. If you are interested, check out www.rmef.org for the chapter near you. Thanks!

Galloping Along in My P.J.'s

2010-01-26T16:33:00Z

It is true that you can create good habits for yourself.
I have become a morning exerciser. I stumble down
the stairs, let the dogs out, make coffee, start the
beet pulp soaking for the horses, get a glass of
1/2 juice/1/2 water, do a couple other necessary things
and then go fire up the Wii Fit Plus doodad. Then,
like a programmed robot, I exercise. Now I'm a slightly
chunky fifty-something sleepy woman. This is not a
pretty picture, particularly if you add some rather ratty
flannel pj's. Yet, I continue.

By the way, I do not like exercise; I do not like sweat
or muscle aches or even breathing hard. Just so you
know... And what is the difference between a habit
and an addiction? That is kind of a hot button word,
isn't it?

Please understand that this computer game, (Wii), is
the exact opposite of what anybody who knows me
expects me to do. I sit at a computer every week day
at work. I didn't think that I could stand the computer
long enough to work on this blog. (Some weekends, I can't...)
I sure as heck wasn't going to get hooked on any
d@mned computer game.

But I did and I am. I'm hooked, addicted and I want
more. I am probably the worst kind of addict because
now I'm actively trying to get my friends addicted.
Some of them preceded me in this addiction. Mary,
wife of George has been at it more than 300 days.
Deb, Bruce and their kids too, have more than a year in.
Now my own brother, David, and his wife, Cathy started
my path to addiction at Christmas time. You wouldn't
think that my own flesh and blood would be purveyors
of painful addictions. Would you? Well they did.
This is my brother David on
Christmas eve, makin' like a bird to score points on a
Fitness Plus game from the Wii selection. Here is
another shot of the same game.
That's a goofy lookin'
bird woman. Wonder if she knows how dorky she looks.
Oh yea, it's me. I didn't do very well either.
Well heck, here's another.

Here is a shot of the door guru just flying along. For a
guy who thinks like a bird when ever he needs to, he
doesn't fly very well. That is my 83 year old mom in
the chair behind the dg. She is up next.

She makes a great bird too. Golly we did have fun. I did
not get pictures of everybody, but I did manage to snap
my brother David's bride, Cathy when it was her turn to fly.

As I recall, David won the game with Cathy right on his
talons, or heels as the case may be. This little game,
along with some other silliness, worked it's addictive magic.
I'm totally hooked, hard core now. More of the drug as it
works it's magic.

I do hope that I can convince my mom to give the Wii
machine a try. I've heard that they are all the rage in
nursing homes across the country.

Taste Buds Have Gone To Heaven

2010-01-21T01:32:00Z

Oh my God, I've prepared something that is silly yummy by
accident. I love it when that happens. I believe I could have
eaten these until I burst. If I'd made enough, I might have
burst, or maybe not.

I think I'll call it Winter Elk Medallions. It was fabulous.
Might be that the Door Guru shot the best cow elk in the
world. Might be that I've become the Julia Child of game
cooking. More likely it was a VERY good butcher, a good
base idea from The New Elk Hunter's Cookbook and
Edward J. Fleming and a bit of luck. I prepared a mushroom
assortment and roasted carrots, parsnips and yukon golds
to accompany the meat. Of course, once it was plated, we
ate. Could have taken beautiful pictures, but, oh well.
Hubby brought steak knives but we did not need them. This
is some tender elk. I did remember before I'd cleaned the
plate...

If I were not so absolutely focused on cooking the silly thing,
I'd remember to take pictures as I worked. I do believe that
this may be the finest game preparation I have ever tasted.
Here you go.

Winter Elk Medallions with Roasted Root Vegetables

4 - 3/4 in elk steaks or other fine steaks

1/2 c dry white wine          1/2 c beer
1/2 c soy sauce                    1 tsp. minced or pressed garlic
knob of ginger - grated     1 Tbsp Montreal steak seasoning
red pepper to taste             ground black pepper to taste

4 Tbsp EV olive oil                                        4 Tbsp butter
8 oz. Chefs Sampler or other assortment of mushrooms.

4 carrots                                                            4 parsnips
4 yukon gold potatoes                                  kosher salt

2 tsp white sugar                                            1/2 c ginger ale

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix the second through ninth ingredients to make a marinade.
Put the game medallions into the marinade. I used a bowl
and marinated the meat for about an hour. If your meat is
"gamy" or tough, use a zip lock and marinade it for 6-10
hours.

Peel the carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Cut into sticks.
Put 2 Tbsp of the olive oil into a 13 x 9 pan and toss the
veggies to coat with oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt and put in
oven.

Check mushrooms and cut tough ends off and wipe any
"stuff" off rooms. Heat a large skillet over high heat; add
remaining olive oil and butter to skillet. When sizzling,
put mushrooms in skillet. Toss 'em around. Dry off the
steaks and when the mushrooms have begun to brown,
push them to coolest side of skillet. Put steaks into hot
pan. Cook for about 90 seconds. Meanwhile -

Put oven mitts on and toss vegetables around in pan to turn.

As soon as steaks are browning, turn them. Make sure
mushrooms are not burning. Take them off heat if
necessary. We prefer our red meat medium rare or less.
Transfer meat to plate and pile mushrooms on top of
steaks; tent with foil.

Dump marinade, along with sugar and ginger ale into hot
skillet. Stir well and reduce to syrupy consistency.

Veggies will be done while the sauce reduces. We added
the roasted veg to our plates with the steak & rooms.
As soon as I was happy with the reduction, I dumped it
over the steak and mushrooms.

Then we went to food heaven. Salty, sweet and a bit of
hot, along with the beer wine sour create a bit of umami
that will give you joy. I hope you give it a try.

A Dirty Man is Good to Find

2010-01-18T10:15:00Z

Anybody out there been through a power outage or had a furnace take a crap on a cold day? We do live out in the country in an old, old house. We figure that the boiler (we have hot water heat) is about 40 to 50 years old. The dern thing is like a Timex watch; it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. When the power goes out, you start a generator. When the furnace quits, you fire up the corn stove. Of course this assumes that you have a generator and a corn stove. We happen to have both.

Then you figure out what the heck happened to the furnace or boiler as the case may be. That is what the Door Guru was doin' when he got this dirty:

He was down in the basement for a couple hours. There was quite a bit of banging and some muffled swearing that filtered upstairs. Eventually the pipes started to warm up, some rattle, rattle, thunder clatter sounds indicated that the boiler was once again working.

Here's a close up of the poor guys neck. I couldn't believe that there was that much grunge even in our old cellar.

The door guru tells me that we got a bad load of fuel oil. Fuel oil is just dyed diesel fuel. Our boiler uses it to heat the water for the registers. When the fuel oil doesn't burn properly, it causes a bunch of soot and clogs up the mechanism/brains and the burners in the boiler controls. At least that is as much as I understand. More later.

Just A Bit More

2010-01-13T10:13:00Z

My car pooling, cooking buddy, Colleen, says that it's just Sara N Dipity.

I think I like Benson & Hedges better...

Still More - Weight That Is.

2010-01-12T16:47:00Z

Sometimes I hate winter. Subzero temperatures outdoors and a house
that is stocked up to be snowed in. I should be glad, secure and happy
with this wonderful state of affairs, right? Well, not so much.
Shall I recap?

DG and I quit smoking in September. DG used the patch, courtesy of
the VA and I used Chantix, courtesy of my pocketbook @ more than
$100.00 per month. We have both done quite well with staying off the
cigarettes, thank you. The battle now is with the insatiable hunger and
corresponding weight gain that has followed the cessation of nicotine
ingestion. Sometimes I like big words. Antidisistablishmatarianism. Hope I
got that out of my system. Back to the subject at hand.

Fat, the subject at hand is fat. I seem to have grown twin fat belly
babies. The upper one seems to be a poor doer as the lower one is
distinctly larger. I'm tempted to name them, maybe Benson & Hedges,
how bout Winston & Salem, Virginia & Slim, Marlo & Borough,
Pal & Mal or perhaps just Basic & Generic?

Now that the holidays are over, I do seem to finally be losing a bit of
weight every day. Maybe the belly babies will be the first to go...
we'll see.

Winter Garage Doors - 101

2010-01-08T01:29:00Z

It is going to be sub zero outside tonight. We got 6 inches of snow today and tomorrow at Strafford Door Company, the phone will ring off the hook. Most of the calls will not be broken doors or operators. Most of the calls will be because people - "cannot get their garage door to close." The callers will tell me that the door starts to close and then goes back up. The only way they can close the door is to stand in the garage and hold the wall button.

I've been with the door company since I was born. 99% of the time, when we arrive, the homeowner is angry. My guys generally know right away what the problem is. Most of the time, SO DO I. I'm not even in the garage. Come on folks, the door operator, Genie, Liftmaster, Stanley, Marantec, Linear, Wayne Dalton, Allister, whatever has SAFETY EYES. They might be called sensors, but whatever they are called, they have to be aimed at one another and there cannot be any obstructions.

My service personnel have to be paid; whether they move your shovel, or your salt bucket, your snow blower or the baby seat you took out of the car. If the man runs a rag across the bottom of the garage door or shovels a small pile of snow out of the way, they still have to be paid. Somebody's gotta pay for the gas; somebody's gotta pay the guys hourly rate. If you are nice, they will probably only charge part of a service call. If you are nasty, get your checkbook out. Shouldn't be, but it happens.

Reading the owners manual might be a start, before you call us.

Fear? Nahh, I ain't got no fear!

2010-01-03T18:11:00Z

I can't go; I'm afraid of flying. I can't eat that, I'm afraid it will be icky. I'm not going; I'm afraid they won't like me. I'm afraid of water; I'm afraid of bugs, spiders, snakes, cows, horses, dogs, heights, new places, strange places, new people, old people, young people, cats, dirt, slime, change, normalcy, bankruptcy, money (not really, just wanted to see if you were paying attention.), hunger, gluttony, pain, sorrow, sadness and other things.

Well, NOT ME! I am afraid of hurting people I don't intend to hurt. I'm not much afraid of ANYTHING else. Lots of people say well, you're afraid of getting hurt; no I'm not. I do not want to get hurt, but pain, while unpleasant, is not normally deadly. AND, listen close here, cause it's gonna get interesting, we are ALL gonna die. No way to avoid it since Jesus Christ pulled it off a couple thousand years ago. Get used to it, cause dying is unavoidable.

So, Lisa, do you have a point? Is this ranting just so that you can blow angst at your readers? Hang on, I'm getting to it. A life well lived should be our goal. Live at 100% or better as often as you can. Live with intention. Let's look at that word. The root of the work is intend. Means many things, almost all of 'em good. To apply with energy, mean, direct, design, plan, purpose, take care of, regard, design and fix the mind upon. So intention is the goal or purpose behind behavior. Got it?

If you are living at 100%, you have NO time to be afraid. Let your intention be what drives your life, not your fears. My intention today is to enjoy my home, write a rant, sorry post for this blog, work out for an hour on the Wii, to prepare and eat extraordinary food and perhaps not to get out of my pj's until this afternoon. DG's intentions today are far more industrious. He took care of the horses and the birds in the outbuilding and the fowl. Now he is changing the fuel oil filter on the furnace. Even though he is allergic to diesel fuel, he puts gloves on and does the job. His intention is to make the furnace run properly and he will. Sides that - corn is $8.00 per day to run the corn burner. Fuel oil is cheaper. Fear doesn't enter the equation for either of us. We simply have decided not to be afraid. We live our lives with intention, even if we don't get out of our jammies.

Nike had it right - just do it.

Food For a Lucky New Year.

2010-01-02T19:18:00Z

Hope my luck lasts all of this year. I'm not even sure where I read that red beans and rice were lucky on New Year's Day.

My sister in law and I worked at a - two heads are better than one - dinner last night. I don't think any of us were too terribly excited by red beans and rice, but oh my, was it good when we got the two together.

I knew that Cathy had a left over ham bone w/ meat; I had a ton of rice and the makings for spicy sausage. It just seemed to me that good luck was in the making. Cathy agreed to run out and find some little bitty red beans. I don't like kidney beans. The skin on 'em seem tough and icky.

Here is what I did for the Zippy Dirty Rice.

4 strips of bacon - chopped
1 lb. Spicy sausage
    I used 1/2 and 1/2 pork & elk w/1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. crazy Jane's mixed up pepper, 1/2 tsp ea. thyme and sage, 1/2 ground up bay leaf, 1 tsp. medium smoked chili powder. Get your hands in this and mix it all up together.
1/2 C butter                                1 red bell pepper - chopped
1 onion - diced                           2 celery ribs- chopped
2 cloves of garlic - diced           1 bunch green onion - chopped
21/2 C basmati or other long grain rice and 1 tsp. salt.
4 cups chicken or turkey stock
1 cups of water.

Brown bacon in heavy skillet. Remove from skillet and set aside. Brown sausage in the bacon grease and remove and put w/ bacon. Turn heat to med/low and put onion and the butter in the skillet. After a couple minutes add the garlic. After a couple minutes add the pepper and celery. After a couple minutes add the green onion. Now dump the meat back in the skillet and add 1 cup of stock. When it starts to bubble, turn heat to low.

Cook rice with salt using the 5 cups of stock and the 2 c. water. I put liquid and salty rice into a big pan, brought it to a boil and then slapped a lid on it and turned the heat to low for 11 minutes. I pulled it off the heat, stirred it up and slapped the lid back on for a couple or 4 or 5 minutes. You can then add the rice to the meat mix or vice versa and mix gently or fold even. Oh My God is it good. Even better w/ Cathy's Red Beans! I wanted to just stand at the stove and eat it out of the pan w/ my wooden spoon. I didn't - wouldn't be proper. But I wanted to.

DG was my test taster. He HATES rice so I figured he was the best to taste it. He said he'd had worse so I figured it was ok. I'll see if Cathy will guest post her red bean recipe for later this week.

Good Luck to Ya'll for the whole year!

Come on - join me - it's exercise...

2010-01-01T15:24:00Z

Ok, I know, it's a silly computer game, it's owned by Nintendo, you're not a teenager, your recliner is comfortable, maybe you just don't wanna. If you have a Wii in you're house, take it away from your kids for a little while every morning. I swear, you will be glad you did. Trust me; give it a try. I know there are some folks who read this who are at least thinking about trying the fitness routine.

I'm seriously considering buying one for my mom. She is 83. I will probably have to help her get started, but I know she can do it and would benefit. The program in the system will adapt to the users fitness level. I know that this sounds like a commercial, but it is not. I'm just surprised by how intelligently the program is designed, and it remembers your individual fitness level.

If you give it a try, would you let me know? I'm intrigued to find out if others have as much fun and feel as good about the darn thing as I do.

I'm busy with the balance program right now, cause I seem to have the balance of a drunken old woman. And I'm not - drunk that is...