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My thoughts released; a mind set free |
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These pages contain my thoughts, from meandering ideas and persuasions to deep cerebrations and serious mentations. Why, for what purpose? To release my mind and set creativity free. Somewhere inside the constraints of my mind dwells a writer, a poet, an artist who paints with words. In here, I release those constraints and set the artist free. Perhaps, lost somewhere in the depths of thought, is a story or a poem, waiting to be written. |
| It's another nice day, sunny, a light breeze, and almost 40oF. If it weren't so icy and slippery, it would be a nice day to walk around the loop. But the road is terribly slippery, so I'll pass. Besides, it's supposed to be even warmer for the next slew of days (if those who profess to forecast the weather aren't lying and risking their pants catching fire again). Instead of risking a slip and a fall, I've decided to do a bit more smoking out back. Not today, today I'm preparing the meats for the smoker, which will be ready to go tomorrow. One item that doesn't need much preparation is a small ham from the pork we purchased. The local butcher shop sells double-smoked hams that are so damn good it's almost scary. What's scary about them is the price, and that's why I decided to try double-smoking one of the hams we received with our pork. I'm also going to smoke another pork roast from the same fresh pork. I did a couple back in December, and they turned out awesome. I still have one from the other day when I went out to smoke, but since they are so good, I want more. (My wife also wants me to make more.) So, what about the title, "Jerk", you ask? At least, I'm pretending you're asking. It's like this: We take beef jerky along when we hike and use it as a special treat for our dogs (as well as for ourselves). But the store-bought stuff is very expensive, full of unwanted chemicals, and not as good as homemade. So, I decided it's time I taught myself how to make beef jerky. There are plenty of recipes to pick from, and I'm sure they are good, but I want something basic, old-style, and easy; something similar to what people made a century ago, cured with salt, sugar, and smoke. I came across a recipe in my Mom's old cookbook for jerky that she had written down on paper. It's a simple recipe that consists of salt, brown sugar, black pepper, and coriander. This is mixed together and rubbed on chunks of meat cut one inch thick, then wrapped in waxed paper (I used plastic wrap) and aged for two days. The meat is then rinsed and placed on racks in the smokehouse (I'll use my pellet smoker) and cured with low heat for eight hours. After, they are left to cool overnight, then sliced to a thickness of a nickel, placed on racks, and dried in the oven. |
| Yesterday, my wife and I were trying to decide whether to go to Glendalough State Park with the dogs or do a bit of shopping and visit her mom. The forecast was a major influencer, with rain and snow supposedly arriving in the afternoon and lasting into the evening. By the time we finished lunch, the forecasted weather looked like it was going to stay south of us, so we loaded up the truck and headed to Glendalough to do a bit of hiking and to let the dogs get some exercise. But, since my wife returned to work today, we also decided to visit her mom for a bit, too. And since we would be in Wadena to visit mom, we may as well stop and pick up a few groceries. Because my mother-in-law doesn't tend to eat very well (she's in her nineties), I like to make up extra soup and freeze some for her in single-serving containers. We put these in an insulated shopping bag and then put that in the cooler we keep in the back of the truck. Then we headed off to the park. Being a nice day, there were quite a few people out on the trails, so we parked by the picnic area road. It's closed off through the winter, and nobody tends to go down there. We walked the road, but since it's unplowed, it was a good hike. But in some places the snow was quite deep, and it made hiking difficult, not to mention we got snow in our boots. We decided that winter hiking requires snowshoes, and this morning we shopped online and ordered some. After a few hours in the park, we went to visit my mom-in-law. She was excited to see us, and we had a nice visit. We did learn that she had taken a fall about a week ago and cracked a couple of ribs. She had woken during the night to use the bathroom, stepped on her dog's ball, and fell as a result. Other than that, she was doing well. After, we did a bit of grocery shopping. We didn't need a lot, so it went pretty fast, but by the time we were ready to drive home, it was getting kind of late. It would be about forty-five minutes to drive home, then to put stuff away and fix dinner, well, it just made sense to get something to eat before we went home. We decided to stop at Burger King, get some chicken tenders and fries, and eat on the drive home. But when we got there, the menu had changed, they didn't have chicken tenders anymore, they had chicken fries. We ordered them along with an order of fries and an order of onion rings. Soon enough, the food was ready, and we took off for home, waiting to dig into the food once we were outside of town. What a disappointment! The chicken was ground and formed, mostly tasteless, and very salty. The fries were alright, but not as good as they used to be, and the onion rings didn't have rings of onion in them; they had onion filler in them; they weren't even crispy, but soggy from the mashed-up onion inside the batter shell. At least the dogs enjoyed the rooster-dicks chicken fries. It seems it's getting harder to find decent food when eating out, or maybe I've gotten a lot pickier. I tend to think it's a bit of both. Luckily, we had gotten some healthy snack foods while shopping and enjoyed them after we got home. |
| I slept in this morning and didn't wake until ten; my app to remind me to take my meds was going off, or I may have slept even longer. But I woke up to sunshine and above-freezing temps, took my morning meds, and settled in with a cup of hot coffee. My wife has the day off, but is currently at physical therapy, so I thought I would log in here and get some stuff done. I have my four complete or will when I finish this entry. Then it's time for lunch; my wife should be home in time to join me. After lunch, we are thinking of either doing a bit of grocery shopping and visiting my mother-in-law, or taking the dogs on an adventure (that's what we tell them when we go to the state park to hike and let them run and play.) What we do depends on the weather. The forecast is saying a mix of rain and snow this afternoon, but the temperature is warm enough that I don't think we'll see any snow. Not unless the precipitation continues into the night; it is currently 40oF, too warm for snow. Why did I title this "This or That"? Partly because of the choice of Mom's or the park, do we do this or do we do that? It's a result of the weather forecast: is it going to rain or is it going to snow? Is it this or is it that? And finally, it's the weather itself: the radar forecast shows the rain/snow staying south of us. Is it going to rain here, or is it going to miss us? Is it this, or is it that? I'm hoping for the park, but if it rains, there's the cold and wet, not to mention how slippery the hard-packed snow will get. But if we bring a thermos of hot chocolate? There's always "that". But if it's rainy, a visit with mom would be nice, and she would enjoy "this". I guess it's just a matter of time and the weather to determine if we do this, or that. |
| I was a smoker, but I quit just about a year ago. I used nicotine pouches, tobacco-free, to help with the cravings, but when I went in for surgery, I stopped using the pouches as well. All in all, I did well, but I still have the desire to enjoy a cigar now and then. Today it was almost 40oF outside, but a bit windy. Behind the house, on the patio, the wind was blocked pretty well, so I decided to go out and smoke. I had prepped a nice pork roast and four pork chops yesterday, just lightly seasoning them with salt and pepper. I set up my camp-shower to block the wind, then fired up my portable wood pellet smoker, put the fresh pork on the rack, and let the smoking commence. I let them smoke at 225 degrees for three hours, then turned the heat down to 180 degrees for another three hours. While the pork was in the smoker, I put some beef short ribs in the slow cooker. These were purchased at the local meat market back in December. I purchased one package because I didn't know how good they would be. Once home, I used my own seasoning rub on them, then slow-smoked them. Once they were well smoked, I put them in the freezer for a later date; today was that day. I wish I had purchased a few more packages; they turned out terrific. So, to wrap up this entry, it was nice out today, so I went out on the patio and smoked. I smoked a pork shoulder roast and four pork chops. They are currently in the refrigerator. If we don't cook any of the smoked pork up tomorrow, I'll put it in the freezer for another day. |
| As the late, great Tom Petty sang, "The waiting is the hardest part". Although his song is far different from my waiting right now—waiting is waiting. I'm waiting for our camper to be delivered, which won't happen until the snow melts and the door tracks where it's in storage unfreeze. It's not a new camper, but it's new to us and our first (usable without needing work) hardshell camper. It's all set up to go camping, but we need to put our camping things in it. My wife will want to give it a thorough cleaning, despite it having been cleaned by the previous owner before storing it. I'd be happy with their cleaning, but she's pickier than I am, and that's a good thing. There are some things I want to check out and possibly change that fall into my area of being picky. I want to know what kind and how powerful is the battery in it. I want to relocate one outlet from inside the cupboard to under it (why they put an outlet inside the cupboard above the stove is beyond me), and I want to set it up for remote camping at sites that do not have electric power available. This means setting it up to use solar power when needed. We don't need a lot of power available, but enough to recharge the battery, as well as to run fans and lights. I recently purchased a 200-watt solar starter kit that has most of what we will need. Now I just need the camper to see what else I will require to install everything. I want to be able to place the solar panels in full sun, since many times we can park the camper in shaded areas; the panels need to be mobile. Since the majority of our camping is at campgrounds with electric hook-ups, the solar side needs to be switched on or off as needed, and I'll also want to be able to run a small 110 volt converter. I have the converter already, a portable unit that has one 110v outlet that we use for a few different things. In the past, we've run it off the vehicle battery, but I want to install it inside the camper and run it off the camper battery/solar panels. So this also will need to be fused and switched. I also want to put a valve on the kitchen sink so that when drained, it will either go into the camper gray water tank or can be switched to go into our portable waste water holding tank. Why? Because when the temperature drops below freezing, we can't use the camper's holding tanks for fear of them freezing up. Instead, we use portable water tanks (refillable 5-gallon water bottles), a rechargeable water pump that fits the bottles, and a portable gray water tank. We heat the water on the stove for washing ourselves and the dishes. When we drain the sink, however, we have to divert the water from the camper's gray water tank to the portable tank. We also have a portable toilet that we use when temperatures drop below freezing. Both the portable gray tank and the portable toilet can be easily dumped into one fo the vault toilets since the dump station is also closed once the temperatures drop below freezing. Yes, we've camped in below-freezing temperatures before, as you can see. But the pop-up camper is too difficult to keep warm when the temperature drops that low, unless we have electricity available and use a couple of space heaters to assist the LP furnace in the camper. The canvas just did not hold the heat, and despite using foam and weather stripping, there just wasn't any way to keep the wind from finding places to blow through where the canvas attaches to the camper roof and sides, so we would quickly burn through both twenty-pound LP fuel tanks. Now, with a hardshell camper, it will be much easier to keep the inside warm. We will still utilize the space heaters to save on LP fuel, since electricity is provided at the campsite. But without the drafts and canvas, we shouldn't need to use the camper furnace very much. As you can tell, I'm excited about the new (to us) camper and being able to camp earlier in the spring and later in the fall. Hell, if the weather isn't too cold, I'll be camping right into the winter. With that said, maybe I should start looking for a little Christmas tree and some solar Christmas lights just in case we're still camping through December. |
| I was up early this morning and was able to enjoy watching the sun chase away the night with an awesome display of gold, orange, and crimson reflecting off some low wisps of clouds. The reflection off the white snow cover only added to the beauty; yesterday's thaw has given the snow an icy, reflective surface that mirrored this morning's colorful sunrise. It's nice being up early, as long as it's not too early, like my four o'clock wake-up the other day. Most days, I'm not awake until after eight, but I usually don't go to bed until about twelve-thirty or later because my wife doesn't get home from work until about eleven-thirty. Even though I enjoy being up early and seeing a beautiful sunrise, getting to enjoy the early morning peace, and later, when the weather gets hotter, the coolness of the morning, I also enjoy being up later and watching the beauty of the sunsets and sitting around a fire watching the fireflies and stars. What I don't enjoy, however, is being tired from lack of sleep. In times past, it didn't seem to bother me, but now I need at least seven hours of sleep. So do I stay up late or do I get up early? My internal clock seems to want me to get up early despite being up late, so perhaps that's the direction I should go. But, there's no sense in trying to go to bed until after my wife gets home from work, not with the dogs getting all excited, barking, and raising a ruckus when they hear her pull into the driveway and not letting up until after she's in the house and they've chewed her out for being gone so long. There's a solution; go to bed around midnight and get up around seven. Easy peasy! No, it's not; it's gotten to be a habit to stay up late, and once summer arrives, it's going to be even harder. As much as I enjoy being up early, I also enjoy being up late and enjoying a fire and the coolness of the night. Maybe I'll do both, I'll get up early, I'll stay up late, and I'll just take a nap in the afternoon. |
| We finally get to see some snow melt; it got above the freezing point today. It was a great day to be outside, and I spent much of it doing just that. I had the dogs out as well, of course. I shoveled out around the car and started it up for a bit before taking it for a drive. It's parked for the winter since it needs some work on the front end, but I still like to run it once in a while to keep it charged and everything working. I also started my pickup and drove it. It doesn't have a block heater, so I haven't started it or driven it for almost a month, since the evil cold attacked. Both started just fine. While I had the pickup out of the garage, I figured it was a good time to fix the garage door. It had frozen down and when the opener engaged, it bent the center support. I had to switch it with the one below it, as I did on the other garage door a few weeks ago. The supports are the same, but the holes are a bit different; it only took a few minutes to drill new holes in the right locations. I also shoveled a bit of snow and cleaned the snow off the mobile tent (pop-up). I didn't work hard on anything, but just stayed busy while I enjoyed the nice day. The dogs ran and played; Max had to help me work on the garage door and took off with my screwdriver. I tracked him down and retrieved it, but then he swiped my hat. He thinks he's helping. The next two days are forecast to be cooler, but still in the twenties, then by Sunday, we will again be above freezing. Currently monday is predicted to be in the forties, I may have to dig out my swimming trunks and sun bath for a while. Okay, I won't go that far, not yet. |
| Today was my monthly infusion day for immunotherapy. I was scheduled to be there at seven this morning, but for some unknown reason, both my wife and I completely forgot we had to be up early. We remembered the appointment yesterday, just forgot to set the alarm. As can be expected, we both overslept and missed the appointment. Luckily, she called, and they were able to get me in at noon-thirty. My blood work and labs came back looking terrific; everything was right where it's supposed to be, except my blood sugar was a little on the high side. Of course, the three cups of coffee with honey this morning were the reason behind this. After finishing up with the infusion, we picked up some broasted chicken and some potato salad and headed to Maplewood State Park, and had a picnic. It was a bit chilly, but enjoyable. The dogs loved running and playing in the snow, and we all had a great day. |
| Some of you probably remember the phrase, "here comes the fuzz," and know it refers to the police. But that's not the reference I'm making. I'm referring to my hair growth; it's finally growing back after the chemo infusions. I was informed that it was highly likely it would grow back, but no one could tell me if it would return as it was before; I was told it could come back fine or thick, straight or curly, and that there was even a slight chance of it being a different color. My hair has always been very fine, straight, and dark brown. Well, until just these last few years, when gray/silver started coming in more. I've also always had a very thick head of hair, but that also changes as it became thinner and thinner on top. Then I started chemo and lost 90% or so of my body hair. I did retain some on my legs, but it was very scraggly; other than that, there was no hair. But now it's growing back again. It's extremely fine now, like a newborn's. My facial hair is pretty scraggly and reminds me of my teenage years when I first started growing facial hair. Also, it's difficult to tell the color because it's so fine and thin. Nonetheless, it's exciting to see hair growing back. I know it's going to take time for it to get thicker, and that's fine (pun intended) with me. I'm eager to have my beard, mustache, and ponytail once again. |
| Is the block broken? We can only hope. Blockage is a terrible thing. In the digestive system, blockage means you can't poop and, over time, will start to have crappy ideas. For us who write, blockage means there aren't any ideas flowing, not even crappy ones. That's right, a writer can sit and grunt, push, and turn redder than ever and not get a single crappy thing out. That's been my case for a while now. It's been years since I wrote a story, and it's been almost a year since I pumped out any poems, I think. No matter how long, it's been a while, and it seems the more I try to write, the more difficult it becomes; that is the way of writer's block. But today it seems the blockage broke. "For how long?" you ask. "Who knows?" I answer. I hope it's gone forever, it was terrible wanting needing to write but not being able to. For a writer, there's not much worse than sitting and staring at a blank page, except for sitting and staring at a blank screen. As I was saying before, you interrupted me with your question, this morning I broke the block. I woke up at four o'clock and could not get back to sleep. I tried, but after a few minutes of lying there with all sorts of gobbledygook running through my head, I decided I may as well get up. And so I did; I got up and started coffee. As I waited for the coffee, I scrambled a couple of eggs for my extra-early breakfast. After, I took my coffee to the living room, got comfortable in my recliner, and logged into WdC. This time of day (still night in my book), there's not a lot going on, as most normal people are still sleeping. But, as I wandered the site, I started to have this idea brewing about groundhogs and woodchucks, which are the same critter, so today could be referred to as either Groundhog or Woodchuck Day. As the idea continued to brew in my half-asleep brain, I knew I needed to write it out before it faded away into yet another ghost of a story unwritten. I was concerned that once I started to write this short tale, it would fade away as so many other stories did as a result of the blockage, but this morning, the idea continued to flow, and soon, I had an entertaining little tale written. It may not seem like much, but for me it's hope the blockage is broken and I'll be writing again. I'm excited and feeling a bit giddy. And, if you're interested, you can find my tale here: "Woodchuck Day"  |
| You ask, "What happens every time?" I answer, "Snow." What I'm saying is that every time I get the snow all cleaned up, it snows again. I think those people in Grand Forks who work at the National Weather Service got wind of my comment about their pants catching fire and do this on purpose. Yes, I did go out and finish shoveling on Friday. I had previously removed the snow from the front and back doorways. The rest I left for later because it was so damn cold. Even bundled up in layers, the cold starts to seep through. Also, breathing that frigid air for very long isn't good. So, I shoveled just what needed to be shoveled and left the rest for a less cold day; that turned out to be Friday. Yesterday, the forecast was for snow, first a little, less than an inch. By early afternoon, it was a couple of inches, and by late afternoon, the forecast had changed to three or four inches. It was sunny and less cold yesterday, so we went to the park and hiked while the dogs frolicked and played. It was getting a bit late by the time we left, and the moonrise was spectacular. It had clouded up some, but not enough to block the rising moon. As we drove home, the sky became hazy, but the dark clouds had vanished. Once again, I thought the folks at the weather service had lied. I asked my wife if she thought their pants caught fire when they misforecast. They apparently listen in through Alexa, Google, Fire TV, etc, and then change things around just for laughs. Why do I say this? Because after we had dinner and were relaxing in front of the television, it clouded up and began snowing. By this morning, we had at least four inches, possibly six; it's difficult to tell when it's drifting. I was just going to shovel out the front and back door, knowing if I did more, they'd dump another load of snow on us. But in the end, I shoveled all the walks, in front of the garage doors, around the dumpster, and around the vehicles out front. Now we wait and see if they do, in fact, send more snow this way. It's similar to them waiting for you to wash your car, then sending in some rain. |
| Yesterday was still frigid, and last night brought wind chill advisories. Today, the sun was shining, and the temps climbed into the upper twenties. With the cold, yesterday was a good day to go shopping, and my wife and I made a day of it. Today, with less cold and ample sunshine, was a good day to take the dogs over to Gendalough State Park. But before we could head out on our adventure, we had some work to do. Once our work was completed, we enjoyed a nice lunch, loaded the vehicle, and drove over to the park. By the time we got there, the wind had picked up. We bundled up, let the dogs out, and started hiking while they ran, sniffed, and explored. We walked down a blocked-off road, heading straight into the wind, and it didn't take long for our faces to freeze in the wicked wind. But once we reached the trees, they blocked the wind somewhat, and by turning our backs to it, we were able to let the dogs continue their fun. Walking back was better since the wind was at our backs, and soon we were back inside the vehicle with the heater going. The dogs still had a lot of energy, so we drove to the other side of the park to hike on one of the hiking trails. (The park grooms them for cross-country skiers as well as winter hikers.) There were more trees to block the wind here, so it wasn't as cold. But, with the wind gusting near forty miles per hour, the trail was drifted over, and we weren't able to go very far. It was enough to tire the dogs and us out. We again had to walk into the wind to get back to the vehicle, and despite the temperature being in the twenties, the wind chill was wicked cold as it whispered and moaned through the barren branches of the trees and drifted snow across the trail. I'm not complaining despite the wind; it was nice to be outside in the fresh air. We had also dressed for the cold and wind, but my fingers got pretty cold. I stopped on the way home and purchased some warmer gloves. I also want to find a pair of windproof mittens to put on over the gloves when we do our winter hiking. |
| Today the temperature is already above zero, but we have yet another severe cold warning for tonight; the wind, along with sub-zero temperatures, will create a wind chill effect around -40oF. Starting tomorrow, we'll have highs in the twenties and lows at night, staying above zero; not so much warmer, but less cold. We had planned on doing a road trip since my wife has a three-day weekend, but that's kind of fizzled out because of the possibility of snow. We are still going to get out and enjoy ourselves, but we will be staying closer to home. This afternoon we are going to do some shopping over in Fergus Falls. Tomorrow we plan to go to Glendalough State Park and do a bit of hiking with the dogs, and Sunday we'll stay home and relax. We also have one of my wife's coworkers coming over; she bought our loveseat. Now, it's time to get lunch going, then it's off to do some shopping. I'm hoping to get back in here later–we'll see. |
| Again, I find it's getting late, and I still have nothing to write about. What about my day? It's about the same as yesterday; nothing much has changed. This time of year, things tend to stay the same, day after day. I woke up about eight this morning, but stayed in bed hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep. When that didn't work out, I got up and started coffee. While I waited for the coffee, I scrambled a couple of eggs for my breakfast. After breakfast and a cup of coffee, I logged in here, but moments later, Bellah came out of the bedroom and wanted me to play with her. Shortly after that, Max came out and wanted his back scratched and some loving. Shortly after that, my wife came out; it's usually the same routine. We did a Bible study while we had coffee, then she got in the shower, and I made her lunch. After, we discussed some ideas for this weekend, she has Friday through Sunday off. Friday is the last day and night of the frigid cold, then it's supposed to get warmer less cold. In a week, the forecast is for temperatures to climb above freezing, but we know that can change; we'll hope anyway. I drove her to work again because of the forecasted cold tonight, but so far it's still above zero. Once again, I can say to the National Weather Service, "Lier lier pants on fire." At least this time it was a nicer lie. In about forty-five minutes, I'll load the dogs into the Yukon, and we'll go pick her up. Once back home, we'll relax and talk about her day; mine is the same as yesterday, and if you'd been paying attention, you'd know that already. Just kidding. I did go out and shovel the sidewalks this afternoon. It was pretty cold, and the wind intensified it, but I'm tired of being inside, and the sunshine beckoned to me to come out for a spell. But after half an hour of shoveling, I was cold and ready to come in. Max and Bellah were also ready. I wish I could have recorded Max assisting me with shoveling; he's always there to help. He grabs the shovel with his mouth and helps pull it along. Of course, he pulls it sideways and dumps most of the snow off, but he thinks he's helping. I really do need to learn how to teach him to pull a sled or wagon. I'm sure he'll learn quickly; I'm the one who will have difficulties learning. Oh, and I still need to get back to work on my office and stop procrastinating. See, it's not that I don't have plenty to do, even through the coldest days of winter, I just don't have the motivation to do them. That's what the winter blues do: they rob a person of motivation. I may have to look and see if I can order some through Amazon. Not today, though, maybe tomorrow or the day after. |
| I'll be glad when this cold snap snaps. It's supposed to end Friday and be nicer this weekend, but I heard that before. The cold not only gets some of my aches and pains going, but it also keeps me inside. That, in turn, makes it difficult to write in here because it's the same shit, different day. It's also getting to Max and Bellah; they need more exercise, but with it so cold, they just go out, do their business, and are back at the door. I seriously thought about taking them to the park today, but just putting gas in the vehicle left me chilled, so I returned home. On a positive note, however, I haven't seen any mosquitoes. I know I should be utilizing this time inside and finish getting my office cleaned up, set up, and usable, but the weather also has me demotivated. Maybe it's time to stir the pot and end these mid-winter blues. My wife is off Friday through Sunday, perhaps a road trip is in order. I'll have to talk to her and make sure she doesn't have anything planned. Until then, and pending the end of this cold spell, I'll have to put on some old-time rock 'n' roll and get going on my office. |
| Today I was thinking about how my wife and I can camp out in the winter now that we have a hardshell camper. This thinking also brought back a memory from when I first met my wife, and our first camping experience. It was either late March or early April when we decided to go camping; I cannot remember. I do remember it being an early spring for us in northern Minnesota; the snow was gone, and it was unseasonably warm. I took my future wife out to a spot in the woods, and we set up the tent, gathered some firewood, and set about making our dinner. After we cleaned up and stowed everything, we sat and enjoyed the fire. Soon it was dark, and the temperature dropped. The forecast for the night said clear and mild, but it had clouded up and gotten pretty chilly. Once the fire had burned down, we retired into the tent for the night, snuggling up on our bed that consisted of a waterproof mat and a thick quilt. We covered up with a pile of blankets and soon I was sound asleep. The problem was that the bed and blankets were sufficient for one, but with two of us, they didn't completely cover us. A few hours later, I woke because my partner was shivering and her teeth were chattering; she had caught a bad chill. I knew I had to get her warmed up, but I didn't have any heat source inside the tent. Outside, the wind was blowing, it was snowing, and I knew we wouldn't be able to get a fire going. Even if we did manage to get a fire burning, we had no shelter from the snow coming down and the wind whipping it around. The only other option was the car, so we grabbed a couple of blankets, snuggled in the car, and waited for it to warm up. The weather had turned nasty, so it only made sense to pack everything up and return home. She felt bad that we had to end our camping adventure and was afraid I'd be disappointed. That was the reason she had not woken me up when she started to get cold. We drove to her house and put her into a warm bath with a cup of hot chocolate. It took a while, but eventually she warmed up, and we went to bed sometime just before sunrise. Our first camping adventure together ended with her suffering mild hypothermia. She was afraid I'd be disappointed because we had to pack up in the night and bring her home. I was convinced she'd never want to go camping with me again! That was in 2002, almost twenty-four years ago. Since then, we've upgraded to bigger tents, a pop-up camper, and now a hardshell camper, and we're still going strong! |
| This morning, we met up with Jeff, the person who is selling the camper we are interested in. It's a lot like the HiLo I had purchased and was in the middle of fixing up. But with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer last spring, it was put on hold. My wife and I discussed finishing that project, but with my new outlook on life and how short it can be, I don't want to spend another spring, summer, and fall working on a camper; I want to be out camping in it. She agreed with me, and even though we have the mobile tent, it's just not adequate for our needs anymore. We are both getting up there in age, and it's getting more and more difficult to set up and tear down, not to mention we have to pack a lot of the stuff we take camping before we go, then unpack it when we return; there's not room inside of a pop-up camper to store everything. That was the idea of the HiLo, a camper we could store most everything in year-round. Had life not been interrupted last spring, I likely would have gotten most of the work done, but with the cost of building materials, it could have easily turned into a mobile money pit, not to mention how much work I would have had to put in, and we all know, time is valuable. So, as of today, we own a fifth-wheel camper that is in great shape and doens't need any work done on it. We can load our camping stuff in it and be ready to go anytime. Well, once we get physical possession of it. It's currently in storage for the winter, and the doors to the storage facility are likely frozen now, possibly until spring. The guy we purchased it from will deliver it as soon as he can get the doors open, and there's no cost for us to leave it in storage. |
| The "Sumkinder Sausage" turned out great. I cooked up a few patties for my wife and me for lunch, and she agrees that Sumkinder Sausage is a hit. Like normal for me, I did not write down the recipe. Luckily, I had followed one of my older recipes and added a few more spices. After I finished, I put all the spices back into the cupboard and was able to retrieve them to find the additions. This batch will be made into patties sometime after I finish writing this, but next time I want to put some into casings and smoke them. Currently, it's too damned cold to do much of anything outside, but after it warms up near thawing, I can set up my smoking tent and portable pellet smoker again. Speaking of warming up, I sometimes wonder if those people at the National Weather Service ever have their pants catch fire. You know, "Liar, liar, pants on fire..." Once again, they duped us folks by telling us the temperatures were going to be less cold. Actually, they said warmer, but until it climbs above freezing, I feel it's an oxymoron to say it's getting warmer. I even checked the weather this morning before posting that our cold wave was ending tomorrow. A few hours later, and it's all changed, or as The Dude said, "New things have come to light." It's now looking like we have another week of sub-zero temperatures heading our way. We do get a break tomorrow with it reaching 10oF during the day, but it's also forecast to be windy, creating a sub-zero wind chill factor. It's the same today, we finally broke even with the ambient temperature (it's 0oF, but the wind picked up, making it feel like it's still below zero. One more week, then it's supposed to warm up or become less cold; your choice of terms. Of course, that could all change by later this evening. You can't believe the forecast or the people who predict the weather. I hope their pants do catch fire. |
| Yesterday I took a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground pork out of the freezer, thinking I should make some sausage. I hadn't made any since the summer of 2023, so I thought it was about time I did. I recently purchased a silicone mat to put on the counter when butchering meat, and doing things that make a rather large mess, like making sausage. The idea was something that would clean up more easily than the white countertop, as well as protect the countertop from stains. So it was also a chance to try the pad out. I dug through the recipe box and located a couple of sausage recipes my wife and I created quite some years ago. I picked out Breakfast Sausage, but I wanted something more lunch or dinner suited, so I modified the recipe somewhat. After mixing all the spices, salt, and liquids, I worked it into the meat mixture, then let it sit and rest for a spell in a covered bowl while I cleaned up my mess. The pad worked terrific; it cleaned up super easily and protected the counter. After cleaning it up and hanging it over the back of a chair to dry, I tackled my dishes. Once clean-up was finished, I spread the sausage mixture onto some parchment paper on a cookie sheet and set it into the fridge to dry out a bit (I had added a tad too much water to the mixture). While the sausage seasoned and dried, I took the dogs out before the temperature dropped more, shoveled out the front sidewalk and step, then returned inside to wash up and see how the sausage was coming along. It had stiffened up nicely, so I separated a couple of ounces and cooked it up to sample it. While the sample cooked, I put the sausage back into the bowl, covered it, and placed it back into the refrigerator to let the seasoning mellow overnight. Soon, the sample was ready, and I et it. (Yes, et is a real word.) It turned out fantastic. Tomorrow I'll have to decide if I want to make the sausage into patties or if I want to put it into casings and make sausage links. Either way, it's going to be good. The only thing that would make it better is smoking it, but it's much too cold to use my portable pellet stove/smoker. I also needed to designate a name for my modified recipe. I'll call it, "Sumkinder Sausage". |
| Some days it's difficult to think of anything worth writing about. Today is one of them. With the weather being so cold, there's just not much going on. Not that I sit and stare off into space (well, not very often), but most of the things I do to stay occupied aren't worth writing over. It only warmed up to -15oF today, but the sun is shining, and the wind isn't blowing very hard. Tonight is going to be about five degrees colder than last night, dipping as low as -33oF, so I'm still driving my wife back and forth to work. I stopped at Ace Hardware while I was in town and purchased two candleabra light bulbs to put in our electric fireplace. The old ones burned out, and I enjoy turning it on in the evenings and watching the flickering flames, especially when it's cold out like it is now. I also want to start setting up the camper we are purchasing, but not in this cold. The guy we're buying it from did post in the advertisement that he would deliver it if needed; my wife and I are thinking about having him bring it over so we can start getting things ready. Hopefully, he'll still be willing to deliver, but if not, I can take the topper off and put the fifth wheel back in and bring it home. A lot of things pending, and a lot of things I should do. But it's getting on towards dinner time, so maybe tomorrow. |
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