Thursday, October 28, 2010

Return of the Hunters

Pig Pen made it home safe and sound!  The boys spent last week on their annual bird hunting trip.  This year they came home with the usual...and one unexpected trophy.

The first Turkey!

I think this was a real source of pride!  Now we wont be having this for Thanksgiving because ya know, it's wild and all.  So I suppose that means we will just have to eat it all by ourselves.  Darn.

What greeted me yesterday morning when we were finally able to get outside in the winds was this...
I thought to myself, "What the Heck?"

Then I remembered, that Pig Pen had to drop one of the boys off before he finally made it home and about 15 miles from the house he called and said he lost a tire.  Not thinking, I asked "Well can't ya put the spare on?"
"No hon, the tire fell off and the axle broke."

Musta looked like the 4th of July on those back roads he was forced to take!  Good thing it didn't happen 12 hours away!  He's a real Fix-It kinda guy, so now he has something else to fix! 

I think it was the year for boat issues because The Eliminator tried to sink his.  I wonder if he knows boats don't float with alot of water in them?  He does now and man I wish I had some pictures of that!

On the other side of things, he got to take all of yesterday off!  That is a real treat around here, let me tell ya!

So we went rootin' around the garden.  We harvested our LAST crops and came up with 30 lbs. of Sweet Potatoes, 10 lbs of Beets, a 5 gallon bucket full of Green tails and 12 lbs of Carrots. 

Do you have alot of clay in your area?  We sure do.  Here is a lonesome Pontiac Red we found:
Looks like a little Piggy!
And then there was this little "Ducky" of a Sweet Potato:

But they all eat the same!

I wanted to have a nice dinner ready to welcome him home.  So of course I wanted to show off my new Bread Making skills.  I found a recipe on TastyKitchen for French Bread.  I was working it as directed and wouldn't ya know it...the Power kept going out!  We've had ferocious winds here!  And of course, my oven is all digital. 

It really got my goat that I had went thru all the trouble and had no way to bake it!  Pig Pen has looked at a few outdoor bread oven designs but needless to say with sustained winds over 45mph and gusts into the 60's...lighting any type of fire probably wouldn't have been such a good idea anyway!

That's alright though, the power came on in the nick of time and I whipped together another loaf and Voila...

The worlds best-ever French Bread!  I chose this recipe because it said it was better than store-bought.  I love a good challenge!  Well, I can tell you the claim is sooooo true!  It was absolutely wonderful!  I gave it 5 mitts!!

Here is the link if you would like to give it a whirl:  Amazing French Bread submitted by theambitioushousewife.   Boy does she deserve a big hug for sharing that one!

14 comments:

  1. OMG! That must have been some ride home! I've heard that turkey hunting is very diffcult - they are stealthy buggers. There is a flock (gargle, gaggle?) of about 30+ wild turkeys that wanders around my neighborhood. Sometimes they are lurking in the shrubbery and then zoom up to the trees when the dogs and I walk by. The three of us go straight up in the air, too!

    p.s. That piglet potato is too cute to eat!

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  2. Susan, hmmm I don't know what a flock of turkey is technically either. Targets? HA! Maybe the next time the three of you get the pants scared off and shoot up you can grab one of those buggers by the neck at the same time! Visions of Wonder Woman come to mind! :)

    Oh, potato already met it's end in my belly!

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  3. On the bread oven, I have used mine in very strong winds. It works, just make sure that you face the door of the oven to the direction where you are least likely to get wind. Here that is facing south, plus it faces my house which blocks any south winds that may whip up. You do not want direct winds coming through the door or you will have big problems. I wish I had a scanner or I could send you some plans I had that I liked. Maybe I can find the links on line.

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  4. Jane, I told my husband about yours and showed him a picture from your English Muffin post. We have great dreams of tearing out our huge patio and re-doing it to include a nice fireplace and an oven for breads and such. Oh how I would just love that! I don't remember if it was Countryside or Backwoods that just had articles about it that he was looking in, but if you have ideas, that would be great! So many projects so little time! Right?

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  5. Okay, I have to show my ignorance. You harvested from the garden a "5 gallon bucket of Green tails." What the heck are green tails? (I know I'm gonna feel stoopider before this conversation is over, I just know it.)

    Dang, I wish I'd grown sweet potatoes when we lived in your neck of the woods. I love 'em but no way will they grow up here. (Too soon old and too late smart.)

    And I am gonna try that French Bread recipe! Thanks for sharing.

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  6. MamaPea, I have called them Green Tails my whole life and mostly people think I am a Hillbilly...Green Onions. Bunching Onions. Whatever you call'em.

    It's more of a joke now that I call them that b/c no one ever gets me. Every once in a while I stumble on to someone who knows.

    And I promise you will truly love that bread! I can't wait to hear your thoughts. Maybe it's just the novice bread maker in me, so I would love to hear from you!

    Oh...I drug my lonely sock out today!

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  7. Greentails, LOL! Okay now is my turn to be stoopid, please tell me the only reason you aren't having the bird for Thanksgiving is because wild = small? I couldn't think of another reason! DELISH! And your bread! You will like this, I ran out of yarn on for the toe on my second sock and they don't have any more, it has to be ordered. Maybe our 2 lonely socks could get together LOL!

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  8. When Eric told me Adam was pulling that boat home all the way home with no tire, I thought he would be pulled over FOR SURE!!! I would have paid good money to see him driving down the street with the parks flying. Haha!

    And OMG...that bread looks AMAZING!!! I am putting in my order for Thanksgiving dinner. You can keep the turkey though :-)

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  9. Erin, I knew if I waited for it...it would come. See Jen's response regarding the Turkey. HA! So I rat-finked her out. Sorry Sis, it was a trap that either you or your mom were sure to fall into! HAHHAA!

    My in-laws are pretty squeamish about that sort of thing. Alot of people are especially if they didn't grow up around it. Which none of them did. And I am ok with that.

    I have yet to force them to watch Food, Inc. Which would do one of a few things: 1) Turn them vegetarian 2) Turn them to gardeners 3) Have them showing up with empty plates at my house come dinner time every night.

    Wherein...I would lie thru my teeth about what they are "really" eating. It's my specialty.

    And as for the sock, too bad it wasn't a glove, you could have fingerless ones done then! Yes we should just pair ours up as mine will be lonely for a long time!

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  10. Green tails!! Now I don't think I'll ever look at a scallion again without thinking it looks like a green tail! I had never heard them called that before.

    Okay, m'dear, the idea is besides dragging the sock out, you have to drag the knitting needles and yarn out, too. Come on. We will all help. Let's see a picture of the one lonely sock that so wants a mate! (No pressure here at all. ;o])

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  11. Do i get any of your bread this weekend i will do the dishes and clean the floors

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  12. MamaPea, scallion! That's the real word! Never would have come to me! :)

    Now you want me to find the yarn and all??? You drive a hard bargain!

    JennyGirl, No Bread For You! Unless you sing for your supper! See you tomorrow and start warming up the vocal chords!

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  13. WAHOO to the turkey. And if I was there for Thanksgiving dinner, I would love it extra special if it were wild turkey we were eatin'. :) Congrats to the hunter. Turkey is one thing we've not managed to get yet. Way to go, Pig Pen!!

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  14. om i will sing tom i can not wait for tom i am huger because dad dose not feed me no more only one meal a day now ok

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