What We Did Saturday

Yesterday I teased you all with this picture, and asked you to guess what we were doing with that barrel. Several of you thought about the fact that we are country folks and made some really good guesses, including smoking meat or boiling fat.



In actuality, we were boiling water. Needed lots of hot boiling water to scrape the hog Pete killed. More pictures and commentary follow. This may not be something for the extremely tenderhearted or squeamish although I didn't post any of the extremely graphic shots.

Hannah documented the whole thing with her digital camera as this is becoming a lost art.



This is the sow we killed. She's never took when we tried to breed her, so her days were numbered.



Robert McGallion and Pete cutting out a hole in the hog pen so they can remove the hog.



They placed her on a sheet of plywood and pulled her over near the fire hole with the tractor.



Pete pours a couple of pots of boiling water over the snout and Robert begins scrapping the hair off.



Robert is the teacher. Here Pete and Bubba begin practicing what they were shown and told.



Pete's nephew, Dusty, is here now and helping Bubba. He plans to be butchering a hog of his own soon and wanted to learn. Two young men save the old codgers a lot of bending and squatting. ;o)



One side is almost complete. Grab the ears and the feet, flip it over and do the other side.



Nothing is wasted. Here Duck even scrapes and cleans the tail.



Another nephew, Benny's son David, rides up on the four wheeler and he gets in on the action as well. Special care is given to cleaning the feet. Toe nails are popped off.



Don't forget her belly!



Make a handy-dandy holder out of the tendon on the back of the hind feet.



The hog is dragged on the board to under the A-frame. The hind feet are put on the hook and it is lifted by come-a-longs.



The head is cut off. The front feet. And then it is gutted and cleaned inside.



Here, Bubba and Bug are observing from the back of the truck.



A shot of them actually working on it.



The finished project. The carcass is off to be processed. Smoked hocks and bacon. Pork chops. And lots of sausage.

The head, the heart and the feet will be boiled down one day soon and Pete and Robert will make hogs head cheese out of it. They eat it. I don't.

When it is processed, the excess skin and fat will be saved for us. One day Pete will take it out and cut it in small pieces. He'll then boil it to render out the fat for frying and this will also make some tasty cracklings for snacking and cornbread.

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday in Caneyhead.

Barbara

What's Going On?

Okay, folks. Here's a picture that was made this morning. Take a good look and tell me, if you can, what this drum is doing over the fire. What is it's purpose? What did we do this morning?


I'll be back later to tell you the whole story with plenty more pictures.

Love, Barbara

Thirteen makes a baker's dozen

Hello, all! We've recently gone into a rather bizarre boarding and tour enterprise. Pete's chicken coop sits on the top of the hill not far from where he buried our bunker in the ground. Below that is a semi-cleared sloping woody spot heading down into the baygall. From time to time, coons bother the chickens or their eggs.

Not too long ago, Pete and Bug noticed dear tracks near the wood line. So when they'd go to feed the chickens, they'd throw a handful of corn or two out in hopes of getting a "pet" deer that would come by regularly to eat and they could enjoy watching it. But Pete soon found by the tracks that varmints were eating his gift to the deer, not the deer.

So he started setting a live trap out, baited with corn. And each day he finds a coon in it. Different sizes and ages. Latest count is at twelve! That arises a whole new question of what to do with the scared, angry things. Contrary to opinion, all country rednecks do not eat coon. Pete could kill them, skin them and sell them. But that's just more work that would have to be done even on a bad day when you didn't feel up to it. And since he's not catching them in the act of disturbing eggs in the chicken coop, he can't bring himself to just blow them away and discard them.

That leaves him but one option, relocate them. Each day he brings the trap up the hill. The coon is given a bite of corn and a drink of water in their cozy accommodations. Then Pete or Bubba would load the trap in the back of the first truck headed away from here and release the perturbed creature in a new locale. Problems arose in that Pete rarely leaves the farm. And Bubba encountered his own problems. He'd take coons for rides to the feed store and back. Out on dates. And even into town to eat at Casa Ole. Then bring them straight back home.

Pete couldn't see tying up the trap long enough for these excursions. So, he began a new regime of he and Bug loading them up every evening after chores and driving them down the bottom of the hill and releasing them there. Bug's little pet, Blackie, rode along for the adventure and Pete soon found Blackie loved "escorting" the coons into their new tree-top accommodation. Sometimes they'd object to the first one she selected for them and come down. After some discussion, she'd direct them to another and stand watch until she felt sure they were settled.

Number twelve enjoyed a fire with us last night. He's basked in the sun today. Probably get his trip down the hill this evening. Good thing, too, as I am sure number thirteen wonders when he'll get to step into that box cage and begin his all expense paid tour.

On a more personal note;

• I've filed and my refund is in my hand!
• Bug's 100 score on Reading & Writing TAKS qualifies her for Duke TIP!
• I've been test driving the Beta AOL 9.5 with tabbed browsing and love it!
• Betty turned me on to a great site/way to support our troops: Soldiers' Angels.

God bless and keep you,

Barbara

Yes, That's My Purse :oP

A while back I saw somewhere out there, where a person was going through their purse and listing what they found inside. (Sorry, I can't remember where!) I thought at first what a cute meme! Planned to do it. Then life caught me off-sides and I didn't get it done.

Part of that was coming home from work one evening and finding that Pete was waiting for me to take him to the hospital in Woodville per doctor's orders. He had gone to see her with a really bad chest cold that day. She wanted him to go and have a chest x-ray for two reasons: to confirm whether it was bronchitis and because the electrocardiogram they did in the office that day looked a little different from his last one. So, me, him and the Bug load up and take off. They saw no problems other than he did have bronchitis. As we started to leave it was after 11:00 pm in a small Texas town. I asked the nurse at the nurse's station where a person could still get something to eat. She said Jack-in-the-Box on the corner.

We pull into a vacant looking Jack only to be told by a boy as we were about to disembark that only the drive through was open. Oh, yuck. I had so wanted to sit down comfortably and eat. But we proceeded to the drive through order sign. The young man on the speaker was having a very hard time understanding what we were wanting. We thought he finally had it straight, but then proceeded to tell us our order was over $20. That was our first clue something was wrong.

They had supersized everything! Pete passed me my huge soft drink. Which I stuck between my legs in the seat, up close to me. Then I was passed my giant fries, that I placed in front of the drink toward my knees. Last, he passed my entree. As I was opening it, I felt my fries starting to slip out of my legs. Of course I didn't want them to nose dive into a filthy floorboard, so I instinctively clamped my legs together tighter.....OH, NO!!! My lap was instantly flooded with over 64 ounces of icy cold beverage!!!! WOW! There was one little hand towel in the car somewhere that I put in the seat after I threw the door open, wiped out all the ice I could. Then I had to make the 45 minute ride home wet and cold like that.

Well, the next day, at work, I realized that my purse which had been under my legs in the floor board at the time of my accident, was wet all down inside. Everything was soaked! Lovely. Needless to say, I had to do a full overhaul on my purse and it's contents. Blow dried the insides. Now, I'm sporting a lighter loaded purse than I have in years!

So, here's my newer lighter content inventory:

Pocket full of bankcards, gifts cards, business cards.

Wallet with drivers license, video club cards, calendar, list of EOM dates for work.

Change purse with a few bills and change.

A couple of pens and a tire gauge.

Feminine products.

Hair brush.

Check stub.

Letter from school counselor saying Hannah qualifies for Duke's TIP program!

Two koozies from work for canned drinks.

The electronic gate pass for work and the keys I sometimes need there.

So all's well that ends well. Now I have a neater, lighter purse. Who knows how long I would have put off cleaning it out if the soda hadn't forced me to.

Borrowing a phrase from a dear departed Sister in Christ of mine, "Be blessed and be a blessing."

Barbara

A Lot Have Been Going On

There has really been a lot going on since the first of the year. I've had a round with a virus, Pete has fought bronchitis, Bubba had a fender bender and Bug has found Horseland, so we can't get her off the PC once her homework and chores are done. I hope all has been well with you!

So many things I want to write about, so little time to do them. Just popping in today to share a little news. First, our beloved Sam from Colorado is home again and doing well. Praise God! And you can see I finally figured out how to "cute up" my blog. Pay special attention to the beautiful Bible verse box on my sidebar. Without all the flashy ads. You can design one for your blog over at The Sacred Mint.

What's for supper? I don't have a clue. Gotta get up and go shopping. And treat Bug to a late lunch at one of the places she won a certificate to for her excellent grades and perfect attendance. Will be back with a bonafide post as soon as I can.

Until then, God bless and keep you!

Barbara

Black Eyed Peas and Cabbage

Can you read between the lines?! LOL (for the puter, and play on puter, on the puter!) Actually, I just don't make New Year's resolutions. I suppose I think you should initiate change in your life any time you realize it's necessary or would be beneficial. And then there's always some habits and traits I'm just gonna hang on to no matter what. Suppose I'm stubborn that way.

I never have been a big one for partying on New Year's Eve. I can't see all the to-do about the calendar changing, for one. Secondly, it's about the most dangerous night of the year you could be on the road. Even when I was young, sexy like in the picture and still in my wild days it didn't much appeal to me. I can count the times I partied in the New Year in my life on one hand. With a digit or two left over.

Never have been one to see any benefit or reasoning to superstitions either. Suppose my attitude is much the same as the song by Stevie Wonder. "When you believe in things that you don't understand and you suffer....superstition ain't the way."

Tradition, though, is something I can sink my teeth into. Doing things just because we always have or Mama and Daddy did. I like the connection to the past and the feeling of continuance it brings.

So for that reason, today I have black-eyed peas with bacon and onion simmering on the stove. There's two head of cabbage to be diced and boiled down with polska kielbasa sausage as well. Probably some fresh rice and a pone of cornbread coming, too. That's just what we do in the South. In Texas. In Caneyhead.

Never have seen the good fortune the superstitious say the peas should bring or the money the cabbage ought to proffer. But to quote Daddy, "I've never felt better or had less in my poor life." Praying you and yours are blessed as well!

Barbara