I've arrived home from gun show/ fall fest weekend with my new purchase in tow. It's a Kahr in .40, a little firearm to tuck in my coat pocket on those days there is a little chill in the air and mayhem lurking in the shadows. I'll have a range report up in a few days.
Yesterday afternoon was the Scarecrow Fest in Wanatah, Indiana. I took just my tiny little pocket camera to save on toting things so the pictures aren't great, but you get the general idea.
You can say all you want about funnel cakes, deep fried candy bars, and other fair food, including a giant eclair the size of my torso (even splitting it we couldn't finish it).
But after breakfast and a pastry have worn off and you've walked all over looking at crafts and canned goods and quilts, art and antiques, nothing is as good as a ear of fresh steamed Indiana corn, dipped into a crockpot full of fresh dairy butter and sprinkled with garlic salt as you head back to the car.
After the fest we headed into shop at some of the quaint little stores in nearby towns. At one little store that has gifts, nice kitchen ware and novelties for adults and kids alike, I found an abbelskiver pan, and at the same store, a little skeleton Halloween decoration, his head in his heads Face Palm Style. I laughed, and put him in my basket.
I passed on the Electronic Yodeling Pickle though I'm sure there were some shoppers, sick and tired of trying to convince a jar of pickles to yodel using sheer force of will, that may have purchased one. I don't think it's going to replace the IPod.
Purchases in hand, we headed through the country, to home.
As we neared home, Midwest Chick and I noticed that the creepy house up the road, had
finally sold, the one that looked like the movie house where people go to and never return from. She and I had referred to as the "Fritter House" (referencing an old horror movie). Someone bought it and was totally renovating it and a new subdivision was going in across the street. The garage sale before the sale was something we'd joked about though -
"Is that blood on that fillet knife" and
"I didn't know they made yard gnomes with pointed teeth". But it was nice to see it being fixed up for a new family, even if, as we drove past she said, "
takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's Fritters" and we busted up while Mr. B. looked at us funny.
It is really a pretty area though, and I'm looking for land north and northeast of here to build in a couple of years. This is the home I'm having the architect draw up plans for. A two bedroom, one bath bungalow, with good sized kitchen, a place to write a book and a big shop.The driveway will be a little wider and further out from the house for offloading things, and the garage in back will be a large shop but this is the dream home I plan on.
http://joebeckerphoto.wordpress.com/tag/american-bungalow/
Someday.
Once home, it was time to bake. Two loaves and some hamburger buns. Midwest Chick
thought she'd make some "
slider sized buns". They turned out to be a LITTLE bigger than planned.
"
OMG, it's bunzilla!
"
Uh, Mr. B. you're going to need to make the patties a little bigger, Midwest Chick's Slider buns are plate sized!"
The burgers, grilled outdoors with just a pinch of ancho, pepper and cumin were perfect on the buns, with just a little smokey cheddar and a few condiments.. The beef was 4-H raised beef, of which the freezer is full. Even without "toppings" on for the photo, they were the size of a Buick (but much more tasty). The bread was delicious, making light, flaky buns, another hit recipe from Midwest Chick's kitchen.
Full of burgers and a glass of wine, we listended to old jazz til we got sleepy, Barkley snuggled up to everyone on the big couch.
Soon it was morning.
Where's Barkley? Oh uh. Someone got wrapped around the tree chasing Mr. Squirrel. His zip line, which runs on a high line from the deck to the back, takes him deep in the yard, with a bungee on either end so a quick stop won't hurt him. He knows the path, which parallels a dirt road the tractor uses, but apparently he got sidetracked and is now stuck, his lead wrapped around a tree.
Mom!!! It's Stuck!
Barkley rescued, it was time for breakfast. Mr. B. made us corn pancakes with a dab of molasses and vanilla in the batter with Amish bacon and fried eggs. I've a cooler of Amish bacon from Beef Mart to take back with me, to share with some friends and a couple colleagues.
It was time to load up! The old farmers around here say that the amount of nuts on the ground is indicative of how hard the winter is going to be. This is the driveway. There's actually gravel there somewhere under all the nuts, more so than even the hordes of squirrels could haul off.
Oh, you guys are SOOOOO toast this winter.
After I waved goodbye and headed out, I gave
Og a call on the bluetooth. He'd been squirrel hunting and wasn't able to join us with his family.
Private Og bat phone -
ring ring
Me (cheesy Russian accent): "
I told you to keel moose and squirrel.. . . . "
I'd already heard that they'd seen
no squirrels, just animals OUT of season, such as a "
whitetail that had a rack big enough to put a grand piano in". He even tried our favorite trick, pretending to be whitetail hunting so the squirrels come in by bus to loudly harass everyone. It didn't work.
But it was good to catch up with him and I hope he gets a smile out of these posts, as do some of you who know us.
.
When I got home and put Mr. Skeleton on the bookshelf, I realized how lucky I was, not to just live in a land where we have the ability to spend such weekends with those we love. But our ability to live where our hard work keeps the freezer full without outside help, where neighbors help neighbors but pull their own weight and where we can gather at night, snug in our homes, sharing the fellowship of freedom and fun.
Thanks for sharing.
Brigid and Barkley
