Aspiring to Simplicity

The weather has been just gorgeous. Last Saturday we went into town for my father-in-law's birthday barbecue. The bank-sign across the street read 77 degrees; I think the official temp that day was 74. Nice. And we are expecting snow and/or rain on Wednesday. At least I've done and hung out most of the laundry at this point.

Four eggs today, so far. These adolescent hens just don't know when they're supposed to lay, I guess. Not that it's a problem; the girls love the perpetual egg-hunting. Aflac is laying again, daily, and Trudy enjoys the extra protein with breakfast. If we can find the eggs, that is. We could just stop looking for awhile, and have a very natural Resurrection Day egg-hunt. Off topic, but it's so annoying to celebrate that Day with symbols of a not-so-holy pagan tradition. So we don't, usually. At least no one's promoting ham at Passover.

Picked up a few pieces of loin (?) from the butcher today. I really like his place; they work from home and are tucked away down a dirt lane, surrounded by trees (we don't exactly have a lot of them around here), rocks (of course) and on a hillside. Lucky ducks, I think they're in Zone 6. Anyway, their ... meat... cutting... place is right by their home; like a converted garage almost. A large slab of what I learned to be Angus was hanging right inside the door. He's just right for us, I think. Very small; he guarantees that you get back the precise animal you sent, clean, efficient, and knowlegeable. I took the chops home and cooked them up. And I had a couple bites (don't tell the midwife). And the verdict is..... (drum roll)...... it's tasty. I took some pictures and will post them at a later time, I hope. (Update: Here they are:) I seasoned with RealSalt and Mrs.' Dash's Table Blend (don't ask me how we ended up paying $5 for a teeny bottle of salt-free seasoning only to add salt a la carte) and broiled them. I overdid it, but it still was good. I haven't bought pork in ages. Years. I mean, I get some bacon occasionally, for soups and whatnot, and enjoy lasagna with sausage, but as for buying or cooking an actual cut of pork... let's just say I'm not exactly experienced. So I'll take over-done for my first try. I removed the fat rind after broiling, and could detect a.... different... odor with it, but it didn't seem to be a problem for the meat. I instructed the butcher to mix the sausage leanly. I hope it will be ok. Naturally, Trudy is in heat today, I think. *sigh* Maybe it's for the better though. Perhaps we should have a "One-Pregnant-Female-at-a-Time-Allowed-on-the-Premises" rule.

The Federal Government returned to us a tiny portion of the money they took. 'Bout time, too. Now to prioritize a list of expenditures. Ropes to replace the bad ones on the kids' big swing, wooden fence posts to make the pasture fence actually work (who makes a quarter-mile of fencing with nothing but t-posts? And don't even ask what he did with the corners...), more cattle-panels to make lovely pea-arbors in the garden to shade lettuce and entertain kids, paint for the house (please!), maybe a few fruit trees and 800 feet of pipe to put water to them, a galvanized garbage can to try my hand at smoking bacon (that'll be a blog post, no doubt), and maybe more.

Now to go scrub the broiler-pan...