The Zoo

I need your prayers again........

Something daddy has always wanted a skunk tail

Daddy has always wanted a skunk tail for his truck.  He wants to hang it from his antenna, (ok, he is a red neck )

A few days a go I was checking the old large goat pen to see about moving the goats back and I saw a piece of the fencing that I am going to have to fix.  I noticed there was a dead black animal laying there.  I got close and saw it was a skunk.   I went to the barn and asked the girls if they knew when it died.  They said Midnight a friends dog was on the night before and killed some thing.  I told them about the skunk.  We girls went to check it out and it was a fresh kill.  So I asked where the scalpels were?, out they said, bolt cutters? Dave has them, Why??   Well..........................

Girls daddy always wanted a fresh skunk tail, so I am removing this one.  Kristi was sad , the poor skunk, Shayna ok cool.  I used a shovel and removed his tail.   What do you do with a skunk tail?

Well you :

Here is a picture of the tail, bottom side up, before we started:

Next we have a few pictures of me cutting the tail down the center, but not in half, WHERE ARE MY SCAPPLES??? :

More :

And one more :

Last we have the tail cover in salt:

We saw both sides of the tail had close to same amount of white on it so we girls voted to do the bottom side.  The side you are to do.

It is still covered in salt until it is cured.  When it is done "cooking as we are calling the process"  I will sew it back up and attach some kind of doohickey so he can hang it from the antenna. My red neck boy/man.

Hubby was so shocked when he guessed what his Prize was!  He was laughing so hard, he could not beleive I took the tail off for him!!

I was laughing and told him that if I was not a farmer / rancher I would have never done it.   I would have NEVER done this if I stayed the person my parnets brought up.   I would have hiered someone to do it !     Sorry mom but I did it . 

  I will show a picture of the tail when it is all done.

God Bless, mj

Can you remove a friends list?

Hello Homestead bloggers.  I'd like to say a special hello to the handfull of ladies that posted on my blog, asking about me since I've been away from the computer.  Thank you Trixi, Farrah and Julia  and of course, Kitty who is a close friend that I keep in touch with in other ways.   

I'm dissappointed that one can go from being a long standing  "top commenter" here  (one who reads and comments on others' blogs) to not blogging at all for a long time and come back to wonder if all those friends from my "friends list" even cared I'd been away.  Plus bunches had removed me as a friend of theirs altogether I noticed.  So I'm hurt but won't stay that way.        Blogging is strange....

On a different note some of the things that have been going on have been:

We took a short trip to Memphis with hubby on business.

My hubby's dad has been really sick and in the hospital.

Our oldest daughter is in hospital passing kidney stones.

Been gathering lots of eggs.  (getting double yolks from our new chickens!  I'll take a pic soon of the pretty baby blues and greens and avacado green and browns and white eggs.)

Got lots of rain from Faye which relieved our parched area.

Gearing up for Gustav here in South Mississippi  : (  When Katrina hit we were without power for over a week and lost all our food in freezers/fridg, waited in long lines to get gas that got higher by the minute, lots of clean up, etc....We're going tonight to the store to stock up on some things for the storm.  We've already got some batteries.  And since Katrina we've gotten a generator and a window unit air conditioner so we can at least stay in the house during 90 plus temps outside if the power goes out. 

Lots of things going on at Church.  I'll be teaching 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School for the new Church year again and it will begin Sept. 1st.

Our 26th Wedding Anniversary is next Wednesday.

Our oldest granddaughter turned 5 this week.  Her party is Saturday.

Our 3rd grandchild is due Thanksgiving day!  It's a boy!

Several little trips planned to flea markets and such.

My first post in so long should be more exciting but maybe next time.   With pictures! 

~God bless everyone~

card/mail tip

Fast Friday!

We leave today. Please pray for this weekend! Tomorrow is the party for MIL and Sunday is hte POker Run and I'm really not lookign forward to going. But I kept getting this feeling to buy a bottle of wine at Walmart yesterday (GO ARBOR MIST BERRY!LOL) and really didn't know why. As I sit here typing, I realize that I"ll need it for the Poker Run!ROTFL! Anyway, I got everything done last night, laundry is almost done this am, Mat decided to be an angel and has almost all of his school done (YES IT"S 9AM!LOL), Joey's not seemign to be too much of a dolt about doing school AND they named this dumped, tamed kitten Rockstar.;) He's adorable. I haven't felt affection for ANY cat (or animal really) since Mikey's been gone, but this little kitty is ADORABLE! He's allowed inside, but will not be an inside cat.

 I also got some cards addressed and worked out. I need to get cracking on packing. I went to bed after watching Obama give his speech so I was up later than normal.;)

Update: Joey IS done w/school! ANd now I must get the veggie dips made!

The tooth is GONE!

Today was decent. FIL is having a party for MIL (she's been gone 1 yr) and there was finally some communication. I just hate feeling like we contribute nothing..... so at any rate, I offered dips cuz I have TONS of htem in my larder. So I bought three 16 oz sour cream for those and we needed a dessert so I had a dip (ROTFL!) and bought three 8oz cream cheese for those. Then SIL mentioned buyign zucchini bread and I emailed her htat I have some so there are 2 of those in the oven. The dessert dip is done, too, so I just have to whip up the veggie/chip dip in the morning. We're also taking our cukes to slice and eat and DH brought home about 1/2 gallon of cherry tomatoes from a work function. My OOP today was $12 maybe? .99 for sour cream 1.09 for cream cheese, $5 for those 'stick' crackers (for the dessert dip) and .99 for nilla wafers. We also got Mat's hair cut. FABULOUS! I love when we get a good cut! Then we bowled for free for the last time. I did walk out of Walmart (on the way to the car) and remembered that we forgot Mat's melatonin so we put those bags in and went back in!LOL I also spent less than $20 on my nephew's 1st bday gift--bandaids, neo-to-go, toys, tossable toddler silverware, and some finger foods. I was trying to get consumables cuz he's got tons of toys and I know she'd appreciate the other stuff more.;)

Unfortunately, I was gone ALL AFTERNOON!LOL Oh and at the beauty college, I pulled JOey's tooth out! I just took his 'tooth' pics and it was sticking out vertically (LOL!) and I knew if he'd let me get my fingernail behind it, it'd be gone and it was! No pain! So the tooth fairy will loose some money tonight.;) But at least the tooth fairy can deal w/that HERE and not at the ILs!LOL

much ado about nothing

Yesterday was an awesome lazy day! I dusted and cleaned the bathrooms and made chicken stock and was lazy.;)

Today tho......... I need to get moving. I've mopped, worked out and vacuumed. The frig is in decent shape and the only load should be done soon so I can hang it out. Then I can shower nad hopefully Joey will have school done by then. He's been drawing things out lately.......... This afternoon, Mat's getting a haircut. I wasn't thinking about it, but it looks bad and I'm sure DH will want it looking halfway decent for the party. We're also doing our last free bowling and I need to stop by the bulk food store and get a couple of things for us and one for pgSIL. I should also come up w/a bday gift for her almost 1yo. I need to ransack the basement and see what we've got in the gift stash. I can toss in some finger/baby foods, too.

APRONS RULE!

Awhile back someone askd me to post a few pictures of my many gingham aprons. Here are a few.  love the ones with the "Chicken Scratch" worked in them.

Oven Fried Chicken

Oven Fried Chicken

Ingredients

• 1 cup corn flake crumbs or bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten or 1/4 cup milk
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In pie plate, combine crumbs, thyme, oregano, paprika and salt. Pour egg whites into second pie plate. Dip chicken in egg whites, then into crumb mixture, coating evenly. Place chicken in greased shallow 1 quart baking dish. Drizzle butter over chicken. Bake, uncovered, 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in the middle.

Moist Chocolate Cake

Moist Chocolate Cake
 
2 C. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
3/4 C. unsweetened cocoa
2 C. sugar
1 C. vegetable oil
1 C. hot coffee
1 C. milk
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
Favorite Icing:
1 C. milk
5 T. flour
1/2 C. butter softened
1/2 C. shortening
1 C. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract
Sift together dry ingredient in a mixing bowl.  Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 more minutes, batter will be thin.  Pour into two greased and floured 9" cake pans or 2 8" cake pans & 6 muffin cups.  Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes.  Cool cakes 15 minutes before removing from pans.  Cool on wire racks.  Meanwhile for icing combine the milk and flour in a saucepan, cook until thick.  Cover and refrigerate.  In a mixing bowl beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy.  Add chilled milk/flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes.  Frost cooled cake.