Changing the Grill plate cover back to like new again

If your going to be Frugal, do it with all things :o)...New Grills today cost two arms and half a leg ...so whenever possible save where you can...When it's time for a new Grill I want a lot of features that would cost a whole body these days..sooo do the next best thing...This grill has served us well and we do a lot of cooking outside on it.. it has a side grill that I fry fish outside and I can get a very small pig inside if I wanted, but for now Cecil just replaced a worn out plate and it's like new again...The fire will be even and I can get it back to low again :o)...$25. is better than $250. for now..just took a little time and effort.

After spending the morning cleaning and getting the old grime off, and letting the wind blow some fresh air into it ..it's as good as new :o) and it smells good too. Cecil put a lot of effort into it..I gave him some strawberries and cream for a reward :o)...I ate some too so he wouldn't feel bad :o)....Now we are ready for those favorite grill items,especially Kielbasa and hot dogs..We even have gas in the tank :o) We are ready.

Strawberry time again :o)

There is nothing like a bowl of fresh strawberries in a bowl of fresh heavy cream :o) even if your diabetic :o(   Ginny says "go for it" :o) and wash the floor run down the block do something that causes you to expend energy (except wash dishes).  This is a great time of year! Fresh Market had these today marked 1/4 flat  (how much is that?  it looked like 4 pints , three were together and one scattered above the three to look like a lot..(marketing strategy :o(    they were delicious.. I'm not able to do much picking so it was okay. I expect others to have sales..maybe Cecil and I will find that Blueberry farm and go picking ..I love blueberry pie..

Springtime in North Carolina

The Iris in bloom is a sure sign around here that Spring is here..Still Windy in NC but for the last two days the Sun is out in full force.. See that Pine in back of the Iris...remember her?
That's one the birds brought and Cecil planted her  there and she is thriving very well.. I think she likes it here :o)

Also blooming nicely is this Rose bush , "Jacobs Coat" I believe is it's name.
Also making an appearance is my Sage, Oregano, and  thyme in my herb box, I'm pleased about that.

I'm almost (almost) embarrassed to show my little  cabbage seedlings , but they are only a week old :o) and I think they are gorgeous :o) My pepper seeds haven't come up yet (gosh! I hope they are alive :o(  I saved them from Peppers I thought were healthy and good looking ..so I'm still wishing and hoping they do well.

Can anyone verify that this plant that started to grow amidst my day Lilly's is what's called a "Mullen"?  I remember it to grow at least three feet tall (and more)..I also remember it being a medicinal plant..anyone know...besides Annie's Granny  :o)

A Surprise for Cecil

There we were watching the TV, relaxing after a bowl of homemade Broccoli soup and toasted Raisin bread..and the door bell rings...as I scrambled for my robe Cecil went to the door...came back with this Bouquet SURPRISE! SURPRISE!
The bouquet was from the Citizens Club of Franklin Township, Somerset, New Jersey. of which Cecil was a member for over 30 years and served as President for quite a few of them...If you do a close up you can read the note attached. It was very heart warming to him to receive it...you never know when someone, somewhere will appreciate something you did a long time ago..and I will say beyond a doubt  "He made a difference"!

"We can never forget your contribution to the Citizens club of Frankln Township"   said on the card.

UPDATE: We were so overwhelmed we needed a moment to catch our breath! we wish to say to the members of the Citizens Club..Thank You and God Bless!

Dreary rainy Day in NC

Home Canned Chicken salad with Homemade cheese slices added

Today is a dreary day here in NC and watching TV was the bright spot of the day until..
I decided to make a lunch and try out my "Chicken" that I canned and forgot what it was and I had a friend from the mountain visiting and when I hesitated to say what it was she popped up "Chicken" :o)  I was so surprised, she recognized it because she had done many jars of it ...How wonderful that must have been  (and work too).  So today was the day to try out a jar to see how well I'd done..I can always tell by how many times Cecil goes back for seconds :o)  (sometimes his seconds eats it all up)  Today I gave him plenty the first time (like that matters)...any way he went back for seconds and offered to put it in the fridge for me < which means  "I don't want it to spoil sitting out before I get more" :o) that's a compliment that it's good. I second that motion...in fact next time legs are on sale I'm going to repeat that effort, it's well worth it...and I'm glad I left the skin on so that the chicken stayed moist...and I'll use the juice and skin for a quick chicken soup with noodles :o) I think that's being frugal :o)

Garlic and Root???

I just had to take a peek and see how my Garlic was growing! and pulled one from out of the box which I had planted first!.... I was greatly disappointed in what I saw...Where's the Garlic? Is it going to grow that much more by May??? to produce a clove (cloves)..I bought a book all about Garlic! What did or didn't I do right :o(   I'm Pissed! What am I going to do now..Still buy the big container at Sam's Club! Suppose they run out of them, if I'm going to call my self homesteader or a preparer ...What next! #$%^^Smells more like an onion than Garlic ...Will somebody please tell me something I should or shouldn't be doing.


UPDATE:  I was so sick about the garlic from the box, I just had to pull up one from the Garden.....I feel a little better now, this bulb looks bigger and smells like Garlic, I think by the end of May it may take it's shape ...Am I guessing right?

This is the top of that bulb ...couldn't focus the whole thing. the root smells good.

We are Proud of our Children Too

I just viewed a nice broadcast that included my daughter Valerie C. White in the Spotlight and some of the work she does, if your interested (even if your not :o)...give a peek, she is half way in the middle of the broadcast...We are very proud of her works and I think you will be too... :o). You will reconize her..she looks like Cecil and talks like me :o).  That's my post for today.
If you can't get it by clicking on the site..copy it and add to google and google will take you there.


http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/fw_louisvillelife.exe/db/ket/dmps/Programs?id=LOU
L0516





or try this one




http://www.ket.org/video/.......click on #516 Louisville Life

Hot Dogs and Homemade Kraut anyone :o)

 Finally I'm able to show you what our hot dogs look like with our homemade sauerkraut :o)... Each time I've made them we are so hungry to gobble them up I don't think about getting the camera until it's too late (or they are more than half eaten :o)... This time I remembered early enough...Just in case you don't recognize it..it's a hot dog (Nathan's, we used to use only Sabrettes, but somehow lost the taste for them, this year it's Nathan's) anyhow, they are on the bun, mustard applied then HOMEMADE Sauerkraut :o) then sprinkling of crushed red peppers ;o)  they are delicious...but to be truthful, next time I won't use the dark green cabbage leaves,
I found them to be a little too tough to really enjoy.

Did you ever beg for something that no one understood but you?
I had to beg Cecil not to cut this Bridal Bush , he thought it was just growing to tall and wild. I promised him that was the way it was supposed to grow and eventually the limbs would fan out and be gorgeous...Well, the more it grew the more he would persist and I continued to say No, you don't! I won and that makes the two of us winners (now...she finally decided to show off :o) and I didn't know which angle to get her picture :o) so I took a couple..she isn't finished blooming at the top I didn't want to wait ...It's supposed to rain and I don't know what she would look like by then...but here she is, in almost all her glory :o) just a few limbs at the top to bloom.

Potato Planting

Yesterday was a beautiful warm day and you could hear lawn mowers humming and even the birds were making sounds of Spring..It was also a time to get the potato's in the ground...This "Almost an Acre" farm land :o) does a lot if you work it right, only thing missing is some chickens and ducks :o(....
Cecil was in charge of getting the potato field and potato eyes ready...I wasn't allowed to supervise at all ( I felt too stuffy with the cold to even fight about it, as long as I get some potatoes i don't give a S*** :o)

I really was glad  to give him some praise! I think he did a real good job laying out the land and getting the potatoes in line without my supervision  :o), I don't think I could have directed him any better  (maybe I finally trained him better than his mama did :o)....
This was the same area we had some beautiful Canna's  that were killed the year before last from the  killer frost :o(  Hopefully we will have some nice Yukon Golds and white potatoes..We may put down some reds for variety. I picked a pot of the Mustards so Cecil could plant some Carrots, and onions in that area..Us'es is farmers :o)

Another Day to fight the head cold

Half Ham

Sometimes the desires of your heaet comes true when you least expect it . I've been wanting a nice ham for awhile and I think I'm really spoiled because I'm so used to finding a sale..and the prices on some of the Ham's were rediculaous..so I waited..well to my good fortune I walked into Lowes and on the last day of the sale I was albe to get a beautiful ham ..one for now and one for the freezer later : o)..Well here's a picture of that Ham cut in half and slices for sandwiches on a nice roll :o)

Both sandwices are the same size, but taking at an angle looks different..I made some Sun Tea and we had that with it on our break from yard work yesterday.
The Ham was baked with my own little concoction..Lemon Peel, brown sugar mixed with the water the ham gave off the first hour.(they all have water added most times) ..then I used it with my concoction mix to baste   often). it's delicious , I think I'll have to put the other half cooked in the freezer ...we are making gluttons of ourselves.
I'll have to pick those mustard greens today, feel good or not.

Another look at the Blessed Beauty

The Blessed Tree 2011 see Cecil working in the corner :o)

last year Cecil decided to do a little trimming on the Blessed Tree! (I hope you all remember the story in an earlier blog about this tree, which makes it a little more Special to us :o)  I was worried about the trimming but as you can see she has faired well because of it and is in beautiful bloom. :o)

The weather yesterday wasn't warm enough for me to get out there and sweat...Cecil got a cold and shared it with me :o(...my best bet was to stay in and try to get a leg up on the cold..I was tired and needed to rest in the Chair bed...Dinner turned out to be pretty good ...all the effort I used in the summer canning paid off big :o)  I boiled a country hambone with Onion and Jalapeno pepper to use as a stock for flavor to add my canned beans and potatoes to..well, I was such a smarty pants to put the two together :o) 

While they were waiting to be added to the pot, I marinated some chicken wings that I had defrosted and let them marinate while I rested in the chair bed :o).. (Am I smart or Lazy). some questions need no answers. I use a lot of spices Salt, pepper (cayanne,black & peprika) Garlic, olive oil,and cooking wine (or any white wine I have). Wine seems to take the "Wild" taste out of chicken, deer and many other meats

A  reward from the labor  :o)

Goodbye Mixed Greens

Just in case anyone was wondering what else and where I've been for the last few days! One word will describe! BUSY! Gleaning Greens :o)...Being of  "Waste not Want not" training,

Also,I've been wanting to save my tomatoes and Peppers from being  eaten up by the Deer, so I decided to get started making a Hoop House 

So far it's a fast project once you do all the shopping for the parts..The stores don't make it convenient I had to walk to one end of the store and back to the other end where each item was located..:o( that tired H*** out of me , guess the exercise was good for me :o(. It was too windy to finish today, hopefully there is tomorrow.

I took the time to pick and pull as many mixed green leaves as I could from the progressing greens going to seed...the leaves were small and really tender..I saved them (after hours of picking) in the freezer for the Kids visits. Then Cecil decided to "till" the space to give it a rest before the next plantings. the ground really looks good.
Only things left in the Garden are some spaces of Mustard greens which I planned to pick today, but it's just too windy and I don't feel like it right now.. I don't think I'll be taking up the Garlic until May..in the meantime they look as if they are doing nicely.

Here's a close up of the Delicious Apple Blossoms, It seemed to take a long time for it to grow up (so it seems). I missed the Blossoms on the Fuji ( I don't remember if it did, but the tree looks healthy and bigger than the Delicious).
Both Pear trees have blossomed and promise a bumper crop this year..I'm looking for new recipes besides Cobblers Pies and dried to use them up