I need to send two horses off to new homes. I know I do. I've known it for a while.
But- I'm not finished with them yet. Excuses abound but the plain fact is I've not worked with them as much as I have the others, for various reasons.
Legs, while not an affectionate horse, is a fine mare, and would be a good horse for an early intermediate rider, if they exercised her regularly. She's a big old woman but generally listens to what she's told and aside from her flat-out refusal to back out of a trailer, has good ground manners for as little as I've worked with her on it.
But she's not the horse she could be, with a little more work.
Red... oh good lord Red. I cringe at the thought of selling him. I'm going to take a loss on him, I know (on the price I bought him at, not counting my work or the dedicated, determined, and somehow ever-patient work of Sparky) but that's not really why I cringe. I cringe because he's such a little peckerwood. Someone is going to associate my name with that horse when I really had nothing to do with turning him into a cranky little bastard.
Maybe I should just run him through the ring and beg them not to mention my name.
I'm still hoping to find Legs a home without going through the sale barn. Both for pricing, and because she deserves a good home.
It's not her fault that our personalities just don't mesh.
Regardless, I need to find some decent weather (this week is supposed to be nice but I'm not sure what "free" time I'll have) and ride them both. Regularly. And until they sell. One way or another.
I need the money, and in Legs' case she deserves a home that will give her the attention and affection that is proper. I'm sure she's quite happy with the pasture-lazy life she's had with us, but I feel like I'm leaving a job unfinished, still.
Red, well, he's another job unfinished, but I'm not sure I have the patience, time, or skill to finish that job myself. He was pretty messed up when I bought him, and although Sparky did a fantastic job with him, he's still a little pain in the ass.
Time to stop looking at the temperature and whimpering about it being cold, and I don't really need to ride today, do I? Time to man up, bundle up, and get my skinny butt out there wearing out some saddle leather.
Oh god, this is gonna suck if Red manages to land me on my keister... frozen ground hurts!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Farmmom's Chicken Fried Steak
This recipe is one of my Mom's. Back in the 70's she went to work in a local cafe just to steal the recipe for this.
First start out with a good Cube steak.
In a flat bowl mix up some flour, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, and cayenne pepper. You will have to play with the spicing on your flour mixture to get the spices the way you want. This is the same flour mixture I use for Spicy Fried Chicken.
In another flat bowl mix a couple eggs and a little milk.
Next crunch up a bunch of saltine crackers. You will want a mixture of chunks of cracker and fine crushed stuff. I use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. Pour the crackers in a pan ( a cakepan works well ) to help keep the mess down.
Now just make an assembly line of your flour, egg mixture and crackers.
Coat the Cube Steak in the flour mixture.
Then Dredge it in the egg mixture.
Then place that in the crackers. Cover the steak in the crackers and press hard till the steak is completely coated in the crackers.
If you're wondering what to do with your leftover egg mixture once you've got your steaks ready to fry, I suggest showing your pets some love. They'll thank you for it.
Place the steak in a skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat and cook till golden brown on one side. Flip steak and repeat on the other side.
Serve with Pan Gravy and mashed potatoes. Or Fried potatoes and green beans with bacon and onions, as shown here:
Photographer/taste tester's note: You can save your leftover flour and crackers. Put them in airtight containers and they'll be ready for the next time you want some of Farmmom's Chicken Fried Steak.
First start out with a good Cube steak.
In a flat bowl mix up some flour, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, and cayenne pepper. You will have to play with the spicing on your flour mixture to get the spices the way you want. This is the same flour mixture I use for Spicy Fried Chicken.
In another flat bowl mix a couple eggs and a little milk.
Next crunch up a bunch of saltine crackers. You will want a mixture of chunks of cracker and fine crushed stuff. I use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. Pour the crackers in a pan ( a cakepan works well ) to help keep the mess down.
Now just make an assembly line of your flour, egg mixture and crackers.
Coat the Cube Steak in the flour mixture.
Then Dredge it in the egg mixture.
Then place that in the crackers. Cover the steak in the crackers and press hard till the steak is completely coated in the crackers.
If you're wondering what to do with your leftover egg mixture once you've got your steaks ready to fry, I suggest showing your pets some love. They'll thank you for it.
Place the steak in a skillet with vegetable oil over medium high heat and cook till golden brown on one side. Flip steak and repeat on the other side.
Serve with Pan Gravy and mashed potatoes. Or Fried potatoes and green beans with bacon and onions, as shown here:
Photographer/taste tester's note: You can save your leftover flour and crackers. Put them in airtight containers and they'll be ready for the next time you want some of Farmmom's Chicken Fried Steak.
Chapter Six
Is now available. A couple of notes:
To assist me in getting you what you want, if you need chapters 1-5 please note that on the form with Paypal. Or, alternately, send me an email.
Chapter Six will not include all the previous chapters. I gave the chapters previous to Five as a courtesy, as they were already on the blog. If I give away all of the chapters for a dollar, it's not fair to the people who paid for the previous chapters. So, for Chapter Six, one dollar. For chapters 1-5, one dollar. For Chapter Seven, one dollar.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their donations and support. Ya'll just rock.
Also, not to sound like a money grubber, even though it does, if you like Jane, then tell your friends. More because I love the idea that my story is making people happy than anything.
No really. I enjoyed putting it on the blog, and I'll be putting up a sidebar... somewhere... with the chapters available on the blog for people to preview, if they like, before they buy. But this little drive has demonstrated that people like Jane more than even putting her story here. So thank you all, for thinking that my scribblings are worth it, for the compliment of being willing to pay for them, and for the generosity.
You all rock my socks and I'm reminded every time I see that email telling me someone else donated that there are still fantastic, sweet, caring people in the world. Thank you for that, too.
To assist me in getting you what you want, if you need chapters 1-5 please note that on the form with Paypal. Or, alternately, send me an email.
Chapter Six will not include all the previous chapters. I gave the chapters previous to Five as a courtesy, as they were already on the blog. If I give away all of the chapters for a dollar, it's not fair to the people who paid for the previous chapters. So, for Chapter Six, one dollar. For chapters 1-5, one dollar. For Chapter Seven, one dollar.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their donations and support. Ya'll just rock.
Also, not to sound like a money grubber, even though it does, if you like Jane, then tell your friends. More because I love the idea that my story is making people happy than anything.
No really. I enjoyed putting it on the blog, and I'll be putting up a sidebar... somewhere... with the chapters available on the blog for people to preview, if they like, before they buy. But this little drive has demonstrated that people like Jane more than even putting her story here. So thank you all, for thinking that my scribblings are worth it, for the compliment of being willing to pay for them, and for the generosity.
You all rock my socks and I'm reminded every time I see that email telling me someone else donated that there are still fantastic, sweet, caring people in the world. Thank you for that, too.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Fair Warning
Today is the last day to get Chapters 1-5 of Jane for minimal hassle.
Tomorrow Chapter 6 goes up and you'll have to put a note on your donation or email me to get the previous chapters.
Just a reminder.
Tomorrow Chapter 6 goes up and you'll have to put a note on your donation or email me to get the previous chapters.
Just a reminder.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Dear AT&T
My blog is not a forum for you to whore your services. If you were to approach me about putting an ad on my blog, I would consider it politely- for about five seconds, as your coverage in my area sucks, and I don't use your service.
So do me a big favor, and keep your sock puppets off my blog mmkay? Another comment and I'll be contacting... whoever I can find to contact, and pitching a fit until I'm shipped up the line to someone who can tell me exactly how much my split is for being forced to pimp your services.
To recap: All comments advertising a product or service will be deleted as soon as I see them. More than one from the same company, and I'll start dedicating some of my precious time to making someone with that company's life miserable.
(Regular readers, commenters, or if you're a real person who just popped in and you have a question, recommendation, or something to actually say about a product, and your comment is valid, you won't be deleted. Blatant whoring will not be tolerated. Sharing information and asking questions is just fine.)
Because, friends, this is my forum of expression. I decide who gets to say what on my blog, and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow some two-bit flunky getting paid by the hit to pimp a service that I won't use.
That is all.
So do me a big favor, and keep your sock puppets off my blog mmkay? Another comment and I'll be contacting... whoever I can find to contact, and pitching a fit until I'm shipped up the line to someone who can tell me exactly how much my split is for being forced to pimp your services.
To recap: All comments advertising a product or service will be deleted as soon as I see them. More than one from the same company, and I'll start dedicating some of my precious time to making someone with that company's life miserable.
(Regular readers, commenters, or if you're a real person who just popped in and you have a question, recommendation, or something to actually say about a product, and your comment is valid, you won't be deleted. Blatant whoring will not be tolerated. Sharing information and asking questions is just fine.)
Because, friends, this is my forum of expression. I decide who gets to say what on my blog, and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow some two-bit flunky getting paid by the hit to pimp a service that I won't use.
That is all.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pictures
I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures, hopefully ya'll forgive me.
For me one of the highlights of the weekend were sights like this:
Being in the company of shooters who even attempt a five hundred yard shot with a revolver, let alone get hits called (and yes, I do believe they hit the target, even if they didn't punch holes in it... it's metal, it's a long-ass shot, and they were shooting with pistols, fer gawd's sake) is enough to humble just about everybody. Except them, of course.
I think this may have been mom's favorite view of the weekend:
Folks enjoying her food always makes her happy. I also had to include it because, well, everyone has been picking on AD and this is one of the nicer photos. He's such a good sport about photos, and frankly manages to make so many hilarious photo ops, that he makes it pretty easy to pick on him. But we love you, AD. Really we do.
Farmdad got some shooting done with guns as well as the camera, which is good, because otherwise he'd whine.
I got some shooty action too:
Love. That. Rifle. Seriously, I want to ask NFO if I can be in his will just for that rifle. Sooo sweet.
Speaking of shooty goodness, this guy has always been one of my favorite people:
Not only is he a great person, and an absolute sweetheart, but he ain't skeerd of nothin, and definitely lives life to the fullest. I wasn't a bit surprised at his ringing the gong offhand with this rifle, although he impressed several of our visitors.
It was a fantastic weekend and we're definitely looking forward to next year!
For me one of the highlights of the weekend were sights like this:
Being in the company of shooters who even attempt a five hundred yard shot with a revolver, let alone get hits called (and yes, I do believe they hit the target, even if they didn't punch holes in it... it's metal, it's a long-ass shot, and they were shooting with pistols, fer gawd's sake) is enough to humble just about everybody. Except them, of course.
I think this may have been mom's favorite view of the weekend:
Folks enjoying her food always makes her happy. I also had to include it because, well, everyone has been picking on AD and this is one of the nicer photos. He's such a good sport about photos, and frankly manages to make so many hilarious photo ops, that he makes it pretty easy to pick on him. But we love you, AD. Really we do.
Farmdad got some shooting done with guns as well as the camera, which is good, because otherwise he'd whine.
I got some shooty action too:
Love. That. Rifle. Seriously, I want to ask NFO if I can be in his will just for that rifle. Sooo sweet.
Speaking of shooty goodness, this guy has always been one of my favorite people:
Not only is he a great person, and an absolute sweetheart, but he ain't skeerd of nothin, and definitely lives life to the fullest. I wasn't a bit surprised at his ringing the gong offhand with this rifle, although he impressed several of our visitors.
It was a fantastic weekend and we're definitely looking forward to next year!
Biscuits, Biscuits, Biscuits!
Last night some of you were asking for the biscuit recipe. Well here ya go folks! Since I can't make and edible biscuit (they turn out like hockey pucks, Farmgirl used to play fetch with the dogs with my attempts. ) there will be no photos this time.
Biscuit Mix
9 cups flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups shortening ( not oil! )
Stir dry ingredients and sift 3 times
Work shortening in until mix is the consistency of corn meal
Store in a closed container at room temperature.
To make a batch of biscuits
3 cups of mix
2/3 cup of milk
add milk to mixture and stir about 25 strokes
Turn out on floured board and kneed about 15 strokes
Roll out to 1 1/2 inches thick
smear half of dough with butter and fold over other half.
Cut biscuits and place on a greased cookie sheet
turn biscuits over on greased cookie sheet
Bake at 450 degrees till golden brown
Good Luck!
Biscuit Mix
9 cups flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups shortening ( not oil! )
Stir dry ingredients and sift 3 times
Work shortening in until mix is the consistency of corn meal
Store in a closed container at room temperature.
To make a batch of biscuits
3 cups of mix
2/3 cup of milk
add milk to mixture and stir about 25 strokes
Turn out on floured board and kneed about 15 strokes
Roll out to 1 1/2 inches thick
smear half of dough with butter and fold over other half.
Cut biscuits and place on a greased cookie sheet
turn biscuits over on greased cookie sheet
Bake at 450 degrees till golden brown
Good Luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
