What Did You Do Today?

[WhistlingBadger]

I forget just why my wife was calling a "help" line but the person on the other end introduced themself, "This is Bob from Wichita". Based on the strong accent and intonation "Bob" was more than likely NOT from "Wichita"...

Ever since then, when dealing with those phone "help" lines, the "Bob from Wichita" thing has become an inside joke between us.
 

Maybe there's a city in Pakistan called Wichita???   

[JW_Halverson]

Well, I had to do one of the worst things a person can have to do. I was making dinner when I heard a commotion out in the street. I saw a man and woman standing in the middle of the street and a dog lying at their feet. When I got to them they had carried the little dog to the curb and laid him down in the grass. He was unresponsive and clearly expiring quickly. The dog rushed into the street running toward them when he was hit by a car. The unspeakable coward at the wheel never even stopped.

The woman was sobbing and her husband was consoling her. They explained it was not their dog. I found the tag and read his name was Pretzel. On the flip side was a phone number and I dialed the number. No answer, so I stammered out a fast message with the cross streets and told them to get there NOW. I was trying to hack out a text to them when they came down the cross street. Mother, father, and a clearly distraught 7 yr old boy.

By then, Pretzel had left us. The father dropped to his knees and cradled the dog, and the boy began to sob. That poor kid's world is utterly wrecked and I feel heartbroken for him.

People think I am some kind of simp because I am always stopping for loose dogs and trying to catch them. Ok, fine, I could not care less what you think of me. If I can save one little kid from this nightmare then I'm justified.

[Pappy]

That's sad JW, had that happen to me when I was about 7, was walking down the road to the lake to fish with Buddy my dog by my side, and a guy in a car hit and killed him, lucky he didn't hit me also, just kept going. Wonder if he would have stopped if he had hit me also  I had to tote him back to the house, still remember it like yesterday.
 Pappy

[Eric Krewson]

I had the same thing happen with my buddy Butch when I was 12, he was an airdale of incredible intelligence and I was his boy, woe be onto anything man or beast that attempted to harm me. He was running on a hillside while was hiking with my friend Robert and decide to run back to us, he didn't see that coal truck coming down the hill at a high rate of speed, that was the end of Butch, it was very traumatic.

[Eric Krewson]

I have had some good luck spotting bargains on the Facebook Market place in the last two days and snaping them up before anyone else got to them.

I was thinking about buying a replacement for my rotted wood raised bed, I wanted a bigger, taller metal one but they are very expensive. A lady posted a huge unused one on the market place for $60, she had bought two of them and had only used one. She showed the original price tag which was $179. I snapped it up a few hours after she posted it. I am thinking about making an asparagus bed out of it.

I have huge shop with every tool known to man, I keep a small tool box in the house for those quick handyman jobs so I won't have to walk to the shop for a screwdriver. My tool box in the house has one tray with everything tossed in a pile and jumbled up, it is a mess. I have been on the lookout for a used portable tool box with drawers so I can organize my tools for easier access. I caught this guy's ad 14 minutes after he posted it. These Craftsman tool boxes sell for around $70 new; I got it for $40.

My toolbox and planter;

 

[PaulN/KS]

I forget just why my wife was calling a "help" line but the person on the other end introduced themself, "This is Bob from Wichita". Based on the strong accent and intonation "Bob" was more than likely NOT from "Wichita"...

Ever since then, when dealing with those phone "help" lines, the "Bob from Wichita" thing has become an inside joke between us.
 

Maybe there's a city in Pakistan called Wichita???   

Uhmmm, doubtful. 

[Eric Krewson]

I made a dedicated table to put my new tool box on in the laundry room, I am a horrible carpenter and used scrap wood that was so bad that I had to cut sections out of carpenter bee attacked 2x4s for the legs and glue scrap plywood together to have enough to make the top, white paint left over from my deck painting hid my shoddy work and the glue joints.



These were too bad to get much out of, the 2X4s I used weren't much better.



This is what I am replacing, I think it's time.



I made a trip to the local flea market to buy a few more tools to put in my new box, I lose needle nose pliers right and left when I am working on various electric fences.  I picked these up for $5, both were rusty but had very little wear on the teeth, I little oil and some steel wool and they are as good as new, the one on the left is older and American made for $3, the one on the right is not branded and was $2.



I was dropping off some of the clothes that I never wear at Loaves and Fishes and decided to go inside and look for anything of interest. I looked around and didn't see any guy suff that caught my attention. As I was turning to leave, I noticed a small box with a picture of a camera on the box, as I got closer, I saw it was Nikon Cool Pix, it had a $2 price sticker on it. I opened the box, it looked new, the owner's manual was still in a sealed plastic sleeve. It had to be broken at that price but I decided to risk what turned out to be $3 and take it home.

I took it home and tried to turn it on, it wouldn't power up, the batteries looked new. I decided to try a new set of batteries and it sprung to life. Someone probably thought it didn't work and donated it without trying new batteries. I don't have a smart phone and use a point and shoot cameras for all of the pictures that I post here.

[bjrogg]

I lost so many good dogs. We lived about a mile away from a very active county gravel pit. My mom timed them. Ever two minutes a truck would drive by. Watched more than one get hit. Really had to keep them off the road.

Always heartbreaking

The worst was a little over three years ago when my daughter’s little Zoey passed right in my arms as we tried to save her. I’ve never seen my wife and daughter cry so uncontrollably.

I love dogs. Just amazing companions.

Bjrogg

[Eric Krewson]

I went down into the woods behind my house to see if the chanterelles were up yet, because of drought we didn't have any last year, the crop was very sparse the year before as well. We are 10" of rain over the normal average for this time of year, the mushrooms love the increased rainfall. I like to dehydrate them to use later, looks like I have some picking to do today.



I picked behind my backyard and about 100yards into the woods. There was pretty good early bloom, I picked just about everything that was big enough to use.



It took a while to wash the mushrooms and fill the dehydrator trays.



I couldn't get another mushroom in the dehydrator; the trays are packed full. I bought this dehydrator for $10 off the Facebook Marketplace, it only uses convection, no temperature control or fan but is huge and gets the job done. Using this dehydrator, it will take a day and a half to completely dry all of these mushrooms.

[PaulN/KS]

Sunday I spotted the first ripe blueberries of the year. Nothing like picking and eating fresh off the bush.
(I don't spray here so it's fine...) The others have lots of green ones still but that's OK. I prefer the staggered harvest.

Nice dehydrator Eric. We got ours at the Goodwill down in town. The wife and I walked in one day and she looked towards the house ware shelves in the back and took off. She'd spotted it and did not want to lose it to someone else. 

We use it for tomatoes and peppers mostly. Last year I smoked some jalapenos and she dried them so now we have home grown chipotle peppers.

[JW_Halverson]

I went down into the woods behind my house to see if the chanterelles were up yet, because of drought we didn't have any last year, the crop was very sparse the year before as well. We are 10" of rain over the normal average for this time of year, the mushrooms love the increased rainfall. I like to dehydrate them to use later, looks like I have some picking to do today.



I picked behind my backyard and about 100yards into the woods. There was pretty good early bloom, I picked just about everything that was big enough to use.



It took a while to wash the mushrooms and fill the dehydrator trays.



I couldn't get another mushroom in the dehydrator; the trays are packed full. I bought this dehydrator for $10 off the Facebook Marketplace, it only uses convection, no temperature control or fan but is huge and gets the job done. Using this dehydrator, it will take a day and a half to completely dry all of these mushrooms.

The only two mushrooms I can trust to identify correctly are the morels and puffballs here in the Black Hills. Anything that looks like a morel IS a morel, same for the puffballs.  We have chanterelles here, but I am not confident that I could identify them correctly and from what all the books say if you are in doubt leave it out!

I love the description of the flavor profile of chanterelles: "They boast a complex flavor profile, characterized by a delicate balance of earthiness, nuttiness, and a slight hint of fruity apricot. The texture of chanterelles is also noteworthy – tender yet meaty, making them an excellent addition to a wide variety of dishes."

I dunno, sounds to me like pan frying fresh ones in butter by themselves would be a dream come true! A nice glass of wine, some cheese and crusty bread. Yeah, I'd be fine.

[Eric Krewson]

Chanteralles are unique with their false gills underneath the cap and unmistakable, they were the first mushroom I felt confident to eat. I never eat a mushroom until I have looked it up in my mushroom book and watched at least 4 or 5 you tube videos about it. Now I pick oyster mushrooms, chanterelles, puffballs and of course morels if i can find one which is rare.

There is only one imposter for chanterelles called the Jac-o-lantern, chanterelles grow singly with occasionally two or three coming up together in the same spot. Jack-o-lanterns come up in a big clump that might have ten stems out of the same root base. jack-o-lanterns have distinct gills and red meat; chanterelles have white meat.





These are the false, branching gills on a chanterelle, the smooth chanterelle doesn't have the false gills underneath. There are several varieties of chanterelles with the golden to be the most prized.

[Eric Krewson]

I walked down to the street to get my trash can after garbage pick-up, looked down in the woods and saw a blaze of orange, chanterelles and lots of them. I had never seen them in this location.



I picked a wash tub full in less than ten minutes; these were very big and had just bloomed.



I had them washed and in the driers in no time.



After picking such a huge number of mushrooms, I needed to find them a home. My brother Joe is a brilliant chef and said he would take them.

The late Ma Gail (my sister-in-law) was always my best buddy; people were always dropping canning jars off at her house from their parents estates and such, she shared a lot of them with me.

A couple of years ago someone who was either a heavy drinker or had a bar dropped off a few cases of commercial moonshine jars. These jars came in amber and clear and were made to look like a mason jar but hold 750ml instead of a quart. After all, you have to drink "real" moonshine out of a Mason jar.

These jars looked like they had been stored in a barn for years but a free jar is a free jar so I took them home, they have thick glass and are very well made.

A trip through the sink, Dawn detergent and my special bottle brush made them look new again. I followed the initial scrubbing with a trip through the dish washer with the high temp air dry on to sterilize them.

I use these jars because they are perfect for sending edible stuff through the mail, so far, they have always arrived unbroken.

All of my freshly dried mushrooms filled a gallon zip lock bag, I suspected these would fill 3 of my amber moonshine jars, I was right.



Because this is such a huge amount of mushrooms, I opted to vacuum seal the jars for long term storage until my brother needs them. Stored this way they will be usable for up to 30 years.



Off to Knoxville;



I hope some overzealous DEA agent doesn't open the box in transit and think these are the other kind of mushrooms, it could get messy.

[Pappy]

Nice haul Eric, I was out packing yesterday and seen the chanterelles are just coming here, should be a good year but better get on them, they don't usually last but a few weeks around here.
 Pappy