The science experiment

I have all these blogs from over the summer that I figured I put up once I got to a dry spell.  Here's one.  We went crazy this year trying to keep the pool perfect.  Checked it at least once a week and added all the stuff you're supposed to.  But the rain just killed it.  Finally, I noticed some eggs on the surface.

 At first I started skimming them off.  Then I asked myself-"What am I doing???"  Frogs are great insect catchers, and we have tons of frogs, and little mosquitoes....tons of flies but...
So I let them live.

 And they started hatching.

 And hatching...

 And hatching!!!

 And growing...they started getting little back legs.

 And then front legs...

 And perching in places.

 And trying to get out.

 And floating on sticks.

 And having parties.

Feather Collection

It started with me thinking they were pretty.  I collected feathers dropped by my birds from time to time.  Then I found where one guy was selling them for $1.25 each.  Crazy.  So, I thought I would try.  I never posted them, I just felt plan silly doing it.  Selling chicken feathers??? 

I had a lot of feathers...a LOT of feathers.  I had so many they were starting to weigh down and crush those on the bottom.  One or two grace my hat.  They're special.

 My basket, now empty, sighed in relief.

What do you do with a bunch of feathers?  Yes, they're gorgeous, and many are sentimental, (Merlin, George), but what do you do with feathers??  You make a feather tapestry for the wall.

Take material (an old sweater I bought for a dollar at a yard sale), cut it to one layer thick and sized for hanging, and start poking feathers in it. (those are from Bluefoot)

I got better at it as time went on

The white are mainly Pekin duck, the grey are guinea and Tom, the golden laced (Wyandotte) are from Bluefoot, and the shiny on the right are from the various roosters.
Hang on the wall for easier access.

 Add the Royal Palm turkey feathers....

I can continue to add to them as the years go by, and their numbers increase.  We have a great deal to process tomorrow, so I will probably restock my supply.  I know to most this must seem stupid, but I think it's pretty and a wonderful way to remember all my birds.

I just made my own pastrami

Bit of background-We don't go out to eat.  There's only so many ways I know to fix beef, eggs, and milk.  So, I am constantly looking for new ways to fix things.  We don't do roasts, we just don't like them.  I would always just slow roast and BBQ them.  But that can get old.  Egg sandwiches for lunch everyday gets a bit old, and lunchmeat is not cheap!  So, I decided to figure out how to make my own, and I did.

1-I used a tip roast, 3 pounds

2-I didn't trim any fat off, as there wasn't really any to trim, but you will need to trim down to 1/8 inch if needed. 

3-Put in a bowl of water and add salt.  I used 3/4 c Kosher salt and I don't know, 2-4 quarts water?  Place this is the fridge for 7 days to 3 weeks.  I did it for 8 days and it was perfectly salted.

4-When its time is up, remove it from the fridge and bowl, rinse it off, and make the rub
RUB:
3T freshly ground pepper
2T ground coriander (I ground it fresh from what I grew.  Coriander is cilantro seed)
dash of cayenne (not really needed)
1T paprika
1T veg oil
good sized tsp of chopped garlic without the juice (I use store bought pre-chopped)

Rub this all over the outside liberally.
Wrap three times in alum foil and seal WELL!

5-Bake at 240 degrees F one hour per pound (although I'm sure there's a minimum)

6-When done, place in the fridge over night

7-The next morning, pour off the juice, unwrap (rinse the foil to use again-do NOT rinse the meat) and plop in on the cutting board

8-Slice THINLY (OH the smell, the SMELL MWAH ha ha ha ha haaaa!)...ahem, sorry...

It was very tasty.

My animals are weird

(All pics are thumbnails that you can click on for the full size.)
My dog really likes melons...that's weird.

My dog likes to ride Booger-that's even weirder.

My ex-pet bantam rooster liked to say howdy through the window.

Daphne (female duck) is presently molting.  Poor thing.

My pet spider

WHY does someone like me have a pet spider???  Well, I learned from a nice young lady that these spiders are nice to have around.  (This one resides next to my kitchen sink)
And eats bugs

(There really is a dead insect in there)
But the funny thing is, this spider is not maintenance free.  I didn't know this, but spiders poop.  And I have to clean his poop almost every day.

My pet cow loves a good horn scratching.

And my turkeys are just asking to be eaten. (you think the bird poop on your car is bad?)

(I throw in this last one just b/c it's pretty)

The dark side

We were invited to a party yesterday!  Arlis did NOT want to be sociable.

Mya just wanted to play

And at the last minute I made my costume.  I went as Morgause (pronounced Morgose) from Merlin/King Arthur.  Here is a good pic from the show

And here I am

Poncho for a cape, letters and envelopes for "chain mail", and knee high moccasins (not worn at the time of the pic).  My chain mail was real good too!

"Obama is the anti-christ! Pass it on!"
"Make 59 copies of this in the next 3 seconds, or your family will be wiped from earth's existance!"
"Dan Radcliff loves goats with his horses!"
"Lyndsay Lohan beats puppies!"
"The government is really made of Martians growing us for food with our own tax money!!  Pass it on!!"

Granted, they weren't in all caps with different colored fonts, but you get the idea.

Marcus wore his outfit...yet again.

See, with the cape over his head, he's the Emperor, with it off, he's Darth Vader again...

The cool thing about the party, I did meet up with a fb friend of mine, Nichole, who had helped me with foot rot before. 

So, while the kids played outside

...she helped me learn about my wool. 

We carded some.
 
, and she showed me how to spin on her nifty wheel.

After much trial and tribulation, a gorgeous skein was had (I really like the color mix) (sorry it's sideways)

 She gave me some of her beloved wool already carded and dyed with plants and such.

 I've already knitted all the spun wool together, and played with some of the carded.  I enjoy knitting from carded without spinning.  I really like the lanolin that gets left on the wool too.  It feels really good!  In order to knit without carding, you have to be pretty comfortable knitting to begin with.  Then, pull of a strip, and pull the strip as needed to even out the "rove".  I haven't quite figured out the optimal way to join new roving when the strips run out yet.

 Pull that top bit out as a strip, twisting it a bit if it makes you more comfortable.

Some of what she gave me was "pencil" roving.  It kept breaking on me, so I let Marcus play with it.  I believe I can card it later into full roving if needed.

He's made "warming socks" and "warming woolen pillows" that he puts in the oddest places.

 (See it down his shirt)

I'll post the "scarf" I am knitting with what wool I am currently blogging about later.  Currently, I am getting familiar with different fiber thicknesses, compositions, etc.  And the scarf will be awfully wonderful as far as I am concerned ;).  No matter how many different colors, thicknesses of yarns, or big tufts of fluff stick out.  I also plan to make a peg loom ASAP and make a tuffet or something similar.  AND...I found a cheaper drum carder by a brand called Brother, but I will probably buy hand carders first.  Oh what fun!!