This is PATHETIC!!! This thing tells me that the last time I posted anything was May 5th. How did that happen?? What HAVE I been doing. Ohhhhhhhhh, now I remember. I started fishing. THAT's what happened! I made the gigantic mistake of agreeing to go out to a friend's pond with the husband who, by the way, LOVES to fish, just to get him to stop bugging me about it. And, lo and behold, the crappie were biting BIG TIME, and we caught at least 15 fish apiece. AND, that did it. I was HOOKED - hook line and rod and reel and little pink gummy worms.
So, that's what we did all summer - fishing every afternoon, or early evening. It was great. I got my own pole(s), reel(s), and they sit right here in my office in the corner. Actually, can't wait for it to get to be fishing time again. We caught lots of crappie and nice BIG bass in our pond and friends' ponds. This fall we decided maybe we ought to keep some of the fish and freeze some fillets.
GUESS who had to learn to fillet fish??????? You are right!!! Yours truly! Don't know why husband didn't want to learn - he sure likes to catch the suckers, but wasn't about to fillet 'em. So, after a couple tries with just a fillet knife, I invested in an electric knife with two different sized blades, and is that thing slick. I'm getting pretty good at the filleting thing now. As long as the fish are iced down and pretty dead by the time I do it. There's something about filleting a live fish that I don't think I'm going to do. I don't like them LOOKING at me when I'm cutting their sides off. There's just something really wrong with that picture. But, as long as they are just giving me that icy stare, I can get the job done.
Anyway, that kept us going this summer - that and our little garden that actually gave us a LOT of good eating. We had two rows of lettuce and ate lettuce and ate lettuce and ate lettuce. And then the banana peppers and tomatoes started producing. And THEY both did great. I truly believe that we got way over a thousand banana peppers off the 9 plants that we planted. AND, best of all, we discovered roasting them. THAT is the way to eat banana peppers. Just was 'em and pat 'em dry, then put olive oil on a flat sheet pan, single layer the peppers in the pan and drizzle with more olive oil. I started using the spray olive oil - makes for a much quicker job. Then roast at 375 for about 15 minutes or until just starting to brown. Take 'em out of the oven and sprinkle with salt, and just eat them. Don't have to seed them or anything. You'd never even know they had seeds.
When the okra started, that's how we made lots of it. Use the small 3 -4 inch size and roast like the peppers. No slime, and they are just delicious. We sure hated to see the okra quit producing. We had LOTS of it as well. Can't wait till next garden season.
Now my freezers are pretty full. Bill even went deer hunting this year and killed one his first day out and his first shot. THAT'S the FIRST time he's gone deer hunting since we've been married. AND, again, guess who had to cut the thing up????? Yep, yours truly once again. Luckily, I had a friend who is an expert at it, so we did deer together over in her kitchen. I would never try that on my own, but it worked out OK. So, we've got some good venison in the freezer as well.
See what happens when I don't blog for a while - I try to fill in the ENTIRE time since the last post.
So, we'll see how long it goes before the next one. :)
J
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Updated Blog and Steam Blowing
As you can see, I'm making a few changes to the blog - basically changed the name from "From Mom & Me" to Meanderings, etc. Just thought it was time to update as Mom's story has been finished for over two years now so no sense in staying with that title. I actually thought about an entirely new blog, but when I looked at all the stuff I'd already done on this one - pictures, recipes, posts, info, etc. - I decided it would be more work to try to start over than to just revamp this. So, here we go meandering.
I've been on Facebook for over a year now. You can see the link to my profile page on the blog homepage. I enjoy Facebook immensely as I get to keep up with friends and people that I really wouldn't be in contact with at all if it wasn't for this avenue. I'm friends with cousins there whom I haven't seen since I left high school. And, that's a long, long, long time ago. :)
So, to do a little updating on where we are and what's going on. We thought we had our land sold where the barn is and the horses and the pond. A doctor from Cleburne, TX came up and made us an offer, and we decided to take it. Was time to let it go. Bill spent a couple weeks cleaning out the barn, the area around the barn, the little barn, hauling brush off, and generally policing the whole place. It really was looking good. The good doctor, Robert N. Smith, Jr. to be exact, came up a couple times to see it, decided where to have a well dug, made arrangements for that to be done a couple weeks down the road, called the electric company and requested service there, sent a deposit to them to get that done. We got the 911 address established on the property, and all was going according to plan. When he first made the offer, he asked us if we wanted any money down or would we be willing to work on a handshake because "that was the way he'd always done things. He was from the old school where a man's handshake was as good as a contract and his word was his bond. As far as he was concerned, it was a done deal." Those were HIS words. So, being from the old school of honor and integrity himself, Bill agreed and they shook hands and that was that.
Anyway, the good doctor called Bill to tell him on Friday that he had the certified check and was ready to get this done, so plans were made to meet in Poteau Monday afternoon to file the Warranty Deed and transfer the funds. We got up Monday and were on our way to Smithville to sign and get the deed notorized when Bill's cell phone rang and it was the good doctor. Basically, he said, "I don't feel right about this so am going to have to back out of the deal." No real reason, no alternative requests, just backed out. We were, as you can imagine, it total shock and actually, STILL are in shock. We don't know why. We don't know what happened. We don't know what we did or didn't do to make this happen. All we do know is that the word and handshake of Dr. Robert N. Smith, Jr. of Cleburne, Texas is as worthless as a piece of used toilet tissue. We found out what big fools we were to trust someone because he was a doctor and was reputable and believable. I hope no one else ever gets stung by this sorry excuse for a reputable doctor, because the sickness in the pit of our stomachs is still there and still upsetting.
AND then to top it all off, we get a bill for $150.00 from the lawyer that HE wanted to go see to get an opinion of the transaction. Our only part in the matter was setting up the appointment for him as Bill knew the lawyer and had dealt with her before. SOOOOOO - we get the bill and we get the shaft!!!! Are we still a little bitter???????? NO, NOT AT ALL!!!!!
There, now aren't you glad that I re-did the blog? Don't imagine you really wanted to hear all this "blowing off steam" but if I could figure out a place to post a big notice to let people know what kind of a person the good doctor really is, I'd be sorely tempted to do it. Maybe someone else will avoid the turmoil that this has caused us.
AND, it's not that we really even want to sell the property - we just NEED to sell the property. Since the government so nicely decided against a cost of living raise for social security recipients for the next three years so that they can have the money to:
Now isn't that a piece of work. So, that's one reason we wanted to sell our property. But, perhaps it will have to be the house that goes. It's too big for two of us anyway, but we just love it so much. We built it and all this stuff that everyone keeps asking about is remembrances of family or friends who gave it to us. How do you throw that stuff in the trash or put it in a garage sale? I guess we're both just too sentimental for our own good.
OK, that's enough meandering for today. BUT, I'll be baaaaaack!!!!!!! :)
Joan
I've been on Facebook for over a year now. You can see the link to my profile page on the blog homepage. I enjoy Facebook immensely as I get to keep up with friends and people that I really wouldn't be in contact with at all if it wasn't for this avenue. I'm friends with cousins there whom I haven't seen since I left high school. And, that's a long, long, long time ago. :)
So, to do a little updating on where we are and what's going on. We thought we had our land sold where the barn is and the horses and the pond. A doctor from Cleburne, TX came up and made us an offer, and we decided to take it. Was time to let it go. Bill spent a couple weeks cleaning out the barn, the area around the barn, the little barn, hauling brush off, and generally policing the whole place. It really was looking good. The good doctor, Robert N. Smith, Jr. to be exact, came up a couple times to see it, decided where to have a well dug, made arrangements for that to be done a couple weeks down the road, called the electric company and requested service there, sent a deposit to them to get that done. We got the 911 address established on the property, and all was going according to plan. When he first made the offer, he asked us if we wanted any money down or would we be willing to work on a handshake because "that was the way he'd always done things. He was from the old school where a man's handshake was as good as a contract and his word was his bond. As far as he was concerned, it was a done deal." Those were HIS words. So, being from the old school of honor and integrity himself, Bill agreed and they shook hands and that was that.
Anyway, the good doctor called Bill to tell him on Friday that he had the certified check and was ready to get this done, so plans were made to meet in Poteau Monday afternoon to file the Warranty Deed and transfer the funds. We got up Monday and were on our way to Smithville to sign and get the deed notorized when Bill's cell phone rang and it was the good doctor. Basically, he said, "I don't feel right about this so am going to have to back out of the deal." No real reason, no alternative requests, just backed out. We were, as you can imagine, it total shock and actually, STILL are in shock. We don't know why. We don't know what happened. We don't know what we did or didn't do to make this happen. All we do know is that the word and handshake of Dr. Robert N. Smith, Jr. of Cleburne, Texas is as worthless as a piece of used toilet tissue. We found out what big fools we were to trust someone because he was a doctor and was reputable and believable. I hope no one else ever gets stung by this sorry excuse for a reputable doctor, because the sickness in the pit of our stomachs is still there and still upsetting.
AND then to top it all off, we get a bill for $150.00 from the lawyer that HE wanted to go see to get an opinion of the transaction. Our only part in the matter was setting up the appointment for him as Bill knew the lawyer and had dealt with her before. SOOOOOO - we get the bill and we get the shaft!!!! Are we still a little bitter???????? NO, NOT AT ALL!!!!!
There, now aren't you glad that I re-did the blog? Don't imagine you really wanted to hear all this "blowing off steam" but if I could figure out a place to post a big notice to let people know what kind of a person the good doctor really is, I'd be sorely tempted to do it. Maybe someone else will avoid the turmoil that this has caused us.
AND, it's not that we really even want to sell the property - we just NEED to sell the property. Since the government so nicely decided against a cost of living raise for social security recipients for the next three years so that they can have the money to:
|
Now isn't that a piece of work. So, that's one reason we wanted to sell our property. But, perhaps it will have to be the house that goes. It's too big for two of us anyway, but we just love it so much. We built it and all this stuff that everyone keeps asking about is remembrances of family or friends who gave it to us. How do you throw that stuff in the trash or put it in a garage sale? I guess we're both just too sentimental for our own good.
OK, that's enough meandering for today. BUT, I'll be baaaaaack!!!!!!! :)
Joan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)