what? more soup?

Yep,  I don't know why, but my husband will say he wants soup for supper nearly every day of the week. Even as the weather warms up he still thinks about soup.

That's okay with me!

So, I made two soups again.

This first one is a spicy one...chicken, canned tomatillos, tomatoes,onions, jalapenos.

This one is more hearty, ham, cabbage, potatoes, onions, carrots, plus a few leftover peas.

I stocked up the freezer again with some in pint containers and some in quart containers, but I'd better start thinking about what good combination I can come up with for the next soup cooking day!

blooms indoors and out

This year I managed to actually put fertilizer on some of my plants - including the indoor ones. It certainly makes a difference.

I have a lot of windows in my house but not many good places for house plants except here by our back patio door, where I have a few pots of different succulents.

My Aloe Vera plant sent up a tall flower stalk. The small tubular flowers took a long time to open and were not at all showy, but still kind of interesting to see it happening.

My Sansevieria (snake plant or mother-in-laws tongue) also bloomed.  Frilly white flowers that dripped sticky nectar.

Outside the Clematis is blooming.  The bright green leaves are a different plant that has a nice lemony smell - but I can't think of the name right now - maybe Lemon Balm?

These yellow Coreopsis came from the mark-downs shelf at Lowes last fall. They were mis-labeled and not what I thought I was buying, but I like them. I've had them before and they do self-seed and spread around the flower bed.

The Orange Lillys or Ditch Lillys always bloom around Fathers Day. I have them in a couple of places where they won't crowd out other plantings because they can be real bullies.

Nepata or Catmint (not cat nip) by the back porch. Bees of all kinds just love this.

I am excited about this next plant. This is one my friend, Isolde, gave to me. She started it from seed. It is an oriental vegetable called "Bitter Melon".  I had never heard of it.

I know it looks like I planted it in a weed patch here but I wanted to go ahead and get it in the ground before the temperatures get too high.  I will weed and mulch as soon as possible.

Just a while ago I commented here on how the field next door to our house hadn't been bush hogged in several years.
Strangely, just after that, someone was over there cutting about a hundred foot wide swath.

I am happy to be rid of all the blackberry vines that would snag me when I drove by there on the mower, but I sure don't want to see neighbors moving in this close!

I'd rather deal with blackberry vines!

the Sasquatch goes fishing

The Sasquatch sent some of his photos of an all day fishing excursion on Taylorsville Lake.

He likes fishing but hasn't gone in a couple of years.  The thing that made this day a lot more fun for him was renting a jon boat instead of fishing from the bank.

The boats can be reserved and rented for the day at the marina there - website. They also have large pontoon boats, canoes and kayaks to rent.  The Sasquatch said they are very helpful and provide a map and show the areas to stay away from and emergency phone numbers in case you run into trouble on  the water.

He traveled nearly 19 miles around the lake that day trying out different fishing spots.

A lovely sunny day...fluffy clouds...blue skies.

Lots of coves to explore and see what's biting. 

A Green Sunfish

Another Green Sunfish.  

A Bluegill...all were small fish...not big enough to keep but fun to reel them in to see what's on the line. 

A wee little Smallmouth Bass. 

Another Bluegill.  They all got released to grow bigger.

Here is one I'd never heard of - a Blue Catfish.  Way different that regular catfish - not bottom feeders, but still those long "whiskers" or mouth feelers.  Back he goes!

A nice variety of fish even if they were small.

The Sasquatch said he is looking forward to going back some time this summer.

He didn't inherit the fishing gene from me.  I have tried it a few different times in my life but found I'd much rather just go somewhere and order a fish sandwich!

summer sausage

A few weeks ago when there was a bit of a fresh meat shortage, I noticed Kroger had  pre-packaged ground beef in a brand they don't usually carry.  I thought it looked pretty fatty so I didn't try it out.

Later I saw that ground beef discounted since it was getting close to expiration so I bought a couple of 3 pound packages, with a plan in mind to use it in making Summer Sausage. 

I couldn't find my old recipe for Summer Sausage.  I used to make it every year at Christmas time but for some reason I'd stopped making it and my recipe had disappeared.

But I easily found recipes and instructions online...a bit different than I remember though.

The important ingredient is Morton Tender Quick curing salt which sort of dries the meat and the fat.

I still have a bag of it from years ago.

Besides the curing salt, you add spices and Liquid Smoke to the ground beef and refrigerate for 3 days...kneading it like bread dough once every day.

On the last day it gets formed into logs and baked.

When the Sasquatch found out I was making this batch of the sausages, he brought over a 3 pound package of regular Kroger ground beef that he had bought and asked if I'd make some for him also - so I just combined it with mine for one huge batch.

This is before baking. The meat is rather unappealing at this point.

My old recipe instructed to bake the sausages at a very low temperature over night. The recipes online said to bake shorter times and higher temperatures.

After baking...

I compromised and baked about 3 hours at 210 degrees. 

 I don't know...maybe they still aren't so delicious looking.  When my sons were young teenagers there were lots of jokes and snickering about the appearance of the sausages...and I referred to it as "beef sticks" back then...resulting in much hilarity for the boys!

They are tasty. Better eaten cold.  The yellow dots you see are mustard seeds. I also used garlic powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes.

I started with 9 pounds total of ground beef and ended  up with over 7 pounds of finished sausages.

I wrapped them in freezer paper. They stay good in the fridge for days but I put them in the freezer for longer storage.  Good for lunch or for a snack.

a couple of strange things

A couple of strange things that I've seen recently...both kind of funny.

First, I'd gone to Sam's Club on a Sunday afternoon. I usually never go on the weekend because they can get crowded.
They were crowded and I had to wait in line to get in. As I got closer to the entrance I couldn't figure out what I was seeing....there under that shopping cart.

Someone's wig all caught up in the wheel of the shopping cart.  What do you suppose the story could be here?   I had to get closer for a better photo.  People in line began to laugh and start talking about it.  Did it blow off someone's head?  Maybe it got ripped off in a girl fight?  Did they even try to get it loose?

Some poor Sam's employee will have the job of cutting it out of there I suppose.

Here is the second thing.  I was pulling out of the Kroger parking lot and again couldn't believe my eyes.  Someone fishing in a drainage ditch!

When I got closer I saw it was a teenage boy.  He was probably bored and looking for anything to do since school has been closed for so long and the virus restrictions have caused so many other activities to be canceled.

Or maybe he just really loves fishing!

He sensed that I had slowed down behind him and turned around.  I asked if there were really fish in there and he said yes, there are.

I wished him good luck but I hope he wasn't planning to eat any fish he catches out of there!