Watermelon For Everybody

     I harvested my largest watermelon yesterday and everybody got some. Either I wasn't paying attention to the seed packet or I'd forgotten but it was a yellow instead of red fleshed melon about 9" across and some 14" long. I cut myself a big chunk off one end and gave Vlad & Bella some. Vlad is a madman when it comes to watermelon but Bella is rather "So what? It's just watermelon".
     Mack & Tosh, the chinchillas seemed to enjoy theirs pretty much judging by what's left of the rind. Elsa, my ferret as have all my previous ferrets had a grand time with hers. All the lizards pigged out but what surprised me was my sugar gliders, Ruth and Naomi. I gave them a slice that was bigger than the both of them and they gnawed that thing out to the green of the rind!
They were so happy with their treats during cherry season I was left wondering what could I find to get them jumping for treats like cherries did. I just may have found the answer, home grown watermelon! Now watermelon home growing season is about to pass so I'll have to find something else to temp my wee possums' taste buds.

      Needless to say I am saving some of the seeds to plant next Spring. I'll just get em in the ground earlier next go around.

Watching Our Weights

     Well, I bought a scale today and weighed myself alone, then with Vlad and lastly Bella. According to the charts a man of my age and height should be somewhere between 142 and 176 pounds. When I worked outside my weight would usually go from 145 at the end of Summer to 160 at the end of Winter. According to these new scales I weigh 135.8 pounds. You know, I always felt at my best when I was running 145-160 so my goal is to get back to 145-150 by Winter's end.

     I looked online about dogs' weights and I see my canine kids need to lose almost as much as I should gain. Vlad, my Jack Russell son weighs 22.2 pounds and supposedly should be between 14 & 18. But he don't look fat at all!
     Bella, my dachshund is another story as she looks like a tube of bologna! The info I gathered on her breed says she should be a mere 10-12 pounds but I can't believe she should (or could) get that slim. She is a "big girl" at a hefty 24.4 pounds.

     So here are our goals for now:
I want to get to 150 pounds
Vlad should be able to drop to 20 and we'll see how he looks
Bella the same, down to 20 pounds and we'll see if she has a waist again.

     I've rooted through some "stuff" and found their collars but not their leads yet. As soon as I locate the leads we can take walks again. Vlad used to love playing fetch with a football that I called his "feetsball" until he poked (impaled?) so many holes in it that it was more like a leather frisbee. I'll find him another at the dollar store soon. Bella never actually went for the ball but she chased Vlad and was our "cheerleader".

News Around Merlin's Garden

     I guess the main thing here is the weather. The entire state of Mississippi is still under drought conditions and temps are still running some 10 degrees F above normal. Coming into late October I have the doors open wide and enjoying the mid 80's as highs and mid 50's as lows. 

I've prepped everything I need for my cold frames but have had no need to set them up yet. It's feeling more like late Spring than Autumn here.

     I did finally expand the chinchillas' cage the other day. I realized the easiest route was to add the unused larger mesh enclosure on top of their previous one story home. Once I'd settled on a game plan it only took a half hour or so to almost double their space. The main thing is the lads are happier with more room to explore and play in.

     Uneaten feed seed is beginning to sprout in what used to be the duck & goose yard and will probably become my main vegetable garden. I cut some planks and floored what was their laying house and is now a tool shed for hand tools like rakes, shovels, etc.

     The City of Pearl requires a building permit before I can put a roof on my deck and/or have a parking area roofed in so that's my next project... getting permits. Living within city limits isn't as easy as I thought it would be for a redneck!

Weather Update

     Well, for the first time in a long time the temperature is expected to drop below normal if only for a day or two. The entire state of Mississippi is now officially under a burn ban, an odd thing for such an historically wet weather state. By the time the weekend is in full swing we should be back in the 80's and above normal temps.
     We're not expected to see any more rain in the foreseeable future and are still some 5" below normal there. The cracks in the soil of my yard are quite noticeable and the grass crunches under every step except during or soon after my daily waterings.
     There is nothing anyone other than God can do about the weather so I'll continue to water the gardens a bit and be thankful that the high temps are around 80 F and the lows are in the 50's. That's fine and dandy for me! As we're having little or no rain I can use my clothesline to air dry my laundry. When the heat index was in the 110 F range by the time I got to hanging stuff on the far side of the line the stuff on the near side was almost dry... only I was dripping wet from the sweat.

Dogs On Diets

     My friend, Gail, from whom I got my boy, Vlad has a Jack Russell terrier named Rocky. Seems everybody likes to talk trash about "the Rock" because of his weight. She sent me some pictures of him the other day and all I could say was, "OMG!"
     A Jack Russell should be around 16 pounds and my Vlad is maybe a couple above that. I jokingly say Bella, my dachshund isn't a weenie dog, she's a bologna dog. But Rocky is admittedly morbidly obese at 31 pounds! All dogs should have a visible waist, Bella does not.

     So Gail and I made a pact to get our canine kids back into a healthier weight zone. Limit the treats. Buy a lower fat, higher grade dog food. Exercise them more.
     I've the much easier task ahead of me, to drop maybe 2 pounds off Vlad and 4 or 5 off Bella. Gail has to get poor fat Rocky to lose almost 50% of his body weight. We love our dogs like our own children and treats make them happy. But treats also make them fat so it's time for tough love.

     Sometimes when a sack of dog food gets damaged the store where I work will mark it down and sell what's left at a reduced price. More often than not I buy those as something to change up Vlad & Bella's diet. I'll continue to do so but only the hi pro, low fat stuff. When the marked down isn't available I'll pay full price.

     My friend at work, Debbie who is also an animal lover told me dogs don't know how much treat they're getting, they only know that they are getting. It makes sense to me as when I give treats, V&B don't kick back and savor the flavor.... they gobble it down as quickly as possible.

     One last thing about treats... those rawhide things! I read somewhere that they are probably only slightly less bad than rat poison because of the chemicals they are treated with. If you don't have any, don't buy any. If you do, throw them away.

Rain... Finally!

     Today we got the first real rain we've had in months. Almost half of the state of Mississippi has been under a burn ban because of lack of rain. Pretty much the entire state is under drought or dry conditions. This afternoon I was sitting with the back door open as usual and heard what has become an unusual sound... rain! While out this morning I did notice some clouds and thought there was a slim chance of a sprinkle but we actually had a decent half hour or so of real soaking rain.
The temperature was still near 90 F at 4:30 PM so I went out and enjoyed myself as only a redneck could. I was wearing only a pair of shorts and was actually catching grass hoppers to feed the lizards earlier so was wearing proper attire for the occasion as I walked in the yard, front, sides and back getting soaked and loving it.

     It'll take more than one good rain to get us back up to where we should be and before all is said and done we'll probably have some flooding but right now I'm thanking God almighty for this bit of relief.
     As the temperature has been running some 10 degrees F above normal I've still got watermelons and peanuts growing in the raised beds as well as eggplants and peppers in large containers. I've had to keep them watered as of late but this day's rain should have done them more good than my hosing.
Also due to the abnormally warm temps I did go ahead and plant another few packs of root veggies. I'm seeing some nice sprouts coming up there. It has simply been too damn hot to try to build anything like my desired greenhouse but I'm thinking should the temperature take a sudden drop I can still use  the window panels Mom gave me for the greenhouse. I can simply lay a few braces across the raised beds and lay the windows over them for a quick cold frame.

Old School Cooking (More Or Less)

     When I was in my mid teens my dad & Step Mom often cooked (then cheap ass) round steak in the slow cooker with onions and served it over white rice. Boy howdy, I could eat my weight in that! Well, cheap ass round steak isn't cheap anymore so I don't cook it as often as I once ate it. However my grocery now has eye of round roast for $2.99 a pound so I wasted no time in bringing a couple pounds of that home this morning. I chucked it into the freezer so I can slice it about 1/2" thick and slow cook that rascal.
     The only thing I'll do differently than traditional is after slicing I'll marinade it for an hour or until it's thawed. Then I'll sear it in a skillet to build a crust before putting it in the "low & slow" adding the marinade to the gravy. As per old school recipe I'll add plenty of onions but just for added flavor I may include a jalapeno, some garlic and maybe a carrot or 3.

     I have a feeling this'll be so good if you put some on top of your head your tongue would slap your brain out trying to get to it!

Dry Weather & Burn Ban

    When making ready to smoke some meat for my beef jerky I thought it wise to make sure the local police wouldn't show up at my door. While my cooking isn't usually considered a crime now it could be. At least 30 of Mississippi's counties are under a burn ban because things are so dry here. We've had only 5 measurable rains since September 1st and the temps are still running some 10 degrees above normal.
     I must admit it was with a note of sarcasm that I called the police to ask if smoking meat outside was legal while under a burn ban but the officer was all business with no sense of humor. He did inform me that he saw nothing illegal about grilling nor smoking I should call the fire department to be sure and let them know where I lived! I did indeed call the fire station and I don't know the politically correct term for "fireman" which I probably should use but the fireman I talked to seemed like someone I could get along with. He was more than helpful, cheerful and everything. We talked probably 10 minutes about fire safety, cooking, smoking, the weather, praying for rain. When we see stories on the news about the fire department doing community work this man comes to my mind now.
     As we do have the potential for grass, brush and even wildfires now and when Winter does come along comes potential for more house fires I realize the need for awareness and watchfulness is serious. Right before we got off the phone I said, "And y'all be careful out there, okay?"
You know? When he thanked me I felt it was heart felt.

     There is a special type of person who sees a building on fire, when everyone else is running out...they run in!

Beef Jerky

     The other day I having a "Jones" for some beef jerky but didn't want store bought stuff because of A) price and B) all the preservatives and other chemical I can neither pronounce nor know what they do. Years ago I made jerky quite often on my food dehydrator (that I still do have) but didn't feel like finding all the pieces and parts and the racks are a pain in the butt to clean. So what to do?
     First I decided on my marinade recipe that I'll tell you in a bit. But for the hardware I turned to my trusty smoker. The grates for "Black Beauty" are a bit wide so I soaked bamboo skewers in water while I prepped all the other stuff. I'd found a couple of lean beef shoulder roasts at a fair price of $2.99 a pound and put them in the freezer just long enough to get them quite firm but not solidly frozen. The beef was a total of about 2.75 pounds and I sliced it on my mandolin for even thickness. My marinade was 8 oz of soy sauce, 8 oz of teriyaki sauce, 2 oz hot sauce and 1 tablespoon garlic powder. I let the meat marinade for about 2 hours in a zip top bag and then smoked it for about 6 hours.
     My smoker is a box type with 2 racks of about 14" each, a water bowl and fire bowl. While I prefer lump charcoal for grilling I usually use briquettes for smoking. My wood is a mix of oak and plum. It seems oak trees are almost always being cut down around here and my neighbor across the street had an old plum tree cut down last year so that's why I used that mix of woods. Just remember if using dry wood to always soak your wood first so it'll produce smoke and not flames.

     At the end of the day I had probably the same amount of jerky I would have gotten from the store for the same amount of money so the savings were rather insignificant I suppose. But at some time or another I'm sure I can find raw meat at a better price. The main thing is I had the pleasure of being outside on a lovely day and bagged up some jerky better than store bought without preservatives and all. My next batch I'll probably make a little hotter, perhaps by adding a spoonful of black pepper or pureed jalapeno. That's what makes cooking fun when I decide to do it, taking something pretty good and working to make it even better. Maybe a squeeze of honey for sweet & spicy?

New Bedding For Rupert The Hedgehog

     There's an old farmer's saying about "You gotta make hay while the sun shines". It actually has two meanings. The first is you mow hay during the daylight when you can see where you're cutting and the second is you only cut hay when it's dry. Wet mown hay will mold, mildew and rot thus producing bales of worthless, possibly toxic mess instead of good hay.
     When the "duck police" visited they also told me that part of my front yard needed mowing. Instead of trying to talk sense to officer to tell her that was in fact a herb garden I took the easy route and just mowed the whole damn thing over. When I was still thinking I'd get the simple courtesy of a return visit I went above and beyond what was on the complaint and pulled the grass growing in between the cracks and along the edges of my driveway. This I just threw into a pile in the back yard.

     Now to the title of this post... I didn't like the shredded paper bedding that was in Rupert the hedgehog's enclosure when I brought him home so I ditched that. I wanted an absorbent material and I had plenty of rabbit pellets which are basically alfalfa that has been dried and compresses into well, pellets. Rupert wasn't real happy on that so I searched my brain for a solution we could agree upon.
Viola! While the hay I'd bought for the ducks and geese was and is still in their used to be home it was to put it mildly "crapped in and on by ducks and geese".  Plan B for hay was free and too easy. The grass I'd weeded up was now dry and ready for use.
     When I moved here from the trailerhood I dug up some of the catnip I had growing in a flowerbed and brought it with me and it has established itself quite well. While I no longer (presently?) have any felines I do enjoy the aroma of catnip myself. It has a slightly minty smell but more earthy than any other members of the mint family I think. Anyway, after washing and drying Rupert's cage I plucked a few sprigs of catnip and tossed them into the bottom before bedding him down with the home grown hay. He's still grumpy as all Hell but I try to give him some hands on time daily. It's rather akin to handling an inside out pincushion so I simply need to build up my calluses!

Store Bought Chicken Eggs

    Well, due to my having to get rid of my ducks I was forced to buy chicken eggs at the grocery. I knew as soon as I cracked one it was going to be dismal. The yolk was small and pale yellow, not the large dark almost orange I had become accustomed to.
     Even with hearty sides of thick slab bacon and cheesy, buttery, salt & peppery, a bit of bacon greasy grits the eggs sucked! They were more like scrambled wood pulp than anything else I can think of.
     I've seen posted online some home grown chicken eggs about 10 miles from here but they're $3.50 a dozen. I think the grocery store has "free range" eggs for less than that. Maybe I'll try to locate the folks with the rooster I hear crowing and see if A#1 they've managed to get a permit (and how) and B#2 if they will sell a few "cackle berries".
       
     Fresh duck eggs vs.  store bought chicken (factory laid) eggs is like home grown tomatoes vs. those grown in hot houses or halfway around the world, shipped green and ripened on the grocer's produce shelf.
     Once you've tasted the real McCoy the mass produced crap has absolutely zero taste appeal whatsoever.

     Perhaps my idea of raising Pharaoh quail could be a workable "Plan B" for fresh eggs. The little birds make no real noise and would be kept in raised enclosures so any smell would be minimal. The only drawback would be is that it would take at least a dozen and a half eggs to make a meal!

Gonna Enlarge The Chinchilla Enclosure

     Digging about in my storage building I came across an enclosure 48" x 48" x 12" tall of of 1" x 2" mesh.
     Mack & Tosh were rather wee when I brought them home but have grown considerably so I have little concern of them escaping the larger mesh.
     Their present home is 24" x 13" x 15" tall. I don't have the materials to expand horizontally but by this time tomorrow they should have at least another foot vertical.

Gotta keep the babies happy, Happy, HAPPY!

Needing Elsa The Weasel

     If you've read my blog lately you know the local law enforcement  has forced me to give up my ducks & geese aka the Quack Pack. After 8 hours dealing with the oafs and buffoons at work they were the ones who made me laugh with their silliness and just being who they were. I often said "Who can be pissed off when they have ducks?" & "Ducks &  geese for World Peace!"

     Since giving up the Pack I've turned to the latest addition to my indoor family, Elsa the ferret aka "Wild Weasel". I had a pair years ago when I lived in Colorado and admittedly I loved the female, Bandit more than the male, Stinky as even fresh out of a bath he tended to be a bit musky even to my olfactory senses. But even after all those years I wanted another ferret and finally found one close enough and affordable so I got my wild Elsa. She's been worth her weight and more in gold in my retaining some sense of semi sanity without the ducks & geese.
      Her enclosure is 28" x 18" x 30" tall with 3 shelves connected by slides and I've gotten some thick cardboard tubes from work 3" diameter x 15" long that I'm making her a play tunnel of.

    Usually when I enter the room that houses all my small warm fuzzy critters she's asleep in her hammock but only takes a few moments to wake up. She normally sleeps on her back in her hammock and looks at me upside down, yawns and asks ,"Is it play time, Papa?" Often I'll tuck her inside my shirt before attending other indoor chores which she totally enjoys as does her Papa!

     I'm starting to believe everyone should have someone in their lives that just by being themselves make that person laugh out loud. Elsa does that for me and I love her so much for giving me that. I love all my non human kids for one reason or another but that's why she has staked her claim and taken her place my heart.

Harvest Season Is About Done

     It seems the harvest season is about done here. The egg season is unquestionably done as the City of Pearl has made me get rid of my ducks. I've still a few peppers and eggplants to be picked as well as peanuts to be pulled. I read online that goobers are ready to pull when the vines begin to yellow.
     I still miss going out back and hearing & seeing the Quack Pack but at least someone still has chickens. Their rooster sings all day and his first song I hear each morning makes me think, "Did I deny knowing Jesus 3 times?"
     My late season planting of greens and roots never even sprouted so that was a phenomenal fail.

     I know all the big scale planter grow sugar cane from buds on the joints of the canes but I can't seem to locate any for sale. Best I could do was seeds for sale online. Also I found some giant bamboo seed which  I'll use to try and grow a fence between myself and my crackhead neighbors to the South and the liberal Democrats to the North.

     I'm quite sure it was the crackheads who called the police on me for ducks. They've had the police over to their house a couple of times. The last was animal control came to take away their starving dogs. Funny that the 2 times the police were there they never knocked at my door about the ducks.
Anyway, I've got to mess with the crackheads. While I no longer have ducks I do have duck, goose, deer, turkey, crow, squirrel and owl calls. I'll wait a few weeks then every time I'm in the yard I'll use a different call to sing softly so only they can hear. Turkey calls will be easiest as they fit completely in the mouth. Should the police come to investigate I'll be 100% certain it was the crackheads who called.

Officers Unfriendly

     You know, it's odd. I've always had the utmost respect for law enforcement officers. Hell, it's a job I would not want to do. And 99.9% are the ones we never hear about in the media... those who go out day and night no matter the weather and care about the people that they "serve and protect".
     Then you have that 0.1% that nobody likes.
 A few months ago I was followed by a Pearl Police cruiser for about a mile before he hit the blue lights. I signaled at every turn, drove about 2 miles per hour below the speed limit, stopped before the yellow light turned red. My reason for being stopped?
 I quote, "Your tag looked funny but it's okay now". Now this little sawed off runt was walking on tip toes to peek into the back of my Honda CR-V as he approached. While it is true I have a foot long beard, I was being facially profiled. I talked to a friend of mine who works for another law enforcement agency who said, and I quote, "Oh HELL yeah! That was an illegal stop." Then my friend said I should have shut off my engine and asked, "Sir, may I step out so you can show me what looked 'funny'? I live about 1/2 mile from here and I can fix it so as not to waste any more officers' time".

     Officer (Corporal) I won't mention her name is one of those cops who joined the force not to protect and serve but to only feed her own ego. I got a ticket  a few years back for some minor traffic crap and a "real" ticket from a "real" police officer. That citation had the officer's badge number on it. Code enforcement officers don't even have badge numbers or carry sidearms so they're below animal control officers. They want a badge only so they can legally bully people.
     She was more than happy to knock when she delivered my violation notice, failing to mention that the 1st was on Saturday and she don't work weekends. When I finally got her on the phone on the 3rd she said she's "done a drive by and everything looked okay". When I asked her for some written record of my compliance of code, you'd have though I asked her for oral sex. She finally agreed to send me an email but I only managed a verbal from her that I'm now on 2 years' probation for any further violations.

     I'm a 57 year old white Irish/Welsh Protestant heterosexual U.S. military veteran who doesn't raise Hell, drink & drive.... I lead a quite boring, quiet life or try to. I cannot imagine what life in Pearl, Mississippi must be like for young, non white, gay, Hell raisers.... Hmm, maybe I need to change my lifestyle!

Missing The Quack Pack

     Angie & Buddy took my Quack Pack to their lake 4 days ago and I still find myself every morning doing to the barn as if I'm going to feed them. Then I realize they are gone.
     She's posted a few pictures on Facebook and they do look happy out on the lake. She says they are "swimming fools" and refers them as a group apart from her ducks & geese she already had, keeping the name "Quack Pack" for now our babies.
     While I do still feel separation pangs I know that the Pack is happier on a lake with Angie, Buddy, their kids and neighbors to spoil them rotten.
     Once I finally get used to coming home and not hearing them sing I'll be able to go visit, take them their beloved blue bucket that I toted their feed in and take some pictures.

     I told my friend at work, Debbie that I'd been forced to give up the Pack and she took it harder than I did. Even though she's seen pictures of them out on the lake she says, "It still pisses me off!"
She lived in New Mexico and for a while had a ranch where she raised all sorts of exotic birds. She said she wasn't in the city limits but getting a federal license for some birds took less paperwork than what I'd have to get just to have ducks within the city limits of Pearl.

The Quack Pack Is Gone

Well, as per the orders of the Pearl gestapo, the Quack Pack are no longer with me. I posted them as free to good home on several Facebook sale groups and at the 11th hour a lady named Angie and her husband came through.
     The requirements as set forth by the city would be hard enough to pull off in a year so no way in Hell I could do it in the 10 days they gave me.
     Anyway, I met Angie and her husband, Buddy and they seem great people. He refers to her as "Crazy Duck Lady". She's rescued several Canadian honkers who've had fishing line wrapped around their feet and they live by a 10-15 acre lake in Clinton, Mississippi already inhabited by wild and domestic ducks as well as the aforementioned honkers and more.
     Angie and Buddy came and got my Quack Pack yesterday evening (late by my standards) but the main thing was keeping the babies safe and happy so losing a few hours' sleep wasn't important to me. We chatted today and my pack have well integrated with hers but seem reluctant to leave the lake as they are having too much fun there.

     Yes, it hurt like Hell letting my babies go. But now they have a lake to swim in and several families to love and feed them. I'm sure they'll be happy and safe and Angie said I can come visit anytime and has even invited me to dinner sometime. She's a lot like me as in "Formal" means "wear shoes".
     As Angie and Buddy were getting ready to take the pack to their new home she and I hugged. Then Buddy offered his hand for a shake. I pulled him in and hugged him saying, "We family now!"