I just happened to see this on the Fox early morning news today, and lo and behold, it also turns up in American Farm Bureau Federation's latest edition of Foodie News that I just got this afternoon.
I'm talkin' Bacon Explosion. If anyone happened to watch the news this morning, you know that the recipe for Bacon Explosion is bacon, wrapped in sausage, wrapped in bacon. You read right.
And you can check out how to make it yourself at www.bbqaddicts.com/bacon-explosion.html
According to American Farm Bureau Federation's Foodie News monthly publication, which, by the way, you can subscribe to by clicking here, "What started as a simple recipe by barbecue competitiors has taken the blog-world by storm." The Bacon Explosion even earned a full-page story in the New York Times food section.
Seems like the perfect Super Bowl food, to me.
Happy digesting!
Dawn
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Mission: Septic thaw
People living in town probably never think much about waste disposal. I mean, you flush and wash and don't think much about where it goes. When you have a septic system, however, there is a little more involved. Especially if you have a system that has a tendency to freeze up every winter. Too many days this winter, our system has frozen. The last time it froze, early Wednesday morning, like at 1 .m., I was particularly bummed because both of us had to be up the next day for work. But, the tank alarm buzzed its warning and my husband and I dutifully got up and each performed our now routine jobs. I go down and turn off the alarm. My husband dons his coveralls and, blow dryer in hand, heads outside to stick the blow dryer down the hole. After about half an hour, he goes back outside, turns the pump back on and I got downstairs again to see if the alarm goes off. It does, but when all is said and done, we have at least two hours less sleep time than we had before.
Needless to say, this latest "episode" prompted a "we gotta do something" mindset and my husband came up with an ingenious little set-up; a blow dryer on a timer. By setting the timer to have the blow dryer thaw the pipes two times a day, the hope is that we won't be awakened at dark-thirty again. Oh, did I also mention that, to augment the blow-dyring, we have a 100-watt bulb in the hole at all times?
It's Thursday, and so far, so good. Keep us in your thoughts, and....
Happy flushing!
Dawn
Needless to say, this latest "episode" prompted a "we gotta do something" mindset and my husband came up with an ingenious little set-up; a blow dryer on a timer. By setting the timer to have the blow dryer thaw the pipes two times a day, the hope is that we won't be awakened at dark-thirty again. Oh, did I also mention that, to augment the blow-dyring, we have a 100-watt bulb in the hole at all times?
It's Thursday, and so far, so good. Keep us in your thoughts, and....
Happy flushing!
Dawn
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
My daughter, the farmer
This past weekend, Farm Bureau held a Leadership Conference. They had a special program for the kids about accurate ag books. My six-year-old daughter was very excited about attending.
She was not disappointed.
Not only did she get her very own accurate ag book, but she also proudly showed me the two seeds in a little clear bag attached to a string around her neck. "I have to wear it around my neck to keep them warm so they'll grow," she smiled. The bag contained two soybean seeds, 1 tablespoon of water and gel crystals to keep them moist. She wore it to bed and wore it all day Sunday. She even wore it to school on Monday. And one of her soybeans was starting to sprout, which made her grin from ear to ear. "And you know, Mom," she said matter-of-factly, "after they've sprouted we can plant them in a pot."
On Monday afternoon, I went to pick the kids up after school, and she looked at me with big, teary eyes and said, "I lost my seeds." It broke my heart. She was so was afraid of what was going to happen to them. "What if they're in the snow? What if they're cold?" she asked. I just said, "Honey, then they just won't grow." Well, that made her cry even more. So I told her I would find out exactly how to make another one so she could grow a new crop of her very own.
And that got me thinking. The reverance that my daughter had for her seeds is pretty much the same reverance farmers have. They enjoy watching their crops grow, and while they may not cry when a crop is lost, they definitely feel a sense of loss. That sense of wonder and love for the land doesn't go away, just because they "get big." And that's a very good thing.
Happy planting!
Dawn
She was not disappointed.
Not only did she get her very own accurate ag book, but she also proudly showed me the two seeds in a little clear bag attached to a string around her neck. "I have to wear it around my neck to keep them warm so they'll grow," she smiled. The bag contained two soybean seeds, 1 tablespoon of water and gel crystals to keep them moist. She wore it to bed and wore it all day Sunday. She even wore it to school on Monday. And one of her soybeans was starting to sprout, which made her grin from ear to ear. "And you know, Mom," she said matter-of-factly, "after they've sprouted we can plant them in a pot."
On Monday afternoon, I went to pick the kids up after school, and she looked at me with big, teary eyes and said, "I lost my seeds." It broke my heart. She was so was afraid of what was going to happen to them. "What if they're in the snow? What if they're cold?" she asked. I just said, "Honey, then they just won't grow." Well, that made her cry even more. So I told her I would find out exactly how to make another one so she could grow a new crop of her very own.
And that got me thinking. The reverance that my daughter had for her seeds is pretty much the same reverance farmers have. They enjoy watching their crops grow, and while they may not cry when a crop is lost, they definitely feel a sense of loss. That sense of wonder and love for the land doesn't go away, just because they "get big." And that's a very good thing.
Happy planting!
Dawn
Monday, January 26, 2009
This really stinks
And I mean that both figuratively and literally. That's because, for the third time in four days, our septic pipes have frozen. That means that the stuff that's supposed to get pumped out of the tank and into the drain field is not getting where it's supposed to go.
2 a.m. on Saturday morning was our first "wake up call." So my husband and I trapse out in our overalls, boots, hats and gloves and I hold the light while he sticks a blow dryer down the hole to warm up the pipes and get the system moving again. It happened again on Saturday night about 10:30 p.m.
We made it all through Sunday without a freeze up, but doggone it if I didn't get home at lunch time today to let the dog out and that darn tank buzzer was buzzing again. So I called my husband, turned off the pump and put a 100-watt light down the hole in the hope that it would warm it up a little more than the 75-watt bulb that was already down there.
I don't see anybody else out there at 2 a.m. sticking blow dryers down the septic hole. I don't even see them doing it over their lunch hour. This is not normal. It can't be. And, I'll say it again, it stinks.
Happy blow-drying!
Dawn
2 a.m. on Saturday morning was our first "wake up call." So my husband and I trapse out in our overalls, boots, hats and gloves and I hold the light while he sticks a blow dryer down the hole to warm up the pipes and get the system moving again. It happened again on Saturday night about 10:30 p.m.
We made it all through Sunday without a freeze up, but doggone it if I didn't get home at lunch time today to let the dog out and that darn tank buzzer was buzzing again. So I called my husband, turned off the pump and put a 100-watt light down the hole in the hope that it would warm it up a little more than the 75-watt bulb that was already down there.
I don't see anybody else out there at 2 a.m. sticking blow dryers down the septic hole. I don't even see them doing it over their lunch hour. This is not normal. It can't be. And, I'll say it again, it stinks.
Happy blow-drying!
Dawn
Skinny, yummy snow-socked trees
I'm bummed. I was reading a particular Web story from NDSU Extension by Ron Smith, the horticulturist, and he had some good news and bad news. Let's cut right to the bad, because that's what's bumming me out. "The animals are hungry."
I knew that, because my dad said, when we were there for Christmas, "We finally got the pheasant population up around here and with all this snow, they're going to starve." But I didn't put two and six together until I read Ron's graphic description of what those hungry animals are doing to our plants and trees. It was only then that I realized all our young, susceptible trees are probably gonna be toast. You see, we have a rabbit -- a jackrabbit -- that has left tell-tale signs of his fondness for our yard all around our trees. I noticed the round, brown bits of jackrabbit leftovers dotting the landscape around those skinny, yummy trees when we had that short-lived warm snap last week. I noticed the "leftovers" from a distance, mind you, since the snow is still so deep, I haven't ventured out to see if he/she has chewed them to bits. But you know those tree protectors you put around the trees to keep the critters at bay? They aren't protecting much, because they are completely covered by snow.
At this point, I think, in the name of positive thinking and blissful ignorance, I think I'll just pretend I didn't read Ron's story and when the snow is gone, I'll do my annual spring bud walk around the yard to see how many of my skinny, yummy trees have buds and how many have bark.
If you don't want to be blissfully ignorant like me, however, check out Ron's post by clicking here.
Happy jackrabbit stew!
Dawn
I knew that, because my dad said, when we were there for Christmas, "We finally got the pheasant population up around here and with all this snow, they're going to starve." But I didn't put two and six together until I read Ron's graphic description of what those hungry animals are doing to our plants and trees. It was only then that I realized all our young, susceptible trees are probably gonna be toast. You see, we have a rabbit -- a jackrabbit -- that has left tell-tale signs of his fondness for our yard all around our trees. I noticed the round, brown bits of jackrabbit leftovers dotting the landscape around those skinny, yummy trees when we had that short-lived warm snap last week. I noticed the "leftovers" from a distance, mind you, since the snow is still so deep, I haven't ventured out to see if he/she has chewed them to bits. But you know those tree protectors you put around the trees to keep the critters at bay? They aren't protecting much, because they are completely covered by snow.
At this point, I think, in the name of positive thinking and blissful ignorance, I think I'll just pretend I didn't read Ron's story and when the snow is gone, I'll do my annual spring bud walk around the yard to see how many of my skinny, yummy trees have buds and how many have bark.
If you don't want to be blissfully ignorant like me, however, check out Ron's post by clicking here.
Happy jackrabbit stew!
Dawn
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