Will you LOOK at what our good friends from Canada, Snow and Boo made for us??! They took pictures of us found 'whose nose' where online and dressed us up as Santa and Mrs. Santa. How Cool are they?? Now I'm going to try to put together an outfit like that. Cappy had already planned on dressing up again this year, but now, seeing this gorgeous card, I'm going to get all gussied up, too.
Thank you, Taylor and Teri...aka Snow and Boo...I can't remember when I've been so overwhelmed by anything like this from anyone. God Bless your Dear Hearts this whole Christmas Season and beyond. Love,
Cappy and Pegody aka Ray and Peggy
11.27.2006
11.26.2006
Thanksgiving Giving
Glenn and Veronica invited me to join their family this year for Thanksgiving. Glenn is a long time friend of Cappy's from out on the water. They had been on the same boat together, but he's a boat captain now, on another boat, so they don't get to see each other very often, but talk either on the cell phone, or on their boat radios as they pass by one another along the waterways. I apologize that my pictures didn't turn out the best...the lemon bars I made for them, for example; they look a little green and yechy. I made them from the lemons from our tree in the yard, the crust, which...grrr, rose to the top, was made from the pecans from our trees, and the sugar, most likely from the Domino's plant in New Orleans where the sugar cane which grows all around our neighborhood and town, is processed. I promise you they were gooood. I'd never made them before, but they tasted like lemon meringue pie, sans the meringue. I think the other pictures turned out great, tho. Glenn and Veronica are warm and fun people, and so is their family. As usual, I'm not that good at remembering names, so I forgot who is who, a lot of the time. The woman sitting at the table is Prisilla, and I really like her because she always has a smile on her face and has a merry laugh. I honestly can't, for the life of me remember the names of the other people in the room, except for maybe one of them, whom I was introduced to as "Fat Boy" (I'm blushing here...I hope it's ok to say on the blog) but I never really got his real name. A nephew's name was Bobby, who also makes his living out on the water driving a crewboat. He used to be an artist in NYC, went to clown school and was a professional clown named Bo-Beaux (pronounced Bo-Bo) as per the Cajun French spelling down in this area...pretty cool, eh? The doggy who is mooching turkey morsels is Rufus. What a SWEET boy! If I coulda brought him home with me, I woulda, but his people parents wouldn't let me; they are attached to him the same way I am to my 'boys'. Oh, rats, as usual, the blogger got the pictures in the order it wanted them, and not the way I intended. The deep-fried turkey ended up down in the cow pasture pictures below.
After dinner, most of the guests left, so Glenn and Veronica took me out to show me their beautiful cows. You can tell these are their 'babies', too. They were so gentle and soft to the touch. If I hadn't been wearing black dress clothes,instead of blue jeans, which I swear I will be wearing next time, I would have had my arms around the necks of some of them.
Giggling....some cute 'smarty-pants' teenager was teasing Bryleigh, so she told them, "Talk to da hannnnd."
One of their son's, Phillip and his wife, who is expecting their second child in the Spring, live on the same property in a gorgeous 'double-wide'...castle, as I put it. They lost their other home last year when right after hurricane Katrina blasted the New Orleans area, Hurricane Rita destroyed so much property in South-West Louisiana. The tiny FEMA trailor, which they had to live in until their new home arrived, still sits outside in their driveway waiting for FEMA to come back and pick it up. I didn't get the opportunity to get Phillip's wife, Rackel's picture, as she had a lot of family and friends visiting, and we kinda/sorta barged into the scene so I could get a grand tour. It's VERY nice.
Phillip and Rackel's daughter is Bryleigh, who is 3 years old. She was tired and cranky that day, doing a fine job of being a three-year old. When we got into Phillip's house, it sounded like a child was screaming the paint off the walls, but three seconds later, in her grandmother's arms (Veronica) she, all of a sudden the sweetest, prettiest little girl. Veronica, says, "Oh yeah. She's spoiled for sure." She just wanted her Grandma. I know how she feels sometimes. I'd still like to climb up on my grandma's big cozy lap on some days.
One of their son's, Phillip and his wife, who is expecting their second child in the Spring, live on the same property in a gorgeous 'double-wide'...castle, as I put it. They lost their other home last year when right after hurricane Katrina blasted the New Orleans area, Hurricane Rita destroyed so much property in South-West Louisiana. The tiny FEMA trailor, which they had to live in until their new home arrived, still sits outside in their driveway waiting for FEMA to come back and pick it up. I didn't get the opportunity to get Phillip's wife, Rackel's picture, as she had a lot of family and friends visiting, and we kinda/sorta barged into the scene so I could get a grand tour. It's VERY nice.
Phillip and Rackel's daughter is Bryleigh, who is 3 years old. She was tired and cranky that day, doing a fine job of being a three-year old. When we got into Phillip's house, it sounded like a child was screaming the paint off the walls, but three seconds later, in her grandmother's arms (Veronica) she, all of a sudden the sweetest, prettiest little girl. Veronica, says, "Oh yeah. She's spoiled for sure." She just wanted her Grandma. I know how she feels sometimes. I'd still like to climb up on my grandma's big cozy lap on some days.
Above there, somewhere in the group of pictures, Glenn is picking me some citrus from their orchard. They put ours to shame. Look at the grapefruit, tangerines and satsuma oranges. Up north, if someone offers you tomatoes, you are tempted to raise one eyebrow and ask, "How many zucchini do I have to take before I can have the tomatoes?" Up north, in my old neck of the woods, they grew to be the size of cavemen's clubs and you just couldn't give them away. Some pranksters were known to leave a sack of them on someone's doorstep, ring the doorbell and run away. (and NO, I didn't do that :-P) Down here, when the season is just right, folks are knee-deep in citrus, and I'm fending off Satsuma oranges. But, AHA! Right now, they are just coming into their own...even in our yard, but Cappy said to save them for our kids, sooo, when Glenn and Veronica gave me a sack of their latest produce, those oranges were really the cherry on top of the whole wonderful Thanksgiving Day.
11.22.2006
I'm Thankful For You.
If I had eight LONG arms, I'd use them to hug you from here. I'd also use them to try to get more accomplished more quickly. Multi-tasking as Cappy calls it. I've been neglecting my blogging duties to try to make some Christmas gifts. I'm almost finished. Above is a pic I had to crop out of a picture that Cappy had taken of the doggies when he was home. I had made this octopus, named Olivia for Cappy's neice, Claire, then wrapped it before taking a nice sharp picture. (For some reason, they don't frequent our blog, so no danger of her seeing this.) I also made a lap quilt for Ray's Mom, a frilly lace Christmas pillow for a family friend in NYS, sundry other little projects and some of the Christmas tree ornaments I like to make, below, which will find their way to friends' homes.
This Thanksgiving I wanted to tell you how much you are appreciated. When Cappy and I first started writing about things in our little part of the world, we had no idea that anyone, outside of family would be interested. As it happens, not too many family members are all that interested. (giggling here....maybe it's cuz they know us well enough from just being related to us :oP) The 'kids' in western NY keep up, tho. What has really touched our hearts is you. So many of you encourage us; take an interest in our silly or serious, the proverbial sublime or ridiculous situations in which we find ourselves. But, through it all, we've gotta laugh, and knowing you laugh with us lets us know we are not alone. You also cry with us. It's come to our knowledge that one of our dear 'family' members has passed. We will be writing about it soon. It broke our heart to learn that someone, whom we've never met, read our blog, and kept up with goings on at our sister website, CajunCousins.net. That is amazing enough, but he kind of made a 'science' out of trying quite a few of the recipes in the Kitchen part of CajunCousins. He had me beat there. We cry for the loss his family is suffering; the ache in their hearts this Holiday season. It's a loss for us, knowing we'll never have a chance to 'hug his neck' in person. Maybe at some point, we could meet his family. One just never knows.
I admit, I can get kind of blue around this time of year, anyhow, with Cappy out on the boat. We celebrated our Thanksgiving a few weeks, ago...but still. Yesterday at the post office, Ms. Bev told me that recently while her mother was in the hospital, and passed, that to help take her mind off her mother's suffering, perhaps, she'd come read our latest blatherings. (well, she didn't put it that way.) She said it helped lift her spirits. She has no idea how much she lifted my spirits just then, when I really needed it. I just want to say again, Thank You, our regular friend, for your being there for us. Please have a wonderful 'Turkey Day' and take good care of yourself. Hugs.
P.S. Hey! I got invited to Thankgiving Dinner tomorrow, an' I'm goin'!
This Thanksgiving I wanted to tell you how much you are appreciated. When Cappy and I first started writing about things in our little part of the world, we had no idea that anyone, outside of family would be interested. As it happens, not too many family members are all that interested. (giggling here....maybe it's cuz they know us well enough from just being related to us :oP) The 'kids' in western NY keep up, tho. What has really touched our hearts is you. So many of you encourage us; take an interest in our silly or serious, the proverbial sublime or ridiculous situations in which we find ourselves. But, through it all, we've gotta laugh, and knowing you laugh with us lets us know we are not alone. You also cry with us. It's come to our knowledge that one of our dear 'family' members has passed. We will be writing about it soon. It broke our heart to learn that someone, whom we've never met, read our blog, and kept up with goings on at our sister website, CajunCousins.net. That is amazing enough, but he kind of made a 'science' out of trying quite a few of the recipes in the Kitchen part of CajunCousins. He had me beat there. We cry for the loss his family is suffering; the ache in their hearts this Holiday season. It's a loss for us, knowing we'll never have a chance to 'hug his neck' in person. Maybe at some point, we could meet his family. One just never knows.
I admit, I can get kind of blue around this time of year, anyhow, with Cappy out on the boat. We celebrated our Thanksgiving a few weeks, ago...but still. Yesterday at the post office, Ms. Bev told me that recently while her mother was in the hospital, and passed, that to help take her mind off her mother's suffering, perhaps, she'd come read our latest blatherings. (well, she didn't put it that way.) She said it helped lift her spirits. She has no idea how much she lifted my spirits just then, when I really needed it. I just want to say again, Thank You, our regular friend, for your being there for us. Please have a wonderful 'Turkey Day' and take good care of yourself. Hugs.
P.S. Hey! I got invited to Thankgiving Dinner tomorrow, an' I'm goin'!
Lots of People Have Been Asking Us to Do This AGAIN.
HOW TO FRY TURKEYS
1# So What Makes Us Experts
We’re not sure who invented frying turkeys, but would be willing to guess it was a Cajun. Our family has been frying turkeys for no less than twenty years. We’ve fried literally hundreds of them,and like good chubby Cajuns everywhere, when we are not frying turkeys, we are often standing around discussing possible techniques, innovations or improvements to the art of turkey frying. Over the years our turkey frying techniques have evolved to what we consider today to be a simple easy goof-proof, relatively safe technique to produce a tasty turkey.
Selecting Your Turkey
When selecting a turkey for frying, it is highly recommend you keep in mind, that smaller is better. It’s much better to fry two 12 lb turkeys than 1 20+ lb bird. The smaller birds are much less particular about their frying temperature, and much less apt to burn on the outside before being done on the inside. We recommend t hat you fry a bird from 12-16 lbs.
Preparing Your Turkey
Thaw out your bird at least 24 hours in advance. Remove him from the pkg...please don’t forget to remove the plastic or metal ‘thingys’ that hold the legs in place and the giblets from BOTH ends of the turkey. Drain and dry your turkey thoroughly, patting with paper towels to remove all moisture, inside and out. We recommend folding and tucking the wing-tips under.
Seasoning Your Turkey
When it comes to seasoning your turkey, there are literally hundreds of injection-style marinades on the market. Everything from exotic flavors, all the way down to a large variety of Cajun-style injections. Feel free to use the one of your choice, as a rule, they are all quite tasty. We make our own injection consisting of melted butter, onion and garlic juice and our own Cajun seasoning mix. We usually warm our injection mix in a small pot over low heat to infuse the spices evenly through the liquid, then cool before injecting. Large plastic injection syringes can be purchased at most any large grocery store or restaurant supply store and many of the store bought injection marinades come with the syringe included.
Most marinades come with a set of instructions. But if you plan on ‘winging’ it or improvising , here’s how we do it. We insert one full syringe at several different injections points on each side of the breast. We then use one full syringe per leg and thigh quarter. Then turn the bird breast side down and insert another full syringe on the back and wings, don’t forget to put a little in the wing tips.
Optional dry seasoning rub : We also rub the outside, inner body cavity of the turkey with our own dry Cajun seasoning, but there are several dry Cajun seasoning mixes commercially available. Use your favorite. Two of what we consider to be the better commercially available versions are Tony Chachere’s and Zatarains Cajun Seasoning. To apply the dry rub, we rub the turkey with softened butter, outside and inside both body cavities. And then rub in our dry seasoning mix, to taste.
*Note, some people recommend lifting the turkey skin from his breast and inserting the dry mix between the skin and the breast. If you choose to do this, be very careful not to tear the skin.
When your turkey is seasoned it should rest/marinate a minimum of six hours before frying, preferably overnight, in the fridge. This allows the seasoning to permeate evenly throughout the bird, giving a consistent flavor. We’ve seen turkey’s fried without enough marinating time that had strong pockets of spice next to bland meat. We can’t stress the importance enough of letting the spices marinate.
Frying the Turkey
CAUTION! This should not be done indoors! It's also strongly suggested that it not be done under any roof, as some inexperienced cookers using the wrong equipment, or putting a COLD turkey in hot oil, have set their porch roofs on fire.
Take your turkey out of the fridge several hours before cooking it to allow it to warm to room temp before frying. Trust us! You do not want to put a near frozen bird in a pot of hot oil!!!
Heat your oil, monitoring the temp closely with a cooking thermometer to 350 degrees F. Ease your turkey VERY slowly into the hot oil. Maintain a cooking temp of 325 degrees. It’s very important that the temp of the oil does not go below 300 degrees for any length of time! If it stays below 300 for any length of time, it will cause the turkey to absorb some oil, making it greasy tasting.
When it comes to cooking time, a good rule of thumb is to fry your bird for three minutes a pound. You can check by inserting a meat thermometer into the thick part of the breast or thigh, being careful not to touch the bones. The thermometer should read 160 F. (Keep in mind it will go up a few degrees when the turkey is removed from the oil.) Let the turkey stand or rest a minimum of 15 minutes before carving. We hope you enjoy...let us know what you think.(More information and updates will follow, such as suggested equipment and safe frying techniques.) Cappy and Pegody
11.15.2006
I Want One of DOZE
Boy, didn't our Cappy do a great job of posting when he was home. I've been kinda lax, I know. I've been making things for Christmas gifts and for some reason not getting enough sleep, which makes me hesitant to blog with a foggy brain. I'm sitting here sipping my one decadent cup of rich, sweet Irish Cream freshly ground (whoo hoo) cofffffeeee. It aint helpin'. I've been staying up keeping Cappy company all night on our cell phones; maybe (duh) that has something to do with my staggering around half asleep. Last night there were many strong storms blowing through the area. Tornado warnings amundo. Sadly, one man was killed, and several homes and mobil homes were badly damaged. None in our immediate area.
Around six a.m. with bad lightening still cracking and rain blowing sideways, I hadda try to get some sleep. An hour later the "garbage guys", who have to be admired for their wherewithal, rumbled their big truck down our street and loudly screeched to a stop ten feet from my bed. I punched the pillow a few times and tried to doze off again. About half an hour later, the dogs thought they had to go out. I hitched Raleigh to his leash (he is not trained yet to stay in the yard and gets into trouble, running amok if not leashed), used sundry pieces of furniture each as a cane to keep me upright as I hobbled through the house to the back door, flung it open and walked out into a lake on the carport in my barefeet, soaking up half of said lake in the hems of my pajamas. The dogs stood behind me in the doorway surveying the scene, refusing to become a part of it. Getting a better look, myself, I noticed that pots and plants and a big metal 'screen' had fallen down. It was a mess out there for sure, and there I stood in the middle of it. None of them wanted a part of it and decided they wanted to finish their naps before going out after all. "Gee, thanks, guys". I turned on the tv and flopped onto the couch, thinking I could fall asleep there. I was just getting back into this nice dream where Cappy and I were at a wedding reception, when the phone rang. Twice, then just as I about got ahold of it, it stopped. Snuggled back in. Sighhhh. The cell phone rang and quit right away. Dang. "If they ring again, I'm not answering." They rang. I let the answering machine get it....two times, but nobody left a message. The cell phone rang two more times, so I answered it and talked with a chipper Cappy, who is having just a wonderful morning on three refreshing hours of sleep. It was the first time he'd called, so I dunno who else I wanted to throttle about then.
Welllll, the coffee's good anyhow. I'm up and dressed. Sitting here staring blankly at this screen, wondering what the heck all the green writing is that I just filled it with.
I think Cappy wanted me to write ya'll about the wedding for his neice we attended last week in Mississippi, (blearily peering closely at the monitor...did I get enough i's and s's in there?) so I'll put a link on here for you to see some pictures anyhow. I have a couple of blogs that really need posting, but I'll do what when the 'fog' clears. http://cajuncousins.photosite.com/tawed/tawedr/
Around six a.m. with bad lightening still cracking and rain blowing sideways, I hadda try to get some sleep. An hour later the "garbage guys", who have to be admired for their wherewithal, rumbled their big truck down our street and loudly screeched to a stop ten feet from my bed. I punched the pillow a few times and tried to doze off again. About half an hour later, the dogs thought they had to go out. I hitched Raleigh to his leash (he is not trained yet to stay in the yard and gets into trouble, running amok if not leashed), used sundry pieces of furniture each as a cane to keep me upright as I hobbled through the house to the back door, flung it open and walked out into a lake on the carport in my barefeet, soaking up half of said lake in the hems of my pajamas. The dogs stood behind me in the doorway surveying the scene, refusing to become a part of it. Getting a better look, myself, I noticed that pots and plants and a big metal 'screen' had fallen down. It was a mess out there for sure, and there I stood in the middle of it. None of them wanted a part of it and decided they wanted to finish their naps before going out after all. "Gee, thanks, guys". I turned on the tv and flopped onto the couch, thinking I could fall asleep there. I was just getting back into this nice dream where Cappy and I were at a wedding reception, when the phone rang. Twice, then just as I about got ahold of it, it stopped. Snuggled back in. Sighhhh. The cell phone rang and quit right away. Dang. "If they ring again, I'm not answering." They rang. I let the answering machine get it....two times, but nobody left a message. The cell phone rang two more times, so I answered it and talked with a chipper Cappy, who is having just a wonderful morning on three refreshing hours of sleep. It was the first time he'd called, so I dunno who else I wanted to throttle about then.
Welllll, the coffee's good anyhow. I'm up and dressed. Sitting here staring blankly at this screen, wondering what the heck all the green writing is that I just filled it with.
I think Cappy wanted me to write ya'll about the wedding for his neice we attended last week in Mississippi, (blearily peering closely at the monitor...did I get enough i's and s's in there?) so I'll put a link on here for you to see some pictures anyhow. I have a couple of blogs that really need posting, but I'll do what when the 'fog' clears. http://cajuncousins.photosite.com/tawed/tawedr/
11.09.2006
The Ridges of Raleigh
Sighhh....I guess we are big dummies or something. He's back. We tried finding him a good home; we put flyers up everywhere, tried talking other people into taking this good boy; for three weeks we tried and finally paid $30 to take him to a reputable animal shelter. The people there tried to get him into a loving home, but because he had been abused, he was so shy, when introduced to propective owners, that he cowered and shook. Maybe they didn't like the way his ears each listen to the beat of different drummers or something. Anyway, we told them to call us when his 'number was up'. They called. Decisions. Actually, there was no decision. He's a good dawg. Soooo, Cappy told me to go on and bring him home. I raced back over with a fistful of another 50 bucks to claim owenership of him. At first Raleigh acted like one of those neglected elderly nursing home residents who, when you first visit them, don't seem to register who you are, and seem slow on the uptake. I got down on my hands and knees and spoke softly into his ear, "Raleigh....Ra-aaaa-liegh, you wanna come home??" Suddenly everybody standing above me said in unison, "Ahhh, there it is...yep...see his tail?" Geepers, I hadn't even been aware of anyone else when they brought him out and I practically fell on him and hugged him. Kind of embarrassed, I stood up and looked at his tail; it was definitely up and slowly wagging. Usually it would be tucked tightly under him. Cappy was waiting at home to meet him, 'babysitting' with SparkyBear and MarkyBear. Cappy had been out on the boat during the whole time I had sought his owners, then took him to the shelter, and hadn't even laid eyes on his new dog. When I paid for him, got him home, Cappy and Raleigh had an immediate 'understanding', as Cappy calls it. This dog, who had been terrified practically the whole time he was with me before, trying to get over whatever trauma had brought him to our neighborhood in the first place, was now 'smiling' and 'hugging' Cappy and following him everywhere, coming whenever Cappy whistled for him.
How did we name him Raleigh in the first place? We had been driving home from NYS, and in awe of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. I was tired of the long drive and just wanted to get where we were going, but the road kept rolling on ahead of us for what seemed like forever. I thought we'd never get to Raleigh, and kept seeing the signs, Raleigh 154 miles, Raleigh 120 miles, and on and on. I hadn't realized we were traveling 'sideways' along the state, the LONG way. I kept muttering,"Raleigh, Raleigh... are we ever going to get past Raleigh??" I guess I had all this on my mind, cuz when we got home and Cappy went back out on the boat, this Rhodesian Ridgeback dog showed up looking for a home and what do we call him? "Raleigh-Rolly". We are still saying, despite everything, that if we find someone who would love him and give him a good home, he could be theirs. I had to laugh yesterday because Cappy's sister said that he's kind of like Cinderella waiting for her prince to rescue her, putting up with two mean 'step-sisters' aka these bratty Bichons who 'yell' at him, snapping and snarling if he tries to play with their toys or get any attention they think they should be getting, instead of him. They thought he was gone and were glad about it, and now, to their aggravation, he is back.
Oh sure, they'll let him have this "Dirty Rotten Kitty" toy, cuz they don't like it, and now it looks as though even this toy doesn't wanna be nice to him or share the bed with pore ol' Raleigh-Rolly.
I happen to know 'Santa Claus' (see current pictures of Cappy), so if you'd like the perfect dog, neutered, gentle, protective, housebroken and loyal, oh, and with one lop-ear, have we got a dawg for you! If not, well, you get the picture.
How did we name him Raleigh in the first place? We had been driving home from NYS, and in awe of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia and North Carolina. I was tired of the long drive and just wanted to get where we were going, but the road kept rolling on ahead of us for what seemed like forever. I thought we'd never get to Raleigh, and kept seeing the signs, Raleigh 154 miles, Raleigh 120 miles, and on and on. I hadn't realized we were traveling 'sideways' along the state, the LONG way. I kept muttering,"Raleigh, Raleigh... are we ever going to get past Raleigh??" I guess I had all this on my mind, cuz when we got home and Cappy went back out on the boat, this Rhodesian Ridgeback dog showed up looking for a home and what do we call him? "Raleigh-Rolly". We are still saying, despite everything, that if we find someone who would love him and give him a good home, he could be theirs. I had to laugh yesterday because Cappy's sister said that he's kind of like Cinderella waiting for her prince to rescue her, putting up with two mean 'step-sisters' aka these bratty Bichons who 'yell' at him, snapping and snarling if he tries to play with their toys or get any attention they think they should be getting, instead of him. They thought he was gone and were glad about it, and now, to their aggravation, he is back.
Oh sure, they'll let him have this "Dirty Rotten Kitty" toy, cuz they don't like it, and now it looks as though even this toy doesn't wanna be nice to him or share the bed with pore ol' Raleigh-Rolly.
I happen to know 'Santa Claus' (see current pictures of Cappy), so if you'd like the perfect dog, neutered, gentle, protective, housebroken and loyal, oh, and with one lop-ear, have we got a dawg for you! If not, well, you get the picture.
11.08.2006
Time Home Grows Short
Playtime is almost over and the time for this chubby Cajun to ship out for a month and pay the bills is almost upon us. I always kick up my heels a lil 2 days before I go out. It's like a last hurrah. We use the last day to lounge around relax and get all the cuddlin we can done fore I leave. So, last night we fired up the pit, put the blues blaring and had our weekly bbq. I had a few beers, Peggy with a glass or 2 of wine, and were it not for her sore knee I'm sure we woulda been dancing on the patio. It was a very fun filled 2 weeks and I carry plenty great memories with me to keep me company on those long nights at work.
11.07.2006
Stormy Night Last Night
Last night the weather got just like our cookin'; kinda spicy. A nice storm came through with a hard wind and rain, then this morning every thing was all fresh smellin', although a lil damp. The wind really did whip and when Peg and I got back from voting and eating lunch at one of our favorite lil joints we discovered that one of our banana palms had fallen over in the storm. It had broken over the fence in the wind and lay in the neighbor's yard. I had to chop it into pieces, pass it over da fence where Peg was waiting to haul it to the compost heap. The bunch of bananas I saved may be big enough to ripen on their own, so I lashed em to the patio to hang there and try to ripen. The other bunch (pictured in an earlier blog) not being as mature, wasn't as heavy and survived the storm intact. The storm also knocked down several lbs. of pecans, which we gathered up. We already have a nice bunch shelled, and I toasted some today for snacking. I made my famous brown suger and spicy Cajun roasted pecans, and judging from Peggy's reaction, they came out pretty good. Thank God, we are free of those @#$^$%&(sailor term)squirrels.
11.06.2006
MONDAY MORNINGS
We pried ourselves outa bed this morning at the crack of 9. Yawning,stretching, scratching,moaning, sniffing, etc. and hobbled around trying to get our "motors " running. I limped into the kitchen to find Peg standing at the coffee pot with a fuzzy look in her eyes. She remarked "ya know, ya really need a cup of coffee to make coffee in the mornings sometimes". I had to think bout that one for awhile. I guess our slugishness this morning is due to all the wonderful fun we had this weekend. The wedding was great(more later) and it's always great seeing family and friends and meeting new relations. We had a great time. I offer this lil post in way of explanation. We have been very busy and haven't had time to do anything much. We got home yesterday afternoon, crashed on the couch and peeled some pecans while sitting there relaxin'. We planning to catch up today with a big ole pot of Monday beans on the stove. We will attempt to catch up on blogs and care packages promised etc.
11.03.2006
Ding Dong the Squirrels R Gone, Which Ol' Squirrels; the Wicked Squirrels...
Those of you who follow dis lil rant, errrr....blog of our Happy Life, may recall the great pecan-squirrel saga of past years. For those of you new to our lil world, look it up in our archives. If ya too rushed, uninterested or lazy to research the bowels of this tome, here is a greatly abbreviated,though,far less entertaining background report: We have 2 small pecan trees in our yard that we baby, pamper,and pray over every year, eagerly anticipating the fruits,(in this case nuts) of our labor. In years past, our entire nut crop ('bout 15 lbs or so) has been wiped out by armies of marauding squirrels. We shook our fist at 'em,cussed 'em, and in short, did everything shy of breakin' out da ol' 12-gauge and sending 'em to squirelly heaven.(that was the quickly approaching last resort.) Well, anyways, during our vacation/evacuation/hurricane road trip last year, the neighbors banded together and removed every last squirrel in da neighborhood. We have several theories bout dat, but prefer not to ask. I mean, let's let sleeping squirrels lie and not open that can of worms, if we don't have to.
At any rate, the results of the afore-mentioned squirrelly eradication can be readily observed in the basket, pictured above. Now every morning Peg and I joyfully skip into the yard frolicking about, like kids at an Easter egg hunt, gathering our much anticipated nut crop. Pause for a moment and picture that, in yo head: 2 chubby Cajun grandparents "frolicking about gatherin' nuts". If dat don't make ya smile it's prolly cause ya picture it as it actually happens. Wit my bad knee,sore ankles and stiff joints, it's more like a creaking, groaning, cussing, beer-bellied morning stretch than a frolic. At any rate we are happy to report that the brisk Fall winds of the last few days are bringing us an average of 20 or more nuts a day, and already visions of pralines are dancing in our heads.
At any rate, the results of the afore-mentioned squirrelly eradication can be readily observed in the basket, pictured above. Now every morning Peg and I joyfully skip into the yard frolicking about, like kids at an Easter egg hunt, gathering our much anticipated nut crop. Pause for a moment and picture that, in yo head: 2 chubby Cajun grandparents "frolicking about gatherin' nuts". If dat don't make ya smile it's prolly cause ya picture it as it actually happens. Wit my bad knee,sore ankles and stiff joints, it's more like a creaking, groaning, cussing, beer-bellied morning stretch than a frolic. At any rate we are happy to report that the brisk Fall winds of the last few days are bringing us an average of 20 or more nuts a day, and already visions of pralines are dancing in our heads.
11.02.2006
We Went Fishing(lack of a better word) Today
Well, it got to the point where we either had to go fishing or set the night-crawlers that had been living in our fridge for the last 3 days, free. The corner grocery where we buy our bait is kinda on the outskirts of town. We planned a trip to the ole fishin' hole sometime this week, so when we passed by we picked up some worms in a lil styrofoam box. They keep 'em in the cooler (more on that later) in a kind of hibernation and they stay quite happy in your fridge for up to 5 days. Anyways, for the amount of bites we had, we could'a been sittin' out there without the @#$*%@%$(sailor term) worms. Not a nibble for 3 hours. We didn't complain though, cause the saying "It's hard to beat even a bad day fishing" is certainly true. We relaxed on this cool, breezy Fall day and really had fun; thas what 'joie de vie' is all about. On the way home we were treated to a sure sign of Fall in south-east Louisiana; the smell of burning sugar cane. They are beginning to harvest the cane and will continue harvesting and grinding through New Years. When they burn the leaves off the cane they pick a dry, windy day like today and the whole area smells of burning leaves, its a nice arouma. That made for a nice ending to a very pleasent (even though fishless) day.
Hi, Peggy adding my 2 cents. When I first moved to our town from western NY, Cappy warned me that during the harvest season, that the whole sky would be filled with smoke, so I was prepared. Cappy's sister, Maria, told me that when she first came to our little town during harvest one year, it scared her because she said it looked as though the whole world was on fire. In NY State when I was a child, people, as a matter of course in the Fall, would burn the leaves that fell in their yards. Now of, course, that's against the law. I was surprised that the sugar cane industry burned the leaves of their cane in the process of harvesting. The cane farmers are starting to use the newer equipment which is out-dating the burning way of collecting the sugar cane, but it's an expensive proposition. Now every year when I see what looks, as his sister said, as though the whole world is on fire, it's rather exciting. Fall is here, the farmers have the many, many fires under control, as they have had for generations, and just seeing tremendously huge clouds quickly filling the crystal blue sky is jaw-dropping and amazing when it takes you off-guard. As good as Cappy is at taking pictures, these just don't show how massive and fast-moving the billowing clouds of smoke is.
As a post note, do us a favor and leave us a comment every once and awhile. Tell us what ya think or just say "Hi". It feels like we just ranting to ourselves sometimes an a lil feedback is very inspirational and gives us the will to blog.
11.01.2006
HALLOWEEN IN OUR WORLD
We had a great group of Trick or Treaters this year. Since I (Cappy) miss so many Halloweens, ya might say I go overboard on the candy, but hey, I gotta make up for lost time, don't I? Peg raises an eye-brow as I load the shopping cart with candies and goodies, but she forgets that I have big ole 'Cappy hands' and can dole out quite a bit of candies in one paw-full. Not only that, but I always buy an extra bag of her favorites, knowing they will never survive in the cabinet to see Halloween night. As luck would have it, our outside flood light, in an evil twist of fate, picked that moment to burn out, and me with no spares. Not to be detered, however, Peg took a cue from one of the neighbors, who had tiki torches blazing around their front door, and rousted out an old candelabra and set it in a dormant window box. The effect was so cool, we think we will do it again next year. Well, it was hard to tell who had the most fun; the kids, me handing out candy, Peg taking pictures, or the dogs laughing, barking and terrorizin' the kids. It was a great night and now I have good memories to carry with me through the next few Halloweens that I will prolly miss on da boat. It's ok though, the trick is to pack as much fun as ya possibly can into the time that you have. Thats the way we try to live our lives. The treat is to see pictures of the kids that came to our door, and to do that, click on the title of this post. Here's hoping you all had a fun Halloween as well.