BIG RAINS - IRS 87K - BE NOT AFRAID - WHEELBARROW PROJECT - BITS AND PIECES

Nine and a half inches of rain measured here in 36 hours, give or take.

Some places inside Dallas received 15 inches of rain.  

East Texas has been dry and I have alluded to that too many times over the past 3-4 months. The ground around our home soaked up this water instantly and there were few puddles leftover. The local fields, trees and hay fields have turned a wonderful shade of green in just a few days. Local ponds/pools have also shown some rise in water levels. A good start to fall. More on/off rain showers now in the forecasts. 

Local farmers are voicing their optimism for one more cutting of hay this season. Another cutting and bailing of hay will go a long ways to help farmers/ranchers get though winter. Will also offer improved grazing for cattle now. Hope!!

And then: visiting with a good friend and neighbor recently, he told me that the neighbor who lives to the east of us has Army Worms in his fields. He said he drove his fields that day and did not see any, but did go to town to get product to spray his fields. He told me that army aorms can clean the grass leaves off a field like a fire. 

The drought was not enough for Mother Nature to throw at our farmers. Now with rains and cooler weather, come the Army worms.

Farming: constantly under attack. But these men and women keep marching on day after day with out pissing and moaning.  

FISH OUT OF WATER

IRS Training Film

This video has surfaced on a few of the sites I visit. I have watched it several times and can come to no more of a reaction than curious and educational. Folks look out of their element to me.

I find the video telling on so many levels if it is indeed a real IRS training video. I have spent most of my watching time looking at individuals and the training site and trainers. Just watching them, individually and collectively. 

And if you too have watched this, I am guessing that a few dozen immediate questions pop up. And after all of the questions are wrestled with, I spend time on wondering how much more training is needed in every frame of that video. My doubt is that those folks may rise as high in their training as to be more dangerous to themselves than to others. But also appears to me that these folks are being trained using force/lethal force as the initial physical action to any IRS inquiry mission they will be sent on. Eighty seven thousand new IRS agent is 1700 + per state. Ten to a squad, 170 squads available per state. Math just for fun!!

Google "new IRS agent training." You will find that the video and photos are in question. IRS AGENTS FOR A DAY  ...take a moment to read article. If nothing else, the photos are just fun to look at. Do more research, ask questions and keep an eye on how all of this is progressing. 

What is really going on? Like everything else in any/all media, who knows the truth. But 87,000 is the number. If the IRS plans to recruit from our nations colleges.....no, I do not want to go down this rabbit hole. Well I do, but am not going to. 

If you own an ice cream shop, pay your taxes!! You and fellow store owners just may be in the crosshairs. Who is not?  

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BE NOT AFRAID

From Busted Knuckles blog site. Scroll down to the "Be not afraid" quick video. 

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WHEELBARROW PROJECT

Nearing completion of her wheelbarrow project. She found an old wheel and asked if I could make her an old time wheelbarrow for a front yard flower pot display. 

I am using some pressure treated fencing for the box and we are deciding "to paint/not to paint" before final assembly. Regardless, she will have her new reproduction "antique wheelbarrow" NLT mid-week. 

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THE MIRICALE OF RAIN

Chives have come back to life full-tilt.

Ornamental peppers, too. New blossoms and full green.

Boxwood trees, not so much. The only thing I can assume here is that they may have been waterboarded from the long hard rain last week. I am going to leave them alone and see how they do over time. 

Visiting youngster. See momma in the back ground?

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DEVOURING PEAR TREE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Sent from a former neighbor but still friend in New Hampshire. The porcupine has a baby and is being coped with.

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TRACTOR PULL failures

TRACTOR PULL success 

Like a car wreck, I just keep watching.  

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EXCELLENT ADVICE   from Raconteur Report blog spot. 

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THIS MORNING BISCUIT FOR ONE. 

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What will September bring? Then October and then elections. Yep, I think of these things. 

Thanks for the visit. I appreciate. Heads up as always, keep filling the cupboards. A little here a little there. Skill sets!! 

Have a blessed week.

EAST TEXAS RAIN - SHORT POST

Three months of drought. Triple digit temperatures. Starting later today, three inches of rain forecasted. A few hours of steady rain a couple days ago and with that, moments of relief and hopes of local cattleman and farmers getting in one more mowing of hay. 

Local gardener says her plants are telling her that fall has already arrived. Everyone is ready for this official weather change. 

Cloud cover and lower temperatures are heaven, just heaven. 

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DANCING FUN 

SALT AND TAR this past week. If you are in a rush, start at the 12 minute mark and watch till the end. Good stuff. 

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Chores and projects this past week. Life stuff. Short post.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed week. 

THUNDERSTORM - 4RUNNER REBUILD PICS - SALT AND TAR EPISODE - WINTRER IS COMING FROM RUSSIA

Young thunderstorm, small, quick build and dissipate. There has been some rain over the past week all around us. Not a drop here. 

Local pond bone dry. First time in 45 years. Fish re-located a few weeks ago and the bottom of the pond scraped and set aside for garden soil.

Too early to predict a permanent break in the weather, but ten-day forecast shows a daily cooling trend of ten degrees and the first serious rain forecast in the past two months. We pray for rain for the local fields in hopes of farmers being able to get in one more cut of hay. Maybe one more harvest largest enough for herds of cattle to get through the winter. Also raises our hopes for a second planting for fall gardens.

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Older 4Runner frame-off restoration photo updates.  

Gonna be a head-turner when all is said and done. 

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"A beamy girl....look at those hips"

 Salt and Tar    their adventure continues. A wonderful weekly update in this crazy world. 

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FROM RUSSIA.

Not a day goes by where I do not think that nothing can surprise me. And every day I find I am wrong. Yea, I just shake my head and smirk at this ad. 

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Company's coming! Said.."fry up some chicken."

...and it was good!! 

Come to find out as we discuss the days of old and fried chicken, everyone has the same family chicken frying memories growing up as a youngster. Moms using the same simple dipped-in-flour and pan frying method. Same cream gravy from the frying pan dregs; a must!!

Dig in, legs on the bottom.

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Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week. 

THE WHOLE CHICKEN

Lets start here: How to cut up a whole chicken. 

A good instructional video for learning. She does not, however, cover the mess from getting the whole chicken out of the bag, "de-juiced" and cleanly onto a cutting board. 

This is not my first whole chicken rodeo, but it has been so many years that I needed to start over and learn a few of the tricks. 

All for the wanting of mothers' (our mothers) fried chicken and to see if we can re-create the flavors and what we learned from our parents and grandparents cooking in the kitchen. 

Five and half pounds, 7 bucks. The prices are going up and at times chicken counters are bare. Depends on the day and the grocery chain store or local store. The whole chicken, like the days of old, is still a go to food source that stretches the dollar. And chicken is still a comfort food too.

Patio cooking station where the afternoon temperatures hover around 105 degrees. So, this particular whole chicken was parted out and cooked early in the morning. Smaller stainless steel frying pan, stock pot, very sharp knife and a big wooden cutting board with juice groove. One wet rag, a dry rag, paper towels and a lined garbage can at my feet. Single butane burner.

My wife has been in one of her granola, homemade bread, large meatloaf and a batch of oatmeal cookie tears and the kitchen has been spoken for this past week. I do like my outdoor prepping and cooking island. 

Paper bag with flour and generous portions of salt and pepper added. The chicken pieces went in the bag, the bag was shaken to fully coat the chicken and then each piece placed in the frying pan. Back then, the chicken was fried in Crisco oil. I will try this on my next chicken fry to see if I can replicate that full flavor memory. I bet I can. 

Quarter inch of cooking oil, chicken pieces dredged inside a flowered, salt/peppered paper bag and laid inside the hot grease. All frying done on medium heat +/-. A minute frying as seen above and then five minutes with the lid on. The heat inside the frying pan increases so  burner heat is lowered. I use the sound of the frying chicken as a guide. 

Turn chicken and repeat one minute uncovered and then covered for 5 minutes. Surprisingly, no splatter.

Large pieces fried first and set inside grill, set at about 300/350 degrees to drain and finish cooking. All in all, this whole chicken frying sequence took an hour. 

The chicken back was put in the stock pot and cooked for 90 minutes making a large pot of excellent stock. I used a little salt in the water. 

This was how mom fried chicken. Frying pan browning and initial cooking and then finished in the oven baking.

My wife's mother cooked 5 whole chickens every Sunday for the family of nine. Plenty for dinner plus each of her brothers and sisters got a piece of chicken in their packed school lunch. Her mother parted out 5 chickens every Sunday and cooked till done in an electric skillet, one turning and lid on until fully cooked.

Neighbor lady has similar memories with her mother frying family chicken in a cast iron skillet. 

Nothing fancy, some work in the preparation and working over a stove.

This is the only chicken I can eat the next day cold and the next day cold and the next day cold. Fry on Saturday and pack for a Sunday picnic lunch. Add cold drinks, potato salad and a bag of chips and it is heaven; pure heaven. 

Whole chickens in the 1950's/60's were affordable on a family budget.

Whole chickens in the 2022's are still affordable on a family budget. 

Fried chicken and chicken stock can be stretched into a couple meals depending on family size. And no one that I know has ever turned their nose up at homemade fried chicken. Ohhhhh, and yes, I did make white gravy with lots of black pepper and covered the mashed potatoes (from a pouch) next to a couple chicken legs on the dinner plate.

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I keep thinking that the east Texas heat wave is starting to turn around. But I know that is wishful. Ninety-nine weekly high degree temperature forecasts are not 102 degree forecasts. But I want a sign that the worm is turning yet this is a fine line between double digits and triple digits. 

Evening entertainment watching THE TERMINAL LIST concludes for us tonight. Season one. Ranked second behind YELLOSTONE in popularity. We have been swallowed up in the story. Of course the woke and rotten tomatoes ................. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it is what it is. Decide for ourselves, huh?

It is a great story, well-written and acted. And to get to see some payback where it is deserved is refreshing.

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Trying to get back into making videos is time-consuming. Most from trying to find good video editing software. I am wary of paying for one only to find it won't do what I need done. I have also learned that upgrading the free video editors I have been using has not helped. The upgrades have reduced the length of videos I can make in the product's push to get me to pay. Maybe uninstall what I have and look in new directions. Suggestions?

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Well into August '22 and the month will pass quickly. Marching closer and closer to elections, threats of more vaxxing, and questionable leadership.  Maybe moving closer to red flags and the reality of marshal law, me thinks.

Fry up some chicken, keep your heads up and continue getting ready.

Thanks for the visit and have a blessed week.    

COME AND TAKE IT