CLOUDS WELCOME - - BOKER AUTOMAT KALASHNIKOV 74 EDC - - DOG NOT DEAD

Along the back roads of East Texas. Fields meet sky mid afternoon. 

Simplicity of corn muffins to go with dinner. They keep in the heat, split in half with a poke of a fork and welcome soft butter. Each muffin maintains its warmth and crunch. Comfort muffins from mix; repeat.

When was the last time you caught 15 fish in one day?

MB3100-BRN 600 lumens LED motion detection light. I chose this one because it was the first one I picked up off the shelf. 

Thirty dollars and uses 4 "D" size batteries (good for one year, so they say). Screw in mounting bracket, plug and play. Light stays on for 20 seconds and gets two thumbs up in my need for nightlight book. The light comes back on for another 20 seconds from motion. Again and again.

Pocket knife is a Boker Automat Kalashnikov 74. Found it at a large gun show and the price was reasonable. The sales person said he only had two left. "I wonder how many times he said that during the show?"

This pocket knife has been EDC for the past 6 months and holds a razor sharp edge. One of the reasons I purchased the knife. And the reason my wife wants nothing to do with it. I have offered it to her to use when she has needed a knife for a simple cutting job, but always a polite, "no thank you."

Example: To this day, I cannot open plastic packed goods without having issue and getting P'Od. This pocket knife zips through the sides of this plastic product packaging easily and safely. Because it is razor sharp, all I have to do is control pressure and direction of cuts. The sharpness of the knife easily/safely moves through these tasks.

Another test, for what I consider to be a sharp pocket knife, is how many times I have to swipe through a piece of rope to make a cut. This knife is one swipe. 

The auto open is convenient as the other hand is often full when the knife is needed. Simple in design, comfortable in my hand and dependable function.

The Multi-Tool is one of several I have picked up at surplus stores. Not always on me, but usually close by. I find the plier mode most often used and in that use alone, worth having a few around the house and car.

(Yes, the stud finder works as advertised. First one I have ever used/owned)

As stated here before and often, the products I share are not an official endorsement. Just sharing stuff off the shelf that works for me.

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RIB EYE

Perfect sear keeps juices in and marbled fat turning crisp.

 

Two 14 oz. Raider Red Meats boneless ribeyes (Lubbock, TX.) gifted as a house warming gift over a month ago. They have been waiting patiently in the freezer.

Wiped the cast iron pan with oil, sprinkled salt on the bottom of the pan, medium heat to hot up the skillet and dropped in a steak. Two minutes each side. Then one minute turns till done. Wife is a 5-minute rare, mine 7-minute medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes a must. No other seasoning required.

By far the best ribeye steak I/we have ever had. Bar none!!

DOG NOT DEAD

The heat and humidity have returned. One hundred nine feel like weekend with humidity. Early to town, Farmer's Market, grocery store and home. 

A dog this relaxed in the middle of coming and going is a dog worth noting. Only when I got too close to photograph, did the dog half roll on its back, paws hanging loose in the air. Not even a full roll on his back submission move. Half hearted at best. 

As soon as I backed away the dog went back to soaking the cool out of the shade. 

Fresh string beans, baby red potatoes and many a "good mornin - - howya doing today". 

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The RNC 2020 convention, Hurricane Laura and Kyle Rittenhouse set the past weeks news to the history books.  

Your visit, as always, appreciated this week. Stay away from crowds.

SEEKING SHADE - NEVER-ENDING BACK COUNTRY - DOLLAR BANANA BREAD

 

111 degrees mid-afternoon, feel-like temperature. Neighbor's horses keep cool under a growth of trees. 

Early morning looking East.

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Settling in. 

For the most part, all is said and done moving to Texas. There will continue to be many little things to tend to, but our todays and tomorrows will be spent here. 

This past week saw our living room come together with rugs and furniture set in place. Guest bedrooms are set up, but continue to serve as storage for stuff to put away. Beds serve as flat surfaces to work from.  

We spend more time rocking in our chairs on the front porch here than all the previous years up north combined. Evenings are comfortably warm and we visit time away like water over a fall. We talk of life, living and chores of the next day. Who knew that husband and wife had a million little things to talk about for hours on end? The countryside always beckons for a road trip.

 

These flowers were tucked into a tree line on our way home from western towns. They are Fuchsia venusta and I do not know what new Blogger wants from now me when I try to post a link. So you will have to look it up until I figure it out.  

Eating out several times a week is a treat. Texas BBQ,  authentic Mexican from tucked away resturants and ice cream treats are appreciated.

We have found eateries w/o mask wearing issues and staff that welcomes us as regulars. These are small things, but in the current climate of social and protest meltdown, freedoms to live life every day are to be savored. 

 

All is quiet except for roosters talking near to far and small deer dancing in the large green pasture across the road.

We are learning how to find our corner of the world without using GPS. Back road turns are marked by trees, hills, ponds and fences of the lands. More and more local stores have been found for the basic needs from fresh fruits, butcher shops and vegetables to building/repairing materials. Major east/west freeways and north/south highways melt into never-ending back country in one turn.

My wife often mentions her impatience with getting back to hobbies we have enjoyed over the years.  Soon...very soon.

OTHER SIGHTS OF THE PAST WEEK

 

Inside the forest, vines climb trees for sunshine.

Farmer has a boat to float and fish his pond.

Rusted chicken farm.

Saturday morning market.

All fresh.

Photographer's playground.

Other side of the Saturday street.

More play.

Dollar banana bread. Just add coffee.

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I found fresh ground All Purpose White Flour at this market  and had to try a loaf of bread using that flour. The flavor and texture were improved. 

The fresh ground flour looked like sifted flour. More activity during first and second rising. I did let the first rise go 3 hours and the second rise 2 hours. A little more time given to the whole process. I also kneeded the bread a little more each time, too. But every kitchen atmosphere is different.

 

Thanks for the visit this week. 

NEW HOPE ONE MILE

A month behind on posting. Excuses, of course. No internet; busy unpacking and moving in; tired and Texas summer is upon us. This is the summer month locals have warned us about. 

One hundred nine degrees feel like hot Saturday and today. We have traded winter for summer, but not complaining. Get our outside work started at sun up and quit by 11 am at the latest. For us old folk, there is some of coming in and cooling off during those work hours. 

Homemade bread delivered to closest neighbors. They are within walking distance, but not in the heat of the late afternoon days. Both neighbors brought us house warming gifts along with introdutions and

welcome to Texas wishes a few weeks ago.

Local eatery mask notice. Yep!!

Good luck wishes in a BBQ joint sitting in the middle of a large red dirt parking lot. Located next to one of the major freeways running by just spitting distance out the front door.

Owner says lots of truckers stop to eat and order a pound of BBQ meat to go for their coolers in their big rigs. Said his daddy got him into BBQ at an early age and that he has always come back to running BBQ resturant. Said this is his last one.

Locals have told us that this is one of "the best places" to eat. No little fingers in the air eating here. Lots of paper towels, messy fingers and chins at the end of empty plates.  Of course, the owner stops at our table to see if everything is ok. Home cooking from the get go!!

The sign on his front door. Funny thing here was as a young customer was leaving the resturant, she put on a mask to go outside and get in her car. I swear!! 

New Hope is just a mile away in Texas. 

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We have been without the Internet for quite awhile now. Finally, Friday our electrician came and ran two ethernet cables for our towers. I plugged in my computer only to have the hard drive fail. Second time. Luckily. we still have a loaned lap top for the  checking blogs and, you know, "news." New lap top shopping time. 

Trying the new Blogger upgrade here and honestly miss the old one.   Cannot figure out how to get everything to correctly justify, no auto save and appears not to have spell check. UP GRADE??

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Appreciate the visit and patience with my being gone for a month. Barring any unforseen event, ought to be back now to the Sunday posting routine. 

 

GOOD BYE PITTSBURG AND THE VICTORY ROSE

Last day in our Pittsburg AirBnB. Clean-up and final car loading of our stuff collected and stored for the past 2 months. 

All of the farmers hay is stored now and the working farm, we have enjoyed, is back to other normals. Cows now enjoying a portion of the new grass growth in cut fields. I think that the owners may get in a second cutting this season. 

This little home has served us well in our transition from New Hampshire to the back woods in Eastern Texas.

First rule of wing-walking is to insure a good grasp of the next wire before letting go of the current wire. Today, we let go of the current wire. I will also let go of counting weeks here in Texas in future blogging. 

My wife's New Hampshire Valentine's Victory Rose has a new home. 

The rose has been replanted and today lives in the bright hot Texas sun. This rose seems to be thriving on watering every two days and soaking up the Texas sun and heat. Four new rose buds are a good indication of "Victory's" health. Happy wife.

We have found more than our share of broken home goods in the moving process. Some of it seems gratuitous and that some folks had to go out of their way to cause some of the damage we have found. 

Add to this was the stolen tool boxes. But we have to keep on keeping on and we work all of this the best we can. My repairing skills are being put to use daily now.

I turned these two bowls in my high school shop class in 1962. Mom loved them. They will come back to life here showing more wear and tear.

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Thin-sliced pork chops are a normal cut of meat here. Thin steaks also. 

They are also on a few of the local restaurants' menus, fried and served with mashed potatoes and gravy. 

We are finding them a new breakfast meat with excellent flavor. I use the two spices above and fry on low-medium heat for 6-8 minutes or so. Two eggs over easy and a pork chop starts many of our mornings. 

I think I got the seasoning on the left from Bass Pro when I purchased a can cooker last year. These two seasonings together work wonders for flavor. 

I am not promoting these spices, just sharing. Two thumbs up! Mrs. Dash serves us now as are cutting down on salt in our daily diets.

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Early morning dew rising over the fields beyond this tree row. 

All things green are covered wet with morning dew. I figure this is one of the keys to all that grows in this daily sun and heat.

The heat of August we are yet to learn of. Locals say "just wait for the heat of August." 

Right now, the heat of summer is a wall we walk into late morning till sun set.

Folks tell us that Dallas is going/has gone cashless. A few stores in the bigger towns around us also have gone cashless. $5's, $1's and change no longer being delivered. 

A year of rumors of a cashless society coming to fruition. 

Masks everywhere. One of the most successful fraud's perpetuated on the American society in the history of man. 

We have been away from most all media for two months. No TV, no news. All of our time has been moving and all that entails.  

How about that NFL and NASCAR?  I hear rumors. 

Keep your heads up and knees bent. We are in THE AFTER. 

Thank you for the visit this week. 

TEXAS7 JULY 121520 - - LIFE IN A LITTLE MESS - - INQUISITIVE MINDS

Furniture and boxes moved in. One bed assembled. Fridge just arrived - no washer or dryer yet.  Purchasing basic tools as all that we shipped were stolen in shipment.

 

Afternoons feel like temperatures at 110 degrees. But, we are here in the new home and setting anchors in the back woods. 

This week is one box at a time, fixing broken furniture and trying to put away stuff without having to do it twice. This will continue for some weeks getting the home looking and feeling. First home cooking, too. I have enjoyed eating out every meal, but it is time for getting back to an old normal in the home cooking department. 

Garbage pick up; internet hook up; carport shop pad pour; home generator install; front yard clean up for planting of things green; all in the queue.  

My wife's Valentine Victory Rose to find a forever home off of the front porch. From a single blooming bud, riding passenger all the way to Texas, it appears to be healthy and happy in the hot weather. Maybe it is the daily talking to of encouragement and praise, along with water during the hot dry days, that the plant appreciates. 

It is next to impossible for me to negate or ignore the comings and goings of life in the larger towns around us. Mask wearing and distancing is on the rise and stores and restaurants that just weeks were up and running w/o issue (normal of the old days) are this past week in full tilt C19 bat crap crazy.

 

The products being sold come second to C19 and a constant cleaning crew moving about spraying, wiping, and pushing a product through mid-air to the customer. There is no escaping the feelings that we are some how infected and danger exists in the imaginary empty space around us. Mask and glove wearing minions seem to visibly shrink in size while they hand over of a product. 

Just yesterday I saw a hand holding couple walking alone on a small town back country sidewalk wearing masks. I can only shake my head in disbelief. 

Signs say to wear masks and half the folks do not. We avoid, if we can, the mandate of mask wearing posted on the front doors of some shops. And yes, the chin masks suffice in all venues. I tried that in one such store and no one batted an eye. Also works in restaurants with "no mask no service." 

In we go with masks on chins which meets the mask wearing mandate. The eye doctor office gal had to come to me to tell me to get my mask on. I politely told her that some employees were not wearing masks so I thought it ok. Her blinking must have hurt. And she was one of the folk walking through the office just minutes earlier w/o a mask on. 

The choice of any mask wearing in any business seems to fit the moment for the individual. Say "huh?" twice is always followed by a mask removal. Always!! And here in lies the global absurdity of all of this. I do enjoy going against the arrows painted on the floors. I notice that I am far from alone.

People pushing back (against C19 mandates) is quiet and some what out of sight. It looks normal and fits in the flow of current main stream.  Watching people wearing and not wearing are teachable moments for me.   

There are still a few good restaurants where the food is beyond excellent, tables are free to sit at and freedom is alive. Each day and meal is a gift in all aspects of the old normal. Every meal and dish constantly as good or better than home made.

Of course the "no mask; no service" is in bold all black caps pasted on the front doors of some businesses. I have never seen businesses going out of their way in signage and employee confrontation to push paying customers out of their doors and towards their competition. How does a business model like this pay all the bills and make a profit? As long as the paychecks keep coming; who cares how customers are treated? 

AND AND just down the street a very nice restaurant is open at 50%, clean and customers are met with a smile and are welcome. Service is prompt and the food excellent. 

Enough huh!! 

INQUISISTIVE MINDS

Take five minutes of your time. Watch and listen. Short post this week so you have time. 

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TRANSITIONING

Probably be a couple weeks before the next post. No Internet. We are in the queue. Apparently folks who have signed up ahead of us come first. Normal things in an abnormal world!!

Appreciate the visit. Heads up, knees bent and keep on keeping on.

TEXAS6 JULY 4 2020 I CANNOT IMAGINE

Biscuits for one x 3. Breakfast sausage packages x 2. Breakfast for four with leftovers.

Visiting family in Dallas. Homemade cooking was soaked in white gravy. Smothered pork chops and rice for dinner, biscuits and gravy for breakfast. 

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CASTING OFF

 

Leaving homeport knowing that returning is in the plans is one thing, but throwing off the security of the lines, angling away from the dock with doubts of ever returning is noticeably different.

  
Everything on the boat is all we have now. Twenty years of preparing left on the dock.

The weather, the roads and destinations hold wonder, excitement and challenge. 

The strength of my wife and I are paramount.

The colors of every day life is noticeably brighter. 

Today and tomorrow dominates.

Add a world in turmoil   

Mistakes and successes write the next test.

Worrying and patience are proving to be some of life's best taught lessons. 

Acting on those lessons daily. 

Recognizing helping hands from greedy hands is learned quickly and dictates who handles a bow line. 

My wife says, "it's just you and me!" Is this not the case for everyone when all is said and done?

And herein lies the last 20 years of marriage, changing our lives, our homes and learning about growing old in The After.

If we had waited until today to do all of this, it would be too late on most levels. How the world worked just months ago no longer exists. Or at least the difficulty of "working" has increased several fold. Short problem solving times have turned into longer time spans. 

Availability of basic goods are one to two months out delivery with a caveat of "if they still make that or provide that service and if it will be available." Hope is now at work in doing a lot of daily business. 

I would guess that half the population we see in the back country is buying into fear of Covid19. Mask wearing or not mask wearing.

It appears that in the larger cities (like Dallas) the whole population who is out and about are believers and in some degree of fear. I am not sure how else to qualify this other than all of the visual clues watching people shop and stepping out in public. Driving in public. Walking in public.

All I can do is shake my head when many of these folk wear their masks under their chin or partially covering their mouths. Many masks appear to be well worn like an old t-shirt worn for weeks. 

Government mandates seem to be observed. Yet protesters gather around the country at will in complete disregard of any Covid19 regulations. Up is down, down is up, there is here, left is right and right is left and the use of guns is on the rise daily with killings of innocent people a no-never-mind. "Social distancing" is everywhere.

We have noticed that prices have doubled on many familiar goods over the past 6 months.

Manufactured food shortages are in the news pre-shadowing what is still ahead.

" No. Try not.  Do. ...or do not. There is no try."  Yoda 

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SOCIAL DISTANCING. You likely have the seven minutes to watch the video.

I cannot imagine what schools are going to look like across the country and the world. Personally I believe all of it is going to disrupt and damage all children in the name of all that is deemed "good and safe". It is not good/safe and the agenda at work be as plain to see as a car wreck.

Having children or grandchildren heading into the public school systems ought to strike fear in the hearts of all. What to do; how to do; when to start; what groundwork needs to be laid; managing a working household; how to help other like minded parents/grandparents; standing ground when push comes to shove??? 

Be wary of anyone promoting "social distancing" in public schools or some sort of mix. Be wary of mask wearing mandates. If any/all of this is affecting you, step back and consider the impact on the children; your children.

Some feel good educational jargon to get use to:

*interactive tools for students, parents and educators
*tools for planning and tracking academic progress
*for the sake of the child  parent webinars and of course podcasts
*child serving professionals
*for the family during this trying time*team collaboration
*insights and assessment tools 
*asynchronous assignments and collaboration
*hybrid learning
*from the comfort of your home
*pathways
*normal for your child to feel nervous or worried
*masks and distancing???
*changes may create challenges for families
*still details to be worked out...
and will leave all of this here. There is no lack of this kind of school jargon and balonium on the net. Start reading all that your school district has online.  

Develop and foster strong central family(s).

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Our living out of a suitcase, boxes of stuff and two cars has worn out its welcome. The security of the AirBnB also provides basics of living spaces provided and a view. One week left on our rental and we need to be out of here.

Daily heat index now 105 degrees or more mid-afternoon. Car ice chest full daily with water and a few GatorAids. Locals say get done what we need to get done by noon. Find things to do inside. Lasts into September. 

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"Our staff and their families will be able to flourish to a much greater extent."

".... the best places to be in tech have now become some of the worst places to raise a family, practice a faith, or even think freely."

The wanting of freedom is a powerful motivator. It was the driving factor for my grandparents leaving everything/family and coming to America. 

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As much as the world is in flux, there is also still some normalcy. 

Half of the hay bales here are in their final resting place after the harvest. Some will be sold and some will provide the farmer feed for his cattle. 

 

The hay fields returning to normal growth in the Texas sun and rain.

The land appears content to have the hay bales removed and to be left alone from man's working machinery. 

Piney Woods 4th of July Weekend

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  Thanks again for the weekly visit.