Posted on 10/01/2025 5:23:58 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Interesting swingarm video.
First of all - you win the prize for ‘Up The Earliest on a Saturday,’ LOL! I woke up at 6:30am, this morning. Rainy morning, too! Perfect for sleeping in - but NOPE! Ain’t gonna happen.
“...a SwingClear rural mailbox post.”
That is a great solution! I’ve seen those on busy rural roads around here, though mostly people build all kinds of plywood barriers around their mailboxes to thwart the snow plows.
I finally gave up at my other farm after replacing my mailbox a number of times due to the snow plow taking it out. I just got a PO Box in town...which could be another solution for ya! ;)
That Bundt Pan recipe brings back memories! Dad was crazy for the Chocolate Bundt Cake with the coconut filling in the middle. I used to make that for him as a treat after work/school when I was tired of baking Chocolate Chip Cookies. Dad was the original ‘Cookie Monster.’ ;)
It would take just Beau and I a month to eat a whole Bundt cake. But, I COULD freeze half for another time, Right? LOL!
I will always recommend ‘The Spice House’ out of Milwaukee, WI. Grandma bought all of her spices there for our annual ‘Sausage Day’ and from what I’ve heard, Usinger Sausage got their spices through them, too. The stores are right next to one another.
Both ship!
https://www.thespicehouse.com/
Greetings from southern New Hampshire where the color has arrived.
We had one hard freeze last week and the remaining zucchini, tomato and marigold plants are history. I will be pulling dead plants and policing up the fruit for the transfer station. I pulled the cucumber plants a couple of weeks ago.
I have to plant garlic and maybe some shallots and then cover the bed with straw for the winter. Then, the clearing and covering of all of the rest of the raised beds.
I replaced two of our oldest wooden raised beds (The ones made of lined pallet wood that I made several years ago) with Birdee Beds. Very impressed with them. I think I will replace two more yet this Autumn.
I need to start some lettuce and other cold weather crops in the greenhouse.
The cycle of life continues.
Also, they’re not REALLY ‘Baby Carrots.’ They use whatever scraps they have left and make them LOOK like Baby Carrots.
‘Carrot Factory Floor Sweepings’, LOL! Plus, they soak them in some solution that probably isn’t good for us!
Some ‘Marketing Brainiac’ came up with the idea after seeing them make those broken pretzels coated in salt and spices from ‘Pretzel Factory Floor Sweepings.’ Granted, I’m all for using up every scrap of food available, but ten times the price for broken pretzels? Seriously?
And don’t even get me STARTED on Dott’s brand pretzels. SIX DOLLARS for a bag of pretzels? Flour, water, salt? Are they NUTZ?
I just started making my own Carrot Sticks from full-sized carrots. One extra step, but then they’re prepped and ready to go for dipping or sheet pan roasting or crock pot roasts, etc.
‘Mortgage Lifter’ should be fully RED for the best flavor - just like any other ‘Beefsteak’ tomato variety.
I currently have three ‘Cherokee Purple’ in the window, ripening. Hurry UP! LOL!
Thanks!
I got very busy later (yesterday), and will be today during the day (battening down hatches for the t-storms arriving by late afternoon*), but, I have the Tilapia on very cold ice, and assuming no big problems this evening...
Just looking at the ingredients, that recipe looks very “close” to what I ate B4. :-)
Best of all, I think we have everything here necessary.
*When it’s been dry for quite a while, there tends to be more “battening down” to do! (Eye roll!)
I'd be happy to mail you some for your soup! LOL!
It's a good Soup Day here, too. I printed off the Olive Garden recipe, too. And I have Ditalini pasta in the pantry. And KALE! :)
Nice to hear from you! Thanks for the updates. :)
Waiting for rain to move in to various parts of OK today into tonight. Tomatoes are going crazy with the somewhat cooler temps. All the tomatoes are small, which is OK by me. Bigger than cherry tomatoes, but smaller than spring-and-summer size. Bell peppers that grasshoppers destroyed in the summer are coming back too. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cold, but not below 40°F or so, then it’s back to the low 70s in the afternoon.
Also have a tiny frog “guardian” who has taken up residence on the outside doorjamb of my front door. Wonder where he came from, and if he’s going to stay there, or go burrow undergrown somewhere when it gets cold for real?
All the states in this region stock “put and take” rainbow trout into various waterbodies in Fall and Spring.
For example:
https://www.ifishillinois.org/programs/fall_trout_stocking.html
(Lakes & ponds near me have been delayed until at least Oct. 25, due to the warm fall weather.)
https://fw.ky.gov/Fish/Pages/Planned-Monthly-Trout-Stocking-Schedule.aspx
KY’s been having problems at the hatcheries the last few years, resulting in the trout running small, so, this year I only got a trout stamp for IL. Multiple trout ponds and small lakes are within 30 to 90 minutes from me, just in Southern IL. The drives get nice too, once the leaves turn. (Not quite so much this year, because of the drought.)
IL sometimes stocks a few “breeders”, so it’s occasionally possible to land a 2-3 lb. trout.
Separately, IL also stocks trout in Devils Kitchen Lake, which supports them year-round due to being a very deep (for IL) and clear lake. The record there is 10 lbs., IIRC.
However, I find them very hard to catch, in DKL. I have fished there many times, often with my wife and daughter along, and in all those years we’ve caught TWO. Conversely, at the put and take waterbodies, I usually do well, often nabbing my limit (of 5 trout).
I have a 2” Mortgage Lifter fruit that fell off the plant while still a bit pink, but it’s getting pretty red now. I’ll give it a try in a day or two. Dunno if a 2” ML fruit will have typical ML taste, but, what the heck.
Thanks!
Cripes, I was up at 4 a.m. But I didn’t get to this thread, then...
20 lashes with the wet noodle?
Our mailbox post is set into one of those big old metal jugs filled with concrete. If it gets knocked over, I just have to set it back up. Only once in over 35 years has the box itself suffered serious damage. Apparently, the snow cushions it sufficiently...
Granted, we see a lot less snowplows than you do!
Looks like you and I are going to have a 'normal' winter season, temperature-wise.
But, Farmer's Almanac says colder and more snow!
"Most of the country is on tap for a cold or very cold winter, kind of almost going back to an old-fashioned winter," Duncan said. "It's going to cool down, it's going to snow, then it might warm up a little, then it's going to repeat itself again."
Gee. I guess we'll just have to prepare for the worst and then 'wait and see' like we do EVERY winter. ;)
We’re out of noodles.
But we’re all making soup today, so we’ll pelt you with dry Ditalini pasta instead! ;)
We’re FINALLY seeing color here in MA. Bright red trees still scattered among some yellow and MUCH green. And very chill days and nights. Not Indian Summer yet.
Happy Autumn everyone. Send leaves to someone you love in Florida and California. Great time to collect some, along with some black walnuts and berries. Share the autumn!
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