WE HAVE QUAIL

 Well, in our newly acquired hobby of birdwatching, we are now seeing a lot of quail coming to visit.

Saw these in the back yard.  At first we were like "what are those birds?" and then I looked and told 2nd Man "I think those are quail".   I went out there and zoomed in to get a closer up picture...

The color is a bit off than what they were.  They were more of a brown color, but it was early in the day and they had moved over to a shaded area but sure enough, we have quail.

  

Image courtesy of Wikicommons

Here is a great photo of the common quail in our part of Texas, it is called the Northern Bobwhite quail.  It was fun to watch them.

We would love to attract more of them to our property.  From what we've read, they are mostly a ground dwelling type of bird.

Anyone have any quail advice?

PUTTING UP SMOKED TURKEY

Forgot to post this.  After the holidays, I found some smoked turkey legs on clearance.  We like using the meat in a pot of beans, as it's a much healthier option than ham.  They are precooked since they are smoked but we like to boil them for a couple of hours.  It lets us skim off any fat and makes the meat fall apart tender.

Though they had the wings, we like the legs, seem to get a bit more meat for your money.

The pot filler comes in handy!

After they have boiled for a couple of hours, we pour out the water.  It's literally falling off the bone tender. 

Took about 10 minutes to get all the meat off the bones (those tendons are a pain, ha).

We ended up with 6 cups, divided into 2 cup packages, vacuum sealed and put in the freezer for future use (three big pots of bean soup).

FARM TRUCK ANNIVERSARY

Five years ago today, we bought the farm truck!

For those that don't know or are new to the blog, it's a 2006 Chevrolet Colorado work truck model.  No extended cab or anything fancy and extra, it even has the old school handles to "roll down" the windows (young people don't have a clue about that, ha!)

I work in insurance and one of our clients called one day to say they had a truck for sale and asked if we knew anyone who might want it.  It had 224,000 miles on it but was well taken care of (mechanically, a few dents and dings outside and the interior was definitely "lived in", ha).  It was only one owner from 2006 when he bought it.  The price was too good to pass up, $1000...I came home and told 2nd Man about it and he and I looked at each other and said, "yep that could come in handy!"

We bought it, put some new tires on it, took it to a mechanic and had the urgent stuff worked on (surprisingly, not that much was needed) and it joined the family.  We call it "Bill", named after the owner who, sadly, passed away a few months later. 

I've trimmed limbs and bushes and used it to haul it to a compost pile...

I've driven it to the well to get water...

...then driven the water to the plants that needed it.

We used it for boxes and moving supplies.

We moved stuff to storage during construction.

And now we are moving the same stuff back into the new house.

I picked up the plants that we bought at the master gardener sale.  I've also been to garden centers for soil and mulch...

...that I can then just drive around to get the supplies to where I need them. When I was picking up the plants recently, there were people loading wet trees and bushes into the backend of high-end SUV's. We don't have to worry about that now.

We've put about 2000 miles on it in the last five years.

It ain't a looker, that's for sure, but it sure was worth it! I like this picture that I made to look kind of old.  It fits in out here on the farm perfectly.  I tell 2nd Man all the time that this was the best money we ever spent!

We love it. Everyone needs an old truck, ha!

RED WHITE AND BLUE POTATOES

 Regular readers know that I like to take random pics of fruits and vegetables because sometimes, well, they just look so cool.

Saw these recently at the store and took the picture.  Red, white and blue fingerling potatoes.  Whoever organized these did a great job, ha.

Side note, we have always loved these smaller, fingerling potatoes, they cook quickly and add lots of interest to the plate or dish you are preparing.

I've often wondered if they are easy to grow or if it's just better to buy them at the store, ha.  

Anyone ever try growing these types of heirlooms?

SPECIAL CABINETS FOR CUTTING BOARDS AND SHEET PANS

 You may remember me mentioning I helped to create a dream kitchen for 2nd Man.  Part of having a dream kitchen is to make sure you have easy access to your stored cooking items.

Since we designed our island, we planned for these.

There are two cabinets, one on each end.  Normally, there is an inset on the end of the island that either occupies these spaces or it's dead space or some people put in a bookshelf or something.  We will have plenty of bookcase space elsewhere so we decided to let them put slender cabinets on each side because we knew exactly how they would be used.  

The island is, of course, conveniently located right behind the stove/cooktop/ovens.  

This the end closest to the sink.  

Of course, the cabinets come with two shelves.  In this case, I removed one of them and put the other up at the top and created a place for all of our cutting boards!  The tall ones fit nicely in the bottom and then the top shelf can hold the smaller ones just stacked on top of each other.  This gives us quick access, it's right below the island countertop so we can quickly pull them out to use them, it's opposite the knife drawer (more on that coming soon) and lastly, it's also next to the sink so we can wash veggies etc before cutting.

Here is the other end, directly across from the ovens which makes it convenient for...

...sheet pans!  Just like the other cabinet above, it had two shelves but in this case I removed both because, well, baking sheets are large. 2nd Man likes to have all three sizes, full, half and quarter.  He also keeps the cooling/roasting racks (that fit the sheet pans) in here as well.  Once again, its convenient location puts it right by the ovens and under the island countertop so it it super easy to get a sheet pan out, put one some foil or parchment paper and things are ready for the oven behind you.

More things coming soon!

GOOD FOOD AND OUTDOOR CAT SUNDAY (FIRST CONTACT)

 Yep, we're going to start a new post on Sundays, since we have several outside cats coming and going now, ha.

First up some good food.

I always love when 2nd Man makes a frittata.

We went to a Farmer's Market a week or so ago and got some peppers.  They are always so pretty chopped up, ha.  Like a sunset.

Mixed it with onions, mostly egg whites (to keep it healthier) with a couple of whole eggs, a few other herbs and seasonings and then some low fat cheddar that we love to use.  Put it all together...

...and out comes a wonderful, filling dish!  Breakfast, lunch OR dinner, it's always good!

But here's what you all really want to see:

Look!  I was able to not only get this close for a picture of baby girl (yeah, we need a better name, ha)...

...but we are able to TOUCH her!

It's brief, she's still a little skittish, but she's just the softest, sweetest little kitty.  She's starting to trust us and that's a good thing!

Stay tuned for further updates!

#firstcontact

ZEN MACHINE UPDATE

 It's getting that time of year!  Zen Machine time!

This year's mowing season will be the first ever with us living out here.  I can't wait.

This past weekend, I decided to mow, the grass is green and Spring is coming!  The first mow of the year.

It looks so neat and tidy when it's done. 

It was about the usual amount of time.

But there was another reason I had to go ahead and mow now, in February.  Zen Machine tuneup time.

It will be gone a week or two and I didn't want the grass to get super tall between now and then.

They will change filters, sharpen blades, lube belts, air up the tires, etc.  It's a pretty good deal and we usually have this done at this time every year because they have a "Winter Maintenance special" that includes free pick up and delivery.

And this year for the first time, I could park it in the driveway!

They came yesterday and picked it up.  Bye Zen Machine, enjoy your spa day!

WE HAVE GUTTERS

 We know, we know, another not so exciting topic.  Here it goes anyway, ha.  One thing that our builder didn't provide was gutters.  The reasoning is that every home sits differently on different properties and the way water flows off your roof and onto your land can be different. You want to make sure your gutters are designed around that flow of water. 

As they said, most people want to be in the home for a bit to decide how they are doing to do their landscaping, flower beds and such and where they want the rainwater to go.

We found a great local gutter company.  They came out and designed a plan for us and then came out and installed them all in an afternoon.

They are seamless gutters...meaning the long, straight sections are made of one continuous piece of metal.  The only seams are at the joints and downspouts like this.  They also matched our trim color perfectly.

Here is a picture of part of the back of the house.  Gutters all along the back with four downspouts (two are just out of the shot).

Here is one of them, the other side of the dining room by the back door to the garage...

...and here is the other one at the end of the garage.  This part will be nice to keep the water from pouring off the roof and splashing onto the concrete.

Here is the front...our roof lines presented some challenges, but they did it right, down to creating small sections of gutter (as above) to direct the water.

On corners, they added these "splash guards" (or damming deflectors as they are sometimes called).  This is to prevent heavy rainfall from becoming a high-volume overflow at those corner spots.

The last unique thing is this "captive area" we have.  We had to have a gutter downspout here since it was an important corner for handling runoff.  However, because of this area being surrounded on all sides by concrete (porch, driveway, sidewalk), we didn't want to create a ponding situation in there.  The concrete guy put in two underground drains there to handle the rainwater and direct it out of the area into the front yard.  What they did was connect this downspout to one of those drains so the water from there will flow under the sidewalk and into the front yard. They are coming back to dig a trench to put this underground.

Here is the front, the gutters blend in perfectly.  We love it and are excited to have them.  Now we just need a good rain to see how it all works, ha.

Side note, grass is greening up!  Spring is coming!

OH DEER

Check out these pictures!

One morning, as we were getting something ready for dinner, we looked out the dining room window and saw this!  A buck looking back this way.

The picture was through the window so it wasn't as sharp as I would have liked but if I had gone outside, he would have run off.

But here it is zoomed in.

Then a few days later, we looked out the front window at the kitchen sink and saw movement.  There were a couple more deer!

While the buck was on the property behind us, these two were on our property, the part of our acreage that is undeveloped/uncleared so there is no telling how many deer are out there.  It's about 7 acres or so of dense brush and trees so there could be a small herd out there.  We aren't hunters at all, so they are welcome to live their lives safely there.  Just don't eat the garden when we get it built, ha.  They have left the fruit trees alone since I put up the fishing line.

We love living out here!

PUTTING UP ROLLS INTO BREAD CUBES

2nd Man made some rolls recently and we ate a few but then we had a lot leftover.

That was by design because ultimately, we wanted to make them into bread cubes.

We cut them into cubes (more or less, ha).  I put them onto a couple of parchment lined sheet pans and popped them in the freezer overnight.

The next day, I took them off and put them in a gallon size freezer bag.  We didn't vacuum seal these because we didn't want to smash them...plus they'll be easy to pull out to use just a few at a time.

We had a salad the other night and 2nd Man threw a few in the air fryer after spritzing them with some avocado oil and some garlic and onion powder.

They were SO good.