Guest guest Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 Howdy Stacey .. Georgia .. other good folks .. > Stacey wrote: And of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUTCH! Love you! Thank you ma'am .. appreciated are the wishes and kind words. > Hey Butch, Happy Belated Birthday - hope it was a good one. Our > anniversary is on the same day so I missed your b'day emails but > must admit July 13 is an awesome day!!! Thank you ma'am .. and congratulations to you too. :-) Some other events on 13 July are ... 1568 - Dean of St Paul's Cathedral perfects a way to bottle beer. 1939 - Frank Sinatra made his recording debut. 2007 - Butch and family moved into their new homestead. Gonna bore some of you and update some others on how life is going here in Gawd's Kuntry .. Henry County, Tennessee. ;-) The weekend afore last we had my cousin and her family over for supper .. she and her husband and Tanya and I all have July birthdays so we had one shindig for all of us .. the supper was a good one fer'shur. Tanya cut an entire venison roast into little pieces .. and we marinated it overnight with a marinade composed of crushed papaya, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary. She prepared a fresh garden salad .. sliced up a buncha green maters and eggplant .. and diced a half dozen vegetables (some fresh and some from the freezer) afore the guests arrived .. that way she could spend more time outside with us. Just afore supper she nuked the venison bits for a few minutes .. laid'em aside ... and then started stir frying the half dozen plus veggies in a wok .. while frying green maters and eggplant strips in two other pans. After 2 minutes or so with the wok, in went the venison bits .. and pretty much all of the three dishes were ready at the same time. The eggplant was served with a sauce of LOTS of diced garlic in yoghourt .. a recipe we picked up in Turkey .. and lemme tell y'all that if Gawd had made anything better He woulda kept it for Himself. This was all followed up with a blackberry cobbler from our thorn less bushes. Fried green maters speak for them self .. but the stir fried veggies with venison was larp'in gud .. and this was not from a young deer .. that's why I prepared the marinade with papaya .. a nat'ul tenderizer. Except for the Olive Oil and Papaya .. everything on the table was what we grew or I harvested from my cousin's farm. I took 7 deer last year .. coulda taken more cause our bag limits are amazingly generous here in West Tennessee .. got more deer than we got folks .. but at the time I figured that was enough .. wrong I was! We froze a lotta prime cuts and ground meat .. plus made jerky .. and had a local Mennonite make some fine summer sausage from some of it. Nothing was wasted .. even the bones and such .. my dawgs love deersicles when the weather is hot. Black Powder season will open the first part of November but we will be out of venison before that time. Our garden is doing extremely well again this year .. I fenced it .. not to keep out rabbits, deer and turkey .. my dawgs keep them away .. I fenced it to keep out the dawgs. ;-) Lotsa volunteers came up after we planted .. got maters in the taters and cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe and taters in other things. Onions are about ready to harvest .. big they are .. shallots did terrible and the heat got the spinach quicker than we planned .. gonna plant more later. Our blueberries and blackberries are doing fine .. apple trees loaded with fruit ... grapes are still young, as are the raspberries, pear, peach and plum trees but we'll have fruit next year. This year the birds got a few more cherries than we did. We grow a dozen or so different herbs and have lotsa lavender .. which is great in a salad .. but like rosemary and oregano .. a little dab will do you and more than that will overwhelm. After 19+ years of living a fast paced life in the big cities of Turkey .. we returned to the U.S. in the summer of 2007 .. and moved into our homestead on 13 July 2007. It was a return to my roots. I've finally made the mental transition from cocktail parties and business meetings .. and the physical transition from Harris Tweed and silk ties to blue jeans and T-shirts .. and though it would be false to say that I don't miss some parts of that life .. I would not trade what we have now for what I had then. I was a big fish in a little pond while in Turkey .. but there was a good bit of stress and a lotta demands made on my time .. now I do as I please when I please and I am just one more happy person who used to be someone else who was probably not as happy as often. We're 15 minutes from Kentucky Lake and another 15 from Lake Barkley .. both far better than outstanding reservoirs. I picked up an old 21 foot boat with 88 HP Johnson for a song .. sprucing it up now. Also we are 12-13 minutes from my cousin's farm .. 2,000 + acres with lotsa woods and more deer, turkey .. and dad gum coyotes, copperheads and cottonmouths .. than you can shake a stick at. I got a new Cub Cadet Volunteer 4 WD Utility Vehicle cause (1) I have never been happy trampling through woods and weeds when I couldn't see afore daylight .. and (2) My arthritis don't wanna handle another year of walking miles afore sunup with a pack on my back to hunt deer and turkey .. and dragging deer outta woods by hand and such. My cousin has a 4 WD Utility Vehicle but when we hunted we would be in different locations .. and I would either have to wait for him to come around .. or call him on my cell phone to come pick me up .. which I usually avoided doing .. so I just sat down and waited. Sitting and waiting when you've taken your buck or your gobbler for the day is not a lotta fun. ;-) I have turned 67 and though I am not as old as I once was .. I won't try to buffalo folks into thinking that age doesn't generally have an impact on our physical ability. Thirty years in the U.S. Army and jumping outta perfectly gud airplanes did take a toll on my lower extremities .. but that is sorta offset by me marrying a lady a good bit younger than me and now having a 3.5 year old son who keeps me on my toes .. plus gives me lotsa reasons to wanna extend my time above snakes. Sometimes when I think I'm tired I find that I can go another mile or two if I set my mind to it. ;-) All in all .. I reckon we are about as happy as could be on our little piece of ground here in Gawd's Kuntry. I hope that all the folks reading this .. be they youngsters or more experienced like some of us .. get a chance to settle down and escape the rat race for a few years afore its their time to move on. > God Bless You & Yours, > Georgia (hahagranny) Thank you ma'am .. and y'all .. and keep smiling. :-) Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Butch, good to hear you are enjoying the good life, reaping the benefits of years of hard work. Happy Birthday and many more. Susan ATFE2 , " Butch Owen " <butchowen wrote: > > Howdy Stacey .. Georgia .. other good folks .. > > > Stacey wrote: And of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUTCH! Love you! > > Thank you ma'am .. appreciated are the wishes and kind words. > > > Hey Butch, Happy Belated Birthday - hope it was a good one. Our > > anniversary is on the same day so I missed your b'day emails but > > must admit July 13 is an awesome day!!! > > Thank you ma'am .. and congratulations to you too. :-) > > Some other events on 13 July are ... > > 1568 - Dean of St Paul's Cathedral perfects a way to bottle beer. > 1939 - Frank Sinatra made his recording debut. > 2007 - Butch and family moved into their new homestead. > > Gonna bore some of you and update some others on how life is going here in Gawd's Kuntry .. Henry County, Tennessee. ;-) > > The weekend afore last we had my cousin and her family over for supper .. she and her husband and Tanya and I all have July birthdays so we had one shindig for all of us .. the supper was a good one fer'shur. > > Tanya cut an entire venison roast into little pieces .. and we marinated it overnight with a marinade composed of crushed papaya, garlic, extra virgin olive oil and rosemary. > > She prepared a fresh garden salad .. sliced up a buncha green maters and eggplant .. and diced a half dozen vegetables (some fresh and some from the freezer) afore the guests arrived .. that way she could spend more time outside with us. > > Just afore supper she nuked the venison bits for a few minutes .. laid'em aside .. and then started stir frying the half dozen plus veggies in a wok .. while frying green maters and eggplant strips in two other pans. > > After 2 minutes or so with the wok, in went the venison bits .. and pretty much all of the three dishes were ready at the same time. > > The eggplant was served with a sauce of LOTS of diced garlic in yoghourt .. a recipe we picked up in Turkey .. and lemme tell y'all that if Gawd had made anything better He woulda kept it for Himself. > > This was all followed up with a blackberry cobbler from our thorn less bushes. > > Fried green maters speak for them self .. but the stir fried veggies with venison was larp'in gud .. and this was not from a young deer .. that's why I prepared the marinade with papaya .. a nat'ul tenderizer. > > Except for the Olive Oil and Papaya .. everything on the table was what we grew or I harvested from my cousin's farm. I took 7 deer last year .. coulda taken more cause our bag limits are amazingly generous here in West Tennessee .. got more deer than we got folks .. but at the time I figured that was enough .. wrong I was! We froze a lotta prime cuts and ground meat .. plus made jerky .. and had a local Mennonite make some fine summer sausage from some of it. Nothing was wasted .. even the bones and such .. my dawgs love deersicles when the weather is hot. > > Black Powder season will open the first part of November but we will be out of venison before that time. > > Our garden is doing extremely well again this year .. I fenced it .. not to keep out rabbits, deer and turkey .. my dawgs keep them away .. I fenced it to keep out the dawgs. ;-) > > Lotsa volunteers came up after we planted .. got maters in the taters and cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe and taters in other things. Onions are about ready to harvest .. big they are .. shallots did terrible and the heat got the spinach quicker than we planned .. gonna plant more later. > > Our blueberries and blackberries are doing fine .. apple trees loaded with fruit .. grapes are still young, as are the raspberries, pear, peach and plum trees but we'll have fruit next year. This year the birds got a few more cherries than we did. We grow a dozen or so different herbs and have lotsa lavender .. which is great in a salad .. but like rosemary and oregano .. a little dab will do you and more than that will overwhelm. > > After 19+ years of living a fast paced life in the big cities of Turkey .. we returned to the U.S. in the summer of 2007 .. and moved into our homestead on 13 July 2007. It was a return to my roots. I've finally made the mental transition from cocktail parties and business meetings .. and the physical transition from Harris Tweed and silk ties to blue jeans and T-shirts .. and though it would be false to say that I don't miss some parts of that life .. I would not trade what we have now for what I had then. > > I was a big fish in a little pond while in Turkey .. but there was a good bit of stress and a lotta demands made on my time .. now I do as I please when I please and I am just one more happy person who used to be someone else who was probably not as happy as often. > > We're 15 minutes from Kentucky Lake and another 15 from Lake Barkley .. both far better than outstanding reservoirs. I picked up an old 21 foot boat with 88 HP Johnson for a song .. sprucing it up now. Also we are 12-13 minutes from my cousin's farm .. 2,000 + acres with lotsa woods and more deer, turkey .. and dad gum coyotes, copperheads and cottonmouths .. than you can shake a stick at. I got a new Cub Cadet Volunteer 4 WD Utility Vehicle cause (1) I have never been happy trampling through woods and weeds when I couldn't see afore daylight .. and (2) My arthritis don't wanna handle another year of walking miles afore sunup with a pack on my back to hunt deer and turkey .. and dragging deer outta woods by hand and such. My cousin has a 4 WD Utility Vehicle but when we hunted we would be in different locations .. and I would either have to wait for him to come around .. or call him on my cell phone to come pick me up .. which I usually avoided doing .. so I just sat down and waited. Sitting and waiting when you've taken your buck or your gobbler for the day is not a lotta fun. ;-) > > I have turned 67 and though I am not as old as I once was .. I won't try to buffalo folks into thinking that age doesn't generally have an impact on our physical ability. Thirty years in the U.S. Army and jumping outta perfectly gud airplanes did take a toll on my lower extremities .. but that is sorta offset by me marrying a lady a good bit younger than me and now having a 3.5 year old son who keeps me on my toes .. plus gives me lotsa reasons to wanna extend my time above snakes. Sometimes when I think I'm tired I find that I can go another mile or two if I set my mind to it. ;-) > > All in all .. I reckon we are about as happy as could be on our little piece of ground here in Gawd's Kuntry. I hope that all the folks reading this .. be they youngsters or more experienced like some of us .. get a chance to settle down and escape the rat race for a few years afore its their time to move on. > > > God Bless You & Yours, > > Georgia (hahagranny) > > Thank you ma'am .. and y'all .. and keep smiling. :-) > > Butch .. http://www.AV-AT.com > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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