Sunday, October 30, 2011

What's That Smell? Sorry About That

   So, last week I started dehydrating some onions. Unfortunately, the only place I had to dehydrate them was in the house. After a while, your eyes stop watering, but your nose continues. At least mine did. We go through a lot of onions, so we planted a few hundred. Last year, I dehydrated 99% of them. I dehydrated them so they'd last. We planted more onions this year than last year. This year, I guess I will chop and freeze most of them, and here is the reason why.
   Amy went to Walmart and was in the check out line, and the woman in front of her asked Amy if she smelled like onions. Amy said she guessed she probably did and explained why. This led to conversations about dehydrating onions.
   Daniel was called into the office at work because people complained he smelled. I guess some people just don't like or recognize odor de onion. He told his coworkers I was dehydrating onions and they wanted to know who in their right mind dehydrates onions?
   Tim noticed when he was talking to people at work, they'd step away from him.
   I do admit, this years onions had a much stronger odor than last years. One day, maybe I'll have someplace other than the house to dehydrate onions. every time I think about putting the dehydrator outside, it decides to rain.
   So, to keep coworkers and the general public happy, I will chop and freeze the rest of our onions. All I can say is, sorry about that.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Oh Deer, What Can The Matter Be?

Seen through the dirty window
   Tuesday morning, we had these visitors in the yard. They were so good, the didn't jump the fence into the garden. They probably would have, if they could have figured out how, so they ate from the compost pile and our small berry plants instead.
   Usually when deer see movement, they take off running, but these 3 didn't. They were very skinny and really need to fatten up to survive the winter.
   After grazing for awhile, they noticed something and went into alert mode. We didn't see anything from the window.
   All of a sudden, the deer took off. We knew it wasn't a run for your life run, since it wasn't fast enough.
   You'll never guess what scared them away? Have you given up yet? Well, hot on the heals of the deer, came 19 turkeys chasing them away.
   The turkeys were all fluffed up with their necks stretched out, running as fast as their turkey legs could go.
   It was really funny watching the turkeys. Turkeys chasing deer isn't something you see every day. As a matter of fact, I've never seen it before.
   The deer ate most of the good stuff from the compost pile, so the turkeys didn't hang around long. We have a first come, first serve compost pile.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

I'm Running Behind

   Thanks to my dehydrator dying, I'm running behind on things. Luckily, last Sunday Any and Daniel found a brand new, in the box dehydrator at a yard sale for $10.00 and bought it for me. Today's project is to start dehydrating again. Since the weather is getting colder, we need to harvest the last of the garden.
   We have had rain the last few days, so hopefully, the ground is soft enough to put our snow gauge out. I also need to bring in the hummingbird feeders, since the hummingbirds haven't been around lately.
   Besides the dehydrator, the vacuum cleaner bit the dust. I am waiting for my bread maker to follow. It is so noisy. I only use it to make the dough in and then I put the dough in pans because I like the bread cooked in the oven better. I do know how to make bread in my mixer, just putting everything in the bread maker is easier.
   Our TV picture is getting darker and there is no way to adjust it. If the TV goes out, we will be doing without. I will admit, I will get more done with no TV.
   The animals are getting ready for winter. Tim has a large toolbox with drawers and there are nice piles of pine nuts in every drawer. Our squirrel has been busy.
   Poor Jake is having a rough time. Michaela throws toys at him when she is in her playpen. Her aim has greatly improved and she is throwing  harder as well. His feet are always good to try and get, too when she's crawling around. Unfortunately,Jake doesn't like his feet messed with.
   Well, I took a writing break and played in onions. I chopped onions for 2 hours and put them in the freezer. My eyes poured, then my nose. Later everyone else's eyes poured. Just wait until I dehydrate onions.
   Other than all this excitement, it's been pretty slow. My leg has been hurting a lot lately, so I've been taking it easy. Besides that, Chip thinks it's my job to sit with my feet up so he can lay on them.