Giving up on 3 local restaurants

 For real!!!

My builder is at the place (YAY!!!) and the crew likes cinnamon rolls.  OK then.  I brought them cinnamon rolls on their first day back on the job.

So.  They needed 6 rolls.  I had to go to 2 places to get a total of 6.  That is fine.  2 from Restaurant G...um...they are OK.  Dry. Frozen and thawed out.  frosting on the side in a little plastic tub.  Meh.

Restaurant Z.  Those were really good.  Not too sweet. Moist.  1 frosted, others plain (which personally I prefer.  If you are hiding the roll under a giant pile of gunk, there must be a problem).  

Today, I tested Restaurant T as they are closer to my place.  Um.   BARF!!!!!!!   They heated up the roll in a microwave which makes the bottom BLAZING hot.  the rest was still frozen.  And the frosting was off brand shortening and powdered sugar.  PUKE!  I threw it out.  I asked for a non-warmed up roll and they said they couldn't because they were frozen.  They served it in a styrofoam container which I am pretty sure had been in the microwave too.  Double barf.   Nothing like the smell of hot cheap plastic to whet the appetite.  I tried a cookie as well.  You wouldn't think you could mess up a peanut butter cookie but alas...it tasted mostly like baking soda and shortening.  Maybe margarine but I'm pretty sure it was shortening.  Also threw that out. 

I am at work today, the weekend, making up a bit of time lost to the construction and didn't remember lunch so ordered "to go" from Restaurant G.  Well, 2 out of the 3 items I ordered were in the bag.  I give up.

Which is fine.  I was going to see if I could do all of July cooking from scratch, minus 2 events that are already booked and a possible birthday dinner with a friend that is pending a date.  No "to go" meals or "I can't be bothered" unplanned outings.  Not even treats from the farmers market.   So, probably good that the restaurants are letting me down.  I won't miss them.

Certainly the value for money isn't there other than bringing the builders treats and getting them to keep showing up.

ICWA Upheld by Supreme Court!!!

 I generally avoid politics here but this is a big one.

The Supreme court UPHELD Indian Child Welfare Act.  This is such an important law.  I can't even start on why and how because that is a graduate seminar in history, law, genocide and more.

For the full background, or fuller because there is no way to contain the impacts that this law was meant to correct in a webpage, book or other written material, check out these pages:

Native American Rights Fund

https://narf.org/nill/documents/icwa/index.html  which is HUGE so start here

https://narf.org/nill/documents/icwa/ch1.html

National Indian Child Welfare Association

https://www.nicwa.org/about-icwa/#:~:text=The%20intent%20of%20Congress%20under,%C2%A7%201902).

Excellent Presents Redux

 MORE excellent presents

cash for construction...because "construction"...

Coffee bean sampler! Yay!!! I get to grind and taste compare 9 different coffees.  AND a friend got the same batch so we can be precious coffee princesses together.  I should blog the flavor options.  

I even have an artisanal hand grinder at the office and a french press.  So I can be a coffee dink at the office.  Nice.

And visiting relatives (HI!!) brought me that box of groceries...coffee beans (I just finished the first bag of 3 and it was DELICIOUS!!! I think I have enough for one last cup tomorrow), and other treats all of which I eat like nuts (heh heh...I said 'nuts')

I got a bag of goodies and a free lunch from a friend today...including a new enamelware cup (that might be out of her overstocked cupboard and I do not mind at all) which I will be using for my coffee taste testery.   And I'm sure the chocolates in the bag will go really well with coffee.

All excellent gifts.   I'm wearing undies and sox that were gifts in the past.   (I am also wearing  other clothes, not just undies and sox, that's for later while I'm eating my bday treats while watching Grace and Frankie Season 6 on DVD from the library)

But what did I do as a warm up for my birthday you ask....butchered and canned goats. 

You know, like all the single ladies.

Gertrude Stands Alone...

 4 more chickens went in a day a while back.  Gertrude is the last one alive.  I kept her in the coop for about a week (with plenty of food and water) but could not figure a way to fence out whatever can take chickens that stealthily and leave no trace other than a few feathers.  

I'm not going to build Fort Knox for poultry.  The investment is crazy high and the odds of it working crazy low.  Keeping a chicken strictly inside is not humane.  So, after several days we had a chat, Gertrude and I (I did most of the talking), and I told her she was on her own to be wily and careful.  So far so good!  And she laid a couple of eggs again. She shut down after the trauma of losing 4 companions in a day.

Here's hoping she remains OK but for now, she's living her best hen life.

DAMMIT! ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

 Or rather, another one gotten bitten.

There was a chicken kerfuffle this morning.  This is not odd.  They are chickens.  They kerfuffle every time one of them lays an egg.  And then there is the constant rooster rape.

I eventually looked outside and saw nothing.  So, went back to my breakfast.  I'd let the chickens out, fed them, the usual.  They are free range, not fenced.  

Then, as I went down the hill to the car I see a bunch of feathers!  Red ones.  FROM A GOOD LAYER!  Damn and blast.  I found the carcass.  dead, not gutted, ripped open or anything gross.  Neck snapped.  That is a canine type kill.   Either a neighbor dog or a wild canine.

So, time to fence the chickens in for at least a while I guess. And get a game cam so I know what I'm up against. 

If eggs weren't so expensive I wouldn't mind much losing a free chicken but the finance balance has changed now.

R.I.P. Prudence

 And another bites the dust...

Or rather something bit her dust.

My hen, Pru, Prudence, went missing this week.  She wasn't in the coop Friday night.  Also wasn't in her favorite sleep away spot (the old coop).  I couldn't find her.  Sometimes chickens sleep in trees.  Not often.  And not elderly hens who can't get on the lowest roost anymore and have quit laying.

Hope did not spring eternal.

 Saturday I found a SMALL cluster of black chicken feathers at the bottom of hill.  Later, walking around, more black chicken feathers and 1 blue egg (that was her color of egg...but hadn't got one in over a month) with a hole in it and no yolk/white left.  Interesting.   ALMOST NO blood.  One bit of bloody bone. Not enough feathers to account for an entire bird.  But clearly, she's gone.

She came a few years back with Porky and Pearl.  Only Porky remains...a giant barred rock who is still laying!  Though sometimes her eggs look like crepe-y old-lady-neck-skin.  Pretty gross and wrinkly.  But sometimes they look fine.  I'll have to look back to see what year they all got here.  They weren't chicks on arrival, but at least 1 year old, likely older.  

Anyway, farewell Pru and thank you for your service.

Selling Stuff and the Coolest Thrift Find of 2023!!

 There is a vintage store in a near by town.  Last time I was in UNIRONICALLY wearing torn up old Carhartt pants and a 25+ year old letterman's jacket, both of which I got at thrift stores years ago, I found the same items in WORSE SHAPE on the racks for sale for lots of money.

80$ish for the pants, 150-200$+ for letterman's jackets.

SO....last weekend I went in with some of my crap.  Some tatty Carhartts that I haven't worn in years because I lost weight.  A coffee pot I got a thrift about a year ago but it makes weak coffee.  It is like a moka pot from the 1980s.  Got 10$ each.  

No dice on the vintage Durango boots (that I got from thrift and they just hurt my feet) and a suede jacket I got for 25cents several years ago and never wear.  It's cute and fits, but I never wear it.  They didn't want it.

Oh well.

Earlier that day before the vintage shop opened up, I was doing a thrift store run with a friend (who also sold some vintage stuff to a different store) and spotted a super cool percolator for 6$ that looked damn old.   Also a columbia shirt in perfect shape also for 6$.  That's high for a shirt but my others are tatty and it's a new color, neon pink, that I can wear on job sites and skip the orange safety vest usually.  Those are handy.  It has zippy pockets too.  

The coffee percolator.  I thought 1930s but the base is skinny and odd so maybe older.....HOLY CRAP!!!

Last made in 1908:

That's it behind the tea cup (also thrifted a while back)

It is super cute.  I used the patent and maker info to google it and last made in 1908.  That skinny base is odd but it works.   

The coffee in that cup was nasty.  I hadn't cleaned out all the bits of antique coffee dregs apparently

Now I'm running plain water through it when the wood stove is in use anyway.  It is getting lighter and lighter.  I've used a few bamboo skewers to pick at the nooks and crannies that are full of coffee munge.  We'll get there.

The same pot in perfect shape is for sale on the ebay for 250$.  Ones in similar shape for much less than that but more than 6$.  Also, looks classy so I'm going to keep it and enjoy it.