Deck Construction

I can't go kayaking until I finish the deck. Can't cheat either since I need T to shuttle me to the river and back.

So, no deck - no river trips!


At this point I have three boards up, part of the framing. Here is what it looks like now. When finished it will be 48' long and 10' wide.

Hope I get to the river before October!

Temporary Ranch Manager

T went to Minnesota with Laurie Ann. They are working the Equestrian Journey booth at the mega horse exposition in Minneapolis. No daily report yet, but I'm sure they're doing fine.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...

(sorry!)

I am totally without adult supervision. I used my freedom by working all day and taking care of the animals, morning and night. Some freedom!

After work I fired up the Dutch Oven and the Camp Chef stove and made some chili. Since it's just me I added plenty of heat. I had chili for dinner, and there are eight plastic containers with leftovers. So I can eat chili for the rest of the weekend. Even for breakfast!

Wish Lindsay were here to share!

Here's the deal:

Modified Gringo Chili*

Yield: 8 Servings

2 tb Olive Oil
1 large onion coarsely chopped
2 lb Lean chuck
2 tb Dried red pepper flakes
2 tb Chili powder
1 ts Dried ground oregano
2 tb Ground cumin
5 ea Cloves of garlic crushed
4 ea 10 1/2 oz cans tomato soup
2 ea 10 1/2 oz cans of onion soup

1/4 tsp habenero sauce
2 tb corn meal

Saute the onions in olive oil until the onion becomes transparent. Add the garlic.

Combine the oregano, red pepper flakes & 1 1/2 Tb of the cumin. Dump into the onion mix & stir.

Add the ground chuck to the mix. Cook and stir until the meat is browned.

Stir-in the soups and bring to a boil.

Add the corn meal slowly, while stirring.

Reduce heat to simmer.I added some habenero sauce, about 1/4 tsp (be careful!) just because I like things lively. Lindsay would've put in 1/2 tsp.

Cook for 30 mins., stirring frequently. Add the remaining cumin & simmer for 5 more mins. (* This is based on original chili recipe from the pot of Dr. Donald Houston - ICS Life Member # H-4 - thanks Don!)

Since I had to work all day I decided I won't start the chores till tomorrow. Maybe late tomorrow.

Freedom's just another word for no one watching!

Weber Grill

In Lombard, IL there is a Weber Grill restaurant -- the same company that makes the dome covered barbecue grills. I'm staying close by in Westchester, so I drove out for dinner. In the lobby there is a huge bronze statue of an old guy cooking steaks on a grill.

He is turning the steaks with a spatula. Obviously a rookie.

I wanted to get a picture of the bronze guy but didn't want to look like a tourist. So I settled for a shot of the big red grill outside. Anyway, I had a great New York strip, medium rare, with a Caesar salad.

This is not a place for vegetarians!

They served it with a big pile of garlic mashed potatoes and pretzel rolls.

I left some of the garlic potatoes and rolls on the plate. I wanted the waiter to see that I had self control.

I now have to eat fish for three straight weeks to make up for my self indulgence! It was worth it, though!

Road Trip Revised

Started out the day at the Bass Pro Shop in St. Charles. I got a hat and a long sleeve shirt since it was raining and I forgot to pack my windbreaker. Well, at least it has lots of pockets for my stuff. T & Lindsay would be proud.

I got to Springfield early and the rain had stopped so I decided to do my sightseeing today instead of tomorrow. I visited the old capitol building where Lincoln practiced law. It was nicely restored. I toured with a bunch of old people. Two of the old guys had vests with lots of pockets, all on the outside. Tacky. I was resplendent in my stylish gadget vest, with all the pockets on the inside.

The "new" Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library was OK but overrun with little kids. There were hundreds of them running around, yelling and smearing greasy fingerprints all over the exhibits. I didn't stay long.

I got to the hotel about 3:30 pm -- in time to do laundry before dinner. After dinner about six busloads of girls between maybe 9 and 12 pulled into the hotel. Some kind of baton twirlers convention, I guess. So I will cower in the room all night to avoid them, and leave early in the morning.

Fortunately I'm ahead of schedule. Just under 200 miles to go tomorrow.

Road Trip

I found a slick little program called MaxiVista that lets me use my small netbook as a second monitor. I connect it to the work laptop via a crossover ethernet cable, and the software "tricks" the laptop into thinking there's another monitor attached. So I can extend (or mirror) the laptop screen onto the netbook and drag application windows between the two. Nice, and it has a remote control feature that let's me take over the netbook from the main laptop just by moving the mouse to the other screen.

This will make working in hotel rooms more efficient!

I've been in St. Louis this week, working with a bank client. I have a little more work to do at the hotel tonight and tomorrow -- then I head to Chicago. I have to be at another client on Monday.

I'll stop in Springfield IL tomorrow night. Sunday I'll tour the new Lincoln Library.

Real Food

Ok, I'm past my Sourdough phase. For now.

I found an oatmeal cake recipe in one of my Dutch Oven cookbooks, so I spent the afternoon on the BBQ patio. I used the 12 inch DO for the the cake and I did a pork roast in the 10 inch DO. It all came out well -- T & I had a feast in the evening.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake

12 inch Dutch Oven

15 top coals

8 bottom coals

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1 cup regular oatmeal, uncooked

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

3 eggs

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

12 ounces chocolate chips, divided

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Grease the Dutch oven and set aside. In a mixing bowl, pour water over oatmeal. Allow to stand for 10 minutes. Add sugars and butter, stirring until the butter melts. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift flour, soda, cocoa and salt together. Add to the batter; mix well. Stir in half of the chocolate chips. Pour into the greased Dutch oven. Sprinkle top of cake with walnuts and remaining chocolate chips. Bake for about 40 minutes.

Sourdough Pancakes & NAS

Yes, that's right -- NAS as in Network Attached Storage. I worked all day yesterday on a better backup solution for our network here at the ranch -- for the business and personal files. I finally got everything working around 12:30 am.

I need to switch to cloud computing!

Anyway, I'm up early and ready to mix up the batter for Sourdough Pancakes:

Sourdough Pancakes

2 cups sourdough starter, room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoons warm water

In a large bowl, add sourdough starter, sugar, egg, and olive oil; mix well.

Dilute 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 tablespoon of warm water. Add baking soda to batter just before you are ready to cook the pancakes. Fold gently into the sourdough batter (do not beat). This will cause a gentle foaming and rising action. Let the mixture bubble and foam a minute or two.

Heat up a lightly greased griddle until fairly hot; then pour batter onto the griddle. For each pancake, pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup batter onto hot griddle. Cook 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve on hot plates.

You can mix some fruit into the batter if you like – blueberries, bananas (sliced thin or mashed), strawberries, etc. If the fruit is juicy you may have to add some flour to the batter to thicken it.

New Paddocks

Two of the paddocks are done & now both of the boys have a private play area.

Black Cloud was so excited he couldn't eat his hay. He kept running into the stall to get a mouthful, then he'd run back to the paddock with a wad of hay in his mouth.

He was acting all cocky as though the paddocks were his idea.

Otis was even more excited -- he went in and out a couple of times like he couldn't believe it.

Then he started rolling around. He would roll once, then run around the paddock, then roll again.

I told them both we would have to raise their rent to cover the cost of the improvements. They didn't seem to care.

Sourdough Biscuits

Tried my hand at sourdough biscuits in the evening. Not bad, not bad. Can't wait to try them in a Dutch Oven over charcoal!

Tomorrow, sourdough pancakes??

Maybe!

After that I'll give it a rest. I don't want to become obsessed with sourdough.

Oops -- gotta go feed the starter!

==>SC

Paddock Posts & Cornbread

Well, the sourdough cornbread was worth mentioning, though I need practice. I used too low a temperature, I think, and cooked it too long.

Too windy for outdoor cooking. So I cheated and used the oven in the house. Eccch!

Mike is putting up the paddock fence posts now. Black Cloud and Otis are wondering what's going on.

Here's the cornbread recipe:

Sourdough Cornbread

1 ½ cups sourdough starter
3 eggs; beaten
2 ¼ cups canned milk
6 tsp. butter; melted
2 ¼ cups yellow corn meal
1 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbs. sugar
3/4tsp. salt

Mix sourdough starter, milk, corn meal, sugar, and eggs; stir well. Add melted butter, soda, and salt; stir until well mixed. Turn mixture into a lightly greased 12" Dutch oven and spread evenly.

Place lid on Dutch oven and bake using 12-14 briquettes bottom and 18-20 briquettes top for 25-30 minutes or until cornbread turns golden brown.

NOTE: For even browning make sure to turn the oven and lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every 10 minutes.

Serve hot with honey butter.

Serves: 10-12

Post Holes

Big Tex got a workout again today. We picked up a post hole digger for Mike to use on the paddocks. So, post hole digging tomorrow plus some holes for a bunch of trees.

T is headed for Allentown tomorrow morning. She has a booth at the Horse Expo & will be selling her wares -- this is her first time out. We have our fingers crossed! If she makes a million I can retire and do ranch chores for the rest of my life!

Lumber for the porch will be delivered in about 2 weeks -- then the big project starts. No kayaking allowed until the stable has a porch!