Gonna Be a Big Weekend!

Tomorrow night, we will have the four bigger grand boys...

two are already here, having come up from Garnett this afternoon. 

Chris will be staying over to go to town at the old house with me next week. 

We had a gloriously beautiful spring day. 

I don't even mind the dandelions!

The straw bales that protected the ducks this past winter are sprouting grass now. 

They are so heavy, they are staying right where they are! 

I'm still planning on doing a straw-bale experiement next spring. 

Double click on this picture above... and you will see the happy surprise I found down in the 

wild corner of the pasture after I did the chores! 

See their little heads nodding at you? 

The first morels of the season. 

Here they are at home, before cleaning. 

Dredged in egg, milk, and flour... salted and peppered... no, it's not a diet food... they were cooked in butter. 

And, voila!  Ready to go on our plates, with a piece of steak, and green beans. 

Let's just say I nuked the baked potato a LITTLE TOO LONG. 

Keith and I are still dragging a little... so he is already asleep, as soon as he ate. 

And... as I reminded Christopher, who helped me do chores on the way home... remember... 

there are little worlds all around us, friends... be cognizant of them and take care of them.  

We put the lost baby back in with his brothers and sisters, and put the cover down over them. 

Even the wee mice deserve a chance. 

We are going to pick up our season tickets for the T Bones tomorrow, 

and watch a bit of the open tryouts... at 1 grandson Jacob has another soccer game, 

and after the game, Jake, and Jax are coming back with us.  We'll have an afternoon of 

basketball playing, frisbie tossing and Monopoly playing, and we have borrowed a couple of 

good movies for the evening.  After hamburgers we'll have lots of popcorn and soft drinks, and settle in for the movies.  

Sunday, our area is in the plains-wide severe weather watch... so 

after breakfast, Jim will come out to collect Jax and Jake, and Nathan and I will head for Garnett and see if I can beat the storms home. 

Should be a FUN weekend! 

Morels and Kids

Yes, we've notice lots of trucks stopping on our road lately.  You see, across from us is a wild area, where a church intends to build.  

We see trucks pulling up and people getting out, just for a few minutes. 

We see Kathy and Troy next door, walking hand in hand to the back of their ten acres.... with a basket. 

Here's what they are after: 

In the middle, like a fairy cap.

You will laugh when you realize Keith and I are starting our ninth summer here and we never knew WE had morels growing on our land!

After a long talk with Troy, I decided to investigate yesterday after feeding the babies.

As a friend said to me this morning "But they're so squishy".  

Indeed, they were.  And, they were growing amongst the "leaves of three" so I was pretty stealthy about it.  I cannot tell a lie, I also reached through the fence to snatch some out of the Spehar's copse of trees. 

There are more down there. 

I washed the outside dirt off them, and then took each, and cut them from stem to stern in four pieces. 

Yes, they were a little limp then. 

After they were pretty clean, I rinsed again, covered them with water, and salted them.  I did this so that any little critters on them (ants) would be killed.  

We let them sit for an hour, in the fridge. 

My photography skills are awesome. 

Then, I took a semi-dry morel... dunked it in egg... dredged it in flour... 

and...

Into a hot iron skillet, with, yes, a HUGE chunk of butter melting in it. 

It soon turned to this:

Almost there (and yes, I made a mess)

O. My. Sweet. Goodness. 

Here we are, just about ready to sit.... we had the first hamburgers grilled outside this year, some corn on the cob, and the morels.  Keith got little slider buns.  We melted some real butter for the corn, what the hey. 

In the old days, we would have had a hamburger each, and multiple pieces of corn and all the mushrooms.  As it happens, Keith is dieting and I am cooking differently now.  Keith weighed in officially this morning and has lost 19.8 pounds!!!!  Our hamburgers are slider size (just as good) and we splurged on the mushrooms (delicious) and corn (equally as delicious!) 

The rest of the mushrooms went to the chickens in the henspa, who went gaga over them. 

We have enough down there for another helping, at least.  We hope they spread. 

They are going for 20 to 40 dollars per pound on Craigslist right now in our area! 

Here's Kody butting Aunt Abby this morning as she tried to come into the barn.  I had to sit and laugh, she helps me feed them daily... and gets a squirt in the mouth for herself.  The babies play with her, and when she sits, they will come over and half-stand on her. She is completely unfazed by them. 

They have been the absolute blessing this past week... so funny to watch, and sweet to care for.

They have the run of their pen now, and can come in and out as they will.  Their feeder is inside... when they are ready for it, but I am getting an outside covered feeder from a man who kept Nigerians this weekend.  

He told me we would absolutely fall in love with them, and he was so right. 

Here's Kody giving grandson Chris a thank you for the rock pile he made for them to play on last week. 

That's it for a sunny day from Calamity Acres.