I'm Back....

[~Sam~]

Well folks, I'm back. My computer crashed two sundays ago, but some friends came to my rescue and cleaned up the works and installed a new op system.

So, now I'm zooming along at lightspeed and catching up on some reading here.

I'll be back later to talk to ya.

Love... Sam

[poor_old_dad]

I've been wondering where everyone was.

Peace, Your friend,
poor_old_dad

[~Sam~]

Didn't get out of here as soon as I'd thought I would. But I'm goin' now.

Sam

[teepi]

I woke up this morning thinking of you and wondering if all was okay.
Missed you,
teepi

[~Sam~]

Hey Dad! Did you notice that we posted at the same time? I saw that yesterday but I had to book out of here. It's nice to missed.

Teepi girl... it's been hell around here for a week. I haven't been without my trusty little mind stealer for years... kind of left me lost for a while.

Glad to be back though. I'm gonna take a drive with a friend now, goin' to poke around in the old barn on the farm we used to live on . I called Ken to tell him where I'd be... just incase the next call he gets is to come bail me out of jail for tresspassing.

The old victorian has been empty for years. It had 28 acres to it, but that's been subdivided by the Nephew I guess. Anyways, I left a lot of stuff over there that I figured I'd never need again, ever. And don't it always happen that you wind up needing that old hinge or sumpthin like it that you threw away years ago.

Talk At'chas Later,
Sam

[teepi]

HAHA....I have the same problem...only I tend to hang on to things for a LOOOOONG time, thinking I'll need it "someday" dragging it around, moving it here and there, scared to get rid of it,losing it,finding it,.....then FINALLY getting RID OF IT!!!!
then....needing it a week later!!
Can you believe I have actually been accused of being a "pack rat"????....the nerve!!

Wish I was there, I love a good treasure hunt...
teepi

[poor_old_dad]

"Did you notice that we posted at the same time?" - Yes, I did. I did a double take, then thought, "Oh well, just losing my mind again."

I've also noticed that the time posted is different from my computer's time.

Got to run, got to try to harvest some tomatoes.

Peace, Your friend,
POD

[~Sam~]

Teepi! I LOVE the Acrylic in your sig! It prompted me to go and have another look see at your gallery. You've been a busy girl, haven't you?

The colors you use together leave me with a very warm feeling. I like the way your flower portraits draw me in to go on a color taste ride. (I'm one of those wierd people who tastes colors when I look at them.) I just love the Lily or Amaryllis? And the Tulips are spectacular.

I have been spending a couple of hours at a time in the Dental Surgeon's office of late. And I'm forced to look, non-stop, at a Matisse print. I'm gonna have to look at it again today too... last appoinment before surgery next Wednesday... But, I keep thinking when I look at that lopsided rendition of a woman reading a book, that even I could do better with a brush and knife.

But... and that's a big but... Your stuff is good. I mean Really, really good. Would you mind if I printed a page out to show the surgeon? Or better yet, I'll give him the url addy for your gallery.

Oh Man! Did we ever have a good treasure hunt yesterday. We found the cellar door unlocked so we toured the old place. The random plank flooring still looks as great as it did the day I refinished them. We sat up in the attic and read some books and took a 3 gallon glass bottle and a 1/2 gallon scientific beaker bottle I had left up there. It was kinda wierd to be walking around in my old home... had some very pleasent flashbacks.

Out in the barn, among other stuff, we found my old grain bin, some fireplace dogs I had bought at an auction, our old wood cook stove and an old dresser mirror that we had used that was in its antique patina prime... my friend took that to use in her bathroom. BTW... this Lady does some fantastic art work herself. She does wood sculpture like I've not seen before and random paintings all over her old place... like on the door panels she has painted a hounds and fox scene. Her perspective is simply awesome. And! She's going to try to turn her barn into an artist's gallery sometime next summer. I'm keeping your work in mind for that... it will fit right in with the kind of art she like to put forth to the world....

An Crap! I found some of my old milk bottles that were as clean as the day I put them away in the barn 17 years ago. They don't make glass bottles anymore... (or maybe it's because everything is recycled these days) everything comes in plastic and I won't put raw milk in plastic containers.

Pack Rats. I'm married to a donkey of a pack rat. Only thing is... I get to memory catalog all the stuff he stashes away and sometime down the road... maybe 10 years, maybe 20... I have to pull just where that package of old, phillips head screws got to out of my brain box.


And how are you this fine morning, Dad? Looks like you're getting some heavy rain again... crazy weather.

Speaking of tomatoes... all we have here is green tomatoes. It was a very bad year, plus the fact that we live in a valley where the sunlight reaches us somewhere's around 8:30 AM and goes over the hill around 4 PM. Do you have a good recipe for Fried Tomatoes? I ask because I can't find a decent recipe up here.

You can set your computer time by going to User Control Panel... I think it's on the 'edit profile' thingee...but you can set all sorts of things on that panel's options.

Well, I had better get my little buttski in gear now at get out the door. Have a Good One....

[teepi]

SAMMY!!!!

I'm so happy for you, to reconnect with things from the past can do a mind alot o good.
Just look at Larry!!!!...lol

I love old mirrors, I've managed to collect a few and I feel like they truly hold secrets.
Sometimes i wonder about the things they have reflected back into someone's eyes.

But I can't think too hard about loss, things have been lost to me, they are material things but hold thoughts and feelings just the same. Moving around so much you tend to lose things.
But when I do think about them I try to imagine them in worthy hands.

Old wood cookstove 'eh???
Did you bring it home???
When Larry built the house in Vermont he had a huge cream colored beautiful wood cookstove, and some of my best memories are of meals I cooked on it. Of course being 13-14 I was limited in my repretoire (sp) and furthur limited by our budget....so we had a rather steady diet of potatoes, onions, eggs, milk from the dairy farmer we sometimes worked for, bread and peanut butter...what was known as our "starchful diet".We also ate squash as it grew pretty well and we did have a small garden.But weather is tricky there on the border.And we did have a free kitchen there, mostly run by the hog farm and we would take what we had and throw it in the pot with what others had...it was ALWAYS good!!!

Although we did manage to get food stamps....back then they were easier to get and he was actually able to add me to his "household".
The people in Newport got a kick (or was that a fright?) when a bunch of us would pile into the park truck the first of the month and grace them with our presence at the big grocery store....hahaha...."damn hippy freaks."
Sorry, just got to thinkin bout that wood stove.....

Oh the dentist.....my nemisis.....Heifer's been having trouble and I'm sending healing thoughts her way...again being moved around alot when young left a mess in my mouth,they don't look too bad....but the things that lurk under a gumline.....bleh!
Of course you may show my stuff around, the more the better....
And thank you for your kind words...I am getting into some collage stuff right now and will be using some beeswax in a few things...all new to me but I'm excited about the possibilities.

We were hoping Larry would soon be laid off, but now they are talking about hauling this huge pile of "rap" around...its the stuff they tear up off the roads (old asphalt),and dump it in a nearby field or wherever then they haul it all back to the lot.
Its also what they blast out of the gravel pit and need to haul to the yard where it is laid out in different sizes.
So we are hoping he will tell Larry to come home and let one of the other guys who has car payments house payments etc. and needs to work and lives in town take the job.
Larry is afraid that by the time he gets home it will be too cold to finishup the deep well and the new room.
I had 2 estimates on the trees out there one guy wants 275 the other 295 to take down 2 evergreens, when we started building thid place we took down only the trees we had to but it was just supposed to be a garage, then it turned into our house and got bigger, now we have a couple of trees that are big leaners and they are a bit close to where we will build the room and can't be just cut and fallen. Has to be done in sections and best done in a bucket truck, with ropes and all the fancy stuff.

Wish my X was nearby, thats what he did for years before he got hurt, but he'd give it a go if he was nearby.

Well its raining another day here, and its warm, took a walk out around the yard earlier, wanted to make sure my bulbs aren't trying to think its spring.
Didn't see anything coming up.
All the stuff you sent is blanketed by leaves and planted in poop so it should all be cozy and dreaming of springtime.


Classic Fried Green Tomatoes


4 to 6 green tomatoes
salt and pepper
cornmeal
bacon grease or vegetable oil
Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 - 1/2-inch slices. Salt and pepper them to taste. Dip in meal and fry in hot grease or oil about 3 minutes or until golden on bottom. Gently turn and fry the other side. Serve as a side dish and are good with breakfast.


Fried Green Tomatoes


4 to 6 green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick
salt and pepper
flour for dusting
2 eggs, beaten
cornmeal or bread crumbs
bacon grease or vegetable oil
Salt and pepper the tomato slices; dust lightly with flour. Dip slices in beaten egg, letting excess drip off, then coat well with meal or crumbs. Fry in hot grease or oil until browned, turning gently (about 3 minutes each side). Keep warm in a low 200° to 250° oven if frying in batches.

The second recipe is the one I usually use, I have some other recipes using green tomatoes if you would like to see them.

We are moving some of our garden also this year as some trees are getting bigger and shading the area, I'll leave my greens over there but am moving more of the summer crops to a sunnier location.....ahhh the hills....

HIYA POD!!!!!

Gonna go look around,
love ya's
teepi

[poor_old_dad]

Hi (wish I was) to one and all,

Hi Sam, I've been meaning to comment about your horse stories. The last several years of my mother's life were spent raising registered quarter horses. She had on a 52 acre farm in north west Arkansas. I read what you write, and I remember her talking about the sheer, pure joy she got from even small, simple things like sitting on her pourch overlooking the front pasture, watching the horses running around. Remembering hearing her talk about it is one thing, but the look on her face - bliss - is the best description I can think of.


Hi Teepi, yes, yes, yes - Fried green tomatoes.
Folks around here love them. That love makes for one of my really good sources of income. Let's face it, you're not going to get green tomatoes at the supermarket. So you have to grow them or know someone who does (that's where I come in). For years I've been testing different varities to find the best for picking and selling green. Folks will pay more for the green ones. That's supply and demand at work. There's a big demand and small supply, which is good for me($$$).
My testing goes on every year. My two current favorites are:
Amish Paste - https://www.totallytomato.com/ttsite/ttsiteviewproduct.aspx?ProductID=8139
Sausage - https://www.totallytomato.com/ttsite/ttsiteviewproduct.aspx?ProductID=8335

These are from "Totally Tomatoes" (guess their speciality), but these varities are carried by many seed houses.

Yea, expanding garden areas, that's going on here too. Next year the veggie/cut flower/annual herb garden will be about 1/3 bigger and the main herb garden will be 2 1/2 times bigger. I keep hearing a voice in the back of my mind saying something about not biting of more than I can chew.

Well got work to do. Today it's digging up and potting up some of the best pepper plants. I store them inside over the winter, then set them out in late march. Boom - instant peppers!

Peace, Your friend,
poor_old_dad