Too much Great Escape.

I knew that chickens liked to scratch, and I knew that they liked 'dust baths'...but I didn't know they liked just flat out digging holes.

It's tough to tell from this picture(because I am the suck photographer), but there are parts of this pit that are 4-5 inches below grade...and it's not the only one.  There are another three or four places along the fence of their 'run' where they are close to digging out, and I have had to add supplemental fencing(my folded up tomato cages, which drive down into the ground) to keep the chickens where they belong.

The real thing to keep an eye on is the part of their run where it borders my neighbors yard...it's an adventure when they end of up loose in my yard...I just don't look forward to the day I need to go retrieve them from someone else's yard.

Giving credit where it is due.

While I was running around the house with a note pad, tracking what food had been squirrelled away in what holes, my wife decided she would tackle the 'consumables' closet...and she was smart enough to take a 'before' picture, to prove she accomplished something.

There is a little bit of everything stuck in this space...medical stuff, dental stuff, candles, towels, bug out bags, and a little bit of extra bedding.  My wife stepped up to make order from chaos.

Just her, and her Dymo LetraTag label maker.

At least I will know where to put things away. 

These potatoes taste like potatoes!

I know...imagine that, potatoes tasting like potatoes.  But in this case, a year or so ago, I boiled up some potatoes, which I then shredded, and stuck on the dehydrator. 

Today, we made breakfast for dinner, and so I decided to give them a try...put them in a bowl, and dumped a kettle full of boiling water over them, and voila, 15 minutes later...I had shredded potatoes, and shortly after, tasty hash browns! 

I know, I know...you can buy cartons of dehydrated shredded potatoes at the grocery store...but it's always rewarding to see that something I did a year ago was worth the time it took to do it.

Bad Prepper...bad, bad, prepper.

I hate calling myself a 'prepper'.  Due to certain T.V. shows, and media stories, the term 'prepper' has become almost as perverted as 'Tea Partier'.

But, I am someone who tries to be ready for whatever might be ahead...and that includes stocking up on things when they are on sale.  Then they come into the house and get stuck...somewhere, because I am occasionally lacking in organization.

Now...fast forward to about two weeks ago.  The girls come in from playing in the thick frost on our yard(pretending it's snow), and they want some hot chocolate, but there is only one envelope of it left in the drawer.  No problem...I know there is some in the pantry.  Or maybe the bottom of the hutch in our living room.  Or if not there, then out in the garage.

But no...there is no hot cocoa in any of those places...so, the next day, while my wife is at the store, she buys two new cans.  Problem solved.

Fast forward again to today.  It's a day for cleaning and reorganizing.  While working in the laundry room, I find an unmarked cardboard box next to the spare laundry soap, and another box containing our broken Wii.

Oh yeah...that's where I put it. 

This is kind of the 2nd time this has happened recently.  A week or two ago, I found two 24-packs of AA batteries while cleaning the garage.  I blame it on laziness on my part when we moved in.  'Look, this will fit here!'  And there some things sat. 

Not anymore!  I have spent most of my afternoon going through different closets, and cabinets, and hutch's, making notes as I go, with a goal of spending my time watching the NFL playoffs creating an actual spread sheet on the computer to track where things are hidden, and how much there is of it.

Technology is our friend!

Ground Out.

I never thought I would complain about actually harvesting two deer this past hunting season...but it did leave us with a fairly high percentage of ground meat in our freezer.  The only problem with that is that there is a somewhat limited menu that can be covered with ground meat...burgers, and meat loaf, and...Mexican and Italian.  Yes, there is an almost infinite variety of things that fall under the 'Mexican/tex-mex' umbrella, but in the end, it's a spicy, and cheesy, and saucy...just like all of the variety of Italian is saucy, and cheesy, and pasta(y). 

So...off to the internet I went, and spent a LOT of time surfing though different variations of taco, taco bakes, manicotti, baked ziti, shepherd's pie etc. before finding something that looked...different. 

Thai-Style Ground Beef

It was pretty okay.  I got the official wife/kid stamp of approval, with all three asking that we add it to the rotation.  That's nice, because I had to go buy fish sauce and red curry paste to make this recipe today, so I'm glad I'm not stuck with nothing to do with the rest of the containers. 

My only complaint is that it's not quite 'thai' enough.  Partly because I've never played with red curry paste before, and partly because I am the father of girls who don't always have the world's highest tolerance for 'heat', I used 50% more meat than the recipe called for, but didn't increase any of the spice quantities.  Next time, I'm going to kick it up a notch or two...maybe even toss in a few red pepper flakes. 

It was a fairly healthy dinner too...ground venison, some rice, and then instead of serving it with lettuce wedges, we actually used romaine leaves to make little 'thai lettuce wraps'. 

Bad apple in every barrel.

I know not all police officers are bad...but if you are a law enforcement officer, and you decide not to follow the law, you need to be ready to be called out on it.

King County deputy arrested after passing out in patrol car

Police arrested an on-duty King County Sheriff’s deputy Tuesday night after a citizen called to report the deputy passed out in his parked patrol car in Newcastle.

 

The incident occurred about 9:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Starbucks near Newcastle Way and Coal Creek Parkway.  The citizen called 911 to report finding the deputy hunched over the steering wheel of his marked police car. The citizen couldn’t wake him.

 

Three King County deputies arrived and eventually roused the deputy, noticing ”signs of impairment,” King County Sheriff’s Sgt. Cindi West said in a news release.

 

Alcohol wasn’t suspected, but a Bellevue police drug-recognition expert called to the scene believed the deputy was “under the influence of some sort of drug, possibly a narcotic,” West said.

Police arrested the deputy for physical control of a vehicle — the equivalent of driving under the influence when no driving is observed, West said. After a search warrant was obtained to draw his blood, the deputy was booked and released by Bellevue police. His patrol car was towed, West said.

The 46-old deputy, a 15-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, is assigned to southeast King County.  The Sheriff’s Office will conduct an administrative investigation while Bellevue police will handle the criminal investigation, West said. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

 

Well...that's probably a 15-year career down the drain. 

Made it!

This picture, taken 10 minutes before midnight, is proof that we made to the New Year(although my older daughter took a 2 hour nap, and I dozed from 9:30-10:30).  It also shows everything that matters.

They are why I do what I do. I don't like my job(saying I hate it would be too strong...the fact is, it's not hard enough to hate).  It lacks a reward other than the financial remuneration every two weeks and benefits. But, unlike my previous position(where I convinced myself the B.S. was worth it, because every so often a submarine came in broke,  and went back to sea on-time...and at least part of that was due to me being good at my job)...I get a lot more family time.  On average, the three years I have been at Hanford vs. my 8 years at PSNS, I have had....say, 650 hours more with my family.  And that is just OT I didn't work...what is that...11-12 hours more a week?  And that is just OT...it doesn't count the times I had to go off-station and didn't see them for weeks(or months) at a time.

So...I'm not saying this to guilt trip my wife(although, to my shame, I have done it more than once after a Bad Day, at which point I go to my room and get some emotions out)...but rather, to focus on them....and how much they mean to me year after year.  They are worth it...

Alright...a quick review, and then peak forward for those who haven't been paying attention for the last year. 

Back in January, we closed on, and moved into our new house.  That has been nice, and I don't know that there are more than 3 or 4 boxes we haven't gone through yet.  In March, we continued our spending spree(or debt spree) by picking up a new Mazda CX-5 to replace our 2004 Subaru Impreza(well, if not replace, demote down to my daily driver, instead of my F-150).

The big news for the spring and summer were making the new house and yard OURS.  We put in a few fruit trees(2 plums, 1 apple, 1 mystery!).  I put in a few raised garden beds, but got fairly sad production this first year...but the big change to the outdoors for the year were our chickens!

They might not be smart, but they DO know what it means when I come out with the table scraps container.  We have eggs, they have left-over spaghetti and meatballs...it seems to workout okay. 

No huge 'family' things to speak of...we didn't go on any big family adventures or vacations this year...just a nice number of day trips, that we try to shoe-horn in as 'Home Schooling Field Trips'. 

It's been good...but there are also times as I nudge closer to 40 that I feel the time slipping.  My wife made the mistake of pointing out to me on Christmas that we might only have 7 more years of all being together for Christmas...fewer years remaining of both girls in the house than we have already experienced.  We have always had a fairly standard bed-time ritual, my wife and I taking turns reading the girls goodnight...and our older daughter now asks if she can just go to bed alone about 1/3rd of the time. 

As for the future...and 'resolutions'?  I don't know yet.  I kind of need to save something for later...

Happy New Years.