Subj : Animals was:Climb It Chan To : Ruth Haffly From : Dave Drum Date : Mon Nov 25 2024 05:58:00 -=> Ruth Haffly wrote to Dave Drum <=- RH> We've got lots of squirrels. The deer are there but we don't see them RH> that often. The town keeps clearing out their habitats to build more RH> and more housing so it sort of surprises me that we don't see more than RH> an occaisional one. DD> Tree rats are like mice - they breed quickly and often. I'm fighting a DD> battle with mice right now. I discovered their entry point and got DD> that sealed off. Traps and D-Con baits are thinning their numbers. But DD> Mickey and Minnie are stiil with me. Fortunately the dogs don't eat DD> mice so I don't have to worry about second hand poisoning one of them. RH> We've only had a mouse problem once. When we were in HI, we had an RH> inside unit of a 4-plex. The outside neighbors let their back yard grow RH> out of control and mice moved in. When the neighbors packed out, the RH> doors were open and shut quite a bit, allowing mice access to the RH> housing unit. I'm not sure how they got into our place but we ended up RH> dispatching 3 or 4 to quickly solve the problem. Their back yard was RH> cut, finally, just before they left HI. If it was only a few it wouldn't have been a problem. Got the (known) entry point sealed up. But mice breed quickly and their "cycle" is kind of short. I flush three or four per day from the traps. Another one or two from the dog's water bucket. The best control device seems to be D-Con bait stations and bait blocks of Bromethalin poison which causes Mr Mouse to bleed out internally and dehydrate. (and not stink as the corpse mummifies) DD> Deer seem to adapt to urban living. I remember a picnic at the late DD> Dale Shipp's place in Columbia, MD and watching a doe and her fawn DD> grazing in Gail's flower beds. RH> We've seen quite a few in WF, including an albino one, but not that RH> many in the last few years. Steve did see a couple a few weeks ago RH> cross the street just below our house but they were gone before he RH> could let me know. Fortunately our cell phones let us snap pixtures - if we think of it in time. Bv)= DD> 8<----- CLIP ----->8 RH> Count up how many pairs of scissors/shears you have for normal RH> household/shop use; you might be surprised at the total. Some years ago RH> go thru them. I found another pair of scissors but didn't tell him. (G) DD> One big "tin snip", one set of kitchen shears (big scissors), a beard DD> trim scissors in the bathroom and four scissors from 6" length to 10". DD> Not to mention an old (and unused big pinking shears that I inherited DD> from my mum. RH> I've got my grandma Weiss's sewing scissors; Mom had them but Dad told RH> me to take them when Mom went into the nursing home. DD> Weiss is the brand on the pinking shears. The other scissors are DD> newish enouogh the they're probably from the land of dim sum and pork DD> fried rice. RH> You sure it's Weiss, not Wiss? The latter is a known name in RH> scissors/shears manufacturing. Goes and looks. And, you're right. It's Wiss. Bv)= RH> Saw your shrimp recipies. Last night we made a shrimp, pepper, onion, RH> tomato and garlic stir fry from a Junior League of Rocky Mount cook RH> book I'd picked up some time ago. Directions were to serve it over RH> angel hair pasta but we subbed soba (buckwheat) noodles. It's something RH> we will do again. DD> One reason to raise your own tomatoes: DD> Title: Green Tomato Pie DD> Categories: Pies, Pastry, RH> Fruits, Citrus DD> Yield: 6 Servings RH> Looks interesting, might try it next year. DD> In normal years my 'mters produce right up to frost time. But the last DD> few years we've not had a killing frost until sometime in December. DD> errrrmmmm .... Ground Control to Donald Trump - That's climate change! RH> I think we had our killing frost a couple of weeks ago. We've had the one frost that signalled the grass to quit growing. And let the trees know it's Fall so they can go all orange, yellow and red. And cause the yard rakes to appear. MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06 Title: Airline Chicken Breast Categories: Poultry, Herbs, Chilies Yield: 2 Servings 3 lb Whole chicken Drizzle olive oil Salt & ground black pepper 2 pn Herbes de Provence; to taste 1/4 ts Cayenne pepper; or more 1 tb Olive oil 3 tb Butter; divided 1 Sprig fresh rosemary 2 Sprigs fresh thyme 1/2 c Chicken stock; as needed Slice off 1/2 of each chicken wing by cutting through the joint where the wing meets the drumette. Slice through the skin between the thighs and breasts. Make a shallow cut along the breast bone and 2 deep cuts on either side, separating the breasts. Slice each breast off the carcass using the tip of the knife, keeping the blade pressed against the bone. Cut through the cartilage to remove breast with the wing attached. Remove the tenders and trim as needed. Season with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper, herbes de Provence, and cayenne pepper. Push your finger gently under the skin of each breast, right next to the wing bone, to separate it from the meat. Slide 1 tender under the skin, center it, and smooth over the skin. Sprinkle salt over breasts. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts, skin-side down. Cook until bottom is browned, 6 to 7 minutes. Flip, reduce heat to medium, and cook until no longer pink on the inside, 7 to 10 minutes more. Add 1 tablespoon butter, rosemary, and thyme. Baste chicken with the butter. Remove chicken from the skillet. Pour stock into the pan; increase heat to high. Boil until reduced to desired thickness, about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and whisk in remaining butter. Slice each chicken breast into thirds and spoon the pan sauce on top. NOTE: Since food for air travel needs to be prepared far in advance, airlines back in the day created a special cut of chicken breast that wouldn't dry out as much as normal. Chef John Semanik RECIPE FROM: https://www.allrecipes.com Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives MMMMM DD> down to 31.F Friday night the back to the low 40s at night thru DD> Turkey Day weekend. My phone told me when I plugged it into the DD> charger that snow will start here in 30 minutes (05:30) but the DD> outside temp is currently 34.F - so it will just be messy and won't DD> stick. (I hope) And, that came to pass. We got a trace of snow that melted as it hit and it didn't screw with travel. RH> Steve is outside working on our leaves again. He ran a mulching cycle RH> with the mower a couple of weeks ago but I hear the blower now. Still RH> have some on the trees, but probably not enough to worry about at this RH> stage. I see lots of bags of "yard waste" lining the curbs around town. They will be picked up by the city and sent to b big compost facility on the north side of town, near the areo drome. .... Useless Invention: Flashbulb tester. --- MultiMail/Win v0.52 * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105) .