Good morning from Silty Slough.
I woke up just before sunrise this morning, maybe a great dinner, wine, and a movie had something to do with it. Maybe just the wine. Mr Fahrenheit says -17. He isn’t shaking on the wall yet but much colder and he will start.
Speaking of shaking on the wall, we keep hearing forecast of a 6.5 – 7.5 earthquake that is supposed to happen. Was supposed to be Dec 2 or 3, now a moving target. I don’t know how that they can zero it in so close when quakes are up to 50+ miles below the surface. We were lucky figuring out where water was at 100 feet. There was a 3.0 quake 36 miles east of here 36 miles deep yesterday afternoon, didn’t feel it. Alaska rocks and rolls everyday, it’s a big state. I suppose we don’t even notice 98% of the quakes or we mistake them for one of the dogs jumping on the bed. The good news is the living quarters in the cabin is above the shop so we won’t be very deep in the pile when they dig for us. I guess I could make a sacrifice to the earthquake gods and bury our tv. The ground is frozen, so that’s a bad idea. How does the earth quake or crack anyway, it’s so frozen I can’t even dig in it with my Kubota.
The sun rose at 10:10 and the big ball will roll right along the ridge behind the cabin and fall off the back at 3:42. Five hours and thirty two minutes of sand falling through the hour glass.
Mayor Cooper is going to start accepting comments on a study to appoint a commission to draft a proposal to make changes in the way the Silty Slough Department of Environmental Science reports temperatures. Cooper proposes to do the thermometer just like daylight savings time. In the winter temperatures will be reported in Fahrenheit and the spring when the clocks change we will report in Celsius. When it is 68F in the summer it will be reported as 20 degrees C so it won’t seem so hot. Fahrenheit will make the winter temperatures seem warmer. This is a great solution to global warming or cooling. If you have a thermometer that does not read Celsius you may apply to the Thermometer Adjustment Board and receive a waiver after making application and paying the filing fee. Indoor thermostats my be exempted without application, just send the filing fee to city hall.
This is Coopers epic government program to be followed by even more. It puts people to work, generates revenue for other epic programs, and causes mass confusion just like a good government program should do. Like most members of congress, Cooper hasn’t learned to read yet, he will just rubber stamp it into law as written with his paw print to get the revenue flowing.
Thursday I was looking on the Appalachian Americans group and saw a meal for supper
Soup beans, corn bread, onion, and taters. Arsh taters as my ancestors called them. Appalachian for Irish potatoes. Kari got the beans soaking for tomorrow’s evening meal. Friday was cold about zero so I stayed in the shop and sharpened about three dozen kitchen knives. Now I don’t know why we need so many. I guess everything just ends up at the cabin.
That morning I dug through 2 chest freezers to find a piece of pork belly for the beans. Why is it everything you need in a chest freezer is at the bottom, then even if you take something out the rest of the stuff won’t fit back in. Later in the afternoon Kari started the beans cooking. I went to the root cellar and got potatoes that we had helped plant and dig along Bentalit airstrip. Kari sliced them with one of the now two dozen sharp knives that made it back to the kitchen. You have to expect a few losses in a big operation. I was appointed to make the cornbread since I had complained about the last batch being too thick, wrong texture, and crumbly. Well if you can do better…. I must not fail. I asked for recipes from the Appalachian Americans group, even ended up with a few more readers of the view from the outhouse. After I combined several recipes and the recipes on the cornmeal packages along with my memory of watching my mother and grandpaw, I headed off into uncharted territory. Not knowing what I’m doing has never stopped me before. I looked at the cornmeal supply, checked the texture, and selected the courser grind that we had, rounded up the rest of the ingredients, and preheated the oven and iron skillet to 450. I poured the mixture into the hot skillet, set the timer for 25 minutes, and sliced the onion. Kari had the table set and the taters fried. The beans are ready, the bread is done, I love it when a plan comes together. I done good for a first attempt, Kari done good too. Excellent supper.
Striving for excellence I consulted with the Cornbread Guru north of the Ohio River BobbyRay Howard.
We agreed on a couple points from the gospel according to cornbread
Cornbread is always broken never cut.
If you put sugar in cornbread you don’t love the Lord.
He shared his recipe with me so I can do some fine tuning. Little cooler, little runnier batter….I would post it here but it is top secret and I would have to kill you. Maybe I could share it with a couple Trump haters. Just kidding. haha.
I need to weigh in with my friend Cornbread from Michigan aka Poot Bachner. Surely with the name Cornbread he can bake a world class pone.
Like the Democrats I will do anything to win The Great Silty Slough Cornbread Cookoff that mayor Cooper plans as soon as we get rid of this Chinese….. no wait. We can keep everything locked down and eliminate any viable competitors. I won’t even have to try. I can stay in the root cellar and still be sure to win.
By the way will I have to set the oven in Fahrenheit or Celsius? I’ll have to ask Cooper.
From the Asylum high above Silty Slough, stay safe and healthy my friends!
Thank you Lord for the good food.
I’ll be in touch.
Blue skies!!!
The View from the Outhouse 