Jerky anyone?

Last week my son became a man.

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But he did do something manly. He shot his first animal; That sounds mean. He got his first kill; that doesn't sound any better. He brought home an Antelope; not for a pet, for a wallhanging.

He was so excited. Tary shot one too. Fortunately they spent all their money on tags and gas and a hotel that they can't afford to get them stuffed, so all we have to show for their big adventure is a couple of skulls with horns, and lots of antelope meat.

Not sure what I'll be doing with a freezer full of antelope. I'm hoping Tary is planning on making lots of jerky with it. My kids gobble down his elk and deer jerky, and although I'm not a fan of hard crunchy meat, it does give the house a mouth-watering smell.

Speaking of jerky smells, I have a friend who is a Dula. That's not her name, it's what she does. A dula is someone who takes care of pregnant women pre-labor, mid-labor, and post-labor. She helps women through natural child-birth and is there to help them with whatever they need her to do. A while ago, she had a patient who after she gave birth to her fifth child, came home to a family of sick kids. They all had the flu, and the Mom needed rest, so she hired Kristi to come and basically take care of everyone else, so she could take care of her own needs.

Kristi spent the morning cleaning up after 4 sick kids. Washing and changing sheets and mopping floors and all that fun stuff that accompanies the flu. By mid-afternoon, she was tired and hungry. She had planned to go home for lunch, since she lived rather close, but the demands were too great and she didn't see any way to escape, even for a quick bite.

All morning, a mouth watering aroma had been coming from the kitchen. A food dehydrator had trays of tasty look meat that Kristi just couldn't resist. She thought a little piece or two would be able to hold her till she could get away, and she didn't think anyone would begrudge her a bite since she had been working so hard all day long, and certainly the children were in no shape to be eating jerky. So Kristi slowly opened the lid, found the perfect piece, and took a bite. Hmm, tasty; a little gritty though. Not quite sure what type of meat it is, doesn't taste like beef, don't think it's venison or buffalo. As she chewed on another piece and pondered over the mystery meat, the Mom walked into the kitchen, catching her red-handed.

"This is interesting jerky" Kristi said, "what type of meat is this?"

"It's not meat... it's my placenta."

(Sphew)

Needless to say, Kristi mopped up more than just for the kids that day.

Jerky anyone?

Not so fare at the Fair

Last monday for family night, we went to the fair. So did about a gazillion other families. Family night at the fair means kids are free, which means the normal white trash, body piercing, face tattooing, hair spiking, pants falling crowd stayed away. Every night should be family night at the fair. The smell of smoke and alcohol was replaced by cotton candy and candy apples, and the sea lion show was standing room only. It was refreshing.

I made sure I got my exercise in before we went, visions of deep fried corn dogs and funnel cakes spurred me on, burning the calories I was consuming just thinking about all that delicious fair food. On the way, the radio announced the "All you can eat ice-cream" booth at the fair, just $3 for adults, $2 for children...oh heavens, I should have ran another mile.

Once inside the gates, we made our leisurely stroll through the animal barns, the 4-H exhibits, the Division of Wildlife (Tary's favorite) the quilt exhibits (my favorite) and the visual arts exhibit. The smell of roasting chicken over an open flame caught our attention, so we ditched the dogs for a bird instead, with rice and salad to boot. It was yummy, but much too healthy for the fair food conesieur. The funnel cakes looked delicious, but I resisted, knowing that my tummy and my wallet would be better served with the ice-cream, it only we could find it!

The fair is famous for it's fried foods. Normally, I try to obstain from drowning my food in a hot tub of grease, but once in awhile, it sure tastes good. This year we found everything from deep-fried snickers, to deep-fried pickles. That didn't even sound good, but I thought for sure Tary would go for the deep-fried bacon, drizzled in chocolate. I was actually looking forward to taking a bite out of it, not that I would spend $4.50 on one for myself, but I was kinda hoping he would. Bummer, no takers. I should have got the funnel cake while I had the chance. Ugh, now I'm getting desperate, where's the ice-cream?

We decided against paying $10 for a few tickets that would get us on 1 ride, and instead Tary and Trey went on a virtual reality ride. It was worth the $5 just to watch the goofy grins on their faces as they lurched and rocked and tilted side to side as they were strapped in, with virtual googles and headsets on. Trey was on a western rollercoaster, Tary did a airplane combat fight. And I sat on the sidelines, wishing I had brought my camera.

By now it's getting dark, it's a school night, time to start thinking about heading home. But we can't leave yet, we haven't found the...hey, lookie over there! It's the ice-cream tent...it's 9:05, they just barely closed, and they just scooped up the last bowl of ice-cream. It's all gone. Bummer. I should have got the fried funnel cake when i had the chance.

What a waste of a good work-out!