HomeCritters

Many places get little guys like this, and that is wonderful. Hummingbirds are truly awesome creatures.

Many places get little guys like this, though people sometimes never see fence lizards. I think it's because many people never pay attention. Did you know, over the span of about 70 years or so, scientists have seen the evolution of the hind limbs of the fence lizard which allows them to get away from the fire ants which have been predators of fence lizards? Cool, huh.

Many places have snakes like this black rat snake. Many people would have killed this harmless guy and asked questions later. This snake eats rodents and stuff, which many people would pay a man to get rid of, sometimes using poisons and dangerous traps. Silly people.

I hung out with this one for a while, I named him Curly.

 I mean, what else would you call him?

 I loved the way he smoothed out when he was done talking with me, I sent him on his way. I think I saw his daddy the other day.

 Many places have bullfrogs, but lots of people would rather eat their legs than listen to their fabulous bass notes in the night symphony. We have several. This is Bocephus.

 But not too many people get this behind their barn. I got up to walk Ginger one morning, and there was this thing in the mist.

 I hustled Ginger back into the house, grabbed my ever-handy camera and stalked around the edge of the barn and caught it by the pond... he's lived here the whole time, but this is the first shot I've had.

Good Times

Published on The Red Barn Dispatch first.

Cypress Tree

beneath still waters

entwined roots and fish mingle

only seems lonely

Moss

Only weeks after last years wildfires, I saw moss growing on the spongy swamp floor while on a solitary walkabout through my special place, The Great Dismal Swamp

Ever changing timelessness, as close as I will ever come to infinity.

please click on photo to enlarge

Love - It's What's For Dinner...Heart-shaped Meatloaf

Nothing brings my crew to the table faster than homestyle cooking. When G-Man asked what was for dinner and I replied, "meatloaf", I had a request I get from time to time. He wanted to know if I would make it into a heart shape like I did for Valentine's Day (or birthday or anniversary, sometimes). I didn't see why not, so that's what we did. This is comfort food, pure and simple with no frills or experimentation.

Moms Meatloaf

2 - 2 1/2 lbs of ground beef

1 small - medium onion, chopped fine

1 small - medium green bell pepper chopped fine

1 slightly beaten egg

2 Tbsp each of your favorite worchestershire sauce, steak sauce, and ketchup.

Salt and Pepper to taste - I use about 1 tsp each

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350º F and spray a large casserole dish with a non-stick cooking spray. Now for the down and dirty - By hand, mix all ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly blended. Gather the mass up into a ball and place in the middle of the casserole dish. Shape into a heart, or whatever your heart's desire.

Bake for about 45 minutes, and then take out to drizzle ketchup on the top right from the squeeze bottle. I made a crosshatch pattern this time. Put it back in the oven under a low broil for about 10 minutes or until the ketchup is thickening or carmelizing a bit. There's no shame in using ketchup in a recipe, and don't let anyone tell you there is.

Take out of oven and let rest for 2-3 minutes, and then cut into slices about an inch thick. Tonight I served ours with mashed potatoes and peas.

Look for my killer mashed potato recipe soon!

Free Rice

To my sideboard I have added a link for FreeRice.com , a game that the Pirate introduced us to about a year ago. It is a vocabulary game which has you choose a word from four that best matches a given word. Every word you get right, the sponsors donate rice through the United Nations World Food Program. Spending a few minutes piddling around with this game is nothing but simple goodness.

I love words and language; one of my other blogs is dedicated to vocabulary and I had the link there. I thought I'd put it here too. I hope you do check it out, and bookmark it.

The one click entry gets you started playing immediately with your first word. You can change the options to let it set a cookie to remember how many grains you have donated or to remember your highest level, etc.

No memberships, no emails, no passwords.

Simple Goodness...now go play.

Simple Goodness: Oatmeal

G-man went playing with the Queen's son yesterday and as they were running through the tall grass, they got ate up by some type of insect or another. Be it chiggers or skeeters, G's poor legs are covered with bites this morning, so I ordered up a dose of antihistamine and an oatmeal bath.

Oatmeal bath: put a cup of uncooked whole oats in a nylon sack (like the footies you use in the shoe store) and tie a knot at the top to close it. Run a tub of warm water and get in with the oatmeal. Relax. As the oatmeal gets wet it will leach out a milky starch into the water. It will help with itchy skin. Good for insect bites, poison ivy/oak/sumac, and other skin conditions such as chicken pox. Bonus, your skin will be so soft.

As I was making G-man's bath sachet, I had a hankering for some real oatmeal, not the instant stuff. So this was breakfast.


Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal for Two

1 3/4 cups of water or milk (or a combo of both)
1 cup of whole 'old fashioned' oats
optional dash or two of salt
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Maple syrup

Preparation:

Bring water/milk to a boil, add oats, cook five minutes. Remove from heat and let stand a minute.

Add cinnamon and brown sugar to taste with a tablespoon or two of maple syrup and stir it together in the pot.

Put into two bowls and, for easy clean up, immediately run water into the pot and let set.

Sprinkle on a touch more cinnamon and sugar, add a small dollop of fresh butter and a drizzle of maple syrup. Share with a beloved.

Trying to keep up with a fast paced life makes it easy to forget the simple things. Taking five minutes to whip up whole oats is better for your health and keeps packaging waste down when you stop yourself from reaching for the instant individually packaged stuff. I'll bet whoever gets the second bowl will sure appreciate it!

Keep Virginia Green, slow down, and get some sweet simple goodness.