A Man and His Buds

Dogs. I've had a lifelong relationship with horses and dogs, and if pressed I couldn't give you an answer as to which is my favorite. Could you answer anyone if they asked you which of your children do you like the most? Back in 2010 I jokingly said to my wife, "I need a wolf." Damned if she didn't find me one that had a bit of dog in him. Most of his genetics expressed as wolf, including much of his behavior. He weighed in at over 100 pounds and was a handful.  Here's a photo of him and my other dog.

As one might imagine having a wolf can be a bit troublesome. If you think you might train a wolf, forget it. What you can do is bond with him and become a packmate. He was my hunting and fishing companion. I would heave a trout to him and he'd give me a look almost to say, "what, this is all for me?" Crunch, head, fins, entrails, everything, gone in a flash.

My other dog, my favorite breed Heinz 57, they have a little bit of everything in them. He's my working dog. He hustles the horses when needed and worked cattle well. He's also my truck dog. A man has to have a dog in his pick-up.

I had to put my wolf down not too long ago. They tend to die fairly young for canines. My other dog has mostly retired and his days are filled with power lounging in the sun, and pick-up rides. Oh, and wienies, lots of wienies.

Children and Horses

We get our Number One Grandson, who is 5, for 2 to 3 weeks in the summer. The great thing about grandchildren is you've already been there so you can just savor the experience. Hell, all the mistakes you were ever going to make you've already made with your children.

My first experience with a horse was when I was 11 or 12. I was shown how to saddle it, and then mount it and away we go. There was a girl who I had a crush on involved which explains some of my complete lack of sense. Fortunately for me it went well enough and my relationship with the horse has been with me since. 

But It's a Manly Sort of Heat

What the hell does that mean? The same thing as "but it's a dry heat." Once it is over 115 degrees Fahrenheit all bets are off, it's just hot as hell. 

Now our esteemed Governor in Sacramento, Governor Hair Gel, claims we have plenty of electrical generating capacity in the state. SCE and PG&E beg to differ though. They have implemented a Peak Pricing Extravaganza, which means bend over. It seems Governor Hair Gel sees any electricity shortages as the fault of consumers. Similarly, a water shortage is not due to a storage capacity problem.

My wife is a very pragmatic woman, when there is a "rolling outage" her solution to the issue is "Husband of Mine, Do Your Thing." OK.

Every time I see our Governor on the TV I get this earworm. His hair was perfect...

Building an Outdoor Oven

One of the first things I did after I built one of my houses was to pour a patio slab and build an outdoor oven. I enjoy doing the holiday cooking outside. I can cook a 20 pound prime rib and a big turkey in my outdoor oven without batting an eye. Near the end of the cooking I'll throw cast iron Dutch ovens in for my bread. The cooking process is simple. 

How to Do Holiday Cooking Outdoors

Of Course

Now that I've cured and tacked out the Mojave Green skin there seems to be some debate over who gets the resulting product. Isn't that always the case once the work is done?

Meanwhile the skin is drying nicely. I make sure the skin is up off the board so that air can circulate freely.

Bacon is a Many Splendored Thing

On occasion, living like we do out in the boondocks some things get a little old. Everything has to be done by myself, maybe not alone, but certainly you have to take care of it yourself. Recently I had to replace the booster pump on one of the water wells. What a chore, I'm one of those people who inspect everything when I'm doing a job and replace it if necessary (Do It once, Do It Right). Yeah, anal retentive over our infrastructure about covers it. But then again I rarely have to hear at 0 dark 30 from my family that something is wrong with... (insert appropriate system here). There is also the idea of having personally taken care of it for myself and my family which always appeals to me.

Most of our food comes from my supplying it either through growing or raising it, or getting the raw ingredients from other people I know and trust. I don't like pigs, but I do like pork, especially the belly, because of Bacon! I get my pork belly from a fellow who raises hogs who also supplies me with the cuts I need for making our hams. I just got a slab which yielded about 10 pounds of cured meat ready for the smoker. I always wet cure my bacon. Below is the cure I use.

Crotalus Scutulatus

Or as they are more popularly known the Mojave Green rattlesnake. Our main residence is on the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada mountains and is classified as high desert. The high desert is full of life it just tends to be spread out more and much of it is nocturnal. One member of the local fauna is the Mojave Green rattlesnake. They can have a nasty bite as the venom is both a neurotoxin as well as a hemotoxin.

I don't see them very often but I make sure they don't stay around. If I can't transport it easily I'll put it down quickly. Children and dogs are especially at risk from a bite. Just today a woman my wife knows had an unwanted visitor. They have 5 kids and numerous dogs, so, "something has to be done!" You can guess what happened, and I brought the carcass home. Here it is showing the beautiful pattern it has and I decided I needed some more rattlesnake leather.