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.


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