Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends

[EweSheep]

Speaking of smoking wood, can you all tell what kind of wood you use? I have a hard time with oak and maple but can tell cedar and mesquite by a long shot.

Many times I go to the old town villages for living history (like New Salem village, near Petersburg, IL), the smell of wood burning in the smoke houses and fireplaces are heavenly!

If I use the same wood, I don't get the same effects. I would have loved to "smoke" my house for its perfume...........sigh.

 

[Opa]

Unless you spend a lot of time around wood fires it would be difficult to distinquish the aromas of each wood species. I use apple, maple, hickory, and occasionally mesquite in my smoker. I prefer maple for fish, apple for chicken, hickory for pork and beef.

 

[Opa]

Each day thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Stop this senseless violence!!!
EAT MORE BACON

 

[EweSheep]

No problem!!!!!!!!!

 

[NotAFarm]

Each day thousands of innocent plants are killed by vegetarians. Stop this senseless violence!!!
EAT MORE BACON

No problem!!!!!!!!!

I know I am doing my part!!

 

[Opa]

I really enjoy spring turkey hunting. The challenge of bring a wary old tom to shooting range can be quite exhilarating. However, I've never been a fan of eating wild turkey. I'll eat them because I refuse to kill anything that won't end up as sustenance. This year I decided to smoke the bird.

While I smoke it last April, it has been sitting in the freezer. Saturday I took out a breast for Sunday's dinner. Wrapped tightly with aluminum foil in went into a 200 degree oven for 3 hours, then boosted to 325 for the last 30 minutes. It came out moist and tender with an incredible smoke flavor. Coupled with sugar snap peas from the garden and dressing loaded with cranberries. Just a box mix dressing but Hope added an additional 1/4 or water and 1/2 cup of dried cranberry. Sure made for an excellent Sunday dinner.

After the 3 of us had eaten there was still quite a lot leftover. Hope fixed a dinner for my old friend and cut the remainder in small pieces for tonight's supper. Adding the turkey to a simple white sauce with morel mushrooms and pasta has changed my mind about wild turkey.

 

[Opa]

Recently I received some traps that I had ordered. I placed the open box on the garage floor while I took a phone call. Some how the box was overturned and one trap slide unnoticed under a cabinet. When I started to boil the traps I found I was one short so I call the company, explained that my order had been shorted. They apologized and sent a replacement.

The I discovered the missing trap. Today I placed another order with them and asked them to charge me for the replacement trap they had sent me and explained my error. They were amazed that I wanted to pay for the trap stating that most won't have.

While the company is quite large and I'm sure $8 isn't going to make or break them, not being honest would break a life long commitment of mine to always doing what is right. This old dog isn't about to turn into a cur now.

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi Opa, nice to see you - and hi to Granny too!

My parent's (Grandparent, aunts, uncles, etc) firm rule was always do the right thing, and it has not failed me yet.

 

[Opa]

This past Friday the phone rang quite early and like many early calls this one wasn't good news. My father's youngest sister to called to inform us of the death of another sister. The death of this aunt wasn't unexpected, she was 89 and the last year she was in a nursing home living in her own little world that she rarely knew anyone.

While perhaps her passing was a blessing it is still difficult to lose a treasured family member. My last birthday was the first time in at least 40 years that she failed to call. She was the aunt that tried the hardest to keep all the extended family connected.

This aunt was also the one that Granny enjoyed spending time with so I knew that her death would be difficult. As Granny and I spoke about her passing and the feasibility of attending her funeral, she said she wouldn't want to attend, that she wanted to remember her as she was when we last visited.

The fact that she would be interred with her husband go tGranny thinking about my father and that she hadn't been to his grave since his cremains were placed in the memorial wall at the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery. My aunt's passing brought that fact to the fore and with it a great deal of sadness.

I decided that there was no good reason for him to be so far away. While he lies in a place of honor, it's still to far away. She should be able to spend a few moments near him remembering the years shared and not how difficult it will be to join them when she passes.

That got me to thinking, why not bring him back to Michigan? The state in which they raised a family and lived the majority of the married life has Veterans cemeteries, why not bring him to one of those. With a simple phone call I determined that disinterment wasn't going to be very difficult so I informed Granny of my idea.

She was absolutely thrilled with having him brought to a place she could easily visit. The Great Lakes National Cemetery is only 32 miles away instead of the 600 miles where he now lies. So I will soon be making the arrangements necessary to make this happen.

While my aunt's passing is quite sad and she will be missed greatly, it also has brought about something that is bringing Granny great solace.

 

[tntchix]

I am so sorry for your loss, but that it brought a silver lining for Granny is wonderful.