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

[preciouskitty]

Good neighbors really are priceless.

Amen! I feel so,fortunate to have the neighbors that I do. It's just our 2 houses kind of sharing ~12 acres, then surrounded by farm fields & woods.
They had a very large wedding last Saturday in their backyard (230+ people); my yard became a parking lot!
Last year my green beans did not do well; theirs did & they gave me a ton to Blanche & freeze. We share different veggies that the other doesn't plant...this year I expanded my garden so I could enough potatoes for both of us & supplement other veggies as the wedding tent was where their large garden normally is & they only could use their small plot (not to mention they've been a bit busy with other things up until last Saturday !)

Speaking of gardens, guess I should get out there & move my peppers, tie the maters up, remound the taters, do a little weeding and pick the yummy green beans!!

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Wow, you both sound like you have awesome neighbors. We do on the one side......the neighbors though to the south that house is empty.

 

[Opa]

I'm starting to think that I will never be old enough to know better. I'm always getting my self involved in something that requires a lot of work on my part.

While my old farmer friend has disowned his nephew, he would like keep in touch with his great nieces and a nephew. When a niece who lives in Arizona said she was coming to see him this month and that it would be nice if her sisters and brother would come and visit him at the same time. She also suggested that my family comes as well to give them an opportunity to get to know us better.

When my friend was telling my son this he asked if he thought I'd be willing to fry fish. Since David knew I wouldn't refuse our old friend he agreed for me. What had started out as a gathering of two families for a total of nine people has grown to at least twenty.

He has decided that the true meaning of family isn't a blood relationship, but is a bond formed through friendship and caring. Even today while I was there moving all the furniture out of one room to be able to set up the table and chairs he kept excitingly talking about tomorrow would be with the family that he chose.

After moving all the furniture, setting up the tables and chairs, doing a little additional housekeeping, and scrubbing years worth of grime from the outdoor furniture we were both whipped. Tomorrow before anyone leaves I am going to get all of them to help put everything back.

Besides taking a couple of folding tables and a dozen chairs to the farm, I also took the fish fryer and a couple of tanks of propane. I figured the less we had to do tomorrow the easier it would go.

When I returned home from the farm Hope had the potato salad, cucumber salad, cole slaw, and a huge coconut pound cake made. So I thawed the catfish, ran to the store and picked up a couple of watermelons so I guess we are all set for tomorrow.

 

[preciouskitty]

@Opa
Oh, my...sounds like a YUMMY time! Love fried fish

YOU are a true friend (which I know first hand ..and, I agree with your farmer friend. Sometimes our closest "family" members do not share our blood

 

[Opa]

The day went exceptionally well. When we left everyone was full and happy. With the exception of my family and my old farmer, none of the attendees had ever eaten fish fried southern style. Nor had any of them ever eaten catfish. before.

 

[preciouskitty]

The day went exceptionally well.  When we left everyone was full and happy.  With the exception of my family and my old farmer, none of the attendees had ever eaten fish fried southern style.  Nor had any of them ever eaten catfish. before.

Oh, my. Never had fried catfish? I fell in love with it down in Alabama. Yep, truly nothing like southern fried catfish !!!!
Glad it was a good day

 

[tntchix]

The day went exceptionally well. When we left everyone was full and happy. With the exception of my family and my old farmer, none of the attendees had ever eaten fish fried southern style. Nor had any of them ever eaten catfish. before.

I am glad it went so well.

Good food tends to to just that. Catfish has never been my favorite, I liked perch so much as a kid I would run down to the dock every afternoon and catch a few and beg mom to fry them up. Needless to say, we always had extra fish in the freezer.

 

[HollyDuckFarmer]

Hi @opa!
I didn't know you were here, figured I'd pop over and read what's happening. Glad you had a good time, it sounds wonderful and your Hope sure can cook!

I had a memory of going fishing in Lk Huron with my Granddad last night... Have not thought of this for years. He filled this bucket-deal with fats (? Maybe) and lowered it down into the water. Some time later, he pulled it up and it was covered in crayfish. (He then would use the crayfish as bait). That amazed me. I must have been about 8yrs old then, and my Granddad's been gone for almost 20yrs now.

I need to go fishing I think.

 

[Opa]

I've used crawfish as bait for bass. You just slide a hook in the tail cast them out and then let them walk around until a bass picks them up. Good way for a lazy man to fish. But I far preferred using the peeled tail for perch bait. I've never found any bait that would work better.

It's pretty nice when a memory pops up to remind you of a moment with a cherished loved one. I think that when someone dies they aren't truly gone until there is no longer anyone who remembers being with them.

 

[tntchix]

I've used crawfish as bait for bass. You just slide a hook in the tail cast them out and then let them walk around until a bass picks them up. Good way for a lazy man to fish. But I far preferred using the peeled tail for perch bait. I've never found any bait that would work better.

It's pretty nice when a memory pops up to remind you of a moment with a cherished loved one. I think that when someone dies they aren't truly gone until there is no longer anyone who remembers being with them.

What a wonderful sentiment