Middle of the night

 

Just thought this was a neat picture I took of the moon and a jet stream, when I first saw it the jet stream was straight across the moon but by the time I got inside and back out with the camera it had moved a tad bit.

 

finished Turducken

 

It tasted alot better than it looked lol 

 

 

This was the first one I ever attempted so a few mistakes were anticipated :O)  One mistake was too much stuffing stuffed inside the birds.

 

Second mistake was I didn't tie it enough times or in the right ways. I should have tied a few strings from "head to toe" to keep the breast from sliding forward. No big deal actually, it was still good, just had to search for the duck meat inside everything else lol

I do believe I will be making another one one the future.



To all

    I hope that each and every one of you are spending the holidays just the way you want :O) Be it with family, by yourself or sharing it with strangers.  I hope that this Christmas finds everyone healthy and happy.  Merry Christmas everyone,  Be safe  :O)

this years Christmas Bird :O) warning/Graphic I am a heathen.

this year my aunt and I decided to have a Turducken.  I have seen these on TV and u-tube and thought it would be good.  So here are some pics of the boning out process. 

 

Forgot to take a pic before I started cutting.   The Duck....

alittle bleary but this is the duck completely boned out.

Yes, I forgot to take the picture before I started cutting...  AGAIN :O)  But its THE CHICKEN.

Boned out chicken

Yeehaaaaa,  I remembered to take the pic before i started cutting the turkey...

The boned out turkey, it was alittle frozen still but it worked.  as you can see I left the bones in the wings but cut the thigh bone out of the legs.

I then packed some stuffing into the creases of the turkey, I even cut some into the breast meat so I could put stuffing in there too.  I then layed the chicken on the turkey backwards to the Turkey (chicken breast to the butt end of the turkey) and then packed it with more stuffing. I then places the duck on the chicken and packed more stuffing onto it. I then used roast string to tie the back up on the turkey. I had my aunt help me at this point to get it squeezed together so I could tie it. It would of helped allot if I would of had a meat tieing thingy. It looks like a poker but it has a hole in the business end of it so you can put a sting into it and pierce it threw the skin.  I just cut some small holes and then used a wooden spoon witha groove cut in the handle on the end to hold the string while I pushed it threw the holes I had cut.  works in  apinch but I would recommend getting the meat skewer thingy lol

And here is the finished product before cooking.  with a few tabs of butter on top. I tied a few strings around it to hold the legs together and also the wings.  Looks like  a regular turkey doesn't it?  :O)  will take a few pics after it comes out of the oven 2moro before and after it gets cut up.

They say to cook it at 375 degrees and for 25 to 30 minutes per pound  and a internal temp of 160 degrees.  That's what most of the recipes say that I have found on the Internet.   I really hope that it is as good as everyone raves about lol  just in case my aunt is making a ham also lol

 

 

 

random pics

 

This owl was perched on the fence post at the entrance of my driveway. Not  the best picture for focus but a camera which has been dumped in the creek twice, dropped way too many times should be allowed to have a bad focus day once in a while :O)

 

This is my Nephew and his  deer he harvested this season,  very nice buck..  Alot deer burger in the freezer and ALOT of jerky....  Several days of running the dehydrator's.  Nice placement of the shot too :O)

it snowed

Just a few pictures of the drifts and snow around my place. Thought you all might enjoy them.

 

 

 

 

update for matt

ok matt, now you can look at this date for a change :O)

felt like sharing

2011

 

This was last year at point bar in colo, for some reason Cricket was walking back and forth thru the zippered door on the shower. She was really getting into it :O)

2011

 

She was really getting into it lol  She was making huffy noises and grunts lol  We were all sitting around laughing at her antics :O)

2011

 

For some reason I just love this picture.

lol sometimes I wonder about myself

LOL  sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself.  For the last few months I have been wondering why my blog sign in page has been coming up in a foreign language.  It was a curiosity more than anything. I couldn't seem to figure out what the heck I had done to cause this or was it a outside influence.  Shouldn't have wondered much really, it was obviously a blunder on my part but to fix it I wasn't sure or how to do it.  I clicked here and there to figure it out but nope, it would remain in the foreign language.
  It really want a problem, I knew where to put my password and such and when I would do that then my page would pop up and all would be good in my world lol   well,  lol   I was signing in here and for the very first time I noticed this little bitty drop down icon in the lower right corner of the page.  I would like to say it was hidden or something like that but I cant. I just simply did not see it down there.  I had tunnel vision apparently lol  It was in the odd language that looked like chicken scratches in the dirt but I clicked on it anyway, low and behold, there was a list of languages lol  and near the top was one that I could read :O)  So anyway. :O)  my deli ma is fixed on the blog lol I even sat and chuckled to myself about just how blind a person can be. 

 Not much has changed my way, I came down with a rally nasty cold/flu bug.  Thanks penny :O) 
My kidney stone has been trying to move around on me :O(  that is not good at all. Last night was the worst its been. I will have to be going back in to the hospital to maybe try to get rid of it this time for good. I hope.....   I really don't know much new, It did rain the other night. Felt cold enough to snow.  Actually it wasn't but it felt like it.  It did get really cold the last few night though. Down in the mid 20's and low 30's but it ina  warm up for the next few days.  Feeling alittle better flu wise and getting antsy to get out and do something.

  I have come to town to get mail and splurged with getting lunch at The Katy Grill,  Its the home town bar and grill.  Good people serving good food.  Even if your not from here they still treat you like your family.  This is where I am accessing the Internet from, free wifi.  Thanks Allen :O)

  In other news, Got a post hole digger for the tractor the other day, its a damned if you do and damned if you don't type deal.  Money is tight right now and I came across this deal for the post hole digger, really good deal too.  It's drilled one hole in its lifetime.  So I spent the money for it and turned right around and put a bid in on a  job and got it. Putting some new posts in at a park, so its going to be paying for its self right away. Just as long as I can get over this dang flu stuff.  Working out pretty good actually, I will be breaking even on the money but now I have a posthole digger to get other jobs with and do all my post holes around my place :O) 

So anyway, not much has been happing around my place but soon things will be hopping again :O)  atleast I hope :O) 
                                      So take care and be safe all  :O)

update

Hi,
  Just letting everyone know that I'm still alive. Still in Kansas at my place.  Really haven't been doing much lately, I fell out of my RV a while back and kinda buggered myself up alittle.  I was hurting pretty good but about a week later it really intensivied.  allot!!  I endured it for a few days but it just got to be too much so I drove myself to the emergency room.  Now so some of you don't think that I'm a wimp lol  last year I was walking for some reason with my knife open,  yea I know.  duh!!!  :O)  Didn't say I wasn't dumb :O)  said I wasn't a wimp :O)  and I feel with it.  I was going to fall into a cactus so I tossed the knife to the side and just so happened, I twisted myself around and avoided landing on the knife.  But, I fell on the knife that I had tossed to the side.  Yep, landed on it and it stuck me in my leg, deep enough that I had to pull it of my calf.  Yep, it wasn't good.  anyway, pulled it out and got a piece of duct tape, pulled the wound back together and taped it shut.  One of the many wonderful uses of duct tape lol  band aid.  Side note:  when you use duct tape as a band aid, shave all hair from the area BEFORE applying it.  not sure which hurt worse, the stab wound or the hair being pulled out by the duct tape.....
  Anyway, so you see. For me to go to the emergency room was a big deal actually.  I just couldn't take the pain any longer.   Went there and they gave me some drugs for the pain then exrayed me to find out that I had a kidney stone.  I had no idea that they hurt that bad.  I wish that on no one...  well, maybe one person.   anyway,  got back home, taking some pretty good pain meds :O)  Not really in the habit of taking drugs but when you have too, make sure they are good ones :O)
  The emergency room made a appointment for me with a urologist so I went there and sure enough, more ex rays and the kidney stone was 7.3 mm.   too big to pass.  figures.  so I had to have a ultra sound thingy done.  guess what?    its now 6.5mm.    Needless to say these procedures are not cheap either and she (the urologist) is talking about wanting to do it again.   Right now its not hurting but once in a while so I have been delaying things.    Soooooo,  as you can guess I have not been doing much at all.  About to go stir crazy but I have been doing things around the place. just being careful not to fall or anything like that. 
 
  Yesterday was the one year anniversary date for crickets passing, was a sad day.  I spent it running around getting some things done and starting others. I also went over to my nephews place yesterday evening and spent it with them.  we played some xbox :O)  call of duty Modern war fare.  fun game if your into that sort.  

  February 12th will be another sad day, it will be the 4 year anniversary date for dads passing.  It just doesn't seem like its been that long.  Just seems like the other day I just talked to him on the phone or stopped by his house and chatted with him.   Never take tomorrow for granted people, when you think about saying hi to loved ones don't put it off till "tomorrow" because it may never come..  The night before dad passed away, we hadn't talked for about 2 weeks.  We had had a disagreement and we were irritated with each other.  we were binging difficult with each other.  anyway, the night before his passing I had thought about calling him but realized it was 9 pm and thought that he was probably asleep. So I didn't call him because I didn't want to wake him. Didn't want to bother him.  Little did I know was that about the same time he was telling mom that he should call me and say hi. But like me, he figured that I had went to bed already and didn't want to bother me.   Oh how I wish that we would have "bothered" each other and had just called.    But we didn't.     And the next day he was gone.    So people :O)  don't wait till tomorrow, don't worry about "bothering" your loved ones, take the time to tell them that you love them, tell them that you love them when you part, even if your mad at each other.           I love you dad and I miss you.   

  take care all and talk to you again soon :O)  be safe
 

The Shed

 

The back side view, don't know why I don't have a front view lol

 

 

 

 

 

one of the guys jammin with his air guitar lol

 

First thing I built was this bench,  a sheds not a shed until it has a work bench to put your beer on...

Just like a farms not a farm until you have some chickens in the yard :O)

 

hauling dirt in and leveling it to grade for some sand and then concrete.

 

 

 

Almost there....   just alittle farther and the dirt's done for half of the shed.

For those of you that don't know yet, this is going to be my house also.  its a 30 x 50 shed that I am going to divide in half. One end will be my house and the other half will be my work shop.  How convenient will it be to walk from my house directly into my work shop without going outside?  :O)  I have changed my mind many many times about what I should build for my house and this finally makes sense to me.  Sooo,  now you know :O)   

Welcome all :O)

	Pageviews
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It has begun!!

 

 

This is the first post for the new Shed on my place :O)   Its going to be a 30x50x10 pole shed. 25 feet of it will be work shop, the other 25 feet will be my house.   

More photos to come....

I'm Home

  Sorry for the lag in the posts,  but yes I am home.  things didn't go as planned this year in my adventures of gold prospecting this year.  Had alot of fun and glad I went to colo again but its time to get busy with my place. 
  Got home and right off the bat I had to fix the water line that was busted.  Had to dig it out by hand but it wasn't that bad.  Nothing like having accessible water (without the leak)    It  has been hot here but not as bad as it had been this summer.  Thank goodness.   Got the tractor home and mowed the burnt up grass around the house site and the shed.  Been doing some scrounging and came up with some wood and power poles for the lean 2 that I am going to build onto the storage trailer shed.  I have also been rethinking my house situation,  have to let it be a surprise if I go with what I am thinking.
  anyway,  just a short note to say hi to you all and to let you know I was still alive and kicking :O)                be safe all  :O)

can you see it?

its there, right next to the Harley lol 

it's the red one.

random pics

Sasha trying to get patches to come out to play "tag"

Just some old tin cans at the Granite Cemetery where the the old town once was.

Just me messing around with the camera

Buena Vista Colorado.

Alittle over loaded maybe?   hundreds of sheds that the guy had found over the years with a few that he actually hunted too.

Fairplay or Forplay gary? lol

  Just sitting here in the fairplay Park Bar,  no I'm not drinking either :O)  just eating lunch and using their wifi.  I've been doing some sight seeing and went to a auction yesterday, in the middle of no where!!  said it was in como but it was south of Como out in the sticks alooooong ways :O)  rode the hondo there so it was a nice ride.  Didn't buy anything just mainly watched things sell, like any other auction, some things went cheap and other went really high.   
  The other day I introduced myself to some gold prospectors along the river here north of fairplay, at first they was not very friendly but they warmed up after a while.   They were working on their trommel and not having much luck at it.  I visited with them for a few hours while they tried anything and everything to fix it.  The boss took me over to a tub and said watch this.  He took a small pan and put about 2 cups of material out of the tub and panned it down just a little bit and there was more gold showing in it than I have found the intire time I have ever been out here prospecting.   it was amazing!!  hey only run about 800 ton of material a day through their machine so I don't feel so bad with the little bit that I/we have found :O)    It was really cool to see the operation up close.  I'm going back Monday to watch them actually run material. They even told me if I was around later in the week that I could watch them do the clean up.  So I will be around here for a while still lol 
  The weekend warriors are showing up at the bar today,  I'm speaking of the Harley riders.  its funny, I have the Honda parked out right in front and alot of them stand around and look at it and make comments about how tall it's stance is lol  Then they walk in and look around as if to see who is riding it.  Of course with my beard and tattoo on my arm they look at me and dismiss me as the rider. Guess i look to much like a Harley rider.   Some of them will actually ask the waitress who's bike it is and she points at me lol  its fun to see their faces and expressions.  
  Anyway,  just got done eating my chicken strips.  Going to be going for now.  Hope all is well and be safe :O)

some times I wonder about things

  On this trip this summer to Colo I have run into some people I met last year. One of them is roger, don't know his last name or much about him. He is a drunk, plain and simple. Most people don't give him a second look, He has a dog named Sasha that he loves more than anything in the world that he might have, except for his alcohol maybe. 
 He's not a mental case that I can tell, he has at least some kind of a income because he has his drink and Sasha doesn't want for anything. He's not well physically, the drinking and chain smoking, poor diet has taken its toll on him. 
  It makes me wonder what could have happened to him to have caused this behavior from him. Maybe something terrible or maybe nothing at all, maybe its just the way he is.  He just acts like a man that has the weight of the world on his shoulders and its crushed him. The only time I see him smile is when he's talking to his dog Sasha and you can see that Sasha is worried about him. When he has one of his coughing fits Sasha runs to his side and waits there until its over. Sometimes she goes back to what she was doing, other times she stays by his side.  I don't think roger is long in this world,  as the street people say about the dieing, his eleven is up...   In case you don't know, that means that the tendons on the back of his neck is standing out dramatically, like too ropes stretched tight.  You've seen them before, on the very sick or the very old that has wasted away to just very little substance. 
  I wonder and worry about Sasha, roger made his choices for his life to be this way, what will happen to her when he passes?  will someone take her in? Will someone love her and take care of her like roger does?  Will she let someone other than roger care for her?

  I hope so.

update..

  Finally got the whole story out of roger about how his life turned out this way.  It's a voluntary thing.   A few years ago his wife had a aneurysm in her brain, roger said she held on for 22 days before she passed.  Through tears he told me this, His wife and him were a popular couple back east some where.  They used to play alot of music and sang alot in diff places,  They used to have alot of  music parties at their place and he said that his wife was the center of it all and his life.  He said that after his wife passed he couldn't bear living in the house or going to all the places they knew and frequented. It seemed that everyone knew them so everything was a constant reminder of her.  So one day he walked out the door of their house, got in his car and drove over to their kids places and told them that he loved them and drove west.  He has been living in BV for the last 2.5 3 yrs. 
  He even admitted that he's drinking his self to death, He said that he's too much of a coward to take his own life in a "harsh" way.   It's actually sad to think that this guy who is a very talented guitar player and singer has chosen to do this.  I don't think a single person in bv thinks bad of roger, everyone looks out for him and helps him when they can. He has friends that are concerned for him but the let him do his thing.
  He said that he has a good friend that will take Sasha when the time comes. That is his one big worry in life, Sometimes when I would watch roger and Sasha I believe that she is the only reason he's still alive....

  When I left bv the other day roger kept asking me if I was coming back to bv, I told him I wasn't sure if I would make it back that way or not.  He grabbed my hand and shook it with both of his and told me to take care and that he would mi ss me.  He turned around and walked to his vehicle, got in and drove away to the Green parrot bar......
 

old gold mine above alma colo

Stamp mill for processing gold ore.  was really cool to walk around and explore the insides of it. 

you see them on the side of the mountain?  look close :O)

there they are,  there was some cable laying between the building up there and the main building down below. looked like they bucket the ore down from there to the stamp mill. not sure though, best guess.

this is a cam gear for the stamp mill

And these round looking things on the huge rods are the stamps, they where raised up and dropped onto the flat pieces you see below them to crush the gold ore into practically dust so they could add the chemicals to separate the gold..    They claim that you could hear the stamp mills for miles hammering away.   They bigger the mill the loader it was.

Just a electric motor that was in pieces, wanted to show just how big it was.  wonder how much we could get at the salvage yard clayt? 

People Pics

Peggy checking something out, nope.   Wasn't gold....

Peggy Gary and don't know his name so we will call him "George"  Checking out the water table,  pretty cool machine, it really does a good job of getting the gold out of the screened materials but it is time consuming.  Need good eyes and allot of Patience.

Gary and Peggy classifying material to run through the sluice box they had set up in the stream.  Peggy found the biggest piece of gold sluicing.  Yea Peggy!!!!     ^#(^%^#%(#  !!!   :O)

Hi :O)    Just me sitting in the dredge hole, in water that was 61 degrees.  Yes.  It was cold....  Usually dredged until I started shivering, about 1.5 hours and I was done for a while.  The rocks to the left of me are just some of them that I had to move out of the way.  Gary was a weeny, he wouldn't get in the water lol  but he did down at point bar... 

Self Portrait,  was bored lol

                                     



                                        Gary panning for gold, he found a few specks.  :O)

                                       

Old Floating Gold Dredge, Alma Colorado

This thing is huge!

Some of the sluicing riffles inside the dredge, hundreds of them are scattered around.

this is where the riffles go, there are about 20 or so per side.  they are about 20  or 25 ft long.

This is looking up inside the trommel, about 8 ft around and 30 or 35 ft long.  guessing. the pipe on the top is the spray bar for washing the rock and dirt off the rocks while the trommel (big pipe) turns around and its built with a incline so the material rolls down to the end where it gets dumped onto a conveyor belt and discharged out the end of the dredge.  The material that gets washed off  drops down through holes in the trommel and into the sluice boxes which trap the gold behind the riffles on the riffles to be later scooped up after the water is shut off and run through other screening and sorting table to extract the gold.

That's Gary standing in front of the dredge for a idea on just how huge this thing really is.  This is the back side of the dredge where the materials come out after being screened washed and sorted.

Just a random picture I took on Weston pass. On the non maintained side of the pass lol

I sat my back pack up there so you all could get a idea how big the trommel is, this is the back end of it, not too sure why the huge holes are in there because the other holes where the gold bearing materials fall through are about 3/4 of a inch big. 

Standing on the ground looking up at this thing lol  makes a person feel kinda small.