Please Pray For Squeaky

Halloween night, our trailer went up in flames.

Quantum had just woken me up to watch Next Iron Chef America, so I think it was about 9pm Colorado time. Bare seconds later I smelled smoke and grabbed the puppy to get him out of the way. I reacted out of sheer instinct (puppy will just make things worse by being in the way) and didn't even consider that we were about to lose our home and all our possessions.

Smoke was coming from the bed. Our dearly beloved electric blanket the seeming culprit. While I dragged the puppy over to CK's trailer, Quantum looked for the fire extinguisher, (it wasn't in it's usual place) and then tried pulling the blankets off the bed.

In less than 3 minutes a sheet of fire erupted from the bed and began to envelop the trailer. I screamed for CK to grab the dog and for Quantum to get the hell out.

The door was open throughout all this. We are hoping and praying that Squeaky, my beloved kitty, survived. We've looked through the rubble that is left, and haven't found his body. CK says he thinks he saw him run out of the trailer and head for the woods. I believe I've found tracks that could be Squeaky's. And I've been calling for him in the woods now for 9 days with no answer.

Amazing, the entire field and woods weren't burned down. Though the winds here usually flow in one direction or another, that night they formed a vortex, swirling in a circular pattern and keeping the flames localized.  Perhaps Steve and Dad and Grandma were helping.

It was two or three hours before I realized that I was barefoot. I escaped with a t-shirt, a pair of pants and that was it, not even a bra or socks.

The trailer burned down in mere minutes. Everything we own was lost, 30 plus years of my writing, 3 computers, six months supplies of beans and dried foods and who knows what else. Even if we'd had cell phone reception (we didn't) our cell phone went up in smoke as well.  I'm devastated by the loss of our possessions - photos, books, writings, the stuffed critters I got for my first Christmas, my Dad's and Grandma's ashes - now ashes in the wind, I guess...so much else.


But above all, I'm missing my kitty boy. And even if he survived, the woods are vast and there are coyotes. To any and all who are kind enough to pray for his safe return, I am grateful. If it helps you to know what he looks like, he's black and short haired, with a long tail and a slightly larger than proportional chest. He has a small white star on his chest and his armpits and belly have a few white hairs. His eyes are olive green-gold. He's 9 years old and has been my dearest support since adopted him from a former roommate whose ex abused him. I do not have a picture of him to post, even, as those too were lost in the fire, and I hadn't yet uploaded them here.

In the past few days, folks have been kind to us, and RY and his wife Sue were sweet enough to give us a small pickup-top trailer that they had, so hopefully today we will be able to move out of CK's trailer where we have been living  (very crowded) for the past week or more.

I'm posting this from the library and it may be some time before I again have computer and internet to post.

Up in Flames

Greetings All,
We are safe. Our trailer erupted in a sea of flames Sunday night. Our computers are toast, so until I can replace it there will be a delay in my updates. Please pray for the safe return of our cat Squeaky. Thanks for your continuous support. Please check back for more word.

--Posted by Singe for us

A fire, trailer gone, people safe

Last night we had a fire and our trailer is no longer. We are okay, but Squeaky, our cat is missing. Please send your prayers for his safe return. Since our computer is toast, it may be a while before you hear from me. I look forward to my return.  Lemur

Smoked Venison and Molasses Candy - Back to the Little House

So as I said a while back, I'm re-reading the Little House Books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

One of the first things that occurred to me is that I should build a smokehouse. Quantum and I have been planning to get an elk as soon as hunting season hits, however our biggest challenge is going to be keeping the meat. We barely have a fridge. An acutal freezer is out of the question at the moment. Can't afford to buy one, and don't yet have the wind turbine to run it with anyway.

Little House in the Big Woods gives very exact information on how to build a smoker. That would be an excellent way for us to preserve the majority of the elk. I don't have access to any big hollow logs - most trees on our mountainside don't grow big. But it may be possible to rig the stone oven so that the smoke vents into a smoker. I just need to find the right container to hold the smoke and the venison.

Meanwhile CK has been allegedly building a solar dehydrator for several weeks now. All I see thus far are a bunch of black-painted beer cans. That would be another great way to preserve the meat, if that bugger would get off his butt and finish it.

I laughed when I got to the part of the story where they described making candy with molasses and snow. I tried this when I was about 12 and it was a blatant failure. I ended up with a mass of gooey gloppy brown snow. What I didn't realize at the time, but was made clear when I read it today, was that I needed to heat the molasses to the upward point of "soft ball" stage. Looking at the Little House Cookbook suggests that this was exactly the problem.

So much else is making me horribly jealous as I read this book. The description of the hogs, fresh eggs, cheesemaking. It'll be at least 4 to 6 months before I can get a couple milk goats and some chickens. No sense getting them just as we're moving into winter. And oh how I wish we'd gotten onto our land in time to have had a garden.

Ah well, I've got lots of recipes for beans!

Eggless Chicken Cabbage Bread Pudding

There's nothing like not having the ingredients you want to get you creative in the kitchen. Once again being stymied by my small pantry and a nearly nonexistant fridge has led to a genius dinner. This savory autumn dish is almost exclusively made of leftovers and is simple to make. The apples add just a touch of sweetness.

Eggless Chicken Cabbage Bread Pudding

1 lb leftover chicken meat, cooked then chopped or shredded
1/2 large cabbage, about 6 cups, roughly chopped
2 apples, cored and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups buttermilk
1 raisin pumpernickle cinnamon bagle, cubed
1/2 loaf stale Italian, French or other peasant bread (about 1/2 lb), chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

If your bread is extremely hard, cut it in larger chunks and soak it in the buttermilk until it becomes easier to chop, approximately an hour.

Heat a large frying pan over low heat and add in the olive oil and cumin. When the seeds just become fragrant, add in the cabbage and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Saute, stirring lightly until the cabbage is wilted. If it toasts a little that's fine - I love the crisp texture and smoky taste of slightly toasted cabbage. Add in the garlic and saute for a few moments longer, until fragrant. Add 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and let cook for two more minutes.

Pour the cabbage mix into a large mixing bowl. Add all other ingredients except for the butter and cornstarch. Stir lightly until everything is well distributed. Add in the cornstarch. By this time the other ingredients will have cooled slightly, so the cornstarch won't congeal immediately.

Butter a large baking casserole with the butter, reserving any excess butter.

Pour the cabbage/apple/bread mix into the baking dish. Dot with the excess butter. Bake this for approximately 30-40 minutes until the top is crispy and lightly browned.

Serves 4-6

More Yak Pics Today

Well we finally figured out how to get our camera working. So here are some photos for you to enjoy.

First of all here's our Pit Bull puppy Zen, intrigued by the weird noises that the camera is making.

 Zen was absolutely fascinated with the camera. I'm hoping he won't eat it. The girls were less thrilled about having their photos taken. But we managed to get some anyway. Squeaks on the other hand, hid under the bed.

 

One of our Yaks in the pasture. I think this might be Yazoo but it's hard to tell from this angle.

This one is definitely Yazoo, you can tell by the heart-shaped star on her face.

Yazoo at the fence and curious.

And our girly-girl Yazoo back in the pasture.

Here's baby Yeti-Starr munching on some hay and getting herself covered with it in the process.

Yonkers isn't thrilled when we come near. Notice the broken fence in the foreground. That's because she wanted to get at the hay.

Yonkers glowering at me from the corral.

Yonkers and Yeti off to the pasture for some grass.

In other news, Quantum has been working on making us a stone oven. The idea is that we'll use it for baking and also run a pipe from the heated area into the trailer, and maybe get some warmth! I've always wanted a brick oven for bread and pizza, so I'm completely thrilled.

My stone oven in progress.

Closer up, looking at the stone oven.

And here's a really cool stump that Quantum found while he was wandering around in our woods. We've got no idea what we'll do with it yet. Probably some kind of sculpture.

A nifty stump.

Picking Up the Poop

Well, Yonkers seems gloriously healthy again. Which also means that Yonkers is back to her ornery self. Now, any time we come near the fence, she charges at us and bats little Yeti and Yazoo out of the way with her horns.

Just when we were getting friendly with Yazoo, too.

It also didn't help when Zen got loose the other day and I ran screaming into the corral to make sure they didn't attack him. Brat!

So they're not too thrilled with me at the moment, and picking up the poop becomes more challenging. Until I get back in their good graces, I'm waiting till they wander out into their pasture and then muck out the corral.

Somebody has to do this job, so it may as well be me. After all, I'm sure standing in pure manure could harm their hooves.

Fortunately the job itself isn't too bad. Unlike human and predator poop, yak poop doesn't smell that bad to me. I guess I associate the smell with my fond memories of my pony and my aunt's horses and cows. On the annoying side, life might be easier if I had one of these:

instead of one of these:

The annoying thing with the shovel is that I end up picking up large amounts of dirt or hay along with the manure. That won't hurt my compost pile, but it does mean I fill buckets faster. Is there a correct method for mucking up a corral or stall? Advice in making this job easy would be appreciated, since my girls poop a lot!

For those of you who need to know, yak manure is much like cow manure. It comes out either in little round pellets (I'm thinking this might be baby Yeti) or bigger stuck-together piles. I prefer the piles, since they're much easier to get onto the shovel.

My garden will be happy come spring. Quantum's also working out an idea for an incinerator to burn yak and maybe even human, dog and cat manure and heat the house with it. Note that this furnace will be outdoors, with a pipe of non-poop smelling air coming in. Anything that makes this trailer warm will make me a happy camper!