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July 2009 Chickens in the Road Newsletter
IN THIS ISSUE:
*Story: Kitten and Little
*Kitchen Extra: Zesty Salsa
*Embarrassing Photo of the Month: Why I May Be Seasoning with Catnip Soon
*My Favorite Thing Right Now: Puzzle Pictures
*Recent Highlights: White Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting, Painting a Spool Table, The Little Hen That Couldn’t, and More
*Sneak Peek: The Patient Little Doll
*Blast from the Past: Separate Outhouses and the Lord
*Newsletter Sponsor:
*Story: Kitten and Little
Once upon a time there was a kitten named Number Nine. He was named Number Nine because we already had eight cats.
He likes to help me do the dishes.
Next thing you know, number ten came along and I named him George.
Since I spay and neuter every cat that comes into my house, you’d think this wouldn’t keep happening. But somehow it does.
Nobody pays any attention to what I name anything, by the way. Morgan’s name for Number Nine is Simba. Her name for George is Socks.
I don’t pay much attention to their original names, either. I call them Kitten and Little. Because we couldn’t decide on a name for Number Nine aka Simba at first, I started calling him Kitten. Now he comes to Kitten. When George/Socks arrived, I started calling him Little Kitten, and eventually just Little.
So now they are Kitten and Little. They are the best of friends and I don’t know if they could possibly be cuter. They love to nap together.
And play together.
And most of all, they love to drink their bottle together.
I know. What am I even doing still feeding Kitten a bottle? I started feeding him a bottle because he was too young to be weaned when his mother was killed and we took him in. Then I kept feeding him the bottle. He likes it! And then along came Little.
Little was weaned when we got him, but what do you know, he likes the bottle, too.
They try to drink out of it at the same time. Every night, I fill up the tiny bottle with cat milk and I call, “Kitten! Little!” and they come running, jump onto my bed, and fight over the bottle.
I can’t help myself.
Neither can they.
They’ve even chewed the top off the nipple.
They’re a fierce and downright formidable pair, Kitten and Little. Oh, the adventures they shall have!
Little: “Tomorrow, we’re going to bite the head off a bear!”
Of course, that would be after their nap…..
*Kitchen Extra: Zesty Salsa
It’s High Canning Season! I’ve been canning right and left lately. (You?) After I posted recently about canning salsa, I received a number of requests for the recipe I used.
So here it is!
This recipe is adapted with some modifications from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.
How to make Zesty Salsa:
10 cups chopped, seeded, peeled, cored tomatoes (about 6 pounds)
7 1/2 cups mixed peppers, mild and hot to taste (about 3 pounds)
5 cups chopped onions (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
3 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups cider vinegar
2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red peppers
2 tablespoons lime juice
*Make this as hot or mild as you want! You can leave out the crushed red pepper and hot pepper sauce and use only mild peppers if you prefer. Or use all hot.
Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a hot water bath.
See How to Can: Hot Water Bath Method.
*Embarrassing Photo of the Month: Why I May Be Seasoning with Catnip Soon
Another seriously tragic revelation.
I don’t remember what most of these herbs are anymore and I failed to mark them……
*My Favorite Thing Right Now: Puzzle Pictures
My very own ducks, turned into an online jigsaw puzzle!
BuckeyeGirl created an entire section of puzzle pictures from my photos at Jigzone. Check it out here. (Be careful, you can get lost playing for hours!)
*Recent Highlights: White Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting, Painting a Spool Table, The Little Hen That Couldn’t, and More
In the barn, she may have been The Little Hen that Couldn’t but she stole everyone’s heart and I Didn’t Take Any Prisoners when her story didn’t turn out the way I hoped it would, and be sure to see Spice the Wonder Cat–with a fun video of the door-opening cat. Find all my cute farm animal stories here.
Posts in cooking included Homemade Refried Beans, Grandmother Bread with Fresh Berries, and a very festive White Cake with Seven-Minute Frosting. Don’t miss a thing! Get all my recipes.
Check out how we make do on next to nothing in Free, why we need to make do on next to nothing in Does It Mean Anything that Poverty, Perseverance, and Passion All Start with a P, and all the ridiculousness of me teaching someone else how to milk in Milking Party. See all my country living stories.
Join me in rediscovering sewing in A Place to Sew and Dear Sewing Machine, and learn how to Paint a Spool Table for free outdoor entertaining. See all my posts in crafts.
Don’t miss my Coronach to the Corn and all my other garden stories.
*Sneak Peak: The Patient Little Doll
She needs me.
A number of people have asked me what will be my first sewing project now that I have a place to sew and have set up my machine. I think this doll is calling me. She’s been a doll interrupted too long, don’t you think? Stay tuned to see the patient little doll come to life! My first sewing project is my last sewing project.
It’s time I finished her, don’t you think?
*Blast from the Past: Separate Outhouses and the Lord
Here is the church.
Here is the steeple.
Run outside
if you gotta pee, people!
With that kind of exquisitely poetic start, you know you have to read all of On the 8th Day, the Lord Said, Let There Be Separate Outhouses.
Don’t miss any of my intrepid adventures in outhouse investigative journalism here.
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Thank you for your comments, your support, and just for being there. Here’s hoping to see you on the Chickens in the Road Forum (make friends, have fun, come join us!) and every day on the farmhouse blog!
Love,
Suzanne
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