What's for Dinner?

 It was just another perfect weather day in sunny California.  The overnight temperature was a whopping 63 degrees.  I'm not sure I know how to handle this!  Today Mother Nature will ratchet it up to 84.  Lucky for me, no air conditioning will be required ... yet.  My house is so well insulated that it stays very cool inside.

The morning started off with a rousing load of laundry.  Not too early .... not too late .... but just right.  If you are using solar power, you have to watch the time.  I'm good between 9:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon.  Use much electricity after that and my rate triples.  

So far this entire year, I haven't paid for any electricity and I have a $785.00 CREDIT.  That's good because come June, I'm pretty sure the air conditioning will be running.  It was definitely worth the cash output to get solar on the house.  

At today's rates (which have gone up like crazy), I'll have it all paid for in three more years, and have not paid a dime to turn the lights on.  

The better to run my smoker and get results like this!!  About the black part ... that is the fat cap on top.  That is all scraped off and tossed in the trash.  There are some parts that are actually dark meat, called bark.  It's really quite tasty, but not my favorite part.  If it's too dark, I shave it off a bit.

So what's for breakfast??  Smoked pork of course!!  I just cut a few pieces off the side and dipped it in Sweet Baby Rays barbecue sauce.  It's not only MY favorite, but Cooper's.  He doesn't get much, and only from the middle.  No smoke or seasoning for him.

I procrastinated for quite some time by watching the Red Bluff Rodeo.  As much as I was determined to rest up a bit, every time I walked by the sink I looked down to see this.  As much as I love smoking, I hate the cleanup.  No kidding ... burned on grease and pig juice is the worst!

It's actually quite the workout.  I made a big mistake and left it in the black kitchen sink after spraying it with Dawn Power Spray.  That stuff took the shiny coat off the sink, leaving it rather gray.  I filled the sink with water and let it soak another couple of hours before tackling the goo.  Note to self:  clean it in the back porch WHITE sink next time.

So much scrubbing went on that it brought out my appetite.  What's for lunch?  Why smoked pork of course.  Tasty tacos went down rather quickly.  And then I smelled it.  SMOKE!!

Turns out it was ME.  You have to open the smoker a couple of times, which means smoke rolls out like a giant bonfire.  It gets in your clothes, in your hair and in your nose.  I guess there will be another load of laundry today.  What an exciting life, yes?

Jonathan and Cooper kept me company as I watched rodeo after rodeo.  After lunch, I even went outside to soak up some of that wonderful warm sun.  If I keep doing this, people won't think I'm a white ghost any more.

With the smoker finally cleaned up and ready for the next one, Jonathan decided to get into cleaning mode too.  Birds preen constantly ... cleaning out dander, just like kitties ... and any critters that might be lurking.  Luckily for him, there are no creatures to kill, but he does pull out different feathers at different times of year.  

Right now it's the fluffy white down feathers that you can find in every corner of the living room.  As you walk by, they go POOF and fly across the room.  

Other times of the year, it's his flight feathers.  He's also good at chewing the perches.  See the one above? That was the perch he chewed the end off, which landed him on the bottom of the cage.  I put in a new perch, and darned if he didn't start to chew THAT one too!  So now this one is wedged in the cage over the latest one to keep him from doing it again.  

Yes hardwood tree perches might solve the problem, but you have to be very careful about bringing anything in from outside.  Wild birds have lots of nasty things that will kill inside birds.  Been there, done that.  I had to give him shots for an entire year.  It was not fun and Jonathan was very lucky to have survived.

So what's for dinner??  Smoked pulled pork of course ... on a nice toasted bun with a pile of Cole slaw.  Yummy yum yum!!!  I have to admit, this brought back memories from the early 70's.  Anyone cook one of those CANNED hams?  

Back when money was tight, I used to heat up a canned ham, but it into pieces and put it through my old fashioned grinder.  I mixed in some barbecue sauce, put it on hamburger buns and wrapped them in foil.  Into the freezer they went.  

When dinner came around, you just heated it up in the newly invented 400 pound microwave ... the latest and greatest ... and dinner was served.  So what was YOUR favorite CHEAP go to???

When we got paid, we had fried pork chops, pork chop gravy and fried potatoes.  Nothing like a little grease to get you going.

Today the Weed Man guy is supposed to stop by.  Hopefully this morning, because this afternoon I'm calling the Ag Department as a backup.  I'll let you know what happens.  Maybe it was something that will have no affect other than a little dead grass.  My fingers are crossed.