Country Chatter

I like order, lists, detail and deadlines. People often comment on my ability to get things accomplished. But I am also a terrible procrastinator. (Horrors. I have just let this little secret out of the bag)!!! Sometimes I think I work better under pressure and at the last minute. I can accomplish lots in a short time then. I also have numerous unfinished projects laying around just begging to be completed; a crocheted coverlet, several sewing projects, reorganizing our office, and some writing projects, to name a few! But when I get lazy, I get very, very lazy. Like today…

I had one, well maybe several things I needed to do this afternoon. Cleaning was one of them. It should have taken me an hour to do this mundane task. Instead it has taken me six hours and I still am not done and I am distracted again. I did feed my chickens and gather eggs. That was a 10 minute job. I sewed up a cloth bag to hang some dried beef I am making. Another 10 minute job. Then I made a solution of borax soap and water and boiled my bags before putting my beef in it to finish curing. This was another 10 minute job. This is supposed to keep bugs and worms from getting into the meat while it is drying. I remember mother and daddy making dried beef after butchering day. For some reason I got a hankering to see if I could do it. Maybe it has something to do with the meat slicer I got at Christmas!

I took two raw sirloin tip roasts and rubbed on a mixture of brown sugar, salt, pepper and saltpeter and let them cure in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Today I brushed on liquid smoke and they are now hanging in the storage building for several weeks to dry. I am anxious to see how they turn out. I wanted to make sure no mice are able to get to the meat so I tied the bags shut with twine and hung them from the overhead door track with wire. And just for caution I put out a couple of bags of rat bait for them to dine on.

Maybe I can blame some of my laziness on Gene. He got sidetracked from his chores this afternoon when a sudden blustery snow shower whipped across the fields. He got caught in it on the forklift at the end of the field feeding cows. He came in to dry off and warm up and has been sitting in his lazy boy chair ever since watching a show on TV about jail breakouts. I even stretched out on the sofa and got involved in it for awhile.

Tonight I don’t have to fix supper as we are going out to O’Charleys to eat and enjoy the gift certificates we were given.

Maybe I will finish my cleaning….another day!