CORRECTED: Chris & Rocky weigh 228 pounds

Chris (one of our guests for Independence Day) and Missy weigh 256 pounds. Chris weighs 179 pounds.

Alix (another guest) kept the official record and she & Mr. Big Food did the math.

Before Chris fetched the bathroom scale, we all wrote down our guesses for what each dog weighed (we didn't guess on Chris' weight). The "winner" in out little Guess the Dogs' Weight contest-- which was after supper but before Apple Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream-- was the person whose guesses summed, was closest to the dogs' combined weight. 

"America the Beatuiful"

I've lots of fun Mississippi stuff from yesterday to share, but I've also a kitchen to clean, and squash to freeze, jalapenos to pickle, corn to fertilize (fish emulsion), and an energetic dog to take to the pasture (before it rains????). So for now I'll copy/paste a short bit from NRO's The Corner by Michael Walsh.

West of the truck stop at Fort Stockton, Texas, and all the way to El Paso, there is almost nothing but mashed-potato hills, scrub brush and the open road. The speed limit is pretty much whatever you want it to be, and Texas Rangers are few and far between. For a few hours, you can imagine what the first settlers felt upon encountering the vast, majestic emptiness that is west Texas and all from the safety of your steering wheel.

You feel free.

He goes on to say, "You haven’t seen the country until you’ve driven across it." 

Indeed. Read the rest here.

A Must Read: The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence used to be read aloud at public gathering every Fourth of July. Today, while all Americans have heard of it, all too few have read more than its second sentence.  Yet the Declaration shows the natural rights foundation of the American Revolution, and provides important information about what makes a constitution or government legitimate. It also raises the question of how these fundamental rights are reconciled with the idea of “the consent of the governed” for which the Declaration is also famous.

At The Volokh Conspiracy, Randy Barnett annotates the Declaration of Independence. His concise (e.g. doesn't take much time to at least skim through and come back to tomorrow when you have more time) article begins:

When reading the Declaration, it is worth keeping in mind two very important facts. The Declaration constituted high treason against the Crown and every person who signed it would be executed as traitors should they be caught by the British. Second, the Declaration was considered to be a legal document by which the revolutionaries justified their actions, and explained why they were not truly traitors. It represented, as it were, a literal indictment of the Crown and Parliament, in the very same way that criminals are now publicly indicted for their alleged crimes by grand juries representing “the People.”

But to justify a revolution, it was not thought to be enough that officials of the government of England, the Parliament, or even the sovereign himself had violated the rights of the people. No government is perfect; all governments violate rights. This was well known. So the Americans had to allege more than mere violations of rights. They had to allege nothing short of a criminal conspiracy to violate their rights systematically. Hence, the famous reference to “a long train of abuses and usurpations” and the list that follows. In some cases, these specific complaints account for provisions eventually included in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

It ends: 

The assumption of natural rights expressed in the Declaration of Independence can be summed up by the following proposition:  “first comes rights, then comes government.”  According to this view: (1) the rights of individuals do not originate with any government, but preexist its formation;  (2) The protection of these rights is the first duty of government; and (3) Even after government is formed, these rights provide a standard by which its performance is measured and, in extreme cases, its systemic failure to protect rights — or its systematice violation of rights — can justify its alteration or abolition; (4) At least some of these rights are so fundamental that they are “inalienable,” meaning they are so intimately connected to one’s nature as a human being that they cannot be transferred to another even if one consents to do so.  This is powerful stuff.

[my emphases]

Off to gather up some crappy old books before company arrives because yes, it is our tradition to read the Declaration of Independence with our friends and fellow citizens on Independence Day.
 
h/t Instapundit

Independence Day

Missy just sighed. So did I. 

We will get a good night's sleep, wake up refreshed, and soldier on, one step in the sun at a time. 

There was no Air Conditioning in 1776. I'm no climate historian, but if the stories are to believed, it was cold that winter at Valley Forge.

Ethogram 2: Dragon Flies, Hummingbirds, and Traffic (Control)

This evening, Mr. Big Food grilled burgers. And we had "Beer Potato Salad" in a dry county. And we chatted with Daughter C. (Those paying attention know that that means something different is about to happen.)

At one point, I was sitting at the picnic table chatting with Mr. Big Food and watching the dragonflies. 

You should be able to see two dragonflies and one hummingbird.

I took nearly 100 photos while Mr. Big Food grilled burgers. I'm just going through them now.

Go ahead, click to make it bigger.

None do justice to the reality. 

"If Sherman Attacked Atlanta Today"

Marshall Ramsey is a Mississippian who has a wonderful sense of humor.

An illustration for a short story he's written.

He has a show on SuperTalk Mississippi. His blog is here. It's either good for a chuckle or uplifting-- both good things these days.

Plum cake

Not the greatest photo... .

It's a little German coffee cake-- some kuchen thingy. Recipe to follow.

Cookin' & Bakin' / Cookin' with Bacon

I'm on an officially sanctioned break from the kitchen where Mr. Big Food / Mr. Big Food & I have been cookin' & bakin'. We have just pulled a plum coffee cake thing from the oven, have assembled the dish of fried eggplant, hard boiled eggs, cheese, and tomato soup, and are now working on the green bean, potato, and bacon dish. It's called "Old Fashioned Country Green Beans."

It's Veggie Night here at the Farm and you should know that any dish with "Old Fashioned" and "Country" in the name is bound to be good.

We're listening to The Redneck Collection as we cook & bake.

DriveMississippi Dot Org

The other day I asked, "What the heck is DriveMississippi Dot Org?" 

Actually, that's not exactly what I asked because the question was below the fold and I allow myself the occasional cuss word below the fold. Curiosity finally got the better of me and I discovered that DriveMississippi Dot Org is indeed a site on the World Wide Web-- and a strange one at that. Just so you know I'm not making this up, here are two screen shots (because I couldn't fit the whole page on my screen) of DriveMississippi Dot Org as seen on my browser.

Top

Bottom

Click to make bigger.

Recipe: Casserole of Sausage and Corn

Something a little different, a recipe before we've actually eaten the dish. (This is a scheduled post. We will have eaten by 10pm!)

And rest assured, we are opting for the "other franks."

~~

“A very effective casserole is this one of sausage and corn.”—The Encyclopedia of Cooking Complete in 24 Volumes, Volume 2: 500 Delicious Dishes From Leftovers (1953)

CASSEROLE OF SAUSAGE AND CORN

Serves 5

10 Vienna sausages (or other franks), washed if necessary

2 C cooked whole kernel corn

½ bell pepper, chopped

Salt, pepper

2 C medium White Sauce (see recipes in Basics section)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Mix together corn, bell pepper, and salt and pepper to taste, and place in a lightly greased casserole in alternating layers with White Sauce. Arrange sausages over top to radiate from center point. Bake 20 minutes.

Recipe: Green Chili Cheese Bake

The side dish we had with Stephen Pyles' Smoked Chicken.

~~

Another casserole with a Tex-Mex flair.

GREEN CHILI CHEESE BAKE

(29 grams carbs/serving, 8 servings/batch)

8 oz chopped green chilies (can use canned)

1 pound cheese, shredded (Cheddar, Mexican, Longhorn, Pepper Jack, etc.)

6 eggs

1 ½ cups Bisquik

1 quart milk

Preheat oven to 350^o. Butter a 12 x 7 inch baking dish and spread chopped green chilies on the bottom. Cover with cheese. Beat eggs and mix in Bisquik and milk. Pour over cheese. Bake for 1 hour or until set.

Recipe: Stephen Pyles' Smoked Chicken

Photo here. Bit more on Stephen Pyles and the recipe here. It was so moist! 

By the way, if you don't have a smoker (we do it's just busted) you can turn your grill into a smoker. Mr. Big Food took the water pan (a large metal bowl) from the busted smoker and placed it directly on the bottom of the grill in the middle of the hot coals and pushed the hot coals around the water pan which was filled with celery and onion and what-have-you.
~~

Used in the Smoked Chicken Nachos recipe (Tex-Mex section), but excellent for many other dishes and occasions

STEPHEN PYLES’ SMOKED CHICKEN

3 lb chicken (about)

1 gallon water

1 C kosher salt

½ C dark brown sugar, packed firm

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped, or 1 tsp dried, crumbled

½ tsp black peppercorns

2 whole cloves

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a large stock pot and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before soaking chicken. Soak chicken overnight in refrigerator in brine to cover. Next day, prepare smoker (using hickory or pecan chunks) and smoke chicken for 1 ½ hours or until breast meat is firm but springs back when squeezed.

Blackeyed Peas: I Did as I Was Told

Thank goodness for The National Weather Service - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - United States Department of Commerce and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration - United States Department of Labor because I never would have figured any of this out all by my self. By the way, my name is Julia.

TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE.  WHEN POSSIBLE...RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO EARLY MORNING OR EVENING. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHT WEIGHT AND LOOSE FITTING CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS.
ANYONE OVERCOME BY HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION.HEAT STROKE IS AN EMERGENCY - CALL 9 1 1.

[My emphases]

Question. Why are these HEAT ADVISORY / SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT / HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOKS written in all caps that are very difficult to read? 

Anyway-- I did as the various Federal Government Agencies and Administrations told me to because that's the kind of citizen I am-- the kind who always does as I am told-- and picked the first harvest of blackeyed peas this morning instead of waiting until this afternoon when it is a bit on the warm side. I don't want Mr. Big Food to have to CALL 9  1 1, after all. And furthermore, I shelled them in an AIR CONDITIONED  ENVIRONMENT while DRINKING PLENTY OF WATER iced coffee.*

THREE Three varieties

Picking blackeyed peas-- 

which come from flowers like these--

is a potentially dangerous activity, even in the morning.

Be Nice

Ahhh...

Five more photos here. Cute as the dickens.

Here it is

Recipes shortly.

Brined smoked chicken & green chili pepper bake

Brined Chicken: Continually Updated

I was wrong. It's not brined BBQed chicken, it's brined smoked chicken. "Stephen Pyles' Smoked Chicken" to be exact. From a bon Appetite (sp?) feature on Stephen Pyles as he was first becoming famous at the Routh Street Cafe, before Star Canyon. 

I'm waiting for supper to finish-- the chicken has come off the grill-turned-smoker and will be going into a cooking bag to heat up those last 20 degrees. 

Mr. Big Food's Dad and Mr. Big Food's Mom treated us to a dinner at Star Canyon once. It was delightful. Kat was with us. None of the four grownups-- then or now-- likes to waste money, but we all do like to enjoy ourselves when given the opportunity. You should have seen Mr. Big Food's Dad's eyes when Kat ordered

Aggie's Shoestring Manor

What a great title for a blog, don't you think? Shoestring Manor. To the Manor borne!

Aggie is at least if not more more into crappy old stuff than I am. One of her recent posts, which I hope will interest those of you who care for the textile arts, is about Peg Loom Weaving. Check it out.

She also likes cooking in cast iron.

And... she lives in Mississippi!

It's been a while

Missy, Missy, Missy

Brine

I'll be honest with you. I'm not exactly sure what's going on. I was asked to make the brine. Even though we went over it this morning, there were some issues this afternoon. I called Mr. Big Food about the first and then winged the rest. 

Recipes on the Grill / I Saw It Happen

"Georgia Boy Sausages" slathered in chili sauce. Baby Round Zucchini brushed with honey butter while it was grilling.

And Ranch Style Beans heated on the grill.

big food. (That's a joke. Ranch Style Beans is a ConAg product.)

See. If all you'd grown this year was one measly Baby Round Zucchini plant, and one night on your way out of Starkvegas you decided to skip going to the Hog, but you still needed a veggie to grill, and you 'mentally' scanned the garden, and you cut the Baby Round Zucchini that had accumulated in the crisper into thick slices... and brushed them with honey butter ... . You would have enjoyed The Best Vegetable Ever. 

~~

While grilling, Mr. Big Food reported that the fire was really hot although he'd not built a particularly hot fire. It was fairly warm at 8pm. The termo-meter on the wall read about 99 but it had been sitting in the sun for a few hours. 

During the day it was much warmer. The thermo-meter in the truck jumped at least five degrees from the Farm to Starkvegas. The place right before Rick's Furniture on Stark Rd. has a time/temp/ad thing. It read 107.

So I was headed to Starkvegas and was passing a small van on the 4-lane and what do you know?