Friday, July 26, 2013

Cooking.......It Is My Destiny.

I have been able to cook almost as long as I can remember...same with driving. And it seems like I have spent much of my time here on earth driving or cooking. Now I am driving to cook.

Big tired sigh.......

So I have a new job. A new lease on life. A vocation for all to envy. Wanna hear?

I am a Ranch Cook. But you say....RanchWife..I thought you were a ranch cook? Well I was when the boss said cook I cooked. But not full time. And not for very much pay...am embarrassed to say what they paid. A lesser person would have thrown down Allsups corndogs and a glass of water for what they paid..But not I. They never once ate a corndog at my house. Never.

Anyway...In a round about way..isn't that how everything in life happens...in round about ways? I was approached about being a relief cook at a large ranch near where we live. I was excited and was up to it. I need out of this house. I need out of town. I need to see the wide open spaces. To feel dirt crunching under my tires.You get the picture.

Well before I had even did my relief cooking once the job became a full time cooking job! Oh my! So this morning I awoke at 3:45 am....did you catch the am part? Have I ever mentioned I am not a morning person....left the house at 4:20 drove 20 miles then finished up 7 1/2 miles of dirt road. Arriving at 5:00 am sharp....AM Folks.

Yes I had to gather wood for the fire. Milk the cow, gather the eggs. Slaughter a beef. And make bread all before the sun rose over the hill.

Not hardly.

Folks if a body has to rise before the sun. Drive the lonely road alone. And at the end is a bunch of ornery cowboys waiting for a meal...this place isn't so bad.

Just a little sitting area....
 
Another cozy little nook.
 
 The long long table....
 
Looking the other way.
 
Kitchen
 
 
If I were a Queen this would be my throne!
 
 
And a nice place to take a rest and ponder life.
 
 
 
Sad isn't it.
 
 Happy Trails and God Bless
 
RanchWife(Cook)

Monday, July 1, 2013

Good Grief!

Lately here in my house we have been on a quest for a new coffee pot. The old pot, while it worked did not get the coffee hot enough for DH who has a mouth that apparently is coated with fire retardant material. No coffee or pepper seems to get through. Anyway I drug out the trusty percolator and that is what we have been using and he can drink his coffee directly off of the burner. The burner which is electric and does not work right and either seems to not cook or if you turn it up goes berserk and melts everything that is touching it.

And did I mention that DH hates waiting for his coffee? And you know that to perk a good cup it needs to be on there for awhile.

So one day while in Wallie I thought I would pick up a new drip coffee pot as a surprise. I just didn't want to go the $100.00 Bunn....not knowing if it would be hot enough. So as I was browsing I spied a Mr Coffee that said it made the "hottest" and the "fastest" coffee on the market. Wow! All I was looking for in  a coffee pot. That is the way DH likes his coffee, hot and fast and I need to mention strong...so very strong. I whipped that sucker off the shelf and checked out.

When I got home I placed it where he could see it when he came home from work and he did and he was surprised and amazed and I won the "good wife" award of the week.

He set it up and got it ready to go for the next morning..like a small child at Christmas. The next morning we waited and sure enough the coffee zipped right through the thing into the stainless steel pot...he wanted a stainless steel pot. And sure enough it had some steam steaming from the pot and sure enough he poured with much anticapitaion and sure enough....he made a sad face as he gulped his first gulp. Gulping "hot" coffee is not a good sign. With his sad face he said..."It is not hot".

Oh sad day!

I had to give back the "good wife" award. And he grumped about stupid coffee pots that don't make hot coffee.

So I ask you...What is the cottonpicking deal?  Is there some regulation that I don't know about that has "dumbed down" the drip coffee maker? My dad had a Mr. Coffee for years, years and it made all kinds of awful sounds and gurgles but it worked for years and the coffee that came out of it would scald anybody big enough to die. So what has happened? Is it the whole "we have to keep the public safe from themselves because they are not smart enough to drink really hot coffee". Really.

I am sick of safety. I can't get the tab off the bleach bottle. You know the one where they have that little peel back thing and they don't leave you enough material to grab. I hate that thing. I pull and pull and when it finally turns lose I spray bleach all over my self.

I saw a blip on the computer the other day about the safety of toilet seats. Yes you read that right. Well you just don't see a headline like that everyday so I had to check it out. Can you guess?

Apparently someone has decided that toilet seats have the potential to cause horrific injury to small toilet training little boys. There have been cases where the seat has fallen and.....well you get the idea. So the yo-yo that reported this has suggested that we all get something called "soft close" toilet seats...a safety toilet seat mind you. Does the madness ever end? And it was suggested that not only had little boys been injured but grown men as well. There were just any number of ER visits each and every year due to the falling down of the toilet seat. I was telling this to DH and all he could say was...."why would a grown man be on his knees trying to pee in the toilet cause the way I see it that is the only way he could suffer this horrific toilet seat injury." And then he added...." why don't they just make a law that we have to teach all little boys to sit down like a woman....what is wrong with this world"?

My boys never had the toilet seat problem as they did most of their bodily functions outside. On rocks, on tires, on the grass an occasional dog that didn't dodge fast enough. Standing on the tool box in the bed of the pickup in the Alco parking lot while I was inside and Dad was supposed to be on watch...that was the oldest. And the youngest watered the flower bed at the funeral home during my dad's visitation....My dad would have gotten a hoot out of that we he was known to "see a man about a dog" out at the barn pretty regular.

It all just gives me a headache.

So I leave you with this question.....If the kids all have to wear a helmet to ride a bike now....what are they gona have to wear to avoid this horrific toilet seat disasters......Just some food for thought and maybe the potential to make your millions if you can come up with the answer and good marketing.

God Bless and Happy Trails
RanchWife