Current happenings

Here you see our current "herd" of cattle.  The boys are ten weeks old and looking great.  Because they were going through the expensive milk replacer so fast, I weaned them at about the earliest age of any calves I've had; but I did my homework and did things right this time, with no scrimping on grain and such.  Some of the articles about dairy calves suggested they can be weaned at four weeks, but I didn't have the heart or nerve to do it that early; they got to keep their bottles until they were eight weeks of age.  Now they get two large coffee-cans full of calf starter (mixed grain with dry milk in it) daily... that's for the two of them.... plus two or three flakes of good alfalfa hay, and all the grass hay they can eat.  I probably spend fifteen minutes daily tending to them.  Cliff does some of the heavier stuff, like carrying water to them sometimes, and moving hay around to a convenient spot for me.  Last week he put a stretch of electric fence in their pen so they'll know what it is when we turn them out to grass.  They contacted it the first day, got shocked, and haven't gone near it since.

Yesterday I dug around in the freezer trying to decide what we'd have for dinner and found a quart freezer bag of chicken broth with just a few bits of chicken in it.  I retrieved it and thawed it in the microwave.  I peeled and chopped potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots into the rich broth.  Then I threw in a handful of frozen okra, some barley, and a little cabbage.  I seasoned it with salt and pepper, took a taste as it cooked and knew it was going to be good; then I remembered something I bought in Mexico last year while grocery-shopping with Brooke. 

I really didn't know for sure what I was getting, but it appeared to be cubes of dried tomato product.  How handy would that be for soup, right?  Besides, it was a really cheap souvenir.  I've had it almost a year and never thought about it, but yesterday, after getting my soup perfectly seasoned, I remembered it.  I decided to put two cubes in and see what happened.  You'd be surprised at how much tomato color showed up as the cubes dissolved!  

I took another taste of my soup after this new addition:  It would have been delicious except for the SALT!  I had already added my own salt and done a taste test, so the only thing that could have made my soup taste like brine was the tomato cubes.  I picked up the little box and peered at it until I finally saw the word "sodio".  That must be the Spanish word for sodium, right?  If so, it says one cube has 45% of a person's daily allowed amount of sodium.

Well, I watered it down as much as the pan would allow.  The soup was wonderful, but still too salty, although Cliff thought it was great.  We probably didn't get any more salt that we'd have gotten eating a meal out, but I never cook anything that salty at home.  Oh well, live and learn.  I'll know how to use my tomato cubes next time, and I won't be putting salt in the soup until after they're added.   

That's enough of my drivel, except for a picture of Gabe positively ROCKING the eyebrows, beard, and 'stache (that's what the cool kids call a mustache, right?) after a trip to the groomer.

  

Peace.