Almost Mudbug Season

Spring is not yet in the air.  But another season is almost here.  Its getting close.  The ice and snowy part of winter are about done. Its almost that time of the yearwhen those mud bugs start popping out of the ground!  Its an annual ritual in my neck of the woods.  You do all the preparation:  get out the burner, the big ole boiling pot, and make sure you have plenty of gas.

These critters go by several names:  Crawfish, Crayfish, Crawdads, and Mud bugs. They are typically  sold by the pound in 30-45 pound sacks.  The name "mud bugs" comes from their habitat.  They are harvested from ponds in which they have burrowed into the mud during the winter season.  When you get them home, the first thing you gotta do is rinse off as much of the mud as you can.  Next comes the purging:

 

You dump the bugs into an ice chest or wash pan, and fill it up with water, adding table salt as you go.  The salt is supposed to make the bugs "purge" themselves of all the fun stuff inside.  You then cull out all the dead ones, if you aren't in too big of a hurry.

 

 

While the bugs are purging, you load up the pot with all the seasonings for the cooking and add the taters, then the corn, onions, garlic, mushrooms and sausage.  Some folks add other veggies into the mix.  All of these extras tend to soak up all of the flavors that are in the pot, and they will light up those first time rookies once the cayenne pepper hits them.  Once these are done, they are poured into an ice chest to keep them nice and hot.

 

 

Next comes the bugs.  They are added to the drop in basket and then are slowly lowered into the boiling mix.  If you listen real careful, you can hear them yelling "hot, hot, hot!"

 

It doesn't take too long before they turn bright red in color.  After they have boiled a bit, the gas is turned off and they sit for a spell to soak up all of the seasonings that are in the pot.  Some will add a bag of ice to slow down the cooking to keep them from getting mushy.

Once they are done the feast begins!

Here is a sample of what good eating is all about.  Corn, taters, mushrooms, and mud bugs.  Served hot, and washed down with your favorite adult beverage.

 

The table usually gets covered with old newspaper, and the mud bugs get poured out on the table.  The extras are added, sleeves are rolled up and the fun begins!  You pinch off the tails and suck a few heads.  Some are even big enough to get a little claw meat.

 

 

 

This is a typical mud bug feast in our hood known as the "Cliffview Porch Club".  You grab a spot at the table, dig in, and eat till you have had your fill.  By the time you are done, you can't feel your lips or mouth because of all the pepper you have consumed.                                                                         

 

After its all done, the remaining bugs are stripped of their tail meat.  Corn is cut off for re-frying and the taters are made into tater salad.  The tails end up in a number of Cajun delights.

 

All the trash goes into the can for the garbage pickup during the week.  If the weather is hot, the trash can gets to cooking.  On occasion, we have smelled it four houses away!

 

For those of you that have never tried'm, you are truly missing out on a treat. 

 

 





Grandbaby Dogs

We all reach that point in our lives where we begin to think what would it be like to have grand babies.  Its no different in this household.

Our boys have not reached that stage yet, thankfully, (five finger rule) but we do have our substitutes.  The spousal unit has a sister that is 13 years younger and now that she has reached the ripe age of 40, she has two under the age of two.  We refer to these as the grand baby niece and the grand baby nephew.  They live in metro Atlanta, so there is a whole lot of video transfer and Apple Face time going on.

Closer to home its a dog eat dog world.  The house master is a dachshund named Oscar.  No matter the size of the dog, Oscar is large and in charge.  Next is Henry, Matthew and Tiffany's Boston terrier.  The latest addition is Bruno, Morgan's mixed breed pup, mostly lab.

These dogs are more like children than you could ever imagine.  They only will go outside when you go with them.  Give them a ball and its game on!  Outside furry varmints don't have a chance when they are on the prowl!

Toys are the same whether its kids or dogs.  They fight over the favorites, and usually hide one or two.  We have to keep some in reserve, because they don't usually last very long.  Oscar is the master at pulling out the squeaker.  Henry goes after the stuffing.  Bruno just wants to play tug a war and is occasionally the victor.

When night times comes around, its a race to see who gets in our king size bed first.  Oscar is always growling for his position.  Henry can be found under the covers ready to strike at the first odd noise.  Mouse in the house beware.

We have plenty of treats at the ready, but none of the sugary kind.  There are rawhide boney treats, there is pupperoni, and other canine delights.  There most favorite treats are the homemade dog treats that I make for them.

It is so funny to watch these dogs and the seven others in the neighborhood when I pull out these homemade treats.  All the dogs sit in a row, very calm, in anticipation of there reward.  Not one gets out of line, not one goes for another's treat.  I've had to start making them smaller once I found out the maid was giving them three to four during her visits!  Once I put my hand into that treat jar and they pick up on the jingling sound, they come a running!

It is so funny when its bake time.  These dogs know from the smell what you have cooking.  They wait patiently for the leftover bits of uncooked dog treat dough.  And when I'm making cheese straws, I get a bark or two to hurry on up!  Its like a kid waiting to lick the beaters!

They have also figured out when its waffle time.  Each gets their own plate, with their waffle all pulled apart, with a drizzle of syrup.  The boys get up later saying, "what, you didn't save me any?"

Occasionally we treat them to a scoop of all natural ice cream.  Dogs have an advantage over us.  As best as I can tell, they don't get a brain freeze when their nose is knee deep into their frozen treat.  Its so funny to watch to see who will finish their bowl first.

I guess eventually there will be two legged kids crawling around.  Until then. There are the grand baby nieces and nephews and plenty of grand dogs to occupy our time.  Got one in my lap as I type!

Remember When

My youngest just celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday.  My, how quickly time passes.

I remember when the rabbit died.
I remember the first time I saw you.
I remember changing your diaper.
I remember your first t-ball game,
I remember your first soccer game at age four.
I remember your first day of school.
I remember you getting hit with a baseball and saying "no more".
I remember your first roller coaster ride.
I remember having to order tons of books online for your AR points.
I remember you wanting to take your lunch to school because you hated being last in line.
I remember you saying "I want to play the saxophone in middle school"
I remember your first cross country race
I remember all those select soccer practices and road trips
I remember when you said "I want to go to MSMS".
I remember moving you into the dorm at MSMS and having to leave you there.
I remember your graduation from MSMS.
I remember when you said I want to go to MSU and study to be an engineer.
I remember every hug you ever gave me.

So proud of you and what you have become.  Love ya, Dad.

Five Finger Rule

Met son #1 for lunch yesterday during our visit with him in Nashville.  Don't get to see much of him so we treasure what few moments we can grab.

The spousal unit excused herself to go to the restroom.  While she was gone,  son #1 went in for a kill shot and asked me "so, when do you want a grand baby?".  I replied, "well, you and the girly friend have given me a "granddog named Henry", and that will do for now.  He then followed up with ”but when do I need to become a baby daddy?".  I looked at him for a minute, knowing he was in it for some shock value, and then I replied "let's not forget the Mr. Kevin five finger rule!"

When the spousal unit returned to the table, son #1 asked her the same question.  Guess what, she gave him the same answer.  Suddenly he was full of laughter because the joke was now on him because both parents were on the same page!

We discovered the "Mr. Kevin five finger rule" several years ago.  Our neighbor, Kevin, had a rule in place for his children to follow.  This rule was based on five fingers:

1.  Graduate from high school
2.  Get a college degree
3.  Get a good paying job
4.  Get married
5.  Grand children

Mr. Kevin has a son and a daughter that have both made it to stage fourth finger and are now working on number five.

Not sure what has happened along the way from the time I grew up.  If you happened to become involved in a pregnancy, you got married, then along comes the baby.

Nowadays, girls are having their babies outside the tradition of marriage.  Some eventually marry their partner, others never do.

Now, you have a huge generation of children being added to the pool of single parent families in addition to the ones from broken homes.

All this comes back to the set of values developed in each of us in our early years.  We tried as best we could to give our boys a set of standards to live by.  We were by no means perfect, least of all me.  We did it by example, and I hope that most of it stuck.

Please feel free to use and share Mr. Kevin's "five finger rule" with your kids and others!

You Can Run But You Can't Hide

2013 was full of critter adventures, with on running battles with squirrels, possums, mice and field rats.  Not sure what has attracted these critters to my patch of dirt since my house is in the middle, with plenty of others to get visits before me.  The squirrels were after the bird feeders, I understand that one.  The two possums were in different garbage cans that were both empty at the time.  I'm still laughing at the mental picture of the garbage guys dumping the last one into the truck!

With mice, is there is one, there will be more.  A box of Decon buffet got the biggest one in the fall.  Bought some rat traps, but they turned out to be peanut butter platters.  The mouse traps caught some of the little buggers, but just bounced off the bigger ones.  We thought we had them all, but no, the critter battle continues into 2014!

We put out more Decon loaded down with the little green pellets.  Cleaned out the pantry of any open containers, and got rid of any additional signs.  But yet, there were still more!

We reloaded the traps and set them out for our quarry.  Never could get a good look at him, just quick little peeks with the dogs hot on the trail.  Several weeks have gone by.  Even bought a few "build a bigger mouse trap" models, but to no avail.  Last night was the last straw. 

Apparently we had left out the little bit of dog food that was still in the bowl.  As we began to dose off, we hear the pitter patter of a critter having his midnight delight.  The spousal unit just had to investigate.  Of course, once you make a noise, poof! gone in a flash!  It was time for the secret weapon, the glue trap.  Two traps were set out near the dog bowl.  A few pellets of food were laid out as appetizers.  Within ten minutes, he was back!  Flip! Flop! Toss and Turn!  The more he moved, the worse he got stuck.  Critter and trap were placed outside, to be dealt with in the morning.

First thing this morning I rise to go check on our guest.  That sucker has lost a ton of hair during the night, but still stuck with the glue trap in tow.  Time for him to meet his maker.  The battle will  continue till the last one's gone!