Checking In . . .

All is well in our neck o' the woods.  Haven't spent much time blogging as we've been working a smidge bit too hard, but accomplishing a lot, and that feels good.

Took some time off last Friday night to go visit some friends and bring home a new-to-us banty rooster.  They are (for the time being, at least) getting out of the chicken keeping business and wondered if we wanted a bantam rooster.

Just so happens we lost our bantam rooster last year when a hawk flew over the chicken pasture, scared heck out of the birds, most of whom ran for shelter, but either our bantam rooster panicked and tried to run through the electric fencing or possibly was driven into it by the hawk in hot pursuit.  Unfortunately, he got tangled in the fence and by the time we got to him he was in bad shape and died during the night.  So we were happy to take in this new guy as a boyfriend for our two banty hens.

He's a pretty boy, very docile and friendly.  I'm not positive, but I think he may be a Silver Laced Cochin.

D and M, our good neighbors, trundled over to our place late yesterday afternoon to get some dill.  D was making pickles and, for some reason, the dill he planted this year isn't doing diddly-squat.

I have plenty (and then some) so was glad to share as much as they needed.

While we were all out in the garden talking, I complained to M that my slicing cukes just weren't sizing up at all.  With that, she plunged her hand into the cucumber vines and pulled out a couple.

"These look big enough to eat to me," she said.  By gar, if she wasn't right.  I sliced them, added garlic salt and pepper, some dill leaves and a small amount of salad dressing, and we had them last night with macaroni and cheese.  Crunchy, crispy and F-R-E-S-H tasting.

Our edible podded peas are in their full glory right now, so I went out into the garden this morning to pick these for breakfast.  I sauteed a couple of diced scallions in butter, added the leftover mac and cheese from last night, put two fresh eggs on top, and cooked covered until the eggs were done.  A portion of that on each of our plates along with a helping of the tender-cooked peas with butter and salt and we called it a gooood breakfast!

I've still got shell peas to process tonight, and I suppose we'll need to eat something for dinner right soon now, so I'd better get back to my kitchen duties.

Hope you all had a good weekend!