Dinner.

When I first met my husband, I didn't know how to cook anything but spaghetti. His mother taught me how to cook. And I had never eaten turnip greens or fried okra or pinto beans. Or even biscuits and gravy. I had a lot to learn when I married this man!

I did have the best mother in law ever. She taught me so much. And she was a really good cook. Nothing fancy ever came out of her kitchen. She had a small kitchen too. But she could feed an army. And sometimes did. On very little.

We'd go up to her house in Ozone, Tn. a lot when our kids were little. She'd make a little bed out of a drawer when they were babies. And she'd fix a big breakfast. Always biscuits and gravy, bacon, fried potatoes, eggs. And a few of her other kids would come eat. And their kids. Always a big breakfast. then when we were all finished with breakfast, we'd clear the table, wash the dishes, and get ready for dinner.

Always a big pot of pinto beans would go in a pressure cooker first. Then we'd peel lots of potatoes. Then fry chicken in a big electric cooker. Boil the potatoes. Make cornbread. And we almost always had turnip greens. She made THE BEST turnip greens ever.

She'd wash them real good. Then put them in a big pressure cooker for a little while. Then with the bacon grease in a cast iron skillet, she'd rinse off the greens and put them in the skillet. She's cut them up, add more grease and salt, then cook them to death. I always asked for greens when we came up to visit. I always try to make them like her, but they are missing something. They're good, just not as good as hers. And we'd also have green beans too. And most everything she cooked, she grew or raised herself. Oh, and always, big ripe red juicy tomatoes too! The best dinners ever.

So tonight, we are having turnip greens with some dandelion greens thrown in, field peas with rice of course, and fried okra, all but the rice I grew here. And corn bread too. Gotta have cornbread with greens, right? I am so hungry right now, just thinking about this dinner.

What's for dinner at your house tonight?

Why do I need a buck?

Oh my goodness, the buck is back. He's been back 2 days already. I asked my husband when I got home yesterday if he'd checked on the goats or saw them at all. He said you mean that goat in the back yard that sounds like he's going to die any minute now? Yes, that goat.

He's been here since Tuesday morning and it's been awful. I mean, really. How loud and obnoxious can a buck be? He has not shut up the whole time.

The girls have not paid a bit of attention to him at all either. Which makes him get louder and more obnoxious. It's crazy. And it's been raining and he just stays in the corner, yelling at the girls. It's really pitiful.

I put Olga in with him this morning. She was not having that at all. And she let him know she was not staying in there with him. That lasted about 5 minutes. I felt sorry for the poor boy. She was not nice to him.

So yeah, it's breeding season. I know I have to have a buck in order to have milk. But really? He's disgusting, this guy.

Iron Man race...

Yesterday was the Iron Man race here. It started Sunday morning about 7 AM with a 2 1/2 mile swim in the Tn. river, then a 112 mile bike ride  5 miles past my house to Mt. Cove Farm then down Hog Jowl Rd. They had to make a loop 2 times that way, past our house. Then through Chickamauga, then back to Chattanooga. Then a 26 mile race on foot around Chatt. twice to finish the race. They had til midnight to finish.

That's a long race. I still haven't been all the way to Mt. Cove farm on my bike yet and it's just 5 miles there from here. I am going to do it. Now that it's getting cooler, I may attempt it. I just can't even imagine swimming for 2 1/2 miles in the Tn. River.

So the 1st 4 bikes came past us about 9:15. The rest took awhile longer to get here. It was amazing to watch them. There were about 2,181 people entered. Haven't really heard all the news about who won and home many finished. I did hear about the girl from another country who came here to train for this race. She had to quit because of cramping. And there were so many people who raced for other people who weren't here.
Like the man who was hit and killed while running last week. His dad ran and crossed the finish line at 11:30 last night. And the man who's son had cancer and met him at the finish line last year. His son died in May. So many stories like this. So seeing these people riding past our house was so amazing. The determination people has is awesome.

All day it was like this. There were some by their selves, but so many in packs. There were a lot of places where people gathered to cheer them on and give them water and encouragement along the way. It was just an amazing race. Great way to spend a day.

Last year, they didn't come down our road. The year before, someone had thrown oil and nails across the road and several people were hurt. So they went on up 193. But I guess they really monitored the roads before any bikes came through this time. Really make ya wonder about people when things like this happen.