Anybody feel different today?

[grampster]

Gewehr,

How did you get acquainted with RedBreast?  It's my favorite Irish Whiskey.  Iirc, someone on APS was taking about it a couple years ago and I tried it.  Good stuff.

[Tallpine]

What are the roads like in April?  My 89 Jeep Wrangler should do ok.  "Course we'll have to watch the gas prices you know.

Poor horses must think you don't love them anymore.  How do you warm up the blanket and bit in that weather?

April could be anything.  July and August are nearly always hot, and the rest the the year could be anything from bitter cold to pretty warm.  Actually, the mud around here is much worse than the snow.

I don't ride with a bit anymore.  I use an english hackamore (jumping caveson) on a one-ear western bridle, with western split reins.  Unless I'm going on a rather long ride, I don't use a saddle.  Mostly I ride on a fleece bareback pad (cinch but no stirrups), and sometimes just bareback but that gets pretty uncomfortable if we do much trotting.     I don't think the pad feels cold to his back.  Often they have snow on their backs for several days and it doesn't seem to bother them.  They are outside all year except for a little 3-sided loafing shed that they can go into at will.  Their coats get pretty thick.  The "horse sense" is that if the snow is not melting off their backs then their coats are keeping the heat inside - just like the snow doesn't melt off a well insulated house roof.

[Gewehr98]

I was probably the one blathering about it here at APS or over on THR, Grampster.

I posted about Red Breast in March of 2006 at THR.  I've been sipping the stuff since about 2004, when I discovered it after the back-to-back Florida hurricanes and subsequent evacuations/home damage had frazzled my remaining nerves. 

[SADShooter]

I don't buy it often, but Redbreast is the best Irish whisky I've tasted, bar none, and I suspect I've sampled pretty much everything imported. Thanks, Gewehr.

[grampster]

Gew,

You have my undying gratitude for turning me onto the stuff.  The party store down the road from us now stocks it and Pyrat rum.  Pyrat is another nectar I learned about here or at THR.  One of my neighbor/pals across the lake and I both drink both brands now.  My favorite restaurant stocks both RB and Pyrat as well. 

Life is good.

[seeker_two]

Somewhat different, but only because we went out New Year's Eve for the all-you-can-eat buffet at the local Native American casino.

Followed by a couple shots of Red Breast once we got home... 

Good thing you waited until you got home before you asked for the Red Breast....



I'm actually feeling a little optimistic about the oncoming year....that is, if thinking that things won't be quite as bad as predicted counts as optimistic....but I feel good about my personal & family life....here's to more APS in '09....

...please don't try to kill me again this January.... 

[grislyatoms]

Eastern Carolina (vinegar, brown sugar, salt, cayenne pepper, flaked red pepper) BBQ'ed pork shoulder, coleslaw, collards, Bush's "Grillin' Beans". Can't abide black-eyed peas...

Too much meat lately, makes me lethargic. Tuesday was pork tenderloin, Wednesday was ribeyes.

 

[grampster]

Son and dil and my new little 3 mo grandson may be coming up to stay a couple days.  Swmbo did a bbq pulled pork for samiches and a meatloaf is in the oven.  The smells around here this morning are torture. (drooling smiley)

[Gewehr98]

Them "Grillin' Beans" are something, aren't they?

I just bought some more last night to go with the burgers and brats I'm doing tonight. 

Santa Claus shipped me a case of Yuengling.  Life is good. 

[grislyatoms]

Them "Grillin' Beans" are something, aren't they?

I just bought some more last night to go with the burgers and brats I'm doing tonight. 

Santa Claus shipped me a case of Yuengling.  Life is good. 

First time I have tried them. Hope they stay on the market, kiddo even liked them. She'll eat baked beans as a rule, but with these she was licking the bowl and asking for more...

Life is good.  Agreed.

[SADShooter]

Are the Grillin' Beans less sweet than conventional "baked" beans? I'm a Ranch-style guy, but wouldn't mind trying something different.

[MGshaggy]

I feel like I've already lost some weight...especially in the wallet area.

Me & the new g/f went to my favorite fancy-schmancy sushi bar in Manhattan for NYE.  Between the early drinks at the Ritz-Carlton, the insanely overpriced dinner and more drinks at the restaurant, and a couple cab rides to get around the city, I felt like I was leaking $50 bills all night.

But hell, its just money...I can make more (which is why I'm stuck at work today)

[grislyatoms]

Are the Grillin' Beans less sweet than conventional "baked" beans? I'm a Ranch-style guy, but wouldn't mind trying something different.

Just sweet enough, IMO. More of a sulphury, molasses-type sweet than typical canned baked beans.

The variety I had were the " Grillin' Beans Southern Pit Barbecue", BTW. There are a couple of different types.

[Larry Ashcraft]

Tallpine, sounds like a rented trencher, 800 feet of black plastic pipe and a frost free spigot should be high on the to do list.

When I built our horse barn, I ran water and power, and then added a heated two-stall automatic waterer (one of the best investments we ever made).  Borrowed the trencher from a friend, and did the plumbing myself.  For the power, I ran the conduit, and then hired a friend to run the power and wire the barn.  Of course, my barn is only 200' from the house.

I hit the sack early New Years Eve, got up early and had coffee with my friends, and then went into the woods on the four wheeler and cut and split some firewood, and took a few breaks to enjoy the quiet and the nice weather (65 here yesterday).

[Tallpine]

Tallpine, sounds like a rented trencher, 800 feet of black plastic pipe and a frost free spigot should be high on the to do list.

Yeah, along with about a hundred other things ...

There are several underground telephone lines to tunnel under 

Would have to run electricity over there too in order to make it worthwhile, so as to run a tank heater.  Actually, because of the distance and power loss at that distance, it would probably be better to just get the power company to put in another pole and transformer and meter    (okay, that leaves 99 other things to do  ).

[Grandpa Shooter]

Yeah, along with about a hundred other things ...

There are several underground telephone lines to tunnel under 

Would have to run electricity over there too in order to make it worthwhile, so as to run a tank heater.  Actually, because of the distance and power loss at that distance, it would probably be better to just get the power company to put in another pole and transformer and meter    (okay, that leaves 99 other things to do  ).

How did you end up with telephone lines underground on your property?  The land I had was easement free.  I put all the utilities underground myself so that none of the utilities could claim an easement.

[Tallpine]

How did you end up with telephone lines underground on your property?  The land I had was easement free.  I put all the utilities underground myself so that none of the utilities could claim an easement.

This big ranch was originally subdivided back in the mid-seventies.  The "lots" were mostly or all quarter sections.  Later, many of them were split into 80's.  About 20 years ago, a former owner of our place sold off to back forty (literally) which included a driveway easement.  There are two phone lines running up along that driveway (and the electric on poles), plus our own phone line.

I swore that I'd never buy a place with an easement running through it, but it was otherwise nice, reasonably priced, and we wanted to move right now (another really long story).  Little did we know what we were getting into, with the "little old man on social security" next door - a subject which was discussed in depth on THR a few years ago.  Fortunately, he moved off to club fed for a while and sold the place to a nice guy who lives out of state.  We have a locked gate across the easement driveway now, to secure his property and our privacy.  It's been about a year since any of the no-good-niks showed up looking for the ex-neighbor.  The new owner is very happy to have us watching his place.

It's snowing and blowing and heading down to zero again ...