This morning I sat in my closet staring at my pink monkey unable to come up with a topic to write about. Then I heard the dang squirrels beginning to chatter in the yard. The window is open so I hear a lot of chattering going on. Dang squirrels. Lots of people say "oh, they are so cute and they don't hurt anything!" hmmmmmm .... those people must not live in the country where you don't have just one or two squirrels, you live with dozens and dozens. And they love to chew. The bad thing is I have dozens of nut trees and they ain't gonna leave this yard!!!!!!
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, the oil light started flickering in one of our cars. It would come on and go off.....over and over again. It was time for an oil change, so hubby crawled under the car and guess what.........the wires to the oil light had big gnaw marks. Those powerful front teeth of those cute little monsters had again destroyed wires under the car. And this is certainly not the first time.....they feel free to come and go under our cars.....gnawing their way to a free wire meal. At one time or another, you may have had wire problem or a broken hose and it may have been caused by squirrels or mice......squirrels have been known to chew up a wiring harness in nothing flat. Another thing they like to do is to store nuts in a tailpipe of a vehicle that they see doesn't move often.
I've read that squirrels chew all the time to keep their teeth sharp. They prefer wood, but anything will do. They like to crawl under cars so that they are hidden and safe while they do their handicraft.
There are several home remedies that I've tried and they work for a while.....I just hadn't recently used any of these remedies. Since there are pets in neighborhood (and maybe grandkids visiting someone near here) I would never use anything that would harm or that could kill a child. Some people use anti-freeze because of its sweet smell and taste.....but that it absolutely out of the question for fear of harming pets and/or kids. I've tried several rememdies to keep them from getting under the cars in the driveway, but what I have found the works the best is cayenne pepper, hot sauce, dish soap and water. I mix 3 tablespoons of dish soap, 3 tablespoons cayenne pepper and 1/4 small bottle of hot sauce in a gallon of water......then I spray this all over the driveway. Unfortunately it doesn't last a long time.....especially when it rains a lot.
Another thing that some people swear by is to shave an original green Irish Spring soap bar and toss the curls of soap all over the driveway. Simply use a potato peeler to shave.
When a wiring problems occurs and you think it's squirrels, try explaining that to your insurance company.....call them up and say "a varmint chewed my wires". They might think you have some wires crossed somewhere up in your mind. But, since squirrel chews happen all the time these days.... insurance companies are getting used to this.....some policies pay under comprehensive and some don't pay.
Later today, I'll have to give up sitting in the closet and staring at my pink monkey, which is really a fun thing to do when you're bored. Time to get out the old squirrel fighting garb ... don my hat and gloves, and rubber boots (don't want that hot pepper sauce on my tootsies). Spray that driveway until it looks like a field of hot peppers have sprung up. Then sit on the porch and watch those squirrels unknowingly run onto the driveway......then stop and look really perplexed......then run like h*ll up a tree to nurse their paws. They won't do that again for a while .... at least until the next time the pepper sauce needs replenished.
The moral of my story is.....when you see those cute little brown or grey squirrels and think they are so cute.....the next time it could be you. You better hope your squirrel doesn't stick around your yard....maybe your pantry shelf will soon hold a big can of cayenne pepper and a bottle of hot sauce or a couple bars of Irish Spring soap. Or maybe give them a beer:
Old Tyme Greenview
From the 1965 Souvenir. Sorry they aren't very good pictures.
Paul & Frankie Davis, Joe Waggoner and Percy Carter
School Custodians
The Village Inn (the old Linda Theater)
Marilyn and Peasey Beard
Lots of time spent there!
Bill Davison Excavating
Corner Cafe
Tom Smothers Owner in 1965
(I worked there at that time)
Reiser Grain Elevator
Dorothy Dodson
English, World History, Librarian
Recipe
This recipe makes a lot and can be kept for a couple weeks in the refrigerator. It's really good no chicken when cooking on the bar-b-que. Or on some pulled pork.
No-cook Jamaican Barbeque Sauce
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon yellow prepared mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Blend and refrigerate....no cooking, but heat it when using. Makes 1 3/4 pints. Use on chicken, chops, pulled pork, ribs, hamburger, meat loaf. etc. Yummy.
Thought For The Day
It's easier to forgive an enemy
than to forgive a friend.
--William Blake
If you do any cooking at all, you'll probably have some good stories of failures or a better term might be disasters!
I remember back to the days when I was about 10 years old trying to learn how to cook because my mom couldn't get up from bed to do the cooking. The first disaster was the boiled eggs. My mom told me to cover the eggs with cool water and boil them for a few minutes. Being the friendly and spontaneous person that I was, I heard children's voices outside. I had to go investigate of course. I played and played and suddenly remembered the eggs. Those eggs had exploded and covered the stove, the ceiling, the table, the floor and the clock above the stove. Luckily the pan didn't catch fire....it was smoking.
I had to get that messed cleaned up before my dad came home and wanted his supper. So I put more eggs on to boil and stayed in the kitchen this time, cleaning all the while.
My next disaster was macaroni and cheese. I was told to put the macaroni in layers and cut up the cheese from the block, then salt and pepper the layer and put a couple of pats of butter. Then put another layer of macaroni and cheese....keep layering until the casserole dish was full and put a little milk over the casserole. I did that....and baked it and it looked wonderful. The problem was.....I didn't know I was supposed to cook the macaroni first.....that was some crunchy stuff!
The first time I made milk gravy, it was like wallpaper paste and I remember that the spoon stood straight up in the gravy. But we ate it.....and my dad and mom even smiled. One time I grabbed the cayenne pepper instead of the paprika....wow that was eye opening. I've made coffee and forgot to put the coffee in the pot. I've forgotten to add sugar to recipes or even baking powder so that the item was flat and rubbery. One time I mistakenly filled the sugar bowl with salt because I was buying sea salt in a paper bag and the bags looked the same.
Another time I was trying to follow a recipe and the recipe said 12 cups of flour. I though that was a lot but I put it in.....I couldn't mix it because there wasn't enough liquid in the mixture so I added some liquid. It didn't turn out. I later showed it to my grandma and she said "that recipe says 1/2 cup not 12 cups of flour!" That was right before I got glasses.
Keep in mind that I was a very young kid when these mishaps occurred. It didn't take me long to know that if I wanted to eat, I better learn to cook for the family. I asked my mom a lot of questions and then later, made a lot of calls to my grandma. I still have those recipes from my grandma and passed them on to my kids.....one of my kids can cook and the other....well, let's say, she tries but.......
I think we all have cooking disasters some time or another. My oldest sister was a great cook, but one time when she had a bad cold, she grabbed the Watkins Liniment from the shelf instead of the Watkins Vanilla.... she couldn't smell it when it was cooking. That chocolate cake was a total disaster and we laughed for years....Joycie and her liniment cake.
Through the years I've forgotten to turn on the oven when putting meat on to slow roast. I've forgotten I salted things and then salted the same thing once or twice again. At an early age in my marriage, I was charged with cooking the turkey....the giblets and neck were still in the turkey when I got done cooking....I didn't know these had to come out.
These days, I usually cook with no mishaps, but it could occur the next time I set foot in the kitchen. Today I'm making yeast bread and rolls....so I'll let you know if it explodes or whatever.......
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