BilletHead

Thank you, sounds good! How is the new pup doing? BilletHead

sauerkraut-stuffed pickled banana peppers Now saying that is a mouth full isn't it? Can I google up that recipe? Sounds good to me. I still have peppers. Hopefully I will still have some if I find some hen of the woods shrooms. The ones I pickled had peppers with the shrooms and it was awesome. Should start finding them within two weeks. I have some goose breasts in a brine right now. I am making an stab at pastrami out of the bird harvested from the sky garden. BilletHead

Lettuce fall bed update, When I got these two beds planted it was still so hot and dry. I thought they would never sprout up. The intense sun and heat kept the bed really dry even watering every day. It would dry out completely between watering so the seeds really had no chance but I kept watering and watching. Some cooler nights with a natural rain or two and up it came. Now going like crazy. I know too thick as I just broadcast the seed. Had so much seed left from spring so I went a bit crazy. There is a couple of weeks difference in the two beds. I mixed varieties so picking is like a grab bag. So thick in fact when picking instead of pinching off leaves we Pull the whole plant and just snip off the bottoms with scissors or a knife thus opening room for others to grow. Also had a variety pack that had some weird types in it. Probability some heirloom types? I know it is sure good stuff. Will have this until a hard freeze and may cover to make it last longer, BilletHead

Congrads on the new family member! Billethead

ok, ok I will get the airbrush this Winter. Mic the kid is gone, BilletHead

Mic, I doubt there will be any cash involved but I bet I will reap a great reward.

Fingernails? Thanks Ness. Mrs. BilletHead has asked me to stipple her nails like the poppers. IF I did that would it make me less manly? Now a temporary tat on her might be fun? BilletHead

Cool Beans Ronnie. Need to tie some of these myself. Let me see an air brush and now gurglers, BilletHead

Oh boy, Something else the BilletHead doesn't need. Or does he? Badger 150, hummmmmmmm? BilletHead

Four more teal this morning. Seen a couple of others we did not get. Hunted another place than we did yesterday morning. On the way home seen 26 at that place. Could of should of would of but you never know. Got a bonus snipe too. Found a field that was cut for silage and then drilled to wheat. Doves out the wazoo so after a late lunch we will go for them, The BilletHead's

How come I am jealous of a guy that says he HAS to chase GIANT RAINBOWS? The BilletHeads

Well I will be darned. Had no idea, thanks for the PM Would that be the teal trifecta? Mrs. BilletHead said she knew that all the time. hahahahahaha

Yes we had a green wing make an appearance. Since we had teal today he has disappeared. Magic teal.

Love it when a plan comes together, Up until this morning teal season has been pretty poor for us. Found an irrigation lake that was holding about a hundred teal. Found them Thursday afternoon, still there yesterday morning. Decided this might be a place to take the Mrs. One of those things. Darned if you do, darned if you don't. They may just fly off and never come back or do as we wanted and dump into the decoy set up. Nice full moon to see by. Could see to unload the kayak, decoys etc. in the dark. Loaded up I paddle across and the Mrs. walks to the far side our set up for the morning. I peer into the fog as I paddle to hear geese getting nervous. Soon I see geese and bookoos teal get up off the water into the early morning dark sky. As I set up the decoys the geese go silent in the distance flying off. Mrs. Billethead sets up the marsh seats in the smartweed. Then she says look at all the birds. Looking into the East I can see a rather large swarm going round and round. Almost set up they dump in about a hundred yards distant down the lake. Turn the mojo doves on staked out in the middle of the decoys. Load the guns sit down and look at the clock. 20 minutes to go. Soon they all spread out down the bank swimming towards us. Now we have them from 40 yards to 80 yards. Start counting, groups of ten, groups of twenty, multiply by the number of groups. CRUD 150 + teal with a big duck or two mixed in. 10 minutes to go and a crazy killdeer goes to squawking and up all the birds go way down range, too far out. Start over and watch the clock. Shooting time arrives and all the birds are feeding in the mud and muck still a long way off. Then a lone pintail circles and lands in front of us. Two lone teal drop behind him. Sorry Pat there on my side you can't shoot so I will and As I stand up they come off the water and I take them out. Then chaos erupts. All the teal from down lake go air born. I look at Pat and her eyes are big and round and she mutters a not so nice word as they begin to drop in on us by tens and twenties. We let loose, reload and shoot more. It's raining teal. Splat, splat, splat then hit the water and more are coming in. I said I got to get a couple of cripples and I hear her let another volley go . Then she says no more shooting. We got a dozen on the water. I had no idea but sure enough 12 dead teal. Oh how I wish this was the first weekend of teal season now that they have finally arrived. After a quick picture or two we pick up the decoys and as we leave there were several large flocks heading South. BilletHead

Yes it was a good day Scott! Way to go friend. We didn't have time for coffee. Report a bit later. Man I wish we had another week since they finally showed up, Billethead

I have the bending branches angler slice. One word BRIGHT ORANGE ! Was not worried about color for fishing out of our Diablo kayaks. Did not like the color when I use the native sit inside when using it for hunting. Here is a photo from today. This paddle has a year of pretty abusive use hunting and fishing. After todays teal hunt I gave it a touch up. The beauty of camo abstract type of pattern is no rhyme or reason so touching up is a breeze. I use rustoleum camo colors. Says it bonds to plastic, maybe yes maybe no but a touch up now and again will keep it looking good. I also did the native kayak the same way. Scratches off but just a touch up now and again works. Go abstract with your painting. It's all good, BilletHead

Boy I hope someone buys this. I have too many craft in my flotilla or I would jump on this. BilletHead

I hope so Scott but just three more days left. Maybe too little too late? BilletHead

Boy this hobby could get expensive. When there are few birds around (for me anyway) looking hard can be taxing. Found two places, rather large and expanse places holding birds, very few birds. Time to try again after three unsuccessful trips in a row. One place had seven birds and the other I would say fifty. Neither place had been hunted yesterday morning from what I could tell. Where I went was the larger group area. Seen footprints that could of been yesterday afternoon hunt? Any hoot I get there early and paddle the kayak to the spot. Took the wrong route on the way in and had to drag a bit. On the way out paddle all the way to the truck. Right off buzzed by pairs and triplets. Fifteen minutes before shooting time twenty dumped in and waited until six minutes before time and flew off but not too far. Then two pintails got right in my face, real close, pretty neat. Then nothing, I mean zilch flying. No other hunters either. Nadda, nothing but I could see the little flock about eighty yards away. Then they got up and moved closer. Every once and a while I would hit the teal call, they would lift there heads way up looking for the sound. All at once up they went bee lining it at me. Oh Crap they were on me. I picked a bird shot and two dropped, two more shots and two more hit the water. Had to shoot again to do in as one still alive. I will say four for four? Later a single came in to commit suicide with another shot. Five for five makes up for the day it took me four for one bird. A photo of some birds, had put the camera away before retrieving last bird, Plucked, pin feathers singed and ready for the fillet knife to slice off the goodness on either side of the breast bone, BilletHead

Need to bump this, Some of the ladies have dropped out for one reason or another. There are still spots open. Please pass off to anyone who might like to attend. I promise they will have a great time. There are some out there who deserve this. If they are still in treatment and there doctor says it is ok they can come. Some of these ladies will get lucky or unlucky depending on how they look at it and get to let me tie on there flies, detangle leader messes, net there fish and generally guide them to some really nice fish. The fish at Rockbridge are rather large and beefy and by the way they fight I think there might be steroids involved. Feel free to PM me for questions either I or Mrs. BilletHead will get your questions answered, BilletHead

I smoked a batch of sea salt two weeks ago.

My temp today got to a max of 85 and it does sweat some oil and got tray lines on the bottom of the sticks. I think this helps the flavor some. I remember my mom did cheese in trays she made from aluminum foil. Her cheese would actually melt some around the edges. It solidified right back up and tasted just fine. Did not last long as she did small batches. BilletHead

Glad it made it Gavin, Enjoy BilletHead

Chief that would work. My first smoker was an old metal fridge. I insulated it, lined it also in wood on the inside. Installed a small propane burner inside. Worked good but hard to control even with vents and the burner all the way on low. Thought about a hot plate but just finally bit the bullet and bought a Bradley. Jerry we get the cheese at Sams club. Good price I think. BilletHead

Ronnie, you should try it. Be not afraid the cheese will be with you. Just don't get it too hot. Imagine a five pound grilled cheese sandwich without bread all over the smoker dripping off the racks and bubbling on the heating element. Still able to salvage some that time. Man what a mess. Scott, Wonder how to do that? I would think the heating element would just fry the bacon to a crisp? Burnt bacon cheese? Sounds like a new Dorito flavor. BilletHead