Full Moon - 1

Yesterday was the full moon.  I finally got my moon phase working on my sidebar.  I also added a RAW feeding count up timer.  I really do look at these things.  I say to Mark, do you know that we have had Dexter XX days.  I'm up early, and this a.m. the moon was splendiferous!  Did you know that the full moon in November is called the Beaver Moon?  Apparently it is the time to set traps according to the Farmer's Almanac. I'm still heartbroken that our beaver colony did not make it.  I hope they were not trapped.  Sniff!  If you are going to holiday party's you can strike up conversation about December's full moon:  cold full moon.  No real romance in that.

Dexter Containment System Failures. Though the road frontage and 'wing' areas are secure, we have a permeable barrier between our property and our adjacent neighbors' properties.   Dexter made an escape to one neighbor's house.  He infiltrated their home!  Mark was called.  (It was not an issue!)  Once outside, he behaved himself, to include visiting with Lacy.  Lacy was Macy's early friend, being just one month older than Macy.  They were best friends for about a year, and then each solidified their bonds with their human families.  Dexter has a bunch of worn out dogs that will not play with him as he would like.  But Angel loves him and tolerates his jumping on her.  It was good to see how well Dexter interacted with Lacy.

I'm not confident that Dexter would do well with my neighbor's chickens. A lesson from the "Chicken Man" may be in the future.  He will be dog #3 to receive such instruction.  It is a virulent lesson, requiring only a single sitting to be learned.

One of Tim's chickens has wandered over to our house.  This has been a recurring visitation over the past week.  These visits have intrigued Dexter, and I believe it is what precipitated the boundary breaches.  Today,  I found Dexter under our deck trying to get at a chicken taking refuge in the miasma of 'stuff' underneath.  Dexter was hung up.  The chicken was safe.  Regardless, I believe in alternate universes, and in the one that I imagined clearly,  there was another outcome  that makes me shudder.

More RAW equipment support.  I broke down and bought an upright freezer.  (I am so excited as it will make life so much easier).  It will be delivered tomorrow.  I was tight on freezer space before this RAW thing started. Geez, the 100 lbs of Nahunta sausage made it impossible to store anything!  Now, with RAW underway, I have NO freezer space.  Given that I am buying in bulk--and bulk means time--I would rather leverage shopping time and cleaning time, as those times are indifferent to the amount of food that I buy.  Rather it is the processing time of the meat and the packing time in containers that is time consuming.  Having a freezer is the only way to optimize this time.

Yesterday I stopped a Shopper's World.  It was in a location that was formerly a Winn Dixie, then a Farmer's 'something or nuther'.  They advertise cost +10%.  I stopped in.  They had 10 lb leg quarters for 49 cents per lb.  With markup, it was still a deal.  I bought 40 lbs.  This is the same brand I have seen at Food Lion.

Upon opening the bags, I saw that these poor leg quarters were mangled every which way.  Not a problem as the Weston#22 would grind them to mush.  But if you had planned on serving these, they were not pretty.  The Restaurant Depot's Mountaire Leg Quarters are perfect.  In a 40 lb box, there might be one or two broken leg tips.  But they are jumbo, which means that it takes more time to break them down.  (Remember, I'm channeling Adam Smith, hence the freezer purchase). 

I'm now considering simply buying 3 or 5#chub bags and a bag sealer to make it easier to stuff and store these grinds. Geez...I feel like a manufacturer!

It's Friday.  Yeah.