Yet another Farm were looking at

Heading out for adventure; yet another house we are looking at:

Weekend Activities

Getting ready for the trip south. We are putting a contingency offer on the house with the barn and trailer tomorrow and since we leave Thursday we had to do a few things around the AK homestead.

First of all, we looked at rifles; .270 and .243 Win for Holly. She liked the Remington .270 (no .243 Win in Juneau that we could find) and at Western Auto they were on sale for $589.00 while at K-Mart they were $412.00. Same rifle, both with the weatherized package and no scope. A Leopold scope we are looking at is around $200.00. I think we will just order the Savage .243 Winchester with the wood stock and Leopold scope and be done with it. Good deer rifle, not much recoil and it would be a good weapon for the small holdings in Missouri.

Did the first harvest of the bush peas and shucked, blanched and froze them today. Should have a crop when we get back too.



Really fat peas this year



Drop em in boiling salted water for about 2 min



Then shock them in an ice bath..next stop the freezer


Then we harvested one Goose Berry bush and made jelly..a bit tedious but it tastes so good...



Have to cut the ends off which takes a lot of time



Ready for rendering of the juices



Boiling down...



Straining the mash (this would make good wine)..



Presto..jelly

And finally for Jen, what to do about all the Kale running around...



First harvest the Kale from your garden (about 4 cups worth)..



Then saute 4 minced garlic cloves, 1 cup sliced red onion, a large pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, and 3 bay leaves in a little olive oil..........



Add the Reindeer Kielbasa (or any other sausage), Kale, creole seasoning, Kale and 8 Cups (2 Qrts) of beef or chicken stock and bring to a boil.......



First the sausage...



Then the Kale...



Once its boiling reduce to simmer and add one (1) pound of diced young Yukon Gold potatoes.. and cook for about 30 minutes at a simmer....



Of course in the mean time be making fresh bread..(its ugly but tastes great)...




Walla'...Serve in front of a Football game and life is good

And finally, the Nasturtiums have gone wild...hummingbirds everywhere...

More Pictures from the Realtor on the Farm

ZZZZZZZZZZZZSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH Now we have even more pictures, we have the money, the loan is approved, but we have to wait until the 31st to see it. The Realtor says she was going to show it this morning but they never showed up and she also says she got lots of phone calls on it but no offers. We could make an offer contingent on seeing it or take our chances and wait....DANG IT!!!

The pictures below are of the trailer and the Realtor says its pretty new and very clean in side. Washer and Dryer and stove all stay and are like new, it has new low nap carpet, separate utilities from the house etc. Remember to click on a picture to make it bigger:


From the side of the house towards the trailer


Trailer Living room



Trailer kitchen



One of the 3 trailer bedrooms



One of the 2 trailer bathrooms

Below are more pictures of the house. The property goes all the way back past those trees in the very back and then all the way to the left of the barn pic where you see the bush line.



Master Bedroom



The main bathroom (and apparently laundry room) of the house



One of the other two bedrooms



Hayfield towards back of property



And you can see the property line on the left where that line of bushes is...thats a lot of room



Taken from the barn towards the house and the hwy

Decisions, decisions...

Will I miss it?

After 16 Years in the USMC and now 8 years active duty with the Army National Guard I am getting ready to retire and people ask will I miss the adventure....I dont honestly know. These are some pics of just the last two years from patrolling in Southern Iraq to acting as a UN trainer for the Mongolian, Nepalese, Indian and Thai Armys...its been a blast but I'm tired and breaking down physically (I would be in Mongolia right now if it wasnt for the unexpected hernia surgery). I survived multiple combat tours and years away from family...I think a whole new adventure is just beginning with retirement:



Lived like this for years...wont miss it



95 Degrees and full body armor...wont miss it



Patrolling in the Southern Iraqi Desert...wont miss it



Clearing an overpass over MSR Tampa south of Talil...wont miss it



Arctic Infantry in the hotest area on earth...wont miss it



fermented Mares milk in a Gher on the Mongolian steppes..will miss it



60 below with the wind chill factor...wont miss it



Training all over the world with interesting people (LTC Raju Nepal)...will miss it



Conducting horseback patrols in Mongolia...will miss it



Experiencing National Geographic moments in person (Mongolian Honor Guard)...will miss it



Flying First Class courtesy of USAF (C-17)...hope to still do it stand-by



Giving up being a machine gunner after 33 years...will miss it (here training on old Russina PKMs in Mongolia)



I am going to leave the comments on this one blank....heh heh



Another National Geographic moment that will be missed.....



I doubt there will be this much cultural diversity in rural Missouri....

On balance, I could never work in a cubicle and am grateful for the opportunities I have had but...its time to move on.