Chasing Away The Mulligrubs

  As hard as the past couple of years have been on all of us, we still have a lot of reasons to be thankful.  I admit that things have been rough...they have been not to my liking here, either.  The isolation is taking its toll on my emotions and mental well-being.  While it is not easy, I tend to drown my dejection with work.  It is not hard to find chores to be done so it is a win/win situation.  I forget about the woes of the world and accomplish things that have been neglected.

  Today's first chore started at 4am.  There were 16lbs of shelled pecans that needed canning.  Normally, I would have just tossed the majority of the nuts in bags and in the freezer but both chest type freezers are filled to capacity with seafood.  Nope...ain't no nut worth tossing away a shrimp.  So, the pecans were canned and can sit on the shelf for the duration until they are needed.   After doing these, there are still 5lbs that will be used in baking between now and Christmas.

  After the canning was complete, I headed outside to start building a "temporary" greenhouse/winter garden area.  This will hold the night-blooming cereus plants and enough tomato and bell pepper plants to tide us over until spring.  By the time my work for the day was done, the doldrums had left for at least a little while.  No, it did not solve the many problems facing us but it did give my brain a break.  I am just thankful that I am able to get out and do something...anything...to keep the mulligrubs at bay.  (Wow!  I have not thought of mulligrubs since my grandmother passed.  She always used the term.  Ahh, Grandmother!  Another reason to be thankful...memories.)

42 Pounds and a Good Friend

  Every year, my husband drives to Alabama to purchase 100 pounds of pecans.  These are in-shell but cracked.  We give a good many of the pecans as gifts to friends and coworkers but the remainder is mine to do with as I see fit.  Since I bake a lot, the nuts come in mighty handy!  This year, "mine" came out to be just about 42 pounds.  That is a lot of pecans to shell by yourself!  Thank goodness, my good friend came to help.  Darlene had gotten ten pounds of pecans so we shelled hers first then set to work on the ones that I was to keep. She has been doing this for the past couple of years and it sure saves me a lot of work.  Shelling 42 pounds of pecans by yourself is a tedious task.  With her here, we did it in a record time of about 3 hours!!  Of course, in that 3 hours we also took a couple of coffee breaks (Well, I did. She had lemonade.), did a lot of talking and an equal amount of laughing.  The time flew by and we were almost sad to see the box get empty.

  After shelling that many pecans, it is only natural for me to bake.  Son put in a request for the Pecan Tassies (recipe included in "Cooking on the Bayou" page on this blog) so...Pecan Tassies it was.  This is the second batch of these tasty treats that I have made this season.  He loves them, as does just about everyone who tastes the treats.  Since Darlene had helped with the pecan shelling and baking, she took a good many tassies home with her.  Her son loves them just about as much as mine does.  The rest of the pecans were air-dried, bagged and stuck in the freezer for future baking.

  Pecans are one of those so-called "super" foods that can lead to a healthier body.  With their high protein and "good" fats, they are a great alternative to meat.  Personally, since I am a pesco-vegetarian, I am always on the lookout for meat substitutes.   Meat seems to not agree with me in so many ways physically, that I have totally given up trying to eat it.  (Seafood is a different story, though!)  Eating tree nuts provides a tasty alternative.  These pecans are my healthy choice! (As long as I do not eat too many tassies!)

  

The Tiny Vistor

  For the past few evenings, I have been shelling pecans.  It is times like these, that having a good friend makes all the difference in the world.  Shelling 50 pounds of pecans by myself is not fun.  Throw a friend into the lot and the chore becomes much more pleasant.  Darlene and I shell pecans and do a lot of laughing and storytelling.  It is great fun and the task gets finished in good time. The hulls of the pecans are tossed out the door so that the critters around the Bayou can feast upon any small pieces that we miss.  I figured that it is far better to let them eat than to waste the nuts.  Squirrels and birds have been having a grand time picking through the mounds of shells.

  This afternoon in the drizzling rain, a tiny raccoon was scavenging through the hulls to find its dinner.  The little rascal was so intent on eating that it did not even look up when I went out the door.  I eased my way to within a few feet of the tiny tot before he even realized that I was there.  Once he saw me, he tried to climb the huge oak tree just beyond the shell pile.  The poor little guy wobbled a bit and almost fell.  Oh, geez!  If a predator came along there would be no escape for the little coon.  I could have easily grabbed the little one from the tree trunk.  Ok, so the heartstrings were tugged and I knew I, at least, needed to help him a bit.  A nice handful of whole (cracked) pecans were placed at the base of the tree for the little coon.  At least, he would eat good tonight!  

  I am hoping that after a few healthy meals, the little coon will be strong enough to climb and forage for itself.  Being so tiny and weak makes one vulnerable as it is but with the coming winter cold, the tiny coon will not stand a chance.  As much as I get aggravated at the coons for eating from our fruit trees, I hate to see any living thing go hungry.  I might have to see what else I can find to fortify his diet for a few days if he hangs around.  Such a cutie!

Therapy or Good Times?

  Once again my good friend, Darlene, visited the Bayou.  She comes to fish, talk and just generally escape from the woes of the world for a while.  Usually, we do more fishing than anything else but there was nary a fish to be found today so after several attempts, we gave up and came back to the Little Bayou House.  I was not sure what we would find to do there but Darlene is not one to sit idle long.  She grabbed a couple of bags of pecans and a large tray.  Even though I protested that she did not have to work at my house, we both sat down to shell the pecans. Several hours later, twenty pounds of pecans were all shelled and ready to be bagged for the freezer. Those added to what we shelled yesterday makes for a nice bundle of nutmeats to use this winter. What a friend I have in this lady!  Although I would have eventually gotten the pecans shelled, the chore went a lot quicker with two pairs of hands and plenty of talk....or should I say singing.  Christmas music filled the house so it was only natural that we sang along with the tunes.  

  There is something relaxing about shelling pecans in the snug Little Bayou House.  Darlene called it "Boredom Therapy" so the task now has a new name.  She is right.  If you think about it, sitting with a good friend long enough to shell that many nuts can be sort of a therapy.  Add a bit of singalong music and the brain just cannot stay in a funk long.  Perhaps that is what is wrong with the world today.  Gone are the days when entire families sat together to shell pecans, snap green beans or shell peas.  What was done, matters not.  It was that time spent together...talking, laughing or (in our case) singing that made things right.  Gone are the "Good Old Days" where friends were dependable, times were happy and family was everything.