Gabe is sitting in a light drizzle, working. Watching for squirrels is not just a job – it’s a calling.

Random Raccoon

Beef and barley soup. Ever since we bought that grass fed beef I’ve had a package of neck bones in the freezer. I added the frozen block of bones to the instapot, poured in half a box of chicken stock, a crushed head of garlic, and set it to cook for an hour. I strained the liquid, chopped a couple of onions, picked the meat from the bones and added a half cup of pearled barley. It was a good start.

I got that shot of a Downy and a Hairy in the same frame. Yay!

I’m pretty sure I’m going to run out of fermented peppers. They keep getting better the longer I have them. I expect the last of them will be so good I that I will cry. I will make more as soon as I get the patio garden producing

Cheddar broccoli chicken soup. Another use of the citrate in milk to keep the cheese from separating. I finally opened that bag of broccoli cuts I bought to see if the frozen product was as bad as I remembered it to be. I’m happy that I bought the stems included version because the florets were a bit soggy.

A hawk swoops by the backyard feeder but comes up empty. A couple of years ago we had a young Cooper’s hang out around this feeder for weeks. It provides an unobstructed approach for the raptor but it has cover nearby.