76 Days

It had been 76 days since I had a fire, until tonight.  My last fire was on December 27, and I posted about it here the next day.  Today is a full day with traveling to get the beef (see post from earlier today), doing an inventory and putting away the beef, taking a nice nap, spending a couple hours around the fire and now relaxing for a bit before a concert livestream starts in a half hour.  This is a pretty good day.

And garden rebuilding decisions have been made.  More soon.

Beef! Quarter Cow #5

We got the call last night that our split half of beef was ready to pick up, so today we made the trip north to go get it.  It was a little over an hour's drive each way this beautiful day, passing several water park/resorts, ski hills and crossing the Wisconsin River.  In fact, much of the drive followed the Wisconsin River Valley, but while we saw lots of wetlands we really only saw the actual river when we crossed it.  We also saw several signs and flags supporting Trump, so we felt like we were in a different land a bit.  I was doing the driving so my lovely wife took some pictures along the way back, I'll add some after the break for those interested.

We'd done our research on various places to get a quarter cow, and this one seemed very reasonable and reputable so when the time came we had no reservations.  Wisconsin River Meats is the place, in the middle of nowhere outside of Mauston, WI.  And while we were there we stocked up on various sausages, jerky and bacon as well.  And while less than half the people we saw wore a mask, both customers and employees, everyone was very nice and helpful.  We, of course, wore ours.

The first four times we got a quarter cow we went in on a whole cow with a friend and his family, so basically we and him split half the cow.  This place offered a split half, cuts from the front and back halves, so we have all the usual steaks and roasts, plus 50 one-pound packages of ground beef.  Overall, it turned out to be 131 pounds of meat and cost about $5.21 per pound across the board.  That's about $0.22 a pound more than the last one we got in October of 2019, which seems pretty reasonable considering all that's happened since then.

So, we're feeling pretty good about ourselves now with a freezer full of meat that will last us at least a year.  In fact, while I have a ticket for another livestream concert later tonight, I just might have a fire this evening!

Pictures from the trip are after the break.

Back Yard Visit

We took another walk this afternoon, the most beautiful day yet this year with temperatures right now at 62ºF (about 17ºC).  Coincidentally, the same as it was exactly one year ago today per my post last year of two days later.  That was a Sunday and we got the grill out for dinner then.  We've not gotten the cow yet, so not much for us to grill to be able to do that tonight.  Also different than last year is we don't have the rabbit population we did then, so not near as much rabbit poop left behind in the back yard - except for where I stood for this picture yesterday, of course!

I made several trips in my big snow boots out to the compost bin so far this year, and one side trip over to the woodpile to re-fasten the velcro on the right side.  I retraced my steps back through the deep snow to my path to the compost bin, so only one set of tracks and you can still see them here, barely hanging on.  Pretty dramatic difference from where the sun hits and where it doesn't.

The forecast calls for it to get cooler, day by day, until next week when there is (so far) a chance for snow again on Monday, but we'll see.  Do you have spring fever yet?

P.S.  Happy Birthday to my sister, Kelly!

Neighborhood Yard Art/Signs

There's always usually some reason for people to put signs in their yards in our neighborhood.  Whether it's the latest cause or election to things that are just artistic or fun.  I've just been noticing again and thought to capture them on our walk today.  This isn't even all of them, I spotted several more, especially for Black Lives Matter, and some were the same so not repeated here.  This near east side of Madison can be very expressive, not only in the signs in the yards but the yards and houses themselves.  I love that about this area.