A Simple Outing on the Weekend

Now is the time of year that the garden is all in.  The work is done and now we wait for harvest.  Mustard greens, kale, lettuce and radishes can be picked every day and will continue until spring.  Other crops like spinach and sugar snap peas will be ready in less than a week.  Unfortunately, Luna died after her bout with Tetanus, so we are not milking right now.  No more babies expected until spring.

As a result, we've made a concerted effort to schedule outings.  This weekend we had planned to go hiking at Tunica Hills, a park about 2 1/2 hours away, but at the last minute decided to stick closer to home.  The day started out with beautiful sunshine, but quickly turned into a gloomy, grey, overcast, chilly day.  We decided to load up and head to the farm in Oberlin - 30 minutes away.

When we got there, we started a fire to warm up by.  There was plenty of wood to fuel a campfire with pecan trees that had blown over in the hurricane.  We set up lawn chairs around the fire, along with a blanket laid out on the grass and quickly got a nice fire burning.

We wanted an easy campfire meal, and there's nothing quite as easy as hot dogs.  Mom and Dad drove out and met us and visited with us.  We have a fold-out expanded metal grill we placed over the coals once the fire burned down a bit.  A can of chili was opened and put in a pot to warm up.  

The all-beef hot dogs were layered on the grill, and we used some tongs to roll them around to keep them from burning.

As the hot dog wieners were done, we put them in the pot of chili and allowed them to mingle with the chili for a while while the hot dog buns were toasting.

The simple meal was quickly done and we enjoyed them.  No mess.  Not many dishes to do.  Sometimes it is the simplest of things that are the most delightful.  

Burn, Baby, Burn

John 15:6 King James Version (KJV)

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Having trees on the property is certainly a blessing.  In the summer, we enjoy the shade.  We are always picking up sticks and limbs that fall from our trees.  In the winter, we like to burn campfires to keep warm or just to sit and relax watching the flames devour the wood.  This weekend we set fire to a wood pile that is in the eastern side of the pasture in front of the barn.  I got a bench for us to sit on as the sun went down.

The hens are going to miss the woodpile.  Some of them roost on it at night.  They'll have to find a new spot.  Some of them lay eggs beneath it, too.  We find them and are unsure if they are still good, so our dogs end up being recipients of the eggs found in the woodpile.

Sitting in front of the fire would have been really peaceful, but an unpleasant aroma kept wafting over.  It took a minute for us to figure out what it was.  When we moved the chicks out of the brooder in the garage and into the chicken tractor, we collected all the pine shavings mixed with poop that was on the bottom of the brooder.  Our intent was to trench compost it in the garden, but we haven't gotten around to it yet. 

As the fire grew, we had to move the bench.  Although it was a cool evening, the roaring fire was putting out some awesome heat.

When the wood pile is gone, it will be one less obstacle to walk around when going to the barn.  When trying to catch the calf, sometimes he plays a game of running away from you and running round and round the woodpile.

As the fire burned, I circled it and kicked errant sticks into the center of the fire so they would burn completely. 

We marveled at the tongues of flame dancing in the fire and talked about how only God could create something like that.

The fire was consuming all of the wood that was in the pile and the flames grew higher and higher.  We moved our bench again and again to get away from the incredible heat.

In the morning, there was nothing left to the pile but some smoldering ashes. 

Colorful Campfire

Yesterday we talked about the beautiful bright red color of Bull’s Blood Beets.  It got me to thinking about a recent fire we built in our fire pit in the backyard.  Quite often we will gather up all the sticks that fall out of the trees in our yard and we'll burn them in our fire pit.  We will place our patio chairs around the pit, light it up and enjoy just sitting around the fire, visiting and staring into the flames.

But why did the bright color of Bull's Blood Beets get me thinking about a fire in the fire pit? 

Benjamin stoking the fire

Benjamin collects metals of all kinds, including aluminum, brass, and copper.  He'll gather up a bunch of it and take it to a recycling center in Lake Charles to redeem for cash.  If you look at the 3 o'clock position on the fire pit below you'll see a coiled up piece of copper.  That's not part of a moonshine still.  He was seeing if he could make the copper melt, but we determined that copper melts at 1,984 degrees Fahrenheit.  A campfire will only get about 930 degrees.  So while he found that he couldn't melt the copper, he could sure get it soft enough to hammer it all out flat.

Heating up copper

As he heated the copper we started to notice something odd, though.

See anything strange?

First a little bit...

Green Flames

And then a lot!  The flames leaping up out of the fire pit above where he had laid the pieces of copper were a beautiful green color!

Why is this happening?  Why does burning copper cause green flames?  Well, Google told me that green flames are caused by burning copper.  Now I barely remember these terms from high school chemistry, but apparently when you burn copper, you free valence electrons and make ions.  The energy that the electron gives off in this process is emitted as a photon in the color of green.

It sure was pretty, but I'm not going to pretend I still remember what an ion or photon is!  Sure is pretty though.

Having an Outdoor Supper

It was cool the other night.  Tricia made homemade tortillas, chicken and Mexican rice and suggested that we build a fire outdoors and eat outside.  Good idea!  While she finished up with supper, Benjamin and I got a fire going with numerous oak and pecan branches that had fallen all throughout the yard during winter storms.

We arranged several cut logs that we used as seats and set them in a semi-circle around the fire.  Then we sat down with our plates full of food, said "Grace" and enjoyed supper around the campfire.  It was nice to do this while the weather was still cool and before the swarms of mosquitoes arrive.  We looked up at a beautiful starry sky as we ate.  A cloudless night sky made the stars seem extra-bright and we remarked how looking up at them always makes us feel so small and insignificant. We also discussed the constellations and Benjamin pointed our Orion's belt.

It would have been a real trick to hold our plates while we ate, but Tricia served us on TV trays.  Do you remember those?  At my grandmother's house when we were young, she had some large TV trays that had legs that folded out and you could sit in a chair and watch Carol Burnett, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Rockford Files, or Wonderful World of Disney.  Now we try to eat at the table so the TV trays don't get much use.  Actually, our TV trays were made for 'breakfast in bed' as the legs are very short.

Gazing into the fire on a crisp, starry night 

As we enjoyed the evening and each other's company, we looked at the dwindling firewood pile that has less than 30 pieces of wood on it.  That is all that remains of the firewood we split from the large water oak tree we felled in the front yard 3 years ago.  We've burned a lot of firewood in the fireplace, but the wood inventory from that tree is low.  Fortunately, we cut 3 trees down this past summer.  If you look closely to the left of Tricia's back in the photo below you can see the stack of logs that need to be split.  Benjamin and I will work on that project before it gets too warm.

A campfire supper

We weren't alone for supper though.  Nosy Rosie showed up to enjoy the fire as well. The whole time we were there, she camped out right by us, chewing her cud and eavesdropping on our conversation.

Nosy Rosie joining our campfire meal

But she wasn't the only creature joining us.  The 3 hens that roost on top of the brick pile stretched and preened their feathers before fluffing them out and taking a seat for the night.  Up until December, they would roost on top of the firewood pile, but since that pile disappeared, they moved over to the brick pile.

The big water oak tree we cut down 3 years ago reminded me of something that I hadn't though about in a while and I told Benjamin about a job that existed back when I was in Elementary School that is obsolete now.  Back then, we didn't have Dry Erase boards or the computer boards.  We had blackboards (some were green) and the teacher would write our lessons on them with chalk.  The erasers were made of felt and after writing on the blackboard, she'd erase the board.  After a while, the erasers would be filled with chalk dust.  What to do?

Well, she would call on students to go outside and "dust erasers" against the big water oak tree that was just to the east of the school.  We would dust the erasers against the tree, banging them on the bark as billowing white chalk dust covered the tree and us with dust.  The tree seemed to always maintain a white tint that only disappeared in the summer.  The job of dusting erasers has gone the way of the buggy whip makers as time marches on.

Barred Rocks Roosting

After a little bit, Amy the heifer, sidled over and took a seat on what remains of the last hay bale. I'm sure this talk of dusting erasers was riveting and she had to come listen closer.  Although laying on the bed of hay is comfortable for her, it is a reminder to me of how wasteful cows can be.  Even with a hay ring, I estimate the cows waste a good 10% of the bale.

Chewing cud on a bed of hay

Finally Daisy came and sat down behind Amy and Annie, the dairy goat, did as well.  

With all the barnyard animals bedding down for the night, we realized that it was about time for our bedtime as well.  We told the animals good night, picked up our TV trays, and walked back inside, happy for the opportunity to enjoy the simple things in life like starting a fire and sitting around it with the ones you love, talking, laughing and enjoying the evening together.