Good morning!!!!

[Larro Darro]

:laughing:

The best mutton I've had was from the southwest desert of Iran. Fat-tailed sheep, tails not docked. Lord knows what they found to eat. A whole leg roasted over a wood fire. It didn't have a muttony taste.

The lamb was good too. Meat cubed from what would be a lamb chop I think, marinated in some lemon juice, grilled over charcoal on a kebab skewer with slices of onion, a bit of fat, cherry tomatoes. Served with a heaping plate of steaming rice with butter melted into it. Yum.

The stern gate on the USS Saipan got crossed up and jammed in place while we were in the Indian Ocean. The closest shipyard was in Skarmamagas, near Athens, so we got over three weeks of unplanned liberty. The Greeks eat more mutton than anyone I have ever come across. After the first week we took to buying whole chickens from the street vendors. That was about the only way you could be sure it wasn't some kind of sheep.

Larro

 

[Pixguy]

Nice sunny and warm 12° day to do some snowmobiling in NH. Came up to have some fun and pick up the "outlaws" and bringing them back with me to FL.

Some folks think the wind farms are beautiful and peaceful, I see the opposite. Ruined a pristine mountain vista with turbines, access roads and clutter. Such a shame. Great sledding just the same. I took a few snaps with my cellphone camera.

I also came across an abominable snowman and Yukon Cornelius, I wasn't afraid though.

 

[dave1949]

The best mutton I had was in Australia didn't taste like Mutton tasted more like beef roast nice and moist.It was a leg of Lamb.

I don't think this was a leg of lamb I ate, it was a good-sized cut of meat to have been a lamb. Oh well, I'll never know for sure. Fat-tailed sheep are raised in Oz too somewhat. They are very arid land tolerant.

I didn't get to spend any time to speak of looking over the agriculture in Iran. Fat-tailed sheep are supposed to be good for dairy and meat. We used to buy sheep's milk yogurt there that was delicious. So, that adds up. Of course the local yogurt culture would have something to do with the taste too.

There is a belief that the fatty tail removes the mutton taste:

An Exclusive for Heritage Subscribers

The Karakul is one of the oldest breeds of sheep, native to Central Asia. The region they are from has high altitude and scant vegitation and water, making the Karakul a very hardy breed. They are a broadtail, or fat tail sheep. They generally come in black although occasionally other colors are seen. Since the fat is stored in the tail head, even older animals do not have that muttony taste, and the lamb meat has very little fat.

Fat-tailed sheep - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning all.

Not sure how everyone likes their seasons - Astronomical or Meteorological ?

I like meteorological. So for me winter is over, it's spring today. :thumbsup:
Ok, it's set to snow tomorrow, but that will only be light fluffy SPRING snow (he hopes).

For those of you who prefer astronomical seasons - hope you enjoy yet another day of winter - only 19 more to go.

 

[RoyJackson]

2015-03-01, 0449

-7 right now...looks like a high today around 28 and maybe some snow showers later.

No plans today and I shouldn't be up this early

 

[Buppies]

27 this morning high of 36 late this afternoon. Ice and sleet are order of the day for us. Roller coaster rest of week, 58 for high 25 later in week. Spring is getting closer

 

[daugen]

I shouldn't be up this early

me too....
Between David/Sodamo's time zone, and Lord Salop's zone....plus RS being up all hours of the night,
some interesting morning/evening combos here. (Eric was Knighted by Lambs Today).

Roy, not sure it works this way for you, but if I get up to use the bathroom at an early hour, and start to thinking about
things, I'm toast. The pony motor has been engaged and the main motor is coming online...
However I did get a one hour nap late yesterday afternoon and that seems to be why I'm wide awake now.

Bit sore from yesterday, and going to get more sore today. About twenty fruit trees, six Leland Cypress and several ornamentals, dogwoods, flowering cherries. Plus about ten rose bushes. Not too hard when someone else is digging most of the holes... I'll probably do the roses myself.
Putting in knockout roses out by the end of the lane to climb on the plastic horse fencing. I don't have horses, and won't, so that fencing is going to earn its keep.

Prefer not doing this on Sunday morning for about six good reasons, but only time my helpers can come, and rain is coming in this afternoon. Well darn, no it's not. It's here. Radar shows showers this morning, steady rain this afternoon.
going up to 47 today but I think it's going to be a cold wet muddy day.
Beats working...

Next year, a vegetable garden. Not this year. This year is the orchard and barrier trees. I really don't want to see my neighbors next winter and a lot of those Leland cypress are going in for that. Maybe two cypress and then one arborvitae, something to mix it up a little.

 

[RoyJackson]

I shouldn't be up this early

Roy, not sure it works this way for you

My problem, if it is a problem, is I've been getting up at 0315 for work every week day morning. Now it's a routine and I normally wake up before the alarm goes off. Unfortunately, my body clock doesn't recognize weekends.

Since you asked about my fuel station project...if you haven't read my follow up comments, I suggest you do so. A 55 gallon (50 gallon usable) transfer tank will be better than a 55 gallon drum, if you intend to pick up fuel at an off road diesel station. More compact and a lower center of gravity.
The actual assembling of the components was easy...other then not having the fittings for the inline filter. Took about 30 minutes.

 

[daugen]

thanks Roy. I personally would not transport fuel in anything that was not DOT approved.

"risking a catastrophe" is one of those wonderful insurance terms I taught the trainees many years ago...
Diesel obviously is less worrisome than gasoline. This is a big issue to me as I've been studying all those fifteen and twenty gallon plastic and steel movable tank/carts. Not cheap, and how do I get them up on the p/u bed?
I have a one ton utility trailer so I figured the best thing to do was roll something up on it, refill, and hopefully roll off
safely when totally full. Or for more capacity...have a tank that could safely be picked up by forks.

Where my tank would go is back by the barn, and I sure am not letting any fuel delivery trucks back there after I have labored to fill the ruts from the last thirty years. Like most of us, I'm a small user.
We all know not to store old fuel. Need a pump of some kind, likely like Roy's, to get that diesel all the way up on that tractor hood. Or....hmmm, build an elevated stand/shelf on the side of the barn and drive the tractor up to it, lifting the tank up on the shelf with the forks. Sound like a reasonable plan? That way no pumps at all. But maybe that goes too slowly and a pump is really needed, particularly for diesel at low temps.

will go read that other thread mentioned. Happy pumping Roy.

 

[RoyJackson]

thanks Roy. I personally would not transport fuel in anything that was not DOT approved.

55 gallon drums are legal. The hassle can be unloading a filled drum. Also, I planned on keeping the fuel station in the garage so I need to be able to move it around (a cart of some type) since I expect to store my implements in the garage too...and I want no possibility of tipping the drum.
I'll figure it out...you will too. Might be a few revisions on the way, but by Spring , I'll be using a fueling station rather then 5 gallon cans.

I don't want to keep that much fuel around...I'd estimate 50 gallons would last 4-5 months at most...and I don't want to carry summer blend into winter (not with our sub-zero temperatures!) if at all possible.