It’s the simple things.
Ozarkansas is still a month away from the emergence of chiggers, but we’re already solidly into Tick Season here. I take precautions, of course, and I check myself several times a day.
Naturally, I check Smudge, too.
I was giving her a once-over yesterday afternoon, outdoors where the light is good, when I found a tick over her right eye, just above her eyelashes. It was big, latched and so engorged that it had turned gray. She didn’t seem to be bothered by it, but obviously the bugger had to be removed.
We came back into the cabin, where I got out a pair of curved hemostats and called her up onto the bed with me. She tends to be a wriggler, rapidly losing interest in cooperating with poking or prodding, yet this time, after a couple of firm commands, she settled down.
That was a good thing, considering that I was using a pointy instrument around her eye. She was still as could be, as if she understood.
It was over quickly — I got a firm grip on the tick, yanked it out and disposed of it. Smudge’s reaction?
She wagged and wiggled, jumped up on me and put her forepaws on my shoulders. She licked my face and wouldn’t stop.
It made my day.
Gratitude? Maybe. All I can say for certain is that her affection for me and loyalty to me are boundless. She shows it.
So very simple. That’s my girl.
I was outrageously productive Friday morning. After giving the cabin a thorough top-to-bottom cleaning, I did two loads of laundry and de-scaled the coffeemaker. Then, because we’ll see lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s for four straight nights beginning Sunday, I re-stocked the indoor firewood rack.
That should be the last time this season.
A hot shower followed, and then a third load of laundry. All before 9:30am.
Everything is ordered and clean. No procrastination. No excuses. No stress.
I love this life.
I ‘m already on-record with my belief that a proper hot dog is grilled or griddled*, not boiled. When preparing dinner yesterday, I applied that principle to a side dish.
It was a riff on the “street corn” fad — instead of dumping a can of corn into a saucepan and merely heating it up, I drained off the liquid and gave it a slow char in a medium cast-aluminum skillet.
Game changer. It totally transformed the texture and added a smoky, earthy flavor. Spiked with my favorite seasonings and cheese, it was absolutely delicious.
The corn accompanied a couple of hot dogs, split and seared to perfection on cast iron in butter, garlic and Mrs. Dash.
Under the dogs is a bed of shredded cheese and a layer of jalapeño relish. They’re topped with chopped yellow onion only because I didn’t have any red.
An amazing meal. Cheap, too — by my calculations, well under three bucks.
Simple.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable
*I’d also consider roasting on a forked green stick over a campfire to be “a proper hot dog.”