October bonfire

We planned a burn for Saturday. Terry cut down another green ash that had died of emerald ash borers, generating a pile of brush in addition to the logs he wanted for firewood. As soon as it was on the calendar, Hilda started planning the menu. She wanted to try a new recipe for slow-cooked barbecued beef. I volunteered to make cole slaw. We let Pat and Nancy off the hook when Nancy cut herself badly enough to need stitches. That left dessert, about which Jane and I had the following conversation:

Me: I could make the Legendary Pumpkin Sugar Cookies that Contain No Actual Pumpkin.

Jane: You don’t have time to make cookies. I will buy pumpkin cookies at Panera.

Me: They won’t be as good.

Jane: I know, but they will probably be good enough.

Me: Okay. I’ll check with Hilda.

And I had the following conversation with Hilda:

Me: I could make pumpkin cookies.

Hilda: You don’t have time to make cookies.

Me: Well, Jane said she could buy pumpkin cookies at Panera.

Hilda: That will be fine. Panera has good cookies.

Jane felt she had to do a pilot study, so she went to Panera and got a pumpkin-shaped cookie that contained no actual pumpkin. She reported back, “It’s not as good, and it has 450 Calories.”

I replied, “Oh my God!!”

“I know!” Jane said, “That’s half of my daily Calories.”

After a little more discussion, we decided that Jane would mix the dough, which I find tedious, and I would roll and bake the cookies, which Jane finds impossible. Jane would come up early on Saturday to help with the frosting. Done. Jane made the dough Thursday, and I took it home with me Friday evening after our outing to Jasper-Pulaski.

I was up bright and early Saturday doing the chicken/turkey chores and getting the yogurt started. After breakfast, I baked the cookies and made buttercream frosting. While the cookies cooled, I made some apple juice to have at the fire.  Jane came up at noon and set to work frosting the cookies while I cleaned the juicer and the countertops.

Pat and Nancy arrived at 1:00, and we got the fire going shortly thereafter. It was quite a warm day. Pat was down to her T-shirt in no time. Everyone took turns feeding the fire and sitting and chatting.

Jane feeds the fire when it first got started. Note brush pile in background.

Pat tosses on a branch.

Nancy and Hilda take a turn; the brush piles shrinks.

Terry tidies up the edge with a pitchfork

Here’s a 30-second video of the fire for those of you who need a little virtual bonfire fix. The brush pile is now all gone.

As long as we were on the back of the property, Terry took me over to see what the deer had done to some of his Christmas trees. It’s that time of year when the bucks are rubbing the velvet off their antlers.

Sad little tree completely girdled by a buck. The top will now die.

The top of this tree was completely rubbed off.

It was such a pleasant day! When all the wood was burned up, we adjourned to the house for supper and more talk and laughter. The cookies were a big hit, as always, even though they are not chocolate. I don’t understand it. “It’s the butter,” Hilda tried to explain.

Sunday was another busy day. After I got my lunches made, I met Hilda at the chicken coop to take the poop-and-broken-egg-encrusted carpet off the egg ramp and replace it with plastic mats that we hope will be easier to clean. Terry helped me take the ramp out of the coop so we could work on it more easily. And he helped put it back. The mats are removable. My hope is that we can just take them out and hose them off as needed.

The new nest mats

Jake (a term for immature tom turkeys) has been feeling his testosterone. He spends a great deal of time strutting. I’ve only heard him gobble once so far, and it was a pretty lame attempt. The Jennies (immature female turkeys) so far pay Jake no mind.

Hilda has been having trouble getting the turkeys to go into the coop at night. Jake goes in alright, but the Jennies want to roost outside on the box we keep the food in. Terry put metal trays around and on top of the box. 

Jake struts while the Jennies stand on the food box

The Jennies were put off at first, but they still figured out a way to settle in around the bricks. Here’s a video of Jake showing off and the Jennies trying to get comfortable on the box.

I’ve had to learn a bit about turkey anatomy. This fleshy thing hanging over Jake’s beak is a snood. It is, amazingly, sort of erectile. While it is obviously not hard, it does expand considerably when he starts to display. I’m still trying to catch him when he’s not trying to get some so I can photograph the snood at rest.

Jake's snood hangs over his beak

This bright red area is the major caruncle. He’s also supposed to have a wattle (a.k.a. dewlap), but that doesn’t show when he head is pulled back like this. The bumps on his head are also called caruncles. Who knew? And is that not the most amazing blue color?

The red around the neck is the major caruncle. I guess you can see the wattle folded under his beak.