Tariff Man

Donald Trump - who has called himself the Tariff Man - has often repeated that China pays for U.S. tariffs on its goods.   We have billions of dollars coming into our Treasury — billions — from China.  We never had 10 cents coming into our Treasury; now we have billions coming in. 



Gary Varvel - Indianapolis Star

Yup, that’s right – President Trump claims that China pays these tariffs.   Of course, the president is lying.  Lying again.  What else is new? 

The truth is that is not how tariffs work.  Tariffs are a tax on imports.  They are paid by US-registered firms to US customs for the goods they import into the United States.   Importers pass the costs of tariffs on to customers - manufacturers and consumers in the United States - by raising their prices.   From time-to-time manufacturers may ‘eat’ these taxes with the net result of little or no profitability.  Losses and bankruptcies (see agriculture) may also be the result. 

An extra 5% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese imports along with collection dates of September 1 and December 15 begins tomorrow.  This has prompted hundreds of US retail, footwear, toy and technology companies to warn of price hikes. 

Of course, the president’s supporters do not believe any of this this.  There is a diagnosis for this condition. 

I’m not taking wagers to see who blinks first. 

Sigh….

Tomato Avalanche

This is from today.  I filled my largest stainless bowl.

My tomatoes runneth-over.......

Successful Border Security

In case you haven't been following the saga of the 2019 sweet corn it returned this year as an experiment.  Every year I try to introduce something new to the garden  Following a devastating overnight raccoon raid years ago I brought back the sweet corn.  It has been a touch-and-go season with some close calls.  Nevertheless, the corn season has closed and I disconnected and disassembled the electric fence and picked the last remaining sweet corn from the corn patch.  

Yesterday brought an additional dozen corn on the cob along 15 additional packs of off the cob corn.  Sticky and slightly messy work but garden to freezer in hours. That corn is going to be awesome when Ma Nature is flinging snow and freezing rain at me in February.

click on images for a closer look

 

I lost count along the way but I conservatively figure 55 to 60 ears (give-or-take) have been eaten fresh or frozen for future use.  Raccoons all over the place and I lost not one single ear to the masked marauders. That electric fence really did the trick!    

Raising a toast to border security.

Friday Music

This song first appeared on the 1983 album Eliminator by ZZ Top.  Long a favorite of mine this is a really fun live version featuring the band showing-up at a Tulsa Oklahoma concert by John Fogerty. 

Crank-up the volume on your office workstation for Sharp Dressed Man….

Ribfest

Last weekend brought together the cousin offspring of the immediate mothers and fathers

on both sides of my family. 

Not precisely everybody - but most everybody.  This tradition began about the time we finally all found ourselves to be orphans.  There was some trash-talking about rib grilling prowess at Christmastime and this eventually led to a rib competition that generally is held in northeast Wisconsin during August.  I do not own or generally use a gas-fired grill but these turned-out rather nicely.  My ribs - slathered in a tangy Carolina sauce....

Yote

Jill get sort of freaked when pictures like these show-up on the trail camera.  Particularly when they're taken at a location only a couple of hundred yards from the house. 

She's not afraid for herself as much as she is for the dogs. 

I suggest that we must remain mindful that more often than not these images are captured long after everyone on our household has retired and gone to bed.

Moreover, the local coyote population appears to be quite wary of humans and the domesticated dogs that accompany us.  The best evidence I have for this hypothesis is that we never encounter Wiley Coyote while out for a walk.  Everyone seems to enjoy a mutually-shared caution of one another.

Nevertheless, I always strap-on the Browning Buckmark at my hip because sometimes the yotes make daylight appearances.  

Insurance after-all.......

Fleabag Hotel

Meanwhile in America this is trending on Twitter.


You cannot make shit-up that is funnier than this...

Doral was sued by a former guest - Eric Linder – who was allegedly bitten multiple times by bed bugs while staying in Trump’s property.  The Trump organization settled the case shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

Don't take my word for it.  Goggle this:  Trump National Doral Miami TripAdvisor bed bugs



Dispatch From The Butterfly Ranch

From are walk this morning was an explosion of pollinators.  Couldn't get any monarchs to hold still for a photo and was totally unsuccessful in capturing video of a hummingbird  moth.  I did manage these photos...

Viceroy

Click on images for a closer look



Great Spangled Fritillary

Fall is most definitely in the air but the butterfly and moth action hasn't abated.  Not yet anyway.

Recipe of the Day

Tom’s Blueberry Walnut Cheesecake Muffins

 

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

In a large mixing bowl mix together the following:

2 C of flour
1 C chopped walnuts
3 t of baking powder
1/3 C of sugar
1 t of salt

Using a mixer or food processor blend an 8 oz. package of cream cheese with ¼ C of sugar.  Set aside.

In a third bowl mix together the following:

1 egg
1 4oz container of all-natural apple sauce (they come in a 6-pak)
½ C of canola oil
¾ C of milk
2 C of fresh (not frozen) blueberries

Pour the bowl of mixed wet ingredients into the bowl of mixed dry ingredients.  Using a spatula of wooden spoon gently blend together.  Don’t mash the blueberries!

Anoint muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray.

Fill the 12 places in your muffin tin with ½ of the batter.  Spoon a dollop of the blended cream cheese on top.  Cover the cream cheese with the remaining ½ of the dough.     Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Check towards the end as ovens vary.

Yields one dozen muffins.  These don’t last but a couple of days in our house.  Enjoy!

 

click on image for a closer look

 

Where Do Butterflies Go To Die?

The obvious answer is in the digestive tract of something that preys-upon butterflies.  Birds, omnivores that walk on four legs and other insects.  Which explains why it is rare that you find a dead butterfly laying around somewhere to be discovered by an observant individual. 

I think the best chance of finding a dead and unconsumed insect of any consequence is the garage or machine shed.  Once they fly-in they're trapped and quite likely to die.

Monarch butterflies feed on milkweed (their host plant) and as a consequence ingest and store milkweed toxins known as cardiac glycosides.  This makes the larvae and adult butterfly toxic to birds and other predators who have learned to avoid these weaponized butterflies.  

Which might just explain this situation. 

A dead monarch in the yard.  Pieces of it anyway.  I suppose there is a first time for everything...

Bandit

Nice IR photo of one of the top predators of bird nests and sweet corn nemesis.  Looks like the electric fence kept this critter out of the corn patch.  This winter I'll have to engineer something to better safeguard the occupants of my nest boxes.

click on image for a closer look

 

Dispatch From the Butterfly Ranch

Jill and I are in agreement that the 2019 butterfly recruitment was among the best of years in our memories.  Which would make for a lot of collective memory.

The dominant species was the monarch - and likely attributable to the abundance of milkweed host plant growing around here.  I suppose if more individual landowners and homeowners made an effort to favor pollinator habitat in lieu of sterile and manicured landscape we could provide these winged critters and all of their insect cousins a better start to life and survivability in general in an increasingly chemical dominated world.

At the time of this posting we still have monarch caterpillars that have yet to pupate.  We have chrysalis attached to the house, the porch furniture, garden plants, the shed and just about anywhere else you might care to look.  There are adult butterflies yet to emerge although the current generation flying-about should begin staging for the annual migration before too long.

Just like the orioles, tree swallows and redwing blackbirds have all left us for their southern homes - the monarchs will follow.  The eastern tiger swallowtail pupa overwinter as well as the first and second instar larvae of the viceroy.

As we prepare to say goodbye here are some photos to remember them by...

click on images for a closer look

Viceroy

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (black phase)

Monarch

Friday Music

This English rock band formed in London in 1962 and was named for the keyboardist who led the band into the 1970s.  This group appeared routinely on the UK charts in the 1960s and was a leader in the rock and roll British invasion. 

This is one of their more successful singles - Do Wah Diddy Diddy.  Crank-up the volume on your office work station for Manfred Mann.

The Natural World

When I retired I made a vow to make an effort to pay closer attention to the natural world.  Every day is a new challenge.

From today's walk with the women in my life there was all of this....

A second batch of bluebirds for this season

click on images for a closer look



Spotted Touch-Me-Not (Jewelweed)

Cardinal Flower

Sneezeweed

Great Spangled Fritillary on Monarda (Bee Balm)

Productive day....

Wild Flower

From our walk yesterday there is this.

Prairie Dock - Silphium terebinthinaceum. Also commonly called rosin weed.  It is a sunflower-like plant it can grow to a height of 9 feet. With a 14 foot tap root it is exceedingly drought-resistant and can flourish for decades. Pollinators are attracted as it blooms for more than a month. Birds love the seeds.

When we planted our prairie 20 years ago this species was not in the seed mix.  Like several other species it has found its way here and established itself on its own.

Bonus.

Mama and the Twins

It has been awhile since I have served-up a heaping helping of whitetail cuteness.  The fawns are beginning to lose their spots so you better enjoy the newborn camouflage while you can....

Click on images for a closer look



Nitey Nite

From the western porch tonight there was this...

Tweet of the Absurd

Now I know why the Trump Whitehouse doesn't have a real press secretary.

Press releases are now handled by The Onion.

You can't possibly make this shit up...

Pirate Hunters

Pirate Hunters – by Robert Kurson.   

Finding and identifying a historic wreck isn’t easy.  Locating a pirate shipwreck is even more difficult.  This is a story about two men - John Chatterton and John Mattera - who are willing to gamble their fortunes and reputations to locate the Golden Fleece, the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. 

The story line is reasonably suspenseful with plenty of searching in all the wrong places.  Claim-jumpers appear on the scene and it is only when Chatterton and Mattera think outside of the box - and more like the wily Captain Bannister - does the pace pick-up.   This is a fun non-fiction read and I know more about the life of pirates during their 17^th century golden age than I knew before.

How to Make Crispy Crunchy Dill Pickles

After years of floundering around the dill pickle universe with year after year of mediocre product I do believe that I have stumbled-upon what might possibly be the gold standard of home-grown, home-canned, crispy crunchy dill pickles. 


A number of years ago I unveiled them for the Saturday evening Schützenfest Bloody Mary bar and they received rave reviews.  Plunk one of these dill spears in your cocktail and you will think you have died and gone to heaven.  Just the right balance of salt, dill and garlic.  Tangy with a refreshing crunch!  For a special taste treat lay a spear alongside a natural casing wiener in a bun and top with spicy mustard.  I digress.

You're probably wondering what the secret ingredient is, eh?  Ca(OH)₂ – calcium hydroxide – commonly known as slaked lime or pickling lime. 

Here’s the recipe. 

Start with a sink-full of freshly-picked, scrubbed and rinsed pickle cukes. 

click on images to enlarge

Fetch your pickle barrel.  Everyone should have a five gallon bucket.  They are indispensable.  My bucket might have originally held cat litter.  Nevertheless, it also appears to be food-grade since it doesn’t stain or absorb odors.  I use it to brine meats and fish, haul butchered venison and assist in pickle-making. I even made sauerkraut in it one year.  In a pinch you can sit on it in your deer stand and keep your thermos, lunch and toilet paper inside where it won't get wet.  Like I said - they're indispensable.  

Slice your cukes and toss into a five gallon food-grade plastic bucket.  I like to make spears and cut cukes accordingly.  If you like dill slices use a mandolin to make for uniform slices.  It you cut your cukes with ridges you actually have a wee bit more surface area for added crunch.  If you opt for a mandolin be careful with the device and don’t do like I do and slice part of your thumb-off with the first use. 

The secret to really crunchy pickles is liming them.  Combine one cup of pickling lime with two gallons of cold water and mix thoroughly.  Add to the bucket.  Add additional lime and water until your cuke spears float freely in your pickle barrel.    Snap-on the lid and put it in cool place like the cellar overnight. 

The following day drain your limed cukes in the sink.  They'll be nice and crispy because the calcium reinforces the cellular structure of the cucumber.  But you have to soak them to remove the excess lime.  This is an exceedingly important step.  Lime is alkaline and if you have residual lime in your pickles it might neutralize the acid in your brine causing your pickles to go bad.  Be diligent about the chemistry and you won’t die from botulism.  

Fill the sink full of slices with cold tap water and let them soak for a bit.  Drain and repeat this two to three more times.  Then fill the sink again and let your cukes soak for three hours in cold fresh tap water.  Following the rinse cycle drain in a colander and start your brine. 




Basic brine.  In a non-reactive pot combine one quart of white vinegar with two quarts of water with ¾ cup of canning salt.  (Canning salt is not iodized).  This should be sufficient for a dozen quarts of pickles.  Increase proportionately for larger batches.  You can also save leftover brine – just put it in jars, cap and use the next day or next weekend for anything calling for a basic salty vinegar brine.  Bring the brine to a boil.  

While the brine is heating pack your jars.  Into each jar place one peeled garlic clove sliced in half.  Add dill seed.  I am partial to Penzeys dill seed but any will do.  3 t of seed for quarts and 1 ½ t for pints.  Pack the jars with your pickles.  Pack tightly but don’t force the slices. 
Fill the packed jars with the boiling brine leaving a half-inch of head space.  Add your lids and bands and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  When the lids pop your jars are sealed properly.  
 

 
*A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - heat a Pyrex measuring cup of water to a boil in the microwave and drop the lids in the hot water to sanitize them.  Fish them out with a tongs.

The Garden Chonicles

If they've made an attempt to raid my corn patch by all outward appearances the electric fence has deterred the local raccoons. 

 

 
A couple of days ago a cadged an ear, shucked it and ate it on the spot.  It was delicious.

Today a picked some of the larger ears that were within easy reach.

They were excellent.

click on images to enlarge

 

This is some sweet stuff and there's more in the pipeline. 

Raising a toast to electric fencing......

Good Year For Monarchs

Someone told me last weekend that the monarch migration was close to starting.  That’s nonsense.  If you pay attention to the comings and goings of migrating butterflies the migration south typically begins in early to mid-September.  If the weather turns colder sooner around these parts the migration may advance in schedule.  In some locales that are warm year-round like Florida and California the monarch butter has evolved to living there year-round.  Besides, we still have caterpillars all over the place.  Just the other morning over coffee we counted eight of them within the breadth of one arm-span on the south side of the porch.  I figure these for the third generation of the original migrators.  There have got to be a bazillion of these out there.  It's been a banner year for the monarchs around here for sure.....

click on image to enlarge

Trail Camera Scouting

It has occurred to me that the bow opener is a month away.  Which is all the more relevant as there have been some dandy bucks showing-up on the trail camera lately - both after dark and during daylight hours.

There's monster ten-point boy wandering around after dark and I have yet to capture a photo worthy of publication.  Here are some of the better-composed photos...

 

 

 

  click on images for a closer look

Good Eats

Farm to table dinner fare tonight.

Scalloped taters, peas and sweet corn and grilled venison - rare to medium rare.

Raising a Merlot to some really good chow........