Silver Dollar City part two

         Day two of our trip was better than the first. It was again, a gloomy day with rain in the forcast. It's the Ozarks. Thats how it is in the spring. Cool, wet and windy is the Norm. Fortunetly, we had no heavy rain just a few light showers. Silver Dollar City does a nice job with things. All of the staff is very friendly and professional. The park has a "Down Home" feel to it. Countryfide  you might say. It was very nice. We did not ride any of the rides, but did catch a few shows and walked around. My family was paying, so we took our time. As we browsed through the shops we were amazed to find a Gun and Knife shop. A wide variety of custom and manufactured knives were for sale. Plus, they had WORKING revolver reproductions available. There are not many Parks out there where you can spend time with the family and buy a knife or Gun. At the entrance to the park I did not see a NO Firearms sign. When I entered there was NO metal detector or search. I was able to carry in my pocket knife and boot knife. It was nice.

        On Monday we left Branson and continued on our trip. Our destination was Huntsville, Al. Its a very long drive. It took us 12 hrs. I got lost twice. Too many 2-4 lane blacktops in the middle of noware. The Countryside was very pretty though.

I can see why so many PAW fiction writers use the Ozark area for inspiration.

Northern Arkansas I simply marvelous this time of year.  We shall be visiting family all week in Alabama. While I don't normally write on the subject, I'll take a look at the area here and write about it some. We plan to drive home on Saturday, driving the Normal route: North to Nashville, Paduca, Mount Vernon, and then St Louis.

Preparedness for Silver Dollar City, In Branson, Missouri

   As I have talked about in Previous Posts, My wife and I are on a short Vacation. Our destination this weekend is Branson, Missouri. The Weather here, this weekend, is very wet and stormy. In preparation for the trip we packed our camping gear, BOB's, and extra food. Just in case. We also brought our weather Radio (Eton FR360). The rest of our party are NOT preppers. Friday night I checked the NOAA station and got the weather for Saturday. Rain, storms, wind, and high 70 degree weather.  We wore our long pants, good walking shoes, and brought coats. We also brought out umbrella and a day pack for each of us.
    I had called ahead to see if the park allowed food/water to be brought in. While many Parks and venues don't allow this, Silver Dollar City does. In fact, they allow coolers! In each pack is a small first aid kit, snacks, water, stainless steel water bottle, flashlight, extra batteries, and a camera. Our family had short sleeves, long pants, light coats, and no umbrellas. It rained and the temperature dropped dramatically. It got cold very fast. For the most part we were fine. I had scotch guarded everything so we were not than wet, just a little cold. What amazed me the most was the rest of the visiting guest. Many were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flop/clogs. Not a coat or rain slicker in sight. The sight of small children: wet dressed in shorts and t's was very sad. It was 60 degrees with a fierce wind chill. The park sold very cheaply made rain gear for $5 and up, and were making some money. Food prices in the park were not over-the-top but drinks were. Bringing your own was a saver move.
      The big mistakes that we made were these. 1. we had a small weather radio and left it in the room. At one point the weather was Tornadic. The park gave no warning and had no siren. 2. Instead of Buying Lunch we should have brought more food with us. Lunch was not bad at $8 each but when drinks were added it was $21 for two. $2.50 med sodas or $12.00 Plastic cups. 3. We should have made the rest of the party pay more attention to the weather. They GOT WET and were cold and miserable.  Overall the first day was OK. We saw some things heard some good music and can make plans for Sunday. Sunday includes a dinner theatre at the Dixieland Stampede so I'll post about that. Then its on to Memphis, Tn and Huntsville, Al. I'll keep you informed.

Rainy Days in Branson Missouri

Lots of Rain on the Hwy in to Branson from St Louis

When we got to Silver Dollar City it was Raining, but it cleared up some.

The Blacksmith at the Park. It really Poured later in the day, along with what we thought at the time was a Possible Tornado. The Park staff was very helpful. We are going back on Sunday So I'll post a few more pics

Garden Update

 Here's a lesson for you. A very hot and sunny day plus pesky squirrels equals Dead Tomato plants. I put the fledgling tomato plants outside to get them ready to plant and Killed them all. So, so, sad. We we get back from our trip I'll start over. All the other plants are doing well.

Warm Weather = Work in the Garden

 I'm still in a holding pattern on planting the rest of the garden. It's gotten a LOT warmer around here lately. Mid 70-80's in the day 40-50's at night. Next week we have a family trip coming up. We are off to the Missouri Ozarks and points South. Silver Dollar City is one of our stops so I will post some relevant Pic's. They are supposed to have a Nice "Historical Village" with lots of 1800's crafts. When we return the seeds, go IN. Plus I have almost 3 dozen Tomato plants to do something with.

The Red Potatoes are doing Great. I Added another 3-4 inches of leaves and straw.

 The White potatoes are finally coming up. Not as strongly as the Red, though.

The Shallots and the Garlic are growing like crazy. The Shallots are the plants on the left.

The Beets are doing great. The survived the Squirrel attack and have sprouted right up.

Lettuce on the other hand is NOT doing well. At first everything was sprouting but after the Squirrel attack, not so much. I count about 4-5 plants that are handing in there.

The Rodents don't seem to like Onions, so the sweet onions Are doing good.

Crock Pot Pot Roast

The other night I made a Crock pot Roast. I cooked a 2 # Chuck roast with dehydrated veggies in the Crock pot.  This is a very easy to make dish.

• 2+ lb  Beef Chuck roast
• Dried Onion
• Dried Potatoes
• Dried Celery
• Dried Tomato
• Dried Carrot
• 1 Bouillon cube, beef flavor
• Barley**
• salt and pepper

1. Place dried veggies on the bottom of the Crock pot.
2. Season the beef roast with salt and pepper. Place the meat on top of the veggies
3. Mix the cube with water. Add enough water to cover the veggies and come up about half way to the top of the meat. Don't submerge the meat!
4. Cover the Pot and cook on High for 3 hours
5. Turn down to low and cook 3+ more hours. If you are away for more than that change it to warm. Add the Barley at this time. Add more water if needed.

This is a very tasty meal. You may need to season-to-taste the meat. When cooking for home, I tend to under season things as my wife doesn't like it.
Enjoy!

Anti-Squirrel Spray

I found one of the Recipes. I don't know how well it works, we shall see. The squirrels are doomed if it fails. I'll get a pellet rifle and take care of them.

• 1 gallon of Water
• 6 cap fulls of Liquid Detergent
• 2 Tbl of Cayenne pepper, ground

1. Mix together well, and spray on and around plants

In theory they get the pepper on their little feet and it burns them.

Missouri Tartan Days 2010 Festival

Today was a really nice sunny day. We watered the plants and went down to the Tartan Festival for some fun!

Lots of Flags were flying.

Dancers and entertainers.

Authentic Scottish Cattle, she still has her Winter coat and looked Hot.

The Blacksmiths at work.

Tomato Plants just keep Growing!

So far just about all 36 plants have sprouted. A big +1 for Baker Creek Seed Company! As advertised on the Tomato plants at Least.

Here's another Garden update

 To start i think I need to Kill a few squirrels. Something, most likely squirrels, has been digging in my pots. They damaged the lettuce and some of the beets.

The Lettuce is doing well and coming up fast, except where the blasted squirrels got it. Somewhere, I've got some anti-squirrel spray recipes. I'll try and find them.

Next, the Shallots and the Garlic is going crazy.

The RED potatoes got a lot bigger so I added some stray/leaves to fill in the tub some more.

And the WHITE potatoes are finally coming up. Check it out.

The Tomatoes that I started in the house are finally starting to come up. I planted 36 plants which as i said is way more than I need. Most have germinated and are "Reaching for the sky".

TVP Sloppy Joes

Last night My wife made me Sloppy Joe sandwiches for dinner. She made a double batch of TVP (thats 1 full cup). To this she added a little worcestershire sauce, some dried onion, garlic, and "Cowboy spice".
She made the sauce by mixing BBQ sauce (from Aldi's) with a TBL of Tomato paste and a dash of Cayenne pepper. It was GOOD. I don't have her "recipe" to post, there wasn't one. But I do have mine so here it is:

• 1 cup of  Beef TVP ( use 1 lb of Ground beef if you don't like TVP)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/2 of and Onion, chopped 
• 1/3 cup of Green pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup of Chili sauce **
• 1/4 cup of ketchup
• 1 TBL of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp of Brown sugar
• 1 tsp of Dry mustard**
• 1/2 tsp of paprika
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder
• 1 Tbl of Parsley flakes
• Hamburger buns

1. Prepare the TVP
2. add the onion and garlic (if using dried rehydrate with the TVP, it saves water)
3. Add the peppers and all the other ingredients except the buns
4. Heat to a simmer and serve

** In place of Chili sauce try a little taco mix or chili mix in a little water. Use prepared mustard in place of the dried.

Garden Update

I have written here about my garden and "the Plan" that I have for this growing Season. I have room for about 2-3 more tubs and I have a raised bed constructed to the right of the picture. This area gets "Full sun" all day. I Started 6 heirloom varieties of Tomato plants yesterday. When and If they germinate I'll post pics. I started 36 plants. That's WAY more then we have room for. Worse comes to worse I'll put them in buckets. The tomatoes are going into the raised bed with Zuccini along the fence, for support.

So far, of the Root Vegetables that I planted: The Red Potatoes are sprouting and starting to grow. The Beets are coming up about a 1/4 of an inch so far.

The Shallots, Garlic, and Yellow onions are all sprouting.

I planted the Lettuce mix from Seed Savers and it is starting to sprout.

I'm not real sure about the lettuce mix seeds. The Seed pack is one of the few that are not Region Specific that I'm planting. All of the other seeds I got From Baker Creek, except for the Shallots and Potatoes. Those came from Lowes (on sale)This being Missouri It's still too early to plant anything else. Its killing me though with 80 degree weather. Its only for a couple of days, the forcast has it dropping back to the 60's on Wednesday.