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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Corn Ain't Fer' Quitters!

Dwayne and I decided to take the plunge. We harvested some of our corn day before yesterday. Ended up with over ten packages for meals in the freezer with this first batch. And the one word that comes to mind for myself during the process was – patience. I have learned there are times when I must remain silent and carry through to the end result. It will hush my husband’s angst and frustration much more quickly – versus feeding the fire with trying to verbally explain the outcome of the venture before it happens. In other words – I just let him rant and rave until he saw all the packages that I already knew would be making their way to the freezer! The sight of the harvest can become an optical illusion out in wide open spaces. Everything seems to look much smaller – until you bring it into the kitchen. I have already heard my husband comment, “You grew too much. You always grow too much.” By the end of this harvest – I can already tell that I will be hearing an additional comment – “we need a larger freezer.” LOL And in the meantime – he will go on with his barking about the bugs and the worms eating a few kernels – or – wasting a couple of the hoard of tomatoes hanging on the vines out there! Dwayne was thoroughly disgusted by finding a worm in each of the first few ears we pulled. This was our first experience at growing corn. I had not learned about squirting the mineral oil into the silks soon enough. I think my favorite that came out of his mouth after we’d pulled less than a dozen ears of corn was, “We’ll I guess I know what we WON’T be growing next year. We’re not doing THIS again!” This man will rig four or five different jigs in one single spot on a lake to try catching a fish – any fish – even a little sun perch. Need I say more? Of course I will! LOL Had I fed the fire – that male ego would have fumed justification for resorting to becoming a ‘Quitter’ – to corn. But I kept my mouth shut. And the last negative comment I heard out of him about the corn came when he was cutting the ears in half and dropping them into the sink full of ice-water. Ready for this? “We got a lot of corn here.” TA-DA! One fact about me in the kitchen that both – Dwayne and Jennifer will tell you is that I’m a disaster with knives and could be considered a possible candidate for self-mutilation. Sharp knives cannot be put into the mix of dishes in the sink when I’m doing the hand-washing. I will cut myself without fail. They’re always left to the side on the counter and dealt with last. I dunno – guess it’s that ‘git ‘er done’ and move on to the next thing on that haunting list behavior. I’ve gone through band-aids over this past week like nobody’s business! Scraped a chunk off the knuckle of my left thumb – just trying to pull a pan out of the cabinet. And sliced digits twice - attempting to slice some veggie. My left index finger became victim to the last incident – okay, the latest one - while attempting to cut the bad end off an ear of corn and that set off a sea of blood in the other sink and had me screaming for Dwayne. He was still outside on the porch finishing the shucking. Once he got the A&D ointment and band-aid wrapped around that one – he was done. “You’re not doing anymore slicing in this kitchen!” Well – carrots are next. ;) I am so glad I cleaned out the fridge. I get to go out and harvest all those carrots today that I planted with Jennifer! I get to wash them and toss ‘em in the fridge - where they'll wait for Dwayne until he comes home from work. Without a doubt – there will be a whole mess of pissing and moaning! He has to cut the tops off, first. Next comes slicing them into bite-size pieces before blanching and bagging. And did I mention – there’s a whole LOT of carrots? Not quite sure if HE will be safe with the knives by the time we get through this one. It may be best if I just go ahead and finish the mowing – outside - while he’s slicing – carrots.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LMAO girl! You are too funny! Tell him at least he has a garden, LOL! Sounds like such fun!

Deb

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Corn Ain't Fer' Quitters!

Dwayne and I decided to take the plunge. We harvested some of our corn day before yesterday. Ended up with over ten packages for meals in the freezer with this first batch. And the one word that comes to mind for myself during the process was – patience. I have learned there are times when I must remain silent and carry through to the end result. It will hush my husband’s angst and frustration much more quickly – versus feeding the fire with trying to verbally explain the outcome of the venture before it happens. In other words – I just let him rant and rave until he saw all the packages that I already knew would be making their way to the freezer! The sight of the harvest can become an optical illusion out in wide open spaces. Everything seems to look much smaller – until you bring it into the kitchen. I have already heard my husband comment, “You grew too much. You always grow too much.” By the end of this harvest – I can already tell that I will be hearing an additional comment – “we need a larger freezer.” LOL And in the meantime – he will go on with his barking about the bugs and the worms eating a few kernels – or – wasting a couple of the hoard of tomatoes hanging on the vines out there! Dwayne was thoroughly disgusted by finding a worm in each of the first few ears we pulled. This was our first experience at growing corn. I had not learned about squirting the mineral oil into the silks soon enough. I think my favorite that came out of his mouth after we’d pulled less than a dozen ears of corn was, “We’ll I guess I know what we WON’T be growing next year. We’re not doing THIS again!” This man will rig four or five different jigs in one single spot on a lake to try catching a fish – any fish – even a little sun perch. Need I say more? Of course I will! LOL Had I fed the fire – that male ego would have fumed justification for resorting to becoming a ‘Quitter’ – to corn. But I kept my mouth shut. And the last negative comment I heard out of him about the corn came when he was cutting the ears in half and dropping them into the sink full of ice-water. Ready for this? “We got a lot of corn here.” TA-DA! One fact about me in the kitchen that both – Dwayne and Jennifer will tell you is that I’m a disaster with knives and could be considered a possible candidate for self-mutilation. Sharp knives cannot be put into the mix of dishes in the sink when I’m doing the hand-washing. I will cut myself without fail. They’re always left to the side on the counter and dealt with last. I dunno – guess it’s that ‘git ‘er done’ and move on to the next thing on that haunting list behavior. I’ve gone through band-aids over this past week like nobody’s business! Scraped a chunk off the knuckle of my left thumb – just trying to pull a pan out of the cabinet. And sliced digits twice - attempting to slice some veggie. My left index finger became victim to the last incident – okay, the latest one - while attempting to cut the bad end off an ear of corn and that set off a sea of blood in the other sink and had me screaming for Dwayne. He was still outside on the porch finishing the shucking. Once he got the A&D ointment and band-aid wrapped around that one – he was done. “You’re not doing anymore slicing in this kitchen!” Well – carrots are next. ;) I am so glad I cleaned out the fridge. I get to go out and harvest all those carrots today that I planted with Jennifer! I get to wash them and toss ‘em in the fridge - where they'll wait for Dwayne until he comes home from work. Without a doubt – there will be a whole mess of pissing and moaning! He has to cut the tops off, first. Next comes slicing them into bite-size pieces before blanching and bagging. And did I mention – there’s a whole LOT of carrots? Not quite sure if HE will be safe with the knives by the time we get through this one. It may be best if I just go ahead and finish the mowing – outside - while he’s slicing – carrots.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LMAO girl! You are too funny! Tell him at least he has a garden, LOL! Sounds like such fun!

Deb