Plan B

I parked next to this 1947 pick-up at the store today. I hope I look this good when I am 73

I was supposed to mow the grass today.

But the other day I was throwing the Frisbee for Herc and there was one part of the yard he did not want to chase the Frisbee. I took a closer look and saw a yellow-jacket nest.

Smart dog.

This morning I went to town and was unable to find any wasp spray. Either it is the time of the year, or Covid-19 interrupted supplies or the social unrest has people buying wasp-spray as a make-do substitute for pepper spray.

Most likely, it is some combination of all of the above.

Being the resourceful fellow that I am, I mixed up some garden spray and soused the nest. Then I took a nap. After my nap I still saw a few yellow-jackets entering the nest.

No mowing today.

Plan B was to pressure-can some more chicken

Fat is a GOOD thing if you are using meat for flavoring. Can you imagine bacon with no fat? Neither can I.

Meijer's, a Michigan based chain-store had chicken thighs for a decent price

Some people object to chicken thighs on the basis of "waste". They claim you might as well by skinless, boneless chicken breasts at twice the price by the time you calculate the loss due to tossing the skin and the waste of the bone.

Perhaps that is true if you think of meat as a "basic food group". But I am not throwing away the skin (where most of the fat resides). Fat is energy. Fat is flavor.

And I boiled the bones for soup stock and will nibble off the shreds of meat my knife missed.

The bones will go in a live-trap as bait for raccoons. After that, they will go under the trees in the orchard.

Canning versus freezing

Canning is much more work on the front-end.

Canning is far less sensitive to power disruptions than a freezer full of meat. 

The jars can freeze if we have an extended period without electricity but it would have to be mighty cold and a very long period without power.

An advantage of pressure canning is that cheaper cuts of meat can be used. Much of that connective tissue becomes flavor and gelatin. 

Rumor has it that pressure canned woodchuck is indistinguishable from good, roast beef and pressure canned raccoon is a dead-ringer for pork. Those sound like testable statements, don't they?