By The Content of Their Character

This is from this week's Ol' Remus' Woodpile Report. It's a very good thought.

"As Remus told you in Woodpile Report 8, nobody really judges a person solely by the color of their skin, at least nobody he'd wanna know. Martin King was right when he said we should judge people by the content of their character.

So let's do some judging.

We form entirely reasonable opinions by observing ordinary things about other people. For instance, are they considerate, courteous and pleasant or are they obnoxious, confrontational and crude? Do they dress to an acceptable standard, or wear offensive costumes? Are they thought well of, or are they habitual troublemakers?

Are they dependable and honest, or untrustworthy and criminal? Are they reasonably intelligent and inquisitive, or ignorant and incurious but deviously clever? Are they sociable and cooperative, or consumed with self interest? Do they speak intelligibly, or use gang slang? Can they disagree without insults, threats or violence?

Are their kids well behaved, or foul-mouthed junior street thugs? Do they value education, or are schools just their free day care? Are they self-reliant, or does the world owe them a living? Do they take personal responsibility, or is somebody else always to blame? Do they give others the benefit of the doubt, or do they see others as cunning victimizers?

Are they truthful about their personal history, or is it a pastiche of self-serving fantasy? Do they plan for the future, or lunge at short-term payoffs? Do they earn respect, or demand it? Do they believe race is irrelevant, or do they use race to extort preferences?

King had it right, judging people by the content of their character is reasonable and just. We should do more of it."

Milestone

It's not the best picture, but it's the best I could get. I noticed that today's smoothie was Number 500 on my BlendTec. I like nice round numbers.....and green smoothies! Here's a recipe that I plan to try this week.

Primal Toad's Cinnamon Power Smoothie Recipe

3 Large Eggs (pastured only, please)
1/2 Cup Almond or Coconut Milk
1 Pear, Chopped (can sub other fruit, if desired)
3 TBSP (1/2 Medium) Avocado
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 Cup Ice

Blend and enjoy!

TIMBER!

Last night, a branch on our Bradford Pear tree fell. No wind, no rain, no cause but a weak (unpruned!) tree, I guess. So today, My Honey and all of the Lambies are working on cutting the branch up and pruning the tree. I am taking pictures to document the fun and making a Big Breakfast to feed all the hard workers. I love my job!

ETA: Of course, after making, and eating, breakfast I joined the family in the work. It took several hours, but we got it mostly done. Our green can is full, it will get picked up Tuesday, and we'll fill it right away again. It will probably take a month to get all the branches and leaves hauled away. I wish we had a chipper! Then we'd have lots of free mulch rather than a pile that means an extra weekly chore.

Baked Burritos

We had a yummy new 'recipe' tonight. I made the standard burrito fare: spiced ground beef, Spanish Rice, beans, shredded lettuce and cheese, and sour cream. If I had planned ahead, like KidCraze did, I would have made tortillas, but, alas, Costco provided those. I offered four dinner choices: tacos, taco salad, burritos and baked burritos.

Almost everyone chose the baked burritos. They are yummy and simple.


Baked Burritos

Spoon a measure of ground beef, rice and beans into a flour tortilla. Top with cheese. Roll and place in an ungreased baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Spread tops of burritos with butter. Broil for a few minutes until golden.

Dinner by Daddy

My Honey grilled some burgers for us tonight. After I dressed mine, most of the Lambies started laughing at it. Even my Honey got into the game. I think it's a good looking burger, myself!

It's Getting Closer....

It's getting closer to school time. I finally have all of this year's workbooks prepared. I like to take workbooks apart and have the Lambies copy problems into a notebook. Copying math is one skill that is easy to miss out on when homeschooling!

I have students in almost every book in the program this year!

5 Day Club

Most of the Lambies are participating in this year's local 5 Day Club, two as assistants and the rest attending. It's been making for quiet mornings! I love how excited the little ones are to share verses and invite neighbors to come.

The Lord is Good!

It's official! The Warners get to bring Joshua home! His x-ray was clear this morning, GLORY TO GOD!

Breakfast Sausage

Today I made breakfast sausage. Friday, I found a large pork butt roast....15 pounds large. It was use or freeze by the next day, so it was marked down to just .85 a pound. I didn't end up getting to it Saturday, but as we all know, there is a little wiggle room on meats. Properly packaged and refrigerated, it's fine for a day or two past its date.

I cut the meat into strips that would fit in my grinder and used the "Shake and Bake" method to cover it with seasoning. Then I fed it through the grinder. The result was a well mixed sausage. I portioned it into 2-ish pound servings and into the freezer it went. Well, all but one. Eggs and sausage sound good for tomorrow's breakfast!

Homemade Breakfast Sausage Spices

2 tbsp of dried sage
1 tbsp + 1 tsp of salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 pinches ground cloves
4 lbs of ground pork

Friday Breakfast

I surprised my Lambies with a sweet breakfast today.

PB & J Bars

1 cup all purposes flour
1 cup quick oats
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup softened butter
¼ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup peanut butter
¼ milk
½ tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cup fruit jam

Topping:
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup oats
¼ cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp soft butter

Beat butter till smooth. Add the sugars, beat well. Add eggs, milk, peanut butter, vanilla, beat well. Stir in dry ingredients, Spread in a greased 9 x 13. Spread jam all over the top. Combine ingredients for the topping. Sprinkle on top. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, till done.