Okay, I’m giving you fair warning; this blog entry is not for the faint of heart. Animals lovers BEWARE. EXPLICIT PHOTO ATTACHED OF DEAD ANIMAL. You can’t say I didn’t warn you. Now it’s your own fault if you read any further. Hailey has caught another

chipmunk

baby squirrel [thanks, Andy]. This makes three so far since we moved in. I have no idea how she is quick enough to catch them, but catch them she does and brings them right up on the deck by the door. She has placed them in the same spot all three times. I have observed her just sitting or laying in the woods staring intently at at one spot. Waiting. Hoping. It obviously works. This morning I was sitting and reading in the sun room when I noticed her by the sliding door wanting to come in. She was acting kind of funny, so I got up to let her in and she decided to come around to the other sliding door. When I let her in she was walking all slunk down real low so I knew she had done something wrong. She always acts guilty if she thinks she’s been bad. I glanced out, and sure enough, there was her “present” to me. A poor little

chipmunk

baby squirrel; dead, but still warm. At least she didn’t mangle it because it looked like it had been carried very gently in her mouth. The last time she caught one some of my friends asked me why I didn’t take a photo of it. So, this time I decided to to do just that since it looks like it’s just sleeping.

I understand that the hunter gene runs in the family on her mother’s side, and that her mother and grandmother both were hunters [or should I say huntresses?]. So, I guess I can’t get too mad at her for just carrying on in the family tradition. Here is the chipmunk, and here you have Hailey the Huntress.

More...

More...

Okay, I promised to tell you all about All the Way Dogs and Taylor Ham. For those of you reading my blog out there, I’m sure you just can’t wait to hear what they are! The BBQ was fun and we got to meet some more people. We hope to see them again before too long. All the Way Hot Dogs are simply hot dogs with mustard, chili sauce and onions. The kind of chili sauce you use makes a world of difference. Whatever kind Kim used was really good, so I’ll have to ask her if she made it herself or bought it somewhere. I remember as a kid growing up in Hyde Park there was a place called Texas Lunch that had the best hot dogs in all the world. My Mom has been back to eat there, but says it’s not as good as it was back in the 60s. She said they’ve changed the sauce. See, it’s all in the chili sauce. They also have restaurants here called Texas Wieners which I think are similar. We need to check those out. Hot dogs are really a big deal here. But I wonder how “Texas” style hot dogs came into being in New Jersey and New York??

Taylor Ham is more of an enigma. The best I can come up with is it’s something like Canadian Bacon. It comes in a roll that you slice and it’s made from ham. I was wrong in calling it Hamburger Plate, as they are called Hamburger Combos when you add a slice of Taylor Ham on top of your hamburger. Very tasty! They tell us that a real New Jersey breakfast is a slice of Taylor ham topped with cheese on a hard roll. Yum! I bet it’s good! For those of you wanting a better description of Taylor ham, here is the Wikipedia excerpt:

More...

On Sunday morning Rick and I went to the farmer’s market in Warwick, New York. Warwick is not very far away, about a 15 to 20 minute drive. As I’ve mentioned before, we are very close to the New York border! We’ve driven to Warwick once before but never down into the business district. We were intrigued, however, after passing a winery, a U-Pick-It apple orchard and a creamery, all in what looked like a lovely setting. On this beautiful Sunday morning we chose to drive up the east side of Greenwood Lake since Kim and Mark had mentioned there were a couple of good restaurants on this side and we wanted to see where they were. A very pretty drive! We are going to try out at least one of the restaurants when my Mom is here this week. They both have outdoor seating with a view of the lake, and one is right on the lake. Anyway, I digress. This is supposed to be about the farmer’s market.

We found the market with no problem at all, just off the main business district [which by the way needs a lot more exploring, including a book shop]. It’s not a large market, but what they do have is all quality, organic, local goods. There were stalls selling gorgeous plants, huge freshly baked pies and tarts, goat cheese, artisan bread, fresh pesto [we bought some], all kinds of fresh salad greens [all organic], a french style bakery was selling mini quiches and pastries. My favorite stall, Bobolink Dairy, was sellling homemade cheeses and hearty breads baked in a wood fired oven. We bought some cheddar and a cheese called foret [pronounced the french way: four-ay]. People in front of use were buying huge slices out of a wheel of bread that had whole cloves of garlic baked right in. We couldn’t resist that either.

Our next stop was the Warwick Winery booth. We sampled the Riesling, Chardonnay, and a blend they call Nadia. We bought some of each. Now we had lunch and then some! There was a stall selling fresh duck, rabbit, ribs and more out of their truck and we almost bought a rabbit. Next week, maybe. We’ll be back! I have a feeling you’ll be hearing a lot about Warwick. We picked up a schedule of events for the summer and there are all kinds of festivals taking place. Here is a photo from the market and one of the old train station.