Nick of Time

Things happen when they do for a reason.  The Great Chicken Caper that caused me to reinforce the fence around the pen was not a day too soon.  Yesterday in the early morning, I caught a blur of movement down in the front pasture...it was a coyote racing for the woods.  Later, while watering the deck plants, Coyote and I had a moment of silent communion as she stood at the edge of said woods and just looked at me.  It's possible we were having the same thought, "Go away!"  It gave me great satisfaction to know that there wouldn't be a chicken dinner in her future.  It relieved my mind of worry as I had to go to town yesterday, and I knew my little girls were safe.

The timing of my going grocery shopping turned out to be good, also.  Having put off the trip for a month meant supplies were low.  I was still unloading the truck when I got a most welcome call from one of my sons, who told me he was planning to come up for a few days on Monday.  I actually have fresh vegetables and a supply of meat on hand!  Chatting with the butcher at the meat counter, I mused how it was that I came to discover skirt steak so late in life.  We agreed that fat equals flavor, and rib eye steak was better than fillet mignon in that regard.  Having once tried skirt steak, so quick, so tender and flavorful, it will be hard to go back to anything else...and the price is right.  Stew beef, liver, flank steak...once upon a time, these were "throw away" meats; pennies a pound.  Then they became trendy and the price soared.  Even knuckle bones, which the butcher literally gave away, now cost a couple of dollars each.  While it is easy to bemoan the high cost of food now, one must remember that in the "good old days," minimum wage was less than a dollar an hour.

I even have cookies to serve my Kid.  Man, I'm on a good-timing roll here!