Skinning cats

We have all heard the expression: "There's more than one way to skin a cat." I don't have a clue where this expression came from but doubt it has anything to do with cats. I guess another way of saying the same thing is there is more than one way of doing it or getting it done. I have skinned a boatload of coyotes down through the years. Dad showed me how with his trusty Old Timer pocket knife back when I was a kid. Showed me how to stretch the hide out and air dry it. But never skinned a cat.

Kind of like Marge when she is cooking and the recipe calls for buttermilk, but she doesn't have a single drop. She simply takes fresh milk adds some vinegar and, voila, you have buttermilk. When you are hankering for a lemon pie, and you don't have a single lemon simply make a vinegar pie. Tastes a whole lot like a lemon pie. Now don't get me wrong, a lemon pie made from fresh whole lemons can't be replicated. But when you don't have lemons, a close substitute will work. If you need the recipe drop me a request.

My favorite milk is Prairie Farms simply because some of the local dairies sell their milk to them. And I like the same brand of half-and-half to dress up my coffee when I want creamed coffee. But most any brand will work, which includes that from the big store chains. Can't taste any difference at all.

I buy green coffee beans and roast them, so I have to grind my roasted coffee beans before I can use them. I have used a blade grinder the most, and it does a decent job. I've ground hundreds of pounds of coffee with a blade grinder. Also have a manual bur grinder. I've used it quite a bit, but it's slow and tedious. I get tired of grinding beans when I could be drinking coffee. So I bought an electric bur grinder. Awesome. Fast, and does a good job. All of them work, but the electric one is simply better. It's the best way of skinning that cat.

One of our boys was having trouble in school. The teacher said he couldn't read, and she thought about putting him in special ed. Kind of teed Marge off, so she met with the teacher and told the teacher our son had been reading for several years and even the newspaper. I guess if you can read, a novel reading about Dick and Jane is boring. Teacher got some stickers and our son would climb Mount Everest for a sticker.

A friend of mine used the air fryer for fixing bacon. It was edible he said, but he also said cast iron works better. Kind of like fixing ham and beans in the crock pot. Crock pots are an awesome way to cook but I still prefer a cast iron pot with a cast iron lid on a wood stove. I was fishing out at the cement lakes way back when and got cold. Really cold. Jack Blankenship had his old bus camper out there with the wood stove going and a cast iron pot of beans (I think!) on it. He dished me up a bowl, I prayed over it and ate it. Was good. I never asked him what was in it or how long he had just been adding to it. I didn't want to know.

For some things the only way to do it is the right way. Only way for a marriage to last is when God is right there in the marriage. I believe raising kids in a Christian home is the most likely way to raise a good kid. I still think the one-room country schools can't be beat for educating kids. I'll always believe the best place to raise kids is in the country with them working around chickens and cats and dogs and cows and horses and ducks. One other thing, Goldie Collier's lemon pie has no rival. It was the best.