Jamie Jackson

As I live alone I have to rely on myself for the whining. I'll admit it sounds more like cursing though...

Power came back on before I finished my second cup. Now I have to reset the friggin clocks on the stove and microwave. Definitely First World problems...

Well at 0655 I've experienced my first blackout of this event. Thankfully my coffee just finished brewing, and I just finished my first cup of said coffee. Have several Streamlight lanterns turned on and a fully charged phone. Guess I'll have another cup of coffee. Life is good. Be safe folks.

Prayers to the family of the victim of this POS. Glad they caught him and hopefully the courts will do their job...

I have 2 of them Erik. They're a great value imho. And they are pretty fuel efficient.

Loosing electricity for a bit was my primary concern. Thankfully that didn't happen. I'm mostly retired (no more Hospital work) so I have the luxury of staying home now. I'm in West Knoxville (Farragut) and we tend to loose power frequently when it snows, but usually only for 4-6 hours. It's 7 degrees outside but looks like we had only scant flurries last night. I ran my little Honda generator a bit last week and topped it off with gas. Just normal maintenance. I have a couple of Big Buddy heaters and had to run one for a few hours with the snow last March. I'd highly recommend them if anyone is interested. Link: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mr-Heater-Big-Buddy-18-000-BTU-Radiant-Propane-Space-Heather-MH18B/309243646 Those that have to work out in this please be careful and take care. I spent several decades weathering storms, ice, snow and hurricanes related to getting to or being at work. My empathy and appreciation to you folks. Merry Christmas to you all!

Canned venison from 2010. I find the wide mouth jars easiest to use for meats...much easier to empty out for use.

Beef tallow Those are , essentially, beef cracklin's in the sink. They made a hearty, but not heart healthy, cornbread.

@MacGyver is right. You need to be really meticulous and strictly follow pressure canning procedures with meat. But it's not really difficult. I'll try an add some pics below. I was given around 20 pounds of chicken gizzards and hearts earlier this year. These are great canned for Gizzards & Rice and worked really well in giblet gravy at Thanksgiving. There's a lot of fat to cut off a brisket. I just rendered the fat into beef tallow and put it up in jars. I did not pressure can the tallow. I keep one jar in the fridge and another jar out to cook with. I have canned Hot chicken wings before even. The bones even get tender. FWIW I have a glass top stove and it's rated Safe for canning both in the owners manual and the manufactures website.

Venison was the first meat I pressure canned. Very tender, even the tougher cuts, and delicious. Alas, I no longer hunt nor have family that do so, but I pressure canned a couple of very low priced briskets this past March. The brisket was/is extremely tender and tasty and great to have for quick meals. The same for turkey, chicken, and pork. Those jar look great Greg!

Yes, absolutely. Perhaps even more-so is Lethal Weapon from 1987. Lethal Weapon even opens with the song Jingle Bell Rock and an Angel falling several stories to her death. Well there's a great shootout in a Christmas Tree lot anyway... But what the heck. I'll be watching both of these fine films this week. But first I have to finish off season one of True Detective which has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas but is a bad ass series nonetheless...

What a beautiful voice. I've been a fan since the early 70's and was fortunate enough to catch the Romors tour in London in 77. RIP

Heretic! Now you've raised expectations for the rest of us... and it's appreciated.

Prayers for her family. She will be missed. RIP

R.I.P. Prayers and condolences to the family and friends.

$4.12 when I filled up on Kingston Pike on Saturday. Still painful...

Welcome aboard. West Knoxville here.

Thank you @peejman! I looked at each of those farm's websites. Nice! I live less than 4 miles from Dixie Lee Junction (West Knox) so I may just hit their farmer's market this weekend. Lived here for 16 years and never been. I guess it's about time. The farms you listed are all with 25 or so miles from me, so they may be in my future. Much obliged.

You know, I think there's a Farmer's Market in Dixie Lee Junction. I may well go next Saturday and see what the produce and prices are like. It's pretty close to my home. Thanks for the idea. Are there any good farmer's markets out your way?

I know that feeling, from previous experiences, it sucks. Have you replanted beans yet?

My green beans struggled particularly hard with this past hot dry spell. Hope it's past anyway as we've been getting daily rain this past week. I was only able to get about 1 pot of green beans... <sigh> I've never had such a low production of green beans before... I replanted bush bean and pole beans on June 22nd and they are really coming up well now. (Fingers crossed and a Prayer). My carrots were planted in a 4x4 bed. I picked them Tuesday, only got about 3 pounds. So I purchased an additional 3 pounds and pressure canned them using a mixture of orange juice and brown sugar and this made 9 pints of quite delicious "Glazed" carrots. The 4x8 bed I planted in okra June 22nd is coming up well also. With a lot of luck I'll be able to can some pickled okra. LOve that stuff. Good luck everyone. Strange times these are.

I had chicory growing in my herb box...but a fat rabbit decided it was too temping a delicacy. Ate them down to the ground! <sigh> I need to add sage and cilantro and have recently placed an order to Victory Seeds. I've had great luck with their seeds. https://www.victoryseeds.com/ My Dill is bolting and has apparently done so in a couple of beds because I've harvested dill from 2 beds already. I just cut it, toss in a gallon ziplock bag and toss in the freezer. Works well for canning in my experience. I've had rosemary grow into a damn small tree before. Hardy plant!

Sorry for the bad run of luck @Ronald_55! Wishing a speedy recovery to your Missus as well! Hopefully we'll all catch a bit of rain here and there. My beds seem to do much better with rain water than the garden hose.

This heat has been a challenge for my raised beds, meaning frequent watering. I've been eating out of my garden for over a month, like 6 cuttings of Swiss Chard and 2 of Turnips, lettuce and cherry tomatoes. My regular tomatoes are coming in now. A fresh tomato sandwich is a rite of summer! Zucchini and yellow squash are finally producing and butternut squash is finally setting. Carrots are doing well and about ready to pick. I have a rack of onions drying and they are about ready to bag... been eating them and cooking with them for several weeks. Sure beats store bought! My small green bean bed didn't do well, but they've been replanted (bush beans) and I planted some pole beans. They're coming up well. Okra plants are coming up good as well. Hoping to catch the okra right and pickle some. Sure would love a couple of days of slow soaking rain... Oh yeah, planted a cuke from seed in a pot and it's producing well. I have a quart of refrigerator sweet pickle mix ready in the fridge right now.

I live in West Knoxville and do the majority of my pistol shooting at RangeUSA ( 1-2xwk ) and have nothing but positive things to say about it and the good folks there. I've been a member at ORSA since I relocated here in '06. You can read about ORSA and download an application from their website. There are multiple ranges and iirc there are some hoops to jump (orientations) for such as access to the Action Pistol Range and the 1000 yd range. But there is a 200 yd bench range and a 100 yd (?) steel target rifle range, as well as an indoor range that's primarily open on the weekends. Windrock is a good range within it's space limitations and is run by good folks. Norris used to have a decent range but I haven't been up there in several years. Members used to post about Norris here on TGO... it may, or may not, be searchable. I was used to shooting on public ranges, as well as member only, back in the SW MS/ NE LA area prior to moving here. We're pretty fortunate to have so many opportunities open to us these days. Just my inflation adjusted $0.02 worth...