As some of you know, we got absolutely devastated in the ice storm a month or so ago. We knew we were facing long and difficult task of getting it all cleaned up. Right after we got started cutting the broken stuff down and cutting it up, we realized what a HUGE ordeal we were facing. No sooner did we get started and a little guy who could barely speak English stopped and asked us if we wanted him to do the clean up for us. We had nothing to lose by having him give us a price for it. Either the guy was out of his mind or he thought we were but he quoted us a cost of just over $60,000 (that is not a typo). Nope, not gonna do that!! We are not lazy people and have always done everything around the house ourselves and we were resigned to making it happen without outside help. Tracy tossed up the idea of getting a chipper to run all the stuff through so we wouldn't need to find a place to all of dump it. That would save a whole bunch of time so the quest started. She found a gas powered stand-alone unit that would have helped but the more I thought about it, I didn't like the idea. It'd be a nightmare dragging that thing up and down the hills all over the property so I started digging deeper and found some commercial grade units that would connect to the 3-point PTO on the back of my tractor. Found one I liked and ordered it. While we were waiting for it to be delivered, we went ahead with getting most of the stuff down and cut up. When the chipper finally arrived I was excited to get it hooked up and running. Upon unpacking it I almost felt like I'd bought the thing from Ikea: some assembly required. The difference is that Ikea provides assembly instructions. This thing had NONE!! It was total guess work, trial and error figuring out how it all went together. Finally got it all done, hooked to the tractor, and realized that the driveline was way too long. The PTO wouldn't connect to the chipper so I had to take it off, measure everything out, and cut the driveline down considerably to get the thing to connect. Needless to say, it was a few days before the chipper was operational but finally got it up and running. Up and at 'em early Saturday morning to get the chipping started. Wow...what a ton of work but we made good progress. Finally shut operations down about 3:00 and we were both totally exhausted. I hurt in places I didn't even know existed but after a day like this, I want a decent dinner. Went to the freezer and some filets jumped out at me. Got them out to defrost and it was game on!!
The chipper assembled and connected to the tractor. A few pics.
Now to dinner....finally. The steaks: just over 1 1/2 pounds total.
Out of the packages. These are some pretty little steaks.
Seasoned up with a little kosher salt and a nice dose of my dirt rub.
Some orzo in a pan with beef broth and a dollop of BTB beef base.
Fresh green beans cut up and into the steamer with some bacon.
Cut up a bunch of onions and into a pan with butter, garlic, black pepper, and another dollop of BTB beef base.
Lightly cook the onions till they just start to soften up.
Add a couple teaspoons of flour, mix, and add about 3/4 cup of beef broth. I'm just looking to make a sauce for the onions, not a full-blown gravy.
Steaks on the grill. I'd have preferred to use the hybrid Santa Maria but was just too tired to mess with it so took the easy route.
Steaks done and in the house to get happy.
Dinner all plated up.
Cut shot. Looking pretty good so far.
And the obligatory close-up.
As sad as it is to admit ladies and gentlemen, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not 25 and bullet proof any more. Deserving or not, we worked hard for this meal and certainly did enjoy it. These steaks are just crazy good. So tender, so juicy, and absolutely delicious. We still have along road ahead of us but it sure was nice sitting down to a good dinner after a day like we had. I gotta say though, the onions made a fantastic addition to the meat. They just brought another whole dimension to the flavor profile of the meat / seasoning combination. I've done them a few times recently and just love what they bring to the table...so to speak
Oh well, gonna call this a wrap and let y'all get back to your regularly scheduled program. Thanks for looking and I'll see everybody soon.
Robert
The chipper assembled and connected to the tractor. A few pics.
Now to dinner....finally. The steaks: just over 1 1/2 pounds total.
Out of the packages. These are some pretty little steaks.
Seasoned up with a little kosher salt and a nice dose of my dirt rub.
Some orzo in a pan with beef broth and a dollop of BTB beef base.
Fresh green beans cut up and into the steamer with some bacon.
Cut up a bunch of onions and into a pan with butter, garlic, black pepper, and another dollop of BTB beef base.
Lightly cook the onions till they just start to soften up.
Add a couple teaspoons of flour, mix, and add about 3/4 cup of beef broth. I'm just looking to make a sauce for the onions, not a full-blown gravy.
Steaks on the grill. I'd have preferred to use the hybrid Santa Maria but was just too tired to mess with it so took the easy route.
Steaks done and in the house to get happy.
Dinner all plated up.
Cut shot. Looking pretty good so far.
And the obligatory close-up.
As sad as it is to admit ladies and gentlemen, I've come to the conclusion that I'm not 25 and bullet proof any more. Deserving or not, we worked hard for this meal and certainly did enjoy it. These steaks are just crazy good. So tender, so juicy, and absolutely delicious. We still have along road ahead of us but it sure was nice sitting down to a good dinner after a day like we had. I gotta say though, the onions made a fantastic addition to the meat. They just brought another whole dimension to the flavor profile of the meat / seasoning combination. I've done them a few times recently and just love what they bring to the table...so to speak
Oh well, gonna call this a wrap and let y'all get back to your regularly scheduled program. Thanks for looking and I'll see everybody soon.
Robert
