Day: October 20, 2013

Trading the bullet for a rocket

wyranchwife2 Comments

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I mentioned in my previous post that I would tell the story of my new car, so here it is.

I have not owned many cars in my life. Actually when I moved to Wyoming in 1995 as a sophomore in college, I did not own a car. I was brought out to Central Wyoming College in Riverton by my mom and aunt. I was staying on campus and really didn’t need one.  

In 1996 they gave me my sisters ford tempo. Let me just say it didn’t last long. Then after we married in 1998, we inherited my husband’s mom’s car. She had passed away suddenly in November only a couple months from our wedding. 

These were all inherited cars. After graduating college in 2001, the transmission went out of his mom’s oldsmobile. I decided it was time to buy and I purchased a 2002 Saturn sl with 50 miles on it. It was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Plus it was a stick. 

Well driving from the ranch to my teaching job in Wright was 60 miles one way. I racked up the miles plus the yearly trips to Tennessee to see my parents and numerous other ventures. The little Saturn was great on gas mileage at 38-40mpg. It was awesome.  

Now between my house and Wright are several coal mines. They do shift work and me driving and then driving. You get where you recognize the cars. I didn’t know any of the people but the cars I knew and unfortunately they knew me and my driving. 

You see I had an hour to work. No matter what it was an hour. On snowy slick days it might be 2 hours. For me why get up early to put on makeup when I could do that on the way. My far became my office. Plus I had two kids in there with me. 

I unfortunately had friends who worked at the mine and they told me that my car had been named the bullet by the miners. Don’t ask me why, well yes there are a few stories about swerving, speeding, and reading while driving. I know bad, bad. But that is how it got its name.

The bullet was my first real car. I bought it. Well over the years and the miles it developed a severely bad problem that I could not cure. I tried and tried. I cleaned and cleaned. I even took the seats out and put steel wool in every hole I saw and covered it with silicone. But it was to no avail. The mice would comeback. It was awful. Whole families would be in there. I would get my oil changed and they would be in the air filter. It was gross. 

This summer since I had made the decision to not return to teaching, I decided that at 217,000 miles I was selling the Saturn. Believe it or not I sold it within 2 days of posting it for sale, and got a darn good price for it. I was honest about its problem but they were okay and assured me they would handle it.

In this process I decided I was getting a convertible. I know it’s crazy, I love on miles of dirt. However it was fate. The week I had decided to let the bullet go someone posted a car that was perfect. It is older, but the price was just for me. Okay it was cheap. I grabbed it up. The kids loved it.

It has been so much fun. The kids and I decided on the rocket. It will make its first venture to Tennessee soon and it is going to be a fun ride.  

Now the downfall. It has been in the garage at the hunting house ft since the big snow storm hit on the first week of October. We don’t have a garage at our house so our big truck and now the rocket will store over there when needed. I brought the rocket out on Friday and it did well on the roads. I was a little worried about clearance and the ruts hut it did fine. 

So midlife crisis or just fun here I come. 

What a Ham!

wyranchwife2 Comments

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This summer at the local county fair market sale, we bought a 4-H pig from one of the kids. It is a great sale and the kids get a wonderful price for their animals. Most kids use this money for college. Our kids have sold steers the last couple of years and it is a great learning experience. Sometimes the buyers will donate the animal back to 4-H and they sale it at actual market price for buy backs. This is when most people can actually afford to buy one of the animals. The businesses will pay way above average to help the kids out.

Some animals are taken right away to be processed, However some go on to enter the Wyoming State fair. If they go to state then the processing plant will contact us when it is ready.

We had bought a lamb the year before and still had some left, so I pushed my husband toward the pig. He would rather have more lamb, but I wanted to get something else. So hence we have a pig in the freezer. Next year we will probably get another lamb, but for now we have some of both to eat.

At our place I keep all of the meat at the hunting house in two deep freezes. As I need it I go over and bring back what I want. It is just easier. In the deep freeze here at the house I keep all the other freezer items such as veggies, bread, ice cream, etc.

Well yesterday when I was digging in the freeze I found the fresh ham roast. I had never cooked one before, but why put it off. So out it came and I put it in the sink overnight to thaw. I am a terrible planner, so having it thaw in the fridge would have taken days, and I don’t plan that well. So overnight in the sink works well.

This morning we headed into town for church. It was a nice day and I was able to drive my new little car that the kids named the rocket. It’s a blast. I will share that story soon. Anyway on the way home I was searching different recipes for fresh ham. I found a couple and as usual did my own thing. I have to. It is what works with my pantry and what works for me.

I put this huge roast on my roasting rack. Oh My! It is easily 15 pounds if not more. I scored it and put cloves all over it.  My son wanted to know what was sticking out of it. LOL..  I let it cook at 350 for about 5 hours and then began basting it with sauce.  I basted it about every 15-20 mintues for around an hour. Then I poured what was left over the roast and cooked it another 15 minutes.  At this point I took it out and let it sit while I prepared some mashed potatoes to go with it.

Usually I try to do the southern traditional thing of something green, white, and yellow at every meal. However tonight it was just mashed potatoes and ham. That was plenty.  It turned out great and received reviews from all the family.

I will say I am going to have to come up with some recipes to use up this huge ham besides sandwiches.

Dr. Pepper Glazed Fresh Ham

  • Servings: 12-15
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Print

  • 1 large fresh ham, 15 pounds
  • 2 cans of Dr. pepper or similar beverage
  • 3 tsp ground mustard
  • 6 cups brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • cloves

Score the ham in a criss cross pattern. Insert cloves where they meet.  Cook at 350 degrees for about 5 hours or 20 minutes per pound.

In the meantime combine coke, mustard, brown sugar, and vinegar. Bring it to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Continue to simmer until it reduces.

Brush the ham with the sauce every 15-20 minutes. Pour the additional sauce over the ham and let it cook for 10-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!IMG_00000523