A post to make you drool, go “Oo-ahh”, scratch your head, and say, “Ooh, that can’t be, or can it be?” It’s the end of October 2023 and stranger things have happened. Just wait and see how spooky things can be when you’re surprised by something I’m about to question and share.
But, first, some flowers that I captured by not even looking into the camera’s lens. I do that a lot and love to see what I get.
As promised, without further ado, the building of the moment of drool. Grab a napkin if you will.
That is if you’re craving the most delicious smash burger recipe ever thanks to Steve’s YouTube video. (we skipped the seasoning though)
It required the use of a kitchen tool Mr. had yet to use. He was excited to give it a try. The brisket he wasn’t sure what to do with it came in handy as well. The recipe requires shredding the meat.
Twice.
Who knew we could make our hamburger (brisket burger) at home? Now we know.
Mr. froze three packets for later. He saved enough out to make dinner with that night.
I had seen enough meat grinding, so I turned to the gorgeous fall day that was calling to grab my camera and go outside. I noticed Tizzie’s reflection in the window. It’s spooky seeing her floating in the air like the Cheshire Cat.
I think it fits with the definition of spooky, but we’ll see if there’s more later to make you question what is spooky or not.
Since it was a nice day leading into another true to my honey-do-this, now, not later mode, I suggested to Mr. that we put some steel wool (that Dan recommended last post) into the mouse entryway at the foundation of our wing wall. I’m convinced it’s gonna do the trick. Mr. also put some under the rocks. He’s my ooh ahh guy!
See the little wooly creature in the corner. That’ll frighten away the mice, right?!
Speaking of slightly scary, but not so scary, yes, maybe scary, I had no idea Ooh Ahh was a song! It’s frighteningly cute.
Where was I? Oh, yeah, after that mouse prevention situation was done, I headed back to the yard to capture the end-of-fall flowers that the frost created. Some took a beating while some resilient flowers were hanging on.
I also admired the weird cloud formations in the sky. I’ve heard these are caused by airplanes. Do you know if that is true? I hear so many theories about things floating around that make me scratch my head and wonder if it is true, or not. Does that happen to you too? It’s been more so for me the past 3 years.
After capturing a window selfie with Tizzie looking not-so-interested-in-me photo, I smelled the Blackstone heating up. I headed back into the house with the Oo-ahh feeling. I imagined the burgers and how good they’d taste!
On to the Blackstone went the Brisket balls Mr. used to create the smash burgers. They cooked extremely fast. So fast I couldn’t even grab my camera to follow Mr. to the grill to capture the moment. . .I waited at the table for the delightful food to appear.
On to the plate. Yep, no question, it was an Oo-ahh melt-in-my-mouth-drool moment!
They were the moistest, delicious, tender, scrumptious-tasting burgers we’ve ever had! We didn’t need a bun or condiments other than cheddar cheese and a fork to dig in. YUM!
After the long-awaited moment of deciding what we would do with the brisket he bought, we now know that ground brisket is a hit, and it will be on repeat in our menus.
Speaking of that – remember how I mentioned the last three years have made me wonder and say, “Ooh, that can’t be, or can it be?”
Things have changed slowly and quickly at the same time. Summer was here, and now it’s almost gone. I read that you should leave the flowers for the bees and bugs over the winter. The score for me is now I don’t have to pull them all out. I hope it works.
The Zinnias had a summer party this year, and these seeds will feed the birds over the winter.
If I hadn’t seen the flowers evolve with my own two eyes, would I believe it or not? You’re seeing it now on the internet, so it must be true, right?
I’m learning to proceed with caution. My history lessons tell me this one isn’t true!
Until I saw with my own two eyes a 3-D printer making little ghosts, I would’ve never believed it could be true. Same with thunderstorms in October and greener grass than we had in July. There’s that odd-in-the-sky kind of scary weather taunting my thoughts.
For the last three years, Mr. and I experimented and researched many things, including our LCHF food/diet, which we happily enjoy. We know our choices aren’t your choices and rejoice in the fact that we have fun sharing what we eat despite those who look down on what we’ve found when we say, “What if what we thought about healthy food being right before is not true?”
The other thing we’ve researched is do we believe what we believe because we see something or hear something in the news without knowing if it is real or an illusion.
We question everything now. Just like our cat, Tizzie, who sees things we can’t see.
Our heightened questioning happened the day we watched the live inauguration of our current President. Wait…before you click off…what I’m about to spook you with has nothing to do with politics or hot-topic-of-the-day opinions, it has to do with whether you saw it LIVE or NOT.
It’s a reach, but, hear me out as I go out on a limb or two.
You see, I heard something before that cloudy day in January 2021 that made me question the silliness of speculation I heard. Was the event pre-recorded?
Hmm…well, the weather the day before was sunny at noon. 🤔
Right, it was, so what? After all, with the weather, we all know it can be unexpectedly sunny any day and anywhere, so there. That’s not a valid point.
So I did my due diligence and watched the event twice. The first time was live as it was happening, and the second time was by scrolling through the live replay I watched the day before in 5-second intervals and capturing screenshots of interesting moments as I went along. The layers of What the heck is that? I saw frightened me.
Technology must’ve changed a lot in 4 years. 45’s event recorded in 2017 still doesn’t have what I saw in 46’s event in 2021. 🤷🏻♀️ The overshadowing images were astonishing and questionable.
On October 28, 2023, on a 3rd review of the event, I got an award for due diligence. 🏆 I went back to compare the same live stream at the same moments in the current video on YouTube to see if what is out there for viewing on our blessed, always telling us the truth, YouTube, is still the original LIVE or NOT. 🤨
And now, folks, I still dunno. It’s spooky, eerie, frightening, and “Ooh, that can’t be, or can it be?”
Each screenshot I share below has the current video available on top and the screenshot I captured back in 2021 below it at the same time stamp.
I think this one of Garth singing Amazing Grace is interesting with the Lady Gaga overlay. . .he is singing but the word captions don’t match and neither does the video.
Let’s go back over a few key moments of 46’s speech on that cloudy day. Some togetherness.
He was quite serious. The next one is fairly close to the original, but slightly off.
This one on a sunny day is a bit closer to the original LIVE. Except it was cloudy that day according to weather history.
In the original LIVE below, what the heck is going on?
Did they forget to edit this one?
Or this one?
Oo, ahh, um?
I don’t know anything about video making in LIVE mode, but to me, the word LIVE means you are recording and are seeing what you see as it is happening. If that’s not the case, how do we know what to believe when we see it on the internet?
Or do we accept the spooky visions we see like this one of J-Lo – she has been known to like flashy looks and goes with the flow? Should we too?
I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s hard to get past seeing frightful doubles and overlays on LIVE screens. How can it be so in a LIVE video recording?
In reality, I remain concerned and confused. But, at least I can attest to the fact that the birds you see below were live and landed on repeat on the railing of our deck. They are so darn cute.
Post Inspiration: Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: Oo.” Find a word with “oo” in it or just use “oo” because why not? Whatever you decide on, use it any way you’d like. Enjoy! Terri Webster Schrandts’ Sunday Stills Oct 29 Frightful and Sofia for Lens-Artists #273 – Symmetry
PS – What has spooked you lately? Happy Halloween to those goblins who celebrate! I look forward to seeing you back here in November!
Your second funky cloud kinda looks like an airplane. Pretty stark difference on the before and after images of those flowers.
Questioning everything seems like a very good approach to the news these days. I know “live” events often make use of many cameras, and whenever they show the inside of the production van, I see a bunch of nerds sitting at controls with all kinds of views available to them.
Hi Dan! That day so many planes were flying over.
I’m always amazed at how the flowers look so different after a frost. The birds have been munching away on all of them today. They must know the colder weather is upon us.
I’m imagine you’re great at questioning the news too. Hmm, yes, that makes sense about all the nerds in the production vans. I would think it would’ve been the same in 45’s event, yet there isn’t any of the skipping or overlapping of images. 🤷🏻♀️ I guess we’ll never really know. 😉
PS – one more thing, Mr. wouldn’t let me do the steel wool placement when I offered. 🤣
I don’t blame him, that stuff is nasty. I hope you have good luck with it.
Yes, he made sure to point out how nasty it was to work with. 🤣 Kind of like instructing a kid not to touch the hot stove approach.
Thank you, me too. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it works to ward off the critters who are looking for warmer turf as the temps drop here in WI.
Oh my gosh, thanks for the spooky laughs about Joe! 😂 As always, you have many lovely photos, Shelley, the birds are adorable. The burger looks so delicious, and, you saved yourselves the carbs by skipping the buns. Yum! I’ll bet there are a lot of wives out there that wish their husband could cook and bake so much delicious food. I awoke to 46 degrees and a very windy morning today, summer is gone. have a great new week, guys. 😎🇺🇸
Hi John, I thought you might get a kick out of those comparison photos.
I appreciate your feedback about the photos and the foodie ones too. Yes, skipping the buns is wise! I’m sure there are wives out there jealous of me having a personal chef. 😉
Wow, 46 degrees was a heatwave temp for us last week. It is 25 degrees this morning. We still haven’t turned on the heat – the fireplace has been going during the day though.
I hope you have a great week too!! Stay warm!
I’m jealous! John no cool, John no eat! 😂 I did make a yummy pot of chicken soup yesterday. 😋😋😋
I’m pretty sure Mr. would cook like he does if I wasn’t around 🤔😆 Yay for chicken soup – it’s the best on a chilly day.
Yum, and I can’t eat this morning, blood draw day. 😂
You should only fast for 12 hours maximum to get the most accurate labs. I hope they went well!
Blood was drawn! I can never watch it come out. Makes me feel yucky.
Yay! I’m the same way, yuck.
I always feel dizzy when I see it.
Me too!
First off, I have the meat grinder tool for my kitchen aid, too! Love the idea of grinding your own burgers, Shelley! Looks delish! I also love your before and after zinnias. Like you, I left all of our plants up so the birds can feast on the seeds. The disembodied cat pictures look really cool! Not a fan of Biden but you raise interesting points about how the news adjusts media to fit the occasion. And with covid still lurking, they may have pre-recorded some of the inauguration. The pic with J-Lo is more than frightful!
Hi Terri! I bought the meat grinder tool as a surprise for last Christmas, and we never got around to using it until we saw Steve’s video. If you get a chance to grind a brisket, it is worth the effort.
I’m glad you enjoyed the before and after – I love looking at the differences. I’ve been watching the finches attack the flowers. We’ve had yellow finches, house finches, and Pine Siskins who seem to all enjoy them.
Tizzie floating in the window was a fun surprise.
I’m not a fan of Biden either. That event was weird in so many ways. You’re right, I’m sure they took some liberties with covid lurking around. LOL – yes, J-Lo pic is quite frightful! How many images are combined in it, I’m thinking 3 or 4? Oy
I don’t watch any news on TV or Youtube or wherever, too much emotion, not enough content. Images that move are distracting if I’m trying to understand something. I read news in multiple places then trust that I’ve gotten close enough to the truth to go on with my day. This preference for the written word probably has more to do with my learning style than anything else.
Hi Ally, thanks for sharing your thoughts about news and media. I could see you relying on the written word versus the drama inducing media. When I learned who owns what written media, it was game on for questioning written articles just as much as the news. It has actually been quite entertaining for us to see the things we’ve discovered along the way. Discovered, and yet not quite believed. And it has been sad to see what has been deemed dis/mis info. Is it ironic that those two words combined are dismissed information? 🤔😉
Yep, the agenda-setting function of the media has always been there, but few people realized how pervasive it was and still is until Trump arrived on the scene. His incessant lying set the stage for more people to question and wonder about the veracity of their news sources. It’s good that people [should] now know to double-check sources, look for the primary source, but for some people that is too much work… so they continue to hang on ‘news’ sources that are really a form of entertainment. 🤨
Hi Ally, I appreciate reading your perspective. I tend to think the agenda-setting has exponentially expanded in the last decade. Social media has blown so much out of proportion. When I follow the 💲💲💲💲💲 of resources it shines a light on how I haven’t done my due diligence in double-checking sources, etc. Yes, our quick 30 sec news stories tend to feed the lack of research.
Let me ask you this, “Where did you get the impression that Trump lies?” Did following the $ get you there? Did following the source(s) you read bring on that conclusion? Did he lie to you personally? I can say from what I’ve seen him say in interviews is that HE believes that the mainstream news is Fake News and tell lies about him all the time, he says so very often, so if that’s what you mean by him arriving and calling that out, I agree. I have witnessed Biden (in news stories) many times over the (decades) years. I wonder at what point lies becomes so intolerable for one person in the limelight and not the other?
It’s definitely worth the investment in time to not just assume what we’ve been told is fact.
I love the line in Don Henley’s Garden of Allah song: “I will testify for you, I’m a gun for hire, I’m a saint, I’m a liar, because there are no facts, there is no truth just data to be manipulated”. 🤨😉
Did you major in Communications in college? I’m smiling here because your project of watching the videos to doublecheck their veracity and your myriad theoretical questions about why a person trusts one source of news and not another takes me back to college wherein everything was suspect. I applaud your inquiries into what is going on in our world and the time you spend researching, but as for me, the post-collegiate older version, I trust a few news sources combined with my ability to understand human nature, plus I have a blessed indifference to celebrities and politics. This approach to life keeps me sane. 🤔
LOL – nope, but, like you, I am inquisitive and indifferent. More like a child that asks “Why?” a lot. I love to learn new things and the past 3 years provided plenty of fodder to ponder. I even questioned my own knowledge and found that, damn, I was wrong a some important things. All in all, it has helped me stay sane too. So YAY for doing what keeps us sane. 🤗😉😊 (Please note, I refrained from using any !s until I had to point it out that I didn’t use one 🤣)
Gotta love fresh burgers! …. even with red wine or beer. Beautiful skies gave you numerous beautiful backdrops! Cat pic on the desk cracked me up …. but I haven’t heard about the steel wool solution. It’s a lazy, overcast day here today …. I feel like a nap.
Hi Frank – Yes, the fresh burgers were delightful with red wine too.
The skies have been so interesting I couldn’t resist taking a bunch of photos.
I’m glad you enjoyed the floating kitty in the window photo.
Dan from NoFacilities.com suggested the steel wool. It worked great for his family, so we’re giving it a try.
A lazy, overcast day is a perfect day for a nap. I hope your nap was refreshing. 😊
I think autumn in the south is actually picture perfect Shelley. Today was a day I’d copy and have at my disposal for the rest of my life if it were possible! Funny about the steel wool. The woodpeckers are boring holes in the eaves of my house. I wonder if that would work for them? The plastic owl just makes them laugh😩. Brisket burgers sound fabulous! I looked the other day at “Burnt Ends” of brisket at Costco. Sounds SOOOO good but I passed as I knew I’d have no self-control whatsoever. Enjoyed your fun post.
Yes, Tina, you’re right, I just checked out your post. The symmetry examples, including the ones you found at the beach, are perfect for the prompt.
Dan suggested the steel wool and it has to be a particular kind that won’t rust. It might be worth a try to stick some in a hole to see if the woodpeckers move on to other spots. We have so many woodpeckers this year, maybe we should try the same thing. 🤔 They seem to be clever knowing what birds to stay away from. Our Blue Jays have been chasing them away. It’s kind of fun to watch.
Ooh, burnt ends of a brisket. We’re finally getting a Costco in our area, it opens 11/22 we’ll have to check it out. I find it hard to overeat brisket, it’s so filling. I hear ya about the need to find self-control when we find a food that’s so yummy to eat. 😋
I enjoyed your post too, thanks for stopping by your comments always make me smile.
I can vouch for the steel wool trick. Gotta make sure there’s no gaps though. It was a little sad to see the flowers in bloom, then when they’d died. At least they can still be of use to the birds!
Hi, it’s great to hear from you. Thanks for the confirmation that the steel wool works. It looked like Mr. put in plenty to block the hole. We won’t know until we don’t see any signs of mice, I guess.
Yes, it is bittersweet to see the flowers change. I’ve been watching the finches attack the flowers so I’m happy they are still getting use out of the flowers for the season.
I’m trying to do better Shelley. 🙂 The steel wool will rust after a while. I used caulk with some for one big hole that was left by heat/air guys. Seems like mice can turn into water to get into the smallest opening.
🤗 Supposedly the steel wool we bought is rust resistant. But, you’re absolutely correct, mice can fit into the smallest of holes. A rodent catcher told my daughter once when she was living in Chicago and had a mice invasion, “Mice can get into a hole the size of a pencil eraser.” 🙄😣
Don’t question the overlords! 😬
LOL – ain’t that the truth!
Hmm – I should have filled the groundhog hole/burrow with steel wool pads … look how much money I could have saved myself. 🙂 IMHO a groundhog is like an oversized rodent on steroids, right? I now flyspeck every part of the perimeter of the house, just like you do for mice entrance holes. My neighbor has just hung up two birdfeeders – seed upright and a suet upright. I saw him outside and said I’d help subsidize it as I like helping the birds, but don’t want mice in my yard – had enough already this year and a few years ago I put sunflower seeds on the ground for Grady (the sweet Eastern Gray Squirrel at my house) and a few days later I saw two mice eating seed … picked up the sunflower seeds hen. Is this mouse entrance area far enough from where you’ll be attaching the birdfeeder to your window again (like last year – the feeder your friend gave you)? Your two birds are very sweet in the picture.
The burger looks delicious and hand-ground … wow! You are spoiled. It looks good, bun or no bun and that yummy-looking cheddar cheese. Spooky goings on for sure – tis the season for it … the next few days anyway!
Yes, maybe the steel wool would work for the groundhog. 🤔
Since we live near a field, we have so many critters, I’m sure we’ve had visitors that we didn’t even know we’ve had in our house. If only our cats would take care of them.
That’s a good point about the window bird feeder. We have it back up and the finches are tossing seeds right and left and down around the ground under the deck. Maybe that will fill the mice up enough to find a different hole to live in or drive them closer to the steel wool. 🙄
The burger is a hit and yes, I’m spoiled. We’re definitely WI cheese lovers.
We watched AH’s The Birds yesterday and that is so frightening. I hope your neighborhood is quite the next few days.
I could have bought a lot of steel wool pads with the money forked out for groundhog removal – sigh. I’d have had to find a poker, to not stick my hand anywhere near there. I didn’t know if the birdseed would encourage the mice or not. I don’t remember seeing mice in the yard when I had my birdfeeders, but when the neighor behind got rats from his dog being left outside 24/7/365 and being fed table scraps, the pest control service said my birdfeeders and birdbaths had to go.
The burger looked delicious. Yum and with cheese – I love cheese too.
I hope we’re okay here too Shelley. DTE, our energy provider, just trimmed trees across the street that were blocking a street light, I have a pole light and my sensor light is on. I sure don’t want to have to go out on a cold night like tonight because someone sets a fire or does something else stupid.
Yes, you could surround your whole foundation in steel wool. 😉 Whenever we attract wildlife to our yard we take the risk of them finding their way into the house. We haven’t seen the red squirrel yet, but I bet he’ll find his way here once the snow flies.
Yay for cheeseburgers!
I hope you’re okay too, Linda. This past year has been so challenging for you with the power. You’ve paid your dues so I hope the issues don’t happen again. If only the barking dog would scare away the people who do stupid things.
Oh yes, the red squirrel … it will see the feeder no doubt and wreak havoc with bird-feeding and photo-taking plans. My next-door neighbor bought two suet feeders, one is large, the other small. Where his shepherd hook is located is near the garage as a backdrop with nothing in the way and the squirrels can’t jump down and grab seeds. I am already seeing Downies, Chickadees and Cardinals there. I hope he continues feeding them and when I saw him I said I’d occasionally take over some small suet cakes. I’m hoping he keeps it up (more than the peanuts – that lasted about 3 days). I’ll help, but not do it all. I’m hoping for a few bird pictures come Winter.
I could go for one right now – it’s freezing and I am thinking of nudging the thermostat to 73. It is very cold outside.
The dog sends me up the wall … thank goodness now that the windows are closed over there so it is muted somewhat. Thank you for saying that Shelley … it has been a tough year and almost a year since that fire that haunts me to this day. I came home to hear tree cutters close by – I hurried to see if they were in the yard behind but it was one house over from that big tree.
We’ve had a few Chickadees here too. It is fun watching them all share the feeder space. I hope your neighbor keeps it up and that you get some fun bird photos this winter.
We’re at a record low this morning. 🥶🧊🥶
I’m glad the sounds of the dog are muted. Funny you mentioned it as I was reading your comments our neighbor’s dog was outside barking to be let back in. 🙄
It has been a very tough year and your resilience is commendable. I hope this winter is less stressful for you all around. 🤗
Well I left some black oilers and suet on his back porch and called to leave a voicemail. I said I would help out (that was partly because he will likely not do it after a while and I like seeing the birds and yes photographing them). I hope he keeps it up – I would do it in my yard, but I just don’t want to encourage mice in the yard. I thought about in the front yard where it is more open, but I don’t like doing that – the side is too close to the side door. I really only use my side door, the front door just to get the mail or Amazon packages.
Halloween she was passing out candy, then shut the light off and left. I could hear it whining and I stayed up late in case there were issues related to Halloween. Dog was whining (muted) when I finally went to bed.
Thanks – it was a tough year … little stuff and weather, thankfully not medical – I hope 2024 is smoother sailing.
Well now I’m all confused. It happens a lot these days. So I’ll go with the meat grinder. Mom had one of those…I wonder where it is now. Back in the 60s and 70s she did a lot of meat grinding, I suppose to save money. So perhaps we were spoiled by how fresh the stuff we ate was…and we didn’t know it.
🙂 SURE I AGREE!
Sorry!
Welcome to the confused club 🤗
Yes, my dad and my grandparents had meat grinders too. We’re excited to finally use it and have it work out for us. I do remember the meat tasting fresh back then too. Goes to show you that we’ve learned a lot that maybe we need to revive again? 🤔😉
Smashburgers! What’s not to like?!?!
Well said!! They are delicious 😋
Beautiful skys and flowers pictures.
For the first time, last Saturday, we cooked a wild boar roast, killed a few days before by very generous hunting customers.The meat is still very tender today, even if the cooking was poorly controlled (overcooked).
I was afraid that the parasites (Trichinella) would not be killed at a temperature below 220 degrees Celsius. Gross error because, in order to allow the destruction of the larvae, cooking through requires a sufficient temperature of 71°C. This is the only method of prevention. (The core temperature of a food is the exact temperature it must reach at its center to be cooked to the desired depth).
I am not good in cooking. Here, the problem was the notion of “Temperature inertia”.
Chef’s secret! “Inertia is the increase in the core temperature that a food will undergo after being removed from the oven, the frying pan or the cooking water.
The hotter the cooking environment, the greater this difference will be. When cooking at high temperature, for example in the oven at 180°C, the inertia is significant. It is therefore not a matter of sticking the probe in the room, putting it in the oven and waiting for it to indicate the desired temperature. If you do this, the product will inevitably be overcooked. Stop cooking the food when the probe indicates on average 8 to 10°C less in an oven set to 180°C, and 10 to 14°C less in an oven set to 240°C.”
Have you tried a sous vide for cooking? We’ve done that as well and the meat is thoroughly cooked to the temp set and it remains incredibly moist.
You could be a good teacher. 🙂
Aw, thanks 😊
Interesting, thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
Ooh, that sounds interesting and so nice of the hunting customer.
I’m at the point I don’t believe anything, even if I’m watching it “live” on TV. Maybe especially if I’m watching it “live” on TV. Even if someone I trust tells it to me.
Being a cynic makes me very hard to spook, as it were…
You’re a wise man, John!
I am a bit sad at the end of flowers and longer days and SNOW since you published this post, Shelley. I know, I know…it happens every year and eventually I will get over it. The upcoming holidays help with that.
A friend and I went to a restaurant earlier this year that serves smash burgers. Although I’m sure yours were much better, I was not impressed with the restaurant’s offering. I would rather go down the street, to a favorite bar and grill, and have a plain old hamburger with mustard (and a beer).
It has been sad to see the flowers die off. I have enjoyed seeing the birds frequent them to get seeds to eat though. Yes, I hope the holidays help!
Bummer that your smash burger experience wasn’t a smashing success. Good ol’ burgers from a favorite bar and grill is a great way to enjoy our love for Wisconsin’s food! 🥰
Stay warm, Mary – the weather we’re having is so goofy. I sure hope we’re not in for a doozy of a winter!