2022, animals, Family, home, pets, Uncategorized

Engines Of Destruction

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Our puppy hates the electric floor sweeper and the Swiffer floor broom and attacks them at every opportunity. I guess they frighten him. He goes on the deck when I clean house. Members of the American Cesky Terrier Fanciers Association assure me their pups are just the same.

Our second Welsh Terrier hated our ironing board, as well as the brooms and mops we used. She became very alarmed whenever the ironing board was liberated from the closet and put up in the living room. I think she hated the sound it made when it was stood up for use. Maggie would circle while I ironed, waiting for any opportunity to attack if it moved. I bought several new ironing board covers since she lunged and ripped them as I put the ironing board back in the closet after I was done.

My mother told me that when I was small, she couldn’t vacuum unless my father was home to hold me. I don’t remember that. I don’t remember many engines of destruction growing up, although my uncles’ cows were somewhat alarming at close range when I was small. Oh, and my Aunt Norma’s Leghorns were mean and chased me. I suppose it wasn’t a good idea to try to catch them with the wire neck holder my uncle had .

What frightened you as a child? Did you ever get chased by animals when you were little? Do you Iron? What is your favorite chicken recipe?

43 thoughts on “Engines Of Destruction”

  2. Our wimpy Samoyed cross was terrified of everything.
    I don’t remember being afraid of anything. Grew up playing in woods alone and never had a bad encounter with any animal. As an adult riding a bike I was chased several times by dogs, some in sport some with seeming vicious intent. My father had a pet rooster that singled out my sister to chase, no one else. It was before we had electricity so on Mondays Cleo had to carry pails of water from the pump into the house. He would stalk her. Remember her being pecked by the rooster but not putting down the pail. My father finally gave in and we had him for supper. My mother was an excellent cook with older chickens. Cooked slow with home made noodles or dumplings. She had the knack of noodles.
    Clyde

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      1. And apparently Ben’s geriatric chickens have been spared from becoming stewing hens. Ben, do you have a chicken nursing unit, or do we Baboons simply not need to know what happens to them?

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        1. Most of the time they simply disappear. (Coyotes).
          I do occasionally find a dead one and it’s disposed of. They rarely get “old” or look sick. Like most wild animals, perhaps they wander off on their own when their time comes. And that’s why I don’t have a good count on them.

          One year I bought some meat birds. Mom showed me how to butcher them. I’d rather collect eggs, thank you better much.
          (Didn’t do the whole chopping heads off and tanks of scalding water. Bled them and skinned. Been there and done that now.)
          I know people that take their meat birds to a place to have butchered, but they don’t make them into patties so then I don’t know how to cook it. 🙂
          Goal.

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        2. Aunt Norma butchered her own chickens. I remember them running around after their heads were chopped off.

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        4. I participated a couple of times in the processing of stewing hens. Once when my parents and a neighbor acquired a bunch of chickens from a farm near our cabin. We had an assembly line of about six people. The thing that surprised me was the undeveloped eggs of various sizes one would find when gutting the bird. We were using a scalding bath to loosen the feathers. That’s a smell that sticks with you.

          The second time, we volunteered to help Robin’s sister and her husband process some old birds, using the skills we had learned. That was a long time ago. I would need to be retrained at this point.

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        5. I remember my folks and the neighbors having the assembly line of butchering. I was maybe 4 yrs old. Distinctly remember chopping the heads off and the smell of the scalding. You’re right about that.

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        1. I grew up with steak like shoe leather. I didn’t like steak until many years later when I found it didn’t have to be cooked that way. Now, it wasn’t the best piece of meat in the first place; usually a milk cow that broke it’s leg or something, so it was mostly made into hamburger. And mom standing at the counter wacking the meat with a knife to tenderize it. Didn’t know there was another way.

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  3. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    I don’t remember being afraid of much as a very young child. My parents said that when I was very young Aunt Stina’s (yes, Norwegian) voice scared me. It was high and loud, with a cackle when she laughed. She was very kind. Now I simply remember being fascinated by Uncle Lee and Aunt Stina’s house which was so small. I loved going there because it was so uniquely small.

    Our dog Lucky (beagle/terrier) was terrified by the vacuum, brooms, and my nephew’s cowboy hat. She would lunge and yelp when I ran the vacuum which usually meant that she visited the outside deck while I vacuumed. She had no fear of the ironing board. I do iron occasionally, but I try to avoid it. Ironing was my job as a youngster. We “sprinkled” the items, meaning we dampened them, rolled them up tightly so the moisture spread evenly, then unrolled each item and ironed the shirts, table cloths, pants, etc. All that is over now with the advent of spraying steam irons and my own laziness.

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  4. I didn’t have many animal encounters as a child – didn’t get first pet till I was 15, and no relatives on a farm. I don’t remember being afraid of other people’s pets, and can’t think of what else I was afraid of , unless it would be Tom H… being mean to me in 3rd grade.

    I iron rarely, and leave an ironing table up in the basement by the sewing machine. Our ironing board is up here in the sunroom, right next to the puzzle table (at which we stand), to hold the extra pieces if the puzzle is a 1000-piecer. We spend less time at this now that we’re outdoors more, but we still have one going…

    Chicken Cacciatore, Robin’s recipe. : )

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  5. One of our golden retrievers was not afraid but greatly provoked if you poked the end of a tissue into one nostril and left it there, flaring out. He would try to snatch it. I can’t remember who originally discovered this but it could be relied upon to lighten the odd dull moment.

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  6. My Aunt Norma makes the best chicken, dipped in Fryin Magic and browned and baked.

    Husband irons his own shirts. He is left handed and irons in a very awkward way so that I can hardly bear to watch. He doesn’t want me to iron for him, though, because he considers his shirts his responsibility.

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    1. Since an ironing board is bilaterally symmetrical, I can’t imagine why ironing with the left hand would be more awkward than the right. I am left handed and always iron my own stuff. Robin has never expressed any disapproval of my technique. Usually my ironing these days consists of flattening the placket of those shirts that curl up in the wash and ironing a pair of pants when I am going somewhere “fancy”.

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      1. Husband sometimes irons with his right hand, then switches back to the left, but doesn’t change the side of the board he stands on. It looks so awkward.

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  7. I don’t recall being afraid of much when I was little, but then again I wasn’t the bravest kid on the block either. I got attacked by the neighbor’s German shepherd when I was ten which literally and figuratively scarred me for life. I’m not a dog person and never will be because I’d been friends with Rex for five years and he was always gentle and not aggressive until that “fateful day.”

    I rarely iron and haven’t for decades–my wife won’t allow me. 🙂 Maybe once or twice during my suit-and-tie era work career (late ’70s to early ’90s). Since then it’s wash and wear, baby.

    We used to make fettuccine alfredo alla pollo back in the days when calories weren’t a problem. Deliciously indulgent. My mom made a memorable grilled chicken with a lemon juice, butter, and Worcestershire sauce marinade/basting liquid.

    Love chicken Kiev, made it a few times, but it’s a pain in the derriere to keep the cold butter inside the chicken breast without leaking when it’s cooked. Chicken saltimbocca is also a fave but I don’t make that anymore because it’s also a pain to make.

    Tried a stewing hen once. I think I undercooked it by about three days because it was as rubbery as a superball.

    Current favorite chicken recipe and probably my all-time fave is 40 clove garlic roasted chicken (or any basic roast chicken recipe).

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  8. I recently hemmed up some exercise pants I bought. Used the hot tape. Worked great, first time iron used in 5-6 years. I always catch clothes early from dryer to finish on hanger so no need to iron, but I rarely wear any formal clothing. But did that with hers. But some of the tape got on the iron and ruined it for real use. Seemed wrong not to be an iron in the house. So bought a cheaper one just in case.

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  9. I was scared of the flying monkeys from Wizard of Oz and I’m not sure I’ve still seen the full movie. I remember finding a snake in the driveway and running a long ways from there. Still don’t like spiders, but don’t remember any as a kid.

    Chicken Kiev is sure good. Mom used to make chicken a’la king that I liked. I’m sure there was mushroom soup in there, right?

    I have ironed a bit. And my first off the farm job was pressing formal wear for a large local formal wear vendor. Just a couple months to get through the wedding season, using the large full size steam press thingy. Pressed vests, the tails of the coats first, then flipped it over and did the body, with an extra check on the lapels because it was hard to get them to lay flat. Pants were easy.

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  11. – I used to have nightmares about tornados even though I’ve never been in one or even seen one except from very far away.
    – I vaguely remember being chased by a goose at someone’s rural home.
    – I still own an iron and ironing board. It never gets used in the cold weather as I live mostly in jeans and sweaters. In warm/hot weather, most of my clothes get pulled out of the dryer before getting too wrinkled but there are a few items (tops and pants) that require ironing to look good.
    – Mom used to make really good roasted chicken, though I only ate the drumsticks back then. Nowadays I buy skinless, boneless breasts and use them in a variety of ways.

    Too hot today to do much of anything except enjoy the A/C in my home.

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  12. The first animal I remember being chased by was a white pelican in the Nykøbing zoo. He was roaming free in the zoo, and it appeared he had decided that my pink summary dress with flowers on it looked edible. At any rate, he chased me and attempted to grab my dress with his huge beak, and I was petrified. My dad thought it extremely funny, clearly not realizing the terror that bird struck in my eight year old heart.

    When I was thirteen, a neighbor’s dog bit me in the face. Up until that time I had always loved all dogs, including Pjevs, but even though the physical damage was minor, I was terrified whenever Pjevs was running loose.

    I had a more serious dog attack thirty years ago when a dog, chained up in back of an office building I was trying to enter, attacked me. He knocked me down and stood growling menacingly with his head inches from mine. I was numb with fear, but remained calm and talked to him in a soothing voice, telling him what a good dog he was, doing such a terrific job of guarding the building. When he calmed down and backed away, I slowly got up and tried to put some distance between us, and he attacked again. This time, however, I had managed to get far enough from him that his chain prevented him from reaching me. I shudder to think of what could have happened. A truly frightening experience.

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  13. Chicken figures into so many of the things I make that isolating a favorite is impossible. It depends on my mood and especially on the time of year and what else is available and in season. In the summer I tend to grill a lot of chicken, sometimes to eat as is, sometimes to incorporate into a larger recipe. I use chicken frequently in pasta salads in warm weather but pasta salads just seem wrong in the winter.

    In cold weather chicken goes into soups and stir-fries and fried rice and casseroles of various kinds. I really enjoy a chicken stew with lots of vegetables and thick egg noodles. Likewise chicken pot pies convey great comfort on a cold winter night, but I would never think of one in mid-summer.

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  14. About the only thing I remember being afraid of when I was a kid was klieg lights. You know -/ those lights that they have a lot of in Hollywood that shine up into the sky and ossilate back-and-forth? About the time I was seven or eight, some car dealership or somebody had klieg lights and so you would see them fairly often during the summer. I wasn’t particularly worried about aliens but for some reason I was sure that these lights were alien communication. I never shared with an adult so there was no one who would ever away my fears and of course I got over it eventually.

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    1. I was creeped out by klieg lights at about the same age and for the same reason.
      When I was very young, my parents took me to see fireworks and I cried until they took me home. The noise disturbed me. For the same reason, I always hated the circus and especially the clowns, as they were prone to set off loud explosions. I still am repelled by loud noise.

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      1. That’s why I’m not fond of fireworks, either. I get people loving the colorful displays, but the whole time I’m watching fireworks I’m concerned about all of the creatures – birds, animals, both wild and domestic, not to mention humans who are scared out of their minds. Just can’t enjoy fireworks anymore.

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  15. Things that Guinevere is afraid of. The robot vacuum, the cat, the regular vacuum, doors that are partially shut, dogs thay go by the house, squirrels in the backyard, riding in the car, pillows that fall over and hit her on the butt, anything dropped behind her that she’s not ready for, the kiddy pool in the backyard, anything you put on her. But in a very strange turn of events, she is not afraid of thunderstorms or fireworks. Go figure.

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  17. One of my favorite chicken dishes has a sauce with lemon and capers.

    I don’t recall being chased by any animals. When visiting my grandparents we were always warned to steer clear of the livestock. Once a horse stepped on my foot, though.

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    1. Sounds like Chicken Piccata, and that a favorite of mine, too.

      We visited a farm somewhere in the vicinity of St. Cloud, once, that raises yaks. The farmer invited us to go out in the fields to see the beasts with him, but were cautioned to stay very close to him, and be sure his Jeep was between the big male yak and us at all times. That big bull yak had very impressive horns, nothing to be toyed with.

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  18. I haven’t ironed anything in at least twenty-five years, and I have no intention of doing it in the next twenty five either. Husband does his own ironing.

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