Trail Cam Tuesday - August 30, 2011

Sorry for the late lack of post lately, but Grad School is kicking my butt. Who would have thought that going back to school would been an adjustment. Haha. Even though I have a few great pictures for this week I am going to hold off, at least for a while. Instead I have a great contest to tell everybody about. My good buddy, Will, over at The Will to Hunt is having an intersting trail cam contest, Hit List Trail Cam Pic Contest. Make sure to check it out, there is only one day left! I know I have my pictures in, make sure you do too. The picture on the right shows all the great sponsors of this contest. For more information check out his contest page for details.

Trail Cam Tuesday - August 23, 2011

Last weeks internet fiasco gave me time to look through some old trail cam pictures. I always forget how much fun it is to look at the deer from years past, along with the progression of Foggy Mountain. But the greatest thing about an archive of pictures is that it becomes a useful tool. By looking that the pictures last week, I knew I should be expecting the bachelor group to start forming. Actually it was a little later this year,  but I knew that I should have some pictures of the groups very soon. Guess what? They were there when I checked my camera. It's amazing to be able to tell when they should start forming bachelor groups, watching deer for multiple years, when bucks will start to lose their velvet, and when they start to shed their antlers just from having a few years of pictures archived.

My first bachelor group this year.

There's everything from spikes to eight points in this picture.
It makes me happy to know bow season is right around the corner.

A nice eight point that has some potential this year.

WIN A SAILFISH ADVENTURE

You read it right, you could win a Sailfish adventure! My great friends at SoCal Salty and iFished are offering an opportunity for a once-in-a-lifetime memory! I'm not sure how anyone could pass this up. Since my recent adventure into the world of salt water fishing, I've been looking for any chance I could get to head back to that mystical salty water. You can find out more details here. All you have to do is sign up to get registered for this once-in-a-lifetime memory! I know I have, now it's you turn!

Besides entering in for the grand prize, they are currently having weekly prize drawing. The grand prize drawing will be on November 1, 2011, and the date of this adventure, if you win, will be December 13, 2011. Don't fret, if you win and want to continue this adventure there will be discounted rates if you want to extend stay. Even if you don't win you can still join in at discounted rates! Make sure to check out the contest for further details.

Weekend Recap: August 13 & 14, 2011

I had this post almost finished prior to our internet issues and I was lucky enough to get it finished and posted today. Lets hope Frontier gets us up and running in full capacity ASAP! For now I'm going to give everyone a glimpse into what happened this past weekend with a few pictures and brief descriptions. If you pay close attention this might even play spoiler to a few blog posts in the future.

This weekend started a little earlier than normal, try 2:30 AM. Normally those hours are kept for hunting and fishing, but in actuality we were taking Cassie's brother to the airport in Pittsburgh when we saw this great sunrise in the side view mirror. It can't really compare to a sunrise while sitting on sand, but it still was a welcomed site after an already long morning.

Next in line was a trip to the garden to harvest a few things, a short nap and a second breakfast. A friend of the family, Chris, came up for the day. This trip was spurred on by food, guns, and dogs. Ok, ok, I'll give a little more explanation to that one. In my previous post about how to make Pickled Hot Dogs and Peppers, everyone learned about my Dad's love for hot peppers. Chris wanted to pick my dad's brain to get some new recipes and help with hot peppers. My dad  was excited to get to teach Chris how to make his famous hot pepper relish, and if you're luck everyone here might get the recipe too.

L: Prep for making the Hot Pepper Relish - R: Chris learning and make his first batch

Once everything was cleaned up and stored, we ran down to the local watering hole to grab a quick bite. Next, we decided to go do one of my favorite things, target practice.  This was an interesting experience as Chris is an XD fan and as you all know I prefer Glock myself. Needless to say there was a lot of shooting to compare and contrast. All I learned is that I love to shoot and want more guns, but then again who doesn't?

We even busted out the old Marlin Model 782 - .22 Mag
L to R: Chris & Myself

After all that fun we decided it was time to reward Buster and Maya with a trip to the river and even a game of fetch. The fun and games with the pooches proceeded till near dark. The dogs laying at our feet half asleep was a sign that enough was an enough and the days adventures came to an end.

Sunday was a more low key, but we did manage to go blackberry picking. It was just enough to make some jam, but that a post for another time.

Technical Difficulties

We at Foggy Mountain Meanderings are currently experiencing technical difficulties that are beyond our control. The internet connection at our headquarters has been interrupted since this past weekend and after repeated calls and conversations, there is still no help being sent our way. They have given me another promise that someone will be out here tomorrow afternoon to get it fixed. This being the third time they rescheduled I hope they stick to it. Please bear with us and we will be up and running as soon as possible.

Remember you can always find us on our social media outlets:

Twitter - @FoggyMtnMeander

Facebook Fan Page - Foggy Mountain Meanderings 

** Update 8/19/11 - Still no service tech or help, but Frontier now has admitted they are in the wrong and my "ticket" has been passed over. This still doesn't mean they are coming out to fix it though. Wish us luck!**

Pickled Hot Dogs and Banana Peppers

Since I can remember hot peppers have been a staple around my parents house and now mine. The reason why is a simple one, my dad loves them. He will eat anything that involves hot pepper, hot sauces, or any form of hot spices period and has the collect to prove it. With that being said, it isn't surprising that a third of my garden is devoted to peppers, everything from sweet Bell peppers to very hot Habanero peppers and everything in between. The only problem with that is that it leads to having an abundant amount of peppers which leaves me trying to figure out what I can do with them. After taking up canning last year, I figured what better way to start preserving some of the banana peppers than making some Pickled Hot Dogs and Banana Peppers.

This recipe will yield 4 Pints jars, but can be adapted 

to yield other quantities.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups White Vinegar 
• 2 Cups Sugar
• 2 Cups Water 
• 1/2 Tbsp Alum 
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Pickling Spice
• 4 Cloves of Garlic / 1 per Jar (Optional)
• Hot/Sweet Banana Peppers
• 16 Regular Length Hot Dogs

There are a few steps when making these:

Cold Packing the Jars:

1. Have your clean jars in front of you as you begin to cut up the hot dogs and peppers. I prefer to half the hot dogs and place two halves on the bottom of the jar first. Then I proceed to thinly slice the peppers into rings and then layer them. Then continue alternating the hot dogs and peppers until there is a generous inch of head space left in the jar.

Making the pickling brine:

1. Combine the White Vinegar, Water, Alum, Pickling Spice and Sugar into a medium to large sauce pan and bring to a boil allowing the sugar to dissolve.

Combining and "Bathing" the jars:

1. Add pickling brine to the cold packed jars, still leaving 1/2 to 3/4 inch of head space.
2. Clean rim of jar with a rag to remove any liquid or debris.
3. Apply lid and rings and place in "hot bath" for 15 minutes. 
4. Remove and place in a cool dry area to cool down.

Enjoy!!

Trail Cam Tuesday - August 9, 2011

I was out of town this weekend and have yet to check my trail cams from this past week. With that being said I'm going to keep it short and sweet. This is going to  be one for all of you Rackoholics, these are from the same set as last week's bonus picture.

Not the best picture, but it displays his rack beautiful.

It's amazing the difference a year or two can make.

Couldn't leave the odd ball out, the one on the right has been nicknamed, Curly.

Trail Cam Saturday? - 8/6/2011

I had mentioned on Tuesday that I would do a catch up post on all the pictures that were taken over the last few weeks. This idea would have worked if the deer didn't get shy, really while we were at the beach the day time temperature was in the mid 90's and even reached into the 100's a few times. Although we mainly got pictures of bears and does, I'll give you a few interesting shots of a doe and fawns and sower with cub. Since everyone loves to see big racks this time of year, I'll throw in a bonus picture from another property that Jay frequently hunts.

Yes, it was that hot!

Mom, wait!

Not sure how I feel about cubs and sow running up the tree my tree stand is in.

Which one would you pick?

Stuffed Zucchini

Side view after it had been cut.

This idea started while I was still at the beach, I was reading an issue of Grit magazine when I came an article on what to do when you have to many or to big of zucchini. The one that stood out the most was the Stuffed Zucchini. After returning home and seeing I had quite a few large zucchini this recipe was a no-brainer! It turned out better than I had expected with the zucchini being very tender and the stuffing had prefect favoring to match it.

Ingredients: 

• 1 zucchini, 12 to 18 inches
• 1⁄2 to 1 pound ground beef or meatloaf mix (equal amounts beef, pork and veal)
• 1 can (14 to 16 ounces) corn, drained, or 1 box (16 ounces) frozen corn, thawed and drained, or leftovers (any amount) from corn on the cob
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 3 to 4 eggs
• 1 box stuffing mix
• Black pepper or crushed red pepper to taste
• Grated or sliced mozzarella cheese

**When I made this, the said amount of ingredients made enough stuffing to stuff four halves of 14 inch zucchini, so do some experimenting to find out how much it'll make for you.**

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
2. Wash zucchini and place on cutting board. Cut off each end and slice zucchini in half lengthwise. Use tablespoon or serving spoon to scoop out seeds and make a hollow in each half. Place, hollow side up, in prepared dish.
3. In large bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except cheese. Spoon into zucchini hollows. Add water around zucchini to 1-inch depth.
4. Cover dish with foil, and bake for 1 to 2 hours, or until zucchini is tender.
5. Remove foil, and top each zucchini hollow with cheese. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Trail Cam Tuesday - August 2, 2011

This being my first post since being back in West Virginia, what would be more fitting than making it a TCT. As I am still trying to get adjusted to being back from vacation and not having a job for the first time since I was in my early teens or some might look at it as I should be preparing to head back to college, I am going to do a brief post today. I will do a second TCT post this week once I collect and view all the pictures from the past two weeks, but for now I'm going to leave you with a few candid pictures.

I hope everyone enjoyed last week's edition and introduction of FMM Flickr. There will be many more pictures  added to it this week as well as all the extras from my adventures from this point forward. The pictures can be found here or on a soon-to-be icon on the right side bar.

Sit back, relax, and we'll make you a star trophy. 

A little up close and personal for me.

What looks to be a promising buck.

I might not have gotten my spring gobbler, but there's still a fall season waiting for me.