Marriage Refreshment Getaway! ~A Marriage Post

I'm pretty sure it goes without saying that married couples need to make time for their marriage.  Dates.  Getaways.  We certainly all know this & I think a good portion of people practice it.  72% of re-marriages with children end in divorce!  (I can certainly see why this is true, sad though it is.)  Kevin & I fully intend to be part of the 28%.  :)  It seems like such a simple thing to have some undivided time, but the benefits are great.

We have been married going on 7 years & we've been very fortunate to have quite a few 'getaways.'  

~July honeymoon at Sugarloaf, (courtesy of a family friend).  Lots of hiking, biking, canoeing, fishing & swimming.

~3 times 'van camping', just the two of us!  This is my favorite way to celebrate our anniversary, although I draw the line at being away more than 2 nights, since it's in the heat of the summer & no showers!!  

~Several different marriage encounters.  Simulcast in Presque Isle.  Alpha Marriage Course at church.  Weekend retreat in Camden.  Family Life Today 'Weekend to Remember' in Portland.  I am very honest about my struggles, but it's important to note that Kevin & I work very hard on our marriage.  We are absolutely committed to it & each other.

~A gifted stay at the Lucerne Inn.  

~A weekend in Boston, doing the Freedom Trail.

~A weekend in Bridgton, complete with lots of fishing.

~A night away in Bucksport.  A couple of years ago, when autumns had proved to be difficult seasons for us, so we try to get away in the fall if we can.  (Obviously that didn't happen this year, but here we are now!)

~Lastly, our current weekend in Boston.  

This past summer we didn't go 'van camping', mostly because we spent 4 days camping at Sebago Lake as a family instead.  Our intention is to try to go away near my birthday, at the end of October, but that didn't happen either.  We decided on Boston, before Christmas, so that we could enjoy the lights & window displays.  That didn't happen either!  I was disappointed that we missed out on the Christmas-y Boston.  But a theme of my writing is also that we need to let-loose the ideal of perfect & go with what we have!

Economics are another issue.  Both Kevin & I make pretty cheap dates!  We probably eat out together less than 6 times/year.  But we think, no-we know our marriage is worth investing in.  We try to be smart & bring along most of our food & pay $100 or less for a hotel.  (Of course van camping is free!)  Also, this year, we chose to not exchange Christmas presents with each other, in anticipation of going away together.  Well kinda.  I bought Kevin a toaster.  (I know.  I am so romantic!)  And he bought me Raleigh's medicated ointment & wool socks & a planner.  Dear Marv & Kel gave us some Christmas $ & Kevin earned some money delivering a bear to Cape Cod & voila, a 'getaway' was born!

Day 1:  Drive to Cape Cod to deliver a bear & not talk about the stressors & start a new devotional together & work on the book for a Sunday night class we are taking together & just enjoy.  Buy a Starbucks & some fudge & chocolate-covered cherries!

Oh, I need to point this out.  I am typically the planner in our family.  Family vacations & holidays, etc.  So it is particularly important to note that Kevin planned this weekend.  Actually, looking back at my 'getaway' list, he has planned the majority of them.

Day 2:  Rainy, Warm Day in Boston.

First time at The Garden for both Kevin & I!  (And he is a Bruins fan, so that would be his sporting event of choice!)  I started thinking about it, and I've been to a few, but not many sporting events.  

~Wrigley Field

~A couple of Flyers games & a few Phillies games

~Tennis matches.  (Way back with Uncle Duane.  I think we saw Boris Becker, but I can't remember???)

For $17.50 each, Kevin & I got balcony seats to the US Figure Skating Championships!  Super, super cool.  First of all, although not 'up' on current skaters, I love figure skating.  I also love the Olympics.  LOVE.  Also, the balcony seats were plenty close enough.  It was a sweet thing for Kevin to do & a fun thing for us to do together.

This is my 3rd big ice skating event to go to.  (Sorry Mom & Dad - did I ever to go the Ice Capades??  I can't remember!)  Anyway, figure skating rounds out the other major sporting events I've been to.  

~In 1990, (I think!), dear Nancy took us to see skating in Hartford.  I remember Katarina Witt & I'm not sure who else skated.  I bought a Katarina Witt t-shirt & wore it as much as possible!

~In 2000, (I think!), Ken & I went to Stars on Ice where I got to see most of my favorites & skaters I am most familiar with:  Scott Hamilton, Ilia Kulik, Kurt Browning, Ekaterina Gordeeva, Kristi Yamaguchi, Tara Lipinski & more.  Awesome.  

~And today!  My first competition to go to.  Our tickets were for one session.  We saw the free skate for 4 pairs and the free dance for 8 pairs of ice dancers.  About 2.5 hours of skating.

When we got to our seats the men were practicing, so we got to watch them.  I think this is Richard Dornbush.

The 'Puffs' Kiss & Cry area!

I LOVE freebies!  Even stupid, silly, stuffed, Smuckers berries!

Then we enjoyed a packed lunch, sitting in the truck!  We walked around, with plenty of kissing!  We walked through, reading, The New England Holocaust Memorial.  

I love hot drinks & cafes, and we were especially glad to find one when we heard wicked thunder & the rain came pouring down!  

Yummers.  It was very tempting for us to get another cup.  But we didn't!

At this point, Kevin was maybe wishing the kids were with us so that he no longer needed to be the focal point of my photos!   

3 games.  And yes, I reigned supreme.  All this, and humble too!

One of the lovely things about a 'getaway' is the lack of rush.  We had a lazy afternoon with no need to be anywhere.  We did more of our new devotional.  It was just lovely.

I hate photos of myself.  I spend too much energy feeling self-conscious of how I look.  I wanted a decent 'selfie', (Kevin says he looks like a creeper in this one, but it's the only sort-of satisfactory one I have of me!)  but was struggling with the results.  Just then a lady walked by who had a deformed arm.  It was a timely reminder for me.  I have a lot to be thankful for.

Kevin loves pastries & all day he saw people carrying around 'Mike's Pastry' boxes!  He finally found what he was looking for!  :)

Cannoli for me & 'lobster tail puff' for Kevin!

Kevin also surprised me by researching about & picking out a restaurant.  Score for him!  He chose Union Oyster House.  Oldest restaurant in Boston.  Oldest restaurant in continuous service in the U.S., open to diners since 1826.  It has been a major local landmark for more than 250 years.  

We at in the Pine Room, the same room Louis Phillippe, future King of France, lived in exile, earning $ by teaching French to Boston ladies.  Also the same room where the Kennedy family would eat.  Tall bench backs provide more privacy than some of the other rooms. We were seated by a window, seen here on the outside of the building.  

The fireplace & the dumb waiter were right behind Kevin!

Goofy picture of me - but I am trying!  Kevin had fried clams & I had broiled seafood.  Yummers!

A little more time walking around & enjoying an evening in the city.  Found a cookie cutter to go with my collection.  (I said I am a cheap date!  I like to collect metal cookie cutters from the places we go!)

And back to the hotel we went.

So - My marriage isn't perfect or even great sometimes.  But we love each other & we make time for each other.  This getaway has been a great break.  Boston Refreshment.  If you are married, I encourage you, too, to take time to get away.  

I must include a picture of Kevin's suitcase!  This is smaller than most 'Goin' to Grandma's' suitcases!  About the height of a bag of goldfish!  It was SO funny to see him carry it!  (However, he would not let me take a picture of him carrying it!)  

Cooking an Egg-Laying/ Non-Meat Bird/ Rooster - A Kitchen Post

Our chickens have a purpose.  We have them so we can have fresh eggs.

As an added bonus, we really do enjoy our chickens, and especially our chicks!

The last purpose they have is meat.  

Therefore, we don't need roosters at all.  In fact, when we first got chickens, we didn't even get a rooster.  Kevin is a light sleeper & didn't want one & maybe I was scared of them, I'm not sure.  Then, we were given a beautiful Ameraucana rooster & he was the grandpappy of all the chickens we've had since.  We've also had at least one rooster ever since.  Now that we've had broody hens hatch out chicks themselves, I am even more motivated to keep a rooster around.

Even though I don't need more than one rooster, half the chicks that hatch out are usually male, so this gives us a chance to have some great crockpot meals.  Feed is expensive and I don't want to feed any chickens that aren't being productive.  (Although in the summer I 'free range' them a lot so they have a chance to have lots of greens & bugs.)

It takes me about 4 months to determine if a pullet is male or female.  One year, for whatever reason, we kept 3 roosters all year long because they were all kind & got along really well with each other.  Typically we keep only one rooster.  I really like the one I currently have because it is kind and also because it is white, which makes for some good coloring with my chicks.  So I plan to keep him as long as I can.

A word about mean roosters.  In my opinion, there is absolutely no need to put up with a mean rooster.  I've heard all kinds of ways people have dealt with them.  We kill a rooster, as soon as we realize it's mean.  Out of all the roosters we have had we have had more nice ones than mean ones.  I'm not sure why some are mean.  But they can be very aggressive when they are.

The above photo shows 2 of my chickens from the end of June hatch of this year.  They were both roosters.  I would have gotten rid of them anyway, but they were both mean, so we ate them quite some time ago!

The first time we killed a rooster we didn't eat it.  It seems that the 'chicken people' we knew didn't eat roosters!  No one said why and we just followed suit.

However, we eat all of our roosters & unwanted hens now, and my purpose in this blog post is to share the best way we have found to prepare a non-meat bird for eating.  

In case you aren't aware:  When buying live poultry you can buy meat birds or egg layers.  The purpose for meat birds is to fatten them up in a short period of time & kill them for meat.  They are quite different from egg layers.  Egg layer chicken is even more different from what you might find at a grocery store.  If you were to just try baking it, (I speak from experience!), it will be so tough that it is basically inedible.

Back to the killing!  We don't have a lot of chickens, so we simply cut off the head with an axe.

The first time we killed quite a few chickens at once, we plucked them.  That's what I grew up doing.  

However, since we don't really eat the chicken skin anyway, and because it is much, much faster & easier, we now just skin it and skip the plucking altogether.  I had never heard of anyone else doing this, but a couple of months ago when Mom & I were visiting her Amish friend, Laura, that was how she did it as well.  

We cut the wings & the feet off short, as that is easier as well.  

(just an added bonus:  What this chicken was eating!!)

After skinning it and cleaning out the innards, and then rinsing out several time, I am left with a fresh, good bird.  Today we killed two because one really isn't enough to feed our growing family!  

And here is the recipe which is the whole purpose of the post:

Take your clean bird and brine overnight in:

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 T lime juice

1 t ginger

salt & pepper

1/2 t oregano

1/2 t parsley

In the morning I follow this recipe, taken from Fix It & Forget It:

1 lb. bag baby carrots

1 small onion, diced

14.5 oz. can green beans

(I often add potatoes or whatever veggies I have.)

2 t salt

1/2 t pepper 

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup white wine

1/2-1 t dried basil

Put veggies on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Add chicken.  Top with salt, pepper, broth & wine.  Sprinkle with basil.  Cover.  Cook on low 8-10 hours or high 3-5 hours.  

(This is a bird I did a few weeks ago, using just potatoes & onions for veggies.)

Enjoy!