Making blacksmith's tongs

There was a hint of Spring in the air this morning, and it warmed up to about 45 above. The struggle between the Cold Maker andt he Summer Maker has begun, sounds like this week we will witness the struggle as the temperatures are due to vary widely.

My horses were happy to get their grain this morning after the good workout yesterday. I spent the morning working on the Old Faithful Inn Lantern, and called a client from the neighboring town that had commissioned me to make two pairs of blacksmith tongs for him. I had already forged a pair of tongs for holding round stock, so invited him to come watch as I forged a pair to hold flat iron for him. He is fascinated with Blacksmith work and wants to do some in his retirement. We had a nice visit while I forged the tongs.

We were happy to have our neighbors up for supper tonite I made them Ainslie's version of Shepherds Pie which was appropriate as they own a large Sheep and Cattle ranch near Lavina. We had a great visit and it really helps the Winter pass to have good freinds at our table. If you want to try my recipe I'll include it below:

Shepherds Pie
1 1/2 pounds of ground deer,elk or antelope burger
1 large onion chopped
2 Envelopes of pork gravymix
2 cans of green beans
8 Servings of instant mashed potato

Fry the onion til tender
Brown the burger meat
Follow the directions on the instant gravy mix and pour it over the browned burger in the skillet,
Sprinkle the green beans evenly over the meat /gravy mixture in the skillet.
Make up the instant mashed potatos and spread the evenly over the top of the whole mess,top with pats of butter and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

A few years ago I had some freinds from California hunting here. One was a 80 year old homesteaders' kid from here in Lavina, he spent his career as a mechanical engineer working for Lockheed, He brought his hunting buddy's two sons. Both are wildife biologists and great guys, as well as very capable hunters . To make a long story short we all went our separate ways for the morning hunt . I shot a fat yearling deer a mile north of our cabin ,and after I hung her up at the cabin, settled in  for a little nap. The boys came back with no game. That afternoon we all sallied out for an evening hunt, I was lucky again and shot another fat doe early in the evening. A fierce storm blew in blowing snow while I cleaned the doe and dragged it to the pickup, by the time I got back to the cabin and hung her up it was really howling. I made up the above recipe on our wood cook stove, plopped it in the oven and settled down to a good book until the boys returned. One of em said "George is really showing us up he shot two deer today and  came back here and got supper ready while we didn't get any!"  These guys were really good natured and plenty good hunters themselves, I kept telling them most of my recipes only take a half hour to prepare, Shepherds pie is one of em. Let me know how you like it, it really shines when the wind hit 20 MPH and the snow is falling sideways!