BBQ Season

The next best thing to bird season is BBQ season! I actually dusted off the gas grill about month ago, re-seasoning it with fatty chicken thighs and a few varieties of sausage; stuff that puts a nice gloss on the stainless steel grill. Today I was rifling through the fridge, checking the "best used by" dates on condiments, salad dressings, and pickled goodies, and came across a not-too-old bottle of soy sauce; I instantly thought of BBQ teriyaki chicken. Transforming soy sauce to teriyaki is simple, equal parts of each: soy sauce, water, and granulated sugar. So today I combined 2-cups of each ingredient in a stainless steel bowl and whisked it until the sugar was dissolved into the liquid. Then I sliced half a red onion, chopped a bunch of green onion, and added them to the teriyaki. I let the teriyaki and onion combination  marry a short time, then poured the mixture over the top of 12 chicken thighs I had placed in an porcelain baking dish. I'll let the chicken marinate a few hours on the kitchen counter before throwing it on the grill this evening. I recommend using indirect heat on your gas or charcoal grill when preparing teriyaki chicken.

Fly Control

During the summer flies become a big problem; they're dirty, aggressive, and can pass disease to your animals. For those of you out there having problems controlling flies around the dog kennels and horse turnouts, I have found these fly bags to be a great way to do some damage to the persistent little critters ever-multiplying numbers. The bags can be purchased at most hardware and feed stores, and have easy to follow instructions for use right on them. They are non-toxic and highly effective.The picture above shows a bag full of flies which I am replacing with a fresh bag. Proper husbandry; keeping manure and stool to a minimum in your kennels and turnouts, also keeps fly and health issues to a minimum; I make it a point to clean-up my kennels and turnouts twice a day.

Indian Head Intrigue

photo by Holly HIggins

Indian Head Intrigue (Jill) is the latest addition to the kennel. Jill was bred by Paul Wells; she was sired by CH Kelly's Rebel Louie and is out of Wells Fargo First Lady. Jill hasn't been introduced to birds yet, but has started her yard work which includes; heeling, whoaing, recalling, loading into the truck, and crating. Although she hasn't been introduced to birds in the birdfield, she has been run dry regularly in order to establish her ground game, which includes standing, releasing on the whistle, running to the front, and learning whistle and voice commands to bend and stay forward. She is intelligent and athletic, and has been fun to work with.