Dear Fanlax Experts - Help and advice thread.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

so a duck has been laying a daily egg in a planter in the backyard. it dug a hole, and sits there every morning for an hour. i go up and check and there's now three eggs. she's there right now.

i've done some googling so i know what to do- but anyone have this happen before?

this can probably go in the "quarantine whatcha doing" thread, or the peculiar/strange thread, or maybe even the good news thread.

maybe the food thread too??? just kidding.

[Kismet]

so a duck has been laying a daily egg in a planter in the backyard. it dug a hole, and sits there every morning for an hour. i go up and check and there's now three eggs. she's there right now.

i've done some googling so i know what to do- but anyone have this happen before?

this can probably go in the "quarantine whatcha doing" thread, or the peculiar/strange thread, or maybe even the good news thread.

maybe the food thread too??? just kidding.

Appears pretty normal duck behavior at this time of the year - if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and lays its eggs like a duck - it's a DUCK!

I'd be careful about saying PEKING or ORANGE SAUCE near that planter.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

the MIL asked for a trellis for her climbing hydrangea. a few woodscrews and 8' boards later, here it is:




had some trouble drilling/nailing into the cinder (bottom) and also the shingles (top). but it worked. there's only one hydrangea planted (on the left) and we have two more to plant. will have to report back if this actually works!

[DMac]

Very nice Chairman, everything straight and level, bottom rung of the top piece perfectly level and in line with the top rungs on the L and R pieces. While you're waiting for the plants to grow up them it should be entertaining to watch the squirrels running up and down them.
Pesky little pricks can do a lot of damage. Will gladly lend you my pellet gun if the need arises. Not too many squirrels around my place (anymore).

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

thank you! yes, i did try to line up the bottom rung with the top- you can see the first two are a bit off. i had the ladder on rocks and it was hard to stay level.

the third one might be an inch wider. also i grappled whether to paint or not, figured they would get dirty and then hopefully covered in leaves/vines.

this was about 60' of commonwood 1.5*.75. because of the unflat surface (shingles), it needed to bend to be as close as possible to the wall. because i've heard vines can get behind it and pull out nails.

total cost: $30 for wood; $2 for screws
time: 2hrs planning; 1hr sawing; 2.5hrs installing

i may have ruined a few drill bits going into the cinder.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

next up- the MIL asked for a birdhouse. two levels. any thoughts???

also a friend in CA just mailed me a brand new jigsaw. so i'll be breaking that out soon. pointers welcome!

[DMac]

What kind of mushroom is this, anybody know.
It's pretty big and fat, little on the ugly side.
Growing next to a shed, gets a decent amount of sun.
I'm bettin' it's edible.

[ardilla secreta]

It looks like a morel, which would be one of the most cherished ‘rooms, but it’s a bit hard to make out for sure and I don’t want to be responsible for your demise. Give it to Bandito. He’ll eat anything.

https://www.google.com/search?q=morel%20mushrooms

[DMac]

Thanks, a s, I was thinking the same (did a little research myself) but it just seems very strange in that they're they're supposed to be a pretty top shelf mushroom and hard to find...expensive too. That's sure what it looks like though.

[DMac]

More and better pictures. There's really no mistaking that for a morel, right?

[a fan]

Wow! What are you going to make with that, DMac??

[DMac]

Am really clueless, a fan, gonna have to go to YouTube and see what's what with it.
Am kinda thinkin' I should serve it with some oysters and wine and serve it to a lady friend to see what she might do with it.

[ardilla secreta]

You just have that one?
The most basic application would be to cook some papradelle pasta then slice morel into slim coins and sauté in plenty of butter and herbs then add pasta to the sauce. Best not to wash the morel. Put in paper bag and shake out any possible grit or critter.

Option two is to sauté sliced morel in butter and brunoise of shallots, add cream and reduced veal stock, spoon over fricassee of chicken breast, with sides of pomme vapeur and fiddlehead ferns. You’ll need to serve that with a vin de Bourgogne, such as a Clos Vougeot which will set you back $175.

Or you could sell it on eBay.

[DMac]

Yes, just the one. Seems like crazy odds that I would have stumbled across that one.
Option two is out, and while three is tempting, that's out too. One sounds pretty good but we'll see what I end up doing with it (you holding yourself responsible for my demise if all doesn't go well at this point?). Will ultimately let you know how it all turned out.

I knew that about mushrooms in the paper bag, already in one in the fridge.
Thanks.

[DMac]

Mr. secreta, whadaya think of this one?
Could slice it into some of those coins, dip 'em in batter, deep fry 'em, and pass 'em off as some of those pig's azs calamari.

[ardilla secreta]

Nah. Slice it and put it on a piece of pizza. You have to believe if you got one morel then more could appear or are hiding under a leaf. Keep your eyes open.

[DMac]

Okay, I ate the mushroom. After watching a bunch of videos I decided to just fry it in butter, little salt and pepper. Am really glad about that decision. Only had one and I wanted to taste the mushroom, I hadn't ever had one of those. To say the morel is just swell is an insulting understatement to the sac fungi. Wow, what an incredible flavour and texture, this thing absolutely lives up to its reputation. Gotta figure the top is the sac of the fungi, and cooking that part to almost (if not a little) crispy is highly recommended by me. A very tasty treat, that morel mushroom is.
Had a couple of little lamb chops, cooked those babies up to perfection. Little salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, little olive oil in the pan.
Asparagus cooked in a little white wine ($140 a bottle....not), buttered and salted.
This combination of flavours had moon walking, Irish and gangnam dancing going on in my mouth. Was a real party. I'm one who saves the best for last, the last bite will be what I like the best. Was quite a balancing act coming down the stretch with the morel and lamb. I went with the morel, that's pretty special stuff.
Feel like watching Alice In Wonderland now, gotta go.

[ChairmanOfTheBoard]

trinity are you there?

got a traffic ticket. it was a rolling stop through a sign. officer says: when you get this ticket, plead not guilty. then winked at me.

fwiw, i came to almost a complete stop. it was hardly egregious.

what the H does this mean?

[kramerica.inc]

Okay, I ate the mushroom. After watching a bunch of videos I decided to just fry it in butter, little salt and pepper. Am really glad about that decision. Only had one and I wanted to taste the mushroom, I hadn't ever had one of those. To say the morel is just swell is an insulting understatement to the sac fungi. Wow, what an incredible flavour and texture, this thing absolutely lives up to its reputation. Gotta figure the top is the sac of the fungi, and cooking that part to almost (if not a little) crispy is highly recommended by me. A very tasty treat, that morel mushroom is.
Had a couple of little lamb chops, cooked those babies up to perfection. Little salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, little olive oil in the pan.
Asparagus cooked in a little white wine ($140 a bottle....not), buttered and salted.
This combination of flavours had moon walking, Irish and gangnam dancing going on in my mouth. Was a real party. I'm one who saves the best for last, the last bite will be what I like the best. Was quite a balancing act coming down the stretch with the morel and lamb. I went with the morel, that's pretty special stuff.
Feel like watching Alice In Wonderland now, gotta go.

That’s awesome. Talk about the little pleasures in life.
Have a few unique looking fungi in my yard from Time To
Time. Crossing my fingers I get lucky like you, d-Mac! Gotta do some research next time!

[a fan]

Okay, I ate the mushroom. After watching a bunch of videos I decided to just fry it in butter, little salt and pepper. Am really glad about that decision. Only had one and I wanted to taste the mushroom, I hadn't ever had one of those. To say the morel is just swell is an insulting understatement to the sac fungi. Wow, what an incredible flavour and texture, this thing absolutely lives up to its reputation. Gotta figure the top is the sac of the fungi, and cooking that part to almost (if not a little) crispy is highly recommended by me. A very tasty treat, that morel mushroom is.
Had a couple of little lamb chops, cooked those babies up to perfection. Little salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, little olive oil in the pan.
Asparagus cooked in a little white wine ($140 a bottle....not), buttered and salted.
This combination of flavours had moon walking, Irish and gangnam dancing going on in my mouth. Was a real party. I'm one who saves the best for last, the last bite will be what I like the best. Was quite a balancing act coming down the stretch with the morel and lamb. I went with the morel, that's pretty special stuff.
Feel like watching Alice In Wonderland now, gotta go.

You're killing me with this! Sounds like a fine evening!