Sauerkraut and Noodles and life goes on

Noticed that the economic summit of the past few days came to the conclusion that all economies must have regulation or this mess that we are in could happen again. I guess the Republican idea that the U.S. could be a rogue and just decide not to regulate is a privilege that we cannot take anymore. The rest of the world is watching and we have to start acting like we are part of it. The President was honest enough to say that this depression (not calling it that yet, but that will come) could be worse than the last Great one. So NOW it becomes serious to him! Of course, now someone else has to clean up after him and his friends.
If you haven’t yet seen Obama’s web site change.gov, it is worth the look. What a great way to get feedback from the people!
But our lives go on. Yesterday was the first day of deer hunting season and Mike and daughter Kristina were out hunting in the morning and late afternoon. Kristina almost always gets a deer on the first day of the season, but not this time. Most of our red meat is venison and the object is to get as much as possible during the season to try to get us from year to year. It is also beneficial to the wild herd to thin out the population or it will weaken and die. Hunting and marksmanship has always been a big part of our family life. My father is 80 and a few months ago he won the championship trapshooting trophy for all age classifications for the states of Indiana and Illinois and he is the only person to do it twice! He claims that his father was better than him and I personally saw my grandfather shoot from a sitting position a walnut thrown into the air (he used a walker to get around then). Kristina has the same good sight and reflexes. Mike also loves to hunt. When he brings them home, we do our own butchering. It takes almost an entire day and is exhausting, but worth it. Summer sausage and jerky make great Christmas presents. The deer around here eat what the cattle eat so there is very little ‘gamey’ flavor.
Also yesterday, it was time to take the sauerkraut from the big crock and can it in jars for the year. I used huge flat dutch cabbages from my dad's fall garden (I always have him grow those very large ones just for me to make kraut) and about six weeks ago, sat at the picnic table in the back yard and shredded the cabbages as thinly as possible and put the cabbage and salt into the crock. It’s the German in us that longs for all things pickled. Just two weeks ago, our garden was tilled after I picked all of the spinach, and gave all the swiss chard, radishes and broccoli plants that were left to the chickens. Today, I began getting ready for Thanksgiving by making a huge batch of noodles which are drying on the racks right now. I have orders for my noodles and will need some for us so I may have to do it again next week. Soap to make that I will get to soon, I hope.