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One of the perks of my job is some of the cool places' data I get to play with.
Today I've been looking at a Hillshade for Arkansas.
There's some really cool patterns in the geology around Little Rock.
And why is the ground so lumpy around Fayetteville?
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It's because of all the Razorbacks at the University of Arkansas in Fayatteville.
I'm thinking that is not a professor - it has to be a student - yes?
@jimcox?ÿ
My youngest daughter is a graduate.?ÿ The very first day when students arrive on campus they are brought up to speed on the proper way to "call the Hogs". Woooooooo Pig Sooieeeeeee
Note the appropriate headgear for Razorback fans.
The Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto, traditionally gets credit for bringing the first hogs westward across the Mississippi River, in 1541. The animals were among the livestock that provided food for his soldiers. Legend says that some of the hogs escaped into the wilderness, turned wild, and necessarily became just as mean and full of fight as the bears, panthers, bobcats, and other critters living there under the jungle law of "survival of the fittest."
By the time the great westward migration of the early 1800's brought settlers by the thousands into the Ozarks region, wild swine were said to be plentiful. They were hunted on foot and on horseback, with guns and dogs, for meat. Boars weighing up to 300 pounds, with tusks 10 inches long, are a part of the frontier legend. Sows, too, especially those with pigs, were respected for their bad tempers and fighting abilities.
Many tall tales grew up around these animals. One described the wild hog's spine as covered with bristles as sharp as a razor. Thus, the name "razorback" is believed to have become associated with the descendants of DeSoto's hogs.
There was no fat on the wild razorback. In fact, he was sometimes described as being so skinny he could hide in a stove pipe.
Every legend about the razorback, however, agrees on one point. He was cunning, courageous, ill tempered, and always spoiling for a fight.
Eventually the pioneer settlers in the hills [took] to raising their own herds of domesticated hogs. The animals were permitted to run loose in the woods to find their own food. The call used to round them up, with variations, was "Whooooooooo, Pig! Sooooie!"
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Well, I live in Arkansas. But, I'm not from Arkansas.?ÿ
I'm from California.
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@nate-the-surveyor uhmmmm you zigged when you should have zqggged. Lol
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i grew up not to far from Arkansas in North Mississippi and west Tn. Did a lot of fishing in Arkansas. ?ÿThey do make some good liquid corn in places as well.?ÿ
Oh those lumps could be from leftover cat head biscuits and gravy. ?ÿSometimes momma just made to many. ?ÿ
There you go again.?ÿ Talking about things unfamiliar to those of us in other parts of this great country.?ÿ Had to study up on what makes a cat head biscuit a cat head biscuit.?ÿ Gotta be as big as a feline's noggin.
@holy-cow well i learn from you and you learn from me. ?ÿLol. I dated a gal once from California. Her parents were killed in a bad wreck and so they had to finish highschool in Mississippi with some relatives. I met her in college and we went to the local gas station one morning during deer season and I ordered cat head biscuits and gravy. She about lost it and told me to take her home and i was cruel for eating cats heads. ?ÿI settled her down a bit and explained. ?ÿThen she was ok. But her first time in the woods on a cold morning was not good. ?ÿI reckon we were not meant to be. We did remain good friends. ?ÿBut she graduated college and made her way back to the sunshine state and we lost touch. ?ÿSmart young lady and her brother was a great guy. They had a tough time losing both parents. I could not imagine.
I was awakened a bit to some of the differences in food when I was around 12 and attending a church camp for a few days with kids from all over the state.?ÿ It was our first breakfast, which included scrambled eggs out of a box.?ÿ The kid next to me was looking all over the place for something.?ÿ He had never eaten scrambled eggs without about a cup of ketchup dumped on them.?ÿ There was no evidence of ketchup anywhere, so he didn't know what to do.
My first wife had never eaten pancakes except as a rare evening meal in her childhood home.?ÿ I thought they were great for breakfast with plenty of butter, syrup and a little cream poured over them.?ÿ Real cream, courtesy of our milk cows.
I was 24 years old when I first encountered lobster on the half shell in the large banquet hall at the Waldorf Astoria.?ÿ The first time I tried to eat a fish with the head still on it I was 22 years old.?ÿ Still do not like that method.
My momma got into the habit of making a form of sourdough hard tack biscuits. They were so hard, you could drive a 16d nail 1/4" deep into a pine board with one, before it broke. They were made with whole wheat. To this day, I really like them. Except I prefer them slightly over baked, til the wheat is browned. My daughter has learned to make them, and now we all like them. Probably an acquired taste.
Nothing like a piece of this hard bread, and a slab of cheese. Or break one up into buttermilk, or some barbque deer.
If you like Barb'q, you might like this:
Get cheap cuts of beef, or some deer. Slab it 1" thick. Well salt it. Put it on some kind of grill or smoker. Normally, this makes it taste good, but it's very tough. About 30-40 minutes.
Now, put in Insta pot. With a fresh apple. And a tbs of olive oil.?ÿ
Insta pot in an electric pressure cooker. Total time in Insta pot is about an hour to 75 minutes.
You can eat it with a spoon.
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@nate-the-surveyor my mom use to make corn pudding for thanksgiving. I still have to make it every year. Nothing fancy but good. My dad made the best hush puppies and mom would in winter for hunting season make up a big pan of corn pudding and he would make up the hush puppy batter and mom would deep fry that in p nut oil. She called them corn dodgers because us kids would eat anything john Wayne ate. And i would stuff those things in every pocket before i hit the woods day or night. I don??t know how they made the corn pudding stay inside the crust of the hush puppies but dang they were good.?ÿ
Hard tack with cheese and rag bologna and a touch of hot sauce is a meal.?ÿ
Corn pudding.?ÿ One of my all-time favorite treats, usually found at potluck dinners.?ÿ Hmmmm hmmmmm good.
My early life involved a ton of potluck dinners held for all sort of reasons.?ÿ I learned quickly which lady made the best green beans and which one made the best cherry pies.?ÿ My, oh my.?ÿ It's no wonder I'm a type II diabetic.
Several years ago our local cafe closed for a period of time.?ÿ My wife and I organized what became known as the Friday Night Potluck.?ÿ Every Friday night anywhere from eight to 30 people would show up with a thing or two from home.?ÿ Only once was there no meat as part of the meal.?ÿ One time we had five different meat dishes available.?ÿ We all had a blast...........................and we all ate too much good food.?ÿ Well, except for the evening one gal brought kale.