In a day filled with minor disasters, the Duroc pork butt was a winner

[IowaGirl]

He looked healthy and well fed for sure. He's been running around the yard and taunting my dogs from deep within the wood pile. Drives my dogs crazy, especially the German Shorthair. She's a little nutso.

[Razor]

Was going to ask the same thing.

[FireMan]

So, back to the Chipster, did he look like he put on any weight? When he ran outside did you hear a tiny Yippee! or a Free at Last! Did he leave a Thanks for the hospitality note? Just wonderin.

[IowaGirl]

My dogs can't resist chasing the local chippies who love to dive into drain pipes for safety. That frustrates my dogs to no end.

Skip who lives in Blue Earth, MN, says there is a grocery carrying Compart meat near him. I know the Compart guys at Spring Training were talking about some of the MN stores that carry their meat, so they're around, just not on the website. Frustrating, I know!

The Compart website doesn't list Fareway groceries either, but I know the Fareway stores, at least the ones in Waukon and Decorah, Iowa, are stocking their ribs and butts.

Prices for Compart at Fareway are a bit more than for commodity pork, but the price difference is not large -- not nearly as expensive as the prices charged by the boutique mail order suppliers for heritage pork.

The Compart St Louis ribs I cooked this weekened were about $4 per lb. The less-than-stellar Smithfield spare ribs were $3 per pound. The quality of the Compart ribs more than made up for the price difference, IMO.

[IowaGirl]

I'm also relieved it turned out well, Mr. Bones. I think he was getting food and water from the dogs' water and food bowls, so he was getting plenty of eats. But I could see how things could easily turn bad real fast, and I didn't want that to happen. You're right about winter coming -- he will probably regret his decision soon!

[JCGrill]

So I have been told that chipmunks can't resist running through pvc pipes. I have a friend who gets them in his yard. One end of the pipe is open to the back yard, the other end has a 1 foot drop into a 5 gallon pail of water.

You'd think Compart would have some grocery stores in Minnesota (and perhaps they do) but none are listed on their site.

[Mr. Bones]

Glad yall enjoyed some delicious Compart STLs, an happy fer lil chipmunk to have finally made it back to Nature, though in a few months, chipmunk might jus be rethinkin that decicsion.

I very much enjoyed this rather heart-warmin conclusion to yer earlier tale, Sister!

[IowaGirl]

Update on the chipmunk -- I said on July 17 that I thought he'd made it outside. I was wrong. He survived in the house for over TWO months. Toward the end, he was getting pretty cocky about coming out in the open when we were nearby.

One day he was hanging out with my co-worker Connie as she worked in the large open room (the converted attached garage for my house) where I run my small business. She quietly propped open the door to the outside while managing to also not scare the chipmunk into hiding. She said he sat in the sunny open doorway then ran back inside three times before he finally decided he wanted to run outside and stay there.

When she told me he was gone, I couldn't believe it. But it's really truly true - he's back in the great outdoors. Good riddance.

I used the Blasphemy Ribs technique this weekend to smoke a rack of St Louis style ribs from Compart. The ribs were nice and meaty with plenty of marbling -- much nicer than the Smithfield spare ribs I cooked a couple of weeks ago. The Compart ribs were flavorful, bite-off-the-bone tender, and nicely juicy.

[IowaGirl]

Hearing crazy stories like this can give us all the courage to get through difficult moments and maybe someday even laugh about what happened. Thanks for sharing, Huskee.

As a footnote, your sump pump trouble also happened to a local guy a few years back. He went into the flooded basement of his parents' house and died of electrocution -- the sump pump had shorted out but the breaker didn't trip for some reason. I'm glad your story had a happier ending.

[Huskee]

Sorry I missed this when it was fresh. What a cool story, enjoyed it very much! I have a couple stories, not to take over or detract from yours at all, but in the spirit of crazy times I'll share 2:

I remember the day our water heater decided it had enough of life and decided to rust out and the water poured out of it. It was a 95+ day, humid as Hades as are most 90+ days in MI (at least that's how I remember it and that's how I choose to tell the story) and our water heater is "nestled" (read: shoved tightly) into the small closet beside the washer & dryer, which means to get it out they both need unhooked & moved first, which involves the dreaded flex-tube dryer vent. No AC in that part of the house. Add to that stepping on sopping wet towels, and the inherent rush in such a situation, and the fact that the fella we bought the house from hard-wired the water heater to the wire coming out of the wall (no easy-to-unplug "plug")... and it was memorable. And how I also choose to tell the story is that I had meat on the smoker too, which got neglected in said events. "Just use sauce" I may have said.

Then last February on a crazy warm thaw-and-rainsorm-flood-warning day, our sump gave out. 12" of water in the crawl, and rising. Noticed it hadn't come on in a while, and we could hear water dripping sounds coming from down below, we knew there was standing water. Here I am going own there (outside, under-the-deck-with-maybe-12"-clearance-so-crawl-on-your-belly-through-mud-under-the-deck-to-get-to-it access hole mind you) after dark, in a torrential rain, in February in MI, into a dark crawl flooded with water, only to discover my rubber boot has a leak. Foot now wet from snow melt (~35* let's say) and only a flashlight to help me out. Long story short, wife was near Home Depot, called her, she brought home a new sump pump and I installed a new sump pump w/ 1 hand on a flashlight (maybe some mouth action in there too) and the other on the screwdriver tightening hose clamps, got done near midnight. Walked around the yard in the pouring rain getting all the bad words out of my mind, because it actually felt warmer out there than the crawlspace had. No chipmunk in either story though. But otherwise, I can kinda-sorta relate to such events!

[Huskee]

Well said! I gotta remember that one when the bad days with the little ray o' sunshine hit.

[IowaGirl]

When in high school, my husband used to hunt with a group of buddies. They used to freeze the various doves, rabbits, quail, and squirrel they harvested until there was enough to feed the bunch. One guy's mom would braise the meat and fix a gravy and the fellas would chow down. Knowing my mister, I'm sure none of the boys would have blinked an eye if a chippy was included in the meal.

[Craigar]

I can't believe I am just reading this story for the first time. Fantastic! Thank you for your entertaining prose! As I am sitting here giggling to myself, the first recipe that came to mind was Treetop Stroganoff. I have a wild game recipe book at home, published by the Nebraska Game & Parks, that has a stroganoff recipe that uses squirrels. I'm sure a few chipmunks could be substituted.

[IowaGirl]

There was too much going on that crazy day. It was kind of mind numbing after awhile.

Update on the chippy -- He hid out in the bedroom for a few days, then snuck out of the house proper into what used to be our attached garage (now converted into a heated shop for the small business I run). He scared the dickens out of me by dashing across the floor right in front of me when I inadvertently startled him into leaving his hiding place on a shelf. When the workday was over, I left the shop door open to the outdoors for the night. He must have found his way back to nature, because we haven't seen him since. (edit: And the air in the house is still breathable without a respirator.)

I never got to find out whether hot 'n fast or low 'n slow is the recommended way to cook chipmunk, so I can't report back to y'all on that point. That's okay ... I think I can live without that tidbit of information.

[JimLinebarger]

I have heard of multi-tasking, but you seem to elevate the meaning to (what's past the a whole 'nother level?) ....!