226 - Drizzly Bear

Gloomy outside. It's four(ish) days to Christmas and almost 70 degrees out, but rainy. Supposed to have thunderstorms tonight. The rest of the week is going to be colder so it was nice to go outside and take Bo for a couple of walks between drizzly spells.

Honestly, because he goes to the bathroom so often that I don't much look forward to taking him out, but he does make me smile on walks and I try to remember to make time for it... it's not that I don't have the time, it's just not quite a habit for me yet. I do like walks with Bo if it's not too cold. Not the pulling, the pulling annoys me... but when he swoops down and grabs a stick or a pine cone and trots down the road, tail wagging, proud as can be with his prize. And if he's not caught up in sniffing out the goings on of other animals on the side of the road, he'll sometimes pause and tear into the pinecone. I don't know how he does it, they're prickly, but he curls his paws around it and nips at it, pulling it apart like there are no pointy pieces stabbing him in the mouth as he does so. Sometimes he tries to sneak one into the house and doesn't quite understand why I take his prize and toss it unceremoniously back into the yard. Been there, done that, cleaned up the mess.

His curiosity about the cows is cute too. He watches them and sometimes climbs the embankment to bounce through the grass like he's one of the herd. Scares the calves, poor things. I just make sure he doesn't get too close to the electrical wire and let the entertainment happen. Once they run away he sticks his nose as deep into the grass as it will go and snuffle-snorts his way along until he bounds back down to the pavement.

Lately on the return trip he's been grabbing the leash with his mouth to lead me home. Sometimes he'll be playful, running around and bowing at me, but more often than not he just grabs it and prances back home, walking me right to the door.

If it weren't for Bo I might go crazy out here. Kind of a paradox huh? Since he also drives me crazy sometimes.

Baked potato for dinner.

I made beef stroganoff last night, but it seemed like a potato night so I'll have leftover stroganoff for dinner tomorrow (and another meal or two), and probably a salad for lunch. I don't know why but I will choose potatoes over almost anything else. I'm like the Bubba Gump of potatoes... I like them boiled, fried, baked, shredded, mashed, au gratin, roasted... as long as it's a potato I'm happy. Tonight's version is hassle-backed with parmesan and butter in alternating slices, then I chopped some chicken I cooked the other day and topped it with cheese. It's tasty. Bo is currently pawing at me to share... not happening. He has started a new phase of grabbing with his paws and claws by curling them under and drawing whatever he's grabbing at toward him. But he's a good puppy, he backs off when he's told. Maybe not for long, but at least he does for a while.

Got a card from the vet's office today... made me cry for the first time in a couple of days. I've been better but still have moments where I think of her and get sad. It wasn't so much the card, but what Dr. D wrote. And that the cat on the front bears a slight resemblance to Gracie. (the ball of light is from the flash, not part of the picture on the card)

On tonight's agenda, prepping Bo's beef stew (beef and carrots simmered for a while with the broth I had leftover from something else, and water), added a slurry of flour and water to thicken it a smidge, then bulgur wheat and a little cheese... mixed with some of his kibble. I need to get more veggies when I go to the store. Until I get the supplements to make sure he's getting all the vitamins he needs and/or until I run out of this bag of kibble, he'll be eating a mixture of both. He won't miss the kibble. As it is I'm picking up little pieces that he nibbles and spits onto the rug. Spoiled. And I'll tell you - the chicken jerky and sweet potato jerky are a HIT. He tries to hunt those down to feed himself when I'm not looking. He doesn't chew the chicken very much, twice, maybe three times. The sweet potato gets a little more mastication. It's a wonder he doesn't have more gas than he does - which actually seems less lately.

He seems to like it:  http://youtu.be/bozZ-BBzEaM

After that... Pinterest and movies... yipee. Red hot Saturday night. ;)

225 - AD

More cool moon shots. Last night the mist in the air made for a really neat effect.

And there was something squeaky in the yard. Bo didn't seem to care so neither did I.

The end.

224 - Clean it up

Today I cleaned out the refrigerator. Still had some Thanksgiving stuff in there so it really needed to be done. That was pretty much the big project. That and chicken jerky for Bo, which is just thinly sliced chicken dehydrated.

But tonight was actually interesting. There is a full moon out there. And we have trees.

Only thing missing from this one is a cat.

This one just turned out to be a neat picture. When you enlarge it, it's almost like there are skeletal hands cradling the moon.

And just a shot to see if I could get the shadows on the moon with my camera.

This one looks like a great winged beast is flying across the moon.

Other than that, I made soft pretzels for dinner. Last night I made wings and fries and I perfected the Wingstop season salt - that is a beautiful thing... now when I figure out their ranch dressing recipe I can conquer the world! I had leftover oil from frying some appetizers a few days ago, so I used it for the wings and fries. Typically I've been baking both, which I also enjoy and do more often since I don't have to deal with the oil and because it's healthier.

Well... that's it for tonight. Other stuff going on here and there but nothing I want to put into a blog, so I'm going to return to what I was doing... clearing out the backlog on the DVR. Maybe tomorrow I'll start collecting treetops and staging them to be cut. Since they select cut the land before they sold the house there are lots of treetops laying around making the place look extra scrubby. I'll probably do what I can with a branch cutter and let Mike go to town on the rest with his chainsaw when he gets home. Or maybe I won't. But I probably will. Because I'm a little bored sometimes and there is stuff that needs to be done while it's relatively nice out.

223 - Another Sunday

Not much to report today... was colder than I expected it to be and I saw a couple of snow flurries when I took Bo out. More little birds stopped by, and while there is a feeder I also threw some food into the yard because it seems like they prefer eating from the ground.

Made some larb for lunch, it's sort of like the filling for a chicken lettuce wrap. I didn't have ground chicken so I used ground pork, no mint so I used basil, no rice flour so I made my own by toasting some rice and putting it into the blender. It was pretty good, but chicken would have been better.

Bo was running out of food and I ran out of cash (I don't have a debit card for the account with the money in it) so I used what I had on hand and made something for him. I looked online at various recipes and settled on a chicken and rice based dish with gravy. He snarfed it up and wanted more. All in all, it's a little more work but costs less than the tubs of wet food we're currently feeding him, and it doesn't have all the junk in it, so I will probably be doing it from now on. Also going to make some treats and chicken jerky for him. Jerky costs a mint and you can't trust what you buy in the stores these days. I like the idea of saving money and being able to feed him a better quality meal. He still gets the dry puppy food mixed in with it so he's getting the nutrients he needs for his age. So far... his digestive system hasn't rebelled... It's all stuff he's been eating anyway, so here's hoping everything goes well. (fingers crossed)

And other than that, just regular day to day stuff... keeping house, taking care of the animals, keeping my mind occupied as much as possible. Thank goodness for Pinterest... hours of entertainment.