GoD And DoG

I got this YouTube clip in an e-mail today.

Loved it and had to share!!

Death of an Angel

I’m sad to announce the death of my ancient angelfish. Like the plecostomus I lost last fall, I don’t know exactly how old she was. Her tank was moved from our bedroom to the kitchen a number of years ago and I’d already had her for several years at that point. I’m guessing she was at least 12, if not older.

Odd to think that I was thirty-something when I got her (I’m 50 now). The photo I’ve provided is poor, but you can see that over her life she sustained some damage to her fins. She was a very aggressive fish and never played well with others. I finally learned to keep her in a tank alone. It was fun how she would follow your finger around when placed against the tank. Wanting to attack it, I'm sure, but it made her more "personable".

I’ll miss her.

Betty's Birthday

Betty has made it to double digits! Today is her 10th birthday!!! If she could talk, she would probably comment on all the changes in her life during the past year. With the exception of Esther, the entire dog line-up has changed including a couple of temporary puppy litters. She would most likely say the worst thing has been the addition of Alice and Mabel. Even though she has learned to tolerate them and even plays with them some, she never hesitates to set things straight if they encroach on her personal space.

In honor of Betty’s birthday I’m posting a piece I originally did for Pearl Soup and then later put on my 360 blog. Most of you have already seen it, but I felt the need to post it again. I still sometimes think about Veronica and wonder what if...

Veronica
January 17, 2002

The plan was to teach my children responsibility. However, life doesn’t always follow our plans.

My friend, Shelley, called me in late August of 1999 with news that Ethel, her lemon-spotted beagle, had unexpectedly given birth to two puppies. She claimed that I had volunteered to take whatever might come of the union after laughing at her distress over finding Ethel and Oscar together earlier in the summer. I still have no memory of making such a rash statement. At first I told her I didn’t want them, but my children begged and pleaded giving me all sorts of reasons why we should get the puppies. The more I thought about it, the more their reasons made sense. They had always wanted a dog that they could actually hold… even as a full-grown dog. We had a rottweiler living in the house at the time with plans to get two more later in the fall. They assured me they would take care of the puppies themselves. I figured it would be a great lesson in responsibility. That is how Betty and Veronica came to be part of our lives.

They arrived at our house on a Saturday in October. I really don’t think I’ve ever seen puppies any cuter than those two. The mix of beagle and squirrel dog made a beautiful combination. I have to give my children credit. Parents always hear that line: “Don’t worry, Mom, you won’t have to do anything…we’ll do it all ourselves”. In this case, they actually did. They fed the pups, kept their water bowl filled, played with them, went with me to take them to the vet for all their puppy shots… all the things a responsible pet-owner does. In the late afternoon, they would sit on the back steps and sing to the puppies while holding them in their laps and stroking them until the puppies went to sleep. As a mother, it warmed my heart to see that my children could show such compassion.

Winter came and things had settled into a routine around our house. We had added two rottweiler pups in November who were living in the house. Our household had basically “gone to the dogs”, but we were loving every minute of it!

One Sunday afternoon in February, my daughter called to her brother to come help feed the pups then headed out the back door. She immediately came running back in calling for me to come help. Betty and Veronica were fighting and she was afraid that one of them was hurt! I rushed outside and began hollering at the dogs to break it up. I could see that Betty had Veronica pinned and wouldn’t turn her loose. My husband came rushing out at that point to try and separate them. He sent me back in for a gun. I realize this sounds cruel, but he didn’t know if he would need it to put a dying dog out of its misery or put down a vicious dog. We couldn’t have been more wrong about the situation and the results were tragic. Piecing it all together, we realized an entirely different scenario than a fight had taken place.

Betty and Veronica had been romping and playing as we had often seen them do. Apparently, Betty had gotten Veronica’s collar caught in her mouth and it had wedged between her teeth. Veronica had struggled to get away and in the process her collar had twisted around to the point of choking her to death. The collar was still wedged so tightly in Betty’s teeth that she couldn’t get away. That is why she was lying on top of Veronica and wouldn’t get up when called. My husband had to cut the collar off Veronica and literally pull it from Betty’s teeth.

I spent the next week seeing everything through a blur of tears. My heart ached for Veronica’s death, for Betty and how she must have felt in the minutes after the accident, but most of all for my children and the grief they felt.

The passage of time heals our wounds and eases our grief. As I write this, Betty, who was supposed to be an outside dog, lies sleeping on the daybed behind me. I wonder sometimes when she dreams if it’s about Veronica…or if she even remembers Veronica. I know that I’ll never forget Veronica or how she taught my children far more than just how to be responsible.

Tomato Quiz

I saw this quiz on the MSN page today and thought it would be a good follow-up to yesterday's post. In answer to Marion's question, if my eyes had been closed I would never have known the tomatoes weren't red. A slightly different taste, yes...but most tomato varieties do have varying tastes and attributes. These actually tasted better than many of the red varieties in my opinion.

See what you know about tomatoes. I scored 8 out of 10 correct.

Tomato Quiz

Yellow Tomatoes

This was a pitiful summer for our tomato garden. Our first batch of plants all died, suddenly. It almost looked as if we’d purposely sprayed them with an herbicide. Our livestock partner shared some of his plants so we could try again. Round two made it, but didn’t produce much fruit. All we got were some cherry tomatoes. Nothing “sliceable” for sandwiches.

A couple of the plants he gave us were supposed to yield yellow tomatoes. Never having seen a yellow tomato, we were looking forward to the experience. Once it became apparent we weren’t going to get any from our plants, he brought us some of his. First I had to get over the mindset that tomatoes aren’t supposed to be yellow. However, I quickly discovered that they are delicious!!

I want to grow them next year!

Jed and the snake

Jed had a rather traumatic experience last week. Thursday evening he began loudly barking/yelping in fits and spurts. His face began swelling and within a short amount of time his right eye had closed. We knew it had been either a snake bite or some sort of sting, but thought we could see puncture wounds. Not living in the big city, we have no 24-hour pet clinics. What we do have, though, is a home number for the vet listed as an “after hours” number in the directory. A quick call confirmed what we were already pretty sure of…. that there really wasn’t much we could do. He recommended some benedryl then observation to watch for infection. Considering how swollen his muzzle was, there was no way to get a pill down his throat (which was not closing up, thank goodness). We finally cut open a pill, mixed the contents into some juice and squirted it in his mouth on the side opposite the bite. At that point he took off into the woods and we just hoped for the best. The next morning he was at the door with his tail wagging, waiting for his breakfast. The swelling had gone down considerably in his face, but there was still a lot of fluid and loose skin under his jaw and neck.

This morning we carried Mama Dog in to have the stitches removed from her recent spaying. We decided to take Jed along, too, so the vet could check out his wound. He commented that there was probably a good bit of toxin involved based on the amount of necrosis and started Jed on an antibiotic. Poor fella. We're guessing his encounter was with a copperhead.

You can see the spot on his lip where the snake got him. It looks like a big, black notch of dead tissue. Meanwhile, Mama Dog never has to worry about being a mama again.

Where, oh where has my little dog gone?

For those who have been following our most recent “puppy drama”, I’m happy to announce that Mama Dog’s puppies are no longer at our house!

You may remember from my last update that my daughter had found a home for one of the little girls, leaving seven still in need. Our name was on the waiting list at the local animal shelter, but I wasn’t depending on that as a solution. Several people, including one of the employees at our vet’s office, suggested we place their pictures in the classifieds section of a website for our region. I decided it was worth a try. Would you believe within 48 hours I had already given away three of them?! Then, we were pleasantly surprised to get a call from the animal shelter saying we could bring in the remaining puppies the next day. That same evening I got another response to my ad and was able to give away a fourth. That left only three to go to the shelter. I did receive one last call after the puppies were gone, but the caller indicated they might go to the shelter once I explained where the puppies had been moved.

The last three were so scared when we dropped them off. I hope they get adopted soon and that all eight will have good, happy lives in their new homes!

Marylake

Marylake, a Carmelite monastery located in rural central Arkansas, has always fascinated me. My grandmother lived outside of Little Rock near a small community called Landmark and the drive to her house took us past the monastery. It’s a beautiful building set in equally beautiful surroundings. As a child, I always knew we were “almost there” when the monastery came into view. My mother would tell me stories about visits there as a little girl with her father. Her sister’s senior prom was held there in the mid 30s. Originally built in 1926 by Masons, it didn’t become a monastery until 1952.

My aunt still lives in that area and every time I go to see her I comment that I should have brought a camera so I could stop and take some pictures on my way home. This past Monday I finally remembered.

The monastery has a blog called Monastery of Marylake. Check it out if you’d like to see more pictures or learn more about their community. In the meantime, here are a couple of the photos I took.

Speeding

Speed limits. How many of you really obey them all the time?

Most state and U.S. highways in south Arkansas have a 55 mph speed limit. That doesn’t seem so bad until you cross the state line into Texas and find the same roads with a limit of 70!

I really don’t like driving 55. It’s not that I’m a speed demon or anything, there’s just something about being able to drive 60 (a mile a minute) that satisfies my senses. Of course if the posted limit is 65 or 70, that’s what I drive.

Law enforcement has been out in full force lately in my neck of the woods. A few weeks ago my son was stopped and given a warning for going 57 in a 55 zone. Ticky, ticky. Once upon a time most officers would allow a five mph “cushion”. Not anymore.

My younger daughter and I made a trip to Little Rock on Monday in my new car. It was a beautiful day with perfect driving conditions so I decided to set my cruise control to 55 on the button. Everyone blew by us, and not just when there were passing lanes! I had to laugh. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, handicap plates, young drivers, old folks… everyone in a hurry and many of them clearly aggravated at me for slowing them down. The scariest was the 18-wheeler with the shiny maroon-colored International cab that stayed mere feet behind me until he could pass.

I’m not always the most patient driver, but my attitude has changed a lot in recent years. It was nice knowing that I didn’t have to worry about getting stopped. That was reinforced every time we passed a state trooper or other cop, especially when they were pulling someone over. And no, I don’t gloat when I see that. I learned long ago that vengefulness often backfires.

So tell me, honestly….do you speed??

French Strawberry Pie

Another recipe entry?! What can I say... we've had a lot of fun things to eat during the past week. This one is from the cookbook our church music department put out when I was a teenager.

French Strawberry Pie

Spread a softened 3-oz. package of cream cheese mixed with a little cream over the bottom of a cooled, baked crust. (we made a graham cracker crust) Put one pint of fresh strawberries over the cheese.
Mash another pint of berries until very juicy. Bring them to a boil and add one cup sugar and three tablespoons cornstarch which have been blended together. Cook slowly for about 10 minutes. Cool. Pour over berries in the pieshell. Refrigerate until very cold. Cover with whipped cream.

Great American Brand Name Recipes Cookbook

This is a cookbook from which we have tried a number of recipes, including the chicken dish from the previous post. When my younger daughter gets the urge to cook, it's always the first book she pulls out of my collection. Last weekend she made this raisin pie then I prepared the banana bread a few days later. Both were very good!

Raisin Sour Cream Pie

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups dairy sour cream

1 cup raisins

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 (9-inch) pie shell, baked, or crumb crust

In top of double boiler, blend together sugar, cornstarch and salt. In small bowl, combine beaten eggs, 1 ½ cups of the sour cream, the raisins and lemon juice. Stir into sugar mixture. Set over hot, not boiling, water and cook until thick, stirring frequently. Pour into baked pie shell. When cool, top with remaining ½ cups sour cream. Chill several hours.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 small)

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup mini chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Grease bottom only of 9x5x3-inch loaf pan; set aside. Combine all ingredients except mini chocolate chips and walnuts in large mixer bowl; blend well on medium speed. Stir in mini chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350º for 60 to 70 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Recipe Rehash

This is a recipe that I always knew I would like. I've prepared it quite a few times since I stopped being a vegetarian, including this past weekend.

Oven Barbecued Chicken

1 (2-1/2 to 3-pound) broiler- fryer chicken, cut up
(I use 4 or 5 boneless chicken breasts)
1 cup unsifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted (I use butter)
1/4 cup chopped onion (I use 1/2 to 3/4 cup)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup catsup
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup lemonjuice from concentrate
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In paper or plastic bag, combine flour and salt. Add chicken, a few pieces at a time; shake to coat. Place in greased 13x9-inch baking dish; drizzle with 1/4 cup butter. Bake 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, cook onion and garlic in remaining 2 tablespoons butter until tender. Add remaining ingredients; simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Pour over chicken; bake 30 minutes longer or until tender. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Leftovers are good to chop up, heat in the microwave then serve as a sandwich (either closed or open-faced)

We still have puppies

The e-mail campaign to find homes for the puppies was fruitless. My daughter found someone to take one of the little girls last week, but that still leaves seven. They will be eight weeks old on Wednesday.

Jewel


Cher


Madonna


Houdini


Patton


Bond


Seinfeld

From an unknown soldier

Yesterday’s CQOD really touched me, so I thought it would be nice to share here on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.

If it be all for naught, for nothingness
At last, why does God make the world so fair?
Why spill this golden splendor out across
The western hills, and light the silver lamp
Of eve? Why give me eyes to see, and soul
To love so strong and deep? Then, with a pang
This brightness stabs me through, and wakes within
Rebellious voice to cry against all death?
Why set this hunger for eternity
To gnaw my heartstrings through, if death ends all?
If death ends all, then evil must be good,
Wrong must be right, and beauty ugliness.
God is a Judas who betrays His Son,
And with a kiss, damns all the world to hell,--
If Christ rose not again.
... Anonymous, Unknown soldier, killed in World War I,
included in Masterpieces of Religious Verse, James
Dalton Morrison, ed., New York: Harper & Bros., 1948,
p. 205

Jed

Those who know our current dog line-up may have noticed an unfamiliar face in yesterday’s car photo. Let me explain.

All of our inside dogs are girls, as are Mama Dog and Blue. My husband had been seriously considering the idea of keeping one of the little boy pups from MD’s recent litter. I think he felt the need for some additional testosterone around here. I didn’t mind keeping one, but….how to pick just one from the precious four little boys?! They’re ALL so cute and different! My second concern was where to keep him until he was old enough to be out safely with the big dogs. I hated the thought of keeping him in the run all alone (once the others were parceled out) and I knew Blue and MD wouldn’t want to be locked up with him.

The problem was solved for us. A couple of weekends ago we heard a major barking ruckus outside. I found a young, skinny white dog cowering in our flower bed. He didn’t look to be any more than six months old and was covered in ticks and fleas. My husband took one look at him, made a comment I won’t repeat here about folks that dump dogs, and said we might as well keep him rather than one of the puppies. Over the next couple of days we fed him, treated him for ticks, fleas & earmites, and gave him some much needed love. He went for a vet checkup when we carried Blue in to have her stitches out and has since settled in and made himself right at home.

Cash for Clunkers

It’s been an experience. Then again, when is it NOT an experience dealing with the federal government!?!

I've debated getting a new car for a year or so. It’s been a great car, so I wasn’t quite ready… until “Cash for Clunkers” came along.

When talk of the program first started, my husband realized it might be just the right opportunity to get rid of the old truck he had. Although it still ran okay (even the AC worked!), it was 20 years old and had close to 250,000 miles on it. Definitely a clunker. Considering the “Blue Book” value was less than $500, why not turn it in for a $4500 rebate? It was the perfect time to cash it in for a new car!

The first day the program went into effect we were at the local Chevy dealership. We were their first clunker customer. Little did I know that’s where the headache would begin. Never before have I walked out of a dealership after purchasing a new vehicle that I didn’t have my papers in hand, ready to make the journey to the assessor’s office and the revenue department. Things were such a madhouse at the dealership that it took two days to get my papers. Granted, the business manager had been on vacation, so that also slowed things down. Things went smoothly at the tax assessor’s, but came to a standstill once I reached the revenue department. Turns out I was their first clunker customer, too. Seems one hand didn’t know what the other was doing and all the fingers pointed to the government in blame. Everyone was polite to me (and I to them), but it still frustrated me to no end! I just wanted to get my car taxed and licensed!

To make a long story short…. more than a week after making the deal, I finally got everything sorted out and now am the proud owner of a new 2009 Chevy Malibu.

So far I love it!

A weekend of eating

My sister came for a quick visit this weekend. That meant lots of talking, laughing and, of course, eating. I always like to experiment with new recipes when she’s here. This time I tried three, all from past issues of Simple & Delicious magazine.

Festive Feta Cheese Ball
Contributed by Cinde Ryan of Gig Harbor, WA

2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened

½ cup crumbled feta cheese
2 teaspoons ranch salad dressing mix
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
¼ cup crumbled cooked bacon
½ teaspoon dill weed

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add feta cheese and dressing mix; mix well. Shape into a ball. Combine the Parmesan cheese, bacon and dill week; roll cheese ball in Parmesan mixture. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm. Serve with crackers. Yield: 2 cups.

Confetti Corn Salad
Contributed by Tonia Mahnke of Sun Prairie, WI

1 can (7 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 can (2 ¼ oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
½ cup chopped green pepper
½ cup chopped sweet red pepper
2 radishes, sliced
¼ cup prepared Italian salad dressing

In a small bowl, combine the corn, olives, peppers and radishes. Add salad dressing; toss to coat. Refrigerate until serving. Yield: 3 servings.

Peanut Butter Jumbos
Contributed by Deborah Huffer of Staunton, VA

1 ½ cups peanut butter
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup M&M’s miniature baking bits

In a large mixing bowl, cream peanut butter, butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine oats and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and baking bits.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350º for 12-14 minutes or until edges are browned. Remove to wire racks. Yield: 9 dozen.

What a week!

….. Flying Burger, puppies in the grass, GRE, doctors, fleas, my sister, Cash for Clunkers, Little Rock, storms, worming, roommate passing through, Farmerville, new car, games, homemade ice cream, “frings”, new recipes, Quackers…..

Just the tip of the iceberg.