February 19, 2013

That sounds yummy!

I think I'll try this next time. I'm making another white wine pork stew tonight, pieced together from a few recipes I found online. Basically, I browned up the stew meat and set it aside. Then took 2T butter and sauteed a small onion, two chopped celery stalks, and about a clove of chopped garlic, and set aside. Put in about a 1/2 cup of white wine, a cup of chicken broth, and a can of diced tomatoes, and scrapped off the brown bits. Then I mixed another 1/2 cup of chicken broth with about 2T of flour, added it to the liquid; added all the rest of the cooked foods plus a few small potatoes, two cut-up carrots and the last of the parsnips from last summer's garden. Sprinkled in some Herbs de Provence and added a bay leaf, brought it all to a boil; covered it and brought it down to a simmer. It's still cooking and smells divine! I'll simmer it for an hour and see what it tastes like, might go an hour and a half. But I'm hungry, so it might get short-changed.

February 16, 2013

Personal testimony on the Thundershirt:

Honey's behavior is like night and day! She would get up and sniff around the kitchen, then come in the living room and chew a bone or throw a toy around, then sit on the couch for a few minutes, then hear a cat in the spare room and pop up to investigate, then sniff kitchen/chew bone/toss toy/sit down/investigate cats cycle would start all over again. Each cycle lasted about 10 minutes.

With the Thundershirt, she's still herself, not acting drugged, interested in chewing bones and sniffing around, but not she's not OCD about it as she had been. This is the second night in a row we've used it. Tonight she's lying on the floor with Bear, they're both mouthing a mutual toy. Last night she was so relaxed and zoned out one of the cats (who haven't really left the spare room in two weeks) came out and meowed loudly. Honey lifted her head and whined a little, but then laid her head back down and chilled some more. My sweetheart was highly skeptical but is completely won over. I was kind of skeptical but now can't say enough good things about this product. I'm amazed at how well this has curbed her anxious energy!

February 13, 2013

I don't believe print is dead.

The Wall Street Journal agrees with me: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323874204578219563353697002.html?fb_action_ids=10151236848743303&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

Large bookstore closings may give new life to independent booksellers: http://www.policymic.com/articles/25026/as-barnes-noble-closes-stores-independent-bookstores-may-be-the-ones-to-pick-up-the-slack

And I like a quote I read on fb the other day, attributed to Stephen King. Paraphrased, it said that printed books were threatened by e-media the same way stairs became obsolete with the invention of elevators. I couldn't agree more.

February 9, 2013

Honey and Bear, a-wrastlin' in the yard.

It started over the chicken.


Quickly escalated into a battle of the titans over the cow.


Finally devolved into pure silliness!

February 6, 2013

I don't think the majority of people think dogs in the military is "neato."

I'm sure most people see military dogs as necessary for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to bomb detection and the mental well-being of human soldiers who have dogs in their units. These dogs save human soldiers lives in many ways, and as such, many of us are grateful for their inclusion in the ranks as they keep the nation's sons and daughters safer and healthier in dangerous situations.