Dream Come True

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down . . .

Thanksgiving Day 2014

Yeah, runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream

I felt so good like anything was possible . . . . 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Frozen Food

If you peeked into my freezer right now you would find various meats waiting to be turned into delicious meals: lamb chops for the grill, chicken breast for burritos or enchiladas, and beef stew meat for  . . . well, beef stew.

You would find three packages of Swiss cheese, six pounds worth, for sandwich-making. They were on sale at Costco; the Checkout person commented, "You must really like cheese!"

You would see fresh fruit vacuum-sealed at their peak of sweetness: strawberries from the farmer's market last summer, and magenta-colored dragon fruit flown in from Maui yesterday with The Man's Mom. The Man's sister grows the dragon fruit in her Upcountry Maui garden. (Thank you Connie for the home-grown yummy goodness.)

You would also find two gallon-sized Ziploc bags of luscious yummy yarn. Yes, yarn. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in hand-dyed happy crazy colors and Malabrigo lace-weight skeins in colorways of greens, blues, and purples - of which I hope to make more woven pooled scarves.

The yarns are not in the freezer because my stash has runneth over or because I'm hiding them from The Man. Rather, they're in quarantine, a little time out before they join up with my regular yarn stash. The freezing cold will kill off any hitchhikers - nasty moths or moth babies - that feast on natural woolie fibers.

Bon appétit ~ but not for you little larvae.

(The Man just asked me why there's a book in the freezer. That, is another story.)

In The Dog House

Last weekend we learned an important lesson: People and dogs do not learn important lessons.

It was the end of a lazy Sunday and The Man and I were enjoying the last of the daylight, sitting out on the Vista, before we headed indoors. The Man was eating peanuts and tossing the shells on the ground for the Goaty Boys to eat in the morning. A thought flitted through my head but I wasn't fast enough to grasp onto it. A couple of minutes clicked by. The next thing we know the dogs are fighting; they're at it again, tooth and nail. (Belatedly, the thought was, "Maybe it's not such a good idea to eat around the dogs.")

When the dust settled we checked both dogs over carefully: Two puncture wounds on Mele's right leg; not a single scratch on Mattie. I patched and wrapped Mele up and gave her an antibiotic pill from the Emergency Vet Hospital (they gave us quite a bit extra - go figure). In the morning The Man took Mele to our Vet when we noticed the leg had swelled overnight. The leg wasn't broken (yes, X-rayed) but the Vet changed Mele's antibiotic (yes, more expensive), kept her wound open to air instead of the Coban wrap I had used. We put her back in an e-Collar.

Sadly, we're back to square one again. The dogs spend most of the day separated with only brief periods together. They do sleep in the house together but in different corners of the room. We're hoping that once Mele's e-Collar comes off they'll be able to work it out and be friends again.

We've learned that the dogs cannot be trusted around food, no matter what kind of "food" it is. Even though they had been eating meals together, we'll feed them separate from now on. The Goaty Boys and The Girls will get their treats in the pen. For us, no snacking around the dogs. Absolutely. Period.

Last evening The Man and I noticed Mattie sniffing around the shoe rack and sticking her nose into one of my shoes. Not once, not twice, but several times. The Man said, "Maybe there's a dead mouse in your shoe." (Yes, that has happened.) I picked up the shoe and out fell a few dry dog food pieces. Luckily, only Mattie was with us in the garage. I looked at the kibble, showed it to The Man, and we both agreed it looked gnawed on. Probably mice. I tossed the food in the trash.

A few moments later, Mattie started sniffing a different pair of shoes. Yeehaw, the mice sure have been busy!

We found a quarter-sized hole in the unopened Science Diet dog food bag.

Sheesh, I'm worrying about the dogs fighting over peanut shells, apple cores, and other non-edibles and a mere inches away from their super-sensitive food-seeking noses, mice are storing dog food in my shoes. 

It's hard to be vigilant when the Universe is against you.

 

Good Eats

The little bit of rain we had on Halloween provided tasty surprises for the animals.

Nowadays, the Goaty Boys are much too big to climb trees so a broken oak branch laden with tender oak leaves and yummy moss is a rare treat.

The Man noticed the Girls pacing back and forth, staring outside of their pen. He went to check on them and noticed the ground moving with tiny insects. They looked like ants with wings.

I arrived at the pen just in time to see the chickens pick off the last of the swarm. We all watched the Girls pecking happily away. I held Mattie on her leash just a few feet away from the Girls and after a few minutes The Man took Mattie off her leash. It was the first time. Mattie didn't seem to care that she and the Girls were no longer separated by wire and I guess the Girls were too busy to notice.

It's been over a week and the Girls are once again free-ranging (which is supposed to make for better eggs). Maybe it will help them start laying regularly again. Currently, we're only getting one egg per day from either Tandy or Mrs Bond.

I'm also happy to report that Mattie has not tried to sample a new tasty delicacy: fresh chicken.

Tandy, a good girl, still laying every other day.

The Wet Stuff

It rained. Ahhh . . . (sigh of relief), granted it wasn't all that much but, hey, it rained.

We received almost 1½ inches. (And just in case you were wondering we have a very small front lawn and we don't use much water keeping it green. Just saying.)