Ricky passes

Ricky was Gingerwood's Partners In Crime. He's the little guy at the top of the picture, and Bridie is below, with the happy face. His other names were Rick, Ricardo, Richard the Claw (for his habit of pawing whatever he was near to get people's attention). He was an absolute sweetheart, and his only goal was to be near the people he loved. Since he had severe anxiety (separation and other kinds), he was retired from the show ring early on, and my parents had him for the last ten and a half years. He turned twelve on the 3rd of July this year.

I called him Grumpy Old Man, because he was the disciplinarian. Fiona, the black lab took great delight in teasing him gently. He'd bark at her & she'd lick his face gently. He'd get grumpy & you could tell from her demeanor that she thought this was funny & it looked like she was saying, "I know you're grumpy, but I love you lots." They were best buddies when she came here about six years ago. He adored Bridie and his huge stuffed teddy bear with all of his little doggie heart.

Just a couple of weeks ago, he started to lose control of his hindquarters. A doses of prednisone seemed to help, but he developed seizures. The vet believes he had brain lesions or a brain tumor. He went gently to sleep on Friday, one of the best good old boys I've ever had in my life. Rest in peace, dear Ricky, your only goal was to watch over us all, and you did a very good job of that.

Rosy's update

Rosy now has a new harness and it is in dusty Rose to fit her name. She looks cute & this new harness isn't as big as the old one, purchased nearly sixteen years ago. She's also going great guns & getting more & more confidence in tracking. She's great to track with & a great deal of fun. Growing up by the day.

And I can see her from the window, digging a hole to bury her rawhide in. Remarkable that both she & Bridie both liked to take their rawhides out to season. Although in Bridie's case, I think Bridie also wanted to take the rawhides out so the cats wouldn't look at them. As if the cats even wanted to chew on them! (they didn't but she was firmly convinced they had nefarious plans on her rawhides).

Books read yesterday

Finished Pandora's Locks by Jeff Alexander. If you're at all interested in the environment & in protecting it, this is a book well worth reading. He lays out the problems of biological pollution (introducing creatures, plants, etc. from other places into new places), some solutions, and writes with passion about the issues. Very good book.

Started Mystery of the Copper Turtle by Doris Kelly (Arbutus Press), continuing with Real life & liars by Riggle, glanced through the new Supremes book by Ribowsky, finished the Red Squad by Broner (excellent book, interesting take on the 60s & those who were protestors at that time).

Have more to read, of course.

Nice headshot of Rosy at ten months

Isn't she cute?

Rosy's tracking day and good people

Had a blast yesterday with the people I was with from 9 until nearly 3pm. Some of us went to lunch, partly because I said I was ready to eat Rosy's treats. ;) Rosy was to get certified, but didn't manage it. I think she had some difficulty with the pull of the line in the tall grass, and I'm sure my nerves affected her a bit, although I was trying not to be nervous.

Beth Lange who was there took some lovely pictures of her & here they are!

new books and soon to come photos

New books: Just looked over Execution 13: The Last Hanging in Michigan by James Hopp. And have been reading Dead Dancing Lovers by Elizabeth Buzzelli, Pandora's Locks by Jeff Alexander, My Germany by Lev Raphael, The Red Squad by EM Broner, and Recovery of Gray Wolves in the Great Lakes REgion by Wyleven.

Pandora's Locks is an excellent book, very well written. Jeff Alexander writes an account that is both scientific & accurate, while intermingling it with the personal accounts of how the damage to the lakes from invasive species started and is continuing. I had not realized that the monetary damages far surpass the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska nor that most of the native fish species in the Great Lakes have been extincted.

Also reading Moon's travel guides to both Upper Penninsula and Michigan (lower peninsula). Both are really good guides and very easy to follow.

Scanned through Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard, Running Home by Jennifer Ward (semi-autobiographical story of rescuing a German Shepherd), and scanned through Wade Rouse's At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream (memoir about a big city boy who moved to Michigan in quest of Thoreau's utopian ideals, only to come face to face with reality. Humor).

So as you can see, I've been busy. These are only some of the books I've been reading. Meanwhile, in the background, Rosy keeps me running. I have some new photos of her that I need to get up. She's gorgeous, still growing, and still very silly. Picture above taken after I play bowed to her & she play bowed back. She's going to go for her tracking certification soon & I'm looking forward to it. I need to keep my big feet out of her way though & just follow where she's leading. Wish us luck!

books read this weekend

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami (interesting short stories about how people are affected by the quake; how their relationships or their minds work in the aftermath.)

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (Sort of a memoir/essay mixture gathered over ten years of the author talking about how running has formed his writing... and vice versa. Very interesting in the later part of the book, but reads somewhat flat in tenor).

Personal Geography : Almost an Autobiography by Elkizabeth Coatsworth (Newberry winner for The Cat Who Went To Heaven, a beautiful book especially early on with her recollections of her life as a child. She traveled alot and seemed not have a permanent home until comparatively late in life. Really wonderful book, highly recommended)

Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami (very fluidly structured novel which changes between different perspectives & essentially of a man whose inner life becomes very surreal).

long list of activities

my list : training Rosy for Manners I class, teaching her tracking, laying tracks for other people's dogs, running a friend's dog in a recent tracking test (learned that I need to keep my feet still & wait for the dog to work it out & get back on track. What a concept, keeping still!), and planning a new fence.

Not sure if I'll have a job after mid-May, but we'll see. I will go ahead & have the fence put in. Little Rosy is growing up and I don't think the current fence is up to her exploits. She's found out about the sport of squirrel chasing and has come awfully close. I think the squirrels should learn not to haunt this yard & the one next door. The next door husky has caught her third squirrel and I think she's gunning for more.

Still cooking, but nothing too exciting.

Still reading : just finished The Lost Tiki Palaces of Detroit by Michael Zadoorian. Wow! Great book of short stories, really terrific writing. Some of the plots are eccentric, and some are definitely adult oriented, but such a terrifically interesting book.

Plants & garden shows

Two plant-related questions today, one about what that white flower with three leaves was called (Trillium, one of Michigan's native flowers) and the other was about what can you grow under a black walnut tree. (ANS: not a lot).

Black Walnut trees secrete a poison of some kind. Their roots pretty much kill any vegetation around them, the leaves & the nuts also kill things. Dogs that eat or mouth the walnuts can die from it, as the mold is pretty deadly as well. Moral of the story is, don't plant them if you have dogs around and especially don't plant them near your neighbor's property, because they won't be happy.

Will have a guy come from the Home & Garden show to give me an estimate on my fence replacement. It really needs to come down soon, as it is so rickety, I could kick the boards through. Rosy would be able to get out if she ever thought about it & I would prefer that she not get ideas about breaking through fences & climbing them. He had some nice ones on display, so my fingers are crossed on that one.

Here's a view of Nick & Robbyn van Frankenhuyzen's sleeping cabin on one of their ponds. It is a really cool place. Bet it looks great now with all the greening up that is going on here.

March winds and rain

Hi, sorry it has been a while again. Lots going on, very busy. Work life remains precarious, but the state government has introduced a bill with funding in it for my department. We have some faint hope of survival. And spring is imminent. I know the official date of spring was this Friday, but for me, spring begins when my daffodils begin to bloom.

Rosy is, of course, as blooming as ever. She had her first trip to the vet since her follow up puppy vaccinations and was a silly wild puppy. They took her in the back to take blood from her and she sauntered off without even a look back at me. They all enjoyed her & thought she was beautiful. A balm to this dog-loving heart!

Annie-the-cat, on the other hand, had a terrible time. She's become increasingly frightened with each trip to the vet. Today I asked why her gums & tongue looked so odd and the vet said, "She's holding her breath." Annie was literally turning blue. Poor Annie. She has to go back in for another teeth cleaning and I was hoping my ritual tartar cookies, etc. would help clean her teeth. Not this time. She had white teeth until I gave her Kitty Caviar. I sure wish I had never given her that crap. (ok, cats adore it. But on Annie, it stuck to her teeth and now she has had to go back in for several teeth cleanings since I gave her that stuff. Rats).

May have to investigate a home-visit vet. One of my friends is a substitute vet so I'm going to ask her what she thinks I should or can do. Poor Annie. She's such a good cat. She does not want to hurt anyone, not even puppy Rosy and she feels bad when she scratches someone. But she's terrified out of her wits.

Home & Garden show as a master gardener volunteer this weekend. I've done Thursday & Friday, will do Saturday. It is gorgeous and the gardens they've set up in there are absolutely glorious. If there's one nearby, go. It is great just for the sight, and they do have giveaways and freebies. Like yardsticks. You can never have too many yardsticks in your life, can you?

hectic schedules

Sorry its taken so long to post again. Rosy's Manners I class will start next week on the 17th. She got to go in on Tuesday and get fitted for her next harness. I could still get the old harness on, but it looked way too short for her. This one fits much better & she was galloping around the room very cheerfully, while playing with two large golden retrievers.

She was having a ton of fun & the one boy dog thought having two girl dogs to play with was just so very exciting. Very silly puppies.

She's at 30 pounds, I think. She wriggles so much it is hard to tell. Top weight will probably be between 40-50 pounds. She's at her top height (or at least, she's as tall as Ricky, who is 19 inches at the shoulder) so I wonder if she'll fill out now, rather than grow any taller. We'll see. She's also had a set of tracking lessons & she's doing really well. Now to work on the handler's skills!

As gorgeous as ever, enough so that most of the people at the pet store didn't mind her jumping on them. I do try to stop it, but she's relentless (and wriggly, so it is hard to hold her still). One lady in particular stood way too close and scowled every time Rosy jumped on her. I apologized, but really, she could've given us more room & we would all have been happier. She quite obviously didn't like dogs and was buying food for snakes. So one of those people. Oh well. ;) The picture above is of Rosy in mid-jump.

Time for jumping practice (aka - teaching her not to jump on people).

Rosy ran away today (but thank goodness for the neighbors)

Because they caught her. They'd left with their two dogs to go for a walk & she ran after them, in typical puppy fashion. That was quite an heart attack, because she came back, saw me in the open gate, and then ran off again. Boy, she's fast.

We think her head hit the gate latch & popped the gate open. I really need a new fence. Maybe the tax return will help.

On the good news front, apart from getting Rosy back safely, I also managed to cut ALL of her toenails, while she was busy eating doggie bones. Amazing how well that works, I'm not sure eating food would distract ME if someone else was cutting my nails. Yeek.

In this picture, I think she looks comparatively innocent. I love these pictures of the dogs looking into or out of windows. She's obviously thinking, "Mom, come out and play!" I need a couple of acres of land (fenced) for her to gallop around & really exercise. Am going to make pumpkin walnut bread to thank the neighbors. Maybe chocolate chip cookies too.

One more of Rosy

Ok, I can't stop... she's too darn cute! This is also on Nick & Robbyn's farm. She feels as good as she looks too. That lovely soft & silky puppy hair.

Roi'si'n on the farm

This is Rosy at Nick & Robbyn van Frankenhuyzen's farm, back in December. She loved it, and it was such a nice safe place for her to be off leash & gallop around.

Rosy graduates from puppy class

And plays with the paper shredder. Not to worry, I have it unplugged, so if she licks it, it won't pull her tongue in. For some reason, she thinks it is fun to grab at the mail as it goes through the shredder and also likes to watch the paper drop into the bin, through the plastic window. Silly pooch.

She was a good demonstration dog again, and demo'ed puppy pushups. This is where you make the puppy do a down, then a sit, and back to a down again, several times. Rosy's very good at this, because she's known this since she was 8 weeks old. I'm used to her doing this, so wasn't prepared for the people in the class laughing. Apparently they thought she was cute! I think she's cute too. They promptly started trying it out with their puppies too.

We also had puppy dressup, where you run down, call your puppy to you, put something on the puppy & run back with the puppy. Rosy looked confused to have a purple zip-up vest on. They had bobbing for treats, but Rosy wanted to drink the water, so of course, the other puppies drank the water too, until the level was low enough to get the treats out without dunking their noses in the water. Too silly. It was a good class. I'm hoping we'll be in other classes together, but we'll see.

Will take Manners I next, starting in March.

I have several times called Rosy Nosy instead. Oops! But she is nosy, as all puppies are, I think. She & Annie are continuing to bump noses, and this past weekend, Annie was more congenial toward Rosy than I have ever seen her. It is still going to take Rosy time to settle down & treat Annie nicely consistently.


By the way, if you don't already have a shredder, get one. I have the cross cut one now (the old one burned out & this was the one that just turned paper into long strips). The cross cut one holds more shreddings, because the paper is more compacted due to its size after cutting. Had a blast, and shredded two large trash bags full of stuff.

On the reading front, re-read Robin McKinley's Chalice, which again is good for anyone who loves bees or honey. It is a fantasy. Also read Jacqueline Sheehan's Lost & Found. Adored this one. There is a black lab in it, and a wounded woman. It is a mystery, I think, but I think it is billed as fiction. Lovely story of coping with loss, grief, and how differently people deal with it. The black lab is dealt with in a lovely way, and the chapters dealing with what he's thinking & why he's doing what he does are done well. Doesn't seem like soppy sentimentalism & anthropomorphism, which I really hate.

The other book is Flying Changes by Sara Gruen. This is another book dealing with loss, but also about learning to let go. To say too much about the plot would ruin it, but it is another animal book, so's to speak, in that horses are talked about a lot in this book. Not to the detriment, even if you're not a horse lover. Highly recommended.

More later. I'm cooking pistachio chicken, and going to make soup for the week ahead. Soup is always fun. You just fling everything you like together. (ok, so there's more to it than that, but that's the basic for me). I'm also going to try my first London Broil. Pray for me. (yikes). It is marinating now, so I'm debating whether to wait until tomorrow or do it tonight. Supposedly it is better if you let it marinate overnight. Would all day suffice? Who knows.

Seasoned Oyster Crackers

I did a search because I thought I had posted the oyster crackers recipe here earlier, but apparently not, I had only posted a promise to post. So here's the recipe :

One bottle butter flavored popcorn oil : This is Orville Redenbacher's, and I think it is an 8oz.

two packages (large) of oyster crackers. (I prefer the small crackers over the large ones).

one package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing (the kind you add buttermilk to, not the kind you add milk to).

Lemon & Pepper seasoning
Garlic
Black pepper


Mix up butter flavored popcorn oil & Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, stir in well. Mix in your preferred amounts of garlic & lemon & pepper seasonings, plus the black pepper to taste Stir in well.

Put the oyster crackers into a large bowl, big enough for you to stir the oyster crackers (with your hands, so you don't break the crackers up) once the oil is on it. Pour oil over the crackers, stir up well, and let rest for ten to twenty minutes.

Oven needs to be set to low. I put it to 250 degrees. You do not want the crackers to brown up too much or get too crisp. Put the crackers in a pan with sides, and try to get the layer as flat as possible, so the crackers are not resting on top of each other.

Stir every ten minutes. Bake at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 40 minutes. Bake longer for more brownness.

Also, I often scatter more lemon & pepper seasoning on the top of the baking crackers or even more garlic powder, to make sure they have enough flavor.

I do think the secret to this recipe is to stir often, so that they get baked well, and there's no oiliness.

If you can not find butter flavored popcorn oil, get an equivalent amount of oil, and add butter flavoring to it (approx. one teaspoon. You should be able to smell a light odor of butter coming off the oil).

Variations : Parmesan cheese, other spices. Many recipes similar to this call for dill. Dill is not my favorite herb, but I did put it in the dish last time & liked it, so a mild scattering of Dill can be a very nice addition.

Cooks.com has the lemon pepper & the garlic at a 1/4 tsp. They have Dill at 1/2 tsp. I would actually reverse this & put only 1/4 tsp of the dill & 1/2 of the other two spices. Also, since I have two packages of the oyster crackers going (or even two boxes) you can double the Cook's Recipe, and then increase the seasoning as the oyster crackers bake. Taste the oyster crackers as they warm up & start to brown, and I think you'll get a sense of what they need.

Enjoy!

Early pic of Rosy

This is a picture from the fall, early on. She's doubled in weight since then and now weighs 36 pounds, unless she had a foot off the scale. ;) She's a wriggler! The picture is in here mostly so you can see her favorite toy of all time... a rose pot!

She really does love this thing and with the snow melted off, we have rediscovered the buried snow pots & she ran to the back fence to show them off to the next door dogs, who are not impressed. Oh well. The glory of rose pots will have to wait for another day. Rosy & I will just enjoy them together.

Sure is fun to have the break from all the hard snow & ice. Have to report also that Rosy & I watched Westminster together. And yes, Rosy really does watch TV, especially when there are animals on there. Annie does this too, and I think I've mentioned before that she especially likes the moose from Northern Exposure. She was fascinated by the tiger cubs too, and I'd like to see Rosy's reaction to tiger cubs. Full grown tigers might be too scary right now, since she's so young.

My house

This is my little house, with lots of snow too. Wouldn't it be nice if both Annie & Roi'sin were peeking out the front window? Bridie & Annie used to do that & I see more & more signs each day that someday Rosy & Annie will do that also. For now, Annie stays up high, especially on her new cat condo, so that Rosy doesn't flatten her. It is very obvious that Rosy likes Annie (and vice versa) but Annie is understandably cautious around my wild puppy.

Nice brillant day today, and I took Roi'sin for a walk. She was very good, but we both were skidding over the black ice, which is impossible to see and which is caused by the snow melt & refreeze. The sun is wonderful & I love the change from grey & snowy to sunny.

Starting Monday, Rosy and I are looking forward to Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for 2009

Sunday updates

Had a pretty tranquil day. Just made artichokes gratinata, a chili (midwestern style, so with beans added and some other vegetables), roasted red pepper spread and should be set for the week ahead. Can't wait to get to my Friday off. I plan to take Rosy to the dog park in the morning. Here's hoping it isn't too cold.

Changed the picture in the last post too, since I thought the one I uploaded was a tad too blurry. Here's one of Annie & Rosy together. Rosy used to run around the outside of this pen, barking. It used to scare Annie a little, until she finally realized that Rosy really couldn't reach her & was just being noisy. One of them just knocked a pan off the table, so I have to go comfort them all with treats. Poor babies. I think I need more kitchen space. Doesn't everyone.

just got out of puppy class

And Rosy was a star. She knows a lot already, very smart girl, & is wonderfully responsive. The one thing she wouldn't work on with the instructor was the leave it command, mostly because she wanted to go play with the other puppies more than she wanted food. Funny girl. She's more & more wonderful every day. Annie even got down on the floor four times yesterday & bumped noses with Rosy. She goes away as soon as Rosy gets too interested in sniffing her, but things are greatly improving. Rosy seems to be getting it that I don't want her to chase Annie and ever since the new (very tall, close to five & a half feet) cat condo was installed, Annie's been happier too. I'll have to get pictures of Annie in the new cat condo up soon. Meanwhile, here's another good picture of Rosy.

And a good quote: Choices are the hinges of destiny."
– Pythagoras