Just checking in

Not much new. OK, a whole lot new - just not much fit for public consumption. All is well. My job is good. My dogs are healthy.

Just posting for the sake of posting, I guess.

Saving Grace.

One of my favorite TV shows ended last night and I still cannot decide how I feel about the finale. About the only thing that I am sure of right now is that I hope my guardian angel is sort of like Earl.

I also know that I thank God every day for His saving grace.

tastes of summer

When I was growing up, I lived in a town that had one fast-food restaurant and it was NOT a chain. However, two towns over, there existed a drive-in that was referred to in my family as "Dorothy's Happy Hunting Ground". This is where my sister met her future husband.

Years later, my brother worked there for a short time. I have always loved the taste of A&W Root Beer, fresh from the restaurant, in 1 gallon plastic containers. I am not as fond of the bottled/canned variety.

We did not often get to have soda when I was little but I have very fond memories of root beer floats with real root beer. They taste like summer to me - sweet, sticky, creamy, frothy summer.

Tonight, after supper, I had a bowl of this -
Schwan's Root Beer Splash ice cream. I was 10 again and it was summer. You really can't ask much more from a dessert.

Rattlesnake Vaccine

A few days ago, I blogged about taking the dogs to the vet for rattlesnake vaccine. Several people have expressed an interest in it so I thought I would share the story of why I am so adamant about vaccinating my dogs.

As most of you know, I used to work at an old abandoned sugar plant, running a scrap yard and occasionally pulling nighttime guard duty. My companion was Bug. Bug was a stray who was thrown away by some idiot and rescued by all of us who worked there. She loved me.

She would stay in the office with me, go outside with me, and stay in the guard shack with me. When I was not there, she roamed the 1600+ acres, checking fence lines and keeping the critter count down. My vet recommended snake vaccine for her since she was basically a free-range pup.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that I listened to my vet.

In August of 2007, Bug was bit on the cheek by a rattlesnake. Bug was biting the rattlesnake at the same time. The snake died. Bug did not.

She did get very sick, as the following pictures will attest. Her face swelled up, there was terrible drainage and she ran a fever for a few days. She was very sick. She did not die.

For any of my friends who have dogs who live in the country or who vacation in the country or who might pass through the country, please talk to your vets.


This last picture was taken in March of 2007, 5 months before the bite. I just wanted to remember how pretty she was then. She looked like this after the rattlesnake incident, also.

Another Sign of Antiquity

Back in the 80s, one of my friends and I had an age test. We decided that we couldn't work with anyone who was born after Kennedy died. Their frame of reference just wasn't right. We used this rule right up until the day when, after we explained this rule to one of our co-workers, she gasped and exclaimed "they shot Teddy!?!" After we picked ourselves up off of the floor, we just gave up.

It has taken me some years to come up with yet another example of how old I truly am. When I was a child, every night at dinner, we had a meat, a starch, a cooked vegetable and, during the summer, a salad. Said salad consisted of chopped iceberg lettuce, tomato wedges and, if they were in season, cucumbers. Every night my mother conned me into making the salad dressing because "you do it so well, Sandy". It wasn't till I had kids of my own that I realized how very clever she was. I was reminded of this when I read this recipe in the Food Network Magazine.

Every night, I would mix mayonnaise (Best Foods), catsup, sweet pickle relish, salt and pepper in an old tupperware mixing tumbler my mom had. We did not use store-bought dressing and this was what I grew up thinking was Thousand Island dressing.

How does this make me old?

There was NO ranch dressing! It had not yet been invented. I do remember when it was new. You bought the powdered Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix and mixed it with mayonnaise and buttermilk. Yes, folks, buttermilk dressing actually had buttermilk in it.

So, if you can remember the days before Ranch Dressing, then you just might remember when your choices in a restaurant were Thousand Island, Bleu Cheese (or Roquefort), French, or oil and vinegar.

Maybe I'll mix up a batch tonight!

Happy Flag Day!

Maybe that's where the partridge went...

Saturday morning, Shorty and I took all 4 dogs to the vet so they could get their rattlesnake vaccine. Thanks to the lovely vet tech (thank you, Terri) who brought the shots to the car, this did not take as long as it might have.

We got home and unloaded the dogs. Holly, Duck and Bonnie went to the gate and waited. Goose went in by whatever method she gets out and, by the time the rest of us got in the yard, had the bird down and was dispatching it. Granted, it did not look like a partridge but you never know.

So far this spring it is Goose - 2, snakes - 1, birds - 1. Our yard is not a safe place to be.

Where's the partridge?

Four years ago, before we even moved our house to the property where we are now, we planted a pear tree there. It is a hybrid with 3 different varieties of pear, self-pollinating, and it is supposed to grow almost anywhere.

I have a black thumb. This is a widely known fact among my friends and family. I once killed a cactus by giving it too much sun!

Anyway, the pear tree, in spite of me, grew. It grew and it grew. Every year after the first, it would have beautiful blossoms and then the winds would come. The blossoms would go. The tree would grow.

This year, the tree put forth new growth. It had beautiful blossoms and then the winds came. But this year, LOOK!

There are two beautiful buds and hopefully Moose will be able to eat a pear off the tree. He has been wanting to do that for the last 4 years.

I am so pleased.