I had my first Etsy sale today. And it wasn’t even to someone I know! This is hugely exciting to me. And knowing I made enough to cover my site listings is an added bonus.
Since this was my first sale, I included a handwritten thank and an extra, small gift from my shop. It is a small step but it is a first step. Many thanks to the buyer.
A new foster dog has arrived! We have been without a foster dog for over two years. That is an eternity for us. We had not been without a foster dog before this since 2003. When Zeke came, he was such a handful that we could not deal with any other new dogs. So when I decided to adopt Zeke, we had to take a break from fostering.
Zeke is still a handful. I would say that his behavior gets marginally better all the time. At this rate he will be a normal level of crazy in several more years. Well, either Zeke is a bit better or our tolerance for trouble has increased. Because in the late fall, we decided that we were ready to foster again. Turn-ins to our group Northeast Ohio Shetland Sheepdog Rescue slowed down and we have some other great foster homes available so it didn’t work out for a dog to come to us until yesterday. This girl’s name is Topanga. We will be renaming her soon as that is quite a mouthful and she doesn’t seem very responsive to it.
Topanga was turned over to our Rescue group along with four other dogs. All of the dogs are female Shetland Sheepdogs and about 4-5 years old. Two are sables, two are tricolors, and there is one blue merle. The owner is apparently beginning to suffer from dementia and is no longer able to care for the dogs. I applaud the owner for realizing her limitations and doing what is best for these girls no matter how hard it is. Many of us could end up in a similar situation and I can only imagine the grief it would bring. The other dogs are going from their initial intake home to long term foster homes too. They will all get any updates to their care that is needed along with love. Love is what our foster homes do best.
I would like to point out that as with all Rescue groups, we have a protocol that we follow before placing dogs in adoptive homes. We require applications and then we conduct vet checks, followed by home checks. Then we place each dog into the approved home that is the best fit for him or her. We have enough approved homes on our waiting list to provide an adoptive home for all of these dogs. If you are interested in a dog, it is wise to get an application in early so you will be ready when we have more dogs come along.
I have to thank Cheryl, who picked up the dogs from the owner for us. And a big thanks also to Kathi who met Cheryl at the local pet store and both ladies spent their evening bathing, trimming, and transporting these dogs. These are two ladies from the local Shetland Sheepdog breed club as well as members of our Rescue. It is great and always a help when these two parts of the dog world can work together. Bravo ladies!
Topanga will be here for a few weeks at least while we update her veterinary needs and get her spayed. We can already tell she is quite a character. She was jumping and trying to play with me when I was grooming her yesterday. She keeps running around and trying to get the other dogs to play. She is also trying to get the cats to play but so far that results in hissing and a swat or two. I’m sure it’s only a matter of a few days before she is outside playing with the other dogs in our fenced pasture.
I tried making something new for dinner tonight. That is not unusual. The unusual part was that I used a recipe. The recipe was for Easy Mie Goreng or Indonesian Stir-Fried Noodles. I did alter the recipe slightly to accommodate my ingredients. I found the recipe in a book I checked out from the library. Gotta love your local library. The name of the cookbook is Rice. Noodles. Yum. by Abigail Sotto Raines. Most of the recipes look tasty but use ingredients that I don’t have on hand. This recipe was pretty basic so I gave it a try. It was delicious and I look forward to having the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
The final product did come out looking similar to the picture in the book. Their shrimp were larger but otherwise, very similar. It wasn’t overly difficult to make either. I would recommend this recipe. If you don’t mind tracking down some of the ingredients, a number of the other recipes look delicious as well. Things like oyster sauce and tamarind paste are not something I have easy access to. I suppose I should try looking on-line. Also, I did not know there are different kinds of soy sauce such as dark or sweet. What they carry at my local stores just says soy sauce. I did substitute finely sliced green cabbage for the Napa and Bok Choy. These would have been $12 for each head at my local grocer.
I certainly can’t complain about the results though. We both had two servings of this noodle dish for dinner. If you’re looking for something tasty and different from your usual fare, give this a try.
The year 2020 got off to a good culinary start. With our traditional pork and sauerkraut that I made for everyone else, we had raisin walnut cinnamon bread that I made this morning. It was delicious with some butter but I couldn’t help but think what amazing French toast it would make. I love making bread. The dough is so soft and smooth when I knead it. It is therapeutic.
My mother in law spent the afternoon with us and joined us for the New Year’s meal. She brought an amazing coconut cream pie that she made this morning. It was also delicious!
We are fortunate to have a family of good cooks who appreciate cooking and baking for the art they can be!
Sanctuary Acres 