Pit Bull Envy

Dogs & Other Animals, Thoughts On Life, , ,

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As per my e-mail moniker, I am the Sheltie Queen. I am one of the founders of our local sheltie rescue group. I love their furry bodies, their long noses, and their herding attitudes. For the most part, I live and breathe shelties. I am happy this way. Life is good.  Why then, for the past couple of years have I had this increasing obsession with getting a pit bull? I see them or pictures of them and am reduced to cooing, ohhh…a pit bull.

Well, for one thing they are beautiful dogs. They have sleek bodies, chunky heads, and their coats come in so many gorgeous colors. I am partial to the brindles, chocolates, and blues. That really narrows it down. Not! They are active dogs and that fits in with the hiking, walking, and playing that we like to do. I have met some wonderful pit bulls and been the recipient of more than a few affectionate kisses from them. Above is Xena, a pit bull that I met at the local pound, she jumped up so as to be close enough to deliver kisses all over my face. Heaven!

Ultimately though, one of the reasons I am drawn to them is I see them as the underdog of the dog world. They are maligned and discriminated against.  It is in my nature to help the downtrodden and needy. That’s how I got started in rescue work in the first place. My goal is, when I am ready, to get a pit bull and train it for therapy dog work. Then we can work as a team to combat this stigma. And I will have another canine friend to assist with the therapy dog work that I love. It seems the ultimate win. As we visit and brighten the days of people who aren’t fortunate enough to have the joy of their own dogs, we show how loving pit bulls can be.

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Feline Ghandi

Dogs & Other Animals, ,

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Having numerous animals often involves playing nurse. Poor Lacey has been suffering with an abscess on her face for weeks.  After rounds of three different types of antibiotics and draining the abscess twice a day there was still little improvement. Finally the vet decided that a bacterial culture was necessary so we could identify the strain and get the correct antibiotic. Once we had the right medicine it started clearing up within two days. We are all very happy about this, especially Lacey. This picture was taken once she started to heal up. I didn’t want to take a photo before because it’s not something I want to remember!

Lacey must be the world’s nicest cat.  Through all of the pill and liquids I gave her, and all of the treating of the wound, and the ointments, she was always pleasant. She was an easy patient to work on.  And she would still come to sit with me and hang out even after all the “abuse” I had to put her through.

Lacey is 13 or 14 and has always been an extremely nice cat. If I had to give all of these treatments to some of our other cats, I would be covered in bites and scratches. Lacey is also the cat that loves dogs. She never runs from any of the dogs, even those who are new in residence. She just sits and looks at them and assumes they will be nice to her. She befriends our foster dogs, especially the older ones. She sits with them and gives and receives comfort in their company. Below, she is with Maizie our foster dog from last summer who was suffering from renal failure.

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Lacey is a peace loving soul. We could all stand to be a little more like her. The world needs more Laceys!

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New Food Invention!

Cooking, ,

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I came up with a new recipe this evening.  I call them Mexican Egg Rolls. They were delicious. Gather the following ingredients.

  • Oil
  • Fresh garlic, minced
  • Onions, diced
  • Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, small amount of thyme
  • Green Cabbage, finely shredded
  • Fresh Spinach, finely shredded
  • Pepper – green, red, orange, or yellow, diced
  • Sharp Cheddar Cheese, finely grated
  • Large burrito wrappers
  • Cut up shrimp, chicken, pork, or bacon

Saute garlic in preheated oil til golden brown (about 30 seconds to one minute). Add the diced pepper and saute one more minute. Add the cabbage and spices and continue cooking until slightly wilted but still crisp. Add the spinach and cook for a minute more. Remove the cabbage mixture from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Put a generous amount of cabbage mixture in a burrito wrapper. Top with minced onion, Cheddar cheese, and your choice of meat. Or leave the meat off for a vegetarian version. Roll like burritos or egg rolls.

Heat a small amount of oil in a  non-stick pan. Place the rolls in the skillet and cook briefly on all four sides until nicely golden brown. The cabbage inside will still be slightly crunchy.

Serve and enjoy. These are good with sour cream.

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Pancakes

Cooking, ,

20150301_195602 I love pancakes!

There are so many ways to make them. I always use Bisquick for my pancakes. I find that it produces the best results.  The other similar mixes just don’t measure up.  I alter the basic recipe on the box to whatever suits my taste.

I always add extra liquid so the batter is a little thinner and I can get a bigger, flatter pancake. Not too much liquid though or you will have trouble flipping the pancakes. The liquid can be varied. The recipe calls for milk. I rarely use regular cow’s milk because of lactose issues in our household. Generally I use vanilla almond milk. You can also substitute chocolate almond milk or orange juice. Don’t forget the eggs and oil as per the box recipe. Next the standard recipe calls for vanilla extract. I often use almond extract instead. Any other flavor would work just as well depending on the final product you are going for. I whisk all of the wet ingredients together before adding them to the dry. Sometimes I add in canned pumpkin or mashed bananas. You may have to adjust the liquid depending on the consistency of these. No big deal. If the batter gets too runny, just add a little more of the Bisquick to thicken it up. I like to add cinnamon and nutmeg to the pumpkin and maybe a little molasses to make it like pumpkin pie.

And then you are ready for what I call the “add-ins”. Nearly all of my pancakes include chocolate chips. Other things you could add include:  almonds, pecans, walnuts, chopped cranberries, coconut, sliced strawberries, blueberries, orange zest, lemon zest, raspberries or blackberries, chopped dates. The possibilities are many. I mix these items into the dry Bisquick before adding the liquid. I find that having them coated and dispersed reduces the needed mixing and makes a better quality pancake.

I always use a silver stone, non-stick pan to cook the pancakes in. I add a little cooking spray before the first pancake. Make sure the pan is well heated on medium heat. Then pour in the batter and spread it around a little with a spoon to get the pancake thin enough and as large as you want it. Small bubbles or holes will surface starting at the outside and then toward the center as cooking takes place. Flip the pancake when the bubbles are coming up near the center. I often have trouble flipping the first pancake. It is usually the “sacrificial pancake”. After this I never have any trouble. If there is no chocolate, this is the pancake the dogs get.

I hope you have fun making these pancakes and coming up with different combinations. I always do. My particular favorites that I make over and over are:

  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip (All time favorite!)
  • Banana Chocolate Chip
  • Orange Chocolate Chip

Other tasty combinations are:

  • Orange Almond Chocolate Chip
  • Banana Pecan
  • Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip made with Chocolate Almond Milk (like German Chocolate Cake!)
  • Raspberry White Chocolate Chip

So, have fun with this. You are only limited by your imagination!

Gifts

Thoughts On Life, , ,

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This figure was a gift from my friend Tina. I keep it out all year because it represents so many things to me. It reminds me of the dogs I rescue. And the gift that these dogs are. And I, of course, think of the friend who gave it to me when I see it. Tina has since left this world but her gifts have not. Her gift of friendship and the thoughtful attention she showed in giving are still with me.

So although this is a Christmas gift and it brings to mind the gifts of hope, and peace, and love, I find it to be appropriate throughout the year. It is a reminder that I should try to  exhibit these traits and be a better person.  These are ideas that I want to keep close to me the whole year long.

Tales of Baxter Puppers

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

 Baxter puppy face

This is Baxter. He looks so innocent, doesn’t he? Don’t be fooled. He is the protector of his home. Last evening I opened the door for all of the dogs to go out in the fenced potty area. The fence is only about 3 1/2 feet high but our dogs have never tried to leave the area. I opened the  door  and out the dogs went. Baxter went out the door and sailed over the fence without even touching it. He ran just out of my site in the dark. The other dogs were barking within the fence as back up. Turns out there was a opossum in the yard. Baxter was on the job checking it out and patrolling his territory. Although the opossum was hissing and carrying on, the incident ended without apparent injury to either party. Baxter is a good boy and came back when he was called. He came in and resumed napping on the couch. Enough excitement for one night.

Baxter close up

Blitz on the Job, Even at his Foster Home

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings,
Sheltie, Blitz
Shetland Sheepdog, Blitz

Blitz would like to alert you to crimes in our neighborhood. He barked and chased them off but not before two men wearing coveralls in a large, marked vehicle stopped, stole our trash and drove away! They have the nerve to do this throughout the area and come back on a regular basis to repeat said crime. Blitz says thank you for allowing this public service announcement.

(Ummm…Blitz, we pay them to do this. We call them the trash men.)

Three Dogs

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals,

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Three dogs enjoying the balmy weather before the next cold wave. We have a  brief respite with temperatures in the 30’s before we plunge back down to zero tonight. These guys insisted that they must go out and enjoy it. From left to right are Blitz the foster dog, Baxter, and Shelby. They were watching me while I  hauled more wood to the house. Note that the dog house is not there because the dogs spend lots of time  outside and need shelter. It was left here by a previous owner and our guys like to use it for extra shade sometimes in the summer.

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This is Blitz keeping an eye on me.

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And Shelby supervising me. She usually goes with me to get the wood so is not happy to be behind the fence. She doesn’t know what I might do if left to my own devices.

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And Baxter wants to know why I  don’t throw the Frisbee instead of trudging back and forth with pieces of wood.

The other three dogs stayed in the house.  I imagine Phoebe the greyhound thought she might get her sweater dirty, Nikki, the petite sheltie, does not like dogs ( we don’t tell her that she is a dog ), and Roxanne the 15 year old sheltie is waiting for spring.

So the three dogs pictured above were my audience as I did my outside chores. I wouldn’t want to do it without them. They are good company.

Too Much Winter

Country Life, ,

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Getting a little tired of seeing this. Actually seeing it isn’t the problem. The problem is all the shoveling that comes with it. That and hauling wood through the great white depths. I shoveled for about two hours today. That got the mail and paper boxes clear and enough of the driveway open that I  can park within a few feet of the door to the house. The rest of the driveway will have to wait for another day. Oh, snow blower how I miss thee. How cruel of you to give out when I still have need of you. We have a neighbor who lives down the road who was scheduled to plow for us in the event of larger snows such as this. His tractor is also on the  injured list. I guess this winter was just too much for  them.

Once I was done with the shoveling, it was time to haul wood. We’ve figured out a system using one of the recycling bins. I fill the bin with firewood and attach a heavy dog leash to it and pull it to the house. It works like a  sled and I think it is rather  ingenious. The  snow became too deep to get the tractor back to the wood crib quite a while ago.

I am hoping for a warm up, even a brief one, to lower the level of snow. Looking out the back door, it appears as if the fence around the dog yard is getting shorter. In reality the snow is getting deeper. Luckily the dogs don’t seem to have noticed this yet. Without a bit of a melt off I will have to make the snow less (read as more shoveling) or the fence taller. I  think I’ll pray for the melt off. The birds are in favor of the melt off as well.

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The good news is that, as a  reward for all the work I did today, I made pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for dinner! Oh yeah, and also that spring will officially be here next month.

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Lessons from Dog Rescue

Dogs & Other Animals, Rescue Happenings, ,

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This is our current  foster sheltie named Blitz. He came into our rescue as an owner turn-in. He is only 5 years old and had been with his owners since puppy hood. Usually it doesn’t sit well with me when someone turns over their dog. Sometimes there is a case where I understand and this was one such case. Blitz was intensely loved. I  felt very bad for the poor lady that had to turn him in. It was very hard for her.  The story is one that I have, sadly, heard too many times recently. It was an older woman and her husband had passed away so she had to sell her home to move closer to her children. Blitz was use to having many country acres to patrol and watch over. To be fair,  the nice lady did take Blitz with her to her new condo and tried  to make it work. But this winter has been so cold and icy. Blitz had already pulled her down three times and there is much more winter weather to go. The chance that the lady could have been badly hurt was just too great. But boy was he loved.

20150226_175153 These are all of Blitz ‘ s belongings that came with him. There is  a large fleece dog bed, a buckle collar, a choker collar, a retractable lead, and a whole host of toys. Also a box of biscuits and a large bag of dog food.  Notice that the bears do not have ears. They don’t have tails either. Apparently Blitz likes his toys!20150226_175416He also came with this picture of his mother, and his litter mate and himself at one day old. Blitz is the tiny brown one near the mother’s foot. And if that doesn’t convince you that he was loved, he was also sent to me with his baby teeth. They were lovingly kept and labeled.

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My point is that we (I) should remember not to judge too quickly or harshly. Sometimes people must do things that they don’t want to do. There but for the grace of God go I, and all that type of thing. I will try to honor this owner’s love by loving Blitz, taking care of him to the best of my abilities, and finding him his next loving home.