Just after Christmas this year, we went to PA and NY for a few days, to visit family. I'm not going to talk about the visit, as such, here- that's another post (or not, most likely).

We stayed at my youngest sister's house. She vacates and moves in with another sister while we are there, so we get the place to ourselves. All we have to do is feed the cats and the fish. Not a bad deal.

Anyway, it turns out, everyone there has a Wii, even my parents. I know the kids like the thing, but we've never seen it in action. So the first morning we were there, while the BaldMan was in the shower, I decided to turn Cathi's on and see what it was like. I bowled a couple frames, and headed upstairs to tell the BaldMan he had to try the thing! So he went downstairs and I got in the shower. When I finished and came back down, he turned to me and said, "We are so getting one of these!" It was fun! We played with my parents that afternoon, and when everyone came by each evening, we had bowling tournaments and played with some of the other stuff.

And, yeah, we did come home and buy one. We got the basic unit and the Fit Plus. Turns out Autodesk will pay for the Fit Plus. They consider it home fitness equipment and they will pay up to $300/year for stuff like that. We've been using it pretty much daily since we got it, both for the Fit stuff and we usually bowl or golf or both in the evening after dinner. It's so much more fun than the usual video game things, which I was never any good at. With this, you have to get up and move around. The action for the sports games is very much like really playing them. You have to throw the bowling ball, swing the golf club and baseball bat, and some of the games on the Fit Plus are actually fun to do. I've actually lost a bit of weight since we got it. It's far more fun than I ever thought it would be.

And I'm not half bad at bowling, btw. High game of 247. Not that I've been able to match that, but I usually beat the BaldMan. He gets me in golf, tho. I can't do that one very well.

We Wii! Wheee!

Just squeaked in the goal of 20 books in 2009. Well, I actually finished the last one a couple days ago, but still, it went to the wire. At least I did it. Now for 2010... Hmmmm. How about we go for 22 in the coming year? Yeah, I think that will do.

And I know where I'm starting. I'm going to re-read the whole Shannara series by Terry Brooks, now that I actually own all of them. When I read them years ago, I read some of them out of the library, so I didn't have them. Now I do, so I think I am going to read them all together. That'll put a dent in the goal!

I was out in the yard with the dog after dinner, and I noticed something I do every year at this time: the stillness. It reminded me that Solstice is a quiet time of year. Oh, yes, there was the ever-present sound of traffic, but it was distant and somehow muffled sounding. The now-bare branches of the trees are silent, with no leaves to rustle and whisper in the breeze. The lawn and garden are sleeping under their blanket of snow. It’s dusk, so the even the birds are settled for the night. A few stars peek out between wispy clouds in the darkening sky.

I almost hate to admit it, but times like that, I kind of like winter. Oh, I could do without the bone deep cold we’ve been having, but all that quiet reminds me that everyone and everything needs to slow down and just be, once in a while. I think I’d miss the change of seasons, even winter. It’s a reminder that Life turns, always. Up and down, ebb and flow. On an evening like this, standing in the yard, cold, waiting for the dog to be ready to head back inside, I feel more connected to the Earth under my feet than any other time. I can feel the turning, knowing we are marching forward, as always, to the return of the Sun and the rebirth of Spring.

It’s a good feeling.

Happy Holidays!

The last of the four Humane Society kittens went to the Rainbow Bridge last night. Mo went with Steph when she moved out a few years ago, but he grew up here. Mo was 15, so he lived a good, long life. He was a sweet cat, black and white like his brothers and sister, with faint white stripes running through the saddle of black on his back. We originally named him Mosaic because of that, but he became just Mo or MoBear, because he was so big and fluffy. He'd had problems with gum infections all his life, and in the past few years, had kidney problems. It was most likely the kidneys that caught up with him. Steph said he'd stopped eating and was very weak. We were taking him to the vet today, and I'm sure they would have said it was time. But she called last night and said he was gone.

This is Mo with Jasmine's kittens. He was a good Uncle Mo to those babies!



MoBear, you go run and play and enjoy being with your brothers and sister now. We miss you!

I know. I'm sorry. November is such a crazy month, with the holidays coming up and all that entails. We are having the usual family group for Thanksgiving, minus Jill and John since she can't get the time off. They will be missed. But things have got to get done for that. I really need to get the Halloween decorations put away and at least some Christmas up. There are those who are coming who are disappointed if I don't. Not sure why, as they don't really change much year to year.

And, for the second year in a row, I lost my sanity- or what little of it I have left!- and decided to do NaNoWriMo again. 50,000 words in 30 days. It's going ok, really, but I have to keep going or it won't get done. And, for some reason, I decided to blog it this year. In a separate blog, so as not to bore anyone. So I have that to update as well. I must be nuts! LOL

My piano teacher canceled our lesson this week. She may have H1N1. Swell. Probably got it from the kids at school. Makes me glad I don't interact with people all that much these days. I don't get sick, or rarely anyway. And I'd like to keep it that way!

I got some book recommendations today. Hoping to go look for some next week. Not that I need more books or anything. I still have over a shelf full to get through, but can you really have too many? I think not.

End of the day. Time for a little relaxing. I'll be back. Soon. Promise.

Wow. Seems like it was just summer- or what we had of a summer! But the leaves have changed color, there is a bite in the air and we've had snow! Ok, nothing that stayed on the ground, but there was white stuff falling from the sky.

Chili season has wrapped up for another year. As always, Worlds was fun. Charleston, WV this year. A first for the East. Weather was, well, fall in the East. Friday, the 9th, was humid and gray, then humid and sunny, then humid and gray, then.... You get the picture. The BaldMan cooked in the Last Chance competition then. Rain was forecast, and it held off until the last cook brought their chili to the judging tent. Then the skies let go with sheets and torrents! And a few minutes later, the wind started. We were all soaked, holding on to canopies for dear life and just trying to keep things from blowing away. A few canopies went over, some lost their covers, but I don't think any real damage was done. Our booth decorations were completely soaked. I had cats all over the hotel room, drying out! Most people took it in stride and just dealt with it. One of the scorekeepers posted a video on Facebook of the judges tent. You can see several people on each pole of the big party type tent, holding them down, and the top is just undulating with the wind. We had dinner that night with friends who were in the tent and they said they really don't know what would have happened if that big tent had gone over and taken all the chili with it! It ended in time for the winning announcements. Unfortunately, the BaldMan was not one of the ten who advanced to the finals on Sunday.

Saturday morning, the 10th, was better. The rain had stopped. It was Salsa and Chile Verde time. We were both happy with our Salsas, and I honestly cooked the best damn pot of Verde I ever have. But neither of us made finals in either category. I got 1 point for my Salsa and 0 for my Verde. Disappointing, but not unusual. Lots of good cooks at Worlds.

Sunday, the 11th, neither one of us was cooking. It was fun in a way, because we didn't have to do all that set up and cooking and tearing down, but it was also a disappointing feeling not cooking. We did sign up to judge, and I got picked to judge the Finals table!! Wow! I didn't expect that. It was the hardest thing I've done. I've judged at Worlds before on preliminary tables, but this was far more intense. 28 chilis on the table, and 27 of them were excellent. One was just too far over the line of sweet and was (from talking to them after) eliminated by most of the judges right away. Not only were the rest of them good- which you would expect since all of those cooks were winners at some point during the season- but those of us judging that table were picking the Worlds Champion, who not only gets that title and bragging rights for a year, but the $25,000 prize, as well! Big responsibility and everyone judging took it seriously. BTW, it is blind judging- we have no idea whose chili we are tasting. No one does, until the results are tabulated. Each cook gets a team number, which is written on the bottom of the cup you turn in. The cups are placed on the tables randomly, without anyone looking at the bottom at all, and then the Chief Judge can go around and rearrange cups, as well. A number from 1 to however many cups there are is then written on the side of each cup, and that's the number you write on your judging sheet for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place picks. Votes are counted (1st= 3 pts, 2nd= 2, 3rd= 1), ties, if any, are broken and only after the results are complete do the scorekeepers lift the cups and match team numbers and names to the winning places. The cup I placed first ended up winning 2nd place, so that's not bad.

We drove home in one shot on Monday, the 12th. Left WV about 8:30 or so, and got home about 10:30 at night. One stop for coffee, a lunch break which was a bit longer, and a quick stop for a sandwich for dinner. We did the drive down in two parts. Left on the 6th after the BaldMan got home from work and drove to Edison, NJ, then continued to WV on the 7th. Took Thursday, the 8th as a sightseeing/nice vacation dinner day. All in all a good trip.

The next weekend was the Hudson Valley Regional Cook Off in Kingston, NY. It's always the week after Worlds and is the first NorthEast qualifier for the new season. No wins, but the BaldMan took 2nd place in Salsa. Now we get to rest until February!

This was from the BBC's 2007 Comic Relief show. David Tennant and Catherine Tate (Donna on Dr. Who) in a skit where Tate is playing her popular schoolgirl character, Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show. I was quite amused. They play well off of each other. And it still freaks me out a bit when Tennant speaks in his natural voice (he is Scots) and not the Dr. Who accent!

Murphy and I, that is. On October 3rd, we are doing a walk-a-thon for the Humane Society of Greater Nashua, NH. And we need your help. A few facts:

The Greater Nashua Humane Society has been in existence for 109 years! That's a lot of years helping homeless, abandoned, abused and neglected animals.

June was the highest intake month ever for the Nashua shelter. 389 pets came in during the month.

Intake is up 86% over last year. Adoptions are up, but only by 23%.

The shelter is dedicated to finding permanent homes for all the animals they take in, but while they do reside at the shelter or in foster homes, they ensure food, water, toys, a warm bed and medical care for all. But it costs a lot to provide that- it cost $2, 192 each and every day to keep the shelter running. Because they receive no city, state or federal grants, no United Way funds and no funding from National Animal Welfare organizations, the Humane Society for Greater Nashua relies solely on community-wide support, our fund raising endeavors, bequeaths, general donations and in-kind gifts. Their website is http://www.hsfn.org, and the Annual Report is available there.

And that is where you come in. I'm asking all my animal loving friends to sponsor Murphy and I when we participate in the Walk-a-thon. No amount is too small, and all the volunteer, shelter workers and especially the pets appreciate it so very much. I know things are tough right now, and many people don't have a lot of extra. But that's part of the reason shelters like the Nashua Humane Society are so overburdened. Please consider helping.

I would appreciate receiving your sponsor money by the end of this month, so I can get the paperwork filled out and tally the donations. Cash, check or Paypal to mkropp@thirtytwopaws.com are all fine. Just let me know it's for the Humane Society Walk-a-thon, and give me your name and address (required for the paperwork).

I thank you for reading this and considering helping.

P.S. There will be pictures after the event. ;)

We had some pumpkin ravioli filling in the freezer. It was made last year sometime, when we made some ravioli, and we froze the extra. Today, I made more ravioli. I use Mario Batali's pasta dough recipe- 3 1/2 cups of flour and 5 eggs. I also use my wonderful Kitchen Aid mixer to do a lot of the kneading. With my tendonitis, I can't knead that stiff a dough for 10 minutes. I hand knead for that last 2 or 3 minutes. By that time, the mixer is just pushing the dough up against the sides of the bowl, anyway, and not really kneading anymore. And you really do have to work it some by hand to get the right smooth texture. I do have the pasta roller attachment for the mixer, as well, and that makes rolling the dough a snap. Now.

I used to fight with pasta dough all the time- it wouldn't roll smoothly, it tore and came out unevenly. But then I decided to just let the dough be itself and not try to force it to do things my way. And resting it for a full 30 minutes after kneading and before rolling is critical. Making pasta is not something you do on a moment's notice. It's time consuming, but so, so worth it!

I also used the scraps to cut some ragged, uneven and not very pretty wide noodles. After the second time through the roller, the dough is really starting to get too dry to work up pretty. But I didn't want to waste the pieces I had left, since there was a significant amount. I just put it through the roller to thin it out as well as possible and cut it into strips. They will be nice with a simple sauce, or even just buttered.

A couple pictures:

The pasta looks almost orange because of the beautiful color of the yolks of the fresh eggs we have been getting.







I made 6 dozen ravioli. Some will become dinner tonight with some mussels, and the rest will be frozen for future enjoyment.

Continuing our effort to try to use as little commercially processed food as possible, I've been experimenting with canning. Just water bath stuff, but at least it's something. And nothing fancy, so far, either. Some bread and butter pickles, pickle relish, giardiniera (Italian style pickled veggies), and dill pickles. I made test batches of all of them. The relish needs some work. Can't use the food processor. It chops far too finely. Next try will be the meat grinder. I think that should work. The bread and butter pickles are pretty good, as was the giardiniera, so I've "put up" a few pints of those. The dill pickle try seems like it is going to work nicely, too.

Making pickles is about the easiest thing in the world, and you don't have to put them in the canner unless you want to make a bunch and keep them for a long time. A small batch will last a good amount of time in the fridge. Cucumbers, water, vinegar, sugar for the sweet ones, spices and herbs, and that's about it. The key to keeping crispness without using alum (or pickling lime) is to cut the veggies, salt liberally and let sit for an hour. Then rinse well, put them in ice water and let sit for another hour. Drain and continue with the recipe. Even the really thin sliced bread and butter pickles are staying nice and crisp. They are really good on sandwiches. And the bonus with those is you get nice slices of pickled onion, as well.

And I've got a bucket of sauerkraut fermenting, also. I think it is going to be less harsh than the stuff you buy at the supermarket, and that will mean I will most likely enjoy it more. I never was a big fan of sauerkraut because of that strong taste. Again, simple- cabbage, salt and water. Combine, weight it to keep the cabbage submerged and let it sit for 2 weeks. (Thank you, Michael Ruhlman- the recipe is the one in Charcuterie)

A few pictures:

Bread and butter pickles:




Giardiniera:




Dill pickles:

We decided to put in a vegetable garden this year. We haven't done that in many years, but we want to try and use as much fresh, not commercially processed stuff as possible. So we bought a two level raised bed from Gardener's Supply in Burlington, VT. (http://www.gardeners.com/Two-Tier-Raised-Bed/VegetableGardening_RaisedBeds,36-389,default,cp.html) It's actually rather nice, and we think we are going to put in a second this year. I planted a whole bunch of stuff: lettuces, beans, carrots, beets, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, maybe a few more things. It hasn't been the greatest thing going, for sure. Between the damp, chilly, rainy weather this Spring and Summer started with, and the massive invasion of slugs, and just the fact that I haven't done this in a long time, we haven't gotten tremendous production. The tomatoes and peppers just sat there, shivering, for weeks. They are finally catching up. The tomato plants are good size now, and have a bunch of tomatoes starting to grow. The peppers are still smallish, but we should get peppers. The small hot pepper we put in has a lot of peppers on it. It was supposed to be a "red chile pepper," but it looks more like they will be purple now that they are starting to ripen. I've pulled a few carrots, and have more planted. I'm also planting the second round of some of the veggies.

The one thing that did extremely well was the rat's tail radishes. It's an old fashioned variety of radish that puts out edible seed pods rather than eating the roots like you do with a globe radish. They grew like crazy! The first round was getting too leggy and the pods were getting too large and woody, so I pulled them and planted a second round. We've used them in salads and I pickled some. (http://www.kitchengardeners.org/rat-tailed_radish.html)

I've gotten another copy of the Postage Stamp Garden book. I had one, but have no idea where it ended up. I'm planning on using a lot of the ideas from that next year. We also started composting kitchen waste and should have a nice amount of that to use, as well. So, just hoping next year is an improvement.

Meanwhile, we will enjoy what we do get!

When Krysta came up with Will on Wednesday, she brought us a bag of fresh, organic produce. One of the customers at the bakery/cafe where she works gave her a whole bunch and she couldn't use it all, so she brought some to us. There's a lot- onions, potatoes, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, zucchini and summer squash. Actually, more than we need, as well, but it's fresh and free, so I'm not arguing!

But that still leaves us with figuring out what to do with it. I decided I wanted to do something with some of the carrots. But, what? Carrot cake? No, too much sweet, and for once, I didn't feel like making dessert. Carrot bread? Hmm, most recipes are more like zucchini bread and are also sweet. Then I thought: "I'll bet you could put carrots in more savory, yeast bread and it would be good!" Did a little Googling and headed to the kitchen. This is the result:







I just made a single, small loaf, as it was an experiment. I used shredded carrots, some toasted sunflower seeds, and a touch of lightly sauteed scallion in addition to the usual flour, salt, yeast and water. A bit of butter and sugar rounded out the recipe. It's very light and springy, with a nice, soft texture from the butter. The taste is a bit nutty and just slightly sweet, thanks to the carrots and seeds. It does not really taste overly much like carrot. There' just a hint. And it has a light orange-y color that doesn't really show well in the pictures.

I thought it turned out pretty well for an off-the-cuff recipe.

I went to see it last night with Stephanie. We went to see it at Chunky's in Nashua, NH. Cheap admission-> $5. Of course, they expect to make their money off the food, but still, not bad. (If you don't know the Chunky's concept, they set up the theaters with long tables, big leather chairs from limousines, and a full menu. http://www.chunkys.com/) We did have dinner there, but, heck, ya gotta eat, right?

The movie: (No real spoilers here, just general comments. But if you don't want to know anything, stop reading now.)

It wasn't bad. Not great, but not bad. They left out a lot, and rearranged things a little, but the essence of the story was there. And most of the picky stuff I noticed wasn't until later. And, for me, that's the thing that makes or breaks an adaptation film. If it captures the essential basics of the story and never makes me stop actively watching to say: "What the hell?!?!?" it's pretty much a successful film.

Yeah, a few scenes were out of order or not the way they actually happened in the book, but they were acceptable. The final battle was quite extensively toned down, to the point that it almost didn't work for me. It made the whole think look far too easy. I don't know whether that was done because of the younger children that may be in the audience or whether it was a time thing (the movie was 2 1/2 hours). If the former, I think that a mistake. The books certainly got darker and less suited to young children as they went along, anyway, so to "water down" the big ending for that reason was silly. There was a lot of information and planning on the part of Harry and the rest of the opposition to Voldemort that was just not even touched on, but there again, it would have added a lot of time and non-action scenes. There was maybe a bit too much emphasis on the budding teenager romance thing and too little on the Voldemort story. All in all, it was worth seeing. I enjoyed it.

It will be interesting to see what they do with the two Deadly Hallows films.

Tuxedo (aka Dougie), semi-long hair classic tuxedo, April, 1994- July, 2009. A real sweetheart, and my baby! We've had Dougie since he was 8 weeks old. He's the one who would follow me all over the house, jump up behind me on my desk chair and put his little head on my shoulder, crawl up on our laps on the sofa and head rub under our chins, and curl up next to me on the sofa. I couldn't sit on the sofa for two minutes without him being right there. He had something pretty nasty growing up inside his nose. The vet thinks it was nasal adenocarcinoma. Steroids kept it under control for a while, but they stopped working this week. He couldn't breathe, hadn't eaten in days and last night, started sneezing blood. I just couldn't put him through any more. It was hard- really, really hard. I'm still in tears.

And he was the only one of the cats who would play with Will:



"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." ~ Irving Townsend

Good-bye, Dougie. I love you, and I miss you

I had to say good bye to Max the One-Eyed Wonder Cat yesterday. (He was the one in the post a few weeks back that had cancer in his throat.) The tumor was starting to affect his breathing. Not all the time, but I couldn't let him go till he was really struggling. Funny thing was, he was still eating like a horse! He had a good last day, I think. Yummy canned food, he sat in his favorite window in the sun and watched the birdies, napped on the sofa and had a long, drooling cuddle with me. (Yeah, he was a major league drooler, but yesterday, I didn't care.) When we got to the vet's, and she heard him breathing, she said, "This has to happen." Yeah, I know. It was still so very hard to make that phone call. And it pays to be a long time customer. They fit me in between appointments in the afternoon so I could stay with him. He was about 14, and we'd had him for maybe 12 of those years. It's hard to lose a long time friend.




OTOH, the pathology on the dog's surgery was good. Did I mention the dog's surgery? Oh, well, two weeks ago, on Wednesday, Murphy and I were out for our daily walk. It's warmer now, so he's panting a lot. I looked down and said, "What the heck is wrong with your tong... Oh, that's NOT your tongue!" Got home, sat him down and pried open the mouth. One good thing, that dog will let you do just about anything without issue. There was a big, bright pink growth under his tongue. Not normal. Called the vet, they got us in on Friday, and she said (I knew this) it was going to have to go. From what she could tell, there was no infiltration in the bone of the jaw, nor anything in the throat, and his lymph nodes were not inflamed. All good, because some mouth tumors in dogs are very, very bad news. She did the surgery and I picked him up later that afternoon.

{Side note: Labrador Retriever on anesthesia is pretty comical. I mean, I felt sorry for him, but he looked like a drunken sailor coming down the hall at the vet's. I had to boost him up into the car, and help him get onto the seat. I had the van, but would he lay on the floor where he'd not have to climb? Uh, no.}

But the lab report said it was a benign granuloma, which from what our vet tech daughter says, is not uncommon in dogs who like bones and sticks. We think what happened is that at some point, when he crunched a bone to nothing, as he is wont to do, some shards of bone got lodged in the soft tissue under the tongue. They would not work out by themselves, so the body formed the mass of immune cells around it. He's all recovered now. I do have to check his mouth every few weeks to make sure nothing else is happening. One more thing to go along with checking between his toes for allergic reactions, the ears for infections.... Good thing he's a good and patient dog!

All in all, it's been a long couple weeks. Two friends lost, Murphy in surgery, and then Max. I'm emotionally wrung out right now. I would like an up period, now, please. Or at least a neutral stretch.

We are off in a few minutes to go to the Connecticut Hospice in Branford, to see a good friend who is rapidly losing a battle with lung cancer. He's one of our chili cook family, and the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. He is, at this stage, not going to be with us long. In many ways, I don't want to go, but I know I would be more upset if I don't.

I cannot imagine what his family is going thru.

My heart is very heavy today.

I should have posted this Friday, but the lawn service guys cut our phone cable with the trimmer when they were here, so I had no phone and no internet till the nice Fairpoint man came and fixed it yesterday!

Anyway, I got these pretty flowers delivered from Steph:




Mini roses and daisies with a big happy balloon!

Thanks, Steph!

Yesterday afternoon, there was a knock on the door. I answerd it and a very nice man gave me a bag with a box of this inside:




From Kryss, Kleber and Will. Mmmm. Happy Mommy!

Perhaps. I'm going to try a holistic, alternative treatment for Max. Basically, it's an herbal supplement that MAY help. I did some investigating, and this is one of the supplements that appears to possibly help, in many cases. There's a lot of crap out there, of course, and you do have to sort thru the bogus nonsense, but this company (and one other, tho their stuff is currently out of stock, so...) seem legit.

http://www.nativeremedies.com/petalive/

I'm putting him on their C-Caps. They have a whole bunch of herbs that I know from my own interest in herbal therapies and such can be beneficial. Whether they have the tumor shrinking effect that some of their customers claim remains to be seen. The company itself says they make no cancer cure claims for it, but that clinical trials are encouraging. I figure, at this point, it can't hurt. I mean, not only can I not afford the radiation and/or chemo that are traditional treatments, but this carcinoma doesn't generally respond to radiation, and the chemo- well, at Max's age, that probably would be worse on him than the cancer. Worst case, I'm out a few bucks. Best case- well, we can only hope. I just think it's worth a try.

Crazy? Probably. But Max is worth a little crazy.