SUE'S RECIPE

I admit it, I'm especially proud of myself today. Because of the high cost of beef these days, our dinner menu has been a steady diet of chicken or pork. Salads have been rare because I truly love the fresh farmer's market produce and let's face it, Walmart's produce sucks. Not exactly an iron rich diet and I tend towards anemia. One thing I do have plenty of in the freezer (thanks to some butchering friends) is liver. So tonight was liver and onion night.
I had made it once before and I was less than impressed. In other words, yuck. So I was determined that I would create the ultimate liver dish. I actually succeeded. It was almost delicious.
So I present to you, Sue's Liver Recipe. Maybe you need iron, or are just adventurous, but try it. Besides, I wanted to write it down so that I could make it again just as good.

Early prep: In the morning, place the liver in a colander or strainer and rinse until all the blood is washed out. Place the meat in a Ziploc bag with milk to marinate all day. (this reduces the bitterness).

Approximately two hours before dinnertime: Slice an onion, saute in plenty of butter. While the onions are cooking, put one can of cream of mushroom soup, and one can of water with a beef boullion cube into a casserole dish. Add another half can of water, salt, pepper and 2 tbsp. of brown sugar. Put your cooked onions into the casserole dish. Now brown your meat in the butter you cooked your onions in. Heat oven to 325. Stir all of you ingredients in the casserole dish then add your browned liver. Press the meat into the liquid so that it is covered. Cover dish with foil and place in oven for about one and a half hours. After one hour, pull out, stir, add another boullion cube, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Replace foil and return to oven.

Serve with mashed potatoes. The gravy has enough flavor to cancel the bland/bitterness of the meat and this makes a lot of gravy.

Bon Appetit!
Sorry there's no picture. I wasn't expecting it turn out so good. The leftover night was even better!

MANGE?

In this tree, so close to home....

was this bear. In January. We wondered why it wasn't hibernating and why it was hanging out so close to our homes in spite of the barking dogs and playful childrens' shrieks and laughter.

The answer may lie in the fact that he appeared rather unwell and a bit mangy.

The Game Warden was called and advised our neighborhood to watch for it and report any sightings. They hope to capture it and hopefully treat it so that it won't spread the disease among the local wildlife.

A little research turned up this,

'Animals with sarcoptic mange will often exhibit hair thinning and loss. The skin becomes thickened, wrinkled, and covered in scabs and foul-smelling crusts due to overgrowths of normally occurring bacteria and yeasts. Skin lesions can involve the entire body however the ears and face are most commonly affected. Severely affected animals may become emaciated, depressed, and lethargic, and may lose their fear of man. When the skin around the eyes, mouth, and ears is involved, animals may experience blindness, difficulty eating, and hearing loss. Red foxes are typically the most severely affected wild species and often die of this disease. Severely affected bears will often not den.'

That may explain a few things.

TRANSFORMED

This is our pleasant little creek, site of much children's laughter and dog's splashing. This long stretch of cold has transformed it into something our longtime resident (40 years) claims he hasn't seen before. It has frozen.

The ice is thick where there is a rock dam. It shows how the water looked when there had been several days of rain.

It appears as a whole new world to explore.

In spite of the windchill, it called to me and I had to go see what nature had recreated. Such beauty!

LET THERE BE PEACE

LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH!

VERY TRICKY

When I came to my new home I didn't really make eye contact. The 'sit' command was foreign and when 'shake' was introduced I was less than thrilled. Just look at me two months later! I am a very smart boy.

We call this 'over' and 'under'. I wonder what we'll do next.

BEST DAY EVER!!!

Hey, It's me, JoJo.

Mom is letting me use her blog space because I have to tell you about my best day ever.

It was a Saturday. Dad was cleaning up the brush and I was on my lead. I love being outside. Chewing up sticks is just about the best pastime ever.

After Mom got home from work (I know she was at work because she had to change out of her uniform) she helped Dad gather the brush he had cut up.

They went in the house and came back out with my leash! We didn't go walking though. We got in the car. I love going for rides and Mom says I ride well. I have to stay in the back but that's okay.

When we arrived, I found myself at Christmas In The Barns. It is a local craft show held in the barns at the Fairgrounds. The stalls become booths and tents are set up outside as well.

There were lots of people and the aroma of the food vendors really made my nose twitch. I made a lot of human friends and met a three-legged dog that wanted to play with me as much as I wanted to play with her.

Mom was very happy with me. I didn't bark even once and was very cooperative as we wandered around. We stopped at a booth that had homemade dog treats and toys. I got a new tugger that Mom chose because it didn't look like any of the socks or shirts we have at the house and apparently, I'm NOT supposed to eat. The girls that made all of these goodies were really friendly and we spent some time visiting.

That night, after dinner when we take our evening walk, we went in a different direction. We went up through the yard to a secret path and wound up at the neighbors. It was those same girls! I got a bag of pumpkin turkey treats (which Mom doles out). Boy, are they good!!! The girls took turns having me sit and shake hands and giving me treats. There were dog toys everywhere and I was allowed to play with any of them. It was great.

Then we went outside. Four young, energetic girls running with me on my leash. I loved every minute of it. They even set up hurdles. They use them to jump the rabbits. Personally, I'd rather chase the rabbits but I guess that's not allowed. They taught me to "jump".

Whenever I went around a hurdle I was guided back to it and we tried again. Each time I succeeded I got all kinds of praise and attention. By the end of the evening the hurdles had been raised several times and I was happy and proud.

As Mom and I were walking home, I was positively strutting. That was definitely my BEST DAY EVER!!!

HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

When this ugly thing left the bathroom, I was happy to see it go. We have them in every room and paint does not make them look any better.

After replacing the floor, toilet, sink, and basically redoing the entire bathroom, it was time to replace the heat source. You can imagine my dismay when I realized that we would be using one of these.

"It will look good." he said.

"I'd like to put them in all the rooms," he says.

"Aack," I think.

I need to learn to have a little faith and trust his judgment more. I love my radiator! It just needed some less than tender loving care. It needed sandblasted.