Dog Lovers Unite - Help!

Seriously! We need help from all of you dog lovers and trainers out there.

The culprit beside the chewed up birdhouse (you cannot see missing roof and side)

The before picture

After some renovation

Separating strawberries and coral bells

????

Who me?

Exactly how much destruction is due to puppy or to Border collie breed specific tendencies?

Please comment! Tips, ideas, suggestions, connections...

Prayers for patience would be much appreciated!

The Old and the New - Mmmmm

Uh-huh. Created a great new recipe today. Using some older ingredients (from my summer garden) and some freshly purchased items.

Stuffed Autumn Squash
(See? I am still using up leftover squash from fall.)

Oven 375/425/400

Ingredients:
6 squash (smaller variety, acorn, delicata, or butternut); cut in half and cleaned
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Place squash on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes. Notice to change the temp and up it to 425 for another 30 minutes. :)

Meanwhile...

Stuffing ingredients:

1 - pound ground turkey
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1-2 cups cabbage, chopped
Handful of dehydrated kale (from my summer garden; fresh would work as well); crunched
T. of crushed dried sage (from my garden)
2 T. Mrs. Dash or other salt free favorite herb mix
Freshly ground black pepper
Crushed peppers
15-oz can diced tomatoes
2 c. 1/2 and 1/2
2 cubes chicken bouillon (add to about 1/8 cup boiling water, mash)
Half a head of broccoli, chopped into florets
1 small bag of mixed frozen veggies (carrots, peas, green beans, corn)

Add turkey to large saucepan. Add some olive oil and brown. As it browns, add garlic, onion, cabbage, and spices. Add crushed peppers to your spice level. Angie likes it lotsa hot...

After meat is cooked through, add all other ingredients, including 1/2 and 1/2, tomatoes (include the juice), and chicken bouillon. Add more 1/2 and 1/2 if you need more sauce. Bring to a boil, stirring regularly.

Remove squash from oven and uncover them. Add scoops of stuffing to each, including plenty of sauce. (I had leftover stuffing, all the merrier for another meal).

Place uncovered back in oven at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Top with parmesan cheese (or your favorite choice). Mmmmmm.

Delish reheated.

Speaking of the 5 Senses - Grandma!

Dad, Grandma, Papa - visiting us down south in the Arizona desert

As I slathered on my favorite perfume, Tresor, I was transported back to the pre-Christmas days when my honey and I were cologne shopping at The Bon (I will call it that forever, regardless of the new Macy's name). We tried many, spritzing, wafting, walking through the scents, smelling coffee beans to refresh our noses (didn't work), spraying little papers...We smelled like a walking parfumerie!

After way too much time, we made a mad dash for fresh air! Ah! Gasp, gasp. And then we had the same thought - Grandma Hill.

Grandma Hill loved makeup, perfumes, and being beautiful. She came by it honestly - being an Avon lady during her earlier years. I used to love getting into her closet. For there - she had an Avon lipstick tower! It was awesome. We could always count on samples and makeup play time from Grandma.

In her later years, Grandma haunted the perfume and makeup counters of local department stores. Peoples. The Bon. Nordstroms. JCPenneys. The ladies all knew Grandma. In fact, they kept special stashes of samples, waiting for her to come in! She "honey"'d them and gushed. And purchased (thought not to Grandpa's delight).

Grandma's house always smelled like her, perfumed to the T. One could locate her by scent. At her funeral, after her granddaughters did her hair and makeup, she was continually spritzed with one of her favorite scents. The fragrance wafted in near-visible clouds of perfume, trailing throughout the church.

Oh, the places a smell can take us! In the sniff of a nose, we were back at Grandma's. The power of smell.

Shortly after our cologne hunting trip, our son visited us. Apologizing for our still strong smelling coats, he said, "I was just gong to say that I recognized that smell. You smell like Grandma Hill."

And that was a compliment indeed.

Off to a Healthy Start

I so desired to get my husband off to a great new year. If you knew him, you would hear words like vegetables, fruit (but not too many), more veggies, oatmeal, low carbs, whole wheat carbs, whole grain carbs, no sugar, vitamins, supplements, exercise, more veggies...even more veggies...green tea, some coffee, maintain weight, additional exercise...The family knows of which I speak.

That is my man. Very intent on staying healthy and avoiding the Big D (diabetes), which the doctor has told him he will get some day (not maybe).

So, in order to help him stick to his health plan, I purchased a special healthy gift for him. Which I promptly lost until a week after Christmas. But that is a different story.

(Love to purchase my locally (Yakima) made soap from www.thelittlesoapmaker.com)

Tongue in cheek. Don't you think that soap WITH flax seed is healthier than soap WITHOUT flax seed?

Lol.

New Adoption: Help Needed!

Meet Magi. (As in the Magi bearing Christmas gifts for the Baby Jesus). Except we pronounce it Maggie. Maggie Moo. Our Christmas puppy.

(Magi and her future doghouse, day 2)

Twenty pounds of blurry motion, teeth, tail, drool, and amazingly, not too much hair.

(Nice clean puppy - did not last long)

The night after our adoption, I woke up thinking, "I can't believe I brought home a dog. A stray dog. A puppy. A puppy Border collie, well known for excessive energy and tendency to destructive habits if not properly entertained AND trained."

But she is so cute! And just what we were looking for - female, puppy but not too puppy, Border collie, adorable. FREE. And in relatively good health - as ascertained by our vet.

(Most pictures involve motion - jumping, squirming, wiggling)

She is a rescue dog. We rescued her from some kind of life as a stray. She has been abused, is very shy around strangers, children, other dogs, cars, being out of her safety zone (which happens to be our newly remodeled and destroyed backyard).

(Chewing, like normal. Reclining on my heather. Her new favorite bed.)

But she is so adorable and loving. Magi Moo (my new nickname for this bundle of energy). Bonded to us. Lacking in certain hearing and obeying skills. A definite chewer. The perfect mandatory reason for daily walksies.

A puppy. Wow.

Ideas for training, correcting, socializing, anything puppy (a herding puppy), would be greatly appreciated.

(Most pictures of her look like this. Energy in motion.)

May I introduce you to Magi?