gratitude

Croc the Dog: A Hilarious Mealtime Experience

Our mastiff-lab mix came to live with us about seven years ago at the age of three at a svelte ninety pounds. Having no interest in body image or physical fitness once he moved into a childless home, he let himself go and started packing on the pounds. He eventually got up to a a roly-poly one hundred twenty-eight pounds. Though he continued to be proud of himself, we dreaded taking him to the vet. It wasn’t so bad if we got the portly vet, but the slim and trim vet fat dog-shamed us. I’m pretty sure she came close to mentioning our physiques, like dog like dog parent I guess.
we tried cutting back on the amount we fed him, but he begged for food incessantly .

After considerable suffering, I decided to can his food myself: one third each portions of lean meat, vegetables, and brown rice. The weight started to drop off. Over about three months, he’s lost twenty-eight pounds and is allergy-free. He gets a quart every morning and evening

.I thought you might like to see how my big dog Croc feels about his food. You needn’t watch the 4 minute 24 second video to get the idea. For the full experience, turn the sound up. He usually interrupts his meal half-way through to drink about a pint of water, not bothering to close his massive mouth before walking back to his food bowl, wetting four feet of kitchen floor en route. He never wastes a morsel of food, except maybe to get a smear on my white cabinet doors. He’s generally grateful enough after a meal to come kiss me.

Spectacular Spectacles

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

I am absolutely dependent on my glasses. They go on first thing every morning and come off last thing at night. I never walk further than the bathroom without them. Much to Hubby’s despair, I spare no expense, getting the more expensive ones that darken in the sun.

I keep an old pair of glasses at home and in my suitcase for backup. Several times I’ve needed them. At least twice my frames snapped and once my dog chewed them up when they fell off my nightstand during the night.

I am adding on a post I wrote years ago about an incident with broken glasses.

Half-Glassed

You don’t want to be me today.  I am visiting family in New Jersey and broke my glasses.  I am anxiously awaiting the vision center to open.  Is this a good look for me?

Appreciation


			

	
	



			
				


		

		
Hurricane Beryl is Coming!
	


		

		

Even though we live in North Louisiana, we are preparing  for hurricane associated weather.  We are currently under a tornado watch with severe thunderstorms on the way.  We made sure we have batteries, water, and food prepared ahead.  A crockpot full of roast with onions and garlic gravy is simmering with potatoes now.  Fortunately, we have a gas stove so we can easily reheat for dinner if the electricity goes out.  It will go well with the leftover purple hull peas left from last night’s dinner.  There is a quarter of an apple pie left, just enough to start a good fight.  I can pull a peach cobbler out of the freezer in case of a dessert emergency.  We have those sometimes.










I am hoping the people on the coast don’t get slammed.  I am grateful to be retired.  Health care workers who get caught on their shifts in bad weather are likely not to get relieved.  I have gotten stuck at the hospital as long as four days during bad weather.  I am always concerned for all essential workers who have to stay at their jobs, too many to name, fire fighters, police officers, utility workers, maintenance people, and so many more.  When we are snugged in at home, they are at their posts, and so many directly in harm’s way.  I am grateful for all they do.





Thank you for all you do.

			

	
	



			
				


		

		
Gratitude
	


		

		

I express gratitude with a sincere thanks and if moved to do so, a return of the the favor, such as not returning a dish empty.  For example, if I were given a pie, return the dish with a freshly baked pie.  My neighbors ran the weedeater in my ditch.  I have to return a kindness.  I think I may give their beloved dogs a toy.  It will just be an acknowledgement of their kindness.

			

	
	



			
				


		

		
Gratitude
	


		

		


I am so grateful to have gotten through the storm safely.

			

	
	



			
				


		

		
Happy Birthday, Mother
	


		

		
Mother at Cracker Barrel

Mother’s Birthday lunch. Far left, Phyllis Barrington, center front Kathleen Swain, back center, Linda Bethea, far right, Marilyn Grisham

Mother's 88 bdayimage

Today, May 5, 2016, is Mother’s birthday.  I am not permitted to say which one.  Suffice it to say, she is more than eighty-five and less than ninety. She and my father were married thirty-five years and raised five children.  She is a remarkable woman, goes to the gym twice a week, and walks at least a mile a day.  She likes to get next to puny men at the gym so she can show off how tough she is.  She works in her yard every sunny day and keeps a cooler of water out on her back steps for walkers and children in her neighborhood.   She’d never worked a public job till after my dad died, but worked for many years first as a pre-school teacher, then as an office manager.  I can’t imagine how it must have felt to have to seek a first job in one’s fifties.  She is long retired, though never unoccupied.  She is active in her church, community, family, and goes out in her car every day to her coffee group and to run errands.  We are all so lucky to have her as our mother.Mother sitting in yard

			

	
	



			
				


		

		
Patio Redo for Less Than $250
	


		

		
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October is as close to heaven as you can get in my corner of Louisiana.  The blazing heat of summer has abated, the weather has cooled, and I decide I’m going to make it, after all.  We just started pulling together a project that has been in the works for a long time,redoing and enclosing our patio.  We still intend to put down a tile floor, put glass doors across the opening, and paint the ceilings ng


All the furniture you see here is an amalgamation of Goodwill, thrift shop, repurposed, and utilization of materials on hand except for a few dollars worth of supplies.  Bud is wonderful and loves a project, so all I have to do is come up with an idea he likes and we’re on it.  The big wicker rocker to the left cost $50 at Goodwill a couple of years ago with a broken rocker.  It retailed for $650, but with wood and paint Bud had on hand, he repaired and painted it.  The rocker on the left upper center was a relative’s castoff, and was spray painted for less than $2.00.  The yellow wicker on the right cost $20 in a thrift shop, paint $2.00 for cost of $22.  One sister gave me the green chair frame, and I covered it in fabric another sister gave me.  The only thing it cost was the seat cushion, and paint on hand, so it cost less than $10.


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Now the ceramic top table took $6.24 in new tile and utilized leftover tile from another project.  We had the grout and ceramic glue on hand.  Bud also had to buy the screen-door stripping for less than $10.  He did have to buy half a sheet of plywood to make the table surface.  He built the pedestal for another table more than twenty-five years ago, so this is it’s second incarnation.  He estimates total costs of table, $80 to $100 if he had had to purchase all the materials today.


The chairs at the table are from a thrift shop.  Total cost, including purchase price of chairs, paint and pine for the seats and the polyurethane finish was less than $40 a chair.  Together the table and chair set might have cost $120, but we still have paint and polyurethane left.


A dear friend built the potting stand in the corner from a decrepit screen door and salvaged materials from a barn demo and materials she had on hand.  I love it.


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The fountain came from a friend and has been on my patio more than twenty-five years.  Best of all is the view I am so grateful for, as I sit in my patio writing.  It is priceless and free, like all the best things. I am so blessed.


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Early Thanksgiving
	


		

		
turkeyA week ago, I put four hundred twelve pounds of fresh beef in my freezer.  Two days ago we made sixteen pounds of homemade liverwurst and put it in the freezer.  Last week I froze quite a bit of fresh sweet corn.  In the midst of all this, I canned seven quarts of dried pinto beans and ham hocks.  Things were going so well, I was planned to start making a big batch of corned beef.  I was admiring the contents of my pantry when Bud came through saying, “What’s this big puddle of water coming from the freezer?”


We rushed out to inspect and found the packed freezer dead with the contents starting to thaw.  We shuffled the meat to my other freezer and ice chests.  Mean while, Bud starting investigating the freezer problem while I started canning and cooking.  By the end of the day, thank goodness, Bud had the freezer running again and I had canned all the thawed vegetables.  In addition to that, I had made pies  from my frozen pumpkin pie filling and frozen pie dough.  You might find a previous post on that subject.  https://atomic-temporary-73629786.wpcomstaging.com/2015/08/20/fifty-two-pies-2/


At the end of the day, everything was saved, and we sat down to a turkey dinner with fresh pumpkin pie.  I am so grateful for the bounty and the freezer that kicked back off and saved us.