Archive for ‘March, 2015’

Ending the week

After rain and snow and more rain, Friday started with fog which gave way to sunshine and an afternoon temperature of 62F – a Spring day!

And after my brief foray into packaged food, I got back on my “make it from scratch” path and made my own taquitos (Baked Breakfast Taquitos) for breakfast.

Last night a cold (well, cooler) front whooshed through. I heard a bit of thunder in the wee hours and this morning is gray, rainy and blustery.

So, I decided on a bit of lemony “sunshine” in the form of Lemon Sticky Buns. I’d seen Mel’s Kitchen Café’s Lemon Sticky Buns and they were on my list of things to try.

Mine are not as pretty as Mel’s since I used a mix of whole wheat pastry flour along with the white flour (1/4 whole wheat pastry flour, 1/2 white pastry flour and 1/4 all purpose white flour) so my rolls are light brown vs white.

But, they are good and tender and flaky! And next time, I am going to try adding some dried blueberries. Currants would be good also. Or dried tart cherries…

Lemon Sticky buns … a nice bit of lemony sunshine on a gray and rainy weekend morning.

***I also subbed goat cheese for cream cheese in the glaze. I’ve subbed goat cheese for cream cheese before. I use a mild goat cheese – the logs from Costco and I like it better than cream cheese in whatever. It goes especially well with the lemon.

Home

We’re home.

Wild Thing is parked, unloaded, plugged in and the heat is on. It is not forecast to freeze but I just hated to roll in and shut her off! She took us safely to and fro yet again with no glitches at all.

The drive home was easy. It was gray, but dry road and actually very pretty with new snow on the mountains.

I felt great until I sat down for a late lunch and suddenly all caught up with me again. I have an afternoon meeting to stay awake for and then I think I’ll call it a day and start fresh in the morning.

We did all walk in the woods and Auggie has been out and about, but even he and Bear are currently snoring.

Onward.

Afterward

The day after the good news dawned clear…

…and beautiful!

It looked to be sunny!

Although we had a good night, I was in that “afterward” state of exhaustion. The weather said rain and I had driven down in the rain. Although all went well, it was more tiring than driving in clear weather.

I had a late morning meeting.

I decided to stay a second day and relax over breakfast, coffee… a slow start.

And then it snowed.

It REALLY snowed!

So, I felt I made a VERY good call to stay :) !!

Yesterday afternoon, as Bear and I were headed back to Auggie and Wild Thing…after the good news and after being too warm (Bear and I), and not having enough water through the day (me) and not having had a whole lot to eat either (me) and despite having good food on board, I decided that I really wanted a freezer pizza that I could just stick in the oven while I drank a gallon of water and maybe a glass of wine…

This is what happens when I go to the grocery store hungry…after an intense day.

And don’t forget the ice cream!

I did add some roast broccoli from home to today’s junk food lunch!

I haven’t bought this kind of “food” in a long, long time. I enjoyed it. I don’t need to do it again for awhile, but it really hit the spot!

I did manage to work half a day today and I think we all feel better. The Jeep is hooked up and we will head for home tomorrow morning pending clear roads – hopefully mid-morning to get home by noon or shortly after.

And the capper…a beautiful waxing crescent in a clear night sky.

Good news for Bear!

No horrible anything showed up on Bear’s ultrasound. There are indications of non-symptomatic Cushings Disease which is not fatal and with no symptoms, not much of anything, i.e no treatment needed, just keep an eye on things.

I really liked the vet – he listened, took time and was very gentle with Bear. Internal stuff is his business so he has a VERY good ultrasound machine and is VERY good at reading it AND explaining to me. Bear did not need to be shaved and he was comfortably on his side and relaxed with me scratching his ears. Except for the fact that both Bear and I were TOO warm in the clinic, it was an easy and non-invasive thing and I am happy to have met this vet as well as I feel confident about his findings and the information he gave me.

So, no follow up appointment, no further tests and no surgery and scary thing goes on the back burner!

Bear and I are beat!

But, I am so glad we came in the motorhome. We finished up at 4:30 and no way would I want to drive home. I am glad we can all relax and enjoy this evening.

Auggie did a bit of yowling before he settled, but he was out and about shortly after we parked and got set up. I brought some of his toys which he promptly found and he has settled into RV mode!

Not sure what we will do tomorrow. I have a mid-morning meeting. I’ll decide in the morning what to do after that.

Thank you, thank you to all who lifted us up with good thoughts today. Getting the motorhome ready to roll, driving down and the vet appointment all went so very smooth. HOO – RAH!!!

Ready to roll

Just to clarify…Bear is not seeming to be ill. I did have the feeling that he did not seem 100% comfortable and so when we went for his 6 month Senior Wellness exam, I asked for a full blood test even though all other parts of the exam indicated healthy dog. The one number is VERY high and has been increasing over the last 8 months and it indicates something… Still, as of today, Bear is Mr. Happy Boy: eating well, maintaining weight, playing, etc. … mostly normal…just that niggling feeling on my part that he is not 100%. Based on some other history I made the decision to jump directly to a specialist.

But, today we enjoyed a very springlike day – that is Bear digging on Beardog Hill.

So much fun!

Meanwhile, after considerable dithering, I de-winterized Wild Thing. She is full of water which allows us to live with “normal plumbing”, i.e. shower, hot water – all running water enjoyment! This is versus kind of camping in her using bottled water and the rv park showers. I am unclear why I was on the fence about this because it does not take all that much time to winterize OR de-winterize, but at this point, I am VERY glad that I decided to de-winterize and we roll tomorrow with a normal rolling house!

And I am calm about all. I have little control over any of it so it is 1 step/1 thing at a time and I am focusing on just enjoying each day whatever it brings. Worrying is not going to change a thing and although it has taken a significant part of my almost 60 years to get to this point, I am grateful to be here.

Auggie was in and out of Wild Thing as I did the de-winterizing and a bit of loading.

I think, like me…and like Bear…He is Ready to Roll!

Officially Spring!

What is this???

Jars of herbs…hydroponic herbs.

So pretty!

Even if the herbies don’t grow, I will have a rainbow of jars for my window.

I decided to start with just one jar as the instructions have temperature and “hours of sunlight” guidance…

I started with Greek Oregano in the yellow jar.

We have sun!

Auggie is very into bug hunting!

The Bear-boy… and a request.

Bear had a recent checkup and bloodwork and the scary thing in blood work is back. We are headed to Missoula (100 miles south) on Monday. Bear, me, Auggie…in Wild Thing…will go to Missoula leaving Monday noonish. Bear has a late afternoon appointment with a Veterinary Internist. I didn’t want to drive home late and/or need to be staying for follow-up appointments, hence the Wild Thing trip as well as my request for prayer and/or good thoughts for the Bear-boy. He is a sweet boy and I hope and pray that this is just an “ageing” thing.