does anyone else's dog like to photobomb them?

i is in yor pikcher, ruinin yor luv moment.

happy endings and beginnings

 

These pictures have nothing to do with this blog post, except that I have hardly any pictures of Eli and me together, and since this sort of doubles as his baby book, I needed to represent.  Now...onto the good, great and better news.

 Last week ended on a really sad note with my doggo Cash disappearing into thin air on Friday.  After 3 days of searching and posting flyers and haunting craigslist with no sign of him a kind lady called us on Monday and told us she had seen our flyer on the bulletin board at the grocery store, and then saw Cash running and terrified in her neighborhood on the way home.  Since he wouldn't go to her, she went back, got our number and called, and Loren was able to drive to the location she had seen him and find him.  We are so, so happy.  I had honestly written him off as a goner after days of hiking around the trails in the woods by our house, and driving all the neighborhood streets looking in the ditch for him. Since his return I have received a couple of calls from people saying they saw him here and there, and that poor pup--he was very lost, and pretty much ran an ultra-marathon trying to find his way home.

Our kind new neighbors who Loren met while looking for Cash dropped off a big stack of firewood, and our other neighbor who is a vet came over and checked Cash out to make sure he was whole and healthy after his journey.

To add to the great happiness of our prodigal pup's return, Eli and Sadie got a new cousin yesterday!  Loren's brother and his wife are now the proud parents to a beautiful baby girl (born on my Sister in Law's birthday no less!) And Dimitri gets to be a big brother:)

But that's not all...my mom and her husband who I haven't seen in 8 months get to come stay with us for two weeks.  Yay for Elias who gets to meet his other Grandma and Grandpa for the first time, Yay for Sadie who is already plotting out all the projects she wants grandma Jones to help her with (getting a Christmas tree and baking a gingerbread house and making more bird feeders is what she told me today, but the list is ongoing). And Loren is stoked to have Grandpa Ernie here to help him with his mission to fell the standing dead trees on our property and buck them up into firewood.  

So... in this season of thanksgiving, I am so so thankful, and excited for the warm and busy winter months we have ahead of us!

for the birds

Sadie has been after me to make a bird feeder for all the chickadees that have been flitting around our porch.  I saw this quick and easy idea for a pine cone bird feeder in a book we have, and we decided to give it a try.  It is a perfectly textural and messy project for a 2-year-old.  All you need is a pine cone, birdseed and some peanut butter.  I didn't have peanut butter so I mixed coconut oil and a little bit of almond butter--I'm sure you could use suet or any other sticky fat that birds would dig.

Directions:

1.) Tie a piece of twine (for hanging) around your pine cone before you slather it with the nut butter. Believe me, it is easier to do this way.
2.) Glop the nut butter all over the pine cone (you may need to taste test it first)
3.) Roll sticky messy pine cone in birdseed
4.) Apply a few lingonberries to make it festive.
5.) Hang in trees and wait for birds to come eat it (or squirrels, OR moose and bears according to Sadie).

Happy Holidays to our backyard friends.

How to get your doggie to go "ni-ni" by Sadie

First, you need to get him his purple fleece blanket, and lots of teddy bears.  Boxers love teddy bears.

Then he's probably going to want you to read him a story. 

"Everyone Poops" is his favorite.

Of course, you will need to snuggle him up.

"ni-ni" Cash.

p.s. I wish my kid was this easy to get to sleep.

Happy Monday.

Teenrooster: Ladies, say hello to "Sexy Rexy."

Something kind of funny about living in a small town is that on a given Sunday a person might show up on you porch, holding a rooster, and say, "Hey, heard you guys have some hens, and I thought you might like this rooster so you can have more chicks come spring."

And just like that, you have a rooster.  An awkward, cowardly, teenage rooster.  Or, according to Loren, a "mini T-Rex." 

I have decided to dub him "Sexy Rexy,"  in the hopes of boosting his self-esteem.  

This guy really needs some positive self-talk, because our hens are kicking the crap outta him.

Seriously.  Who knew they could be so mean.  I am beginning to really understand all these chicken analogies, like "hen-pecked."

Hen-pecked is NOT a good thing.

And Cash, realizing there is now a creature living here {even more cowardly than he is} has taken it upon himself to harass the poor young Rex even more.  Thankfully, the killer instinct in Boxers seems to have been bred out quite a few generations back.

So poor Rexy, he spends most of his days hiding out in the greenhouse. 

Since putting him with the hens in the coop at night was a total disaster, he roosts by himself on the roof of the shed. Only he cant quite flap up there by himself.  He needs a boost.

Something about this pathetic chicken evokes a bit of compassion in me, so yup... I will continue to toss him up on the shed until he gets big enough to do it himself.  

I can't wait till he grows a pair and stops letting the other chickens pick on him though, because some battles you just have to fight yourself.

The most singularly disturbing toy mauling I have seen to date.

thank you for this Cash

dream of having a pony

is now a nightmare

What do boxers and toddlers have in common?

 A lot, actually. That could be a post in and of itself.

But today Sadie and Cash enjoyed the wide swath of low-tide beach with equal delight.

What they don't have in common is that my kid will go into the water, fully clothed, up to her waist, even though its 50 degrees outside and the water is even colder. My dog will barely get his feet wet.

Sharing

Cash and Sadie seem to be developing a very "what's yours is mine, what's mine is yours" policy these days.

Notice how the toys here are distributed to their proper owners?

But Cash's bone is WAY cooler than my stacking cup!

Sadie eating her rice puffs.

Cash, cleaning off all the ones that are stuck to her fingers. Ew.

Cash brought his bone over to Sadie and kind of pawed it into her lap.

But then he changed his mind and decided he needed to chew it too.

But don't worry... this bone is big enough for two to chew. Again, ew.

thank you for the randomness Caleb.

e I love it when someone gets a hold of your camera so when you go to upload your photos this is what you find:

Poor Sadie, she's so confused.

 

obviously, so is Cash

But in the end its old Toby who always has the last laugh.

canned teriyaki muskox (skip this post if you're squeamish)

Loren and our Friend Lieudell went out this weekend and caught some muskox. For those of you who read this blog and are unfamiliar with the creature it looks like this:

This is the first time Loren has got us a muskox.  Usually we get a moose every year, but this year no moose, and the freezer was looking pretty empty and sad (except  for blueberries and breast milk)... so we are extremely grateful for the meat.  The muskox is a pretty amazing animal really; they weather out some of the ugliest winters in world thanks to their super warm coats and dense underfur known as qiviut.  I will be posting more about qiviut later, but back to the topic at hand.

We have been processing the meat from the muskox, and as with any animal we harvest, we try to use every bit of it that we can.  Its a good rule of thumb not to be wasteful in general, but it is also my personal belief that if you treat your animals respectfully and process them with mindfulness it is the best way to show your gratitude to their spirit.

There are parts of any animal that are tough and chewy, especially wild game.  Some of the back meat and lower leg meat is full of sinew and it is pretty hard to cook it into a texture that is palatable.  Some people use this meat for burger, and others just throw it away (this is me judging them).  Personally, I like to use this meat for canning. After 90 minutes in the pressure cooker the sinew breaks down and you are left with delicious, tender meat (sort of the texture of pulled pork--obviously, a different taste).
So today I decided to can up a batch of teriyaki muskox using the hot-pack canning method. To do this you first brown your meat (so its heated through, but mostly raw in the center still) add it to jars with the broth of your choice (I used Yoshida's gourmet, water, raw onion and garlic to season mine) put your tops on, pop into your pressure canner (you should always use a pressure cooker to can meat!) and process at 10lbs. pressure for 90 minutes.

browning the muskox

yoshida's is yummy, but it does contain HFCS (damn you High Fructose Corn Syrup, why are you in everything?)

cooking meat in my house always brings in at least one kitchen helper, sometimes two or three:)

meat in the jars, ready for lids. Be sure to leave 1" head-space at the top so they can seal!

Wipe jar rims, add lids and screw-on bands...arrange in your canner

follow the instructions that come with your pressure cooker for canning meat.

Canned game is awesome--you can just heat it up and serve over rice (YUM!) use it for sandwich fillings, or in pasta, soup, chili, etc.. You can even win big points by sending some in a care package to your carnivorous little brother who goes to school in California where you, "can't bag any rascals, damnit!" Its a little more time consuming up front, but an awesome thing to have in the pantry.

Thank you muskox!

Happy BOXER day!

In some parts of the world, December 26th is celebrated as Boxing Day.  I always thought that it was because people boxed up all their unwanted gifts and brought them back to the store to exchange them.  I might be wrong. I don't celebrate that day anyway though--too depressing and materialistic.  From now on I declare December 26 in our house as Boxer Day.

Why Boxer day?
1. Because even if you got your boxer an ugly sweater for Christmas they would never complain or return it.  They would either gently chew on it until it was nothing but threads, or they would subtly push it behind the couch where it would eventually become forgotten.

2. Because boxers are bad-asses. If Chuck Norris had a dog it would definitely be a boxer.

3. Because boxers know how to party.  If you want a dog to help you ring in new year, you couldn't do better than a boxer:











4. Because boxers are loyal friends, and thoughtful sensitive creatures who bring laughs and comfort and lots of love to their families. 


HAPPY BOXER DAY CASH, PIE, KILGORE, LILY, PORTER and AUBREY! (and all the other Boxers out there who like to keep it real.)