I never sleep this well. (If I did, you can be sure my husband would post a picture of me, too.)

Hey, all. I owe you a big wrap-up of our last week or so, but my mind is elsewhere today. Ru was attacked by a neighbor’s dog yesterday on his afternoon stroll with the dog walker and is at the animal hospital awaiting surgery this morning. Gil’s out of town until tomorrow, so I’m just waiting by the phone and cleaning the house from top to bottom to keep busy.

The situation is especially infuriating because this same dog (a husky) broke through his electric fence and attacked another dog just two weeks ago and it seems the owners didn’t do enough to make sure it couldn’t happen again. So our boy has a big chunk of his haunch missing and needs one surgery today to install a rubber drain and another in a month or so to remove the drain and close the wound. (Ru’s vet took plenty of pictures of the wounds and his office notified the police department, so thank goodness that was taken care of before I even got there.)

So I rushed home from work and got to the animal hospital in time to see him before they closed for the evening.

He was even more pitiful than this when I first saw him, but at least his bed made him comfortable.

There was some panting, but he was loopy from the pain meds, so he wasn’t in a bad mood at all. I think he enjoyed the dirty t-shirt I brought for him, too.

But even getting his favorite new toy (John Calamari or Squid Vicious, depending on which one of us you ask) didn’t stop him from accusing me with his eyes when I was ready to go.

a week’s wrap-up after the jump

(more…)

Don’t forget about your favorite four-legged friend this Christmas. These peanut butter bones are all-natural and will be a huge hit with the pooches.

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

(more…)

We bought Rufus a new coat at the craft fair last weekend. The one he wore home from the kennel is nice, but more of a spring/fall coat which wouldn’t be warm enough for the snowy winter we’re expecting. Because we’re indulgent (having no kids to spend money on), this new coat is an extra-special model, complete with a snood.

With snood in place, Ru reminded me of someone, but it took a few minutes before I realized he’s descended from royalty:

After all of that stressing out over the turkey, I’m overjoyed to report that the excess dry brining didn’t hurt one bit; that was one delicious bird. It had a very concentrated turkey flavor because the cells weren’t flooded with water, so now I have a go-to method for all of the Thanksgivings in my future. Also, I’m looking forward to being the very last food blogger on earth to try the Zuni method with chicken.

I was so busy cooking and serving yesterday that I forgot to take pictures while everyone was here, but I did remember to capture the first of our (probably many) leftover meals this morning: mashed potato pancakes. Since I used cream cheese in the potatoes, they held together well after sitting in the fridge overnight, so I added an egg and some milk to thin them out a bit and dropped the thick batter by the tablespoon into a hot pan sizzling with butter. With all of that richness, the only thing the pancakes needed was a drizzle of warmed lingonberry jam to put them over the top.

Gil’s family left right after dinner, but our friend Mark and his dog Larry stayed the night, so I had another opportunity to rectify my photo laziness by capturing the Many Moods of Larry this morning.

cute doggie pics after the jump

(more…)

Gil spent the better part of the week in Atlanta for a conference, so he and Ru are awfully happy to be reunited.

Cute, but I think I’ve just taken the poster shot for NAMDLA.

I hope to get back to cooking and posting this weekend, but for now, Ru’ll have to do.

Greyhound Friends of NJ held another meet & greet at Rusty’s Place today, so we took Rufus down for two hours of panting and butt-sniffing.

These events usually turn into a big tangle of leashes — greyhound spaghetti — as the kids socialize, and today was no exception. (Click on either picture for the full flickr set.)

Not Rufus. This is a sweet boy who’s in foster care after coming off the track only three weeks ago.

I only just realized that I should be mentioning these local meet & greets/adoption fairs in advance so any of you who are interested in meeting some pooches can swing by; I’ll be better about that in the future. There isn’t another one in Ringwood for a while, but the organization sponsors events all over the state, so if you’re interested in learning more about greyhounds or just want to hang out with some charming retirees, click here for more information.

Wait a minute, this isn’t Rufus!

Greyhound Friends of NJ held a Meet & Greet this weekend at Rusty’s Place, our local pet store. We took Rufus down for a couple of hours and he seemed to have a great time meeting and greeting all of the other greys, though he did get a bit tangled up in the other leashes and lost his shit whenever large trucks drove by. (Mr. Sensitive actually dragged me across the parking lot when an especially loud truck passed, which made for a hilarious visual, I’m sure.) But in general, he was pretty well-behaved … whew! Gil and I had a nice time talking with other greyhound owners, who predicted we’ll have another adoption someday; I don’t think any of them had just one dog.

In typical fashion, I snapped a bunch of pictures and have posted my favorites after the jump. As always, to see the full flickr set, click on any image.

(more…)

Ack — what is the cutest thing?

(more…)