The Wonder Dog and Peter Pan

She really is a wonder-ful dog.... Caya came into our family by adoption. My younger sister couldn't keep her in her new living situation, so we inherited a full grown, well trained.... mutt. To say she is a mutt seems very disrespectful, because there are many days that I think she is just a few neurons short of speaking to me. Somedays I wish she could, somedays, I'm glad she can't. She is, however, the smartest dog I have ever encountered.

One of her favorite things.... besides a nice afternoon walk and a scratch behind the ears is a peanut butter jar. Whenever she hears the jar open, she comes jogging over... click click click on the tile floor. Most of the time, she just has to watch me use the peanut butter to make a sandwich, but occasionally she has the thrill of getting the "empty" peanut butter jar for her own. She makes the most of it until I take it away. I only take it away when she starts to bite the plastic with the intention of tearing the jar apart. See for
yourself. First, she patiently waits, then waits some more for me to tell her she can have it (because she is just that good of a dog), then she gets down to business and enjoys every last lick. She will be 11 years old a week from tomorrow ( we celebrate her birthday on my sister's bday, since that is how we came to inherit her). Don't know what I will do without her when the day comes..... don't want to think about it now.

What are the chances?

I think this phrase quite often... what are the chances? And then sometimes, it just happens that the chances are apparently pretty good. Such was the experience of yesterday afternoon. The Disney daughter and I arrived home after a very interesting weekend in SRQ. We got home before the head of the house and the tall boy who were out to lunch after church. They had trimmed some trees in the backyard ( a project we had been talking about for months), so I was eager to see the new do's on the trees. As I went to the glass door to look out, the wonder dog came too, wanting to go outside. As I let her out, she spooked a black runner who decided that it's fastest route of escape from the wonder dog was INSIDE! In a nano second, I yelled, decided to close the door to keep it out, slammed the door and.... wasn't quite fast enough. Now I have the wonder dog outside on the back porch barking fervently at the back end of a snake and a really irritated snake halfway in the house. It looks like this..... (well, see above as I still don't know how to move a photo around...)
After about 10 minutes (seemed like a whole lot longer) of watching him slowly die a squished death, Head of the house arrived home, got a glove and escorted him to his burial spot in the back woods.
If you ever need an adrenaline rush.... this is it... though the chances of it happening ever again are... well, maybe I shouldn't say it.

The Perfect Smoothie...

The holy grail, their car keys, a lost sock, a lost love. These are things that people search for. Not me... (maybe with the exception of the occasional sock). I have searched for a long time for the perfect smoothie. I've had some good ones- Planet Smoothie, Smoothie King. But I really don't want to pay 4ish dollars for a smoothie that I am unsure of. Unsure of the real contents, the real quality of the "fruit" that's in it. So, I've made many smoothies at home. Fruit smoothies, chocolate smoothies, coffee smoothies- I've tried many many different ones. 

Today, I think I achieved the perfect smoothie. Here's part of the reason why. This thing is one big bad smoothie maker. The VITAMIX. I feel like I should say it in all caps, because this thing is more, so much more than a blender. I could be making my own peanut butter in this baby. So, as you can imagine, it makes a mean smoothie. 
Today's smoothie included:
8-10 ice cubes ( i didn't actually count)
about one cup of milk
splash of OJ (tropicana of course)
strawberries
pineapple
ripe banana
scoop of vanilla protein powder. 


This was about as close to the perfect smoothie as I have ever had. I've tried yogurt in my smoothies in the past, but it just comes out to "yogurty"- not that I don't like yogurt.
 Maybe it was because I had it right after a swim/ride brick, but it was really yummy. 
So... thanks Papa for the VITAMIX. It has helped me to achieve a years long dream.....
The Perfect Smoothie. 

1905 Salad... or.... food from my childhood.

Where to start? Blogging seems like such a HUGE blank canvas. Well, I think I'll start with things from my spare time. Though I must say that cooking isn't something I think of doing in my spare time. Oh well, back to ya gotta start somewhere. Dinner tonight is a walk down memory lane. Actually, it's a recipe that originated here. There was/is a Columbia on St. Armands Key, in Sarasota, where I grew up. My Mom and Grama would go out shopping and to lunch one day each week (religiously, and without fail I might add). This was one of their lunch stops. They loved this salad, and as they did with quite a few recipes, managed to recreate it at home for us. They didn't get the recipe from the restaurant... they figured it out themselves. Because of that, this is what the recipe card looks like.... (see above... as I don't know how to move a photo yet). So, there isn't much to go on- except what you know it's supposed to taste like. There aren't many recipes I can do that with! Hope it's yummy.

Here's a picture of Mom and Grama Buell back in the shopping days....

Start blogging.

Start blogging. That's what it said to do next. And so I will. Attempt anyway.