Lucy

Our little lucifur is the sweetest little dog you could ever meet- as long as you are not another dog. She just doesn't do well with other dogs, especially when on a leash and other dogs insist on running up on her while barking. Luckily she loves her brother. Just so nobody (Jon) claims that there is any favoritism- here are a few pics of the rest of the family.

My Dog

Hank deserves a little introduction as he is a big part of our family and will soon undergo another knee surgery. I am always reminded that he was an "accident''- and thus he may be a bit spoiled (due to his 2nd class status by Jon). He is only considered the 2nd dog by Jon because of Hank's sister Lucy. Also known as Jon's little princess (lucy-fur).

Almost five years ago we decided that we were going to be dog people and started the hunt for our new family members. Once we decided on A bulldog, we started to look for available dogs. Not being known for our patience, once we found a family who had puppies available, we immediately drove to check out this little pork chop. Without hesitation we started driving at 8pm into the desert and across the state line- all for A furry little ball of love. One thing we didn't count on was that the 10 hour drive would prompt us to begin talking about the possibility of two dogs. Maybe two dogs, a friend for lucy, would be a better idea than just one. Thus the plan was hatched to add a second dog to our family- even before we had a first. So when we arrived to check out the dogs, Jon was picked by Lucy and her one white paw. I couldn't be bothered as I had the one male puppie crawling out of the pool and laying in my lap almost immediately. This was the beginning of the "my" dog and "your"dog family.

If you have a dog that sheds a lot and takes forever to brush- you might want to consider the vacuum! Once trained on this- Hank loves it. I can't vacuum the house without him chasing after me in hopes of getting vacuumed.

Yard Project #834

I am not known for my green thumb or desire to be out in the yard for hours and hours weeding by hand. But something took over my body and made me start weeding and digging out some of the dead plants we had on our side yard. Once I had some momentum, I decided to clean out and refill our pond that had been dormant for the past six months. After cleaning out and preparing our side yard for some new life and color, I thought about continuing the work throughout the weekend.

Which leads us to a major project that Jon and I have been talking about but not really excited to start. I think I was hesitant to start this project as I was originally fooled into helping lay the sod. The entire pallet of sod at the bottom of the 10 steps. So removing all of this hard work wasn't all to appetizing. Oh the exciting days of early dating! I called for the yard waste dumpster and rented a sod cutter- all before Jon got home and could talk me out of it. After two days of hard labor our dead gopher-hole ridden lawn has been removed. Now we are the proud owners of a big dirt patch. Unfortunately we don't have any available weekends to work on this project until September. Which should give our neighbors sufficient time to tell us exactly what we should plant and how to design our lot.

We are also now less one (dying-non-producing) Avocado tree. This has opened up a large part of our yard and let more sun in to the the front terrace area. This begins the search for an olive tree to replace the Avo. Now we start the hunt for a Kalamata tree that is old enough to produce!!

I can now begin my career as super ninja.

Imagine my surprise when I got the mail this morning and the final accoutrement for my ninja lifestyle appeared in my mailbox. Thanks to my east coast bff (or east side cousin). The most talented knitter I know has made the most darling ninja head band-ear warmer I've ever seen. Plus it comes complete with a super cute button. I love buttons. This definitely ranks in the top present non-birthday category ever received. For two reasons- I love headbands and it is handmade. I am sure that now with my ninja powers fully engaged I can do some proper blogging about all of the new recipes I've been playing with and some of the crafty projects I've completed.
The photo op is a whole other story. I'm sure I entertained my neighbors by taking pictures of my self on the porch at 6:30am. My favorite part of taking pictures at our house is that hank always finds his way into the shot. Which isn't that great when trying to take pictures of shoes to sell- and his ears are at the bottom of a pair of boots. Gotta love cropping!

Even if you don't like Beets...

I know some people named Jon will claim beets taste like eating a nice big mouthful of dirt. But after coming up with this recipe I've almost gotten him convinced that it may be possible to eat beets. This is a great recipe for using up those beets when you have an overload from your CSA and are sick of them as a plain salad topper.
Cut off tops/tips of your beets (I've used gold or purple). Add them to boiling water and cook long enough to just soften the tough skin. About 30-40 minutes. This will slightly cook the beets and soften the outer skin. Rub your fingers over the skin and it should easily fall of the beet. Chop the beets up into bite size chunks. Add salt and pepper, and any other desired seasoning. Toss the beets with a citrus infused olive oil and vinegar (cider vinegar or rice vinegar). I've made this with both tangerine and blood-orange infused olive oils. The citrus flavor lightens and sweetens the earthy beet flavor, while the seasoning and vinegar keeps the savory salad flavors. A diced cucumber or yellow pear tomatoes are also a great addition to this salad. It is great by itself or on top of a green salad. This keeps well in the fridge for over a week.

Phoebe made me do it.

I had to log in to comment on phoebe. Then the iVortex just took over and created this account. That machine is out of control.