Entries categorized as ‘Pet’
Yes, our dog Zoe caught a live mouse last week and Jim snapped the leash and she relinquished it. Normally our family adopts cats and dogs that have no hunting instinct, except for cat Hobbes (RIP) and our Zoe. The mouse scurried away but probably not without injury.
Many years ago I went to visit my sister in CA and she wondered why all these cats were gathered around her small home. Mija, her cat, was in heat, I explained. Shortly thereafter my brother flew across country with a five week-old kitten in his pocket. Surprise! My sister had offered me a kitten and I declined, I’d just moved to NYC to a new job. She didn’t send me the one she offered in the first place, but a runt who fell off the 7′ shelf in the garage and Mija stopped feeding him at two weeks of age so my sister put him on solids.
I was an inveterate “dog person” at the time and knew nothing about cats. I knew nothing about food, litter or milk replacement formula. I bought one book that said to only give cats frozen raw kidneys, frozen four days to eliminate bacteria. I threw that away. Then I got a book that told me to make a mouse.
One-sixth of an animal is internal organs so we need some liver and kidney and heart et al. The fur provides fiber. So I bought a chicken and roasted it and saved the breasts for me and the rest for Nathan (Nathan’s hot dogs, or Kevin Kline’s character in Sophie’s Choice). I added kelp, brewers’ yeast and a ton of things to make a week’s worth of food for him in ice cube trays. He wouldn’t eat it.
Over the years I still tried to give him quality food, and ended up with Innova, which has no meat by-products or corn. Do you know what he liked? Fancy Feast. So on his birthday and Christmas I got him a can of Fancy Feast as an illicit treat. He was with me for 13 years and I never got the last word in a discussion. He was part Burmese, a gorgeous cat with a beautiful coat.
He got out of the house one day and went to visit a neighbor, came back and got a cough that became pneumonia. Coupled with congestive heart failure I had to do the right thing so held him for a while even after he was sedated and euthanized.
Sometimes a cat doesn’t appreciate the whole mouse as a human sees it. Luckily our dog, after multiple tries at food she would eat, relishes her raw lamb with carrots and blueberries and squash. It’s frozen solid and she’s a happy camper! Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet
Tagged: cat food
Do you remember your grandmother’s ice cream machine? A big wooden tub that encased a small can, which was hand-cranked (the kids lined up for that one) or electric. She placed ice and rock salt around the metal can inside the wooden enclosure. Why salt? To make the ice colder and freeze the delicious blueberry (or whatever) ice cream was inside.
As we settle into our first long winter of deep snows, one ski resort is already open. We anticipate much plowing will be done and also, the HOA here is salt-happy. What happens when your dog goes out on ice and snow saturated with rock salt? Her paws freeze and she limps until the hurt is gone, then when she arrives home, even after toweling off she licks her paws.
There are two solutions: booties, which most dogs hate and I can’t imagine doing that first thing in the morning; and a new trick we’ve found out from neighbors, paw wax. We can’t find it at the local pet stores so had to get it online, it should arrive later this week. Looks like it’s going to be a very cold but sunny, snow-free week so if we stick to the trails instead of driveways and roads, she should be OK.
So, what do you get for the pup in northern climes? Try paw wax. We ordered a brand called Mushers and will let you know how it works. Zoe didn’t understand why it took me so long to get ready this morning in 13 degree Farenheit weather. It was the boots! Coat, hat, gloves, but my feet were protected by socks and boots and hers aren’t, at least until later this week. Oh, I gave away her grosgrain ribbon jingle bell collar to a pup last year, so we got her a green velvet one with golden bells. She has to be bathed and groomed before we take her photo with that collar!
I’m still trying to find a capon. There’s a new farmers’ market in walking distance, indoors. I bought a “culotte” of lamb, that is frozen. I’m going to thaw it out later in the week, marinate it in good olive oil, garlic, rosemary and perhaps some balsamic vinegar and we’ll grill it. It’s local lamb. I also bought a fresh loaf of artisan cranberry-orange bread that I immediately wrapped and froze for either cranberry trifle or bread pudding. It may become the base of a Thanksgiving dessert.
I made pizza last night, from scratch of course. It was very good and we still have an entire pizza left over to heat up another night. I wanted to make roasted winter squash soup today but may run out of time as I’ve been cleaning and doing loads and loads of laundry, winter jackets and all. Fabric softener in the wash seems to make a difference. Right now inside is 23% humidity, a desert-like environment in which skin dries and cracks and electricity crackles every time I touch something or take off a sweater. Let’s hope this helps.
Thanks for tuning in to the early winter edition of Dee’s mountain cooking blog! Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet · Utah
Tagged: "culotte" of lamb, dogs, ice cream, Mushers, salt, snow and ice, Zoe
October 12, 2009 · 1 Comment
Dear Maddie’s Fund Employees and Board Members,
Thank you for thinking of my old home town. Rural areas are problematic, not that Buffalo is rural but I grew up in Erie and Chautauqua counties and both could use assistance. Education is always the key, and this comes from a shelter volunteer and long-term volunteer at San Diego’s Feral Cat Coalition clinics (I ran volunteers at Recovery for years).
I wanted to thank you and HSUS and the Ad Council for the Shelter program. Some of the greatest joys of my life have come from rescues or shelters. My first cat, Nathan, was a “gift” from my sister, transported across the country. He was a Burmese mix and a talker (I never got in the last word in an argument) and was with me 13 years. When my parents’ dog died I started volunteering at a shelter and met my first dog there, abused her first year by a law enforcement official and in the shelter her entire second year where I visited her every week even when I was in a neck brace and couldn’t walk dogs. I heard from a staffer/former volunteer that there was a meeting about euthanizing her and the decision was put off for a week. I had her home the next day. I challenged her to trust me and gave her unconditional love and she was with me for ten years before I held her as she bled out and was humanely put down.
My kitten, adopted at nine weeks from the same shelter, was named Mick Dundee because he was fearless. He lived with me seven years before I gave him to neighbors whose dog he loved (all dogs came to visit us and they played on the lawn) as my husband is allergic and now Mickey is gone.
We adopted an Aussie/Border Collie pup over five years ago from another shelter. Zoe (Greek for “life”) is with us today in Utah. We’re really glad we got her because she would have been euthanized if the shelter or most owners learned at five months of age she had the worst hip dysplasia her surgeon has ever seen. Two FHNO’s later, she’s grown her own hips and is a bit clumsy but the happiest animal I’ve ever met. We tell people they can spend $1,200 on a purebred or $75 on a mutt and the rest on surgery! We love her dearly.
So, will we get a shelter pet next time? You bet. Kudos to the Duffields, Mr. Avanzino and staff for a great and noble venture. I interviewed your legal staff when you were at SFSPCA and was so impressed…..
* * *
I changed the photo due to a technical glitch. Maddie’s Fund is in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS.org) and the Ad Council to encourage folks to adopt their next pet from a shelter. I’m signing it and hope you’ll consider doing so as well. Too many adoptable and treatable animals are euthanized each year simply for lack of a good home and because owners didn’t spay/neuter their pets. Let’s try to do our best to end this cycle. Thanks much, Dee
Cheers! Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet
Tagged: adopt a shelter pet
Ms. Molly said goodbye to the world she’s had with Val and family for 32 years, today. The horse that was bought by Jim’s grandfather, who died many years ago. The trouble is, our cousin and vet and Zoe’s hip surgeon had to do it herself. I’ve helped several of my pets go to the beyond when they were unable to lead anything resembling a normal life, but this is too much to bear. I had to watch a vet, she is one.
Most people kick children out of the nest at 18 or 21. This horse was hers for 32 years. Val is a strong woman, as a vet she works on small and large animals all the time, but Molly was always there.
We thank Val the Vet and our same cousin for taking such good care of our Zoe, who has no hips but made her own. We wish Val and her family well overcoming this loss while we are assuaged by knowing that several of Molly’s offspring are moving up in endurance racing and there’s a “grandson” who also shows promise in that regard.
My husband won’t miss Molly much because when she was pregnant the first time and the foal started kicking, she thought it was Jim, and it wasn’t but she kicked him nonetheless. Every time he visited the farm she hated him. That’s his story. I still don’t think he’s glad that she’s gone. I will tell you in no uncertain terms that this horse is not going to dog meat. I hope she’ll be buried near Pork Chop. In memoriam, Dee
RIP Molly, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet
Tagged: dogs, Dr. Val, favorite horse, Molly, vet
When she was a pup, we’d get Zoe one of those rawhide bones and she’d sit there for six hours and finish it, drink water like crazy and probably be sick afterward. So I started getting her tiny ones that might take ten minutes to demolish. Now she has three 6″, thick rawhides tied in a knot on both ends. She’s five years old and no longer eats them. She guards them from us then hides them in plain sight.
Right now I’m in the living room. One is behind me, behind my guitar. Another is between the sofa and end table, easily visible. The third is either down here between the fireplace and bookcase (nope) or upstairs I’ll guess under the bed on my side or in the guest room somewhere.
We thought it strange behavior (and saw a magnet today in a gift shop stating “Warning: Strange Dog” which is apt) but she may get it from me. For our day trip I wanted both the camera, to capture the beauty of our brief journey, and the binoculars to view wildlife. Before we left I put new batteries in the camera and looked in vain to charge the batteries that were in it. I knew exactly where the camera case was, on a shelf above the laptop cases. But I looked everywhere, more than once for the binocular case. Moments before we left I found it in a drawer, a “safe place” hiding nearly in plain sight.
Whenever I put something in a safe place, I tell Jim where it is then we both forget! So let’s allow Zoe to do her thing and hide her rawhides out in the open. If we touch one, even with a shoe to get it out of the way of the vacuum cleaner, she picks it up carefully and walks around with it in her mouth for 20 minutes or so before depositing it in a new location visible to humans. No, she’s not blind, to which the chipmunks and marmots and dogs can attest. Just clueless, like her “mom.” Cheers, Dee
p.s. Now the binocs case is next to the camera case, which is next to Zoe’s thick health file and others. Safe at last.
Categories: Editorial · Pet
It is highly important with the salt solution on the roads and highways here to keep one’s car clean between rain and snow storms, and to keep the undercarriage free of salt.
On Sunday we took my car to the fancy car wash across the street with brushes et al and paid for the $12 wash if it snowed or rained again by Tuesday. Today I took it to the less expensive one where you park and the apparatus (no brushes) moves back and forth and gives me a distinct feeling of seasickness.
We brought Zoe with us both times. She was calm the first time, even with soap obscuring the windows and brushes everywhere. Today, she’s in the back on her 4″ orthopedic bed on a 3.5′ tie-down behind a cargo net. As I’m trying to keep the car from moving and trying to keep down my lunch, I hear a crash. Zoe’s gone around the cargo net, scrambled into the back seat (leather), scattered mail everywhere and is choking to death.
I put on the parking brake, sat on the console and did anything I could to free her from her collar. Needless to say, it freaked both of us out. I finally rushed through the drying phase, parked and re-installed her in back.
It’s probably not a scary moment for most people but it’s my first time doing that kind of car wash alone with the dog and with the feeling that the car is in motion the entire time it was very strange. Let’s hope they don’t have cameras in there or we’ll end up on YouTube.
Lasagne for dinner. I still can’t get used to the grocery stores but I brought enough pantry items and herbs/spices that I haven’t yet needed to do a full shopping trip.
Hopefully we’ll be able to leave Zoe and see a movie and get a bite to eat for lunch tomorrow, and get Jim a new pair of casual shoes for work. His current rubber-soled leather ones lasted at least a couple of years and this week the sole developed a crack so water gets in it every time he goes outside. So that’s a “must do” this weekend, OK because the outlet stores are right across the way. I’d just rather get there early ahead of the crowds.
Have a great weekend! Hope you cook up some Springtime dishes as I’m unable or unwilling to do as yet. I just did see a pair of ducks float by, though. No, they’re in a nature preserve!!! Please believe I’d rather look at them then eat them. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Pet · Utah
Someone on my travels the other day slipped and mentioned what the Chamber of Commerce conveniently left out of the description. Snow melts. Much of it goes down storm drains et al but some of it turns to mud, and for a “season.” Now I’ve seen late Spring and Summer photos and it’s gorgeous here, we just have to get there.
Now, in Texas, where we moved in 2003, the Chamber of Commerce AND my loving husband forgot to mention 5-6 months annually which I termed “Hotter Than Hades” season. These are the continuous days and nights of extreme heat and humidity, so that even if one takes out the dog at 6:00 in the morning, sweat and curly hair ensue along with sky-high A/C bills.
I took Zoe to the vet this morning and liked him. I was advised by her hip surgeon to “go for the Aggie.” We liked him. And she was fine, just a bit of a tummy ache the past two days. I skipped her dinner last night and she was fine this morning. And I learned of the diseases prevalent in TX that don’t really exist in the Western states, as well as the fact that elk (and probably moose) hate dogs and will stomp them to death. Not that I was going to go walking in the nature preserved calling for elk, but it’s good information to have. We haven’t seen one yet and spend time watching the birds on weekends. Jim’s thinking of getting a pair of inexpensive binoculars.
Tomorrow is Friday and I hope Zoe’s cool enough, well enough, with being left in her new crate for a couple of hours so we can get lunch on Saturday and see a movie. The new Russell Crowe flick got good reviews. Well, cheerio and wish us luck for “mud season.” Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet · Utah
This is Spring?
Yep, that’s it. I’m staying off the roads and Zoe’s got herself a sore tummy. If it doesn’t clear up by tomorrow I’ll arrange to take her in. She needs the rest of her shots next month and I wouldn’t dream of adding that to her current burdens. Just hope it’s the move and change that are bothering her.
Best, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet · Utah
So inviting, indeed. When I was a baby and cried, as all babies do, my parents put on a record featuring Jackie Gleason entitled “Music, Martinis and Memories.” If that didn’t work, they drove up and down the street until I fell asleep. No, they didn’t abandon me in the house, I was in the car with them but safety seat? Dunno.
As early as age five, I had (have) a mad crush on that Hoboken boy Frank Sinatra. For college graduation my folks took me to see him at Carnegie Hall. He was old then but thanks to Tommy Dorsey, his phrasing was still intact.
My favorite album is Come Fly With Me, favorite song Isle of Capri. Don’t know why because it’s such a sexist song. My sister even made me a felt “sculpture” with the notes and lyrics to the first stanza.
Autumn in New York is on that album. I bought a CD of it but gave it to Rocco, owner of Piazza Italia in Glasgow, Scotland at our going-away party. I thought of it as I view “Springtime in Utah,” which consists of hourly blizzards followed by sun and large hunks of snow falling on the decks.
The small stream about 20 feet away has grown in size commensurate with mountain snow melt and the ducks are floating downstream with no visible paddling.
I braved the worst of it this morning and put the Honda in the garage to shed snow and ice. Jim stole the Acura, which is good, as today I only had minor errands to attend to.
Happy April 15! I got the last W-2 yesterday (ours were lost in the move) and finished up last night. It’s like a ton of weight off my shoulders so I’m not pushing it today. Zoe’s been sick, vomiting and diarrhea. I did cut up two oz. of steak the other night and added it to her dry food. We did get her a new crate and she’s been left in it according to prior “routine” for an hour or so at a time. I don’t know if she’s stressed by the move or what.
At least we met a local vet! I’m going to look up the one who is an orthopedist, though. Her non-hips are getting bad on these stairs.
All the best to you and yours. Dee and Zoe
Categories: Editorial · Pet · Utah
The Greater Sandhill Cranes announce their presence with a certain trill and trumpet or vocalization that is clearly distinct from the ducks and geese regularly seen by most Americans. They also do it very loudly, when they land or whenever a threat is present. I wouldn’t think our 40-lb. Hipless Wonder Dog would have ruffled their feathers, as she didn’t even see them 20 feet away across the fence to the nature preserve, but the male started kicking and putting up a fuss even though we walked on a public trail outside the fence briskly and moving forward.
Our temporary home is a few hundred square feet larger than our old place. The old place was on one level and integrated, space-wise. This place has high ceilings and two floors (17 steps) so no communication. Jim went upstairs and I had no idea he went to bed. It’s taken two weeks but I have to find out when he gets up in the morning (not evident from the kitchen) but knowing when the shower gets turned off that leaves me time to finish breakfast on a weekday morning.
But then he calls downstairs and asks what to wear. Husbands! Years ago he bought walkie-talkies because he wears headphones a lot and wanted to be in touch upstairs/downstairs in case of emergency (you should see his hurricane kit). They didn’t work because we were living in a low area so after testing, we returned them. That may be a solution.
It’s dark now and I’m looking directly at Bald Mountain, which anchors Deer Valley Resort. Just turned off the light over my “desk” which is the dining table looking out at the mountains and wildlife.
I hope I thank Jim enough. Both of us have been tired lately with the job market, packing, moving, driving across country and moving in and starting a new job. Plus the dog has to come with us everywhere yet stay in the car. This weekend we got her a crate and she tried it for the first time today and did OK for 2 hours.
Back to Jim, we’ve lived through adversity, had it when we met, a year later in dot-bomb era and have experienced it since. Jim’s grandmother wanted him to work his whole life for one company and end up with a gold watch and pension at the end. His parents ran a dairy and while they could have extended “and Sons” they expected both their boys to get a college education and leave the farm.
Jim’s brother is now a banker that caters to farmers. His big brother is a different animal altogether. Math, aerospace engineering. Now he’s a software engineer that caters to bankers or writes software that runs banks et al.
I still don’t have a full pantry, brought herbs and spices with me. If I make a white bean salad with Italian dry salame, red onion, and a red wine vinaigrette I’ll have two cans. Rinse them out, poke a hole in the bottoms and take a string and we’ll have an upstairs/downstairs phone! Why didn’t I think of that earlier. Cheers, Dee
Categories: Editorial · Pet · Utah
Tagged: tin phones
