Lexie's Lucky Day!

I slept a little late this morning....rarely do. About 8:15 am, I awakened to Katie's "aggressive mode" barking! So, I was a little disoriented and startled. Got up, told them doggies to hush up, checked to see what the disturbance was---NONE----maybe the meter reader...long gone by now!

Of course the doggies go out first thing every morning---usually around 6 AM---so today, it was 2 hours later!. They ran back in starving and nudging me into action, saying "BREAKFAST, PLEASE!!!!!" I keep a large sack of kibble next to the washer/dryer with a snap-shut top---there are two scoops...a 1-cup size for Lexie and a 3-cup size for Katie. So, they are panting with tongues out, right by my side, watching every move I make while I scoop up breakfast kibble.

Now, if you know this family and you know the dogs, you also know what a b----h it is to feed the dogs simultaneously. While Luna (I miss her perky little adventurous self) lived here, there were feeding issues because she ate slowly and methodically and was still interested in whatever was going on while she ate. Lexie inhales--she even has her own individual breathing pattern while eating.....and you NEVER mess with Lexie while she eats------you'll end up without toes, fingers, or at least a big bite out of your leg! Katie is just thankful for her meal and she will dig in and leave everybody alone---she eats for nourishment, but she can be a forager and go into gastronomical forbidden territory (see Canine Cookies).

Anyway, we have rituals in feeding that we adhere to. The biggest problem is that Lexie is a world-class champion in speed-eating---so she is ready to move on to bigger and better bowls. She easily intimidated Luna and since Luna moved to Oregon with Brooke, Lexie has taken Katie's bowl on as a victim-----so, they get fed in separate rooms with doors shut. Lexie must be fed first, shut the door and then feed Katie. Katie must be completely finished or Lexie runs in gets her snout in Katie's bowl and goes at it....and, sweet Katie usually just backs away. What power! Katie is younger, faster, and massively bigger than Lexie----but there is a huge difference in beagleness and weimaraner character.

I am getting to the point! So, this morning, I dig into the sack of kibble and shovel out the correct portions, little Lexie cup in left hand, Katie cup in right. Katie is on my heels and jumping with joy. I tell Lexie (who is immobile at the canister of food, eyeing it as a personal challenge) t0 move! She follows me into game room and I DUMP THREE CUPS OF KIBBLE INTO HER BOWL from Katie's scoop. I still don't realize it until I shut the door and walk into the kitchen to Katie's bowl and toss in a measly little 1 cup of kibble! There is no way I am going back out there to retrieve Lexie's excess---she just got lucky today!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Today is the centennial of LBJ's birth
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the thirty-sixth President of the United States, serving from 1963-1969. A Democrat, Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and after completing Kennedy's term was elected President in his own right in a landslide victory in the 1964 Presidential election. Johnson was a major leader of the Democratic Party and as President was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included civil rights laws, Medicare (government funded health care for the elderly), Medicaid (government funded health care for the poor), aid to education, and the "War on Poverty." Simultaneously, he escalated the American involvement in the Vietnam War from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968.
Johnson served as a United States Representative from Texas from 1937–1949 and as United States Senator from 1949–1960, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was selected by John F. Kennedy to be his running-mate for the 1960 presidential election. Johnson's popularity as President steadily declined after the 1966 Congressional elections, and his reelection bid in the 1968 United States presidential election collapsed as a result of turmoil within the Democratic party related to opposition to the Vietnam War. He withdrew from the race to concentrate on peacemaking. Johnson was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his arm-twisting of powerful politicians.
Johnson died after suffering his third heart attack, on January 22, 1973.

Woke Up This Morning...Got Yourself A Gun--Sopranos Theme Song

or "IF YOU DON'T KNOCK, I'LL SHOW YOU MY GLOCK"

I bought a handgun today. I am not afraid of living alone and I don't plan to carry a concealed weapon. Just wanted something other than shotguns and rifles here at the house.

Zack went with me to Cabela's today to buy the Glock 19 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It seemed like half of Tarrant County bought guns today. Filled out the paperwork, then waited for over an hour and a half to actually pay for the gun and have someone walk it out of the store for me.

Zack and I used to go to the gun range fairly regularly. The Glock is the only handgun I have ever shot. Now, we need to go for practice again. That is all I will use it for, hopefully.

I respect guns and have seen first-hand in multiple ER's what a careless pull on a trigger will do. Let's hope I never have to use it for anything other than target practice.

Son, sushi, and sake

Today is Zack's birthday. I went out to eat with Stephanie and Zack. Nagoya Japanese Restaurant was his choice or Stephanie's suggestion. Sushi is fairly new to Zack, but he REALLY likes it. Stephanie and I are leery. Anyway, a really good time. Zack is an accomplished sushi-eater.....mixes his soy sauce and wasabi paste, and uses chopsticks to eat! Stephanie and I chose Japanese noodles (udon) with beef and stir-fried vegetables.

Zack and I shared a small bottle of cold sake-----the saki and eating in a Japanese sushi restaurant were new experiences for me.

Otanjoubi omedetou, Zack!

What Does E. M. T. Stand For?

My friend Shannon has two blog entries entitled "Free Rant Friday." She has written about some of the crazy things and perplexing things that we all encounter daily. Even though today is Saturday, I want to add a"free rant" to my blog today:

Coming home from Ruth's house late this afternoon, I was listening to 98.7 FM. Listeners were calling in with requests to be played. A "dude" (I'm sure he thinks he's a dude) named John or Josh called in with a request for "Play That Funky Music, White Boy".

The DJ asked where he worked...his reply was that he is an EMT and he's at work. DJ asks if he's in the back of an ambulance on a call....."No," says John...."just chilling and waiting." DJ says he hopes things stay that way...."we wouldn't want anybody to croak tonight." Now listen to John's reply to that comment: "HEY, IT REALLY DOESN"T MATTER TO ME, I GET PAID WHETHER THEY CROAK OR NOT!"

and...that's all I have to say about that.

It's Hatch Time

It's Hatch Chile Festival time again! Google "Hatch Chiles" for a lesson in all things HATCH. Hatch, New Mexico is the home of the greatest chiles in the world and late August through mid-September is harvest time. There was a time when all chile-loving Texans had to make their annual pilgrimage to Hatch to bring back 50-100 pound sacks of peppers, rig a roaster, and spend cerveza-soaked weekends roasting peppers, cleaning them, and packing them up for the freezer to keep the coming winter warm and the chili pot fiery.

Now, produce markets across the great state buy from trucks that ship the peppers to the east of NM. Central Market proclaims the last two weekends in August as Hatch Chile Festival right here in Texas. Last year, they launched the "First No-Holds Barred Chile Recipe Contest" and published a cookbook of all submitted recipes from all over Texas. It is one classy read!

I have my thinking cap on and plan to submit something again this year. It was great fun last year to receive a call from CM and learn that my "Down The Hatch" was a runner-up contender for the Fort Worth store! There were five finalists and I was asked to be there along with another contestant in case there was a no-show among the finalists. The CM rep said that everyone got a big kick out of my recipe and really looked forward to seeing it, and trying it. It's on page 46 in the 2007 cookbook. It even won the "Spirit Award" designated for "recipes that fuel the adventurous spirit behind the contest."

"Down the Hatch"

Ingredients:

1 Corona beer

margarita salt

New Mexico Red ground chile powder (found at Pendery's)

garlic powder (optional)

1 lime

roasted Hatch chiles (green-hot or mild) seeded & chopped

crushed ice (optional)

1. Chill a beer mug or pilsner

2. Chill a Corona (the colder, the better)

3. Mix equal parts margarita salt & NM Red (for the glass rim)

4. Add a very small amount of garlic powder to salt/chile powder mixture if desired

5. Rub lime around rim of glass and coat rim in the salt/chile mixture

6. Put 1 tablespoon chopped Hatch green chiles in bottom of glass

7. Add about 1/2 cup crushed ice if you want this really cold

8. Pour Corona slowly over ice

9. Squeeze lime juice on beer

10. Sip beer til almost gone.....then

11. "DOWN THE HATCH"

Hope you try this beer. Chomping down on those diced chiles really adds some zing to the beer buzz. Let me know what you think.

Canine Cookies

We have certain rituals/traditions in the Lusk Family---especially with our road trips. If we make a trip south on I-35, we stop in West at the Village Bakery for kolaches. If we head southwest into the Dublin/Stephenville area, we stop for Dublin Dr Pepper (please note there is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper). When we go north into Cooke County we stop at Dieter's for barbecue and red beer on draught in Lindsay. No trip into the Hill Country just west of Austin would be complete without a quick sidetrip to Luckenbach......you get the idea.

Today, I went to Navarro County to visit my longtime good friend, Karen. For old times' sake, I asked if we could have lunch at the Old Mexican Inn in Corsicana---of course! she said. OMI (Old Mexican Inn) has a killer dip they serve with their chips and hot sauce. It's the color of Longhorn burnt orange---but please don't hold that against it or the OMI! This is some good stuff--you've never had anything like it. The base is straight mayonnaise, with lots of paprika, garlic powder, and some vinegar added. That may not sound appetizing, but you could seriously become hooked to this stuff. I will let you know those with mayophobia should avoid it, however.

When I told Ruth I was headed to Corsicana, she said please bring orange dip home along with some cherry cookies from Collin Street Bakery, "Home of the Famous Corsicana Fruiitcake".

We haven't had orange dip in probably three years. I was prepared with a cooler and ice packs so the dip would make it home safely.

After some cheese enchiladas and nachos, Karen and I went out to the Collin Street Bakery Store on I-45---a veritable busy bee place, tourists making the sampling rounds and buying bucketloads of breads, pies, cookies, and drinking 10 cent Costa Rican coffee from coffee beans grown in Costa Rican Collin Street coffee plantations. I purchased some cheese/jalapeno dinner rolls and 2 dozen cherry icebox cookies. I used to bring home macaroons for Clu Flu, but he was the only one who liked those, so it was just the pink cherry cookies today for Zack and Ruth.

I put the bakery box of cookies on the kitchen table, took out 2 and drank a glass of milk---the last bit on hand. After a while, I fed the dogs, then made a quick trip to the store for a container of milk. I noticed something was amiss when I got home, but couldn't figure it out...that is until I saw the EMPTY bakery box on the floor behind the table!!!!!!! I had not left the cookie box at the edge of the table, and no chair was pulled away from the table. Katie had just lunged for the box, and brought it down from the table for the kill. I swear, I was gone 10 minutes!

Made a quick call to Ruth to tell her the bad news---she was disappointed. I am just worried that since Katie has a delicate gastrointestinal system, I will have a day of dealing with that aftermath tomorrow. Twenty-four or so pink cherry sugar cookies will do just about anyone in!