A Kiss for Ellie Mae
Here is our dog, Lady, delivering a wee kiss to Ellie Mae, a bullmastiff. Although the big girl might appear somewhat “grumpy” (to those who don’t know her), she is, in fact, one of our gentlest boarders ever. She has been in our home almost fulltime during her stay here, not because the weather has been so inclement, but because we love having her with us.
Lady and Ellie Mae have become bosom buddies.
We have just come back from our Sunday breakfast. Our habit (tradition!) is to dine out on Sunday mornings, always at the same time and usually at the same restaurant. We have changed the eating venue according to what gets “screwed” up with the orders or the service, but there are not many restaurants in our small town. We are joined by friends, usually one to five, and the conversation is amazingly varied: almost every subject you can imagine gets thoroughly discussed, eventually.
Today I’m making homemade doggy bisquits, a triple batch. They have only wholesome ingredients in them, and nothing which wouldn’t be palatable to most humans. They have flour, powdered milk, eggs and water in them, and I have added garlic powder (not salt), grated cheddar and parsley. They taste great and look pretty, cut out with dogbone cookie cutters.
They ARE palatable to humans. I have often given them my own taste test. One day, I delivered a small bag of them to my friend Dee, who had a treasured pooch. I had misplaced my dogbone cutter, so they were just in little rectangles, baked and dried long in the oven and VERY hard. The doggy treats were set on the counter and we had coffee, and I returned home.
A few days later, Dee’s husband stopped me on the street and said to me, “Ann, those were tasty cookies that you dropped off, and if you make some more, I’d like some. I find they’re the best hardtack, for while I’m going around on the tractor in the field.”.
Today, there is a blizzard happening outside AGAIN. Seems like almost every other day we have more falling and blowing snow: Gary shovelled and blew away the drifts yesterday, only to have to do it again. We even took my truck, which is 4 wheel drive, to breakfast this morning. Enough already! Still, we shouldn’t complain, as we have not had the devastation that the Vancouver areas and Vancouver Island have had. We try to count our blessings… no big floods, hurricanes tornadoes, poisonous snakes, major earthquakes. We have pine beetle destruction, elk falling through the river ice, occasional scary forest fires, minor flooding. It’s a good place to live.
Elk falling through the river ice? A friend of ours reported that acquaintances of hers watched helplessly while a herd of two dozen elk broke through the thin ice on the Fraser River. They said that at least 7 drowned, and there was nothing which could be done. In our area, elk have become a nuisance animal; they are removed from parks and set loose in the valley, where they are breeding well. Still, no one wants them to suffer as they did that day… struggling, screaming and perishing.
That’s not a cheery note to end on, but it’s rural reality some days. We have to take the bad with what sometimes seems an idyllic lifestyle.
Best wishes to all. ~ Ann
