Simply Living in the Northwoods: January 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011

These Dogs Were Made for Walking

Pete walking the Weimaraners

Our dogs are lucky. They go on at least two long walks with us everyday. Yes, it's cold out and sometimes it's snowing, but the dogs don't seem to mind; they just want to get out of the house and spend some fun time with us.

Chewie
waits politely for his walk

Not all dogs are as lucky as ours. There are dogs in animal shelters throughout the country who rarely get out of their kennels. Sometimes it is a matter of not having a safe place for walking dogs. Other barriers include lack of time and volunteers.

I don't have much money to give to our local animal shelters, but I do have time. Once a week I go down to the Humane Society of Vilas County and walk dogs for a couple of hours. Dogs still need walking in the winter.

Run Chief Run

I really love doing it. It is a chance for me to relax a little and enjoy the dogs enjoying the outdoors - and they REALLY enjoy the out-of-doors.

Mace
makes a snow face

The Humane Society has a nice outside fenced area where the dogs can run lose and let some of their energy out. They love playing in the snow and the cold doesn't seem to bother them much at all.

Go JoJo Go

After a nice run and romp in the "free zone" they are usually ready for a walk on the leash. It helps so much for their chances of adoption if they can walk nicely on on leash. They need practice, practice, and more practice - just like my dog, Asher.

Bear jumps for joy
"It's time for a walk!"

The fields and woods around the Humane Society are very nice and there are great little paths for exploring with the dogs. Even in the winter they have plowed some walking paths.

Duke
Something caught his eye

I try to walk each dog on the leash for at least 15 minutes. I know Cesar says a walk should be 30-45 minutes, but he's in sunny Southern California, not the North Woods of Wisconsin in January.

Properly walking a dog on a leash can drain a lot of the animal's energy as he must focus on what he is supposed to be doing.

Bullwinkle was made
for walking in the snow

The dogs at the Humane Society catch on quickly, in fact, many of them are much better leash walkers than my own dogs.

Rocky with a toy

Walking is great exercise for the dogs and their walkers. It's a lot more fun than doing sit ups in front of your television. I like walking the dogs because it calms my mind and allows time for daydreaming and creative thinking - until the dog jerks you pack into reality by alerting you to a squirrel. By the end of my 2-3 hours I usually have the whole world figured out, or at least the rest of my day.

If you have some time call your local animal shelter and see if they need a dog walker. Then get your snow boots, snowsuit and a bag of dog biscuits and Walk a Dog in the Winter.

For information on our local shelters:
Humane Society of Vilas County http://www.vilashumane.org/
H.O.P.E. Animal Shelter in Ironwood http://www.myhopeanimalshelter.org/

Don't forget about your own dog(s).

I know ours won't let us forget about this event.

"First a walk, then
the Super Bowl"

Check out their website

Monday, January 24, 2011

Time to Prepare for the Super Bowl

Send your Packer jersey to the dry cleaner and polish up your cheese head; the Super Bowl is coming up on February 6. I think I am accurate in writing that no one in our house, aside from Mr. French, is really prepared for the Packers to play in the Super Bowl. After an okay season and entering the playoffs seeded 6th, we welcomed the opportunity to watch an extra post season game, but didn't think much past that. Even when the Packers defeated the Eagles, I don't think it registered that they might go all the way. We should have listened to Mr. French's yowls.

"Listen, I'm from Las Vegas
and I'm betting on the Packers."

We have less than two short weeks to prepare for the Big Game. We have to decide where to watch the game, what to wear while we're watching the game and most importantly, what to eat and drink. In the days ahead I'll keep you informed on our preparations and decisions. Mr. French got a head start; I'm still looking for my cheese head.

"I've got my cheese head."

Saturday, January 22, 2011

When Costco Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Bars

Well, Costco didn't give me the lemons, but the huge bag I bought on my last trip to Milwaukee was more than enough for tea, salad dressings and condiment use. I looked through my recipe file and found Mrs. Foss's Lemon Bars; the perfect solution to my lemon surplus problem. I'm not sure who Mrs. Foss was, but she was probably one of the Lutheran church ladies my grandmother hung out with. I think she was also known for her molasses cookies.

Out came the handy juicer, which unlike our other appliances, does not have a crazy name; it is just called Citrus Juicer. I juiced a bunch of lemons and got to work.

Mrs. Foss's Lemon Bars

2 sticks butter

3 1/2 C sugar

3 C flour

1/4 t salt

6 eggs

1 C lemon juice

powdered sugar for topping

Mix butter, 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup of sugar and salt together and press the dough into a greased rectangular cake pan. I used a 13x9x2 pan. Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
For the filling mix together 3 cups of sugar, 6 eggs, 1 cup of lemon juice and 1 cup of flour.
Pour the filling mixture on top of the baked crust and put it all back into the oven for another 30 minutes.
Let the pan cool and then sprinkle powdered sugar over the top and cut into bars. Mrs. Foss says it will make 24 bars, but I like bigger bars, so I cut 18.
Do not let Weimaraners in the kitchen during the baking process.

The bars turned out well, although they could have been a little tarter. I didn't sprinkled powdered sugar on top because, let's face it, 3 1/2 cups of sugar is already overkill.

This isn't the first, and I'm sure it won't be the last, time that we find ourselves in lemon overload. If you have any good ideas for extra lemons, please send suggestions our way. We really miss the lemon tree we had in Las Vegas. It provided us, as well as all of our friends, neighbors and strangers, with tons of fruit.

This is the only record I have of our
lemon tree. Just a bit of it is showing.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Is Walter the Farting Dog a Weimaraner?

Walter the Farting Dog stuffed toy

I have a Walter the Farting Dog stuffed toy that makes a funny gas-passing noise as you squeeze his tummy. When I lived in Las Vegas, the kids at Desert Torah Academy loved it when I brought Walter out. Walter the Farting Dog is the star of a series of children's books written by William

Image from Amazon.com

Kotzwinkle. The series includes about eight books including Walter the Farting Dog, Walter the Farting Dog Farts Again, Walter the Farting Dog and the Windy Day and a Latin version titled Walter Canis Inflatus.

image from crazyabouttv.com

I wish Mr. Jansen would have let us read that book in high school Latin rather watch I, Claudius. Viewing I, Claudius was supposed to be something fun; while other foreign language classes went on trips, held bake sales and had folk festivals, our Latin II class slept through BBC's adaptation of the Robert Graves novel.

"What's that smell?"

I was thinking about Walter because our three dogs have been passing a lot of gas for the past 3 to 4 months. A number of things can cause gas in dogs including eating too fast, a change in diet, eating something they shouldn't from the woods and food allergies. Because all three of our dogs had been consistently flatulent since we ran out of their Costco dry food and switched to something else, we suspected the food, rather than their occasional eating indiscretions.

image from Costco,com

We have tried a lot of different dog foods over the years, but we try to stick to those with 100 points or more on the K9 Food Grade chart. This chart was published on our Weimaraner club's Internet site K9FOODS and I think they got it from K9cusine.com k9cuisine . Kirkland brand from Costco scored very high (110 pts) and you can't beat the price at about $26.00 for 40 lbs.

"PHEW!"

The problem we have up here, in the Northwoods, is the nearest Costco is about four hours away. So when the bag was empty we switched to another brand, Canidae, which scored even higher (112 points) and could easily be obtained locally in Hurley or Minocqua. With Canidae came a hurricane of doggy wind.

We weren't really sure if it was the food, the adjustment period to the food, or something else. Then, just after Christmas we had another Weimaranter, Aja, stay with us for a few days. She fit right in; she played with Asher, ran with Gracie, snuggled with Pete and added her fragrant flatulence to the pack.

Aja, in blue, with Asher

Aja running

Aja with Pete

Oh, Aja - PHEW!

image from www.canidae.com

I had a conversation with Aja's owners and found out that she was on the same dog food. Amazing. Since then we have both switched brands. I brought back two bags of Kirkland brand from my Christmas trip to Milwaukee and Aja is on something else from a local organic feed store. I just opened the second bag of Kirkland and I thought, "What next?" I decided to call the Canidae folks and find out if they could help me. I talked to a very nice customer service representative, Sarah, who suggested that the rich meat content of the lamb and rice formula may be the problem. Canidae has a lot more meat than most brands. I asked if it would be better to switch to the chicken and rice, but she steered me to their All Stages Life Formula. This formula has lamb, chicken, turkey and fish, in fact, it seems to have more protein (24%) than the other. Still, Sarah thought it would be the better choice. We may try it or I may revisit the K9 Food Grade list. Any suggestions are welcome. I have to make a decision soon so that I can mix the new in with the old and transition properly.

"I am NOT a Weimaraner."
image from Amazon.com

And I am NOT a farting dog!

Monday, January 17, 2011

RealFeel = Go Back to Bed Cold

I knew it was cold outside this morning when I opened the door for Gracie. She did the quickest U-turn I have ever seen and went right back to bed. Asher was braver, but his usual 15 minute morning romp turned into a 45 second trip out to the pee patch and back.

The thermometer read 16 degrees, but it felt a lot colder. I looked at the birds huddled around the bird feeders and the snow flurries blowing sideways and determined it must be the wind chill.

I went to the Internet to see what the wind chill was and encountered a term I was unfamiliar with - RealFeel temperature. I guess the term has been around for a long time, but I never noticed it, or perhaps I just translated it into wind chill in my mind. The AccuWeather forecast reported the temperature
to be 14, but the RealFeel was 4.

www.accuweather.com

My understanding of the trademarked phrase was not accurate. According to the AccuWeather site wind chill only takes temperature and wind speed into account, but the RealFeel measurement takes temperature, wind speed, solar intensity, humidity, precipitation, elevation and atmospheric pressure into account. Obviously, this formula, which is not disclosed on the site, magically calculates a temperature reading which is far more accurate than the old wind chill factor I used to talk about in my youth.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to figure out how to add the RealFeel to the little weather widget on the blog, so in the meantime you'll have to go to http://www.accuweather.com/us/wi/mercer/54547/city-weather-forecast.asp