Rescue, Rehome, Reward

Penelope on Payment Lake

I'm thinking about Penelope today.  Her surgery to remove two tumors is scheduled for this morning. We have been fostering this 12 year old silver Weimaraner for a week and yesterday I brought her back to H.O.P.E. Animal Shelter so they could prepare her for the operation.

Penelope & Pete at H.O.P.E.

 RESCUE

Like Callie Blu, Penelope was surrendered by her first owners after a divorce.  Life circumstances prevented them from keeping her.  One can get angry with the owners; call them unkind or irresponsible, but that isn't the way to look at it. I  don't know the couples or their troubles, but I do know that the result is that 2 wonderful Weimaraners have joined our family this year.

Asher & Penelope - First Morning Walk

Some people like to call dogs like Callie and Penelope rescues.  I think this implies some sort of tragic, abusive, neglected previous life.  This characterization doesn't apply to either dog. They are both healthy, well-trained, good-looking pets and I know they were loved.  Callie Blu was with a wonderful foster mom for a year before she joined us.

3 Dogs on a Log at Net Lake

REHOME

I like to think of the dogs as being re-homed.  They moved from one home to ours. It's as if the pups finished their "projects" at their first home and came to ours to help us.

Penelope with the World in her Mouth

I agree with Mike Dooley's writings on the subject in his book, The Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell YOU

". . .their presence in your life is just one more invitation for you to love as you could not have loved otherwise, even as they teach you lessons of compassion, tolerance, patience, or whatever else you stand in need of."

Penelope = Play

" Animals absorb and react to the energy of those they live with. . .as reactors, they mirror the energies they receive. . . reflecting the patience, compassion, exuberance, anger, openness and shyness of those around them."

Pete & Penelope in the Woods

"Owners can always find 'themselves' in their pets."

Callie Blu & Penelope - Our Rewards

REWARD

". . .that you 'found' who you 'found' and that they 'found' you has deep meaning and occurs with flawless precision.  The world would not and could not have proceeded even one more day on the path it was on until each of you was present for the other, to be shaped by each other's love, to lean by each other's example, to teach, to laugh and to heal."

Bread and Butter

A Loon's Spoon Post

I love French bread and I have almost got the process where I want it - thanks to the Master Recipe: Boule and directions in Jeff Hertzberg's and Zoe Francois' book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

In the morning I mix 6 cups lukewarm water, 1.5 tablespoons yeast, 1.5 teaspoons kosher salt and 6.5 cups of flour together right in my food storage container.

Then, I cover it and carry it into the Snuggery, this is the warmest room in the house and a great place to let the dough rise for 2 hours. The Snuggery is also my office and a favorite place for all 3 dogs to hang out when I'm working.  I am very careful to keep the dough away from the dogs and never leave the dogs and the dough alone - it's just not a good combination and I speak from experience.

After 2 hours or so the container is moved to the refrigerator until I want to use it.

Refrigerating the dough, for at lest 3 hours, makes it less sticky and a lot easier to work with.  About an hour and a half before I want to have warm bread I remove the dough from the refrigerator and form it into loaves.

I place the loaves on parchment paper and use perforated French bread pans that my mother-in-law, Gwen, gave me from Williams-Sonoma. Then, they go back to the Snuggery for 40 minutes to rise.  After about 20 minutes I preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a low sided pan, I think it's the oven's broiling pan, on a low rack filled with water.  This will create a steam environment, which is GREAT for producing a crisp crust.

The dough goes into the oven for about 30 minutes.  First, I brush the loaves with tap water to help with a crusty crust.

After 30 minutes, or so, the bread comes out of the oven and is ready to eat.  WARNING: Keep it way far away from counter-surfing Weimaraners.  Again, speaking from experience, they have been know to take the whole loaf in the blink of an eye.

I love butter and on this point I agree with Julia.  Unfortunately, butter is not part of a plant-based diet.

Neither, is cream.

So, I decided to try one of the butter substitutes that have come out since my last round as a vegan.  Earth Balance products have received excellent reviews from the vegetarian/vegan communities.

I think I picked the wrong product.  I bought the sticks and they're more of a baking product.  It didn't taste so great spread on the bread.  Earth Balance offers a number of different spreads and I think that's the route I should have taken if I wanted to "butter" my bread.  

You know what? I've ALWAYS been a fan of olive oil.  Dipping French bread in plain or flavored olive oils beats butter in my book.

Special Events - Don't Say No

A Loon's Spoon Posting

It's only hard to attend special events if you make it hard - true if you're vegan or any number of other things that might make you self-conscious or different from the "average" attendee.  My thinking is that people are more worried about their own differences than mine.  

Last night Pete and I attended the 8th Annual Taste of the North in Minocqua.  This is a fabulous food sampling event that showcased about 22 different food and dining establishments in the area with 31 different items.  

The dishes included breakfast, appetizer, entree, pizza, cafe and dessert items, but not a one of them was animal-product-free. No problem; I anticipated as much and had a BIG lunch.  For me it was a time to enjoy the company, catch up with folks I hadn't seen for months and sip a few NAs.

People ask what do I do at special occasions that don't have vegan options.  I don't do anything - I don't eat, I don't complain and I don't turn into the vegetarian/vegan that no one wants to talk to.

The Taste of the North is easy; it's a walk and talk, grazing, come and go as you please type of affair.  A couple people asked me what I had to eat and I told them nothing as I had adopted a plant-based diet, but how great it was to see everyone. No muss, no fuss. 

A few folks tried to figure out if there was something I could eat and honestly, that was a great educational opportunity.  "Yes, eggs are an animal product." "No, I don't eat cheese anymore either." "Desserts? Dairy."  It's all about keeping a sense of humor and not attacking the eating habits of others.

 Vegans/Vegetarians should not isolate themselves.  Become comfortable with your decision and plan for social events ahead of time for your own comfort and those around you.  Sarah Hohn has a nice article on her blog, Homemade Levity titled Overcoming Isolation as a Vegan - good tips.

Pete, the meat-eater, and I had a wonderful time.  We left before the raffle drawings and I think someone must have forgotten to call us about our prize!

Sweet Potatoes and Tahini

A Loon's Spoon Posting

There is a lot of help online for vegans.  In just a few minutes I found some amazing blogs and recipe sites with beautiful pictures and easy recipes.  Just last night there was a Facebook post pointing me to the Top 50 Vegan Blogs.  One of the first blogs I ran across I really loved - great name, great photos, fun commentary and a mix of recipes - This Raswsome Vegan Life written by Emily, you can can her Em.  Her philosphy is similar to mine.  She writes, 

". . .With the knowledge I've learned about what animal products do to me, you, our earth, and our beloved fellow animals - I choose not to put anything that has caused suffering in my body. My lunch shouldn't require murder. In any case, humans can certainly thrive without eating animals. Being vegan simply means caring about others."

I found an easy recipe for baked yams and tahini on her blog and since I had some organic sweet potatoes just waiting around for something to do I decided to try it.

Well, the sweet potatoes were good, but I think I have to find a better tahini source.  It was thick and globby from a jar (I won't reveal the brand).  I  had a great tahini sauce from au Bon appetit that I brought back from Milwaukee, but it's all gone.

So, my sweet potatoes ended up like this - note the tahini glob on the top.

Again, the potatoes were great, but the drizzled tahani effect didn't work out and it didn't taste great.

Asher thought it was all great!

Launching the Loon's Spoon

A Loon's Spoon Posting

Today, in honor of Earth Day, I am going back to a plant-based diet.

I was inspired by two books: Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life.  Oddly enough I read the books at the same time, starting with Bob Spitz' Dearie, then looking for a break from Julia's recipe wrestling I turned to the table of Contents of my Kindle.  Gene Baur's book on the Farm Sanctuary he founded had magically appeared on my device while I wasn't paying attention; I pre-ordered the ebook about a month before its publish date.

Both books portray people passionate about food, where it comes from, its preparation and how it is enjoyed. I don't think anyone would call Julia Child a vegetarian and Gene Baur is definitely a vegan, but both inspired me to think more about food and eating. I guess the popular term is mindful eating.  Mindful eating is eating with intention and attention - a practice that harkens back to Buddha, but has gained popularity today with organizations like the Center for Mindful Eating and a dozen, or so, books listed on Amazon.com.

After reading about the philosophy and practices of the Farm Sanctuary in Baur's book I am convinced that a plant-based diet is the only diet in keeping with the compassionate, sustainable lifestyle I desire. I knew this 30 years ago when I was a vegan, but then things got tough and it was easier to eat fish from time to time and welcome CHEESE! back into my diet.

The pictures and stories of these animals, the animals at the Farm Sanctuary , convince me to focus on a plant-based diet and stay clear of animal-based products.

According to Baur it isn't enough to just stop eating animal products, you should let others know what and why you're doing it.  Inspire change when and where you can.  At Farm Sanctuary they ". . .engage people where they are on their journey to a cruelty-free lifestyle".  They advocate that, "All human and nonhuman animals should be treated with compassion and respect" and support incremental change.  I like that idea - set an example, be informative, yet respectful.

My interrupted journey is now back on track. More Loon's Spoon postings to follow.

Ring, Happy Bells

We use sound and color to keep track of our dogs.  I clip a small bell to each of the dogs' collars with a carabiner before we go outside.  If they run out of sight I can still hear them and know their position and general distance from me.

We also "dress" the dogs in blaze orange vests spring, summer and fall or brightly colored jackets in the winter when the the temperature dips below 20 degrees.  Their colorful wardrobe helps us to find them when they try to "disappear" in the woods.

Can you find 2 Weimaraners?

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
   Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
   The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

-Alfred, Lord Tennyson