A couple of housekeeping details here at CC on the Hill:

First, I received from Crate & Barrel my tea towels that I ordered to complete the material needed to make the tablecloths.



From the two tea towels that Mary gave me originally, now I have a total of 6 of the green with stripes towels, 4 of the pepper towels, and 4 of the citrus fruit towels. I was planning on using the green towels to cut up and make a border around the other two patterned tablecloths, but I had another idea...since I have 6 of those green ones, I might just make a larger rectangular tablecloth out of those alone.

I'll have to think on that one. But for now, it's way too hot and humid here to be doing sewing. All my sewing paraphernalia is put away and it takes a while to locate it all and lug it out onto the dining room table, so this project is on hold until our weather decides to behave.

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Now on to another subject: Dog food.

I have recently (within the last couple of months) switched my dogs from regular grocery store-bought kibble to a much better quality kibble called Blue Buffalo. They have a program where you order it online and have it shipped to your home at any periodic timetable you like. I have it shipped every 3 weeks. It weighs over 30 lbs. and I'd rather have the delivery man hefting that bag up the back stairs than Paul. It's worked out great. You can change the schedule any time you like. The last delivery was going to come a bit too early because we still had quite a bit left so I put it off by 2 weeks with no problem.

Anyway, I used to feed the dogs canned dog food along with the kibble (just at dinnertime) to beef it up and make it more tasty for them (they get a cup of plain kibble early in the morning from Paul for breakfast and around 4 p.m. another cup of kibble from me). I know the canned food is nothing but junque, so rather than switching to another kind, I have been giving them additional servings with the kibble of things like cooked chicken (cooked by me), cottage cheese, or rice which I make myself.



Here is the beginnings of how I make the rice. I use Jasmine rice. Put 2 cups plain water in the pan and for the oil, rather than butter I use my now-favorite oil, coconut oil (3 tablespoons) and then 1 cup of the rice.



Also, as a really good natural healing spice, I add about a teaspoon of Turmeric to the pot and that's what makes the rice turn orangey-yellow.



Here it is all done in a short 20 minutes on low heat. When it's cool, I put it in a plastic container and keep it in the fridge for the week. They each get oh, about 2 tablespoons of this on top of their kibble each night for dinner. If I run out of the rice, or just to mix up the menu, when I am cooking a whole chicken for us, I will really pick the bones and get a nice little amount of "chicky-meats" (as we call it) for the puppies and keep that in the fridge with their rice. I will also give them a tablespoonful of cottage cheese every few days, too. They seem to love this new diet and I can honestly say they are not getting all the crap that goes into poor quality dog food.

The reason I started using the turmeric in the rice was because Kip had gotten a little bug or something on the top/middle of his long snout. It looked black and if he tried to rub it on something, or if I scratched at it, the hair would come off. You may have noticed it. Well, I started putting coconut oil on it and slowly but surely it is healing up. I was reading up on the healing qualities of turmeric one time and discovered it is great for humans as well as dogs and works to heal wounds. So they get a small amount of it in their rice each day.

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So those were just two things I had going on here to tell you about. It's been so hot here, in the high 90's, that I don't have any enthusiasm for doing much. Getting all hot and sweaty is not my idea of fun. Sleeping at night is a challenge but we are fortunate enough to have A/C units both upstairs in one room and downstairs in the living room. So it's tolerable in here now. Paul is outside all day and doesn't complain about it, which I just don't get. I'm all about complaining when it's this hot.

I have more stuff to put up here but another time. Want to get this off and do some reading now. (BTW, 50 Shades of Grey is moving along interestingly, slowly, but I can't say it's boring. Let's just say it's quite stimulating reading and leave it at that.) I just read the other day that E. L. James, the author, has surpassed even J.K.Rowling in having the fastest selling book ever. Wow.



Just trying to stay cool...

Cheers,

Bex & Co.

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"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened."
[Anatole France]

"There are only two seasons - winter and baseball."
[Bill Veeck]



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