Best Friends

Today is the birthday of my best friend, Carol Hansen.  Carol and I have known each other for 35+ years.  We met while taking horseback riding lessons and have been friends ever since.  We've held garage sales together, as well as driving around looking for garage sales to visit.  We done Competitive Trail Riding together, as well as just trail riding for fun locally.  We've weathered heartache and happiness, and many, many birthdays together. 

Carol's always there for me when I need her, and I hope I always return the favor.  Just knowing there's someone who loves me for who I am, and who overlooks my foibles and missteps, means a lot.  Carol has enriched my life in more ways than I can name.  So this post is dedicated to you, Carol.  May our friendship continue to grow.  Happy birthday, dear friend.

Yet More Pictures

Washington State is a perfect environment for green and growing things. We have a maritime climate--lots of rain and mild winters (usually) and also lots of sunshine. Rain and sunshine have been in abundance this year, and as a result things are growing as fast as a speeding bullet. (Case in point: the apple above, taken in bright sunshine right after it rained) You can almost hear the vegetation growing in the pasture. So I've been taking lots of pictures lately. Pictures of the cats and dogs playing, of the horses playing, of flowers blooming, of trees in all their leafy glory. Lots of pictures. Here is a sampling.

This is the underside of a leaf from the apple tree. Love the veins!

And if you don't believe in our rains, here's a picture of part of my driveway during a huge rainstorm.

This is a single tree in my pasture, an ancient alder with three trunks. Quite a rarity for an alder.

And last but not least, one of my favorite pasture pictures, showing a meandering path made by my horses and wild critters. I find this picture very calming.

Two Nerdy History Girls

One of my clients has started a new history blog with a friend, and it's so delightful that I wanted to pass it on to you.

Two Nerdy History Girls is a new blog by Susan Holloway Scott and Loretta Chase. Susan writes historical novels and Loretta writes historical romance. The focus of the blog is history in all its fascinating aspects, including talk about who wore what and who slept with whom, not to mention sorting out rumor and myth from fact. If you're a history buff, do drop by their blog for a visit. These ladies know their history!

New Pictures

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately, taking advantage of the recent spate of overcast, rainy days. An overcast day is excellent picture-taking weather if you're doing close-ups of, say, flowers, or portraits of people. Bright sun casts harsh shadows on faces and objects, so whenever it gets overcast, I head outdoors with my camera. I took the picture on the left, looking up through one of the Alder trees in the pasture.

This is a close-up of leaves in the apple tree. I love the veins that are so prominent in apple leaves.

I guess this is going to be a "green" post, since apparently all my recent pictures are of green things. The below picture is a close-up of bracken ferns. I'll be back in a few days with more pictures.

Breaking All Heat Records

Today it hit 102 degrees F. in Seattle, breaking all previous heat records since we began recording the temps in 1861. In truth, the temps have soared much higher in outlying areas. It hit 106 in the shade at my place today, the hottest weather I've ever encountered in Washington State in 62 years.

I'm hosing down the dogs several times a day. In fact, when Asterisk hears me using the garden hose, she comes running. She likes to run through the spray, biting at the water. Unfortunately, it's so hot that the dogs dry off quickly. I may just put a small sprinkler in the side yard and let the dogs run through it at will.

Here are some more pictures of Asterisk playing in the water.

Running Through the Sprinkler

See that thermometer on the left? It's on my front porch, and I took the picture today, 7-27-09 at 4:29 p.m. It's 99 degrees Farenheit in the shade.

Here in the Pacific NW, few of us have air conditioning, because this kind of weather is rare. We've been having weeks and weeks of temps in the 80s and 90s, and this week they're predicting we'll break 100. There's an Extreme Weather Advisory and an Air Stagnation Alert in our area.

It's been so hot and dry that drought-resistant plants are dying. Today when I went to clean out the horses' water trough, I found a dead squirrel floating in the water. Obviously he'd tried to get some water and fell in and couldn't get out again.

How does one stay cool in such hot weather? Well, if you're a 9-month-old Boxer pup named Asterisk, you run through the sprinkler. Or you lie down in your very own kiddy wading pool and then roll onto your back, legs spread, begging for tummy rubs. Or you chase the spray from the garden hose, biting at the water and ignoring the spray blasting you in the face.

As you can see by the pictures, Asterisk knows how to stay cool and hydrated.

Cats in the Dog House

It got up to 96 degrees today, and I checked the back porch to see how my two cats were doing in this heat. They have a bed on a small table on the back porch, and that's the place where they hang out most of the day. They weren't there. But I heard a meowed greeting. It took a minute to realize that both cats were sacked out in comfort in the igloo-type dog house! I don't know if it was cooler in there, but the cats seemed quite comfortable. They looked so funny that I just had to take a picture of them!

Something's Wrong With our Healthcare System

This is a rant. I'm not going to get all political on you, but I really must say a few words about the state of the healthcare system and the outrageous prices they charge.

Last week I made an appointment to have a complete eye exam. They told me it would cost $256 and I'd have to wait 3 weeks. Ouch! I will also need new frames (I stepped on mine) and lenses. A look at their cheaper frames showed a range of $169-$399. The lower priced ones were butt-ugly, so I'd probably end up with something in the $250-$300 range. (I'd like to know how anyone can justify charging $400 and more for an ounce or two of colored plastic! This makes me very mad.)

And then there are the lenses. I have reflection-free, "no-lines" trifocals. Add another $200-$300. So, $256 for the exam, $250 for frames, and $250 for lenses. Total: $765! (and that's conservative)

Today I went to Costco and found out I can get a complete eye exam there for--get this--$65. Frames will cost me $75. The only price I don't know is the cost of lenses, but knowing Costco, it will be half what I'd pay elsewhere. So I made an appointment at Costco and will cancel the other one. Instead of paying $756 out of pocket, I'll be paying $265. That's a difference of $491. Oh, and I didn't have to wait 3 weeks like at the other place. I'm going in tomorrow at noon.

I won't even go into all the hassle I've had with the incredibly bureaucratic and ridiculously inefficient medical doctor I'm seeing for various issues. I'm on Basic Health, a state-subsidized medical plan for low income people. The plan itself is a good one, but the doctor they appointed for me sucks. It's at a modern community health clinic and they are the most inefficient thing I've ever seen. My doctor has misdiagnosed every thing I've seen her for but one. She never treats me for anything, instead referring me to a specialist. Referrals are supposed to take 1-2 weeks. In truth, I wait 1-4 months for referrals.

I waited 4 months, in serious pain, for a referral to a podiatrist for my feet. I waited 6 weeks for a referral to an ob/gyn after my doc said I had a prolapsed uterus. (As usual, she was wrong--it was something else entirely.) I waited several weeks for a referral to a surgeon to have a fingernail removed because she said I had a fungus. Turns out she was wrong. No fungus, but arthritis, and the surgeon said I needed meds, not surgery.

I waited 6 weeks for a referral to a specialist because of debilitating thigh pain. And now I've waited 4 weeks for a referral to physical therapy for the same issue. While I wait, I'm in severe pain.

Somebody needs to do a performance audit of the community health clinic I go to. These people are seriously stupid. There's a very good chance I'll be kicked off Basic Health because they are in financial trouble due to the bad economy, and they are looking to dump about 80,000 subscribers--despite the fact we're low income and qualify for BH. If I get kicked off, I'm going to submit a report on the atrocious care I've received the past 3 years. If I don't get kicked off (it'll be a miracle) I'm going to ask if I can change doctors.

In the meantime, our entire medical system needs a serious overhaul.

End of rant. My thigh is killing me. I'm going to bed.

Recipe: Layered Pineapple Pound Cake

I've been cleaning out and organizing my recipes, and came across this one that I'd clipped from a magazine but never tried. I needed a simple dessert for the 4th of July BBQ that was supposed to be held at my house (and which subsequently got canceled when I came down with a miserable cold--my first in 2 years).

This recipe is dead simple, and absolutely delicious. It came from a Dole Pineapple advertisement and was originally called Dole Golden Layer Cake, but I don't feel that conveys a very good description, so I renamed it. You can name it whatever you want.

Here's the recipe:

1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple in juice
1 carton (8 oz) Cool Whip
1 pkg (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding
1 pkg (16 oz family size) frozen pound cake, thawed
1/3 cup almond-flavored liqueur, or 1/3 c. pineapple juice and 1/2 tsp. almond extract (I didn't have pineapple juice, so used orange juice)
Optional garnish: sliced pineapple; 1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

Combine undrained pineapple, Cool Whip, and pudding mix. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut cake lenghtwise in thirds. Drizzle with liqueur. Spread one-third pudding mixture over bottom layer of cake. Top with second layer. Repeat layering, ending with pudding. Chill 30 mins. Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds and garnish with pineapple slices, if desired. Serves 12. Prep time: 15 mins.

Snake Skin

While working in the pasture a couple of days ago, I found a recently-shed snake skin. It was entirely intact, a perfect specimen. I thought it was so beautiful I just had to photograph it. Moments later, the neighbor's daughter, who'd been working in the pasture with me, found the actual snake. We know it's the same garter snake, because the snake skin had a wound that corresponded with the wound on the snake.

This was a big dude, over 2 feet long. When Zoey held up the snake for me to admire, I discovered the wound on its belly. He was a very handsome fellow. As Zoey held him, he flickered his red tongue at me. We carefully returned him to the pasture and wished him godspeed.

How to Make a Light Box

WHAT IS A LIGHT BOX?
Simply put, it is a photographer’s aid, a plain box with the sides and top cut out and covered with a light-diffusing fabric or translucent paper. Objects (such as this chess piece) photographed inside the box will have a clean and professional appearance with virtually no shadows.

MATERIALS

• Sturdy cardboard box
  
• Thin, white fabric (muslin, T-shirt, interfacing, old sheet, nylon) that allows light through
  
• Heavy white opaque paper (poster board, butcher paper, interfacing)
  
• Glue Stick
  
• Utility knife
  
• Scissors
  
• Marking pen
  
• Tape measure
  
• Swing-arm lamps
  
  

INSTRUCTIONS

Obtain a sturdy box, preferably with a lid. The box used for this demo was a Banker’s Box, but you can use any size box. Don’t go too small.

Cut out all 4 sides of the box with a utility knife, leaving 1½” rims. If you use a regular cardboard box, you’ll need to cut off the top flaps. If you use a Banker’s Box, it won’t have top flaps.

Line 3 sides of the box on the inside (or outside, if you’re lazy) by gluing white fabric or light-duty paper to the box. Leave 4th side open. That’s the opening where you’ll place the camera lens to shoot your pictures.

Carefully cut out the bottom lip at the FRONT of the box. You'll be inserting a long piece of paper next, and this will allow the paper to stick out the front of the box.
Cut heavy paper to fit into the bottom and back side of the box, starting at the front, and CURVING UP AND OVER the rim at the back. This will create a seamless backdrop, so be very careful not to crease or wrinkle the paper. Secure paper to the back of the box on the outside.

If using a Banker’s Box, cut out the center of the lid, leaving a 1½” rim. Cut fabric or paper to fit lid and glue to inside of lid. For regular cardboard box, just glue fabric or paper directly to top of box

Finished box. To take pictures, shine lamp through top of the box. If you need more light, shine additional lamps through the sides.

Sweet Puppies

This will be short and sweet, as I'm headed out to the pasture with my backpack sprayer of Roundup, on a mission to kill poisonous plants before my horses can get to them.

Last night my two dogs were sleeping together. As they always do when sleeping, they have to have a paw touching each other, or even better, their bodies touch. It is very endearing. So here's a cute picture of Nova and Asterisk sleeping on Nova's bed (which I made extra wide to accommodate both dogs). Isn't it just the sweetest picture?!!

Asterisk has her own crate to sleep in at nights, but during the day she is able to sleep anywhere she wants. And she almost always wants to sleep with Nova in her bed, one paw touching Nova. Or in the yard, one paw touching Nova. Or on the deck, one paw touching Nova. And so it goes.

OK, end of short post. Now I'm off to do battle with buttercups, tansy ragwort, bracken ferns, and dock.

Dog Under the Steps

The most bizarre thing happened last night. My Doberman, Nova--who never ever gets into trouble--got herself into a predicament she couldn't get out of. And it was morbidly funny. She got stuck under the steps that lead from the deck to the side yard. Somehow, Nova managed to wriggle underneath them, and then she couldn't get out.

The thing about Nova is she's a very quiet dog. She never whimpers or complains, even when she should. If I accidentally forget to bring her in after letting her outside in the rain to do her business, she will simply stand patiently at the door in a miserable huddle, waiting for me to remember her. She never utters a peep, even though she can see me through the slider, 5 feet away, sitting at the computer.

So when she got stuck under the steps, she never said a word, even though the slider was open and my desk is right by the slider. She was only 15 feet away. I could tell she'd been stuck for a long time, because you can see where she tried to dig her way out. Unfortunately, she had to dig while on her belly. There isn't room enough to stand up. Judging by how filthy she was, she'd been digging for a while!

The above picture is deceiving, because Nova is a lot larger than she looks in that shot. She has dug herself quite a deep hole, and most of her body is in it. There's also a big hole directly in front of the bottom step. I have no idea if she dug it trying to get under the step, or if the pup dug it after Nova got stuck. You can also see she knocked wood loose from the woodpile, probably while trying to get out.

All I can figure out is that somehow Nova got stuck between the gaps in the steps while trying to retrieve a tennis ball. I'd seen the bright pink ball days earlier. Should have removed it then!

The thing is, Nova is terrified of confined spaces and narrow gaps. She's lived in this house since a puppy, yet she still gets freaky about the hallway sometimes. Then she'll be stuck in the laundry room or bathroom or one of the bedrooms, because she's too afraid to come out into the hall. I have to snap the leash to her collar and lead her out. So it's a complete mystery to me how she ended up in such a wickedly confining space under the steps.

How did I get her out? I had to move the whisky tub on the left of the picture, so she could crawl out that way. Not an easy task, as the tub was full of dirt. I'll say one thing, though. That dog was mighty glad to be free of the steps! I'm still laughing over my first sight of her--me standing on the deck above the steps, and her forlorn head sticking out between the steps and looking up at me, with a pleading (and mortified) look on her face!

Leaves as Art

Yesterday at the monthly meeting of the South Sound Adobe Users Group I demonstrated how to make a light box, and then we raffled off three light boxes I'd made as give-aways. We had lots of fun, and several members had brought items to place inside the light boxes to practice photographing.

One of them, Larry Weakly, brought a most unique item: a skeletonized holly leaf that was utterly gorgeous. Being able to photograph it in a light box allowed for a nonintrusive background which highlighted the beauty of the leaf. In fact, I'm going to tromp down to the pasture later today to see if I can find any alder leaves that have been skeletonized over the past winter.










For those of you who aren't into photography, a light box is simply a box that has had the sides and top cut out, then covered with white, translucent fabric or paper (so as to allow light through). The inside is lined with white paper. Objects placed inside the box can be photographed without shadows and have a seamless background. Commercial photographers use this method to photograph jewelry, toys, etc., for advertisements.

I may be weird, but I think the skeletonized holly leaf is beautiful.

More Puppy Antics

Yesterday I spent the day with my friends, Jacquie Rogers and Judith Laik. Jacquie has an in-home theater, and we lay in recliners all day watching movies (something we do several times a year).

It was the first time I left the puppy in the fenced yard all day long without supervision. Those of you who read this blog regularly, or who follow me on Twitter will have a good idea what happened while I was gone all day. That's Asterisk above with a sock in her mouth. I was taking pictures today of the socks she'd pulled off the clothesline the day before. She grabbed one and I snapped the picture. The massacred foam pad is something else she had taken off the line. By the time I arrived home, she'd gotten into a lot more things! Notice the picture of her looking so innocent in the foreground, while in the background lie the remains of a hanging wooden planter she had destroyed, along with plastic pots for seedlings, and ivy leaves she'd yanked off the ivy vine.

Here's a partial list of what she did:

• pulled a hanging planter off the deck table (where it was sitting, prior to being hung) and dismantled the planter and spread dirt and plants all over)
  
• chewed on the deck, the steps, the gate, the porch railing, the ivy covering the railing, and probably lots of other stuff I haven't found yet


• pulled an old rubber sink mat from the garbage and chewed it up


• ripped a pair of my socks off the clotheline


• shredded a blanket.
  
• knocked over a water bucket. Knowing her propensity for this, I'd put out two water buckets, since it was a hot day. The other bucket was fine


• climbed INTO a whiskey barrel planter and flung dirt at least 50 yards away. Dead plant bodies lie all over the yard


• got into my empty pots and planters that were neatly stacked on the deck table. She scattered them all over the yard
  

The bottom two pictures show the steps she chewed on, and the rubber sink mat she demolished. You know what, though? I'm just laughing. I see the humor in what she does. It's not malicious. It's just pure puppy fun. And if you can't have a little fun in life, then what's the use of living?