Some Ups and Some Downs

Where does the time go? Some of it goes into enjoying the yummy things that come out of our garden. It has been years since we had strawberries this good!

The potted vegetable garden is producing lots of small tomatoes (Siam Minis) that are also very sweet and tasty. The peppers in the same pot are coming along. They are the "Yellow Sparkler" variety.

We probably got out more this week than usual. There were lots of dog events. Dusty went to the groomer on Tuesday. We stopped at the park on the way. Dusty chased the ball, and Rocky walked around, enjoying the smells. We're pretty sure he knew where he was, even though he doesn't see or hear much anymore.

We took the stroller out of the car, left the car in the parking lot at the park and walked with the dogs to the groomer from there. After we left Dusty, we walked back to the car. The map on the Walk for a Dog app shows Dusty went both ways, but obviously, he didn't walk back to the car with us. I don't know how to remove Dusty from half of the walk, other than make it two walks.

The next day we had a visit with the vet. Rocky had an adventure trying to get to the yard from the deck, by going through the slats instead of the stairs, which were blocked with the baby gate. It scraped one of the growths on his side. The vet suggested he could remove the growth (since it was causing problems) and sew it up with just a local, so we arranged for him to go in the next day. Dusty had his annual physical, and we learned that since his last physical, he has developed a heart murmur. X-rays showed his heart to be slightly enlarged since his last X-rays two years ago. He may have a leaky valve. This could be serious, and we need to take him to a specialist to find out exactly what's going on. Our regular vet put him on a medication that has shown to slow down this process. He's asymptomatic right now, so that's something in his favor.

Rocky's lump removal went well. He seemed normal when we had him home again. Maybe he slept a little more that first day.

We put his fleece jacket on him when he got home, in case he wanted to lick his stitches, but he showed no interest in them (and the location of the incision would make it difficult to lick them anyway), so we took the jacket off and we're leaving it off except when the weather is cool.

We had an event to go to on Saturday. Our favorite candidate, Jamie McLeod-Skinner was having a fundraiser brunch with one of our Senators, Ron Wyden. I've been doing a lot of campaign work for her, mostly online. With redistricting, she will be our Congressperson. We really like her because of a combination of things, including her background and experience, but also because she's so good at listening to people and working around differences of opinion. She doesn't take any corporate PAC money, which is good, but it puts her at a disadvantage. Her opponent has a lot of money and holds rather extremist views, which I don't think would work for us at all. So we went to the brunch. Our hosts have a beautiful home. We had masks with us, but since we were mostly outside, and the breeze flowed through the living area from one open door to the other, we didn't think we needed them.

The view from the patio was lovely.

It was nice to meet our Senator, too. I didn't realize he was so funny. I've only seen him on TV before this. 

We got to meet some nice people, too, and I took lots of photos. I left even more committed to our candidate than I was before, after hearing her talk and answer questions about issues that concern voters.

I was a little nervous about leaving Rocky unsupervised, but we puppy-proofed the family room as best we could, removing some of the furniture he might get caught under or behind and blocking off other areas with pillows. We locked the dog door. We took him out before we left, so he wouldn't need to use the door by himself. He was fine. When we got back, he was still napping, and it was just time for his eye drops.

Later that day, Charlie left to go to Trader Joe's for groceries, and to another place for some plastic snow fencing to cover the open slats in the deck rails, so we'll be able to let Rocky use the dog door again without the danger of having him try to squeeze through the rails again. While Charlie was gone, we had a hail storm. The hail looked like mothballs falling from the sky and they were about that size, too.

I quickly brought in the potted vegetable garden, but I couldn't prevent damage to the barbecue cover.

A few unripe strawberries were knocked off, but most of them were unharmed. We haven't noticed any other damage.

Peter and Alexa's anniversary was Sunday, and they went for a bike ride without the boys to celebrate.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover, a few more rounds done. No progress on the emPower People Kerchief.

What's on my loom: Trailer rugs.

What's on my sewing machine: T-shirt quilt.

What's in my hoop: No progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Changes, the boys find out about some changes coming to their school when classes start again in the fall. They aren't sure they're happy about them. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone on the Audible app.  

What's in my wine glass: Sancho Garcés Rioja Tempranillo 2017.

What's my tip of the week: I've decided that for my tip of the week this week I would give you my recipe for....

Hot Potato Salad

(I used organic new potatoes, but be careful if your potatoes aren't organic. The red skins are often dyed.)

Ingredients:
• Potatoes, cut into 3/4” cubes or quartered, depending on size and type of potatoes.
• Chopped cucumber
• Chopped red onion
• Olive oil and lemon juice, equal parts
• Dijon mustard (1/3 of the amount of oil)
• Dried dill
• Caraway seeds
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper

(You can make this any quantity. Obviously, with more potatoes and cucumber, you will need more of the other ingredients. Just keep the liquid ingredients in the same proportions, it will be good. You can always adjust the seasonings according to taste when you're done.)

Directions:
Boil potatoes until cooked but still firm. Drain (reserving water for making bread or adding to soup). Combine potatoes with all remaining ingredients well in a serving bowl. (Also good cold.)

If you're reading this the day it comes out and you live in the US, happy Independence Day!

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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