fuzzy friday: lucy goosey

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind of gardening, packing, vacationing, unpacking, and further gardening.  But I'm back and refreshed!  To prove it, I managed to snap off a few pictures of my newest charge, Lucy, a three-month-old Swiss mountain dog.  She doesn't stop moving if someone is looking at her.  YOU try taking a picture behind your back and see how it turns out.

 Can't you just feel the pent up energy that's about to erupt? 

Nanoseconds later, she jumped and almost took out the camera

So far, Lucy is afraid of: the sidewalk, rustling leaves, cars, car alarms, car doors, lawn-care workers, and on occasion, the wind.  It's normal for very young puppies to go through a scaredy-cat phase.  Until it's over, I'll just keep quietly enjoying being the person she hides behind during her morning walk.

it's beginning

Seeding is stressful.  After all that work, you're left with trays of labeled dirt to tend for weeks, wondering if anything will come of them.  I fuss over them every day.  But hope springs eternal for my broccoli which has already germinated.  

Thanks broccoli!  Keep fighting the good fight!

fuzzy friday: oodles of wrinkles

It's been an interesting week. Business picked back up after school vacation week and I've been bone tired.  Thanks in part to Bubba, an English bulldog who looks like a tough guy but really just wants to be loved.  

Next week, I'll be posting two stories that developed during this busy week: my new doctor-imposed dietary restrictions and how we canceled cable (!)  Till then, have a restful weekend.  That's what I plan on doing

fuzzy friday: house guest

One of the dogs that I walk daily slept over at my house last weekend.  She's a six-month-old Golden Retriever named Molly.  She is the most mellow puppy that I know.  Unless there's another dog present that she could potentially make friends with.  Or she's playing tug-of-war.  Or you have food in your hand.    

Wishing you a mellow Molly sort of weekend.  I'll be back early next week with pictures of the mountains.

how to reuse beer bottles for your home brew

We're heading to the mountains tomorrow for a little weekend getaway with friends.  I'm packing the essentials: flannels, boots and home brews.  Since Beau moved to kegging instead of bottling, there's a real shortage of bottles around the house.  So how are we going to get the beer up north?  Per usual, I raided the recycling bin.

I started by soaking the bottles for about half an hour.  The labels will become waterlogged and be easier to rip off.  Return them to their kiddie pool for awhile and the adhesive will get easier to scratch off.  I used a leftover bread clip to spare my nails.

Eventually, the labels will come off with a bit of scrubbing (OK - some will require a LOT of scrubbing).  The labels on the brown bottles above were made of metallic paper and the adhesive was apparently super glue.  A little vegetable oil helped convince them to leave.  I used to swear by Goo Gone, but now I'm inclined to think it makes Al Gore and the polar bears cry.

Next up, the bottles went into a sink full of scorching hot water and dish soap.  They soaked for awhile before I scrubbed the residual cooties off of them.

Once they'd been rinsed and dried, Beau filled them up with home brew.  He used a bottle capper and some fresh caps to close them up.

Lastly, I slapped on some labels made by the Beer Labelizer to distinguish between the IPAs and the ales.  

Thanks to the scavenged bottles, we pulled together enough containers to have a proper taste test this weekend.