Three times the charm - Blackberry Pie

Baking a special pie

Blackberries, sugar, cobbler crust makes a gooey clump.

Blackberries, sugar, biscuits, oh why?

Blackberries, sugar, lemon juice and thinly rolled pie crust below

Lattice on top is just right.

Ambient blog posts rule

I know that doesn't make sense. But it does to me. There are some blog posts that consistently get steady hits everyday no matter what. I am such small potatoes that I check my stats regular and know which posts get attention. I even know when I hit the publish button how popular they will be.

Anyway, the ambient are outdoing whatever I have posted for quite a few days. I have a science education blog which I haven't posted in quite awhile. What works, works. Even during the summer, the activity posts are being consulted. I will start back in July consistently posting on that blog. I broke a computer and jumpdrive with my activities. I have them on a back-up CD and of course a hardcopy. When I find the CD or pull the data off the hard drive of the broken computer, or find a jump drive with the information, I'll be much more consistent.

Well this blog is supposed to be about my dogs and McDonalds or fast food in general. I'm working on it. As fortune would have it, the computer I am working on is malfunctioning. It has been for awhile except it is with the on/off button. It no longer charges the battery and the connection shuts down quickly.

My mother is doing well. I got a flea on me today. It has been a terrible year for fleas. I have treated all my dogs repeatedly. I plan to give the chi chis a trifexis tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we can get a break soon. My mothers two little babies stay with her as soon as they get back in the house. I would like to ban them from her room for awhile. Instead, I am washing a quilt cover for a chair tonight and plan to rewash everything in the morning for her.

One thing fun is a mother redbird has built a nest in the althea I planted near the kitchen window. Hopefully, we will have a large family soon.

Poodle Grooming Club

You can tell what kind of dog someone has by his or her fast food choices. Little woofs love their chicken nuggets. Wendy's had 5 nuggets for a dollar. They dropped them from their menu. They were back two months later. All the folks with little woofs no longer had a hankering as much for Wendy's when woof didn't get their nuggets anymore. 

My second serious job, which means they took out money for FICA and taxes was at Tastee Freeze. The motto was "We aim to pleez at Tastee Freez".  The mostly teen aged staff gave the motto as much respect as a phrase like that possesses. 

We had a double decker burger with special sauce, lettuce, pickle, which was remarkably similar to a more publicized burger of that description, called the Big Tee.

My favorite order from customers was for the Big Tree burger, fried tators and a large "urnge". I will say people are more sophisticated with fast food today than the early seventies. I was careful not to mimic customers in front of my dad. 

I was inducted into the Poodle Grooming Club in 1997. The invitation was innocent enough. The teenagers hanging from the take-out window at Wendy's wanted to give me two nuggets for my dogs. 

Dogs were immediately addicted.

Who knew chicken nuggets were better than McDonalds. I taught school. On field trips, the students wanted to eat at McDonalds. On a trip to Germany, you guessed right. The students wanted McDonalds.

I even knew teachers who loved McDonalds. Having spent several summers eating all the free Big Tree Burgers I could stand, the allure of fast food burgers fails me.

One of the benefits of this club, you do not have to stay on any one topic any longer than you feel. You can bounce between topics at will. Stay tuned. I got a lot about my long-standing member ship in the Poodle Grooming Club and its ramifications.

Later, my dog has a burger headache.

Once again, we are waiting on the air conditioning man. Hopefully a third visit will get the source of summer comfort going. My mother is home today which is great. She is much better.

I've got to do a better job with a hook on my blogs. When I write this everyday stuff, I don't have many readers. Honestly, I don't blame them. I am inundated with what I want to read.  I've become addicted to the facebook feed. It's a regular potpourri of thoughts. Very little I need to be spending time looking at. But I hit links right and left.

I read NPR's article about the AMA recommendation that obesity be considered a disease. Most of the comments are they are a bunch of fat, lazy, stupid lot who have caused their own problem.

Being overweight, I have left about ten, "You ignorant ass" comments.  Be overweight and you recognize that obesity is more than eating too much and exercise. I have always worked, exercised and felt extreme guilt eating the wrong stuff.

Honestly, the average person lived to be about 62 in the 1930s. People did not always have food accessible so a spartan diet was a fact not a choice. Alzheimers is a bigger problem today because many of us will live long enough to face the problem or better yet our families will face the problem.

What would I tell any young adult with a significant weight problem. Go to a bariatric doctor. Get the lapband if they recommend it. It's not a character fault. Deal with the problem. Obesity has such a stigma; it will affect your employability, matebility and so many aspects of your life.

I had a friend who was gorgeous and her husband was equally good looking. I remember he made the comment to me that unattractive people were nicer. I told him, I don't know. We are a product of so many things. I have been blessed with wonderful people in my life. He is one of them. In short, my other piece of advice would be to live the best life you can and don't worry about what you cannot control.

Tomorrow's topic: My dogs and McDonalds. If all goes well it will be funny.

Keeping on Keeping on

Oh Tootie Fruits, I signed up for the blogathon and I find myself having to write something to post everyday. Normally, I write a great deal. I am actually avoiding housework. I don't mind housework. I'm just disorganized and its the organization or actually it is the packrat in me that is a problem.

I've filled a bag with perfectly good clothes, I will dump at the Happy Hour Service Center tomorrow. My things have taken a life of their own and I got a problem. My problem with clothes is I love them. I wear the same old thing over and over even though I have many other clothes I am?saving?. The rags are as hard to part with as the treasures.

My mom will get out of the hospital tomorrow. The combination of diabetes and a tick bite has led to an infection in her leg which has been a mess. I pull ticks off all the time. I hated when she got the bite. I really did not feel that concerned. My mom's skin has gotten so frail, she has numerous bruises and scratches.

Old age is not for the faint of heart. I have a 16 year old poodle who is blind, deaf, senile. He enjoys his food and loves me. I see him waiting in the hallway waiting for me to come home. He went on the dog walk this morning which I don't normally let him do. Well, when we are coming back he turns and goes the other way.

The young dogs run to fetch him. He stops but still heads the wrong way. I get the young dogs back in the house and then drive in the car to get him. I get out to get him. He is now running. Thankfully, being a senior citizen, I can outrun him, barely. Some people think folks who become senile don't feel the pains of arthritis etc. I think they do. They just can't process the problem.

Frank was stunned when I picked him up. Where did you come from was probably his thought. He loved the car ride. He has been a car riding dog most of his life.

Anyway, today has been a drag. Sat in the hospital, came home for the air condition repairman who did not charge me, got a little clutter busted. My mom definitely comes home tomorrow and we have a home health care nurse to boot. I welcome any support system.

The only thing bad about the home healthcare nurse is my mother has to give up driving. She is truly a good driver.

Life's goalposts.

Below is the link for Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goalpost of Life by Bobby Bare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsWg0bt9kp4

Country music is well known for lyrics that can be funny in the combination of everyday life and the theme of the song. I had a boss who would quote this when things were going poorly for him. I always think of it when things are difficult.

My mom's white blood cell count is up which is not good. The air conditioner is broken, The check engine light is on the car. The doctor makes the rounds between 6 am and 9 am or at lunchtime. My brother and sister are handicapped and they can't be left with no air conditioning. I have a difficult neighbor. They want me to get rid of my dogs. They bark at the horses which is stressful to the horses. He is going to shoot them. I have been keeping the crew in the house until I get everything situated.

Exactly, that will be me howling at the moon tonight. I plan to go to the hospital at 6 am. Talk to the air condition repair person at 8am when they open. With my luck, the doctor will walk in just as they answer after having me on hold.

I guess that will be me howling tomorrow night too. I have faith that Jesus will drop kick me through the goalpost of life tomorrow and the next. My prayer tonight, my mother gets better.

There is never enough time and the corn is green.

First of all, Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. I remember two elderly women talking about their parent's passing when I was young. There comment stayed with me. You never have a friend like your parents. I know this is not true for everyone but I wish it was. I had wonderful parents, not perfect but wonderful all the same.

There is never enough time. I feel lucky this weekend; we got a little more time with my mother. She had developed an infection in one of her legs. We thought we were doing a good job controlling her diabetes. She often complained about her blood sugar dropping low.

I am diabetic too. I monitor my sugar haphazardly. I am bad to eat bananas or too much watermelon and then go push the lawnmower. My mother’s arthritis prevents her from strenuous activity.  Unfortunately, my mom’s diabetes has gotten worse and she will probably be using insulin.

She had gotten a tick bite. Then, a flea had gotten on her leg and bounced about. What started as a stomach virus escalated into an infection in her right leg.  Fortunately, antibiotics will clear the problem.

 Frankly, I thought I was going to lose my mother Friday. She was declining rapidly. I was going to massage her leg that morning and she had a knot that looked like a swollen insect bite. It had turned angry and red by the time we got to the doctor.

Before leaving the house, she asked me if we could just wait until Monday.   If we had waited, she would have been in the ER the next day and at the least have lost a leg. My youngest sister took over for me Friday night. I woke all night. My mother’s appetite and color was better before I left the hospital. It was that nagging worry if this was the end.

We have dogs, which we intend to keep. I just have to get more vigilant in flea and tick preventatives on them. When her two seven pound wonders come in, they do a racy sashay down the hallway to my mother’s bedroom.  I’ll start closing her door and pick them up for a quick wash. Her little dog Daisy lets me know, I am the help.  Oh dear, I can see her going for sympathy after her bath. The Chihuahua in her can really tremble.

My mom has three comfortable chairs in her bedroom. Each dog has laid claim to one. If you sit in Daisy’s, she will stretch her legs to push you. Yoda will snuggle up. Both girls have been sleeping in their chairs. My sister tucks them in. Life is good. Their owner will be home in about four days.

This is sorghum