Old Dog Learns New Trick ...

Miss Jessie isn't really THAT old, but she did learn a new trick this week.  Raised in a puppy mill, she never really learned to socialize well, with dogs OR people.  At eleven years old, it's not easy to teach her anything.  Being a Jack Russell doesn't help either, as she gets so worked up when there's snacks around, her brain goes out the window!!

She had a breakthrough this week however.  I'm always throwing the ball to play with Cooper, and she wanted to play too.  I told her several times to GO GET YOUR TOY ... and to my surprise, she DID!!  Of course that meant I had to play with her for the next hour as she growled as ferocious as possible.  That's the game ... growl and snarl, then roll over for a tummy rub.  Silly girl!!  She now has ME trained to play every time she gets the toy!!

This old dog learned a new trick yesterday too!!  A cube of melted butter and six chopped garlic cloves, browned over low heat before you throw in fresh sage.  

Next toss in roasted butternut squash (easy peasy, cut in half, bake in oven for 30 minutes, peel and cut into chunks).  Boy that squash in melted garlic butter was delish!!  

Finally, toss the squash mixture with pasta.  What this old dog learned is that I don't like SAGE!  It might be yummy on your Thanksgiving turkey, but it's horrible in this dish!!  It sounded good, right??  Maybe it wasn't fresh enough!!  I spent thirty minutes picking the sage OUT of the dish.

In the middle of all this cooking, I did enjoy watching the San Francisco 49er's win their game.

With such a disappointing lunch/dinner, I figured I was on a roll and would try a new pumpkin cake recipe.  I picked up this new baking pan (measuring 9 x 14) in Nye Beach Oregon, which I wanted to try instead of the usual square cake pan.  I figured to have brownie-like little bites.  It didn't take long to learn another trick ... thinner things take less time to cook.  NOT burned, but a little overdone.  No matter, if you smother anything in cream cheese frosting, it will taste wonderful!!

Trouble was, I used a little too much cream cheese and not enough powdered sugar.  I think I ate more of the frosting that flowed off the cake than what stayed ON.  Hence, the weight gain this morning.  I guess you can't eat four of these, even if they ARE small, and not ruin your diet.  Good grief!!!

I don't know if anyone is watching the baseball playoffs, since the Giants aren't in, but there have been some good games.  The Chicago Cubs haven't been in a playoff for YEARS, so I was kind of rooting for them.  They are losing ... so I guess I should root for the Mets instead!!

Big list today ... fix truck, find diet food recipes, stake tree, spray weeds, buy new light fixture .... it never ends, but I guess that's what keeps me going!!