I Have a Confession

I

bought

dog cologne.

Dog what?

Cologne.

How did it come to this? It's hard to say, except that when we headed to our groomer's/pet store on Saturday, we were on a mission. It was time for the dog's post-farm bath (they stayed there when we took a short trip to Branson last week). We have dog shampoo. But whenever Duke goes to the groomer he smells so clean and fresh for weeks. I wanted my groomer's shampoo.

So we walked in the store and guess who was standing right there! The groomer! So we asked, "What kind of shampoo do you use on Duke?"

She said, "Bio-Groom." And kindly proceeded to take us to the shampoo isle and hand us the exact bottle. Great right!?!

It didn't stop there.

Then she picked up another bottle and said, "But if you really want him to smell good and for it to last a long time use this..."

That's why I'm here right?

I look at the bottle and she says, "Doggy cologne."

"Dog cologne?"

"Yes..." As she continues telling us how to use it, I'm thinking, they make dog cologne. What kind of crazy person would buy...who am I kidding...I want it.

I bought it.

And we (along with two very fresh smelling dogs) lived happily ever after.

The End.

Evening Sky

We went fishing this evening and caught a couple little ones. Then, Ryan caught a HUGE one! It had to be bigger than the last one you saw from our last adventure. As I was fumbling around to grab the camera, he got it right up to the boat, and as he pulled up on the line to lift it into the boat....

the line broke.

So, all that's left is a sad fish story.

And a few pictures from our outing. There were scattered storms today and this evening. We didn't run into any rain while we were on the water, but we did see a rainbow and some very pretty clouds. These were taken from my old point-and-shoot camera, but you get the idea...a very pretty evening sky.

P.S. We will be investing in a fishing net very soon so we don't keep losing the big ones. :)

Too Hot to Run?

If you feel the need to let your loved ones know where to find you in case the worst happens (Read: heat exhaustion, heat stroke, dehydration, unconsciousness), is it too hot to run?

Probably.

Ryan was at the gym. I wanted to go for a run before he got home so my evening run wouldn't interrupt our plans to watch a movie, go fishing, or veg on the couch (we hadn't decided yet).
My car said it was 99 degrees, my sweat glands said it was 110 with the humidity. But I went anyway, slowly but surely...4 miles. There was a breeze when I was facing one direction, and an occasional tree for shade, and even more rarely, a cloud passing overhead...all of which saved me.

I made it home, no heat stroke, but tomorrow I'm going to go at about 5:30am rather than 5:30pm.

Happy Running,

Two in the Freezer

We now have two bass in the freezer (inching our way closer to a fish-fry). One was caught Saturday night by Ryan's friend, Jonathan, and one was caught Sunday night by Ryan. I came dangerously close to catching one myself, but the line got hung and my luck ran out just like that (you need the sound of fingers snapping in the background to make that line work...just bear with me).

Now, I say dangerously close because of this:

As Ryan was cleaning his fish Sunday night, he asked me to spray the hose on the fish to get rid of the blood resulting from its recent decapitation. As I'm rinsing blood and Ryan begins scraping scales off the fish's sides, he says, "You know the rule don't you?"

Me: "Rule?"

Ryan: "You catch it, you clean it."

He can't possibly be serious.

Ryan: "So make sure you watch everything I'm doing."

He's serious. "No, I'm not cleaning any fish."

"Why not?"

"Cuz that's a boy's job." It's the best I could come up with at the time.

"Yes you will," he says with a devious grin on his face. "Here honey, I need some water over here so the scales don't fly everywhere."

Oh yeah, I'm holding the hose...almost forgot.

This almost deterred me from wanting to catch a fish, but I'm pretty sure Ryan will feel sorry for me and do it for me anyway...rule or no rule. But it could make for a good story if he doesn't ;).

Now, sit back and relax. You are about to enjoy the second installment of our fish catching extravaganza. This stuff should be on the Outdoor Channel.

Here it is: the biggest fish caught off the SS Minnow (to date). P.S. We really have to rename our boat. Ryan jokingly called it that the first few days we had it and it kind of stuck. But now I know that was the ship that sunk on Gilligan's Island (I had a sheltered childhood with only 2-3 channels until I was 18, so I never saw one episode of the show).

Anyway, without further delay...drum roll please...




Who's ready for a fish-fry?

The Daily Mile

A blogging friend of mine (Hi Erika!) introduced me to the Daily Mile. It's a great place to keep track of your workouts whether you walk, run, swim, bike, or whatever you do for fitness. You may have noticed my counter to the right...If not, you can take a glance now....

You'll see my most recent workout and my total miles. The site also allows you to network with others, find routes, races, etc. I love it! Plus, it tells me how many donuts I've earned ;)...You'll see that counter to the right as well. 10 so far this week! That means I better make some donuts in the morning!

Who's coming over for breakfast?!? seriously...Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Kim..anyone?? Come on over there will be plenty!

Garden Update

As you may remember, we planted a vegetable garden a couple months ago. We chose not to do a raised bed, but to till an area and plant directly in the ground instead. We were diligent about pulling weeds and little spouts of grass, but a few sprouts of grass suddenly became thousands of teeny tiny baby blades of grass sticking through the soil within a matter of days. AHHH! We quickly realized we wouldn't be able to keep the grass at bay. So this is what the garden looks like today.

Now before you go thinking it's ruined, we have been pulling the grass from around the base of our plants to protect the roots as much as possible....and guess what we found today...

Life! A teeny-tiny cucumber.

And a teeny-tiny tomato!

There are lots and lots of blooms on our cucumber, tomato, and squash plants. The peppers don't have blooms yet, but they are still looking strong and healthy.

Looks like a good start to me!

Back in the Saddle

I went on my first official run (outside of park walls) since my little incident last week. It's not for lack of trying. I did get to walk with Ryan Friday after work. Saturday, I attempted a run at the park with the two rugrats (Duke and Aspen), but I didn't make it half-a-mile before a man kindly asked how long the trail is, and before I could answer him in a complete sentence, Aspen lurched toward him, about causing the man a heart attack. Talk about misbehaving dogs....jeez. At least mine was on a leash, and promptly got a whack on the behind, and got taken back to the car and back home without a walk because he was a bad dog. Maybe he learned a lesson, but I missed another run.

Sunday we went fishing at 5 a.m., which led to an afternoon nap, and more fishing at 7 p.m. = another day without running. Monday, some clouds (if you didn't see them, click on this link, they were crazy-cool clouds) rolled in, making for a wonderful afternoon for a walk in the park. Ryan and I set out to do a few laps. The goal was to walk 2 or 3 together, then Ryan would head to the gym to lift some weights, and I would carry on to finish out 5 miles total. Well, conversation was great and before we knew it (1.5 hours later), we had walked 6 miles! So, we both headed home for dinner after that...no running.


Finally, tonight was my normal pilates at 5:30, dinner around 7, and I decided to head out around 8:15 for a jog on my usual, safe 3-point-something mile out-and-back route near the house. The dogs came along which made for a nice hum of panting and occasional drool dripping down the legs. The hot, sticky air, we were running through made us all struggle a bit, but I was happy, hot, loathing the hills, but happy to be back into the swing of things.


And let me just go back to Friday and Monday...This whole walking-with-Ryan thing is a fairly new development. Ryan has never been much for cardio of any kind. He started working out more often (pumping some iron) last fall, but it has only been in the past 6 months or so that he has been walking a good bit. It's not unusual now for us to walk at least a couple days/week together. That makes me so happy, not only because he is healthier and happier, but because of the time it gives us together. When was the last time you got lost in an hour-and-a-half long conversation with your significant other?.. Without the T.V. in the background, without kids, dogs, work, cell phones, computers or other distractions? With just the sound of shoes hitting the pavement and your two voices? I know it seems nearly impossible in this fast-paced society. And for me sometimes it means slowing down and missing a run, but I wouldn't miss times like that for anything in the world.

My First Fish of the Summer!.. and Ryan's Keeper!

Tonight we had a couple firsts on our little fishin' boat. Here's Ryan with his first keeper of the summer...16 inches!

Here's me with my first fish of the summer...a 12 incher! Not quite a keeper. Please ignore my fishing attire...nuff said.

Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the nail-biting video of Ryan reeling in the keeper! You'll hear me say, "Get him in the boat!" about five-hundred times. I was afraid he would wiggle off the hook and we'd lose him for good....so once again, just ignore me.

For the record, we didn't catch any other keepers tonight, so against my burning desire for a fish-fry, Ryan let the keeper go to live another day. Better luck next time...

Cheddar-Stuffed Jalapeno Burgers

We tend to grill a little bit year-round, but during the summer that is almost the only type of cooking we do. Almost every meal we prepare at home involves something on the grill. Here is a spicy spin on your plain ole summer burgers.



For this particular burger, we need it to hold its shape, so a relatively lean ground meat is good...I think we used a 93/7. Throw it in a bowl with about 1/4 cup worcestershire, 2 cloves finely minced garlic (or some garlic powder), 1/4 of a medium-sized onion (finely chopped), and a sprinkle of black pepper.



Now for the heat! Chop up some jalapenos. All we have right now are some from a jar, but as soon as our garden starts making fresh peppers, we'll be using those...so use whatever you have. If you like a lot of spice and the flavor of jalapenos, use at least 1/4 of a cup of chopped jalapenos...a little less if you don't like as much heat...a little more if you're so bold.

Mix it all up with your hands.


Start forming the bottom of your patties. Make them super thin in the middle, with a little lip around the edge. You should get four of these burgers out of a pound of meat. You'll only see three burgers in my pictures because I dropped about a 1/4 of a pound of meat over the sink and lost it to the disposal.

Make sure to leave enough meat to cover your cheese in a minute.


Sprinkle some shredded cheese in the middle, or if you have sliced cheese, fold it up and put it in the middle (it spreads as it melts). Either works fine. We had a cheddar/monterey jack mixture. Plain cheddar would be good or even pepper jack if you like even more heat!

Throw 'em on the grill. Relatively low and slow is key to make sure they get cooked and melty on the inside without burning the outside...and so all the cheesy goodness doesn't bubble out and end up on your grill.

While those are grilling, get your fixins ready. Why is there a picture of spinach here? Because that is the only "lettuce" I had at the time. We usually keep romaine or spinach around for salads, but we'll use either for anything that requires lettuce. We even had spinach on our tacos this week...surprisingly good.

Anyway, after you toast your bun-of-choice, assemble your burger the way you like and enjoy!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Have I ever told you breakfast is my favorite meal??


Breakfast is my FAVORITE meal.


My ever-loving passion for cereal would really be enough to make it my favorite meal, but the fact that I have an enormous sweet tooth also contributes for my love of breakfast. You see (I may not be the only one who has noticed) a lot of breakfast foods are sweet enough that they could double as dessert. Take for instance: doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, danishes, leftover cake from the night before, muffins, chocolate chip pancakes, and the list goes on and on.


All of this brings me to what I made this morning for breakfast. Let me first say, I've always really, really liked pancakes. Then, Ryan's mom gave me her homemade pancake recipe. Now, I really LOVE pancakes, and I haven't used instant pancake mix since. This recipe combines parts of Rose Marie's homemade pancakes with a cinnamon pancake recipe I saw several months ago...and here's the result:



Mouth watering yet? Here's how you make 'em:

You'll need:
1 1/4 cup flour
3tsp baking powder
2 T. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 T. cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1 cup milk
2 T. salad oil

First, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon). In a separate bowl, combine milk, egg, and oil. Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture, stir until just moistened. Bake on hot griddle.

Now for the glaze: Combine 2 T. melted butter, 1/2 tsp maple flavoring, and about a cup of powdered sugar. Then add milk (a tablespoon or so at a time) until a nice, thin consistency.


Pour a nice layer of glaze over each pancake as you stack em up, and you can go ahead and stop right here and start eating...

But I like to add a little syrup too. Get a glass of milk and/or a cup of coffee ready to balance out all of the sweetness here!

Enjoy!

A Scary Encounter

No, I'm talking even more scary than a sweaty, red-faced me with a stick.

Let me start from the beginning. I've been meaning to make my weekday runs a bit longer, but I have the same route that keeps me in the same 3-mile rut. So last night, I took Duke for a little car ride and mapped out a path that took me exactly 2.5 miles away for a total of 5 miles round- trip...perfect! No possibility of skipping a lap and heading back to the car sooner (like at the park), no turning down questionable gravel roads just to get 5 or 10 more minutes added on to the run, and best of all, less hills!...And I was ready, mentally prepared, looking forward to my 5-mile out-and-back. The only problem (and the thing that had held me back from branching out of my usual route) was that I had to venture out onto the main highway that travels through Henderson which is kind of a busy road and of course, no sidewalks on a highway...but what's the worst that could happen, right?...right?

So, about 7:45 this evening, I head out. It's starting to cool off a bit outside, and I'll have just enough time to get back before dark. I'm about a mile into my run (I'm on the main highway at this point), I'm enjoying the change of scenery, and the steady stream of cars passing every few minutes makes for a nice breeze. Just then, I see a classic, stereotypical Arkansas image. Picture this: Run-down house, man on front porch (shirtless), beer-belly hanging out, trashy run-down cars scattered around the yard...I'm rolling my eyes a little as I trot along, thinking, it's people like you that give us a bad reputation (this is probably where I doomed myself with bad karma or something). I'm just a little around the corner from the house when I suddenly hear something approaching me fast from behind, and I mean FAST...I could tell immediately that it wasn't fatboy...or anything human for that matter. I turn my head slightly and see a white blur of a dog charging at me, and not just any dog. This was a pit bull, and they don't play. The only time I've ever seen a pit bull playful and submissive is with Cesar Millan, and he's pack leader/dog whisperer. I guarantee this pit bull didn't belong to a dog whisperer.



I try to remember what you're supposed to do when you're being attacked by a dog. I slow down, turn around to face him (trying not to make eye contact) and try to make myself look big (or is that what you're supposed to do when you encounter a bear?). I say, "NO! NO!" In my meanest, gruffest voice....NOT a good idea. At this point he charges at me, his bark getting louder, and he's sensing my fear.

NOTE: This is not the first time I've encountered a viciously barking dog on a run, but for normal dogs, all you have to do is talk in a squeaky voice and they're immediately wagging their tails...they can't help it. I knew that a squeaky voice was not going to work on this one.

Anyway, somewhere in the shuffle, he has backed me onto that highway I was telling you about. I now have flashbacks of stories I've heard on TV about pit bulls tearing faces off and having an arm for dessert. I'm dreading how bad it's going to hurt when he bites me and subsequently tears me to shreds (because once they start attacking almost nothing stops them) and hoping that a car doesn't come around the corner and kill us both (well if it killed him, I wouldn't have cared at that point to be honest). All the while I'm yelling at him in my meanest voice, knowing that tubby is just around the corner, and he must be hearing his vicious dog and my fearful voice. I finally yell, "Somebody HELP ME!!!" Here comes tubby, he yells his dog's name and immediately the dog turns around and runs home. I look at the man and in my meanest voice yell, "YOU KEEP HIM INSIDE!!!!!!!!" I'm pretty sure the guy saw devil horns and a tail sprout from me...I was disgustingly mad and he knew it.

About 20 more steps and I could've turned down my sister's road, ran to her doorstep, begged for a bottle of water and a ride home, and lived happily ever after (which is exactly what I wanted to do), but no, I wasn't going to let this stop me. I had prepared for this run all day. So, I had to keep going; stopping would have cut my run 4 miles short.

I continue on, formulating a plan. The dude will have the dog inside when I come back through, right? Well, just in case I better have something more than my arm to fight him off. I start looking at sticks along the way, large and small. Then I see a big rock. That would hurt him, I thought (I've never wanted to hurt anything so bad in my life), but it would be hard to run with a big rock in my hands, and what if my aim isn't good...I'll be no better off than my last encounter. Maybe I'll go to Kim's house on the way home, then I'll only be about a mile short of my goal...NO I'll just find a stick.

As get close to turning back on the main highway, and in turn, closer to the pit bull's house. I find a nice stick. I was thinking about beating him senseless until I notice the end of the stick was very pointy. Then I thought, Maybe I should use more of a stabbing approach.

Disclaimer: You have to understand, I have never thought so hard about harming another living being as much as I thought about harming this dog (except maybe which flip-flop I would use to kill a spider). But, I knew that this dog meant business, and it would be my only chance to defend myself. Plus, he's not even going to be out there anymore...I'm just being overly cautious. Maybe I should just leave the stick. It's kind of making me look like a wild banshee.

I approach the house. I'm on the opposite side of the street this time. I think I'm in the clear when suddenly, I see him. He gets up and starts running step-for-step with me just on the other side of the road. I see him glance to the right and left (he was looking for cars to see if he could cross the street!), and he took his first steps to dart across the road. Immediately, I'm in defense mode. I raise the stick and yell, "GET OUT OF HERE!!!"...over and over. I swing the stick a bit, and he's definitely not charging as bravely as he was last time, but he's still not backing down and going home. Just as he's getting close enough for striking range, tubby comes to the rescue again, calling his dog and telling him to "Leave her alone!" To the dog's credit, he listened immediately and headed home again.

I struggled the last mile home, weakened by the declining adrenaline rush and still shaking a bit. But now that I'm home and looking back on it, I find myself so incredibly thankful for a few things:

1. However neglectful the dog's owner seemed, at least he did eventually hear my cries. Without him finally calling the dog, I would have been bitten, or worse...without a doubt in my mind.

2. I didn't end up in the emergency room...here...or anywhere...but some of you know what I mean.

3. I didn't have my dogs with me. I often take them when I do my 3 mile runs, but since it was still hot, I was going farther than usual, and I was taking a new route, I decided against taking them. If they would've been with me, they would have been in full defense and protect mode and there's no way I could have stopped the fight that would have likely left my dogs seriously injured or worse. For that, I cannot tell you how grateful I am.

Moral of the story: 1. keep your crazy (ahem pit bull ahem) dogs on leashes or in well fenced backyards. 2. Never go for a run without pepper spray, a pistol, a machete, a giant stick which can double as a spear, or some other form of weaponry...you never know what you'll encounter. 3. Maybe a 3-mile rut isn't such a bad thing after all.