I made the dogs a new bed

I think it is safe to say that Pebbles likes it. I couldn't get a good picture of both dogs on the bed - Huck Finn is the most camera shy dog I have ever met.

I know that dog beds can be bought all sorts of places and that they are pretty cheap. I made my own since I was sick of throwing away the cheap ones. After three years of dog beds that just didn't live up to my expectations, I knew I wanted a soft but solid core - if it is just fluffy stuff it all goes to the corners leaving beagles basically sleeping on a piece of fabric on the floor surrounded by soft stuff. They don't like that. I also wanted a water and smell resistant cover under the outer cover. I think my reasoning here is pretty clear but I will tell you - beagles are nasty little creatures. Cute but nasty. I also wanted it to be durable. I wash this thing (at least) once a week so it needs to stand up to that kind of wear and tear.

I bought a length of 3 inch thick foam from Joann's. I bought it when it was on sale 50% off since it is wicked expensive. I wrapped this in quilt batting to make it softer. I used a shower curtain liner to make the interior water and smell resistant cover. This is sewn shut and is not intended to be removed. Before sewing this shut, I stuffed poly-fil in on both sides of the batting wrapped foam to make it even softer. Beagles like soft. I bought a washable decorator grade cotton fabric in a neutral print since I am a neutral kind of fabric buyer. I made the piping which was probably the longest part of this project - cutting that much fabric on the bais and piecing it together and then wrapping it and sewing with the zipper foot. I decided to make both covers gussetted to lessen the strain on the seams. All in all I am very pleased with this dog bed. I think I spent close to $75on it but if it lasts more than a year, I will come out ahead. My thinking is that I can always cut open the water and stink proof cover and restuff it and make a new cover since the foam core seems to be holding up really well. I also am considering making another bed for the living room where they currently have a basket with a blanket and trying egg crate foam bed topper for people for the core of the bed.

painting the guest room with Pebbles

She was very helpful!

H is for Huck

I have long known that my boy beagle is built like a football player. He now has a varsity sweater to prove it. I am so proud of him for lettering. What a good boy!


I used the pattern from Martha Stewart's website. I decided to put just one letter on my sweaters (P is for Pebbles... or it will be) instead of spelling out dog - I know my dogs are dogs, so I don't need to identify them as such. (Completely tongue in cheek here, I thought "dog" was pretty cute on the sweaters for Martha's French bulldogs). Since I am making one in blue for each dog, I want to be able to tell them (the sweaters, not the dogs...) apart. I am not sure why I want to tell them apart, but I do. Anyway, my first thought was to put the letters on the chest but my husband suggested I put them on the back at the haunch area.

I purchased all the supplies for this project at Joann's except for the elastic cord and cord stopper which are recycled from an old fleece sweater of mine. This project took about 45 minutes from start to finish. Polar fleece was on sale 40% off, so this was a pretty cheap project.

For my Maryland friends who are curious about my new house in PA, the picture of Huck in the sweater was taken in the church office which is downstairs in the basement. The picture of just the sweater was taken on my living room floor. I promise that pictures of the new house will follow soon!

this dog

This dog, Pebbles, is a sweet, silly little thing. She has taken to hiding between the sham pillow and the other bed pillows every morning while I am in the shower. I come pack into the bedroom and wonder where that silly dog could possibly be. The tip of her tail gives her away every time.



She did not seem to mind me moving the pillow a bit and taking a couple of pictures. She does love the camera.



The camera does love her at well.



I took the pillow completely off and she rolled on her back to show me how submissive she really is! A truly submission puppy would not have gotten in the bed in the first place but would have gotten in her crate like a good little girl.



But what can I do?



I love this dog.

puppy love

I was very happy for my husband to come home yesterday.


A week is a long time to be apart from the love of your life.

I made fried chicken and waffles for him for dinner to celebrate.

We had a nice quiet evening together.

I think this little tri-colored lady was even happier to see him than I.

Well, maybe not.

I didn't give up beagles for Lent

A couple of little tri-colored beagles that I know smelled super funky, so they got a bath yesterday. After they were reasonably dry, I let them out of the kitchen. Huck, the shy one, promptly went upstairs to hide under the bed where he could feel safe from any further torture from his usually loving mistress. Pebbles decided to find a sunbeam to warm her little mass for the afternoon. She managed to locate a particularly good sunbeam that happened to hit a couch cushion for most of the afternoon. Trouble is, in my house, beagles are not allowed on the couch... when I walked over to take her off the couch, I must admit, my resolve about dogs being too nasty for the couch quickly waned.

Very quickly.

Actually, I felt myself changing my party affiliation from "NO DOGS ALLOWED!" to "but gosh, she's so cute on there" in a flash.

Yes, I must register with the "but gosh she's so cute on there" party today.



Can you blame me?

it's been too long

It has been way too long since I posted a picture of my beloved beagles! Here they are in a sunbeam. I used the portrait setting on my camera and the sunbeam was behind me, so they are well lit but everything around and behind them is dark.

I love these dogs.

making dinner with my biggest fan

I don't know why, but from the moment I pulled the turkey bones from the freezer to the moment I finished this turkey noodle pot pie, Pebbles was right under foot. I normally have a lot of K-9 company in my kitchen but even more so on Sunday afternoon! Every time I turned around, there was Pebbles. She wasn't just underfoot, she was intently watching my every move in the kitchen. If I moved in such a way as to block her view, she would lean over to get a better view of carrots being chopped or (her favorite) when I removed all the meat from the boiled turkey bones. I hesitate to say carcass but that is what it was. Carcass just sounds so... terrible.


I can't really blame her. This was a really good dish. Turkey pot pie really but with noodle style dumplings (Anne's brand as pictured) added instead of potatoes. Woof, this was good. These are the times when I cannot imagine not having the dogs nor can I remember how lonely I must have been without a small, tri-colored, sous chef in the kitchen.



I am now ready to have beef for Christmas. Turkey is so cheap; it's hard to pass it up but I don't want turkey again. I want a traditional English Christmas dinner this year with Yorkshire pudding and rib roast! Hold the brussel sprouts... I can just never get into them.



I did reward Pebs for her vigilance and excellent supervisory skills by putting a spoonful of the filling into her and Huck's dinner bowls along with their kibble. Spoiled rotten crazy beagles.

someone wants to snuggle!

Huckie-may-may, you look so cute snuggled up in your basket!!

fallen leaves with Pebbles

Who knows what Autumn looks like through the eyes of a beagle?

I spent much of last week and this past weekend sick so I didn't cook much of anything. I did manage to take the beagles out yesterday afternoon with my husband and I got this shot of Pebbles looking at the blanket of leaves in our front yard. I was a little shocked when I walked outside to find that the walkway to my front door was not discernible due to the leaves... it was as if the sky snowed leaves on Saturday night!

Anyway, I knelt down to see what it was Pebbles was so dialed in about - ears all perked up and head held so alertly. I could not see or hear anything that was so intriguing but thankfully she held the pose long enough for me to get this picture.



This is the farm where I live. Yesterday was a lovely, brisk, fall day. I don't anticipate we will have too many more of these but I count myself blessed beyond measure to get to experience even one of these days and to share it with my husband.



That is what is known as the concrete barn. My brain is stupid and when I hear someone say, "the concrete barn" I imagine a barn filled with concrete. I think of it as the yellow barn. My house is the blue shingled house just visible across from the yellow concrete barn.



My house numbers and some dried corn hanging on my blue shingled house.



All the corn has been harvested off of the farm now. There is still some hay to be harvested. Soon it will be gone and winter will be here for sure!

beagles live here

I don't want to forget.


Actually, as long as beagles live with me, they probably won't let me forget!


I think this morning what I want to remember is the importance of the relationship I have with these little creatures and from that reminder, think about the importance of the relationships I have with other creatures!


Like many people, I have a lot of roles in life - wife, daughter, sister, friend, employee, supervisor, parishioner, and yes, dog master. With each role comes a lot of good, great, amazing, scary and wonderful times. With each also comes a lot of responsibility.

Once again, from my lips to God's ears I implore, "Oh please, never let me forget."

new camera, take 2

So, my favorite UPS man brought me my new camera last night. Actually, he is the only UPS man I ever see. I think that might be because I live in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, back to the camera. I was eager to get batteries in it and start taking pictures of just about everything in the world. I very much want to get out on the farm and take some pictures of the hay that is all bailed and the gorgeous colors of the corn, soybeans and fall foliage but unfortunately, I have injured myself somehow. Apparently, I have tendinitis in my right foot so I am limping around everywhere in pain. I was relieved that it is not a stress fracture. Well, hopefully it is tendinitis and not a stress fracture. I really won't know until the end of this week.

Regardless, all that babble above means I am stuck in the house limping around. It's great! I decided to take the new camera for a spin around the house and I chose to shoot some of my favorite things - beagles and Diet Coke! Above is Mr. Huck Finn in his basket. Actually, the beagles share that basket downstairs. It is rather funny to watch them pack themselves in there. I took this picture without the flash but the sun was still up.

There's Pebbles on the bed looking lovely and lady like. She is actually a nasty dog but you would never know it looking at this picture, would you? I took this on the natural light setting and I must say that I like the overall effect. There was only one lamp on in the room behind Pebbles. The lighting is really soft and pretty and it looks warm. My sheets are actually more of a taupe or beige and the coverlet or bedspread is off-white but overall it looks very yellow in this picture.

A Tale of Two Beagles - It was the best of dogs, it was the worst of dogs...

Just kidding, she's not that bad, really. Ok, so this is Huck and Pebbles on the bed together laying like a couple of commas side by side. I love it when they do that. Again, you would never guess how nasty they really are since they look sweet and angelic. Same camera setting (natural light) and only one lamp on in the room behind the beagles.

Oh, Diet Coke, how I love you! You are the very best, calorie free, carbonated soft drink in the world! Ok, so I used the macro setting for this shot without the flash. It was fully dark outside by this time and I had one lamp on to the left of the Diet Coke. I need to play with the aperture a bit to get more focus on the can and less on the window and curtains in the background. I guess I need a little time with my new camera to fully appreciate its functions but I must say, I am pretty happy with it initially.

remember when...

Pebbles went into the pantry, got out a bag of Baked Cheetos, took the chip-clip off, and then got her head stuck in there while having a snack?


Pebbles sat in the sun beam and looked so sweet and innocent that there was no way you could ever believe that she got her head stuck in a bag of Baked Cheetos that she took out of the pantry?

Huck laid up on the landing of the stairs and wrinkled up the rug and looked so comfortable that I said "...'tis himself" and there was a digital camera that worked to capture all of this?

Yeah, those were fun times.

I cooked a lot this weekend. We had a really very good goulash last night and this apple crostata from the Barefoot Contessa. We had it with Edy's Apple Pie ice cream. Egad, it was good. Maybe egad is only something you say when something is bad or scary? I don't know. The goulash was made with chuck roast and was rich and delicious. I guess I could post the recipe without a picture? Stranger things have happened, yes?

Ok, I like to call it, "goulash not made with ground beef because I am sick of things made with ground beef because they are little more than Hamburger Helper" I am sorry if that is offensive to anyone... I am not feeling well today and that makes me crappy and being crabby makes me sarcastic and that's just not nice.

2 lbs. of chuck meat, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil (not extra virgin)
3 tablespoons of flour
1 large yellow onion, thick slices
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thick
1/2 teaspoon each kosher salt and cracked balck pepper
3 tablespoons of smoked paprika
3 cups of water
2 diced tomatoes
1 large red pepper, roasted, peels, seeded and cut into large diced chunks
12 ounces of sliced mushrooms (I used crimini but white mushrooms are fine)
1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
1/2 lb. of wide egg noodles
1 cup of sour cream

Heat a really big pot over high heat, add the butter and olive oil. Season the meat with salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of the paprika and then dredge in the flour. Once the butter is foamy, add the meat to the pot and brown well on all sides. It's really important to brown it well. Really. Anyway, brown the meat in two batches if needed so it will brown well. Remove the meat from the pan and add the onion and carrot to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the meat back in with all the accumulated juices (I love to say that) and then the water and tomatoes. It should be nice and brown already. So, then let it come up to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer on the meat for about 2 hours. After 2 hours it should really just fall apart and the carrots should be kind of gone, you know? Just cooked down to nothing carrotness and the tomatoes should be mostly cooked away, too. The broth should be thick and brown and very flavorful. Now add the red pepper, mushrooms and half the parsley and add salt if you think it needs it. Let it cook at a simmer for another 30 minutes. The mushrooms will produce a little liquid but you may need to add some water to it. Finally, increase the heat and add the egg noodles and remaining parsley and cook it until the noodles are the desired tenderness. My husband likes them tender and it took about 30 minutes with the lid on and I did have to add about 1/2 cup of water to it. Once it's done, serve it up topped with some sour cream. It's really good. Really, really good. I had it for lunch today, too. It was good.

beagles and breakfast

Since I posted a picture of Huck, I thought I should post one of Pebbles today. I took this in the early spring. She had just woken up and was coming down the stairs and put her head through the railing as she likes to do. Only this time, she was lower on the stairs, so she got to give the love of her life (who happens to be the love of my life) a gentle head butt. Much more like a cat than a twerpy but lovable spazoid beagle. Pebbles really prefers my husband. I cannot really blame her. I was not feeling well last night and was quite grumpy about not wanting to go to Baltimore in the first place and grumpy about not wanting to eat at various unfamiliar restaurants in Baltimore last night. I really just wanted to come back to the eastern shore of Maryland (the nicer shore of Maryland for certain) and eat somewhere familiar and comforting. Like at home! Anyway, I swear that man is a saint for putting up with me. Love you sweetie!

Ok, so here is my favorite breakfast. I know it is not glamorous or anything but it is my favorite. Well, this week anyway. Egg in toast or hole in one or whatever you want to call it. I call it "egg toast" which is like the most boring name in the world, right? I use a flower shaped cookie cutter to cut the center out of a piece of bread out, cook it in a tablespoon of butter and crack an egg into the hole, turn it over and yummy! Looks like I had a small bowl of grits with it... I love grits. Most people I know do not like grits but I hold that they have not had properly prepared grits and therefore do not know that in fact they like grits. I take it as a personal challenge to make people enjoy grits. I think the name is unfortunate... grits just does not sounds lovely. It sounds... well, gritty.

Alton Brown did a show about grits and polenta and hominy. I know, I must have some sort of fascination with Alton Brown because I talk about him a lot. I should say that even after 3 years of culinary school and 8 years as a professional chef, I still learn something every time I watch his show! He has a new show coming on called "Feasting on Waves" and I am excited about that since I really enjoyed "Feasting on Asphalt" I thought both Feasting on Asphalt documentaries (1 and 2!) were fabulous. Not just food but the story of food and the people who make it. I loved the old man who just kept repeating "chicken shake" when Alton tried to get him to tell him how he seasoned his fried chicken. All good southern cooks have their own chicken shake recipe, I think.

Enough of my blathering for today.

all dressed up

I have long wanted a picture of my sweet beagle boy wearing my husband's red bow tie. I think he looks fabulous but he was just not wanting to cooperate with the camera at all. I think I have mentioned before how he is really camera shy. Such a handsome boy has nothing to be shy about. I think this picture make him look like an old dog when he is really a young adult beagle. Maybe 3 or 4 years old. That is a drawback to getting dogs from the pound - you don't know their birthday. Of course, the rewards of rehabilitating a scared little guy is more than worth it. We celebrate "gotcha day" around our place.

The chicken is all dressed up, too. That is Cornell chicken from this last month's issue of Cook's Country. Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country are both rather picky about their recipes, so I will just post a link here for the recipe. I believe you have to register to get their recipes from the website. It is basically a chicken brined in cider vinegar and then cooked with a coating of dijion mustard, cider vinegar, and sage and rosemary. I did not grill mine but roasted it in the convection over with pearl onions. I really enjoyed this chicken. I brine my turkey for Thanksgiving and I believe that the brine makes all the difference in the flavor and texture of the turkey. I gave a recipe for my brined turkey to a young friend who said she will always make it that way now!

I used a whole bird, which I "spatch-cocked" which brings up a lot of controversy. I guess spatch-cock is now a slang term that means much what it sounds like. It is also a cooking term which means to remove the backbone and keel bone from a whole bird so it lays flat and cooks much better and more uniformly. Alton Brown (love him!) did this in step by step directions on a Cornish Game Hen on his show "Fowl Territory" which is worth a read. He writes very well about cooking technique, which if you have ever tried to do, you know if not as easy as it sounds.

I made the mistake of Googling spatch cock to find out the origins of it. I mean, I believe originally, spatch was the verb and cock referred to the chicken itself but now it is all a verb. The results from my Google search cause me to weep for humanity. Just saying.