Monday Catch Up

We had a nice, quiet weekend, dear reader. I thought I would take the time today to catch you up on all the various topics of the past week or so. I am pleased to share that our grumpy old man, Chubby, is feeling better. He began a regiment of steroids on Saturday, and fortunately, he is responding well to them. I am no longer giving him the pain medication that made him groggy and dopey. Although he is not one hundred percent quite yet, he is improving, and I hope to continue to see improvements every day. He will return to the vet for a follow-up visit on November 15. Please keep our little crab apple in your thoughts.

The Bibbed Wonder ordered bib overalls from a new company, Roundhouse. I am also pleased to report that these bib overalls have passed all tests and have been deemed acceptable. There are indeed two pockets with snaps on the apron; the hammer loop is on the left, and the knife pocket is on the right. Everything is exactly how it should be. Roundhouse apparently has a designer who is not insane and is in the know with hard-working men. The Bibbed Wonder sings a song he makes up every time he puts on his new bibbies. It goes a little something like this: Roundhouse bibs are smart and swell. The Carhartt company can go to hell. Sigh. He gets an A for rhyming, if not creativity.

I am now officially nine years older than my husband. This will last for approximately two weeks. On October 28th, he will turn forty-three, and the balance of our eight-year age difference will be restored. He also enjoys making up songs about the two weeks I am almost a decade older than him. Sigh. Although I find him humorous on most days, his sheer glee in tormenting me over our age difference gets under my skin after show tune number 103. I would also like to punch him in the throat when he tells total strangers he is sleeping with a woman almost a decade older than him. Sigh. Nothing new on that front.

The girls have once again moved back to the pasture field by the barn. The boys are now across the driveway, and I fear the solar-powered fencer will not be strong enough to separate them from the girls. However, The Bibbed Wonder has ensured that the boys and girls continue to have three sets of electrified fencing between them. If the girls stopped pacing the fence line antagonizing the boys, things would be much more peaceful here. Of course, The Bibbed Wonder calls the girls in heat The Goats of Babylon, jezebels, and harlots. He says Eve's sin is alive and well in our ladies. Sigh. Also, the Jerry Springer jokes continue about the upcoming baby season.

Progress on my children’s book is being made. Aside from tweaking the images, we are close to being done. My hope is to have it available in time for the holiday season. However, I am unsure what to expect from the publisher. Fingers crossed that all goes well and that the turnaround time is quick. As we complete new pages, my idea and vision become a reality. I’m very excited.

I’m also happy to share that our subscription boxes will arrive today. Although they are not exactly what I envision, they are a good start. We have reached a compromise. We agree to see how the idea is received before I ask our talented friend, Ashleigh Bowman, to put in the time and effort to create images of our girls that will outline the box. However, I consider it a win that he even agrees to entertain my idea. Wednesday, I will share all the details regarding the subscription boxes. It’s very exciting.

We continue to prepare for The Ligonier Country Market Holiday Market. It will be held on November 4, from 12-4, at The Watershed Park, where the weekly market is held. I am working to gussy up our display and make it look festive. It’s easy to get into a rut, and with one nay-saying grinch who likes to keep things simple and “not drag a bunch of crap” to the market, I often choose not to go to battle every week. However, it is the holidays, and we should dress up our stand a bit. Part of me wishes we had asked for a double space at the market because we have a variety of holiday products. We will make it work, and it will look festive. Although, I may make Eric wear a Grinch suit…insert a giggle.

That pretty much covers it, dear reader. We are beginning to prepare for winter and the upcoming holidays. The chicken coop and barn must be cleaned and winterized before it gets cold. Everyone is starting to grow a thicker coat. My chickens have ceased laying eggs altogether. All signs that winter and cold weather are right around the corner. We will take advantage of the nice weather and warmer days while they last. Nature lets us know that time is always moving forward. The cycles continue, and there is comfort in the consistency.

Everything and everyone is healing and finding their balance again. Thank God the Roundhouse bib overalls are acceptable. Now, the hobo bibs can begin their journey to their final resting place…in secret and one by one so my bib overall wearing curmudgeon doesn’t fuss. It’s good to see our Chubby buddy moving better and more alert. I must admit, we were all worried for him and afraid this might be the end. My girl is going to be inconsolable when the day finally comes. Sigh. That is a worry for another day. Until then, we will love and care for our boy, making him feel loved and comfortable.

Remember to stay safe, be smart, believe all will be well, be grateful when it does turn out well, and keep washing your hands.

Foodie Friday: My Favorite Meat Loaf

Happy Foodie Friday, dear reader. We have successfully made it through another week and welcome the weekend. The Smiling Goat Soap Company is home for the next few weekends. Our next in-person show will be The Ligonier Country Market Christmas Market on Saturday, November 4th, from noon to four. In the meantime, we will enjoy a few Saturdays of sleeping in and preparing for the upcoming holiday season.

Yesterday was a personal holiday at the Smay household. I turned fifty-one yesterday. Everyone I love reached out to me to make me feel special, and my inner circle went well out of their way to make my day special. We celebrated with fun and laughter. One of the birthday traditions we uphold is making the birthday boy's or girl's favorite meal. GramBarb, the original GB, made me meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, homemade rolls, and broccoli. She made me the comfort food I love. We followed dinner with a boisterous game of Telestration. Telestration is like playing the old childhood game telephone but with very poorly drawn pictures. We laughed and laughed. Ultimately, someone's drawing/guess always turned into boobies. Two guesses as to who the leader behind such shenanigans could be. Sigh.

Today, I will share my favorite meatloaf recipe. No judgment. Meatloaf gets a bad rap and is sadly underrated for its deliciousness. This weekend will be cold and rainy; it's the perfect weekend to make comfort food such as meatloaf. Adding mashed or scalloped potatoes, pickled beets, and a side of green beans will achieve comfort food perfection. End your meal with pumpkin cookies or ginger cookies, and you've created comfort food heaven. Yum!

Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 lbs. Extra Lean Ground Beef

2 Cups Bread Crumbs (I like to use day-old bread broken into large pieces)

2 Eggs

1 Envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 TBLS. Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp. Dried Parsley

1 Cup Ketchup

1/4 Cup Mustard

1 Cup Brown Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with a light coating of olive oil.

Mix the first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Using your hands (I know it's cold and gross, but it works best), thoroughly blend all ingredients until completely mixed.

Form a large loaf and place it in a prepared baking dish.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour.

Next, mix ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

When fifteen minutes remain on the timer, uncover the meatloaf, spread the top with the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar mixture, and bake another fifteen minutes or until the sugar carmelizes.

Remove from oven and allow meatloaf to rest for ten minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!

This recipe reminds me of my childhood, warmth and comfort. I hope you enjoy my old-fashioned comfort food recipe.

On this cold, rainy October day, stay safe, be smart, enjoy comfort food, and keep washing your hands.

Our Chubby Buddy

Chubs looking miserable at the vet's office

We have had quite the time of it with our dogs recently. Chubby, our senior pit bull, has begun to show his age in the last few months. His little snout is white. His sad little Chubby eyes have cataracts. His hearing, which has always been selective, is much worse. He is slowing down. He used to be a killing machine. Opossums, raccoons, groundhogs, and mice did not stand a chance against our great protector. The trophies he brings to the yard are fewer and farther between. Now, if he has a successful hunt, he lays on the couch for days, barely moving and is a bit stoved up.

The weekend of our farm event, he took a tumble off the ranger. He loves Ranger rides. The Bean took him with her to complete her various tasks. Chubby is Jordan's ride-or-die, especially if it means a Ranger ride. When he went to jump off the seat, he lost his footing and fell. He bounced up, shook it off, and appeared to be fine. However, as the week wore on, he seemed sore. After the event, he killed a rather large raccoon that was snooping around the chicken coop. He favored his neck but seemed to be okay until this past Sunday. If you had talked to me on Sunday, I would have told you I thought we were going to lose our grumpy old man.

Chubby couldn't walk, he was shaking, and he cried when he moved. I gave him aspirin because that is all we had on hand that is safe for dogs. We carried him to wherever he wanted to go, put his food and water beside his bed, and waited. First thing Monday morning, I called the vet. They could not get us in until Wednesday morning. They advised me to continue giving him aspirin as needed and keep him still. We made him as comfortable as possible. Fortunately, the aspirin seemed to take the edge off of his pain. Wednesday morning, The Bibbed Wonder and I took him to the vet's office. Eric carried him in and kept him on his lap. If I'm being transparent, I think our grumpy old man enjoys the attention and being treated like a king. Chubby has always been very vocal and dramatic, especially when at the vet's office.

When they take him to the back to do bloodwork, we (and everyone else in the office) can hear him scream like they are murdering him. The same dramatic screams happen when he sees the thermometer. He knows what is coming, and he protests loudly. I always have the worst-behaved dogs at the vet's office. Everyone else sits quietly with their family; my guys act like goons who never leave the farm. It's like having an ill-behaved child with four feet and big teeth. Although now old and in pain, Chubs did not disappoint with the drama. This time, they kept him in the room with us. When they did the blood draw, he had to be muzzled. Not with one muzzle but two...sigh. The brave lab techs and Eric put a large cloth muzzle on him so they could fit it around his gaping, biting mouth. Once he was contained with the cloth muzzle, they snuck the leather muzzle on over it. It was all very chaotic and drama-filled. Chubby then proceeded to growl, whine, and scream. When they did the blood draw, one would have thought he was being stabbed repeatedly with a large knife. However, that was nothing. When he saw the thermometer and the tube of lube, he really turned up the dramatics. It took three people to hold him just to get his temperature. He's an embarrassment.

Once the muzzle was off and he was given a treat with spray cheese on top, he was his happy little self again. I sat on the floor with him, waiting for the results of his bloodwork. The vet soon returned. She did not have good news. Chubs tested positive for anaplasmosis, a tick-borne disease. The way the vet explained it, it is sneakier and more aggressive than Lyme disease and is harder on the dog. Chub's sore neck, although it could be partially due to a mild injury, is more likely caused by anaplasmosis. Dr. Beth prescribed pain pills, antibiotics, and steroids. Unfortunately, the steroids interact with aspirin, and I have to wait two days for his system to clear the aspirin before we can begin the steroids. She gave him pain medication to see him through until the steroids could be started. We have to go back in a couple of weeks for bloodwork and a check-up. At that point, we are going to discuss long-term pain medication and anti-inflammatories. At this point, Chubby is the equivalent of a 100-year-old man. I am not worried about kidney failure or medication being hard on his liver; I want him to have good life quality over longevity.

As I sit writing to you, my grumpy old man is curled up on the couch with my favorite quilt, his head on a pillow, Pet TV turned on, and snoring louder than a bear. He's enjoying his convalescence. Buster does not think it's right or fair that Chubby has taken over the couch. He has started acting out. Last night, he got into the garbage. Then he stood and barked at Chubby like get out of my spot, you big faker! I have been trying to spend equal amounts of time on the couch with Chubs and on the floor with Bus. However, Buster is not so easily appeased. He has his routine, and he does not like any disruptions. I'm sure he will survive and adjust.

On this lovely October day, stay safe, be smart, care for your pets like you would a human family member (maybe better), and keep washing your hands.