The life of Raine

Raine is now in her second year of culinary studies at Madison College.  Along with going to school full time she is a line cook at Madison's venerable Tornado Steak House where she works full time as well.  

Looks like the photos were taken on Fish Filet 101 day as the first photo shows Raine  rolling a piece of fish skin.  In the above photo I can't tell if the fish had been filleted or not.   

When you ask Raine "What's up?" Her response is always the same, "School. Work. Sleep. Friends"  I don't get to see her much.  So I really appreciate the photos taken by her friend Katrina  who captures some amazing details in the day of this chef in training.

In Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential" he talks about his beaten, battered and scarred hands  from a life spent in a kitchen.  Looks like Raine is working her way there pretty quickly.  Food prep and cooking is not for the faint of heart.  Making a dinner for 10 people at home will not cause scars like this but cooking for 150 night after night, sure will.  

I am in awe of this driven and talented young woman. 

Dog puzzles, who knew?

Spent Saturday afternoon at Bad Dog Frida, a great local store for people who love their pets!.  They gave German Shepherd Rescue an afternoon of free publicity and a place to bring our foster dogs to meet new families.

Of course, to support such a great local store, I bought/found a new toy for Teiko.  It's a puzzle from a Swedish company - just like the dang educational toys and wooden puzzles I'd buy for the girls many moons ago.

Basically, you hide treats inside the dowels, slide them down the row and the dog has to figure out how to move the dowel to release the treat.

Teiko gets so excited when I bring the puzzle out.  He knows and smells the good and smelly treats.  He can move the dowels with his teeth and feet.  Sometimes he releases the treats but doesn't eat them because he's more interested in the next dowel.  Give him just a couple of more times.  I can see a more complicated puzzle coming in his Xmas stocking......

In the meantime, putting a puzzle on the floor with your dog and interacting with him, really reinforces how smart dogs can be and how much more we can do with our dogs.

Beautiful songs

Started following a thread from Facebook and decided these are my favorite songs today. Have a listen....

Because of You....written by Arthur Hammerstein.  Why haven't I really heard K.D. Lang sing before?  What a beautiful voice and especially with Tony Bennett.


What a wonderful life....written by Bob Thiele and George Weiss.


I fall to pieces...written by Hank Cochran

Post 400 and the last rose of summer

Holy cow, I've been doing this little blog since May 2007 and this is my 400th post.  I started blogging to simply write about things that amused, amazed and sometimes even frustrated me.   When I look back over the years, I find it's a rich reference of my life's plotting.  I refer to often for the first garden blooms and the last, how Beatons is progressing and how the girls have grown.

A nice history source, perhaps for some future geneaologist (once I export the files and put on a server in my datacenter.....for posterity)

Anyway....began cleaning the garden beds last weekend and put the roses to bed for the winter.  This beauty was one of two roses still in full bloom. And the smell is just divine.  The cranberry glass vase was my great great grandmother's (Nanny).

Venison Chops

Dinner last night was one of my favorites.  Venison Chops served with a wine reduction sauce.  This Sauk County venison was hunted by my Dad last year and given to me for Christmas.  Great gift!

We marinated the chops in rosemary, garlic and ginger and pan sear medium rare.  The mashed red potatoes stand nicely to the rich sauce.  The garden is still producing very tender Swiss Chard.  I'm hoping it will keep growing until Thanksgiving.

Beef Stew is what's good for you...

Threw a batch of beef stew together tonight in 25 minutes (minus the 2.5 hours of stewing time....) It is absolute beefy and delicious goodness!  Of course, I made enough to feed an army, but it should freeze well.

Veggies: 
All veggies coarsely chopped:
2 cups of onions
1 cup of carrots
1 cup red potatoes
1 cup celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tsp. fresh thyme
Salt/Pepper
1/2 cup red wine

Meat:
1lb. stew meat
1 beef soup bone
1/2 cup flour (put in plastic bag, add salt and pepper to season)
Cut meat into 1 inch pieces.  Add to bag and shake.  set aside.


4 cups of liquid (broth, beer, water, etc)

Extras (if desired...or add your own):
1.5 tbs beef bouillon if using water, like I did.
1/2 cup tomato juice (or one can of diced tomatoes....)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
Grain: 1/2 cup barley
Steak sauce to season.

Preparation: 25 minutes

1. Heat dutch oven on medium high, bring to heat and put 2 tsp olive oil.  Add 1 cup of onions and carrots.  Saute. As onions begin to sweat, add soup bone and brown.  Once veggies are cooked, add 1/4 cup red wine to deglaze.  Remove veggies if desired.

2.  Add floured stew meat to pan and sear..  Do this for 7-10 minutes.  Meat will brown.  onions and carrots will caramelize, if left in.  Add 1/4 cup wine to deglaze.

3.  Add garlic, potatoes and celery and cook for a few minutes.

4.  Add water, stir and bring up any bits of frond still left at the bottom of the pan. Add bouillon, stir.

5.  Add thyme, seasonings, steak sauce and/or tomato.

6.  Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer for 2 hours.

7.  Add mushrooms and barley. simmer for 30 more minutes

8.  Dish up a thick, beefy stew and enjoy!

Note:  It's the soup bone that give the depth to the taste. The longer it cooks, the better....

Need a job for your heart?

Have a little time?  

Need some unconditional love?  

Maybe, just looking to give back a little in this life? 

Karma?

Then now might be the time to be a Foster Mama (or Papa) to a dog one shot away from nothing.

(Mira, my 6th foster dog and one I should have kept....:)

I got involved in dog rescue and fostering in 2008.  I did it for a couple of reasons.  

One, to be honest, I was looking for someone to love, my kids had grown and I'm a nurturer at heart (even though I had never thought of myself as such) but when the house was empty of demands, schedules, homework, practices, etc. after 20 years, I found I had some extra attention to give and no one to give it to.  

(Here's Trixie, now known as Hailey, who my parents fostered through the summer of 2011)

Two, I have been so fortunate to have had such amazing dogs in my life: (Puffy, Willy, Tasha, Cita and my sweet boy Teiko)  How could I not do something?

(My first dog, Puffy and me taking a "nap")

Three, I read a heart-felt plea about truly honoring your dog who had passed, by giving another dog a chance.  

So 10 foster dogs later. I've learned a few things...   

1. Dogs want to please you.  Just not always the way you're expecting....
2. Your energy - both good and bad says more to a dog than your voice.
3. All new dogs will "mark" your home at least once....  
4. Dog (and kids) need structure, rules, discipline and time to be free
5. Joy comes in quick moments and you had better pay attention: Like a wagging tail, a play bow, a successful "Come" or "Sit" and sometimes, if you are lucky, a full jump of joy.
6. Your trust in the dog is a powerful tool for training. 
7. Your heart always has room for just one more dog and that's why you can let go.

So here's Dakota, my parents' and my latest foster.  Dakota is truly a rescue in that she came from a neglect situation where she was forcibly surrendered by a dog-hoarding family that also kept wolves, yes...wolves.  For the first three years of her life, she was kept in an outside pen behind the barn (and yes, Wisconsin winters suck).  When coming to shelter, with no socialization to the real world, she was timid, cowered and would back-up from everything.  The only comfort she could give herself was licking her skinny hip.  

Thankfully, the family gave her to the local humane shelter, which spent the time getting to know her sweetness.  After a few calls and emails, Dakota found her way to GSRAW.  With a couple of months of love, attention, care and discipline she has just blossomed into an amazing young dog.  Yes, she has a lot to learn yet, but dang, she's come so far.  

Today Dakota and I worked on some house-dog basics.  She conquered the stairs.  She hammered the word - "Come" (always have a great $1000 treat - like ham). She worked on the sit, stay and wait commands.  She wore out my arm with a Wubba and her absolute joy to play. She sniffed every tree on our one hour walk.  And she didn't knock over the miniature poodle, Cita.   

The best moment:  She gives hugs.  Really!  She'll jump up gently, put her front paws around your middle,  tuck her nose in your side and just be.

Here is a great dog who just loves to be in safety and kindness and knows how good she has it. 

And the sad....she could have easily had been euthanized like so many others - because of her initial fear of new things.  

And imagine that.  What a loss of joy.

PLEASE, please consider fostering.  It makes your heart feel so good and it really does make a difference!  

Meet Dakota

Meet Dakota, our latest foster girl from German Shepherd Rescue Alliance of Wisconsin.  From what we know about this 3-year old girl , she was an owner-surrender to a Wisconsin county shelter.  It was a hoarding situation and the family had to give up a couple of dogs.  Dakota was kept in an outside pen behind a barn for three years with little interaction with others. And she was surrendered with a wolf.  Yes,  the family had wolves.  Are they nuts?

What we know so far about Dakota is she is a just sweet girl who bonds with a person totally but is very skittish and afraid of the unknown.   This lack of socialization causes her to try to run away from new people and experiences, cower and bark if backed into a corner.

But once she gets to know and trust someone, she is just a sweetie.  And guess where she landed?  Yep, my parents have opened the doors to Grama's Healing Center for Dogs.  This dog needs lots of love, attention and a safe place to decompress.   She's had a pretty full week already as a few days ago she had to have surgery to remove a broken canine.

She is recovering now and  was well enough on Thursday to take a set of blinds off the window at my parents' house. My father wanted to "test" how she'd do if he left the house for a short time..... My mom unbeknownst to this great plan was at the grocery store. She came home to a very happy dog sitting on the end table by said window wagging her tail and glad someone came home.... I think my dad came home a few minutes later and got a time out....

Cosmos aren't just for drinking

I just love Cosmos.  They grow like crazy in just a few months, fill an area with lots of color and make a great back fill.  Here in Wisconsin, I'm seeing them actually self seed.  The Cosmos pictured here are mostly from self-starters that germinated and grew in the pebbles below.  I pulled them out and replanted them and look at what happened - these babies tower at 6ft tall.

I saw some orange ones by a church yesterday.  Think I'm going to have to find some of those for next year....

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

The temps this week have been in the upper 70s and just beautiful.  This morning during our daily walk, Teiko spotted one of several very busy squirrels gathering acorns.  It's the only time his ears are full up.

 The colors of the trees are almost full peak this week.  It is a good time to be in Wisconsin.  Since we had a hard frost last weekend, these temps will be fleeting.  Winter is on her way - but for now, let's just enjoy the present.

Had to take a photo ofTeiko chasing his frisbie under the beautiful reds of a young maple tree.