Lately Shadow has been a little snuggle bug… and I’m happy to snuggle with him! But, the minute Daddy gets home, he wants nothing to do with me! I keep trying to remind him who actually rescued him, but apparently the person who gives him the most biscuits wins! Happy Thursday!
It’s not often that I post about politics. I’m very much of the mindset that you are more than welcome to your opinion and I am welcome to mine. I don’t dislike people because of their beliefs and am proud to be a part of a society that allows political freedom and choice.
Until today. The long and short of it is that our government needed to have a finalized budget by midnight last night in order to avoid a government shutdown. The Republicans seem to be stuck on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which went into enactment today. They refused to ratify the budget (I know, I’m making it very simple) and therefore forced the country into a shutdown. Over a bill that will provide health insurance to the roughly 15% of people who are uninsured today. A bill that the people of the United States of America voted for. That the Supreme Court ruled as constitutional.
The best part of all of this is that Congress still gets paid. Thanks to the 27th Amendment, Congress does not have the ability to change their pay, which prevents them from giving themselves raises. That’s a good thing. The bad side of that is it also prevents them from freezing or cutting their pay. Here’s the crappy part… some of the Congress members such as Republican John Fleming (from Louisiana) have said they would donate their pay to a charity during the shutdown because “obviously we need to share the pain of the American people“. Yes, because the thousands of furloughed federal works who have lost pay surely feel that some rich congressman donating his paycheck to charity makes it all ok.
Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on, I think we can all agree that this is a childish, despicable act on the part of Congress. I am blown away that in a time that the American economy is just starting to rebound we would unnecessarily force ourselves into a shutdown that has no impact whatsoever on politicians and is devastating to the American people. What kind of statement are we sending to the rest of the world?
Today I’m not so proud to be an American.
A few months ago my mom found a Groupon that sounded silly, but we both said “what the heck” and bought it. Fast forward to 8am on Sunday morning:
Yup, our Groupon was for a falconry lesson at West Coast Falconry. Neither of us really knew what to expect but thought it would be a fun experience. It definitely was! We got there and spent some time checking the falcons and hawks out. They are absolutely beautiful birds!
Our hawk (pictured above on my arm) was a beautiful Harris Hawk named Don Diego Alejandro Santiago Saragossa Inigo Montoya Del Gato, or “Diego” to his buddies. He was really well behaved and I was amazed at how gently he landed on me!
We used the hawk because they are more like a pack animal – in the wild they hunt with their family group while most other birds of prey prefer to hunt alone. Apparently the falcons are a bit difficult and have to get to know their trainer before they cooperate. They’ve actually become one of the most popular hunting birds in the world! Diego was a great bird… he did exactly what we asked him and showed just how smart these birds actually are!
I’ll post the rest of the pictures to my Facebook page… head on over to check them out!
This morning I ran twelve miles before work. It was a beautiful morning – I started with four miles on the treadmill because it was still dark out, and let’s be real, I have no desire to be eaten by a mountain lion. In fact, I’m scared to death. So, I did some time on the TM and then headed out to my normal road to finish the last eight. It was absolutely beautiful – dare I say that fall is almost here? It was cool and clear and I got to see the sun come up. Not a bad way to kick off your Friday!
While I was running I got a text message from my sister. It was Miss Chloe saying good morning:
Being the fun aunt that I am, I decided to say good morning back in the same way (so that she understands, of course):
Yup, running actually makes you crazy. Just a little.
This week’s favorite song is “All Kinds of Kinds” by Miranda Lambert. Seriously, this girl can do no wrong in my book. I love the song and the general message (we need to accept everyone because it takes just about everyone to make things work). Happy Friday!
There are many things I love about my company (helloooo sabbatical!), but today exemplified one of the major ones. Each year my entire organization (hundreds of people across North and South America) take the day to do community service. We do community service throughout the year, but this is one day that everyone does it all at once. There were several options – this year I chose the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary. We had a couple different projects that we worked on while we were there – I chose to help out with cleaning some of the cages and enclosures.
Here are a few pictures from the day – all of these are animals that I was in the cages with! This is Gus, a horse whose mother was a horse in Canada that was bread for her urine – apparently the urine of a pregnant mare can be used in some menopause medication. She was constantly kept pregnant and the male foals were sent off to the glue factory. Gus was rescued. He’s a sweet guy who was very happy with his hay.
This is a Barbados Blackbelly Sheep… there were two in the pen and they were both a little shy, but eventually ate some hay I gave them.
We also helped clean out the wild pig enclosure, where we met Wilbur and Templeton. Seriously, how cute are those names? Great Charlotte’s Web reference, for those of you who didn’t pick up on it. While in there, the pigs sort of kept to themselves, but we did get to see a bunch of peacocks!
Seriously, it was a really great day and I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go help!
Today I tried a new recipe for dinner – meatball stroganoff (sans mushrooms, of course). I found this recipe in a magazine and it sounded good – it’s a lighter version of the traditional stroganoffs. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Egg noodles
4 teaspoons canola oil
1 1/4 cups diced yellow onion
12 ounces ground sirloin
3 tablespoons panko breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
12 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup beef stock
1/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
dash of nutmeg
Directions
Place a foil lined jelly roll pan in the oven on the middle rack. Preheat to 450 degrees (leave pan in the oven). Cook the noodles according to package. Drain and keep warm.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add onion and saute for six minutes or until tender. Place the cooked onion in a small bowl. Combine beef, bread crumbs, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup cooked onion. Shape beef mixture into 16 meatballs (1 1/2 inches each). Place meatballs on preheated pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes, turning after 6.
Return the skillet to medium heat and add remaining 2 teaspoons oil. Add mushrooms, garlic, and paprika to pan – saute for eight minutes or until mushrooms are lightly browned. Add wine to the pan and cook until liquid almost evaporates. Sprinkle flour over the mushroom mixture and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add stock, bring to a boil scraping the browned bits. Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes or until sauce slightly thickens. Stir in the remaining cooked onion and remove pan from heat.
Stir in remaining salt & pepper, sour cream, mustard, and nutmeg. Add the meatballs to the sauce and toss to coat. Spoon sauce and meatballs over the noodles and enjoy!
Cutting chicken is serious business.
Yesterday I met up with Sean, Erin, and Clarissa for the Dave Matthews Band 2013 Summer Tour at Shoreline Amphitheater. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. I had an absolute blast!
As always, it was an amazing show. What I love most about DMB is that lawn seats are all you need. You take a blanket, have a beer, and just relax and listen to the music. His songs morph into these epic jam sessions and his in-between songs banter is absolutely hilarious.
He played “Crush” (my favorite song), but I think one of the best moments if the show was their cover of “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult. All I could think about the entire time was “needs more cowbell”! It was a seriously good cover. I always judge a band by how well they play live since we all know what kind of magic the folks in recording studios can work. DMB is honestly one of those groups that I think is way better live than on a recording. There’s something amazing about a very talented group of people coming together to just make music!
I know it’s not Saturday, but I got this really cute picture of Shadow this morning and thought I’d share. He’s been such a good puppy the last couple of weeks with Mike being gone. He’s used to a lot of attention and Mike normally does a lot of “rough” playing with him that I don’t do. Top that off with the fact that all weekend it’s been really smokey here so I’ve kept him inside and you’ve got a lot of built up lab energy. He has been breaking the rules and snuggling in bed with me at night… shhh…. don’t tell Mike!
Ok, so I may have said “the B word” to get him to look at the camera (biscuit). Don’t worry, I followed up with one for him. It makes me sad to see how grey he’s getting… a reminder that time passes for us all I guess. He’s also got more of the fatty tumors that labs apparently get… I’ve been told by the vet that they’re pretty normal and that they don’t like to do anything to them unless they bother the dog.
Down The Road I Go 