Where Have I Been?

In bed, mostly.

I'm one of the millions of lucky folks on Earth with a bad back. It's been more than a year since it sent me to bed for days, so perhaps I was getting a little cocky. I'm feeling better and I'll soon be finished with the steroids that are helping things settle.

In the meantime, I've been clinging to my nurses for dear life, petting them and kissing them and using them to keep myself zen, because I am not suited for steroids. Holding tight to Lanie and Drive is what's keeping the rest of the family safe from my 'roid rage. ;)

I'd like to thank everyone for the kind and heartfelt wishes on my last post about Bullie. He's still hanging in there. The decline has slowed for a bit and we're taking the opportunity to spoil him crazy.

We're joining in the Blog Hop today after an extended absence. If you're a new friend, please say hello!

How've You Been?

I chose this picture carefully to illustrate how comfy and cozy everyone is this winter. This picture also symbolizes that I feel kicked in the head a lot lately.

Drive has been working overtime in his position as my personal mental health practitioner. He's sticking closer than usual, poking my hand to be petted more often, and has reduced the amount of time he spends lying on my bed and crying because he isn't being hand-fed.

I've wondered if the dogs get affected by these winter blahs. They seem a little needier, but they also seem a little more responsive to my own increased need for shoring up.

This week, I have been extra grateful for my dogs. This week they held me up again.

Join us on the Pet Blog Hop! If this is your first time here, I hope you'll poke around and find the funny stuff. ;)

Words on Wednesday

On Patrol

I've mentioned before that Drive is my unofficial therapy dog and he's been working overtime for a couple of weeks now. I hope you'll forgive our minor unplanned hiatus. I've been spending a lot of time with my head pressed close to his and my arms around his neck. His velvet ears have soaked up so much of my misery and pain and his sweet brown eyes have calmed my nerves more times than I can count now.

Sometimes this happens, and I am grateful for the love and understanding that beams at me like sunlight determined to burn through closed curtains.

I have a different blog for the self-absorbed prattling about my brain and its various misfires, so I don't like to go into detail here. This one here though, while giving every appearance of being just cute pictures of my dogs, is a secret tribute to my heroes.


See, I was down in that well again.

And again, knowing what dogs are meant to do and knowing that Dog and Man are meant to live together this way, Drive and Lanie helped pull me out.

Vegan Dog Cookies

I recently took part in an auction to help aid the greyhounds rescued from deplorable cruelty in Fort Worth, TX. Tomorrow I will be shipping boxes of these cookies to the kind souls who bid on them, with the hope that their pups aren't fussy.

I wish I had a better way to gauge how good they are. I mean, my dogs enjoyed the samples I tossed their way, but my dogs make questionable consumption choices on an hourly basis.

My husband ate one, though, and he said they were okay. Any horrible mistakes in this recipe come from the fact that I'm not used to writing down or remembering my recipes. They just sort of happen.

Peanut Butter Parsley Cookies

1 c. apple sauce
1 c. peanut butter (Such a pain to measure, I just eyeball this. Err on the side of more)
1 tsp. each baking soda and salt
1/4 oil (I used olive oil)
3 c. flour, approx. (I've used different kinds, go wild with your grain of choice)
Parsley (I used about an eighth of a cup dried, but suit your dog's taste and breath)

Combine the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Stir in the parsley. Add flour by the half-cup, incorporating it all before you add more. The dough may be a little sticky, but it should be workable. If you want to roll it out for shape-cutting you'll need more flour. I just dropped rounded tablespoons onto the cookie sheet and smooshed them flat with the bottom of a glass. (About a quarter of an inch thick or less, if you need to know that.)

Use a cookie sheet lined with foil and lightly coated with nonstick spray. If allowed to sit in between batches, the dough may start to look shiny and oily; mix it again before you form more cookies. Put them in a 350-degree oven for 15-17 minutes. Watch carefully! They seemed to go from "Almost Ready" to "HAHAHA BURNT!" in the space it takes a toddler to ask for help getting down off his dresser.

There's plenty of room for mix-ins here. Carob chips or carrot chunks or oats, whatever your dog likes. Please research any ingredient you add before giving it to your dog. Some surprising household snacks could be poison for your dog, which we discovered when Drive once ate an entire batch of oatmeal raisin dough. (He's fine! But we hauled his butt to the vet to make sure.)


Have fun! I apologize in advance if your dogs are more finicky than mine. ;)

In Service

This post is semi-serious, so please know I won't be offended if you look at the pretty picture and leave. I understand.

When I tell you that Drive is my best friend, it isn't hyperbole or cliche. Plainly stated, there are days I would not get through if I could not bury my fingers in his fur or wrap my arms around his neck. This blog is not about me, but I live with mental illness and that is relevant to Drive. Before him, I didn't truly understand the miracle that is Dog. (That's a secular, science-type miracle, for what it's worth.)

Drive does not, I must tell you, have the necessary temperament to be an "official" service dog. The training would stress him deeply. I did have a trainer tell me recently he might "settle down with age."

"He's ten."

"... Oh."

So maybe not.

Are you aware that while most people see service dogs as large breed animals who hear and see, there is a whole separate category into which Drive could fall? I mean, if he could learn the commands and since it took me almost a year to teach him to go up some steps, I have my doubts and I won't force it on our relationship. If you're interested, here's a little information on "Emotional Support Animals."

When I say that Drive is my very best friend, I mean that deeply and truly. Over the past five years, through some of the hardest and darkest hours in my life, Drive has helped me live. He's helped me want to.