You can't beat a Krampus Night MMP!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
262

I was about to head to the gym when I heard back from Dogkin’s person. She has a cold, and a coworker has COVID, so she asked if I could leave the crate outside my door until she can get it. It’s a huge crate and would block the stairs if I did that, so I said I’d wear a mask and asked if she needed me to walk the dog. She said yes. So I decided to haul the crate to her place so she doesn’t have to come get it later. I’ll skip the gym since I’ll be taking the dog for a long walk. I’m not going to volunteer for the 9 PM walk, though. Does that make me selfish? I’d rather be in my PJ’s by then. OK, it does make me selfish. :frowning:

I took Boo’s advice and made walnut fudge. Y’all come over and have a piece or six.

sari, YAAAAAY for GOM! He’s my new hero. I hope Barky/Humpy mom doesn’t return. There are an awful lot of people and doggos who are getting their dog park experience ruined by her, and it’s really not fair.

shoe, that’s stupid behavior on the part of the customers, but it sounds like you’re doing a great job handling it.

263

Wifey and The Kids went off to have lunch and look at a piece of property the kids are interested in. I stayed home with the dogs and to put the pork roast in the oven. Also my gut was and still is feeling kinda iffy.

Of course I forgot about the roast until 2:00. It was supposed to go in about 1:00. Oh well.
I trimmed off a bunch of fat before putting it into the dutch oven. (It’s gonna be pulled pork).
Wifey told me to put in a can of root beer with it, which I’d heard of before, put then she said to put in a can of roasted chilis, too, which I’ve never heard of before. Maybe something somebody told her about?
I dunno.
Anyway, I ended up with a big lot of pork fat trimmings. There should be something I can do with this stuff isn’t there? :thinking:

Nellie, if I lived nearby I’d come over for some fudge. I love fudge. :smile:

They’re back.

264

DH is fond of bow ties (habit he picked up from a former boss), and insists on the kind the wearer ties for himself (does not like pre-tied).

Cold-ish, wet, and windy here, with flood warnings. Glad I took a grocery run last night before the weather got bad. No need to go out for anything or get deliveries (well, except that package from the Jungle. Sorry, nice delivery person). Hopefully, there’s a break in the weather soon so I can slosh down to the mailbox.

265

Me too. But I do have pre-tied ties for when my fingers aren’t working.

266

Evening all. Spent about 6 hours in the gym with soccer players ranging from 3 to11 years old, attendance-taking, coaching and refereeing, and then pooped out. Got out just as it was starting to rain and it’s been raining pretty consistently since then, and more is expected tonight and tomorrow.

nellie, so, the huge crate that would block your door you hauled to the neighbors? You ever considered getting a stunt job with the new program She Hulk"?? :smile: :smile: :smile:

Sari, that was quite an soap opera you missed. Wonder if even if Grumpy tossed her for good if she’ll still come back…sounds like a very stubborn (and tone-deaf) lady.

shoe, I guess you could take those come-on lines as a compliment, since your only other option to me seems to be hurling their food into their faces at great velocity, which I think your bosses would prefer you not do…and that was a great picture.

Flyboy, glad the feed went well and you could take an offering back to the Missus. Haven’t worn a bow tie (or any type of tie) for decades now (outside of weddings and funerals) and all mine were of the pre-tied variety.

No tree here, just donwanna, plus there is no good window space to put one in my place without a lot of stuff being moved, and that’s not in the cards.

nona, that’s good news on the heart, hope the insurance company gets it’s act together.

red, hope neighbor is doing OK, although it sounds like Nelson wouldn’t mind if it takes here 2-3 weeks to recover…

OK, back to dinner. Nuked a couple Lean Cuisine Fettuccine Alfredo dinners, usually the sauce overwhelms the noodles (IMHO), but the two I got out tonight had miminal sauce and lots and lots of noodles. Guess I’d better cut down on my carbs tomorrow…

Take care all.

267

Mrs. L.A. had the filet mignon I brought home for her from the Christmas party.

I like Hungarian goulash, and I thought of it after the appie at the Christmas party. I’ve never actually made goulash, and I couldn’t be arsed to look up a recipe. So I cubed some beef, browned it in olive oil, and then added a diced potato, some carrots, a chopped onion, tomato paste, a little water, salt, pepper, and a lot of paprika (plus a bit of cayenne). Is it ‘goulash’? Who can say? Maybe @pulykamell can offer an opinion. It’s not done yet, but I’m getting hungry. I’ve just put on some low-carb noodles that are pretty much inedible, but I think the sauce will serve to cover up the taste.

268

If you want the stew-type (as opposed to soupy type) goulash, and you want Hungarian style, the basic idea is onions + fat (lard/sunflower oil, not olive) + peppers (something like cubanelles or an Italian frying pepper, but you can use yellow or red bell pepper), tomato paste, paprika, caraway (optional), garlic (optional), stewing beef, salt, pepper. Fry onions & peppers until translucent, add paprika and caraway off the heat (or lowered heat) to bloom in the oil (important!), add the tomato paste, add the beef, add just enough water (or broth) to keep it from burning. Simmer on low for 3 hours. (You can also start with browning the meat first, if you prefer.)

The soupier version (also called “goulash soup”) will be the same as above + potatoes, at a minimum, but I typically also add carrot, celery root, and parsnip. And more liquid than the stew version, of course.

269

I understand. Shortly before I retired I realized that the company cell phone would be left behind. I got my own new cell phone. It turned out that the phone number was formerly used by an elderly African American lady named Lavern, and United Health care really needed to connect with her.

It was never a human caller. It was always robocalls and the call back number from them just went to an answering machine. These came sometimes twice a day. Once in a great while I would manage to connect with an actual person. They would always tell me that they would certainly take that number out of their system, and sometimes I would have a month or so of peace. Then the robocalls would start again.

After more than two years of this I finally started calling them at their headquarters. I worked up the food chain and finally got someone in upper management. I explained to him that I was done with this and that my lawyer actually owed me some money (he can’t play poker but he thinks he can) and that he would love to take over my problem from this end. The management guy gave me his company and cell numbers and his corporate email and said to contact him if the calls did not stop

They did start back up. I wrote a long complaint to the state insurance commission and CC’d the management guy and my lawyer friend.

It has been about a year and the calls have stopped.

270

Mooooom, I’m with you on the Aldi eggs. They were $4.29 here, but the cage free (which I like better anyway) were only $4.14. Glad you had a day to breathe.

That sounds like some drama at the dog park sari. I hope that Barky / Humpy mom is gone for good.

That’s good news on the hubby front ace.

bumba, you could make chicharrons with the pork fat.

Miss Ann’s son picked the girls up around 11:00. He said that she had gotten dizzy and taken a tumble, fracturing her wrist. She’ll be in the hospital for a couple of days since she’ll need a pin put in. He took the dogs for now, but even when she comes home, she’ll only be able to take one out at a time. I texted her to let her know that I could take a shift of walking them for the duration.

The holiday tea was good. We drank tea, ate dainties and giggled a lot. :slight_smile:

271

IMO, goulash is beef + paprika. It sounds like I made ‘goulash soup’ or ‘goulash stew’.

In any case, it was tasty and filling. :slight_smile:

272

Up from nap time, still dealing with my sinuses shedding their summer snot, and bringing in the winter snot.

I have one of those, to go with my fez.
[Eleventh Doctor]I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool.[/Eleventh Doctor]
I am also having a Vieux Carré, since they are also cool.

I put mine up on November 1st, 2002. And I had a hell job, where I had 3 days off in 3 months, so in in January, I just said “meh, I’ll get it later”. 20 years later, it’s no,longer sloth, it’s Tradition!

I hope he did toss her, y’all don’t need the drama. I just hope some day I have a dog that enjoys the local dog park.

273

I try to say it like The Doctor. :wink:

I would have liked a Vieux Carré, but I didn’t feel like making one. I had a G&T instead.

274

Seems like a fine tradition. If it’s cheering me up in December it’ll no doubt do the same in March.

It’s deal.

275

Boo, you could make it an all-holiday tree! Hang Easter eggs and flowers in spring, little flags and such for the Fourth, and little pumpkins for Halloween. Or just let the kitties hang out there and call it a cat tree. :slight_smile:

276

Sounds like a great plan. Mumpers always come through.

277

Waves to everyone. I am able to read, but not reply to everyone. I am also happy that a Person of Authority told Barky mom off.

Mom is not good. I am concerned about putting her on a plane, but I don’t think she can take that drive. If only she would stay here where I can keep her safe.

278

Oh, dear. That IS worrisome. I have no advice, but I’ll be thinking of both of you.

279

around here there’s a couple pit bull/. chihuahua mixes one was the chi was the dad and another was the mom who had to have an assisted birth and that was one goofy-looking dog …

280

In the case of the chihuahua mom, I’m surprised the poor girl survived the conception, let alone the pregnancy.

Buddy is rather persistent about counter cruising, and I’ve made sure there’s nothing up there of interest to any reasonable cat. He’s also annoyed that when he asks to go outside, I’m not turning off the rain on his demand. :slight_smile:

281

All of this talk about dogs has prompted me to relate my little K9 problem. Lot’s of back story here, not quite sure how to start so I’ll start at the beginning, it’s long.

tl:dr version: My wife’s dog hates me.

My SIL originally got Remy from some sort of national rescue service after some disaster in TX. She intended the dog to be the shop mascot/companion for the small business she owns. After several months of trying she decided Remy just wasn’t going to work in that capacity. It was pretty obvious from the get-go that Remy is extremely skittish, afraid of her own shadow and especially does NOT LIKE MEN. We surmised there is a very good chance she was abused by a man at some point. Or maybe she just didn’t like men.

This was a bad fit for the dog as SIL’s clients were nearly all men. She did not do well with unknown men coming and going all day long. Mostly she barked and growled at everybody and hid under the counter when she wasn’t pissing and shitting all over the place. Note she was thoroughly housebroken; the shitting and pissing were most likely her expressing frustration over her dislike of being a “shop dog”.

In Oct of 2018 SIL decided she no longer wants the dog for her shop. She pretty much begged us to take the dog off her hands. SIL knew we just recently put our beloved dog “Trixie” down. We were still grieving the loss of Trixie and we really weren’t in the market for a replacement dog. Stupidly, we agreed to take Remy, mostly as a favor and with the understanding that it was permanent.

We quickly found out NO collar, harness or tether will contain her. She can manage to wiggle or chew her way out of anything. The second morning she was there, she proved her prowess by pulling her screw stake out of the ground with it still attached to her by her wire rope.

We live in a rural area where stray dogs are are very much disdained by local hunters. They WILL shoot any stray dog they see on sight and deliberately run them over if seen on a road.

With that in mind, Mrs. Morty was chasing the dog, the dog still tied to the ground screw via the tangled wire rope. She finally got close enough to lunge at the dog. She missed and got her knee caught on the sharp lawn ornament that had become entangled in the dog’s wire rope. Lawn ornament cut her knee wide open, blood was everywhere. We ended up using many feminine napkins to staunch the bleeding. And the dog was still running around loose somewhere in the woods behind the house, still dragging around a wire rope with a ground screw and sharp lawn ornament attached.

I called SIL, she came running over while I took my wife to ER. Remy loves SIL, came running right back when her name was called. She contained the dog for us, put her in her crate in the garage until I got home, crisis averted right? Nope.

Mrs. Morty’s knew wound got infected to the point where she had to go on IV antibiotics which messed with her kidneys and landed her in the hospital for 10 days. Meanwhile, I’ve got Remy at home, she will not listen, will not come when called and is completely uncontrollable, tho at least she was housebroken so THAT wasn’t a problem.

In the time Mrs. Morty was in the hospital, Remy apparently decided I wasn’t completely evil since I was the one feeding her. I had to let her sleep in bed with me because the howling would not stop otherwise. She kinda/sorta warmed up to me, she’d snuggle and let me pet her, all was good right? Nope

Letting her outside to do her bizness was always an iffy proposition. She would NOT be tied up. If I managed to get her harness tied to a leash without getting snapped at, she’d be out of the harness in no time flat anyway.

We have an underground fence we used with our previous dog, they work well but require training for the dog to understand. There was no time for training in this situation. I put the collar on her, set it to max stun and let her go. The collar would give her a very strong “correction” if she got to the property line.

I can hear everybody yelling about how cruel shock collars are. I have intentionally zapped myself with the collar to see how “bad” it is. I’d liken it to a strong static shock, like you’d get after shuffling your feet on carpeting and then touching a door knob. It’s not gonna cause injury but definitely gets your attention.

Even without training, Remy realized her boundaries pretty quickly. Having her run away to be shot or run over by the local rednecks became much less of a concern when she had the collar on.

So began my more (or less) peaceful existence with Remy. She is very much my wife’s dog. She could care less about me until it’s time to eat or go outside and that’s okay. She never really wanted much attention from me.

We did like to play. I can’t get down on the floor with her and wrestle, but we mostly tug-o-war, throw the squeaky, that sort of thing. She’d hang out with me in my office, snuggle up to me, sleep at my feet… all the usual dog stuff, all is good, right? Nope.

About two months ago she suddenly decided she was VERY afraid of me. I have no idea what brought that on. If I walk anywhere near her she cowers. If I even motion like I’m going to touch her she’ll yelp and run away. She will only acknowledge my presence if I have food. She’s also taken pissing and shitting in the living room when Mrs. Morty is gone for any great length of time.

Remy just LOVES her Mrs Morty, it’s all snuggles and kisses when momma walks in the door. If I hug or sit next to my wife Remy will do anything she can to keep us apart. She’s never actually bitten me but I get the idea it wouldn’t take much to push her there. Mrs. Morty thinks it’s cute. I don’t.

I guess I’m guilty of being jealous of a dog. But what good is a dog if all it does is take up space and crap on the floor until momma gets home? Don’t get me wrong. I’m very much a dog person. But this pooch is pretty screwed in the head. She didn’t work out for my SIL and she sure as hell isn’t working out here.

What’s making this weirder is that Remy more recently has started to yelp at and sometimes run from Mrs. Morty too.

Not sure if I’m looking for advice, I guess this was mostly to vent my spleen. Thank you and good night.