Saturday, May 23, 2020

Searching the cupboards

Don't worry, our cupboards are far from bare; I learned the art of 'stocking up' from my mother. 😊 But shopping less during the pandemic has meant that I'm finding and using up some pantry items I've had for longer than I can remember. 😏 A couple recent examples: I found a bag of buckwheat flour shortly after reading this blogpost  –that's serendipity, if you ask me! (The beauty of the formula is that I could make it to use up all the flour I had, which was a little more than the original recipe called for). I took it to work and shared it with my boss, who is gluten intolerant; SO good with coffee! I get a weekly recipe emailed to me by The Splendid Table, and this one was easily adaptable for the bag of pearled barley I found (enough for two batches) plus the other ingredients I had on hand (canned garbanzo beans for the win in batch #2!).

"Your bed is SO cozy!"
Our cool, damp May has my lean, sleek pup shivering much of the time. She has outgrown all the coats we were given, so I decided to see if we had anything else on hand that fits her. I thought I could alter Dozer's coat to work, but couldn't find it in the 'dog cupboard.' But there were other things in there to try on. 😉 First I tried the sweater on her that my mom sent as a late Christmas present:
It's the right length, but she's not the 'right' depth. (Wouldn't a stylish black patent leather belt to cinch it up complete that outfit perfectly???)

Then I tried on the baseball jacket my mom sent years ago for Dozer. Poppy looked great in it; she's a tomboy, just like me! 😁

I spotted something I didn't recognize, and pulled out a spider costume Mom must have also sent for Dozer. Ha!

This will be perfect for next Halloween – if we do some training so Poppy will keep it on. 🤣
There were a couple other costumes in the cupboard as well, from long ago when the local feed store had an annual pet costume contest and there was an annual Third Street (our 'Main Street') daytime trick-or-treat event. My friend and I had brother and sister bulldogs (from our breeding pair) that we had great fun dressing up and taking to these events; bulldogs lend themselves happily to such silliness. So when my mom finds something cute in the discount bin, she still sends them my way!

My 'stock tank swimming pool' idea for Poppy's continued physical therapy didn't hold water – literally. But I did put her in for a test run before the water leaked out overnight, and it was miserably cold for her – and not quite deep enough. So for now regular playdates with the neighbor boy encourage her to use her leg, and hopefully it will strengthen over time. They have so much fun together!



This week I decided to take back my deck from Chuckie and Poppy to feed the wild birds. (I'm still trying to convince Chuckie to stay away with frequent applications of water....) Yesterday a red-winged blackbird visited frequently, which is something I've never had happen before. Is he not finding enough bugs with our cool, damp weather?

The plants don't mind the weather; my garden starts are looking good, the grass is growing great guns, and this variety of iris opened this morning:

That's it for now from . . .


9 comments:

Leigh said...

A Poppy fashion show! I love it! I know what you mean about digging deeper into the cupboard these days. I found a jar of Dan's pickle and a jar of blueberry pie filling --- things I thought were long gone! Happy treasures.

Michelle said...

And it feels so good to use up things, Leigh, especially if they were forgotten or, um, 'well-aged'!

Retired Knitter said...

Loved the fashion show! Especially the picture of her trying to get the coat off!!

Jeanne said...

Love the pics of Poppy in the different items of clothing! My faves are the hot pink sweater - I can just see her wearing that with a shiny black pant belt! And the sports jacket is adorable!

How big is your bathtub? Could Poppy swim in it?

Have a great day!!

Florida Farm Girl said...

That is a gorgeous iris. Poppy seems to be doing fine these days and I love it. Isn't it amazing what we can find socked away in the pantry?

Michelle said...

Elaine, all those dangly legs HAD to be toys! 😆

I've eyeballed our tub, Jeanne, and it just not deep enough. For a "small" dog, she's got long legs!

Sue, I have aspirations of using everything up in drawers and freezers so I can do a thorough cleaning, but that's probably a pipe dream. 😉

Mokihana said...

Great post! I love all the different doggie sweaters. And that iris is so beautiful!!

A :-) said...

Could you fill up your bathtub for her PT?

Susan said...

Poppy is such a cutie! I have no luck having Peanut keep clothing on, yet he will burrow under a blanket when it's 90 degrees! We have had no rain for days. As so often happens, we go from cold to heatwave every spring. I'm finding shopping too stressful to enjoy, so I am down to once a month. That does make it challenging to come up with recipes!