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 . . .