For the Love of Dog

Did you know that it's National Dog Week?  Yeah, I didn't know til this morning.  Sorry Bosco, Ellsie & Oscar.  Guess we should have been showering you all with endless amounts of love and attention.  Oh, wait.  We pretty much do that on a daily basis (we need a kid, like now.)  

It's no secret that Luke and I love dogs.  We are dog people.  We've both been around dogs our entire lives and feel that no home is truly complete without a canine companion (or 3.)  A dog is there for you no matter what.  Always overly excited to greet you when you get home.  Happy to accompany you on a walk, hike or run.  An audience for your amazing singing voice.  An ear to listen and belly to rub when you are having a hard day.  A comedian to get you to crack a smile. An eager taste tester in the kitchen. Great defender of the homestead.  A snuggle buddy on a cold day.   Content to just "be." They don't judge you when you look a mess or when you put on a few pounds.  They seem to sense and understand things on a level humans never will.  A dog is unconditional love. 

So, to celebrate National Dog Week I've decided to share some of my favorite pictures of our dogs from over the years.  Enjoy.  

Earth Day at the Park

Curious

Defender

This has to be a record

Snuggles

Best Buds

Liger Doodle

Birdie & The Beast

Super Dog

I'm on a Boat!

So Sad

Cardinal Canine

I really could have gone overboard with this but I stopped myself. We probably have a few hundred photos of the dogs but I don't want to seem like a crazy crazier person.  I hope you have a fine four legged friend to spend some time with and celebrate this special week.  If not, consider going to your local animal shelter and adopting one.  There are so many waiting for good homes.  All 3 of ours are rescues and we couldn't ask for better companions.  Happy National Dog Week! 

Autumn State of Mind

The pumpkin spice latte is back at Starbucks.  Halloween candy is starting to appear on store shelves.  You can feel just a slight change in the air.  Yes, Autumn is approaching and after the hellish Summer we had I am more eager to welcome it than ever. 

 The crunch of leaves under foot.  The warmth of a fire pit on a crisp night.  The gorgeous gold, yellow, orange, brown and red tones of trees and grasses.  The comfort from a bowl of your favorite warm soup as it hits your belly.  Scarves, boots, jackets.  Football. Snuggling. There is just nothing like Autumn.  It is by far my favorite time of year. 

There are two things that I think I love most about Autumn though:  Pumpkins and apples.  This past weekend we made the trip to Centennial Farms in Augusta, MO to pick apples and officially kick off Fall in our little world. 

I love our trips here.  It's just the cutest little place and I adore the rustic barn and "down home" feel.  We always have a wonderful time walking the rows of the orchard looking for the best apples and checking out the offerings in the store. 

It's actually a dream of mine to have an orchard some day.  Complete with a big pumpkin patch and a hive of bees.  Maybe some day, but for now I'll just enjoy the fruits of someone else's labor.  :)

 I can't wait to make a pie or crisp with our hand picked harvest.  Maybe some apple sauce or apple butter, too?  Now my mind is churning...better go check out some recipes! 



Centennial Farms
http://centennialfarms.biz/

Dried Out

So it's summer here in the good Ole Show Me State.  Living here all my life I've grown accustomed to the hot, humid summer days although I don't really like them.  I'm more an autumn, winter, spring type of girl.  I like lots of precipitation and cooler temps.  Like I said though, I'm used to the hot, humid  Missouri summers.

This summer though......it has been unbearable.  The sun feels like a an angry god hell-bent on torture. So far we've had 15 days of temps above 100 and we are in a serious drought with no end in sight. It's been well over a month since we've had even a sprinkle of rain at our house. We gave up on our lawn weeks ago. Walking across it feels and sounds like you are stepping on thousands of tiny bones, very unpleasant.  Cracks in the ground are big enough for me to stick my hand in.  Leaves are getting scorched right off trees and falling to the ground.  It is absolutely miserable.

When it's hot like this it's hard to build up motivation to do anything outside unless you are going to submerge yourself in a cool body of water and drink an ice cold beverage (preferably an adult beverage.)  I honestly feel as though my bones (and my brain) are drying out. I can feel that it is affecting my moods too, which I really don't like.  I'm an over-heated crab.  Yep, I'm whining. Wah.  Keeping up on running has been a struggle. I still have the motivation to get out there but I just can't run as far or as hard as I want to.  The heat zaps my energy so fast.  I've started doing some of my runs once the sun goes down but I am still a bit of a scaredy cat about running alone at night so I don't go far from the house.


The last several weeks I have been daydreaming about rain.  I seriously fantasize about getting in the car and driving til I hit a steady rain and just stand in it for a long time and let it soak into my skin.  I am craving the smell of rain and the freshness of cool air on my skin.  I've actually had talks (although not too serious) with Luke about just packing up and heading North or to anywhere there is lots of green and cooler temps.  Maybe to the Michigan UP or Oregon or Washington and just hiding out there until more desirable weather returns at home.  Ah, it's a nice thought isn't it?

Credit

Credit

 I'm just going to take a minute and imagine myself in these pictures...... (I'm in a cool, wet place. I'm in a cool, wet place)- not really working for me. Well I hope my next post finds me in better weather and with that better moods.  Til next time, stay cool.

How Does Your Garden Grow

I love gardening.  I enjoy nurturing little plants and helping them to grow.  I like talking to other gardeners, swapping tips and complaining about the weather or little garden pests.  I love the satisfaction that comes from picking a plump, juicy tomato from a plant that I started from just a little seed a few months ago.  Over the last few years my "garden" has been comprised of a series of containers filled with tomato plants, peppers, lettuces and herbs.  This year, I decided it was time to step it up a notch.  I wanted to build a raised garden bed so we could have a larger crop and have more variety.

I did some research online to figure out how to go about building a raised garden bed.  After getting an idea of what I wanted I went to Lowes for supplies.  I decided on a 8'x4' garden.  I want to start out small and see how this first year goes. There's always room for expansion!   At Lowes I bought four 2x8x12 and had them cut them so I had four 8 foot pieces and four 4 foot pieces.  I also bought pre-made 30" wooden stakes.

Then assembly began. 

Materials laid out

 Forgive me for not taking a lot of photos during assembly.  We were on a mission and it went pretty quickly. Actually, Luke was on a mission and once he has a task that guy just GOES!  We laid the boards out on a flat surface, overlapped the edges and used wood screws to put them together.  Once we had the two layers screwed together we attached the wooden stakes in the corners with screws. 

Raised bed box laying upside down

This photo lets you see the garden box after it was assembled.  Pretty simple.  We then dug about a 3 inch deep trench that the box would sit in so it had good contact with the earth to help prevent shifting and soil loss through the bottom.   

Before we drove the stakes in

 After the trench was dug we set the box in with the stakes down and used a mallet to pound them into the ground.

View of the stakes attached to the garden box 

Once the garden box was in we back filled any gaps with soil.  I used a shovel to remove the top inch or so of turf from the inside of the box so there was no grass (or clover)  remaining on the inside then tilled and leveled the soil.  We had some landscaping rock we had been wanting to get out of a flower bed so I transferred it over the to garden and covered the base with about 2 inches of rock to help with drainage.   On top of the rock went landscaping fabric and then I filled the box with topsoil we had delivered from a local supplier.  I also mixed in a few bags of organic compost from Lowes.

And.......the end result:

 We had to add chicken wire around the outside to keep those hungry little rabbits (and dogs!) out.  It's worked like a charm so far.

 

I've planted beef steak and rainbow heirloom tomatoes, green bell and purple bell peppers, a spring lettuce mix, brussel sprouts, zucchini and cucumber.  All plants seem to be thriving and we've already enjoyed lots of fresh lettuce.  There aren't many things more gratifying than providing your own food.

 And since we are making more attempts at being green, Luke made a rain barrel from a trash can we had sitting in our garage not being used.  I absolutely love it.  Maybe even more than the garden itself.  My crunchy side rejoices each time I water all our plants without spending a penny.  It feels great to conserve resources and money!   If you are a gardener and you don't have a rain barrel, you're doing it wrong. 

 This is our container herb garden.  We have parsley, dill, sage, rosemary, lavender, basil, mint, lemon balm, cilantro, oregano and Buddha.  I don't believe in the teachings of Buddha, but I do enjoy his head :)  The next item on my gardening agenda is to start composting but I'll get to that another day. 

I am soooo looking forward to that first tomato from our garden.  There's just nothing like homegrown. 

Recalling "Pure Michigan"

It was about this time last year that Luke and I packed our bags, loaded the Trailblazer with our things and the pups and headed north.

A few weeks earlier I had come across an article about the most overlooked parks in the United States.  I fell in love with the photos of "Pictured Rocks National Park" in  Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Beautifully formed rocky shorelines, surreal turquoise blue waters, lush, towering green forests...it looked like a dream.  I just had to go there.  We did a little research, found a great deal on a cabin for a week and booked our vacation. 

Miner's Castle

We purposely found a rental that would allow pets so we could take "the pack" on vacation with us. All 3 dogs love hiking and exploring so we thought this would be a great opportunity for the whole family  We had never taken them on a long trip like this so we were excited/anxious to see how it would go.  It was a 12 hour drive from our house to Christmas, Michigan where the cabin was located.  The dogs did great in the car and slept most of the way. The drive through the flat farm lands of Illinois was a bit monotonous but driving through Wisconsin and Michigan was beautiful.   We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the cabin.  It was cozy and quaint, tucked into the woods on the edge of a small creek and large lake. 

 

 Our home for the week

 We spent our week in Michigan hiking, exploring, walking the beaches of Lake Superior, seeing the sights and enjoying the local fare.  We took a guided sea kayak tour along Pictured Rocks.  It was one of the most unnerving and yet enjoyable experiences of my life.  Sea kayaks are nothing like the kayaks and canoes we are familiar with here in Missouri.  They are much more narrow and more prone to tipping.  We were constantly reminded by Saul, our guide, that the water was around 40 degrees and we did NOT want to fall in because it would almost certainly lead to hypothermia.  Awesome.  According to Saul, we both did great and made it through the 15 mile trip without catastrophe.  

Bridal Veil Falls along the shoreline we kayaked

 The weather while we were there was absolutely amazing.  Temps would reach into the 70's during the day and fall into the low 50's and upper 40's during the night.  My ideal kind of temps.  We were able to explore comfortably during the day and snuggle up next to the fireplace at night.  At dusk each day we would watch as dense fog moved over the shore from the lake casting an eery feel to the small coastal towns.   

Fog rolling in

We drove all along the coast line from as far west as Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie in the furthest east point.   We dined on fresh caught fish at local restaurants, shopped at little "mom and pop" stores and had coffee in little cafes.  We stopped whenever we saw something that peaked our interest. We walked the moss and fern covered forest floors and the pebble covered shores. We held baby bears at a black bear rescue ranch.  We saw more waterfalls than I can recall. The dogs had the time of their lives gallivanting in the woods, running the beaches and swimming.  

Our favorite place was we visited was Marquette.  There we had dined at The Vierling Restaurant and Brewery that overlooked the harbor.  I had a meal of Whitefish chowder and Blueberry Wheat beer complete with floating blueberries that I will never forget.  Perhaps it was the fact that Marquette is a college town or maybe it was all its quirky little stores or the small brewery but it definitely reminded me of Columbia and made me feel nostalgic. 

Marquette, MI    (Photo Credit)

 During our visit we totally and completely fell in love with the "U.P." and the "yoopers" that call it home.  You will be hard pressed to find an area with people more welcoming than those in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Every where we went we were warmly received and put at ease.  I was in awe of the yooper's strong Northern dialect and their down to Earth good heartedness.  It kind of felt like home. 

Our vacation to the Michigan U.P. was the only trip we've ever taken that we didn't want to come home.  I think it was a combination of the scenery of forests and shores, the amazing weather, the people and the food.   I could have stayed there forever...or atleast until the first 20 inches of snow in the fall :) If you get the chance, I highly recommend a trip to the U.P. I can't wait til our adventures take us back to the "Yoop."   Until then, it will hold a special place in my heart and I will consider myself a yooper at heart.  


Cabin Rental
 http://www.hiawathashideaway.com/index.php?page=Home

Kayak Rental
http://www.paddlingmichigan.com/

Renewed Love of Running

Mid January last year I suddenly had a "great" idea.  I was going to run the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon.  What a great goal to set for yourself, right?  The thing is I hadn't been exercising at all.  I threw down the challenge for myself to go from couch to half marathon in 11 weeks without much thought.  I was an avid distance runner in high school and competed in track.  I loved running back then and was pretty good at it so I thought getting back into it would be a piece of cake. Yeah, right.

I found a training program online and set out to start training (I totally ignored that the training program said you should be able to run at least 4 consecutive miles and be logging 8-12 miles a week before starting.) As if running my first half marathon wasn't enough I decided to set a time goal for myself.  I wanted to run the half marathon in 2 hours (yes, I may have been a little crazy)  Every other day I would lace up my shoes, strap on my watch and set out on my runs.  I would need to run around 9 min miles to finish in 2 hours so I was constantly obsessing over the little numbers on my watch as I ran.  Speeding up or slowing down as need be, pushing myself to the limit.  Since I had been getting practically ZERO exercise before this endeavour training was HARD.  My body hurt.  My shins ached. My knees throbbed.  I got more blisters on my feet than I care to remember.   But, I had set a goal and was determined to achieve it so I ran on.  

 Before I knew it training was done and it was race day.  I was fortunate to have my brother and Dad running the half marathon with me. They helped put my nerves at ease and gave me great pointers for my first half marathon.  I'm not going to lie, the race was kind of overwhelming.  The hoards of people, the pushiness of other runners, the heat that day. I had been training in cold Missouri Winter and early Spring temperatures.  However, on race day there was a heat wave and temps reached into the upper 80's during the race.   It was awful and people were dropping all over the place due to heat exhaustion.  I pushed forward and finished the race in 2 hrs 6 min.  Not the time I was hoping for but I was so happy that I had finished.

After completing the half marathon I pretty much stopped running cold turkey.  My body was beat up and I was just plain tired of running. Over the next several months I would maybe do a 2 mile run every once a month or so.  I engaged in other activities like hiking, biking, walking, etc but I could not bring myself to run consistently.   I think I had just pushed myself too hard and had been too focused on time when I trained for the half marathon. I had burned myself out on running. 

At the start of this new year I decided I needed to start running again.  I wanted to get back in the routine and get my body back into running shape.  I think enough time had passed that the memories of training had faded a bit.  So I started running again but I decided that this time around I would leave my watch at home.  I wanted to completely change the way I thought about running.  I want it to be a means for keeping myself fit and healthy.  I want it to be a release for stress or other negative feelings.  I want it to be a time to relax and enjoy myself. I started out running a couple of miles a couple times a week then slowly progressed.  I never left for a run with a predetermined number of miles in my head.  I listened to my body.  If I felt good I would run a little further or faster.  If I wasn't feeling so hot I would slow my pace or cut the run short.  If my knees or shins started to give me problems I would take a few days off.  I try to do a couple of short runs, around 30 minutes or so and one longer run, around an hour, each week. 

After a few months of running like this I can say that I am totally in love with running again.  It's not about how fast or how far I run.  I simply live in the moment.  I get lost in the rhythm of  the music playing through my ear buds.  I take in sights of the blossoming trees, the setting sun, the little birds, bunnies and squirrels scurrying about.  I breath deeply and take in the scents of freshly cut grass, flowering trees and rain. When I'm running now, the rest of the world just seems to fade away.  It's all about me and the road ahead.

So far I haven't lost motivation.  I've found that I still have the internal drive to push myself while running.  I'm getting in great shape; I feel stronger and healthier both physically and mentally.  I can run a little further and a little faster each week.  My last long run was just shy of 8 miles and I loved every minute of it.  I definitely see myself running in competitive races again in the future.  Completing a marathon is on my bucket list.  I think with my new outlook on running, training in the future will be much more enjoyable.   

So, my advice to any of you that are wanting to start or get back into running but are a little hesitant:  get out of your head and and into your running shoes.  Don't think about it so much, just be in the moment.  Make a playlist of your favorite songs and listen to them while running.  My current running playlist is chalk full of Bon Iver, The Head & The Heart, Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars and other relaxing music I can get totally lost in.  Start running slow and low, maybe just a mile at first.  Once you get comfortable and can run that easily go a little further.  Push yourself but also listen to your body.  You'll know when to slow it down or take some time off.  Before you know it you'll be loving your runs and how they make you feel just like I do.  

Grilled Pizza

 Anyone who knows me well has heard me RAVE about grilled pizza.  It is absolutely amazing.   I happened upon this method of cooking pizza a couple of years ago and we have been hooked on it ever since.  I mean how can anything but magic happen when a barbeque grill and Italian food collide?  Lots of people have been intrigued with this idea so today I thought I would share the process step by step. 

What you'll need:

 -A grill.  Duh.

-Clean grill grate. Don't want the dough to stick!  You can also spray it with a little cooking spray

- Dough- from scratch, packaged mix, canned- whatever your little heart desires

- Sauce 

- Toppings

- Olive oil

- Grill tongs and Spatula 

- Rimless baking sheet 

Mmm.  Can you smell that rosemary?

 First, you will want to prepare your dough and prep the toppings you will want to put on your pizza.  I like to make my dough from scratch because it makes me feel more Martha Stewart-ish and I also like to add a little rosemary and basil to my dough (you should totally try that if you've never had rosemary pizza crust). Mix and form your dough according to instructions.  Divide your dough into four even portions.  Why divide the dough?  Because working with four small circles of dough on the grill is sooo much easier than one large one.  It also allows for you to do different toppings combinations and if you are having guests over everyone can customize their own personal pizza.  Yay!  

 Next you will prepare a rimless (you will see later why it needs to be rimless) baking sheet  to form your pizza crusts on.  Lube that baby up with lots of olive oil so it's super slick. 

 Work the dough sections into circle-ish shapes on top of the oiled baking sheet.  They don't have to be perfect and trust me, even if they are they won't stay that way for long.  The crusts should be about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Use a pastry brush to apply more olive oil to the tops of the crusts.  Now its time to do a test.  Pick up the pan and tilt it to one side.  When you do this the crusts should begin to slide on the pan.  If they don't remove the crusts and add more olive oil to the sheet til they do.

You are now ready to head out to the grill. 

We have a charcoal grill.  I prefer the flavor of a charcoal grill over that of a gas grill but a gas grill can also be used.  You will want to pre-heat your gas grill to medium heat.  Charcoal grills are a bit trickier.  You will want enough coals to cover the entire bottom of the grill in a singe layer.  You'll want the coals to be moderately hot with no visible flame.   The coals are moderately hot when you can hold your hand about for inches above them for no more than 3 seconds.  If you are using a charcoal grill you will probably want to start the coals before you begin making your dough since it takes around 30 min or so for a charcoal grill to reach the desired temperature.

 Hold baking sheet above the grill and slide the crusts, one at a time, onto the grill.  If you are having trouble you can use grill tongs or spatula to help ease them off the sheet.  I know what you are thinking...that dough is going to fall right through the grate.  Don't worry.  If the grill is at the right temperature the dough begins to firm up instantly.  If any edge does start to slip through just use tongs or spatula to pull it back from its fiery death. 

After just a minute or so the crust will begin to bubble and puff up.  It's time to remove them from the grill.  Slide your spatula under the crust flip them so you place them grilled side up on your baking sheet.  They should easily come off the grate.  If not give them just a few more moments on the grill. 

 A couple of these got a little too done but you get the idea.  You want that side of the crust to be just firm enough to remove it from the grill.  Now you can take your crusts and add sauce and toppings to the already grilled side.  With grilled pizza the crust is really the star here so you don't want to over do it with sauce and toppings- less is more. 

Obviously I feel no need to impress with made from scratch sauce. 

 I prefer to use a mix of pesto and tomato sauce.  Something about the nutty, basily goodness of the pesto just pairs wonderfully with the smokey flavor of the pizza.  I also love tomato sauce and the two play so nicely together.

 Like I said before, go light on the toppings.  This is often hard for me because I just love, love, LOVE pizza toppings.  This night we opted for grilled chicken, bacon, red onion, mushroom, black olives, goat cheese and threw a little parmesan on a couple of them.  I've also had grilled pizza with just a few vegetables and it was  amazing.  That's what I love about pizza....so versatile! I do suggest that if you are using any raw veggies like tomato slices or onions that you give them a quick saute just to remove some firmness because they won't be on the grill for all that long.  Once your pizzas are topped to your liking take them back out to the grill to cook the bottom side of the crust. 

See whats happening here?  Pure. Magic. 

This time you will want to leave the pizza on for a little bit longer around 4 minutes or so. You want the bottom of the crust to turn a light shade of brown and be nice and firm.  I constantly check the bottom by lifting the pizza with a spatula to make sure it doesn't burn.  Once the crusts reach the desired color remove them from the grill. 

Don't they look dreamy?  Swoon.

  At this point if your cheese didn't melt enough you can pop it under the broiler in your oven.  Your pizza is finished!  Cut those suckers up and relish in the deliciousness of grilled pizza.