Gypsy - June 2008

Word of the Day

Imaccentate - The act of subconsciously imitating the accent of the person to whom one is speaking, thereby causing the person to first become puzzled, and then slightly offended when they come to believe they are being made fun.

Woodtick Count - 29 (I've been out hiking...so has Gypsy, aka, The Tick Magnet)

MC Daughter and D Buddy were supposed to come to The Lake last night but.... Anyway, I got a call that they've been delayed. Tonight? I think they'll be coming tonight. They didn't actually call me. They called #1 Son and #1 Son called me to relay the message. Of course, my Mom silent alarm system was activated at this point. I'm figuring that one of their cars decided to malfunction so they decided to stay put while D Buddy worked on getting it fixed. I seem to recall similar vehicular problems when MC Daughter and D Buddy were ready to hit the road when they moved from Arizona to their current location. At least this time they're not having to deal with a U Haul....yet.

DD Daughter called last night. She wanted to know if I'd heard any weather news about the area where she and GI Joe live. Their power was out and they noted LOTS of tree branches and downed trees when they drove home from the grocery store last night. I hadn't been listening the weather in their region. I was more concerned about the massive orange and red blob that was heading our direction...according to the weather radar online. Actually, we only ended up with a mere 1/3 of an inch of rain. The massive orange and red blob dissipated before it got here to a pale shade of green. However, this morning I heard that there was a tornado in Omaha and there were lots of power outages. I hope DD Daughter and GI Joe and Ms. En have their power up and running again this morning.


I finally got a "toy box" for Gypsy. An old plastic tub. Gotta love recycling. If I find something more esthetically pleasing (more decorative) I'll replace the recycled tub. The thing is that Gypsy has enough toys that a person could trip on them when they're scattered all over the living room. Besides, it's rather amusing watching her fish them out of the tub to play with them. My folks were amused by Gypsy's antics when Gypsy unpacked her little toy bag when she came to stay with them while I was in New York. Now...all I have to do is train her to put away her toys at the end of the day. My neighbor in Arizona has a dog that's been trained to do that. I'll have to ask her how she accomplished it. In the meantime, I'll just keep on picking up the toys as I find them scattered about.

Gypsy went on a hunger strike. She does not like cabbage...or maybe it was the squash? Mental note...don't make any more dog food with cabbage in it. I ended up having to make her another batch of stew. Chicken and Rice Stew. She loves chicken stew. She licked the bowl clean. End of hunger strike. I won't be making that pork stew recipe ever again. Actually, the basic formula for making dog food is: 1 pound of some kind of meat or cheese, 6 cups of some sort of grain, 4 to 6 cups of some sort of carbohydrate, 6 to 8 cups of some sort of fruit or vegetable (no cabbage for Gypsy), 3 to 4 quarts of liquid (milk, water, broth, canned tomatoes), and 2 to 4 tablespoons of fat (which comes pretty naturally with the meat). I may see if Gypsy likes cooked green beans the next time I make stew. I should have some growing in the garden by then. The Chicken and Rice Stew uses carrots and peas. I always keep a bag or two of peas in my freezer. They make wonderful cold packs for sore ankles and muscles. I'll have to add frozen peas to my grocery list since I used all my "cold packs" for Gypsy's stew. I expect that the next time I make dog food, my green beans in the garden will be producing. I hope. Oh...just in case you think I'm depriving Gypsy of a healthy dog diet. Gypsy only gets 1/2 cup of her special stew each day. She gets dry dog food too...which she munches on in the afternoon and she also gets doggy vitamins. She's a self regulator when it comes to eating...bordering on "picky eater" status. Her breed tends toward corpulence but she's trending toward skinny at this point. If that trend ever changes, I'll be more careful with the amount of dry dog food I leave out in her dish each day.


Murphyism of the Day

Perot's Observation

The only thing most politicians stand for is reelection.

Noteworthy Quote of the Day

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)