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Entries by Dana (254)

Sunday
Jun222014

Sadness then Relief at Chez Dana and John

  

 

We've had big dog problems here in the land of dog lovers.  There has been escalating aggression from Taffy against Rico.  Taffy had "issues" with Rico from the day we rescused  Rico and brought him home.  You can read about their shaky start in a journal entry from 2009 titled De'tente.  

Over the years, Taffy has  asserted her dominance at varied times.  A dog fight is a scary thing, lots of growling and teeth  flashing and "screaming."   There's generally a loss of blood from a nip on the paw and often some blood from John who sometimes gets nipped in the process of breaking up the fight.  While all this is going on, Poncho runs around the other two dogs like a whirling dervish, franticly barking  his high pitched Chihuahua bark. During the past six months or so, fighting has increased.   Always Taffy and Rico, never ever Poncho who arrived here eighteen months ago at  the age of seven months.  When daughter, Stacie, moved back home, he was part o fthe package.  Taffy loves Poncho and so does Rico.  They play, but never three  together.  Taffy and Poncho play.  Rico and Poncho play, that's it. When Taffy and Poncho play, Rico hides.  

When our friend, Emma, arrived here for a visit last month, things went crazy.  The last six days of her visit, Taffy viciously attacked Rico five times.  We were exhausted and frustrated, not to mention so worried  about poor Rico who was afraid to move and clung to me.  There was a vicious attack last Wednesday during which John was severely bitten in the hand.  Taffy is twelve and we considered if it was age related.  We know she is healthy because she just had her yearly vet check.  We discussed options such  as muzzling Taffy or seeing the vet about doggie tranquilizer  or the very worst thought eve,r that something was so wrong, a brain tumor or something, having  to euthanize her, dreading the thought.  I couldn't eat or sleep.

 Before we called the vet, I decided to call Taffy's breeder.  We bought Taffy way back in 2002 when  we lived on the other side of the state.  We got her the week before we got married, my wedding gift to John.  There are only three breeders of Welsh Terriers in  Florida.  They are not a common breed, fewer than 1500 are registered yearly by the AKC.  The three Florida breeders work together to control the market and to control the quality of the breeding.  So, even though Taffy came to us from Vero Beach, she was born here in Sarasota to the west coast breeder,  I knew all of this and called Karyn of Sea Plume Welsh Terriers.  When I told her who I was, gave her Taffy's number, she knew exactly which dog she was. We got her at the age of six months because she was a show prospect until her bottom adult teeth came in crooked. 

I explained the history of Taffy, the addition of Rico and then Poncho recently and how awful things had become. A quality breeder will always, no matter how many years go by, stand behind their pups.  Karyn said she would talk to her partner and call me back. About an hour later she called and said they wanted to send a  behaviorist to my house for an assessment. I was relieved and asked Karyn how much the behaviorist charges.  She said, "We breed for health and temperment.  We stand behind our dogs.  We will pay the behaviorist for the assessment and we'll go from there.  This woman shows Airdales and Welshies and she'll figure out what's going on.  Let's give it a try."

Two hours later, a woman named Pat arrived.  She took a brief synopsis of the problem from us and then told us to go about our day and pretend she wasn't here.  She sat  on the sofa, occasionally chatted to us, ignored the dogs mostly.  She did hold Taffy, examine  her eyes, check her hearing, check her submissiveness level etc.. She picked up Rico and  Poncho briefly, took the three dogs out to the yard for a romp. After two and  a half hours she gave us  her  evaluation and  you could have knocked me over  with a feather...

 Two year old, eight pound Chihuahua Poncho is the dominant dog!  He is not an aggressive dominant male, but a cerebral dominant male.  He rules by his intelligence, not his size or power.  The reason Taffy is so affectionate to him, playing with him, grooming him etc. is that she is  the only female to his alpha male  Taffy was the dominant dog in the Taffy/Rico pair.  Poncho came as a puppy and was still emitting the "puppy hormone" therefore no threat  to Taffy or Rico. Pat noticed and we have often commented on how Poncho has replaced Taffy in John's chair and always gets between me and Rico when Rico lays next to me on the sofa, moving Rico over.  The recent Taffy attacks have been when Rico has tried to come in the door after Poncho but before Taffy, when Rico has tried to get into John's chair when Rico was on John's lap and when Poncho and Taffy are in the kitchen and Rico tries to enter.  I've remarked how Taffy and Poncho are besties and Rico is the odd man out.  Pat also pointed  out that the cute  way Poncho always rests his head on Taffy's butt when they stand together is highly dominant animal body language.

Pat therorized that Taffyy being elderly and a female, has allowed Poncho to become the dominant dog.  It was a bloodless coup that developed as Poncho went from puppyhood to adult male. Poncho didn't have to fight for it.   Taffy allowed it  and gave up being the one on John's lap, in charge of kitchen and first in and out the door.  But, Taffy would kill Rico before she'd let a weak low status dog like Rico, get above her in pack rank.  Taffy isn't mean and is, in fact, fairly submissive.  It sounds complex and it is, but it makes perfect sense. 

While Pat was here, we called Stacie, who now lives one mile away, to come and get Poncho, who is, after all, her dog.  She did want to take him when she moved, but we has grown so attached to the little Martinet and really did think that he was so bonded with our pack that it would be detrimental to him to be taken away.  Stacie was also surprised about the whole Poncho As Dominant Dog theory, but thrilled to take him home.

We have had two and a half days without Poncho.  All afternoon and evening Friday and a good part of yesterday, Taffy and Rico slept.  It was as if they were on Prozac.  There was no pacing, no in and out the door when  Poncho barked to demand it be opened, no playing with Poncho when he demanded it.   Rico was still leery about going in or out  with Taffy there. Last night Rico slept in my bed.  Taffy had previously been displaced by Poncho in John's bed, and while she hasn't reclaimed that spot she did sleep under my bed the past two nights.  Today she has gotten in the chair with John and earlier she swam with us.  Rico is no longer plastered against me, but has claimed sofa and is over there just chilling.  He's gone in and out the door a few times.  Another surprise is for the first time in over a year my nose has stopped running.  Taffy and Rico do not shed. Stacie did call to report that her allergies have come on full force.  She said Poncho was  quiet at first, but that he appears very happy now.

So far, we're good.  We'll see how it goes.  Who knew?????????????????

Thursday
Jun192014

Gettting Laid

The Florida lifestyle really does not lend itself well to  wall to wall carpeting.  It's hot here and; more often than not, it's humid.  Summers are particularly humid. Carpets hold smells, just the regular smells of everyday living and cooking and pets.  They also hold allergens.  All of this becomes very noticeable when it's humid. Houses are built of stucco and if you can afford it, floors are mostly tile.  When you buy a new house in  a development, the model homes always have lots of beautiful tile or hardwood.  The trick is, of course, that all that tile or hardwood is an option, and a significantly expensive upgrade.  In a new home EVERYTHING is an option.  We bought our house as a foreclosure during thr bust in the recent housing market.  It was the first bank owned property in this development of over three hundred homes.  We were fortunate that the person who originally had it built put in the most options of anyone so far, including the caged pool.  The thing he did  not do was put hard surface floors in the bedrooms.  A lot of people from up north, want carpet in the bedrooms.  They want to wake up and put their bare feet on a warm carpet.  There's nothing worse than  getting out of bed on winter morning and putting your bare feet on a cold hard floor. I'm a New England girl.  I get that.  But Dorothy, we're not in New England anymore. 

One of my goals when we bought the house was to replace the carpeting.  Four years later, I'm starting. I originally thought I wanted hardwood floors to replace the carpeting.  We have three dogs.  That's twelve little dog feet with scratchy nails.  I talked to lots of flooring sales people.  At stores other than big box stores like Lowes or Home Depot, those who deal in only flooring were pretty divided on using real wood floors in this part of Florida advising that the floors absorb humidity, expanding and contracting, possibly shrinking and pulling away from the walls.  While I love our 20x20 diagonally set tile that covers the rest of the downstairs rooms and bathrooms, it is no longer made.  A real dilemma.

Eventually I ended up at the tile wholesaler from whom we were able to order the beveled glass and stone tile I saw in Architectural Digest and wanted for the new kitchen backsplash.  They patiently listened to me  whine and then showed me a product from an Italian tile  manufacturer, a porcelain tile that comes in both 6 inch and 9 inch widths and 36 inch lengths.  Unless you touch it, you cannot tell it isn't wood. 

They also recommended a fellow to install the floors.  We called him to come over and price the job.  He arrived, a handsome guy named Allesandro who emigrated from Italy five years ago.  If you've ever been to Florence or Rome or Venice, ever been to Italy at all, you know that the Italians are masters at laying tile.  Allesandro quoted his price and  did say we'd have to wait three weeks to a month before he could do the job.  He was very busy.  To me,  that meant he was good at what he did and we signed  on  the dotted  line.  He figured the materials needed, called it in to the wholesaler and had us write a check that he would deliver.  We  would pay his labor when the job was finished.

 

 Two days later a big  flatbed truck with a fork lift on the back appeared in front of our house.  We took delivery of the boxes of tile, boxes of transition pieces and jugs  of grout stuff.  That was easy.  Figuring out where to squeeze it all into the garage, not so much.

This morning Allesandro called and said he'd start tomorrow.  He said his guys would move the furniture and rip out the old carpet.  He asked that we remove the small stuff and  clean off the walk in closet floors in both rooms.  So....that's been our day.  Stacie came over and was a huge help.  I'm excited about the new  tile floors.  At least something  here will be getting laid soon.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday
Jun172014

Sausage, Fennel, Mushroom, Spinach Tortellini

 

INGREDIENTS

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

 

1 large fennel bulb, trimmed, halved through core, thinly sliced lengthwise (about 3 cups), fronds chopped

 

1 pound spicy Italian sausages, casings removed, sausage coarsely crumbled

 

1 8-ounce package sliced fresh crimini (baby bella) mushrooms

 

4 large garlic cloves, pressed

 

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed

 

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

 

1 cup (or more) low-salt chicken broth

 

1 16-ounce package dried tortellini with pesto filling or fresh tortellini with 3-cheese filling

 

1 5-ounce package fresh baby spinach leaves

 

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese plus additional (for serving)

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced fennel bulb, sausage, and mushrooms; sauté until sausage is brown and cooked through and fennel is almost tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and fennel seeds; stir 1 minute. Stir in cream, then 1 cup broth; boil until liquid is reduced and very slightly thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, cook tortellini in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain tortellini; return to same pot.

 Add sausage mixture to tortellini in pot. Toss over medium heat until blended. Add spinach; toss gently untilspinach wilts. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese; add more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten if dry. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with chopped fennel fronds, and serve, passing additional cheese.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday
Jun142014

Leek and Potato Soup

 

 It rained almost all day yesterday. It was darkish and sort of dreary. So, even though the temperature hovered around ninety degrees, it felt like a soup kind of day.  I had been to the Mexican vegetable stall the day before and could not resist buying 3 beautiful leeks.  I had one huge Russet potato and two shallots in the veggie bin and one getting stale Hoagie Roll taking up residence in the refrigerator.  It was a no brainer.

Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

 

3 leeks, split, cleaned and finely sliced (see video below)

1 huge or four medium potatoes cubed small

3 shallots diced

3 cloves garlic finely  minced

1 qt/4 cups chicken stock

salt

pepper

celery salt

a kiss of dried tarragon

1 cup heavy cream

1 stick butter divided

home-made croutons

2 finely sliced scallions

 

Sautee shallots, leeks and garlic in half the butter in soup pot

add chicken stock and cubed potatoes

simmer for 45  mins or until potatoes are soft

There are several ways you can proceed at this point:

You can set a sieve over a bowl, strain  the broth into the bowl, transfer vegetable to another bowl and mash them with a potato masher (extra dirty dishes, extra work).

You can try mashing them right in the broth (lots of work, you can't really see what's going on in the broth)

You can transfer vegetables to a blender or food processor to puree (more to wash)

Or, you can be lazy like me  and just shove an immersion blender into the whole mess and zip, it's pureed.

 

Next add your cream and remaining butter, cook gently over low to medium heat until piping hot.

Meanwhile drizzle bread chunks with olive  oil and brown at 400 degrees.

Slice 2 scallions paper thin.

Top individual portions with croutons and scallions.

This recipe will serve 6 as a starter or 4 as a main course accompanied by a salad and rustic boule'.

 


Friday
Jun132014

Illuminate the Dark