Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

Thank goodness, at least as of when I left for work this morning, both of mine were still alive and kicking, so I'll reassure everyone that my two are fine! I've mentioned before that Mac and I drive a lot of dogs on rescue transports. We drive because we know we're helping these dogs reach loving, welcoming homes. I also monitor some of these transports, so drivers know if we're on time, behind schedule, etc. In one instance, many of us came together to drive several dogs from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and Maine, and the transport was featured on the Weekend TODAY Show. http://www.today.com/pets/rides-rescues-mutt-movers-transport-dogs-hundreds-miles-happy-homes-8C11097186 (If you pay attention, you can see a certain blogger's legs and hands while playing with Cole, the boxer around 2:50 of the video). Occasionally, the rescue will send an email a while after the transport with an update on the dog(s) and their new home(s). Sometimes, the update isn'...

Yesterday, we picked up Rolly, a senior black lab, who needed a place to bed down for the night on his way to a rescue in New England. He then had to be north of Harrisburg by 7 AM. His ride was finishing breakfast when we arrived, so he was on the road a few minutes early. I came home, napped for a bit, and then Mac's phone rang at 9 AM. I've been up since then. My transport to Hamburg was about 30 minutes early, so it was good that I was ready to go! Mac was at some meeting at the Masonic Center, so I was on my own, which wasn't too bad. The pups left Hamburg about 35 minutes ahead of schedule, so I had a few minutes to shop. Shortly after heading back, I received a text message that tonight's overnights (two Australian Shepherd mixes) were going to be about 30 minutes late, which meant that I could've spent a bit more time at Cabela's, but I was rather happy to leave! I'm now home with both overnighters and my two, and I'm ready for a nap!

Check out 2:25, you can see portions of me playing with big Cole. :) http://www.today.com/id/49063771/ns/today-video/#52936216

In June 2012, a crew from the TODAY Show filmed a two-day rescue transport for which Mac and I drove one leg. I’ve not seen the segment, so I don’t know if we’ll be in any of the footage that airs, but it airs on Saturday, September 7th.

A few months ago, I took my car to Monro for an oil change, tire rotation, and flat tire fix. It was simple enough, or so I thought. On Friday, Mac and I were out and about, stopping at Costco, September Farm Cheese, and Dream Dinners. At Costco, Mac ventured out to the car while I completed a comment card about their switch to Pepsi at their snack bar. As I walked out of the store, he was backing the Jeep out of our parking spot. While he was doing that, I heard a pop, and figured it was simply the suspension, so I didn't mention it to him. He heard the same thing at September Farm Cheese while backing out, but he too thought it was the suspension, and didn't mention it to me. On Saturday, we dashed out to run a few errands, including picking up beer and dog food. We were headed out to the sportsmen's club for their annual corn roast, and then Mac was going to camp there, while I continued home with the dogs to visit with my parents. As we were headed back home after our...

We had a fairly crazy weekend. On Saturday, I monitored a rescue transport, which went well. Mac and I went grocery shopping, and tried out a restaurant a bit south of us. It specializes in pit beef, ham, turkey, and pulled pork. It was good, but it was rather expensive. There's another "smokehouse" that's on the way from the vet, and it's about the same distance. We decided that we prefer that one. When we did our grocery shopping, the cashier didn't scan 2 coupons, so I had to visit the customer service desk to receive those. Today, I monitored the second day of the transport, and drove the next to last leg of it. There were no problems, except on our leg, when one of the three dogs decided she wanted to chew anything--her leash, her harness, another dog's collar or leash, or another dog's leg! We took Cobaka and Geno to our local dog park this morning. They enjoyed running around, and Cobaka especially enjoyed frolicking with another dog who arr...

This was a crazy weekend for us. I worked late on Friday, as I had a submittal that had to go on Friday, via email. Mac was at the range when I got home, and we ate leftovers and napped quite a bit. I ate California Chicken with Fettuccine leftovers, and I guess I still owe a blog entry about that meal! On Saturday, we both were up early and headed to the gun show. I was going to drop him off and head in to work, but he said, "Why don't you come with me, and we'll walk around and then leave after that?" So, we both went to the gun show. He found a steal of a deal--a No. 1 Mk. 5 Enfield in gorgeous condition (one of 20,000 ever produced) for $200. That was the good for Saturday. The bad for Saturday was that as we were leaving, someone flagged us down and told us that we had a flat tire. The left rear tire was flat, and when we started to change it, well, let me clarify... When Mac started to change it, he discovered that one of the lug nuts was a larger size than ...

Mac and I bought a new car a bit over a week ago. Well, new to us. We'd decided to wait, but then they asked us about price, and we gave them a number with which we could live, and they made a deal with us. We discovered a problem shortly thereafter. It was very difficult to shift into gear. Mac took it to the dealership on Friday, for a few outstanding issues, and mentioned it. They said they fixed it, but by Friday night, we were back in the same situation. On Saturday, we took it back to the dealership, and they are working on it. While they fix it correctly, I am currently driving around in a 2013 Subaru Outback! It's an automatic, so I'm not a fan of that aspect, but otherwise, it's an interesting vehicle. There's a gauge that's useless, really. It shows fuel-efficiency, and really, should be called "The Reverse Gas Pedal Gauge." Depress the gas pedal, the gauge drops. Release the gas pedal, the gauge skyrockets. We had a rough weekend. We dea...

Tiff and I headed to Dream Dinners for our March session on Thursday. This is the first time we've attended a weeknight session, but until the car issues, Mac and I had planned to be out in Philadelphia this past weekend. When the car issues started, we changed our plans, but opted not to change the session. I ordered an extra 6-serving of the Southwest Pulled Pork with Confetti Cornbread, figuring that Mac and I really enjoyed it when it was the test recipe, so we'd enjoy the extra in the freezer! Wow, is it interesting to prepare. It's not difficult really, but it can be challenging to get the cornbread to spread across the pork mixture easily. I'm sure mine won't look anything like the Dream Dinners pictures, but I made the best of it! We're having that for dinner tonight. The Orange Asian Chicken smelled wonderful, and we'll probably break that out of the freezer sooner, rather than later. The Pesto Cheese Ravioli with Chicken and Walnuts is curren...

We'd been told that we might get upwards of 8-10 inches of snow yesterday, so I thought it would be a great day to have soup. Likewise, I knew I could toss the Beef Barley Stew in the crock pot at 4:30 AM, and it would still be warm when we got home. I loved how easy it was to prepare. I simply emptied out the freezer bags into the crock pot, and then added 4 cups of water. I set the crock pot for 8 hours, low heat, after which it would simply revert to a "warm" setting, keeping it warm but not cooking it. Mac dropped me off at work, because we were concerned that if we did receive that much snow, they'd close the base, and I wouldn't be able to make it up there in time to pick him up from the base. A coworker dropped me off at a local restaurant after work, so I could sit at their bar and at least play Buzztime Trivia. I figured that it would at least help me pass the time until Mac could venture down here, since he worked overtime. While I was at the bar, ...

Mac and I packed up the dogs last Wednesday and headed off to visit my parents for the Thanksgiving holiday. Since I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner, I purchased most of the groceries here, and we hauled those out to their house as well. They picked up a few odds and ends, primarily things that I figured wouldn't travel well. Mac and I headed out around 4 AM on Thanksgiving to try to snag a TV at Kmart. We didn't make it more than an hour in line, before we found out that they'd run out of vouchers for the TV we wanted. We headed back to my parents' house, and napped. I got up around 8:30 and prepared the stuffing, then got the turkey into the oven around 9 AM, so we could eat around 1 or 1:30 PM. I then mixed everything for green bean casserole and cut the red-skinned potatoes so we could have mashed potatoes. My mother prepared the hash brown casserole, while I prepared a dill dip from a local small business. Once the potatoes were ready, Mac prepared the mashed...

Heard from the shop. Yes, it's the a/c compressor. They wanted $1,000 to replace it, in part because they were marking prices on parts up between 65-100%. The parts store is literally across the street from their location. Don't tell me it costs a tech $100 to walk across the street. They finally came down to $800, but not without a lot of yelling, bickering, and general surliness on my part. I'm now waiting for them to complete the work. I'm getting grumpy about it too. :) We know what that means...

Last night, as we were leaving the baseball game, my car sounded horrible, like it had a bad bearing. We drove it home, and I did a bit of research this morning. It sounds like I have a bad bearing in the a/c compressor. To avoid potential problems like overheating and such, they'll probably need to replace the a/c compressor. The car is in the shop, and I'm waiting to hear from them as to if it is the a/c compressor, or if they were able to find something else. Grumble, grumble, grr... The only good news is that if they can't fix it today, we have a few days leeway, since Mac is on vacation this week. I'm now at work, without a vehicle, and he's at home, with his car. If necessary, he'll pick me up tonight, and then we'll run an errand or two, and then head to the baseball game, postponing our Outlaw Chicken Sliders as dinner.