use real butter

NaBloWriMo day 22. Oy.

Jeremy is on travel in the wilds of British Columbia (okay, not wilds – he’s in Vancouver) and so I had a nice happy hour at Bacaro on Pearl Street Thursday evening with some of my gal pals. We actually invited a few fellas to join us, but I think the estrogen-heavy gathering may have scared a few of them away. A most excellent time was had by all. I’m always astounded at how awesome my betties are – smart, fun, funny, talented, very cool.

glowy colored lights – i like blue lights

trying to get a look at the happy hour board through the conversation

i don’t know what andrea was laughing at – there was much laughing

I bet you thought I was never going to pick up on that photowalk series, huh? Fooled ya! You can’t rush these things, you know. It has more to do with scheduling than anything else – we are all very busy. However, I was fortunate to schedule a photowalk with one of my favorite people on the planet, Marianne. I had to get this in before she left for Antarctica. That’s the bummer about being friends with polar engineers – they’re gone for most of the ski season :( I let Marianne use my Nikon D200 for the photowalk. Let’s get started, shall we?

meet marianne – she kicks ass

Marianne: Nikon D200 with Nikkor 18-200mm 3.5-5.6G ED (DX) VR
Jen: Nikon D3x wtih Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

Marianne chose the location – the Boulder County Railway’s Historical Society’s Valmont Display Site. I refer to it as the Train Preserve. It is open to the public although tucked away in east Boulder. We met on a sunny morning last week and watched several bunnies scampering about in the old rail yard. It’s a quiet and peaceful place. The rules: we take turns choosing a location to stop and then shoot about 5 frames within a ten foot radius of the location. Here are a few of our shots:

marianne location #1: shot 2

jen location #1: shot 5

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: rum raisin ice cream

NaBlo-Freaking-WriMo day 21.

Okay, it’s not actually NaBlo-Freaking-WriMo, but that’s how I’m feeling about it. [Oh! Please don’t forget to vote for my charity on the Good Bite/Quaker Oats video competition – clicky clicky on the linky linky. Look for Cherries Jubilee and help Farm to School win $10,000. Thank you!] Present Me wants to go back and smack Past Me upside the head for signing on because far too many things are falling into the neglect pile. Well, it’s time for a recipe so I’ll quit with the chit chat and git-a-goin’.

I don’t care what time of year it is, it is never too cold for ice cream. Boozy ice creams are particularly welcome during the winter holiday months. Cream and booze – so festive! I make a lot of ice cream because it is my favorite way to use up all of those egg yolks. I don’t tend to indulge much though… tummy aches. I serve the ice cream to dinner guests or I’ll assign Jeremy a couple of flavors to finish so I can clear the freezer for more ice cream. But there are a few flavors that I have a little love affair with: pralines and cream, butter pecan, and rum raisin.

that’s right, rum

four yolkie dokies

straining the custard

stirring in the cream

**Jump for more butter**

NaBloWriMo day 20.

I was supposed to post a recipe tonight, but things get crazy from time to time. Lately it feels like things are crazy all of the time. So instead, I’m cutting myself a little slack because NaBloWriMo is kicking my ass and I’m starting to hate it. Today is a Kaweah post… because Kaweah was sick yesterday.

ahhhh! it’s the kaweahsaurus!

For those who follow my inanities on Twitter, you know that Kaweah had a UTI yesterday. My dog has an amazing threshold for pain. She’s a lab, after all. They swim in icy lakes for fun. She’s taken me down by clocking her thick skull against my knee without even noticing. Kaweah has only cried in pain two or three times in her doggy life. So yesterday afternoon while she paced about desperately in the yard, squatting to pee, but unable to urinate over and over again, I gave the vet a call. Nope. Booked. No appointments until tomorrow. Just wait until tomorrow. Meanwhile, Kaweah was staring at me. She was panting, crying, pacing, and wagging her tail nervously.

trying hard not to bite remy

I feel a strong responsibility for this furball. I held Kaweah and wept into her neck when I got news of my sister’s death. Kaweah normally dodges pets and hugs (she’s an odd one), but that day she leaned against me and let me cry. She slept on the bed with me after each round of chemo and would put her paw on my shoulder when I had coughing fits. When I sat in the bathroom at 3 am trying not to throw up, she would walk in and sit next to me until I returned to bed. I tell people she isn’t especially smart (our observations have more than confirmed this), but she is incredibly sweet and I love her. She is a good companion when poop and dead animals aren’t involved. She’s my girl.

the indignity

I won’t go into my back-and-forth with the vet’s office, but eventually I was able to get some antibiotics (they wanted a urine sample – I can’t get a urine sample if SHE CAN’T PEE). Within 30 minutes of tricking Kaweah into eating the pill, I got her to settle down and take a nap. Her rapid, shallow panting became slow and steady breaths. Before I knew it, she was having doggy dreams and chasing bunnies in her sleep. By the time Jeremy got home, Kaweah had a nice potty break and she was her happy self again.

her favorite rock

Kaweah is doing great now. Thank you to everyone for your sweet tweets yesterday and today. xxoo