wordinista

Trying Alton Brown's recipe for "Overnight Oatmeal," which will use up the last of my steel-cut oats. I'm very excited about this. I didn't have chopped apricots, so I'm going with golden raisins instead, and also grated a little fresh orange peel into everything, which ought to go well with the cranberries. There's a version of this recipe that's halved, but it doesn't specify what size slow-cooker, and a lot of the reviews complained that the recipe burned when left on "low" overnight. It's my hope that this other recipe, which is doubled and specifies a slow-cooker size, was a way to correct the initial oversight.

If I wake up to a burnt, gluey mess, I'm sure y'all will hear about it.

Today, George and I went out to run a quick couple of errands, and while we were out and about, decided to check out the new (and by "new," I mean "opened within the last year") dog park at the new local regional park.

Now. Let me say at the outset that our town is not exactly known for... being smart about things. And generally tries to get by with doing as little as possible. We who live here are used to being disappointed. A lot.

Imagine our combined surprise, when we pulled into the park, that it was really freaking huge. No, really. And there was grass. And parking. A LOT OF PARKING. And a lot of restrooms.

The dog-park was amazing, oh my god. It makes the one we went to yesterday (the one we drove 1.5 hours to find) look like crap on a cracker. It was enormous, possibly a full acre, set back far enough away from the soccer fields (fields, PLURAL) and the baseball diamond (did not check to see if there was more than one), and anywhere else there might be a lot of crazy screaming people. There were RESTROOMS (honestly, it's like most places think if you take your dog somewhere, you automatically will simply not experience the urge to relieve yourself at any given time). There were two separate entrances for large dogs and small dogs. There were some really nice clean-up stations. There was parking, there was a lot of grass (I have had too many unpleasant experiences with dirt or mud), and, oh my gosh, it was just so clean and nice, and it is BY FAR this town's best kept secret.

I kind of want to start using it while it's still relatively unknown.

There was no attendant, but there was a little office-type thing that suggested to me that there is an attendant on duty SOMETIMES. I'll take it.

I'm totally taking the pups tomorrow. OMG.

Driving up to Sanford yesterday feels like even more of a rip-off now. XD

And now! Pictures of the Element!!!
( Cut for images! )

Okay, y'all have to admit I've been very good about the puppy posts. However, I had to succumb and do one today, for a few reasons:

1. Darwin is "graduating" from puppy kindergarten tonight.  There will be pictures.
2. Because I haven't in a while, I took D-bear outside and snapped some pics of him, because he's getting big, but he's still kind of shrimpy, and I want to remember these days when he's 70 lbs.
3. He lost his first tooth yesterday! (Yes, yes, I know -- who the hell cares if a dog loses a tooth? STFU, I'm excited.)

So! To commemorate the graduation AND the tooth thing, y'all get to see some of the pictures I took today! (Plz to be containing your enthusiasm.)

( Pictures behind the cut! (Looots of pictures...) )

Cutest puppy ever. Srsly.

I, however, am ready to fall down dead exhausted. Whoo. I'll be glad when the housebreaking is over. He's actually better than I thought he'd be for housebreaking. The only time it gets rough is at night. (The breeder had recommended we keep him in his crate overnight and let him outside first thing in the morning. We tried that the first night. I made it through the whimpering, but when he started howling, I caved. He's been sleeping at the foot of the bed, and so far he's woken us up every time he's had to potty.

So, here are the pictures I promised (with a few snaps of the girls, just to be fair).

( Losta pictures behind the cut! )