Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce Stress Buster
I originally found this homemade hot fudge sauce recipe from a quick online search, but it wasn't turning out quite right. I asked for help inside a great Facebook Group led by a friend, colleague,…
Category Archives: Entirely Off Topic
Your Earlobes Aren’t Worried – A Tip From the Anxiety Trenches
I promise the silly title is worth it. You see, I'm increasingly amped up about a number of real-life things, but I recently developed a new coping mechanism for worry.
The Rains Came
It started raining 7 days ago, and for the most part hasn't stopped. On Lilly's mountain we are safe and in no imminent danger. Please send your best wishes to others in Colorado suffering amid…
3 Things You’ll Need in a Hospice Situation
In our quest to be helpful to YOU as we tell the crazy stories of our lives, here is some real-world advice you might need some day.
Lyrics for My Life – Mumford & Sons
I buy very little music, but I've found "Babel," the recent album from Mumford & Sons, to be an apt soundtrack for my life. While the full context of the songs might not match my…
Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Bird’s Nest in Empty Skull
Years and years ago, Tom bought a bunch of old skulls from a local farm sale. He thought they were neat and proceeded to put them around our place. Some summers, this particular skull plays…
Book Review: A Violet Season
Summer reading recommendation! A Violet Season by Kathy Leonard Czepiel is a fantastic read. Set in the Hudson River Valley in upstate New York in the late 1800s, A Violet Season chronicles one growing season…
2012 – The Year the Month of May Went Missing
More than likely we won't remember much about May 2012 except for grief and heartache. The finer details? The day-to-day moments? Lost in an exhausted and emotional fog. Amid the ongoing mourning, I wanted to…
Lessons I Learned From Virginia Moore Hawn
The blog will go silent for a while as we cope with the loss of my mother-in-law Virginia Moore Hawn. She died early Sunday morning (May 6, 2012), after a week in acute hospice care.…
Celebrating 20 Years – of Marriage, Not Blogging
Today is my 20th wedding anniversary. Indulge me -- won't you -- as I wax a little nostalgic? This girl needs to celebrate every tiny thing. And, a big one now and then too.
Cookbook Review: The Muffin Tin Cookbook
Taking a break from Lilly news to share info on this neat new cookbook from my colleague and friend Brette Sember. First, came The Parchment Paper Cookbook and now ... The Muffin Tin Cookbook, which,…
Optimism and High-Altitude Gardening
I cannot tell you how much I need a break on just about every front you can imagine. So, last weekend, rather that work / write, I dealt with some family matters, played with Lilly,…
Ocupado – Backstory Behind Champion of My Heart Absence
best dog blog, champion of my heart, traffic sign graphicLilly and I apologize for the sudden, unexplained absence from blogging these last two weeks. Due to a new and difficult stage in our eldercare responsibilities,…
Hoping for Hearty Goldfish
In spring 2011, I bought Tom 19 goldfish for our pond out front. Their numbers quickly dwindled to 6, maybe 8. Our best guess is that birds or maybe a raccoon got them since we…
Newsworthy: Bug, the Hiking, Camping, Super-Social Kitty
Thanks to my work, writing pet industry and pet consumer articles for magazines and online outlets, I interview lots of amazing people and pioneers. The latest one to catch my fancy? A cat named Bug,…
Eulogy for My Friend Bobbye
Yesterday morning Bobbye, my friend and neighbor for more than a decade, died. Bobbye gave lung cancer (non-small cell) one heck of a fight for nearly 5 years. Diagnosed in March 2007, she used cutting-edge…
Top 10 Things I Miss Since Life Got Complicated
Starting in spring 2009, life around here got increasingly complicated with medical / health worries and looming grief on several fronts. The changes to my daily reality often feel beyond grim. I wade through life…
Cookbook Review: The Parchment Paper Cookbook
File this under Entirely Off Topic, Foodie Tangent Edition. Congratulations to my friend and colleague Brette Sember on the publication of The Parchment Paper Cookbook. It features 180 fast, healthy recipes perfect for busy moms,…
2011 Greenhouse Brag
Unless you're a dog girl or guy who also likes to garden, feel free to ignore us today ... because we're going Entirely Off Topic. Here's a quick overview of our high-altitude gardening successes and…
Wordless Wednesday: Entirely Off Topic
Allow me, please, a quick brag about that darling, darling husband of mine ... who for the second time in his second try WON the first in class ribbon at the Colorado English Motoring Conclave…
Wordless Wednesday: 2011 Garden
Using my 10 x 12 hobby greenhouse, I do my best to garden at least a little from our high-altitude home in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Living at 8,200 feet above sea level, with such…
Book Review: The Last Place You’d Look
Carole Moore, my friend and mentor, wrote a powerful, deeply researched account of missing persons and the people who look for them. In some 200 pages, Carole thrusts you into the heartbreak when a loved…
Veterinary Specialist Forum Recap
As I mentioned last week, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine held its annual forum in Denver recently, and I got the chance to attend one of the four days. Here is a brief…
Wordless Wednesday: Clump O’ Bees
While using our riding lawn mower to cut the grass at the historic family home, he nearly rode face-first into this swarm of bees.
Book Review: Quincy Tahoma
Truth. Writing is hard. Greater truth. Primary research is harder, especially when the subject led an elusive, often-desperate, carousing sort of life. That's one reason (among many) Quincy Tahoma: The Life and Legacy of a…