Simply Sunday and Waiting for Sandy

Its now the calm before the Mega Storm or Frankenstorm as the local papers call it. Hurricane Sandy a thousand mile wide, category one hurricane is making its way to the east coast corridor of the US, slamming very unladylike into areas of New Jersey and New York City! Today is the last day to hunker down and get supplies for a possible 2 day stint of being stuck inside. Hopefully we will not have a power outage but with the severe winds that Sandy (up to 75 mph) is packing we may not be so lucky! 

The grocery stores are empty of any kind of bottled water so hopefully we have enough just in case. I noticed the liquor store was very crowded yesterday. Maybe a lot of folks rather be short of water but not of their booze to ride out the storm with?!

Part of our preparing for the hurricane includes making Ozzie his cinnamon pumpkin cookies. They are fairly easy to put together and I just pulled them out of the oven. Ozzie is patiently waiting for them to cool so he may sample one! (see recipe below)

Not to fail to mention the good news with Ozzie.His last chemo treatment was Friday and he went through it like a trooper. The vet wants to see him in one month to check him out and he will continue to take the steroids until then. Dr D  said that he responded well to the treatments and the lymphoma is in remission. Yea! We were very happy to hear this and hope that he continues to keep the cancer at bay!

For all those in the path of Sandy, stay safe have a plan and good luck!


Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cup of organic flour ( you can use regular or whole wheat)
1 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree ( make sure its not the pie filling kind that is seasoned)
1/4 cup of crunchy peanut butter ( organic or all natural if you can )
3/4 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 cup of water (amount varies depending on the dough's consistency)

Preheat the oven to 275 F. Mix all the ingredients together. Once you get a nice dough ball going get your rolling pin and roll it out to about a 1/4 inch. Take your cookie cutter and cut out your cookies. Place them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and bake them for 1 hour. The doggie treats should be lightly browned. Let them cool for an hour or so. Then give them to your favorite pup!

"How long must I wait! Wake me when they're done!"

Wordless Wednesday

"Excuse me, I am sleeping here!"

Simply Sunday and Bad Bullies

Last night we ended up watching the Dog Whisperer. It was just by chance that the whole show was about Cesar helping out two owners with bulldogs. Both had aggression issues with other dogs and one with people as well! The one dog, Hugo, ended up going to Cesar's home for several months since he required intense training and rehabilitation  The owners of these two dogs were the best bulldog dads you could find and very devoted to their bullies. It just makes you wonder what goes wrong sometimes in a dogs thinking, They did explain that with Hugo, was attacked by another dog in doggy day care,that then carried  over into him attacking other dogs. One must remember that bulldog genetics hold generations of dogs that were trained to fight. Ozzie is really a good boy and is more of a lover than a fighter, though except when it comes to his human brother Will. (Ozzie still does go after him from time to time, and we still can't figure it out!) Any one who is thinking of getting a bulldog should consider that they can be difficult to train and should decide if they are up to the task before hand!

Cesar Millan has a new book coming out in January titled A Short Guide to a Happy Dog. Guess what breed of dog  appears on the cover with him? Yup that's right...a bulldog! 

This week I promise to make Ozzie his peanut butter and pumpkin cookies. I just need to get some organic peanut butter. I will post the recipe for them in next Sunday's blog.

In the mean while we are just enjoying the beautiful Fall weather this weekend. The leaves are turning brilliant colors and Ozzie is just soaking it all in!

Here is hoping you are doing the same and have a great week all!

"Happy Pumpkin Day...I just made that up..haha!"

Sunday, Chubby Sunday

What a wonderful Autumn weekend its been so far! Ozzie is currently lounging on the deck with his Pop and all is right in the world at the moment. He  has been feeling well and with that his weight has gone up. Though you like to see him maintain and not lose weight with the lymphoma, one would hope he wouldn't start to fit in his extra-large size pants again.  ( That is if he were to wear pants!) It may be back to his low cal dog food. I have a call in to the vet to see what she thinks about switching foods.

In the meanwhile there shall be no more pizza crust for Ozzie on Fridays!

"Hey, it's okay this is a low cal bullie stick!"

Simply Sunday and Bless the Beasts

I work at a small Franciscan College one town over from me which is a 5 minute commute from my house. (You gotta love it!) October 4th is the Feast of St Francis of Assisi who is remembered for his love of all creatures. In celebration of this event, we had a blessing of the animals on Friday.  Ozzie's  Pop was  home Friday so I called him in the morning to bring Ozzie to the college lunch time when Father Damian was going to bless our pets. I also reminded him to bring the camera which of course he forgot, (husbands!) so I have no pictures of this event! Ozzie was the hit of the animal parade and got his sprinkle of Holy water and blessing. Ozzie needs all the blessings he can get! 

Ozzie has been feeling okay lately except a bout of diarrhea that began yesterday. He woke us up at 4:00 AM this morning because he had to do an  emergency poop! We have medication for his stomach woes that we gave him and it will be a chicken and rice kind of day for the Oz. Hopefully this will pass and he will be back to his ole self soon!

In the meantime take a moment to give thanks to the love and joy our pets bring into our lives and pray for those animals that don't have the wonderful homes they deserve...yet!

Ozzie made the local paper a couple of years ago for the Blessing of the Animals!