Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Would it be so bad to let my dog have balls?

This in the email today:
Dear  BEEZLE,



How are you? We just wanted to remind you that

you are due for your following:



11/11/2011             CASTRATION CAN. UNDER 50 LBS.

11/11/2011             MICROCHIP w/Dr service & registration



Please tell your owners to call us for an appointment soon!
Your friends at the Veterinary Hospital

Beezle did not pass on the message.  He is considering leaving town.  Since I am leaving town that weekend, I am considering letting him pass on his erm, checkup.


Would it be so bad to let my dog have balls?  They are small and very furry.

Monday, October 17, 2011

My name is Vampire Tiger

This evening Wren asked me why we gave him such a boring name.  He said wanted "a cool name" instead. 

"We called you Wren because we though it was a cool name" I told him.  "What is a cool name you would like?" I wondered.

"Oh, you know, like TIGER or VAMPIRE.  I like Wren.  So, instead of (names changed for publicity purposes) Wren Victor Smith I would be Wren Vampire Tiger."

"Oh"  I said.  I mean, what is there to say.

"Yeah, or Wren Vampire Smith."

"Well, you can change it when you get older if you like."

"Okay," he said "and where are my mushrooms?  I want to eat more of our mushrooms before my Otter Pop."

Wren has developed a great appreciation for foraged mushrooms as the season of all things fungal comes into the Northwest.  Last weekend we collected 3 lbs of chanterelles on Vashon and I bought another 7 lbs at the store where they were on sale for $3.99 a lb!!! I have never seen them that price before.  I wish I had bought more but I have to cook and preserve these first.  People here call them 'shanties'.

I have also enjoyed a snack of coprinus micaceus (Shiny cap) for the first time. I identified them in the forest but didn't know they were edible and collected them later in our neighborhood on a rotted buried log.

I ate these for a snack on my pasta tonight.  Wren said "they taste like water"


I also ate mixed boletes (birch bolete and suillus luteus  slippery Jack) from the neighbors yard.  All utterly delicious.

Mixed Vashon chanterelles and boletes from the neighborhood