We’ve added another animal to the brood.

His name is “Chuck” (they were calling him “Claude” at the shelter, but Wendy kept mis-saying it as “Chuck”, so that’s what stuck) and he was a stray with some medical problems. He’s an adult neutered male, and at least part greyhound, so he’s very thin, lean, and fast. The fact that he is part greyhound most certainly worked in his favor in getting to come live with us… You see, one of Wendy’s dear departed pets was a sweet greyhound called Midnight and Chuck resembles Midnight enough that Wendy gave him a second glance, which was enough for Chuck to work his considerable charms on Wendy and convince her to bring him home. Wendy has worked Chuck through his medical problems and we’re nursing him back to full health.

Wendy was worried about how the other dogs (Dolly, Bean, and Buster) would react to the new packmate, but she needent have — within an hour of his arrival, Chuck was laying in the pile of dogs like he’d been with them since he was a pup. He’s a very sweet and gentle guy and a great addition to our family.

-= Exported from BigOven =-

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts and Pecorino

No more wrinkled noses when people hear you’re serving Brussels Sprouts — they’ll be begging for more. Properly cooked Brussels Sprouts are sweet, nutty, and full of good flavor. In this preparation, from Franny’s restaurant in Brooklyn, they’re also anointed with olive oil and given a good roasting. The walnuts and pecorino are perfect counterpoints. Look for fresh Brussels Sprouts on their long stalks at the farmers’ market.

Recipe By: BEST AMERICAN RECIPES 2005-2006, page 183
Serving Size: 6
Cuisine: Uncategorized
Main Ingredient: Brussels Sprouts
Categories: Roast, Vegetables, Side Dish

-= Ingredients =-
1/2 cup Walnuts
18 each Brussels Sprouts ; cut in half
to taste Extra virgin olive oil
to taste Salt and pepper
squeeze Fresh lemon juice
to taste Pecorino Toscano ; optional, for topping

-= Instructions =-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Toast the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet for about 10 minutes, or until they smell toasty; set aside. Crumble them when they’re cool enough to handle.

Turn the oven up to 450 degrees.

Toss the Brussels Sprouts in a bowl with enough olive oil to coat each sprout, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange the sprouts in a single layer on the baking sheet and roast for about 20 minutes or until fork-tender and some of the leaves have become crunchy.

Let the sprouts cool on the baking sheet, then toss in a large bowl with the walnuts. Drizzle liberally with olive oil, add a squeeze of lemon, and season with salt and pepper. Shave some of the pecorino on top and serve warm.

** This recipe can be pasted into BigOven without retyping. BigOven.com ID= 162285 **
** Easy recipe software. Try it free at: http://www.bigoven.com **

We cannot let our cats roam free
They eat plants and go where they shouldn’t be.

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door — nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,
The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob, or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years — canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is… kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat’s butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All  Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:
1. They live here. You don’t.
2. If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That’s why they call it “fur”niture.)
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, it’s an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn’t speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
1. Eat less
2. Don’t ask for money all the time
3  Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don’t hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don’t smoke or drink
8. Don’t have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don’t want to wear your clothes
10. Don’t need a gazillion dollars for college, and…
11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

We put Buster into bed with us before ‘lights out’ most nights. He lays there silently, tail wagging gently, hoping that we’ll forget he’s there and fall asleep with him between us.

SO CUTE!

Today, Wendy took Buster in to clean his teeth, implant a microchip, and to remove his floppy dewclaw. She said he did well through the proceedure, but that his teeth “look like the teeth of a 10 year old dog” (we think he’s about 6 years old but are not sure) and that it’s clear that he’s never had any dental care in his life. Buster was rescued from the pound by the owners from whom we got him, so his history prior to the previous owners is completely unknown. (The picture is neither Buster’s mouth nor from Wendy’s hospital — it’s just a photo I found on the ‘net)

Wendy had to remove one of Buster’s molars because it was so crummy, and she thinks that he may lose a couple more teeth in the next few years — they might be too far gone. The cleaning she did was thorough, of course, and we hope that with continued close monitoring and care, we may be able to head-off any more tooth decay or loss.

(this is his floppy dewclaw)

And maybe his breath will smell better, too!

I had my GARDE MANGER class this evening, so I went directly to Cincinnati State from work.

We worked on a few items tonight since the food order was yet again messed up. As a result, we didn’t have the ingredients we needed for the items assigned tonight. This is a frustrating occurance that has happened far too many times this term. So, we made what we could — Pate Choux Paste, herbed cracker dough (we’ll pipe this out and bake it for decorations on our final platters), and a few other things, but nowhere near the production we hoped for.

During class, Chef brought out some Irish Breakfast Sausage and one of the students whipped up some Cranberry Mustard. The two together were a very satisfying dinner.

At home, Wendy was in the computer room and Buster was laying at her feet. When Dolly & Bean (the other two dogs) went crazy when I got home. Buster followed them halfway down the upstairs hallway before Wendy could catch him! Pretty good for a ‘paralyzed’ dog, don’t you think? He’s really starting to get his proprioception back — he’s placing his front feet somewhat deliberately, but he gets it ‘right’ almost half the time now. Pretty good for a dog who was immobile only two weeks ago! We’re hopeful that he’ll continue to improve.

In other news, he’s completely off all his medications now — the steroids, the muscle relaxers, the metronidozol, the Vitamin E, and the Selenium. He’s been dry in his playpen for the last couple mornings and his stools are starting to firm up.

This evening, Wendy & I went to Joann Fabrics to pick out fleece for our upcoming participation in a Project Linus event that Holly organized and Tracy is hosting.

Project Linus is a 100% volunteer non-profit organization with a two-fold mission:

First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”

Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

I picked out a nice HELLO KITTY fleece and Wendy selected a fish-themed fleece. Those in hand, we stopped by Frisch’s for a fish sandwich, onion rings, and cottage cheese for me and a tuna melt and fries for Wendy.

Once dinner was done, we took Buster upstairs to the computer room where he crawled around a bit while we computed, but mostly he was happy to lay in his cuddle cup. We’ve discovered that he absolutely loves his cuddle cup — he lunged (unsuccessfully) for it when I put it on the floor for him before I could put him in. He doesn’t have the control of his front end to jump up the 2 inches it takes to get into the cup. When I placed him in there, he was thrilled and nestled right in. The only thing Buster seems to like more than his cuddle cup is when Wendy or I lay on the floor. He’ll flop out of his cuddle cup and crawl the length of the house to lay against whomever is on the floor. It very sweet — he’ll go through the considerable effort of slowly crawling over just to be next to us. He’s starting to get better control of his front paws now.

He’s still down more than he’s up, but we’re seeing progress nearly every day. As an example, this morning was the first morning he’s been dry & clean in his playpen. We think this is because he’s now off all his medications (the steroids made him thirsty, and that water has to go somewhere!). We’re hoping that being off the meds will also calm his bowels a bit, which have been mostly loose.

There are several new pictures in Buster’s gallery, here.

This article was written by Wendy. 

At this time Buster is making great strides, literally. As last week drew to a close he started to push himself around the floor more enthusiastically. As anticipated, his rear end is stronger than the front (which we expected due to the location of the injury, which is right where the nerves controlling the front legs attach to the spinal cord). By Saturday he was righting his rear end by himself and shoving forward on his down front end in sort of a ‘commando crawl’. He has progressed to being able to support his weight on all 4 feet and taking a few halting steps before the front end gives out and he tumbles over.

He has plenty of strength in all 4 legs, but the problem remains in the proprioception, which is knowing where one’s body parts are without looking at them. This is always the first thing to go and the last thing to return in this sort of injury due to the way the associated nerve tracts are positioned in the spinal cord, so we are encouraged that it is beginning to come back to him at all. In humans, we lose proprioception not only when we have traumatic injuries like Buster’s, but also when we drink too much; hence the “drunk test” of touching your nose with your eyes closed. It’s why we stumble around after too many beers… we just don’t know where our feet are without seeing them anymore. So at this point it is honest to say that Buster’s movement is like a VERY drunk person’s… he is strong but terribly uncoordinated.

Buster rolls over the tops of his feet and can’t bother to place them correctly on the floor (pad side down), so he tumbles over. Fortunately, he’s rather low to the ground to begin with, so a tumble is not a major trauma. After a few good steps (usually to escape his own waste or to get to food) he falls over and gives up and lays there until someone comes to fetch him.

He is eating well but still has some loose stools, which I attribute to the high doses of Vitamin E he has been taking to help his nervous function. We have stopped this tonight as he is progressing so well and we are hopeful his bowels will firm back up soon. Overall his spirits seem to be pretty good. You can tell he gets frustrated when he wants to do something he can’t, but mostly what he seems to want to do is eat and sit next to us on the couch, and those things are currently within his reach.

Here’s a quick update on Buster, the dog that’s currently with us… As you may recall from this article, Buster is a 6-year old sweet Daschund who is currently paralyzed from the neck down.

On their first attempt last week, the folks at Wendy’s hospital weren’t able to get a read-able X-ray of Buster’s spine. However, Wendy got a good film yesterday and found that Buster has an overriding spinal compression of C6-C7. Below is a scan of a human spine (we’re looking into posting Buster’s scans) with a similar problem, from this page:

Wendy isn’t able to do the type of spinal surgery that might help Buster, plus the location of his compression is in “no-man’s land” of the spinal cord — not easy to get to from the usual surgical entry spots. We’ve got him on a pretty good dose of steroids, muscle relaxers, and some Metronidozol (for his bowels, which seem to be upset by all this). He’s comfortable in his little bed and we take him outside to potty several times a day. His teeth, bad breath, and little pot belly are evidence that Buster enjoyed a diet of people food in his previous life, something that will change as he recovers. We provide him I/D, which is a bland food that should be easier for him to digest. He’s currently pretending not to be interested in dog food, but eagerly accepts the pieces of cheese we use to get him to take his meds.

Dr. Purvis, one of Wendy’s colleagues, is going to attempt spinal manipulation (chiropractic) on Buster today. This procedure isn’t without risks — first, he’s knocked out; secondly, because of the location of his injury, there is the possibility that messing with his spinal cord could cause his respiration to stop (Wendy and the other doctor assure me that this possibility is very remote) — but with the exception of the ’stopping breathing’ piece, the proceedure shouldn’t make anything worse. Once I know anything about how that goes, I’ll post it here.

UPDATE: As I was finishing this article, I called Wendy at the hospital. Buster’s procedure was already done and she said that the doctor stretched Buster’s neck out so far that he “looked like a little giraffe” and that they got some movement from his spine, and that Buster was only knocked out for a few minutes. As he was recovering, one of Wendy’s nurses saw Buster eating some food (he had to scootch his way over to it, too), but when Buster saw her looking at him, the little stinker stopped eating! This dog knows all the tricks. At this point, it’s too soon to expect any visible changes in his behavior, but we hope that this spinal manipulation will speed his healing.