If it's cold out

You can blame me. I scheduled Sophie's spring chop for today, which means the temps will plummet tomorrow.
Poor thing. The groomer has not really grasped the importance of head-to-body proportion. My dog looks like a poodle bobble-head.

This photo is from my cellphone. All I had time for on another crazy-busy day.

Skijoring at the Mount Massive Mushin Leadville, Colorado

Skijoring is not for the faint-hearted. If you do it with one dog, the course is nearly 4 miles. And no, the dog is not necessarily going to be pulling you the whole way. You need to ski pretty hard, too. This at 10,000 feet of elevation.
The oldest contestant did the course in 48 minutes. He got a big cheer.
The fastest guy did it in under 15.
Here's how the dogs get around when they're not mushing:
The insertion process is interesting to see!
The lucky dogs have a hole big enough to stick their snoots out and catch some rays.
Here are some other dogs I met:

Pointers make surprisingly good mushers.
Most of the dogs were eager to be petted.

Some of them were there for the sled-racing. More dogs, longer course.
Here's Gunda the Australian shepherd crossing the finish line.
Skijoring season is over for Gunda, and now sheep season begins. His owner told me she lets the sheep wander at will in the forest. At nightfall, she tells Gunda to go bring them home, and he does.
Gunda is a good dog! And ready for some belly-rubbin'.

Bee-busy and dog-tired

What a full day! Up very early and up to the mountains to see some skijoring at the Mount Massive Mush in Leadville, back down to Denver to let my own dogs out, then up to Boulder for a bee club session on swarm-catching.
I was all over the place like the girl above, and now I feel like the one below.

Out and about

I hate going to the dog park on the weekends. Too many people, too many dogs, too many people with dogs they can't control.
But when it's threatening to snow, the riffraff stays home. "Hooray!" yells Leo.
Sophie was a little more subdued, but happy to take deep whiffs of whatever was wafting on the brisk breeze.
The water in the ponds is really low. Guess who went wading in the stinky mud?
I tried doing another portrait. Again, not great. But they're all in one spot for the moment.
Now we're home again. They had some dinner, and I need to wash Leo's feet more thoroughly. Peeeeeee-ewwww.

"Now with extra poodles!"

Lannie and Leo are sojourning with me for a few days. I wanted to get a quick shot of them as I dragged them around the block before work. But posing three dogs presents problems. First, you have to get them all to stay still.
OK, that didn't work very well. I turned them around and tried it facing the other way.
Better, but with the sun behind them, Sophie's just a black blob.

No time to try again today, but I'm sure I'll find an opportunity tomorrow.

Fraternal office twins

I noticed my cow-orker's shirt a few weeks ago. It looked familiar. "Columbia?" "Yep."

Naturally, the day I next wore mine was the day she wore hers.

At least the colors are different.

Oh, great

I don't really mind being called, and the last time I sat on a jury it was pretty interesting. But the timing of this could have been better. Cross your fingers that they don't need me.

Have you ever been on a jury?

Another mystery tree

OK, got another one for you. There's a tree that I've wondered about in a neighbor's backyard, but I couldn't get a decent photo of it. Weird tree! Dark, thickly ridged lower trunk, but the upper branches are smooth and white like a birch. I thought it was an anomaly (maybe one tree sprouted from the trunk of another?) until I spotted this similar example:
Got any ideas?
Y'all were able to name the last mystery tree (a sycamore) quite handily, so I'm sure you'll be able to help me out here, too.

Do fence me in

You may recall this scene from Feb. 20, when I discovered that my aged fence posts decided they could no longer stand up to the relentless winter winds. They were probably 20 years old, so that's wasn't a surprise. Rebar and dog ropes kept the whole thing from blowing over until Chuck the Handyman could get here and set things right.
Chuck had his work cut out for him. A well-set fence post is anchored in concrete at least two feet deep. Three of the posts needed to be replaced. It took four hours.

Now I'm safely fenced in again (and yes, the missing pickets were put back up after I took this photo).
Time to go shopping for some post-toppers.

Silly kitchen gadget No. 41

I love bacon. And I'm not alone. I even know self-proclaimed "vegetarians" who cannot resist it. But I don't understand the proliferation of bacon-microwaving gadgets. Is it really that hard to put bacon in a pan, turn on the heat and cook it?
For me, part of bacon's charm lies in its crispiness, and the sound and aroma of it filling my kitchen: pop sizzzzzzzzle mmmmmmmmmmm.

Can you get that with this as-seen-on-TV Bacon Wave?

Or with the Cameron Cookware Mak'n Bacon? I think not.

But it doesn't end there. No, there's still the Presto Microwave Bacon Cooker. They don't know when to stop!

And let me tell you about not knowing when to stop. I went on a bacon binge a few years ago. I started cooking it in the oven, a pound at a time. Just spread it on racks over a cookie sheet. So tasty. I would take a couple of days to eat it.

Then I got a cholesterol reading. Whoops! Lucky for me, as soon as I quit with the bacon binging, the bad reading dropped like a rock.

So in addition to finding the concept of microwaved bacon off-putting, I have no desire to find any method that makes it easier to cook the stuff.

Not even the WowBacon microwave broiler can tempt me. Even though it's fully enclosed! And eco-friendly! And only costs $20!

And comes with a promotional video! Just in case you're wondering how it works.

No, I love bacon, but I also know my weakenesses. I'll stick to special-occasion bacon, prepared in the traditional way.

Taro chips: FAIL

OK, if you're Googling around looking for a taro chip recipe, I can give you one piece of advice: Do not make your slices paper-thin.
Taro is a nice starchy tuber, much like a potato. Easy to peel, easy to slice. Tastes a little like potato, too, at least when fried.
I peeled and sliced four small ones, then soaked the slices in water, changing the water a couple of times, to reduce the starch. Much as you'd prepare potatoes for chips. (As I did for these potato chips.) The taro, however, continues to produce this mucilaginous slime that you might find off-putting.

Still the slices fry up OK, and shrink a lot. Here's where you might consider doing this if you have a deep-fryer.
Frying paper-thin slices a few at a time in a pan is way too labor-intensive.

And then there's what happens when you finish frying and forget to turn off the burner before leaving the kitchen.
Whoops! Hack hack cough cough. I have to get a better ventilation system than two open doors and a box fan.

So today I tried another method, baking.
The first batch burned because I was outside talking to a neighbor. The second batch didn't burn, but was still mostly stuck permanently to the foil.
Yeah, they taste good! But geez, I could've ordered a case of Lay's for what this cost me in time and labor. Since I only had the four tubers, I'll have to try this again with thicker slices, or maybe as fries. I like the flavor! I just don't want to work that hard.

Who knew?

First of all, this magazine I spotted at Costco yesterday. Cowboys & Indians? WTF? Apparently it's been around for 10 years. With Captain Kirk on the cover, I thought, "Surely this is a hoax." But no, it's for real.

Next up, limestone water. Used in Thai cooking to make things crispier. You buy pink limestone powder (yes, rock dust), shake it up in the water, then soak things in it before frying them. I was looking into making taro chips (more on that later) and found that info and photo here.

Learn something new every day.

Breakfast at Pete's Kitchen – anytime

I wanted to go to Jonesy's EatBar to try their sliders, but nooooo. Their website says they are open until 11 p.m. daily, but when we arrived at 10:15 p.m. Sunday, they were shut up tight. Big points off already.

Disappointed and ravenous, we ended up at the place that never disappoints and never closes: Pete's Kitchen. Open since 1942, Pete's Kitchen is your quintessential greasy spoon, serving all the classic Greek diner fare.
The place is a little worn around the edges, but comfortably so. The service is infallibly fast, friendly and efficient. And the food is tasty and affordable.
I got the corned beef hash with eggs, hash browns and an English muffin. The Sergeant got a gyro sandwich (from which I vultured a fair amount of yummy feta).
I saved enough corned beef and potatoes for my lunch the next day. Add a couple more eggs over easy and you're good to go!

Pete's Kitchen
1962 E. Colfax Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
303-321-3139