Like owner, like dog.

One of our dogs, Connery, had to go under the knife today.

Well, more accurately, under the dental pick. He had his teeth cleaned. For dogs, they put them under general anesthetic so that they can do extractions, root canals, whatever without injuring themselves or the dog.

He just got home and has been moping around the house, whining these sad, pitiful little moans and resting his head on my knee / hand / couch / chair any chance he gets. He'll look up at me with the saddest puppy-dog eyes ever, and let out this soft little cry of discontent every few seconds.

If he were me, I'd say "quit whining, you're fine, you just had your teeth cleaned". And I'd still keep whining because that way I might get more attention, and possibly a favor or two. Like getting to avoid doing the laundry. Or vacuuming. Or anything other than sitting on my bed eating ice cream and watching bonnet dramas.

But he's a dog. He normally doesn't do this. He does "unk" on occasion, but it's in the morning when he has to pee or if he wants to get up on the bed and cuddle. We always take him out to pee first, because you don't want to get that sequence wrong.

So I'm a little concerned. I called the vet and asked if I could give him some ibuprophen or something.

"The vet is busy with a client right now. But he wanted us to tell you please don't give the dog anything until you talk to the vet first. He'll call you right back."

Apparently it's about as urgent as when I whine about being in pain.

I wonder if dogs like bonnet dramas. I'm pretty sure they like ice cream.

Surprise! I have another blog!

Ok not really a surprise to some of you. Big surprise to those who don't know my other blog, www.fortheloveofseitan.com. It's a blog that's all about vegan cooking. Except, you know, not based in lentils and rice. Because if there's one thing I'm bored with, it's lentils and rice. Fuck that.

Here's a sampler; this is what I cooked tonight - vegan tempeh "short ribs" with grilled corn and grilled brussels sprouts. Who says vegan cooking is tasteless (and devoid of protein)??

Enjoy, eat well, and don't hurt anyone (including yourself) in the process.

xoxo Kate

My Father, part 1

I find it awesome that my father, who is quite an amazing cook and foodie, emails me recipes.


I find it weird and sad that he, knowing that I am vegan, starts them off like this:

"This takes all day and looks like soup from a can, but the flavor is incredible. In a large pot, place 2 lbs veal bones..."

He also recently emailed me a recipe for beef short ribs. I hope he's not too disappointed when I turn it into the Best Tempeh "Ribs" Ever.

Multitasking at it's best: Cooking while asleep

Yesterday evening I put the following into a large ceramic pot (aka, a slow cooker):

2 chopped carrots
2 chopped parsnips
2 chopped red potatoes, skins on
2 chopped white onions
1 cup cranberry (aka berlotti) beans
about 10 large crimini mushrooms, quartered
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a small handful of fresh parsley
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
4 large fresh sage leaves
4 sliced cloves of garlic
a shitton of water (maybe 9 or 10 cups? Enough to cover the veggies and then some)
about 1/2 cup soy sauce
about 3/4 cup vegan chicken stock (powedered)
a few dashes of mesquite liquid smoke
1/3 cup of olive oil
about 1/4 cup of maple syrup

I turned on the crock pot to Low, then had a glass of wine and went to bed.

When I awoke the house smelled of French Stew, and it was marvelous. My husband can now eat throughout the day without having to do ANYTHING other than filling his bowl and lifting the deliciousness-laden spoon to his mouth.

And I have like, ONE dish to wash in a day or so. Everybody wins!

I realize this is not new information to anyone, that a crockpot can create super delicious, easy meals as long as you just leave it alone to do it's work for 8 hours or so. But everyone needs the reminder sometimes.

You're welcome.

Summer Pony and George Morris

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I'm reading Hunter Seat Equitation by George Morris. It was first written in the early 70's and is an excellent learning tool as far as the details and rationale behind hunt seat riding. I've already learned a lot, and I've just begun the book. The first important improvement was my stirrup length. George Morris points out that while a shorter stirrup length is very helpful as far as being light on the horses back over fences, dropping them down by a hole will make for a more stable leg. He recommends a middle length (dressage riders usually have longer stirrups, while jumpers have shorter stirrups) in the beginning while you're developing your leg strength.

Huge difference. I felt way more stable yesterday and rode deeper, consequently controlling my horse better. Because I wasn't worrying about why my leg was flopping about, I had the time and concentration to work on sitting up straight and keeping my hands soft, yet maintaining contact. It yielded great results.

We also started working on turning on the forehand and turning on the backhand (hind end). The former is pretty simple for me to understand, but the latter is much harder. If you're not using your legs correctly as aids exactly when you need to in perfect coordination with your rein aids, this move turns into a small circle, which is not the exercise at all.

All this good information makes me wonder, with all my years of riding as a kid and teenager, why didn't someone recommend this book to me before? Why weren't my instructors informing me as to why "inside leg, outside rein"? Why was I just told "do this" instead of "you do this so that the horse will do x. If you do another thing, the horse will do y"?

I think this is the difference between having a trainer who shows on the C and B circuits and a trainer who goes to the Maclay finals.

Not that George Morris is my trainer or anything, but what he says is perfectly supporting everything my current trainer has been saying, so I'm going with it. Clearly she was taught by someone who knew the same fundamentals as Mr. Morris. I'm becoming such a better rider than I was when I was young, despite not having a horse / pony of my own and riding every day. I wonder how things would have turned out if I'd had a better instructor from the beginning. Would I have gone to a college where I could have gotten a riding scholarship? Would I have competed at top shows across the country? Would I have driven my poor father into early poverty by begging (and getting) a horse that cost more than the cost of the cars we drove combined?

Maybe. Or maybe this information is sinking in with me now, as an adult, because I care about it more and am coming back to this sport. And, as I'm paying for it myself, I want to get the most out of my money.

In other news, my summer pony is doing well. He's gotten a bit of a bite on his haunches, which we're treating, and his hives got worse yesterday. But, with a bit of exercise and a cooling rinse, they were diminished by half, so I'm happy. I'm looking forward to trying out Mr. Morris' "no stirrup" exercises with him on Wednesday.

Oh, my poor legs.

Sailing complaints.

I went sailing with friends this weekend. Usually it's a group of us ranging from 27-40 in age, singles and couples. We all drink a little beer, sail around the bay and generally have a great time. But the guy who organizes these trips (who has the most sailing experience and belongs to a sailing club, so thus gets us discounts on the boat) had a child with his wife a few years ago. So now, I'm noticing that each trip progressively adds more children to the boat.

This weekend it was six. Six children under the age of four. Surprisingly, there weren't much tantrums or bad behaving. Everyone had fun, even though it was really windy and we couldn't get the boat sailing fast because the kids got scared. I really had a nice time.

But, it wasn't as fun as the other trips. It was way more tame, there was less interesting conversation, and I ended up feeling at the end like something was lacking. I don't think there was actually something lacking, but really it was just different in a way I didn't enjoy. 

I love kids, they're fun and incredibly interesting. I like talking to them and listening to how they work out the world around them. But, I'm finding less in common with those friends of ours that have kids. Not for lack of trying, but their lives are just so different than ours that it's becoming increasingly difficult to relate to them. 

I guess I'm less bothered by the kids and more saddened that the non-kid folk were not there. I have more in common with them, I don't get asked repeatedly when I plan on having children, and there's less mess to clean up after we're all done. Because I was one of the few people not herding a child off the boat, I was stuck cleaning up after everyone's kid spilled their food all over the floor, as well as putting away all the parents' food / juice boxes. It was a little annoying, because if my dogs made a mess I'd clean it up immediately - there wouldn't be a mess left at the end of the day in the first place.

Maybe next time I need to check who is coming before I commit to the event. Because it's not like I didn't have fun, I just didn't have so much fun as to warrant spending $60 on a day with six young children screeching and squealing every few minutes. 

Or maybe I'm just a grump and am cranky because there's a no pet-rule for renting the boat, which means I can't bring my dogs. Stupid no-pet rule.

Summer Pony, take two

Saw Jack again today. The horse, that is. I don't actually know any person named Jack.

He was great; hardly any limp or favoring of the front feet, his hives are almost gone (!!!!!)  and his trot is actually rather comfortable. He kind of lifts you out of the saddle, so that if you don't quite try to post you still get a good lift, which means a more stable leg, less bounce and a smoother ride.

He got a little spooky when I took him on the trail. Everything was freaking him out - even people with other horses (on horseback or leading their horse) was making him come to a full stop to check it out. I think it's because he has so much energy pent up.

The only thing that wasn't quite kosher was that he has this mysterious scrape on his right hindquarter, about 6 inches out from the hip bone. It wouldn't have bothered me much (horses get little scrapes all the time) but it was crusty with blood and I hadn't seen it Sunday. So I took photos of it (as I had no ointment to put on it), and washed him. I plan to send the photos to my instructor tomorrow morning to get her thoughts. He'll be fine, but I'd like to treat it with triple antibiotic or something so it doesn't get infected.

We shared an apple at the end of the day. I'm hoping this will become our little ritual, so that he will start trusting that I have his best interests at heart.

Stupid Americans.

For my work, I'm having to create a quick-start guide for an electronic device. This is a device with literally 3 outputs / buttons. A power button, a USB port and a headphone jack.

Why do consumers need a quick-start guide for this? The answer, of course, is because most Americans are too stupid to figure out what is perfectly obvious to a normal, intelligent person. They need to have their hands held literally every step of the way on everything, or they'll fuck it up, complain to customer service (deferring their stupidity onto someone else) and cost the company tens of thousands of dollars. To create a quick-start guide is, relatively, way cheaper than fielding all those moronic calls.

But it makes me wonder, are we actually perpetuating stupidity by dumbing down everything? Are we creating a world where people expect to have the most basic of functions (turn on device by pressing power) spelled out for them?

I think so.

If we forced people to figure things out more (maybe even from an early age! Imagine that!), maybe we'd have a smarter society.

Or, maybe I'd be the one having to field the annoying customer service calls of "Ah cain't figger owt whah mah thang don' turn awn."*




*(not that I have a problem with country / southern accents. It's just that most of the people I've heard that can't figure out the most basic of functions tend to have them. No offense to any intelligent person out there who happens to be cursed with this regional accent).

Summer Pony

About a week ago I told my riding instructor that I'd like to be at the barn more often, and asked if the horse I usually ride would be available. She's not. But as luck would have it, another horse is. This horse's owner is going to be in Southern California for the summer and was looking for someone to lease her horse...for free.

As it turns out, he's recovering from poor shoeing, which on top of poor confirmation means that he's really sensitive on his front feet and limps. He's been checked out by the vet and is on the road to recovery, but he's basically only able to walk and trot for now.

On top of this he has environmental allergies that result in hives all over his neck and sometimes, when they're bad, his sides and stomach. And he's thin enough that I can see his ribs. Easily. Without trying.

I figured I could either get cranky that my instructor didn't exactly get that I was looking for a horse to ride more often, or I could take advantage of this great opportunity to help this horse get as healthy as possible.

And thus began Makeover: Horse Edition.

I'm going to try to update here as much as possible to see how he progresses over the summer, just to see if I made any difference, either in his health or my riding. And his being able to walk and trot only isn't really that big of a problem for me; if I remove the stirrups, a walk and trot for 30 minutes is a huge workout.

So Wednesday last week I met him, got to know his feed, lunged him and rode him a bit. He seemed noticeably lame; he was stumbling every 10-20 feet or so and seemed very hitchy on his front end. His stride is very short for such a tall guy (he's 16.1 or 16.2 hands at least). It took him 10-15 minutes on the lunge line to warm up, and even after a good stretch-out he was still off. So we didn't do much.

His hives were pretty bad, all over his neck (both sides) and sprinkling on his stomach sides. Seemed mellow in temperment, like he really didn't want to be out there but was so eager to please that he wasn't about to complain.

Sunday I went up to see / ride him again. Although he took longer to warm up on the lunge line (20-25 minutes), he was way, way better riding. His gait actually felt normal, and only started to get wobbly / hitchy towards the very end of a 4-5 mile trail ride (at a walk / trot mix). After our short ride, I rinsed him off with cold water and his hives looked noticeably better. I'm going to try to rinse him off every day that I'm out there from now on, as it seems to help immensely. Still a short stride, but he seemed much happier and more active. We also started him on some anti-inflammatories, so hopefully that will help him also.

Yesterday (Monday) I had my lesson on the other horse I ride, but stopped in to give Jack grain and his meds. His hives seemed less than Wednesday, more than Sunday. His temperment seemed a bit down, but it could've been because it was evening and he was about to go to sleep (9:30pm). I've almost doubled his grain ration, and will keep doing so until he starts to gain some more weight. I'm pretty convinced that part of his problem is that he's not getting adequate nutrition. At least, once he's getting adequate nutrition I'll be more convinced of the external sources of his troubles, but for now I'm helping him out on that front.

And friends wonder why I don't have children yet. With two dogs and now a horse, I have enough on my plate, thanks. :)

WFH

At my office, we are encouraged to work from home at least one day a week. The other day, my direct manager was out of the office unexpectedly, so I asked around "Where's K__"? My creative director (K__'s boss) said "He's working from home. We all work from home one day every week, except you. You should probably fix that."

Well. It's not like I don't want to work from home. It's not like I enjoy the 45 - 60 minute commute in to and from work every day.

The thing is, it's really hard to get anything done when I'm not in the office. If I go out to a coffee shop, which seems to be the Thing To Do in SF if you're not in the office, I can't get anything done because I regularly work on highly confidential products, and I'm a designer so there's visuals of those products in everything I do. So unless I pick up a privacy screen and / or a very large dark sheet to hide under, coffee shops are out.

I've tried working actually at home. Which sounds innocuous enough. But my husband is very loving and attentive and a little on the clingy side, so he'll come up every hour or so to just give me a hug and say hello. I know, I know, this is something I should not complain about. I'm sure there's a lot of women out there who would love it if their husbands / boyfriends paid them half as much attention. But when you are trying to get in a creative focused zone and stay in it long enough to get work done, little distractions can be kryptonite.

So what I've come to do is frantically plow through my work during the days I'm in the office so that my WFH day is so light that I don't actually have any work to do, other than being available on email in case any emergencies crop up.

What this means is as today has become my WFH day, I've been baking cupcakes while periodically checking my email and working on some designs. Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. And they're vegan (no eggs or milk, with vegan "butter" and tofutti "cream cheese"). And they're delicious and gorgeous. Check it out:

Red Velvet Vegan Cupcakes

I've also been periodically furminating the dog. She's shedding like crazy and has this super-thick winter undercoat that, if not combed and removed regularly, turns into dreadlocks within minutes. She's not thrilled with the idea, as the device pulls on the fur and I'm sure her skin is a bit sensitive now. But that's the price to pay for a soft, silky coat with no dreadlocks or tangles.

I've also been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton. Man, what a great singer. I'm not a big fan of country but the girl's got some pipes.

Todays been one of the best days I've had in a long time.

Buckets

I know a guy who lives in a warehouse. This isn't actually odd; many people live in reconditioned warehouses in an attempt to have large open space and an open floor plan in the usually cramped city. Silly innocent me has always assumed that if a warehouse is zoned for living, then it must have indoor plumbing. Not so, my friends. The Warehouse has no toilet.

Fortunately for his girlfriend, he's created a mock toilet out of a bucket and a funnel they picked up at Kragen Auto Parts. For poo-ing, they have another bucket in which they have put kitty litter.

I'll let that sink in for a moment.

Did I mention that he'll often use an empty soda bottle for a urinal? By his bedside?

I understand that sometimes, when you gotta go, you gotta go. You do what needs to happen to get the job done. And you never speak of it again. Or if you're camping or hiking. Sometimes, the facilities just aren't in the middle of the woods, so you run off behind a bush and do your business. But it seems to me that maybe your own home would be the one place you'd not only prefer, but insist upon indoor plumbing.

He does have some facilities. He owns a bus that tows it's own composting toilet bus. Which I suppose is a little better.

The weird thing is, you'd never know by looking at him or hanging out with him. He's a really nice, intelligent guy. He's clean. He doesn't smell, he doesn't try to pee in my empty bottles or buckets.

It just goes to show you: you never know. You just never know.

Today, I made a blog.

I had a blog on livejournal for a long time. Thing is, I haven't exactly been updating it. Partly because I don't like the look of the blog and am way too lazy to change it, partly because the people who can see it are people I want to gossip about, and partly because I'm just bored.

So, I'm starting a new one here. No theme, no mystery, just what I'm thinking about.

So first up, I just booked a room for 3 nights in Santa Rosa to stay in during a friend's wedding celebrations. I was thrilled that the room is only $78 per night and that I was able to reserve it without a card. Who does that, anyway? I need my card to reserve my presence at everything from dinner to knife sharpening classes. This "we trust you" concept is refreshing, albeit strange.

I'm hoping to do some wine tasting while we're up there. I got into wine when I started designing wine labels. Well, to be honest, I was into wine before, but it was mostly whatever bottle I could afford at Safeway that night that had the coolest label. After working in the wine industry (and recieving many bottles of very good quality wine), my palate has improved (slightly). I've been to quite a number of places up in Napa and Sonoma county (and a brief stint in Ithaca, NY that I'd rather forget), but haven't yet made it up to Santa Rosa. It's technically Sonoma county but not a part of Sonoma that I've explored.

Wine tasting is always an adventure for me, as my husband doesn't drink wine. He has nerve / muscular / inflammation problems in his hands / joints / back / arms and drinking alcohol exacerbates his condition. So, I have taken it upon myself to drink for two. Which means I always get what I want (very important!) but I end up with having to start and finish a great bottle of wine by myself.

I suppose there could be worse things in the world.