Recent Artwork

Marcel

Family and Friends, meet Marcel - our fur-nephew. We are his foster parents until we deliver him to his new parents - Will and Lauren. He has a great temperament. Gary and Ruby have been showing him the ropes of living in a home, and he's been a trooper. He's already gone potty outside twice (and not once inside). Of course my favorite Marcel moment today was nap time - he snuggled up for a 2 hour nap and didn't budge the entire time.

This Marcel when we went to go pick him up at the lab. He's a stinky little fellow!

Here he is after his bath! All clean, shiny, and silky smooth!

Chase and Marcel are already pals :)

However, it's been a busy day for Marcel - experiencing the outdoors for the first time - meeting new dogs...

Dog-aholic

So what sort of trouble can I get into now? Last summer we found 3 puppies and the momma dog abandoned in an Arkansas forest. This summer, my mission is to find homes for these adorable little guys! Now, you are probably wondering "what the heck is a creagle?" Well it's a Chinese Crested crossed with a beagle. Why was this odd combo created? The sire of these dogs is a Powder Puff Chinese Crested owned by one of my professors. He carries a gene that causes a Parkinson's like disease. This dog is bred to a beagle in hopes that some of the pups will have and express the gene. Anyway, the normal puppies are vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and adopted out to new owners. I don't think it's ever come to this, but if they aren't adopted they are euthanized. Here's an update on who needs homes still:

Cocoa - Unfortunately died during her spay.
Tootsie - Adopted!
Hershey - Adoption pending
Reeses - adopted
Snickers - Adopted
Nestle - Needs a home!


Chase and I are willing to foster until you can come pick it up should you decide you want one!


Love and peace to all of you!

Beer Butt Chicken

First I prepared the chickens. I trimmed the fat, rinsed the birds off, and spread poultry seasoning (I bought at a store in St. Charles) all over the birds. Then I went to heat up the coals (well actually I called Chase, whined until he came home, and watched while he lit the coals). Notice the two beers on the counter - an integral part of beer butt chicken :)

Now that the coals are nice and grey, open the beer cans, "discard" about a quarter of the beer from each can, and shove them up the rears of the birds. Then sit the birds up on the can and put them on the grill.

I let them cook for about 2 hours (internal temperature of 170) and they turned out just magnificently tender and juicy!

The meal: beer butt chicken, baked beans, peas, corn on the cob, pasta salad, bbq chips, and brownies.

All in all, it was a delicious meal, and I was happy to put to use many of the platters and such that we recieved as wedding presents.

Found a Pony! (Can I keep it?)

And now for something strange...



Last weekend, Chase and I went to Eagle Bluffs to look for birds. Instead of our feathered friends, we found this little guy wandering the street. Of course, I wanted to put my Equine Science minor to work (and perhaps save an animal) so I caught the little fellow. Chase walked through the neighborhood and asked folks if they new someone missing a miniature horse. Finally he located the owners, and I walked the little guy home. How bizarre!

Sometime during the week, my over-excited-"I'm so glad you're finally home"-greyhound, Gary wagged his nearly 3 foot long tail too vigorously. I came home to discover my bland apartment walls had been redecorated Gary-style to resemble a red and white Dalmation. Yikes.... So I bandaged up his clearly broken, bloody tail. We went to the vet, and she shaved it for me, and we discussed amputation. We got home, and her bandaging fell off within 15 minutes. The poor guy had a couple of more bleeds, but as of today he's doing a lot better. It looks like Gary might get to keep his tail after all!