Thankful

Yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is on Monday.  I am so thankful this little hairy creature is on the mend.  It was four weeks ago today that we took Buddy to the vet and found out he had a dislocated hip.  The picture above was taken on Tuesday.  He was anticipating his first short walk since the incident.  We are not allowed to walk him more than 2 or 3 blocks.  He got a haircut this week and I am pretty sure that made him feel more like himself.  Our groomer (also the lady we got him from and who sits him when we go away) had to give him quite a close cut to make his shaved areas blend in with others.  We are not those dog people who regularly dress their dogs in clothing - but - Buddy is small and gets cold easily but loves walks.  Hubby bought that red jacket last year....I thought he was crazy but we use it quite often in the winter.  The temperature has dropped sharply here and we are seeing frosts every day now.  

The sign of a relaxed pain-free dog :)  It is so nice to see he is almost back to normal after a month of being in pain and in a sling and on a harness.  He is now allowed to be leash free in the house.  We are taking it slower in the back yard though, perhaps a few more days on leash out there.  

We are celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday at a friends house.  She also invited my Mother.  My friend is a fabulous cook and we will all be in for a tasty meal.  Mom cashed in her Quality foods points this week to redeem for a 6.8 KG (15 lb) turkey.  Mom doesn't have a big freezer and due to the fact that I will be cooking it I took it home.  We will save this for Christmas.  If I had to buy a turkey I tend to stick to .99 cents a pound or less birds, sometimes Grade B if I can't get Grade A for that.  Usually I can buy a nice turkey for less than $20.  This one was $40!  Glad she had the points.

 This weekend I will plant my garlic.  On Vancouver Island we plant it in October and harvest late June or early July.  I've never grown it before but I've done my research.  This is organic Russian garlic that I picked up at the farmers market.  I usually buy nonorganic cheaper garlic but I wanted some for planting so spent the $3 for this back in September.  That came out of the grocery fund.

Since financial belts have been tightened around here due to losing our largest client there is basically zero eating out. This is one of our favorite homemade meals.  Fried rice with veggies.  I served it with a roasted chicken breast.  With the exception of the chicken, the rest is vegan as I use olive oil and the rest is just vegetables and a small bit of soy sauce.  When I make rice I usually make enough so that we can have fried rice the next day since it only works well with reheated rice.

Last week I took out the tomato plants.  Here is the last of the harvest.  Once again a good tomato year.  There are a few containers of frozen tomatoes in the freezer as well, pretty good for only growing 3 pants.  I ate my last strawberry until Spring as well.  Some strawberries were left in a pot and some were transplanted.  I am not sure which will do better over winter but I am sure I will have more free strawberries next summer.

So that's what is shaking in our world.  I am so relieved that we are no longer on 24 hr watch/care with Buddy.  We are being super careful but he is back to 80% of his previous health.  His hurt leg has lost a little muscle so we are trying to ensure he gets a small bit of exercise every day.  Buddy used to be a picky eater, sometimes only eating one meal a day.  Ever since he got hurt food is about the only thing that made him happy so he has put on a pound or 2 which is great because he is a super lean dog to begin with.  He is allowed to jump on and off the bed but we try and lift him on when we see him heading there.

Our play time is permanently changed though, no more tossing or chasing the ball for him.  We will figure out other ways to play so that we never have to go through this again.

Happy Thanksgiving for everyone in Canada - and happy weekend to everyone else!