Last night went much better, thank you.

With only a couple of exceptions, I slept like a rock. But, short nights sometimes lead to that. The couple of exceptions were the two houndpups. Phooey decided she had a little to much energy and looked up her buddy Maple Syrple to see if she wanted to play. She didn't and we had a snapping, snarling display, right in the middle of our night. Krl called Phooey and I simply said Maple's name and held the bed covers up and Maple hit the opening and burrowed to the foot of the bed. End of altercation.

Bless-ed are the peacemakers, for their feet shall be warm.

Yesterday was a frustrating day. I still am short one employee's information, so I have made two sets of reports and only need to know which one to put on the reporting form.

After noon I got ready to do a few errands. The most important was taking Maple Syrple to the veterinary. She had not bounced back from her bout with the flu and just didn't act like herself. The doctor did a basic exam and found her feverish and also having an ear infection. Often times after the dogs are clipped this happens. Anyhow, we got some antibiotic to put in her ear, the flu will have to wait. When we got home she was feeling much better.

Funny how when $$$ leave my pocket, it makes others feel better. Good news for others, you should feel really good because I am really broke!

The end of the Barbaro saga is sad. Everytime you thought the horse was going to be fine, complications set in. It is unbelievable how many cards and letters were sent to the facility Barbaro was at. I read one account that said in excess of one and a half million dollars had been sent to help with bills. It said the proceeds had purchased the sling and hoist that were used to put Barbaro in and out of the rehab pool. You could tell how genuine the doctor's feelings were at the interview explaining the turn of events that led to the colt being euthanized. Eight months and numerous procedures and yet the big bay was lost.

The owners of the colt can know that they did everything humanly possible to save him. I think about what an injury like that would mean "in the wild", and it more than likely would mean death by starvation or as the result of a predator, but then what are the odds an injury like that would be incurred "in the wild". Probably the result of an encounter and trying to escape from a predator.

You can't second guess. We just have to make the best decisions we can with the information we have available at the time.

One of Barbaro's owners made this statement: "Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love".

Krl and I decided to do homemade Mexican food last evening. It was a recreational exercise. Krl had been wanting chicken enchiladas, and that sounded good to me. Actually I guess you could say she wanted green sour cream chicken enchiladas. I wanted to make a small batch of beef enchiladas. I began browning the beef in a medium skillet while I sliced and diced enough onion for both recipes. I like to use LOTS of seasoning. Garlic salt, course ground black pepper and garlic. When I'm cooking Mexican food I like to use ground cumin. Krl had told me she didn't need a skillet to fix hers, just a pyrex. I was working without a net, no recipe. She was working around a recipe. She soon learned she did need a skillet. She began to saute onions as I added mine to my skillet. I opened and drained a can of diced green chilies, satisfied with the direction mine was taking, I felt comfortable enough to open and drain a can of rotelle and pour it in. By now, Krl was finding her groove, she had added diced chicken, and cream cheese to her skillet, seasoned it with ground cumin and was opening a can of green chilies as well. When the moisture had cooked off my beef concoction, I added a can of green enchilada sauce and turned it down to simmer. I grabbed a small pyrex, the package of corn tortillas, and a package of Mexican four cheese blend. I chose not to flash fry my tortillas. I micro-ed instead. I began to fill, cover with cheese and roll my enchiladas, laying them with the exposed rolled edge on the bottom. When my small pyrex was filled with rolled enchiladas I poured the remaining filling over the top and sprinkled the remaining cheese over it. I was done, ready for the oven. If this had been a timed event I was a definite winner. Krl had just added a can of cream of chicken soup to her mix, and it was giving off a heavenly aroma. Being the good sport I am, I pitched in and we did an assembly line. I gave Krl a couple of tips I have learned from some of my hispanic co-workers and she would use the backside of a spoon, smear some sour cream on the tortilla, throw some cheese on it, put a spoon of filling in it and I would roll and insert into the larger pyrex. I'm a heck of a roller. In fact I might should have been a holy roller, or a rockin' roller, or a rock and roller but I became a recreational tortilla enchilada roller. Now for those of you extracting recipe data, Krl chose to use Monterey Jack cheese. When, the pyrex was filled, Krl topped the rolled enchiladas with the remaining mixture and cheese. Into the oven, the two pyrexes went. 350 degrees. (We did get the temperature from Krl's recipe.) Krl went to get a bath, I sat down to watch television. After a few minutes I was up checking on our masterpieces and began cutting tomatoes. My plan called for topping my dish with chopped lettuce, sliced tomatoes and sliced avocado. (I was using vine ripened tomatoes, our regular grocery store had them on sale ten for ten. Ten pounds for ten dollars. I prefer the vine ripened over the hot house tomatoes). When Krl rejoined me she thought the topping would be a good touch. We removed the two dishes from the oven, satisfied that it was ready, retrieved a spatula and fixed two plates, complete with the topping. Delicious!

Funny thing. That little tastebud of ours that has been standing up screaming from the depths of our mouth has been quieted. At least temporarily.

It was fun to cook in the kitchen with Krl and we were both winners as we sampled each other's recipe. Our big problem is that we probably couldn't exactly reproduce our recipes. We need to do better than "just a touch" or a "dash" of this or that.

Krl had me pick up fixin's for another apple pie. Me, I think I want to learn how to cook Memama's peanut brittle. (If you have ever seen it, it is in a can and the label reads "Whoop Azz Peanut Brittle". In fact it drives the game plans that the Brownwood Lions put together.) In addition she has a couple more "candy recipes" I would like to learn. One of them is "Honey's" candy recipe. Honey is a nickname for a family friend that always had a pocket full of I guess what would be called pecan pralines. Interesting thing is that he was and is diabetic and can't eat it, but he sure enjoyed making it and sharing it. Honey is 90+ and just a few years ago did the unspeakable. He passed on his recipe to Memama.

Come to think of it, I would love to have Honey's clear barbecue sauce recipe. (Darndest thing you ever saw, looks like water but tastes like barbecue sauce).

More office work on the horizon for me. Hope your day is a good one.

FATHER, we bask in YOUR love, secure in the hope and promise we have in JESUS. Thank YOU for YOUR faithfulness to us.