I am sooooo excited, Y’all.  (I never say y’all, but that is how excited I am, this warrants it.)

Stop back tomorrow and find out what is in the beautiful gold tissue paper.  Until then, do you have any guesses?

Although there are an abundance of Pit Bull types of dogs in my area, there are not a lot of them for adoption.  The place that I don’t  volunteer with has some pretty stringent rules about the adoption options of Pit Bull types and while they do have some for adoption, it pisses me off bothers me that a dog like Ray-Ray might not even make it to the adoption floor based solely on his age. At SPCA there isn’t a ban on adopting Pit bull types, but until recently it wasn’t done and there still are a lot of “boxer mixes” and “terrier mixes” and before King came along the AmStaffs, etc were few and far between.  Sometimes it feels like there are rescues, there are “all breed” rescues and there are Pit bull rescues- but that is just an impression and not based on anything but the voices in my head.   Times, they are a changin’ but change comes slow. 

Last year Ray and I attended the first annual Pits in the Park,which was truly a labor of love by the folks in the Fort Wayne PitBull Coalition, and we plan to attend again this year but really, stepping out of our truck to see this many responsible Pit bull owners/lovers was kind of overwhelming.

It’s a good thing I was wearing sunglasses, because I will admit to tearing up a little at such a sight.  Not only were there an incredible amount of beautiful Pit Bull types, but I saw a poodle or two, a Westie, two Saint Bernards, some Beagles and other non Pit bull dogs all there to join in this wonderful walk for solidarity.

There’s a photo on Ray’s Facebook page by NZ Photography showing a group shot of the majority of walkers after the “parade.” Just go check them out and look at all of those beautiful Pit Bull types grouped together to celebrate themselves and their loving families.  Yeah, it was an emotional day, but a very good day. 

I have to say, with Ray still being so young and somewhat socially awkward, I didn’t know if we’d be making the two hour drive just to sit in the car and watch the parade go by.  Lately (and I mean at least once every day) I marvel at how mature Ray is becoming.  At home he is AWE.SOME.  Out and about he is usually really, really good.  In crowds?  Wasn’t sure but really wanted to give it a try and I’m glad I did.  

I love that we were able to go and be a part of this and we really are looking forward to being there again next year.

What types of Pit Bull related activities do you participate in?

I just assumed that my first Molly Mutt purchase would be for Ray, in fact I never even gave a thought to the contrary, even though I have three cats.  After all, it is called Molly Mutt.   But as it turned out, I was using my Wag coupon to get some food and necessary items Incredi-bubbles for Ray and wanted to make it to the free shipping level, so I decided to add a sweet little Molly Mutt cover to the purchase.



Boo Kitty on her Molly Meow throne.     

I selected the La Vie en Rose because it was going in Asia’s room which is gray and pink so they could be all girly together.  Boo loves this little throne and rarely ventures her ancient self off of it and we were able to find a nice quiet corner where Ray and the kitty boys won’t even bother to look for her.  Yes, retirement is sweet.

Ray’s Daddy was out of town most of last week so he wasn’t around to see all the great loot Ray hauled in but recently we had a conversation that went like this:

K:  “What’s this?”
Me:  “Ray’s new magic mushroom.”
K:  “What does it do?”
Me:  “It dispenses food and treats so Ray’s brain can be stimulated.”
K:  (Turning it over and around in his hands) “How does it work?”
Me:  “Ray must be smarter than you because he figured it out right away.”

What are your favorite food and treat dispensers?

As Ray mentioned I was in a meeting all day Thursday. What he didn’t mention was that this meeting was actually planned and executed by none other than myself and my counterpart in another district and was to be a learning and development meeting for our direct reports.

One of my tasks was to come up with an icebreaker.  Although most of the participants in the group have known each other for quite a number of years, a meeting isn’t a meeting without the obligatory ice breaker.  Since this group was all women, and we all carry purses, the ice breaker was to find something in your purse that is meaningful to you and tell the group about it. 

I was actually amazed at some of the really, truly meaningful and sentimental things we came up with as well as a few flat out funny items as well.  When I told my husband about it later, he knew exactly what I had talked about.  In fact he said to me, “Did you talk about your poop bags?”

Does he know me or what? 

My mama has an all day meeting to go to today and said she didn’t have time to blog this morning, so I said that even though I’m really tired, I’d do it.

This week has been exciting not only because I got my March BarkBox in the mails this week but because my mama’s friend sent me some fun toys to eat from.  I used to have a Kong Wobbler, but that made me too excited when I was just a baby, so Mama gave it to her friend and she gave me a Magic Mushroom and a Tornado. These both make me use my brains a hole lot if I want to eat and when I use my brains I get really tired and go night-night early.

This month’s BarkBox was a huge success!  (And by success, I mean the stuffies lasted more than a few minutes!)  We have loved our subscription so far, because if you consider the treats and stuffies you get, plus any other bonuses like coupons and such, you get a box in the mail every month, new treats to try, a new stuffie or two to keep your pooch busy and access to products I might not have tried otherwise.

Practicing “wait.”

Inspired by Pitlandia‘s post about home made sweet potato treats for Athena, I decided to try my hand at making some for Ray-ray.  He loves the Sam’s Yam rawhide chews but they’re kind of pricey and I wanted to see if I could make something close to that.  Those are nice thick slices that take a couple of minutes to eat. 

So, my first batch I cut with my Pampered Chef crinkle cutter.  These might have been ok, but I’m not a very straight cutter and rather than make a stabilizing cut on the bottom, I wanted to keep all of the skin intact.  I did lightly oil the baking sheet and baked these for ever and ever about 7 hours total on 200 degrees for 5 hours and 250 for the last two.  I ended up blotting a lot of oil every time I flipped these which was every hour. 

They smelled great baking (if you like sweet potatoes-I don’t) so my hubby volunteered to give them a taste test. 

He said they taste like sweet potatoes, which, I guess, is what we were going for.  These ended up being firm but still softer in the middle and chewy, which I was going for.  The downside was they’re kind of ugly.

The second batch, I cut with my mandolin and I baked on 250 degrees on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.  These I also turned each hour-ish but only baked for maybe 3 or 4 hours.  They were less uniform in size but all the same thickness, or thin-ness, if you will.  The smaller chips were crunchier like actual chips and the larger slices were a nice medium between the two.  Chewy-crunchy and definitely prettier.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the results and for the price of a sweet potato, you can’t beat this.  Of course it makes me want to buy a food dehydrator, but since my kitchen is about as big as a whisper, I don’t think that is going to happen.

Have you tried a sweet potato dog chew recipe yet?  What have you found to be successful?