Dogs, Diet and Driving

On Dogs:

Conrad and Jaeger are progressing in their transformation from stupid, worthless puppies to intelligent, irreplaceable dogs.  They will never be like Noah, but they’re enjoyable more often than not these days.

This morning, Buttercup* and I were sitting on the couch.  She had pulled up the game table and was working in a workbook, and I was reading The White Dove to her. All three dogs were snoozing on various pieces of furniture throughout the room.  For some reason, I got up and walked away from my spot for not more than a minute.  Apparently, Jaeg thinks that when I move, it’s for his benefit, because, once again, he had stretched himself across the space between her and the back of the couch.  He loves to be close to her, and every time I move, I lose my place to him.  If someone isn’t sitting next to her, he and Heidi both try to sneak up onto the couch by her.  This was the first time he has stretched out all confident like that.  His head was on the armrest, just in case she wanted to pet him, I am sure!  He’s such a goof!

Conrad is like the dumb jock, and Jaeger is like the geek. We can tell that Conrad is going to be a really good hunter, but he lacks sense.  He’s in his element when he’s outdoors being all athletic and stuff, but he’s kind of a clod in the house.   Honestly, if I hadn’t seen how sharp he is outside, I’d think he was dumber than a box of rocks!  Jaeg, otoh, seems more philosophical and, well, brainy.  He likes to run around the backyard with Conrad, but he learns commands better than Conrad.

Conrad is sort of homely.  I’ve never had a dog that I had to get used to looking at.  Jaeg has Puss in Boots eyes.  Conrad’s white is bright white when he’s clean, though, while Jaeger’s fur leaves a lot to be desired for someone who’s used to dogs that are actually attractive in a domestic setting, like, say, German Shepherds.

Jaeg is no longer the housebroken one.  As Conrad has improved, Jaeg has regressed.  *sigh*  And so has Heidi.   We have become much more regimented in how we handle them.  We now have a feeding schedule, and we try to take them out every two hours whether they act like they need to go or not.  We had a schedule before, but it wasn’t written down.  It helps to have written reminders.

The boys have been keeping the pups in their room at night.  I’m not in love with that.  I’m sure Homer has allergies, and that’s not helping, but all three boys are very good about attending to the dogs.  They’re twice as responsible as I was at any given age in my childhood.  Homer lets Conrad and Jaeg sleep on his bed.  They’re as flexible as wet noodles and don’t mind sleeping in a pile, so it basically works out at the moment.

The puppies make me appreciate Heidi.  It’s nice to have one dog who won’t destroy the house while we’re not paying attention for more than 15 seconds.

On Diet:

Homer and I have continued to eat gluten free.  I believe it has been about three weeks for him, and almost two months for me.  He has noticed a difference, and I have seen a big difference in him.  He doesn’t act depressed and lethargic all the time.    He still craves bread, but we both got glutened by Qdoba over the weekend, and he has stopped asking me how much longer he has to go without gluten.

I feel really, really, really bad that he does seem to have a problem with gluten.  It is so hard to watch people eat yummy things in front of you, especially if you’re a kid.   The other day, Dub made biscuits.  I keep forgetting to buy bread, so he took matters into his own hands.  (I’m used to avoiding it like the plague, so it doesn’t phase me, while I’m shopping, that other people might still want it.)  When the biscuits were done, Homer asked if those were the bisquits that he could eat.  Those things smelled so good!  I told him no, and he wilted.  I’m not sure how else to describe it.  I felt so bad for  him!  I whipped up some cornbread for him, and that helped, but there’s nothing in the world that bakes quite like wheat flour.

Tonight, I finally remembered to do some recipe-reading and research before I was too tired to care.  (I haven’t gotten my laptop fixed, so looking things up is a chore.  I’m anchored to the desktop.) Based on what I read tonight and what I have on hand,  I made what turned out to be like a generic quick bread.  It’s a little too dense to be like sandwich bread – and no yeast, but it is good enough to slather on some Soy Garden and honey.  I am not crazy about gluten free garbanzo and fava flour, but I could hardly taste it in this concoction. Woo  hoo!!!

For my own future reference – GFCF/Egg Free bread experiment 1:

1/2 C GF garbanzo/fava flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

1/2 C GF sweet sorghum flour (BRM)

1/2 C GF whole grain organic brown rice flour (Arrowhead Mills)

1/2 C refined white sugar (just plain old, health hazardous white sugar )

1 tsp Xanthan gum

1 Tbsp Ener-G egg replacer

1 tsp (??? oh dear … maybe it was a Tbsp) baking powder

1/2 C water

1/2 C vegetable oil

1 tsp molasses

1 tsp vanilla

1Tbsp vinegar

Notes:  Oven temp: 350 F

I mixed all of the dry ingredients before adding the wet ones, but I noticed my baking powder was chunky.  >:-|  Nothing like a mouth full of baking powder!  That didn’t seem to effect the final product, but consider sifting the b.p. next time.

After adding wet ingredients, mixed until combined well but not mixed to death.

Baking: Used one loaf pan and sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  It about doubled in size and did not stick to the pan.  Baked about 30 – 40 min, but don’t keep poking a toothpick in it to check for doneness.  Since there is no yeast, every poke causes it to lose some height.  Patience, my young padawan.

Overall impression:  I went into this expecting to fail.  I was sure I’d end up with one more gloppy, gooby, half baked mess.  I haven’t had a lot of success with egg free breads, unless they are yeast breads.  I just wanted to try some things that might make Homer’s life more pleasant.  I’m definitely going to do this again in the near future. It was of the consistency of quick bread made with real eggs.    It was not more dense in the center as most of my breads are when eggs are called for but something else is used.  I am encouraged to have a gf/cf/egg free bread recipe that Homer likes.

Karen Joy, if you read this,  I have lost the emails we exchanged at the beginning of July, but I seem to remember you describing your flour mixture for everyday baking being a third of three different flours.  That was the main thing going through my head when I started out.  Thank God it worked!

On Driving:

I’m having a lot of fun riding around the countryside with Homer.  I’ve been having him drive me to Buttercup’s house in the morning and then home from her house in the afternoon.  He says he doesn’t like it, but I don’t believe that for a second!  It is so nice to be able to not drive for a change!    On the days that I work, he averages a little over a half hour of driving.  By the time he’s 23, he should have all of the required hours in to be able to take the road test.  That’ll work out well, because I think his insurance rate will be more affordable by that time!

Off I go to check on the German Shorthairs and to kick the German Shepherd Princess of the couch.  Auf wiedersehen!