JenLa

Poisonous Pet Food Manufacturers!

Here’s a holistic alternative to scary store-bought canned pet food.

ETA: Jen made a good point in the comments that’s worth repeating. If you’re going to switch your pets to holistic or homemade foods, introduce it gradually into their regular diet.

First, crack open a beer, pour yourself a glass of wine or mix your favorite cocktail…(to satisfy the likker requirement of the “Wineaux Epicurian” because you don’t really want to waste it on Fido, now do you?)

Spot’s (and Fluffy’s) Stew
Yield: 20 cups
use organic ingredients if possible

~2 ½ pounds whole chicken or turkey (bone, organs, skin and all)
~¼ cup chopped fresh garlic
~1 cup green peas
~1 cup coarsely chopped carrots
~½ cup coarsely chopped zucchini
~½ cup coarsely chopped yellow squash
~½ cup coarsely chopped green beans
~½ cup coarsely chopped celery
~1 tbsp. kelp powder
~1 tsp. dried rosemary
~11 to 16 cups spring water

For Dogs Only: Add 8 ounces whole barley and 6 ounces rolled oats, and adjust the water content to a total of 16 cups or enough to cover the ingredients (Grain portions are not recommended for cats)

Combine all of the ingredients in a 10-quart stockpot (stainless steel, please) with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat as low as possible and simmer for 2 hours (the carrots should be quite soft at the end of the cooking time).

Remove from the heat, let cool, and debone the chicken. While you’re doing all this waiting (It’s a lot, you know), you should pour yourself another drink and get your knit on…

With a blender or using a food processor, and working in batches, blend all the ingredients into a nice puree; the stew should be slightly thicker for dogs and more soupy for cats.

Using ziploc bags or plastic yogurt containers, make up meal-=sized portions. Refrigerate what you’ll need for three days and freeze the rest. Be sure and seek your pet’s advice on ideal meal sizes.

For each additional 20 pounds of dog, add 2 cups. (If your cat’s bigger than 40 pounds, you’ve got other problems - La commentary) Remember, all pets are individuals, so let your intuition and observations guide you.

Bon(e) Appetit!

Recipe from Amidst the Dark Cloud of the Pet Food Recall - There’s a Shiny, Silver Lining by Andi Brown in Vol. 8 - Issue 7 The Pet Press.

Andi Brown is the author of The Whole Pet Diet: Eight Weeks to Great Health for Dogs and Cats and founder of one of the first holistic pet products companies - Halo, Purely for Pets.

For all of us who are Bitchener Stitch impaired, I’m here to tell you, there IS hope:

(Another awesome tutorial courtesy of The Knit witch)

Unfortunately it came too late to save the edging join on the SSBBIE (Secret Spiral Baby Blanket of Interminable Edging), but…Can I get a Halle-effin-luia anyway?

I really don’t follow professional sports at all, (don’t get me started on over-paid, under-worked, strutting prima donnas who get away with murder, sometimes literally) but when your home-town boys make the Stanley Cup playoffs, you tend to sit up and take notice.

Anyhow…saw this little dude hangin out on a neighbor’s lawn, and thought “Hmmmm, looks like the Joneses got themselves some of that there new lawn decor. Not bad, as far as lawn decor goes, if you’re into that sort of thing, which I’m not, but if I were, that might be the way I’d go. Looks so real…” And then the cheeky devil swiveled his head, looked me right in the eye and quacked. Come to find out, he was standing guard duty over his little lady and her nest back in the Lilies of the Nile. I think this is the same pair who come to brood at our complex’s pool year after year. It’s quite the domestic spectacle. I just hope the outdoor cats don’t get the ducklings this year.

CK, our very own knitting diva, is celebrating her second year in Blogistan by hosting a contest where she promises the more entrants, the more yarny goodness as prizes. So go over, give her a shout and enter her contest! And while you’re there, you may as well do some shopping. A little stash enhancement never hurt anyone, although it may get you blamed for leading someone else down the primrose path of yarn collection addiction. But, in my defense, SHE WAS BUYING YARN FROM JOANN! Which is ok every once in a while, but not all the time. Sheesh! It’s not like Iheld her down and put a gun to her head, and made her click “BUY”. I just turned her on to one or two of my favorite on-line bargain spots, and she just went crazy! I tell you. No restraint whatsoever…uh…yeah.

Looks like Madge has been chosen by a new member to the Devil clan. (Could she have picked a better name for him?) She’s a lady after my own heart, the big softy!

3, 5, 6, 7 or 8 (or maybe a little more, or most likely a little less) things I don’t know about me.

1. Do I like chocolate covered grasshoppers, dipped in raspberry jam and then smothered in whipped cream? Dunno. And let’s keep it that way, mkay?
2. Who are my biological parents? Dunno, and that’s okay, my adoptive parents are all I need.
3. Can I ride a rhino? Dunno, and I hope never to find out.
4. What does the inside of my eyelids look like from the inside? Uh…Dunno.
5. Which would I rather have, world peace, or an end to world hunger? Dunno, can’t I have both?
6. Am I a pansy or a bitch? Dunno…What’s behind door number 3?

Since I know all the rest there is worth knowing (which isn’t a whole hellofalot) about me, I think I’m done. Let’s put this one to rest and move on, shall we?

Have a great weekend!

Phone Rings, Bach’s Cello Suite
Woman: Hiya Honey!
Man: Hi. Hey, who is that actor who was in A Knight’s Tale? (I originally spelled that K-N-I-T-S)
Woman: Heath Ledger
Man: Keith Ledger?
Woman: No. Heath. HEATH Ledger, with an “H” not a “K”.
Man: K. Thanks! Bye.

Okay…What the Fuck was THAT all about? Betcha it had something to do with The Dark Knight

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Now, go here and try not to become addicted. Im turned me onto it.
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And here’s something I picked up over at Turtlegirl’s.

I is a puzl!

yeah, got nuttin…

Nuppin’ from nuppin’ leaves nuppin’…

So, can you tell I’ve had a complete change of heart regarding Nupp Wrestling? Not so much with the nupp hate anymore. In fact, quite the opposite! I think I can almost say I’m lovin’ me some nupps! Okay, maybe “loving” is a little strong, but “really not hating them so much anymore, and actually I’m kinda liking them enough to stop calling them yarn boogers” just takes WAY too long to say.

So, what’s responsible for this complete 180? 2 little words:

Backwards Knitting

eta: I didn’t make that demo, Lighting Chick did. Also, if you follow the link at “Backwards Knitting” it’ll take you to an excellent video tutorial by The Knit Witch

Yup, not only is it an entrelacquer’s (Not a word? It is now. How would YOU spell it?) secret weapon, it’s an Estonian lace knitter’s best friend. In fact, my purl/wrong side tension is so much more even with the knit/right side than it ever was when I was turning to knit. Because I knit strictly continental it’s still a little slow-going, but I’m getting the hang of it and I’m sure my speed will pick up as I go. And not having to stand on my head and dislocate my shoulder, repeatedly stab and cuss at my knitting just to be able to purl 5 together is so worth the trade-off of speed, you can’t begin to imagine my relief!

Now don’t get me wrong, my favorite pattern of the FPS is still the Fern lace units, but the Lily of the Valley is now a close second. But BIrTCH Leaves is still the red-headed stepchild of this stole, I’m afraid. There’s no getting around that. No pictures of the Franken Lace tho. I’m in the middle of a tier so even if I DID feel like taking pictures, it wouldn’t be much to look at, just a glob of yarn on circular needles.

So, I’ve started a new TV watching project: This Felted Pi Kitty Bed using…

…doubled, knitted on size 13s. I WAS planning on going out and getting a set of size 13 dpns until Pacalaga made a very good point: Unless there’s a migration of vampires to SoCal, when will I have ever have need of size 13 dpns again? Well, just once more, but that’s a threat for a different day. But I will say how convenient it was for her to post pictures of her cat. It is also very convenient that said cat’s coloring is similar to this…but that’s ALL I’ll say…Mwahahahaha! Besides, between my Denises and a set of crappy aluminum circulars, I have the required number of size-13 pointy ends. I’m hoping that this project will eat a huge chunk of otherwise-no-long-dersirable yarn, and put me over my 10% so I don’t have to extend my (and Stacey’s) KFYS challenge.

*Did you guess that today’s caption came from this?