We've Got the Sweetest Neighbor!

Sierra is a 14 year old Golden Retriever.  She is about the sweetest thing you ever met.  What's really weird is that yesterday Maggie met her - on neutral ground - and did not go into her usual behavior around large dogs.  There were no curled up lips, no snapping, no aggressiveness at all.  She didn't want to play with Sierra, but she tolerated the butt sniffing and was on high alert.  So strange!  Then Tom, Sierra's owner, wanted to see the inside of our rig to compare to his Montana, so he came in and Sierra followed right behind him.  Maggie just watched.  No protecting our house or us.  Sierra wandered around, slopped water all over the kitchen as she emptied Maggie's bowl, and just acted as if she belonged here.  Maggie had no issues with her.  Weird. 

Yesterday we stuck around the park.  The weekdays are bad enough with crazy traffic in downtown Santee so we didn't even want to attempt to do any shopping on a weekend.   Then, on our walk down to the day use area we discovered it was Santee Lakes' Christmas Extravaganza with pony rides, carnival rides, games, etc. for the kids.  The traffic in and out was insane so we just hung out at home.  I finished one more gift, worked for a little while on genealogy stuff and Roger and I made some candy.  (Oh, it is good!  Dark chocolate covered dried berries and pistachios.)   Recipe to follow at end of posting if you are interested in trying it yourself.   

Since it is a 3 mile round trip to the office to pick up mail, we've decided to only go on Mon, Wed, and Fri.  It's not like we get that much and what we do get is not critical enough that one day matters.  We have been told that Maggie can't go in the day use area so she and Roger have been waiting for me at the last campsite.  I asked today about the dog as we keep seeing other dogs between the campground and the office.  I was advised that we could bring her all the way to the office if we stayed on one side of the lake that was open to the public for dogs to be walked to the pet walk.  So that's going to make it nicer - we can all go down there together.  

We did go into town today and the traffic and the parking lots were a bit crazy, but when we got into a store, there really didn't seem to be that many people.  We were even second in line at a Costco checkout counter - amazing.  We got the Pensacola gifts and the Christmas cards sent out, so we are doing OK.  I've two more gifts to finish and then I'm done for the year!  

We had a gorgeous day and an even better sunset this evening!  

Looking for Healthy Dessert Recipes? Why Not Try These Delicious Chocolate, Fruit, & Nut Clusters?

Posted By Kate Sherwood On December 2, 2014 @ 5:00 am In Healthy Recipes 


Chocolate, Fruit, & Nut Clusters
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooling time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
9 oz. dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa), chopped 2 cups roasted pistachios, unsalted
1 cup dried cherries, unsweetened
1 cup diced dried apricots
1 cup golden raisins
Directions:
• In a small pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Remove from the heat. Put the chocolate in a large, heat-resistant bowl. Put the bowl on top of the pot, and stir until the chocolate has melted.
• Mix the pistachios, cherries, apricots, and raisins into the chocolate, then spread into a 10′′ x 3′′ rectangle on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet.
• Allow to set at room temperature (about 30 minutes), then cut into 1′′ squares.
Yields 30 pieces.
Nutrition Information:
Per piece—
Calories: 140
Total fat: 8 g Saturated fat: 3 g Sodium: 0 mg Carbohydrates: 16 g Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 3 g
Added sugar: 1⁄2 tsp.