Day 22/365: Livestock Barn

I take my dogs to training classes at the fairgrounds.  We get to hang out in the livestock barns as we train our dogs (minus livestock). Right now, it's like a skating rink all over the place there!  I got there a little earlier, hoping to walk them a bit before class.  It was okay in the grassy area, but beyond that, not even Clyde could keep his footing.  He's been my stability when I have to walk over icy patches.  I ask him for 'help', grab on to his harness and he walks me across the patches calmly.  I'm not sure if he really helps or if I'm just more mentally confident and therefore don't slip.  Either way, it works and I'm a lot less anxious about walking them in icy conditions.  Ah, dogs.  :)

Day 21/365: Chinese Soup

Secret soup ingredients

It's been awhile and I'm long over due for some good ol' Chinese soup.  I should have been making this when I was deathly ill (ha ha) with the flu.  Oh well.  I've got a variety of dried herbs, roots, spices and other goods in my pantry for this.

Funny how I used to hate drinking these soups when I was young.  My mother would make me choke it down after I was already full from my dinner.  Of course, she also used to make it taste really strongly of ginseng (bitter) and that was part of the reason why I didn't like it either (and I was, literally, choking it down).  Anyway, somehow I really appreciate it now.

Soup fail:  I was so busy typing up my blog that I didn't pay attention to the soup at the beginning.  I didn't scoop out the nasty scum (boiled out from the chicken fat/bones), so the soup became cloudy.  Bah!  Oh well, next time.

What's awesome?  Vacuum sealers.  I've been lazy to make soup simply because I buy whole chickens and freeze them without preparing them.  Therefore, they need to get thawed, then skinned and halved before I can use them.  So...they sit in the freezer and I don't make soup.  This will now change.  :)

Day 20/365: Mountain view from the neighborhood

Maybe this could have been better if there wasn't a barbed wire fence blocking me from getting closer.  Or maybe if I didn't have two dogs on leashes trying to pull me to go sniff.  Or if I developed it for a longer amount of time?  Maybe it's too cold?  Maybe it's not that great with these types of pictures?  Or maybe it's just really not that great of a picture.  Oh well.

Day 19/365: Testing...Polaroid

Sculpture outside of Music Villa

I pulled out this old Polaroid Land camera a dear friend of mine gave me a few years ago.  I've used it a bunch of times, but not to the extent to truly be familiar with everything the instant I pick it up again.  So, I was fumbling around trying to make sure I was actually taking a picture and this was the result.  Some sculpture outside the music store and I'm not quite sure what it is...

It's really just hard for me to decide what I want to take pictures of.  I'm too used to digital stuff you can easily delete.  But to actually buy film again and know exactly what you want to take a picture of... that's hard.  -_-  Since each photo costs money, I'm more hesitant, which makes me less motivated to take pictures.  Hopefully that changes.  :)

Day 18/365: Kitties!

In their homemade cat tree :)

Katie, the white cat up top is now in that upper level almost 24/7.  She just loves that little hideaway.  I've had her for a little over 10 years now.  Man, she's getting old.  And she's traveled a whole bunch with me. ;)

Day 17/365: Wine Rack Art

I don't actually really drink wine

Day 16/365: Taco night!

Venison tacos :)...

Really, this isn't as much food as it looks.  ;)