URGENT: Help Brenda Find A Home

Brenda the BrindleI always say I'm not going to get attached and I always know I'm lying when I say it. This Saturday I went with our Animal Protection group to Petco to try to find some area dogs a home. Brenda, pictured below, is a one-year-old Shepard mix. VERY gentle and quite the trickster. We had a small box of treats sitting in the middle of the table and we'd s-l-o-w-l-y see this big nose rise up from the side of the table and then - blink! - the box was gone. She loves to be hugged and you would have thought she was in doggy heaven when we threw her a rubber ball that bounced. 

The bad news is that Brenda's time is limited. Very limited. As in, this week limited. The vet where she's at (good GOOD people) tries to keep animals as long as they can. But her time is up. This is one dog that, honestly, if I thought my allergies could take it, I might beg and plead with Blair for us to take home. Unfortunately, I went home in hives after my day at Petco. My dog allergies are significantly worse than my cat allergies.

If you can think of anyone who may be interested in a new best friend for life, please take the time to forward Brenda's picture to them, even if they're in another state. We're happy to arrange a transport. 

And for the love of God, please spay and neuter your pets. 

What treats? I didn't take any treats...

Update on 2010-05-17 12:41 by Dena Harris

I called this morning and spoke with the vet to get a few more details. 

Brenda is 35 lbs and about 1 year old. They've had her for 3 months - she was brought in off the streets by the police department. She gets along well with other animals, dogs and cats. She's a little skittish. If someone quickly raises a hand she cowers as if afraid she might get hit. 

They can't say if she's housebroken or not as they haven't observed her in a home. 

The vet tech I spoke to had this to say, "We LOVE this dog. Please find her a home." 

Beantown Wine

Yesterday I received an e-mail from my sister. "You have a package arriving today from UPS." I'm glad she gave me the heads up. When the doorbell rang I was sweaty and smelly from exercise and may not have answered, but the thought of "surprise gift!" lured me in. 

I signed for the long narrow box and took it back to the kitchen where I ripped clawed chewed carefully opened it. The box had "fragile" marked all over it and as I slid the contents of the box out I could tell it was a wine bottle, even through the layers of bubble wrap. Wine? Why was my sister sending me wine? I like wine, but I'm hardly a connoisseur. I can't tell the difference between a $3 bottle and a $300 bottle. Maybe they visited a vineyard (in Chicago?) and wanted to share the experience. I hoped they hadn't spent too much. 

Then I rolled the bottle over to read the label. Oh my God. New contender for BEST. GIFT. EVER. It's a wine bottle with a customized label celebrating my run in Boston. "Beantown 26.2 Winery." How fun is that? I'm going to find a special place of honor in the exercise room for the bottle. Wine and a treadmill all in one room - that's how you can tell I'm a serious runner. 

Thanks Nicole and Grant! I love the gift!!!

Favorite Online Sites

Earlier this week I sat down at my desk at 7 AM. When I looked up, it was 8:30 and I had yet to do a lick of work. What happened? Out of curiosity, I retraced my steps. Turns out I'd spent the morning checking in on the various blogs I follow. Since I have nothing of great importance to say today (as opposed to Tuesday's fascinating insider look at beans), I thought I'd share my favorite sites with you.

Running Blogs 

• No-Meat Athlete - This is probably my favorite site. Matt is funny and a dedicated vegetarian runner. The blog is filled with recipes and his sister chimes in each week with "Sweet Tooth Friday." 
• RunnerDude - This site has gained a national following which makes it all the cooler that I'm friends and running buddies with the guy behind it. Thad may as well have his medical degree for all the knowledge stored in that head of his. Great contests, great connection to a community of runners.
• Barefoot Josh - Speaking of national followings, friend and neighbor Josh Sutcliffe is quickly becoming recognized as a barefoot running expert. Quirky humor and the occasional story about his pet chicken, Lunch, make this a blog worth reading. 
• MadMayo Running Club - Our local running group. Who doesn't want to belong to a group that has a jar of angry mayonnaise as its mascot?

Friends 

• Melody Watson - Blog of uber creative friend Melody Watson covering a wide range of topics
• Minding The Miles - Combination blog on running and life. Lisa is a writer and editor with a humorous and sometimes piercing insight on life
•  Kim's Korner - poetry, meditations, and reminders to peer past the surface of life
• Melinda Hinson Neely - Melinda and I are virtual friends, having discovered each other's blogs during our training for this year's Boston marathon. Melinda blogs on family, running, and maintaining physical and mental health.
• Southern Fried Woman - Author and friend Pam Cable captures the life of a southern writer 
• Bernadette Hearne - My friend Bernie is new to the blogging world but I'm already a fan -- at least on the days when I'm not consumed with envy at her easy writing style
• Lessons From the Cockpit - Pilot, friend and writer Christopher Laney offers a high flying yet down-to-earth perspective on getting the most out of life. 
• Marimba Misadventures - Do you know a famous marimba player? I do, and I read his blog. 

Oh, Beans...

Canned beans are expensive. No, wait. Let me qualify that. The variety of canned beans I prefer to buy at Earth Fare (Eden Organic and Muirs Glen) are expensive because they contain less sodium and preservatives than other beans.

My answer to this quandry has been to buy dried beans and cook them as needed. This, however, requires a level of pre-planning of which I'm not always capable. Soaking beans overnight does not come naturally to me. So I was happy to read a blog post the other day that recommended making large batches of dried beans at one time and freezing them in 2-cup portions. 

This never would have occurred to me. I'm suspicious of the freezer. Recipes always talk about making double batches of muffins or whatever and freezing the second batch, but I never do. Seen too much freezer burn in my life. And I get nervous keeping any sort of food in my freezer for over a month. But I decided to give freezing beans a try. 

What you see here is Bean Central. We've got some black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas working. Blair wandered into the kitchen while I had all these on the stove and was like, "Ooh, what are you cooki--Ah, I see. So... beans for dinner then?"

I'm quite proud of my beautiful stack of ziplocked bags of beans, neatly stacked on the top shelf of the freezer. I'll be prouder still if I remember to use them. Until then, this is Dena, reporting from Bean Central, signing out.