Vintage Images - Patriotic Posters

copyright-free, from Dover.

Spoils of War

One benefit (although the spousal unit doesn’t think so) of hiyaku-ing off with the Red Cross is that if I do happen to get a day off, and if I can get my hands on a car, I can wile away a hot, humid, rainy afternoon hitting the local thrift stores*.

Proof that the Lord loveth a cheerful shopper, there was a large Goodwill store about six blocks from the DRO.  I came home with a purple barkcloth Hawaiian floweredy shirt, a beautiful leather cross-body satchel, and four bags of sock yarn.

Edited to add:  I of course had a legitimate reason for shopping at Goodwill; I needed a travel coffee mug, as DST (the disaster technology peeps) were getting tired of me knocking over my morning cup of joe in the cardboard cup. 

(*What did people do before the Internet?)

Caturday!

For Him The Glass Is Always Half Full

image from Pinterest

Several of us have gone out to dinner.  One of the waitresses – not the one at our table – is a young woman of impressive superstructure, and the buttons of her shirt are holding on in defiance of any known principle of structural engineering.  There are certain...ahem....gaps through which one can ascertain that she owes it all to Mother Nature and not to Maidenform™.

This has not escaped the notice of the volunteer sitting next to me.  He is a massive good ol’ boy everyone calls after his home state.

Me:  Tucky, I know you’re just waiting for one of those buttons to pop.

Second Volunteer: And when it does, it’ll put your eye out.

Tucky: Yeah, but I’ll go blind happy!

Never Underestimate The Power Of The Mouse

This is the sort of story I am inclined to disbelieve when I read it on the internet, but several people in the DRO vouched for it*.

A volunteer (who is also an Army reservist) was handing supplies out of the back of an ERV when he spotted a couple in line with a little girl half-hiding behind her dad.  Thanks to the generosity (or hegemony, depending on your point of view) of the Disney people, the Red Cross has a supply of Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls in every vehicle.  Sarge pulled out a doll, dropped to one knee, and offered it to the girl.

She grabbed the toy and threw her arms around Sarge and began crying “Mickey!” over and over.

Her parents told Sarge that it was the first time the child had spoken since they were evacuated.

(*and Sarge scowled, jammed his hands in his pockets, and walked away while it was being told, which is the response I would have expected).

Home Again

Joy was not entirely unconfined; Reserve Cat kept trying to roll on his back so I could scratch his chin, and Newdog kept dropping the Kong on him.  

Accidentally, of course. Newdog appears to have wised up considerably while I was away.

I am so tired that when I ran into a couple of his wife's clients at the Atlanta airport this afternoon, I couldn't remember Brian's youngest brother's name.  

Little Does He Know

Newdog just about tied himself into a pretzel when I got home last night.  I’m not sure how he’s going to take the news that I’m headed for Houston on Wednesday Tuesday.

Grrrsday

H/t to Lady Anne.

In other news, I’m scheduled to teach at another training institute, so Brian and Newdog will be batching it for the next three days.

Crochet - "Radiant Lace" from 1952

The last needlework pattern from the November 1952 Workbasket magazine.  Instructions are on my Flickr account.

50 Wonderful Ways To Use Cottage Cheese

A little pamphlet from the American Dairy Association, undated but late 40’s/early 50’s from the artwork.  In most of the main dish and baking recipes, cottage cheese is used instead of eggs (or to augment a lesser # of eggs than a recipe would normally call for).  There are of course several cheesecake recipes.

One page give options for using cottage cheese as a sandwich filler, something that often appears in my cookbooks from the between-wars period. Old-style cottage cheese was evidently firmer than what you get in the stores today.

Chicken Cottage Cheese Salad  (makes 1 ½ cups)

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

½ cup finely chopped cooked or canned chicken

¼ cup chopped celery

¼ cup finely chopped pecans

2 tablespoons chopped, stuffed olives

Salt & pepper

2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Combine first five ingredients and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper and moisten to spreading consistency with mayonnaise.  Chill.

Peanut Cottage Cheese (makes 1 ½ cups)

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

1 cup chopped salted peanuts

1/8 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Chill.

Olive Nut Cottage Cheese (makes 2 ½ cups)

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

3 tablespoons chopped stuff olives

3 tablespoons finely chopped pecans

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

Few grains pepper

Beat cottage cheese with a rotary or electric mixer until smooth.  Add remaining ingredients and blend.

Pineapple Cottage Cheese (makes 1 ¼ cups)

2/3 cup (9-oz can) crushed pineapple, well drained

1 cup creamed cottage cheese

2 tablespoons dairy sour cream

Beat cottage cheese with a rotary or electric mixer until smooth.   Add pineapple and sour cream and mix well. Especially good as a spread for party sandwiches with nut bread.

Caturday!

Self-Test

This was kind of fun.

You're Being Played, Pooch

Note strategic position guarding the blue Irish stole

During the first few days after Newdog recovered and started showing signs of interest in our merry little band, we watched his interactions with Reserve Cat carefully.  The rescue ladies told us that he liked cats, but it seemed prudent to monitor his overtures.  Particularly in light of the 50-lb weight difference.

So we kept an eye on him, and when he showed signs of being a little too hearty in his affections, we intervened, gently but (we hoped) firmly. Reserve Cat is not a cerebral animal but he does possess a certain low cunning, and this did not go unnoticed.

He has recently taken to waiting until the two of us are in another room and then sauntering up to Newdog.  Happy and trusting soul that he is, the dog thinks he’s being told Hiya, pal!  Wanna play?

What the cat is actually saying is Jump to your feet and stick your muzzle in my face, you loathsome interloper, so I can meow piteously and the humans will rush in and scold you.

Grrrsday

Crochet - A Filet Mat from 1952

From the November, 1952 Workbasket magazine. Instructions are on my Flickr account.

Words Fail Me

I’ve been following the Ezekiel Stephan and Robert deNiro/Vaxxed stories.  I should stop before I start kicking the dog.

Crochet - A Hot Water Bottle Cover from 1952

Running a bit late in the season, but I want to get the last of the Workbasket patterns from the November, 1952 issue posted.  This one is in crochet, for a hot-water bottle cover. Full instructions are on my Flickr account.

Naming No Names, But

Someone whose nose is slightly out of joint just deposited a freshly-killed rabbit on the basement steps.

Edited to add:  The photo was grabbed from the LOLCat site and although it looks like him, it's not Reserve Cat.

We've Created A Monster

in a rare moment of repose

My initial impressions of Newdog were that he was awfully timid and passive.  Little did I know.

Turns out he brought an infection and kennel cough with him – and I’m not blaming the rescue, he appeared perfectly fine when Brian picked him up.  But the first few days last week consisted of him finding a dark corner and curling up in it. I was so worried about what I thought was his fearfulness that I brought him in to the county animal shelter* where the staff and a volunteer took one look at him and said with one voice (ok, five voices) “Vet!  Now!”

Massive doses of antibiotics and two IVs with saline solution later, he is not the same animal. When he’s not demanding cuddles, he wants to play Kong, and when he’s not playing Kong, he wants to go walkies.

He also booped the cat with his forepaw yesterday.  Oh, the horror.

(*The director and the volunteer were advising us on the adopt-a-dog process.  The volunteer raises Old English Sheepdogs and has been a judge at Westminster and an official at the Iditarod.  She is a Big Gun in the dog world, and a thoroughly nice person).

Caturday!