Boredom on a Rainy Day

Mingus leads a hard life

Although my dogs may look big and tough, here's a little secret: they melt in the rain.  Convincing them to use the backyard lavatory is frustrating because they hover by the back door and stare at me like I'm the most evil person in the world. They would rather explode then deign to dip their dainty paws in puddles of water. On weekends and days where I work from home, whatever. Not a problem. There usually is a break in the rain long enough for me to leash them up and perform a potty walk (once they start walking, they just can't hold it in any longer). On days where I'm on a schedule, meaning that they need to be on a schedule, you'll hear me saying things like "Oh, wouldn't it be so fun to go outside and pee? It'll be a blast! I'll give you a cookie! Go, go, go!"

This weekend, it's been rainy. Not as rainy as first predicted, but still a little wetter than normal. Mingus came home and pouted after his potty walk, and that's when I snapped a photo of him. What a spoiled dog. Let it be noted that this spoiling has nothing to do with me.

The boy is still on a beer making bent, logging eleven beers so far with numbers twelve and thirteen happening tonight. Although he's making only gallon batches, this still results in a ton of spent grains that we're scrambling to use.

They might look like my dogs made them, but they are really delicious

He made some cookies for our dinner party last night that I'd say fall into the energy bar category. One cookie is enough fuel to run a couple of miles.  Although it was a vegan recipe, I don't think anyone noticed (my rude assumption here is that vegan baked goods are gross - not always true but oftentimes true IMHO).

Paella is becoming my default dinner party food since I can throw just about anything into it, it's unusual and therefore impressive, and it tastes good. While guests are hovering about, I can have the paella bubbling away as I enjoy a glass of bubbly with everyone.  Last night's paella didn't require a trip to the store since I used up odds and ends (chicken thighs, cod, hedgehog mushrooms, preserved lemons, hatch chiles, and safflower), and it turned out fantastic. I served it with sautéed opo squash, and we also had a blood orange olive oil cake, homemade imperial black pepper stout, sherry fino, a bottle of homemade wine, and the boy's spent grain cookies. In our food and alcohol induced waking sleep state, we had an odd conversation where one person tried to convince two of us that we were mispronouncing "exorbitant" (he was wrong).

I have Flaming June on the needles, and the funny thing here is that I'm knitting it to avoid the last few rows of my never-ending blanket. It's an odd thing to knit a fingering weight sweater to avoid knitting something else, but at least I'll get a cool cardigan out of the deal. I can't fight the way my mind works. I just have to power through.

The designer, Cheryl Niamath of Fetching fame, provides terrific pattern support. I noticed some numbers that didn't quite add up on the pattern, and she thanked me and also sent me her new e-book full of fantastic little knits, Covet! The patterns in Covet are all drool worthy, and I have no idea which one to tackle first. Lots of knits in this book are perfect for holiday knitting.