Favorite Kettles, Mating Dogs and Other Useful Things

I have favorite kettles.  I have favorite dishes. I have favorite utensils in my kitchen that are old and worn-looking but they do the job better than ANY NEWER FACSIMILE.

I love these things. They're part of how I do things: create. Bake. Cook. And good cooks know that your equipment really shouldn't look Calphalon fancy, but be hold-the-heat-good!

Here's a favorite example. The pastry cutter on the right was my mother's. For years I used two knives, criss crossing the butter or shortening into the dough. But Mom gave me this one before she passed away, and then one of my kids got me the new one to the left... The new one has no spring. It's too tight. The separation of the wires is too narrow. So they meant well, but the old one that hangs on my kitchen wall just plain works better!

And you guys have seen this kettle often:

This is my 4 1/2 quart Cast Aluminum Dutch Oven. It's not pretty. It's not fancy. But Cast Aluminum holds and maintains an even heat better than any other pan I've ever used, including the fancy new layered looks. Many layered pans have cast aluminum on the INSIDE layer, covered by copper or stainless because they're prettier, but when you're making sauces or candies, an even heat is crucial.  With my cast aluminum kettles, I get that and you can find these babies for a SONG at garage sales. Because most people have no clue what a treasure they've got. And cast aluminum is HEAVY. If it looks like this, but it's light, it's not the right thing, so save your .50.

This gratuitous picture is to show how well child-protective locks work on cupboards.  You can see the stripped lock in the back left corner on the old hardwood floor.  Yup. That was Meggie, 18 months old, my Goddaughter. Smart little cookie, right?  In this pic is Mary Ruth (front, seated, facing the action, Megan, Brody (far back) Logan (doing a stomp in orange shirt) and MacKenzie (trying new dance moves on the cereal)...  I've always used bandanas to tie the cupboards shut. It's not pretty, but it works. We've gone through several locking devices and we've come to the agreement:  The bandanas work, tied snug through the two handles into a granny knot. Around here effective is the name of the game.

So mating dogs... You knew I'd get to that, right? Our Golden Retriever Sadie came into 'season' two weeks ago but with Christmas I wasn't sure if I'd messed up because we were busy. So I had Mick (our stud dog, and just a gorgeous fellow) come visit.

This is Hearthside's McDreamy  "Mick"

So Mick comes over and he's obviously interested but she's not... So I send him home 48 hours later, thinking I'd messed up because of the holidays and missed her 'heat' cycle.  I didn't, but this is not an exact science. Sigh... So Mick comes back five days later. Still nothing. We're on day 9 which is usually prime time, but not always. So Mick stays through day 11 and nothing happens so I shrug and figure I'm just totally not on top of this.

Libby-the-Poodle (gorgeous, smart, nice, did I mention smart? dog who has the nicest puppies I've ever met each and every time) goes into heat a week after Sadie.  Which means simultaneous puppies if they both take, but that's another blog.

This was Libby last spring, taking care of Maddie's puppies. And yes, she'd nurse them. She's such a good dog.

We invite Mick back, but he's probably about fed up with us now. As in: You keep stealing me from my cozy fire and my hearthside rug to do NOTHING????? 'Sup wi dat???

Mick thinks Libby's adorable, but he FALLS IN LOVE WITH SADIE...  Because now she's ready.

Sadie with her 2011 litter of little red puppies.

Oh my stars. Day 14.... And this does happen, you can find it in the breeding info blogs, but it has never happened with Sadie...

As for Libby?  Well, time will tell. We're KEEPING MICK here for another week, just to cover all the bases. (Note the baseball analogy, spring training is short weeks away)... We've retired Maddie. She'll just stay here and be our dog now.

This is "Maddie"

These are "Golden Doodle" pups.... a cross of a Golden Retriever and a Poodle. And yes, they're just as beautiful when they grow up!

And this is Sadie's last litter because Ruthy sees time disappearing a year in advance and dogs need love and attention especially during pregnancy and nursing... We moms understand that, right?  So it's not fair to keep breeding as my time grows short writing.

But I've learned a lot. And if we end up with two litters this year, a week apart, I'm in for a busy spring but that's okay. Life on a farm should get busy in spring, right? And if Dave caves and puts up fencing for Alpacas, well... :)   Then I'll have some new animal friends to blog about!