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Monday, July 16, 2012

Pet Corner Monday

Well, The 100th Stampede of Calgary is now over. Too bad it's over and I unfortunately, didn't get down to the Stampede grounds this year.  I did however, check out some of the fireworks even though it has been somewhat of a crazy time for me.  My old cat has been ill and I am going through enough money to start a small business or buy a nice car.  Instead it has all been spent on Kiki,

His paw had been infected from snagging his claw on a blanket and I took him to the vet right away when I noticed it was not getting better.  For some reason the antibiotics were somewhat resistant or so the vet said.  We are finally coming to the end of that antibiotic and hopefully things clear up,  but all the while his poor 1st and 4th digit nails do still bleed.  I keep his paws clean and followed all the prescriptions, and sometimes if he wouldn't let me clean his paw but I make sure to get it done.   I try to do it thoroughly.  I needed to make sure we did everything, on time and consistently, like taking the pills.

So, I was insistent and I didn't let Kiki off the hook on taking any medications or cleanings, but then he was wasn't eating enough with all the medicine.  He seemed like he was listless and throwing up, and not himself.  So I feel like the meds are too harsh and making his overall health worse and tried to talk to the vet about it.

So, the newest detail is that there is protein in Kiki's urine, from the vet's test results.  I don't know how many urine collection this,  and urology that and a lot of terminology later to know it will cost cost me too much money to finally find this out.  It meant there is starting to be mild to moderate kidney failure.  Hundreds of dollars doesn't bother me but it is annoying, and when it started to add up to thousands, I just started to step up my sales at work to afford the bills.  I could not get my cat on medical insurance since he is elderly.  Being he is an 18 year old cat I suppose it's not uncommon and he now has to change his diet to be supportive in his kidney health. 

"Friskies" Chicken Dinner is not going to cut it anymore, although that was just the food to stick to for his diabetes health and was good to our price point.  Now, the food prescribed to Kiki is J/D formula, which is $2 per small can, and he should be eating 1 1/2 of those per day.  So now he doesn't eat all of it.  I mix it a bit with the remaining "Friskies" brand that I have to get his system to adjust.  He should be used to eating the new food on it's own soon.

My main reason for writing this post tonight, is that I wanted to let other cat or pet owners know that I am reading a book, and it's called "How to Keep Your Cat Healthy, The Natural Way".  It actually is very interesting, and speaks about canine and feline diets in the wild versus commercial feed.  I will fill you in more if requested, but basically if you feed your pet commercially made food his or her health will start falling apart especially as they age.

It's because they are not eating enough of what they need, especially if you are not finding all the nutrients to give them.  Of course, there are other factors to good health, but say skin problems, are most likely caused by a deficiency, which thus was caused by lack of nutrition.  Cats in the wild eat whole birds or mice, and those little animals ate all kinds of nuts, fruits, greens etc. because a cat won't eat broccoli doesn't mean they don't need some foliage.  So fresh grasses such as cat grass, that I have grown for him is great, but they need it all the time.

Stay tuned for more updates on Kiki and more information that can help you manage your pets health.  I will try to keep up on the updates although in some past posts I may not have if no one expressed interest in a subject.  I am trying to learn more about pet health but also more on my own as well.  Here's a picture of Kiki's shaved paw, about 3 weeks ago. It doesn't look good and it now looks worse.  I hope it gets better.

Have a nice day.


Monday, July 02, 2012

Take it Easy ~ Tortilla Salad with Tortilla Wrap Chips

Happy Monday, and since Canada Day was yesterday, we do get today off in lieu of it being on Sundays.  These are the best kind of Mondays!  And with that being said it is feeling more like summertime.

I wanted to mention a interesting and quick great summertime salad to make, so you can take it easy.
It's filling and delicious, and it's a great way to use up your tortilla wraps before they go bad.
I usually eat flax tortillas, and in my opinion those are best to use for this recipe.

First you can start washing and preparing vegetables for the salad, which you can use what ever you like and then set those all to the side.  Vegans can use only vegetables and non-animal food products and if you are vegetarian you may want to use some shredded cheese with this salad.  If you do eat cheese, it goes well with the tortilla chips that you will make.

Take your tortilla wraps, and cut them into triangles.  I put them all in a pile, and then cut them all half ways and then cut them into half again and so on.  You will end up with circular triangles.

Now, here's the part where you will be careful and that's frying them.  You only need a small amount of oil in a large pot and you should heat that up on medium to medium-high heat.  Turn it down before it's getting too hot at any time.  Put your tortilla triangles into the cooking oil in small batches.  About 5-6 tortilla chips per batch.

Stay there cooking and watch carefully.  They turn brown fast so stay and cook them and do not leave anything unattended.  If you have to go, then take the pot off and turn off the burner.  Watching closely at the first sign of light golden brown  and then flip the tortilla wrap chip carefully, using metal flippers or turners.  NEVER use plastic or anything like that, as it will melt.  Then prepare a plate or I use a metal bake pan, and put that off to the side away from the burner.  Line the pan with clean paper towel.

When you are removing the chips from the oil, also remove the pot of oil, to a burner that is off and hold it with oven mitts on.  Safety tip for the clumsy.  Remove the triangle chips onto the paper towel ed pan.  Finish cooking all the chips until done, in the same way, and removing them in batches. Turn off the burner and cool the oil at back of  the stove on a burner that was not on.

Then prepare your salad the way you like it. I use a mix if salad greens, cucumber and other vegetables on hand.  Then add on top the tortilla chips and add cheese on top.  I use a marble cheese,
since it's a nice balance of both cheddar and mozzarella.  I think sometimes it is easy to make a salad dressing, but if you are in a rush a good dressing to use for this salad is honey mustard dijon.  "Compliments" brand for Sobeys actually makes a low fat, and tasty one.  Serve right away so the tortilla chips are fresh and crisp.

P.S.Sorry, I did start to eat before taking a picture as I was starving! Bon appetite!




Wednesday, June 13, 2012

YYC Food Trucks

Hello!

Sometimes, you come across something a little later on in the game, sometimes you are the first to notice a trend but don't really need to mention it.  Then you see the trend catch on and it's a revolution, and this time I am talking about a food revolution!

Well, I can tell you that one of the newest trends here in Calgary are the Food Trucks.  All I know is, I am finding out that one can eat like a king on the streets!  From Mexican, to Shawarma, coffee to treats, you can pick up something tasty any day of the week.



The best tip after finding there are about 10 + food trucks in Calgary, is to download the YYCFoodtrucks app, and you can download and then you know where all the food trucks are at, on the go!
www.yycfoodtruckapp.com/

Now, if you would like to see which food trucks are available here in Calgary go to their website www.yycfoodtrucks.com

Now, so you know, 3 Food Trucks that will be at The Calgary Stampede and those are Los Compadres, Naaco Truck and Mighty Skillet.  I know you will like it, so check them out~!

Speaking of FOOD, here's the FOOD that will be down on the Stampede grounds.  See you there!
 http://cs.calgarystampede.com/fun-food/food.html

Have a great week!

NEW~! P.S Stay tuned for more on this in 2 weeks!! The Perogy Boyz Food Truck!



UPDATE!
Here's an article all about Calgary's Food Truck Festival!
Toronto Sun: Food Truck Festival Rolls Into Calgary's East Village



Monday, June 04, 2012

Update Request- Racing Time: The Finish Line of Life Poem by Rebecca Mummery

Hello,

How is your week cruisin' along?  The best I hope.  I am running out of time lately and when I chase time it runs faster and faster.  Here's a profound poem about racing against time.

Enjoy!


Racing time: The Finish Line of Life.


We are all human, and all shall suffer.
When we think, it's rather we try not to,
And when we do think, it's then that life presents itself.
Not that we can see the ugliness, it's rather that ugliness is felt.

What's far more ugly than what is seen, is what is not.
And when we see what is ugly, life is but a comforting hand on a shoulder.
Mystery, it can be the joyful curiosity that leads to discovery.
But the worst kind of mystery is that, that will lead to suffering.
Not everything that lurks behind the corner will greet pleasantly.
The fear in not knowing, all shall suffer.

Many a time, we are caught on unawares,
The bitterness in life embraces us with a ticking bomb,
Sighs, smirks, grimaces and stares.
The time is short, but the climb back up to the top is long.

Time is sprinting away with our key to the door,
And our firm grasp on the grenade will continue to be,
If the door cannot be unlocked,
Time ticking away our life, waging our own private war.

Next time we sit in the Garden of Contentment,
It's fine to observe those in the backgarden of Unfortunate.
We glance backward, and forward strain our eyes,
So we stay seated, contented in the garden with our eyes shut.
But what comes from behind has a journey to complete,
For our eyes are shut, we fail to see the Unfortunate that is gaining on us.

What enters our life with sudden impact,
We may dismiss the alien, the alien is impossible to be the alien in our own life,
But it will never seem the inevitable portion that our life has lacked,
Hence the sudden impact, the driving force that meets the dead end...
The race of time, the finish line of life.
-Rebecca Mummery

Have a nice week!





Thursday, April 26, 2012

In The Year 2012

Think bendable flexible screens that zoom in and out of the picture, with a twist of the wrist!  That's the technology now a days.  TV everywhere.  Thin as cardboard laptops,  the personal computer is moving aside for the ~ "Personal Cloud".

$50 LED light bulbs that last for 50 years.  Nice you nay not have to change not one light bulb more.
On the go mobile payment with just a swipe of your smart phone, and no more need for a wallet. 
Google smart glasses and computers that have touch, gesture recognition, or voice control are all the rage.


E-car revolutions and the new platform from Amazon Kindle Fire moving to takeover ipad sales by the end of 2012.  Square iphone dongle domination?  Invasion of a frictionless sharing facebook community,  everyone will know what book you are reading, where you are reading it, right down to the word you are reading right now.  Brutal slow readers. Tweet it.

Yes, it's amazing how fast things change, and a few months from now we may hear about HTML5, so I hear.  One APP love. @Dropbox is appealing to me this very minute!

Until next time.  Peace.