It's Spring...

...so my sister and I went on a spring mini-break to her husband's family cabin on an island they own off the coast of West Vancouver...

 

...this cabin was built by his great great uncle at the turn of the last century and was added onto by his grandfather...

 

...it's amazing this was all built by hand...

...so relaxing...no electricity no phones...

                                           Nellie enjoying the view

...100 years of history.  All these signs, afixed to the woodshed, washed up on the shore on the island...

...parts of the island are quite rocky and steep.  My sister using a rope to decend one of the paths...
 

...you'll guess by her clothing that the weather was not spring-like.  A storm blew in and it was very windy and sleety...

 

...Nellie didn't move from the kitchen fire...

 

 

...but it was still an amazing spring break with my sister.

 

 

 



Home made dog biscuits

 

 

We love our three pooches.  We spoil our animals, all of our animals including our 3 horses. Friends gave us this sign which pretty much says it all...

 

 

 

In early September we lost our 7 year old boy, Tiberius, to cancer.  During his illness I started to research dog diets and food and I was perturbed to learn in Canada there are no governmental regulations pertaining to dog food manufacturing.  The manufacturers do not have to list ingredients on their products. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/pet-food-law.html.

 

Tiberius

 

 

So I decided to make my own doggie treats.  I've experimented with lots of ingredients and found the one that has the best texture and stores well is liver.

 

 

The Recipe (I use the word recipe loosely):

 

 

Put raw chicken or beef liver into a food processer...

 

 

 

...and puree.  Add a little water,an egg and blend...

 

 

 

 

Pour the liver into a mixer, add flour, a tsp of baking powder, and mix.  Hubbie complains of the smell when these are baking so I put a couple of tbsp of herbs de provence to mask the cooking odor...

 



 

 

Add flour until it's the consistency of cake batter then pour the mixture onto a cookie sheet...

 

 

 

...spread it evenly and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes...

 

It's easier to cut when the dough is still warm, use a pizza cutter to slice it into lenghts...

 

 

...throw the treats back into a low oven, about 200, and bake for another 15 minutes to dry them out.  Treats must be kept in the fridge, I make a large batch and freeze half.

 

 

Your dogs will love them.

 

 



 



 





 

 



 

 

 





Hubbie's Project, Antique Cart Wheels

 

My husband found these amazing 19th century shipping cart wheels. 

 

 

They were reclaimed from a building that was being demolished in the historic Gastown site of Vancouver.  They were in a cellar that was thought to have collapsed in the 1886 Gastown fire.

 

 

It took a lot of work to buff off the layers of rust...

 

 



 

 

...but they came out looking amazing.

 

 

Aren't they fabulous?

 

These boards, that still have old forged square nails attached, were reclaimed from an old barn in Alberta and will be used to make a cart coffee table.  I can't wait until hubby finished this project.