Our Pets Over The Years

Turkey Soup With A Smokey Flavor - 11/30/2009

The best part of our Thanksgiving turkey is the turkey soup we made.

IN A LARGE POT:

One large yellow onion chopped
5 cloves garlic chopped
Turkey carcus with the 2 thighs detached and all skin removed
10 cups water
Broth from the giblets that we boiled on Thanksgiving
(I put the giblets in a pot, cover with water, add a couple cloves of garlic, little salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning and bring to a boil and simmer for an hour and turn off) I remove and discard the giblets and strain the broth. I then use a bit of this to make the gravy. What is left (about 3-4 cups), is put in the refrigerator and used for my soup.
8oz chicken stock (used Trader Joes brand, you can use your favorite)
A few sprinkles of Poultry Seasoning

Bring to a boil then turn down to simmer, set timer for one hour and let simmer with lid slightly off, taking the thighs out when they are heated, about 10 minutes. While in this process if the carcus is falling apart, remove the bottom of it and submerge the rest in the pot (this was the part with the remainder of the breast)

One hour later remove the carcus and any bones floating in the soup.

ADD:
6 stalks of celery (including the leaves) cut in bite size pieces
2 dozen baby carrots cut in 3 pieces each

Bring to a boil, set timer for 30 minutes, and let simmer with lid slightly off. Check the carrots and celery to be at the tenderness that you like.

During this time I cut up (cubed) all of the turkey meat to be added at the end.

ADD:
1 1/2 cups of white rice

Bring to a boil and then to a simmer and cover and cook using the directions for your rice.

When the rice is done, stir the soup and add in the cut up turkey and stir again and let it sit with the lid off.

We had a small amount of left over Franco American Turkey Gravy in a jar, so we added this.

We chose not to eat the turkey soup until the next night, so we let it cool off and put it in a large covered bowl and into the refrigerator. It made a great meal with some French bread and is dinner again tonight. A nice warm meal for these cool Fall evenings.

ENJOY!!

Thanksgiving at the Solem's - 11/26/2009

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. As usual, I forgot to take photos. We were having such a fun and somewhat lazy day (stayed in PJ's most of it), that I remembered after taking a leg and wing off and munching on those with the help of our cat (Oscar) my husband (Dan) and our son (Erik). It had been so long since we BBQ'd a turkey that we decided to buy a Weber Charcoal BBQ. We stuffed and BBQ'd our 17 1/2 pound Norbest turkey. It was so good, and has made great leftovers. Tomorrow, the left overs will be soup. I guess a huge sign in my kitchen or at my computer will remind me to take photos of my soup. Now if I can remember to make a sign to remember to take photos.

HAVING FUN WITH PHOTO BOOTH

I am constantly trying to learn more about Photo Booth and what I can create. Lots of fun.

HALLOWEEN 2009 - WELCOME TO OUR HOUSE

The Front of our House
My spider ring
Erik
Me enjoying Halloween

Erik as John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever


Dan, with our bat in the background

IT IS HALLOWEEN

The kids started knocking on our door and ringing our doorbell around 7:30pm. It is fun seeing the costumes on the little kids all the way up to the big kids. All say trick or treat and thank you. Such nice kids. Parents wait on the sidewalk and wave as we glance at them after giving their children candy. Our neighbors across the street bring their young boy and girl each year and I take a picture of them each year. How they have grown. It is a wonderful holiday.

JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS

OSCAR HAS BECOME SUCH A HUGE PART OF OUR FAMILY - WILL ALWAYS MISS GEORGE AND THE REST OF OUR PETS

OUR TRIP TO CLOVERDALE TO VISIT LONG TIME FRIENDS - 10/5/09

It had been way too long since I had seen Jack
I am so glad that we made this trip,
he looked great

Soon after we arrived, Jack had me come to the front of
his house to show me all of his trains and how some worked.
It was simply amazing and so beautiful to see.

So much love went into what he had done.

This was my favorite

So many trains in one room but done so nicely

So much love and work into every piece

Jack's love for trains has been a lifetime passion

This tree is what you see when you walk
into Jack's house. It has been up since his wife Jo
passed away several years ago. It is breathtaking.

We had a wonderful lunch

Judy and Elaine

Mom and Judy

Jack and Mom

Jack and Dan

Our group photo after lunch in Jack's backyard
Darlene, Dan, Janet, Jack, Mom, Judy and Elaine

David came with he and Janet's dog after lunch.
We got a little show.

Jack asked that I take a photo of this dog
I do not remember the story about it though.

It was fun looking at the photos we took while
we visited and old photos that I had on my computer,
even captured a photo of David in this photo

and Dan in this one

I could not resist taking photos of an old framed photo of Judy

and an old framed photo of Janet

So many beautiful things throughout the house
That Jack wanted me to take photos of

Jack asked that I turn on the lights
and take a photo of a beautiful Christmas
set up in one of the bedrooms

Special musical items

David (Janet's husband) did this sketch of Jack
I asked if it was ok to take a photo
and Jack said sure, looks just like Jack
David did an awesome job

The view from Judy and Dwight's home

We got to see Dwight and meet he and Judy's granddaughter

We followed Janet to the freeway and continued on our way home
What a great day with wonderful friends,
Memories I will cherish forever

A NEW ADDITION TO OUR FAMILY - MEET OSCAR

If you would have told me that we would get another cat after losing George, I would have told you absolutely not. My husband and I visited PetsMart a few times since the passing of George. Two weeks ago we visited PetsMart and there he was, Oscar. There were many kittens but Oscar caught my eye. We talked to the people at PetsMart but decided to leave and finish our shopping. We passed by PetsMart on our way home and my husband asked if I wanted to stop and see about Oscar. I said no, but had e-mail information to find out about Oscar. I went on my computer as soon as I got home and found out about Oscar and sent an e-mail. I got an e-mail and phone call right away. We went back to meet Oscar and the woman that had Fostered him for 8 months. Oscar was the victim of foreclosure, had been in a shelter, then a Foster home, then Pets Mart to try and get a home. We could not resist. We bought a carrier, food and paid for him and brought home our 5 year old, 17 pound 12 ounce Oscar. He loves us and we love him. He is a gem. We still miss George so very much, but could not have asked for a better addition to our family.

From Our Wonderful Neighbors The Todds With A Cat That Misses George Through The Knothole In Our Shared Fence

My Beautiful Silver Paw Print Necklace From Carol at silver-byfire

My very talented friend Carol at www.silver-byfire.com made this gift for me. Thank you so much for this beautiful necklace in memory of our wonderful cat George.

Hugs To Remember George From Nisa

With Sympathy from Bradshaw Vet

MUSIC TO LIVE/LOVE/SING/ENJOY/DANCE/AND REMEMBER

Today, 12/28/2009, I finally learned how to move my playlist to the bottom of my Blog, so my music never moves as my Posts do. I have to thank a fellow blogger for helping me with this, Barb at Bella Vista. The music I had was a dedication to the passing of George on August 2, 2009. The dedication music remains on my playlist, as do the comments . I have added music that I enjoy and holiday music for those that come to visit my Blog.

My Heart Is Heavy As We Have Lost George

I started this blog as my first blog and thought George would be my perfect subject as he has been the center of our world. That world suddenly changed around 1:30 this morning when an injection was given to him to end what was inevitable, as his body had collapsed and he became non responsive. He is finally at peace. Our wonderful furry friend of almost 18 years will be deeply missed by the 3 of us. For now this Blog will remain silent in honor of George.