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For some time Kero has had a lump on her neck. It had been presenting as a sebaceous cyst, so our vet was just watching it. The theory was that at some point it would either recede, or get very big and need to be removed, or perhaps it would just stay as it was forever.

Last week I was out of town. While I was gone the skin over the lump got pierced and tore open. It's not clear if that was the result of rubbing by her collar, or fighting or playing with other dogs, or something else. In any case, the skin got torn and then infected. I brought her in to the vet yesterday to look at the injury. I had imagined that it was going to require a few stitches and some antibiotics. However, with the skin open the vet was able to see that it wasn't a cyst, but rather a tumor. It was impossible to tell how far the tumor extended into her neck, and cancer was a real possibility.

This morning I took her back in for surgery. Since she was going to be under anyway I also arranged to have three warts removed from one of her hind legs and some tarter was to be scraped from her molars. There was also an odd piercing on her other rear leg that I wanted inspected. In addition because of the strange weather we have been having, Kero hasn't done her usual spring shed (aka "blowing her coat.") She had developed quite a crop of dreadlocks on her belly, so I asked them to do a thorough exam of her stomach hair to make sure there weren't any "foxtails" hiding in there. [Foxtails are the seeds of one of several grasses, notably Hordeum murinum, that get caught in animal's fur as part of their mechanism for dispersal. Unfortunately, the fur of many dogs captures the foxtails which can then pierce the skin and enter their body, potentially causing significant damage and even death. They also often get lodged in pets' noses, ears, and throats. Kero has had all of these happen to her. A very nasty business.]

The surgery went well, but it was lengthy and extensive. The tumor turns out to have been relatively small. The surgeon did not need to damage any of Kero's neck muscles in the removal. Also, he felt that it was very unlikely to be cancerous based on its location and appearance. Still, it will be several days before we get the results of the biopsy. The scraping of her molars and removal of the warts were no problem. However, upon examining her belly, they found numerous foxtails in her fur. They decided to shave her belly which revealed 6 locations where foxtails had embedded under her skin. They removed all 6 and inspected her remaining fur and orifices for foxtails. They got all the ones they could find, but there is no guarantee that they found them all. The mark on her other hind leg is a problem. It appears to be a foxtail entry site but they weren't able to find the foxtail. Its clear that Kero had been chewing on the wound, so we can only hope that she got it out herself.

Kero is now home and resting with a belly full of pain killers, antibiotics, and dinner. She will be wearing the "cone of shame" for at least a week, which means she can't go through her dog-door and I will have to walk her whenever she wants to go out.  I have no problem doing that - I am her dad after all. The only problem is that for her entire life she has had access to a dog-door, so has never learned to "ask" to go out. On the rare occasions that we have been someplace that she didn't have free access to the outside, I have found her sitting quietly near a door looking pitiful when she wants to go out. No barking. No coming to get me. No fidgeting. Just a sad and patient waiting. She is a good girl.

--Postscript  - 6/17/11 --

I just heard from the vet. The tumor was NOT cancer. It is a “tricoblastoma,” which, according to Wikipedia “...are a cutaneous condition characterized by benign neoplasms of follicular germinative cells.”

I don’t know what that means, but I like the word “benign” in there.
God Bless US! That is the Americans, and everyone that loves the Americas and the US. We are so proud to have another year of these great kids graduated, out there, tellin’ folks things the way that people want to hear them tellin’.

This year we’re havin’ the annual meeting again in place of the meeting we couldn’t have last year. Please come join US and the other folks that are comin’ and meet all the kids that have just. ‘Cause you know the kids are our future, and it is so important! We couldn’t be more proud to be Alumni of The Sarah Palin School of Public Speakin' and of being American in this country.

We know that you are all out there and talkin’ to folks and listenin’ to folks and talkin’ some more, which is so important to be doin’ and God bless America. We’re havin’ the annual meeting here in the heartland of America so we can listen to you and talk to the folks you’ve been listenin’ to and talk about how we’re all working together to fix this country and the terrible problems its been havin’ bein’ the greatest nation on the planet!

So please join us next Thursday at 9pm here at the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria in New York so that we can talk with you and the great folks and you can meet all these special, special kids who are so important and proud and joining us as God bless America. We really want you all to come to the annual meeting here in the heartland of America where we’re so proud to be Americans. If there’s a gotcha and you cant make it the next annual meeting is next month in Orlando where we’re havin’ it and more of these great kids are graduatin’ and talkin’ and comin’ together at.

God bless The United States of America!
Phillip ("Jimmy") Ramsbuckler
Secretary, The Sarah Palin School of Public Speakin'


PS: Sarah says she'll be sending us a special tweet at the meeting!


My honorary parents, Howie and Sue, had a cottage greeting card business using Howie's excellent photographs for the images on the cards. They focused on pictures taken on Martha's Vineyard, but during a trip to Australia they fell in love with textures of bark on the trees. They produced a run of cards featuring photos of Australian tree bark and sent me a set as a birthday gift one year. I've always loved trees, but I have been especially sensitive to tree bark ever since.

Here, then, are some photos of tree bark that I shot at Trail of the Cedars in Glacier National Park. Click on an image to enlarge (but you knew that.)
The other day I was asked why “seldom” is heard to be a discouraging word. It was a profound and curious question. Personally, I have never found “seldom” to be discouraging; however, I have been told that for some people, when they are at home, and their home is on the range, with deer and antelope playing, and the skies are clear for a majority of the day, hearing “seldom” is very discouraging indeed. Some of these people can become bedridden if repeatedly accosted by aggressors shouting “Seldom! Seldom! Seldom!” I have dubbed this condition “seldomosis.”

I promised that I would look into the source of seldomosis, but unfortunately I find myself with more questions than answers:
  • Is the phenomenon of being discouraged upon hearing the word "seldom" restricted to people who are at home on the range?
  • Is this perverse reaction to “seldom” weather specific? Among the people who get despondent at hearing the word “seldom,” are they only effected if the skies aren't cloudy? If it is a cloudy day, signaling that rain is on the way and the crops will be saved from the drought, does that diminish their linguistic sensitivities?
  • What is the connection to frolicking hooved mammals? Apparently deer and antelope playing is in some way involved in causing seldomosis. What about other animals? If squirrels and badgers play, but deer and antelope busy themselves with grazing, can that also cause “seldom” to be a discouraging word?
  • Which of these factors are more significant: weather, or animal entertainment? Or do both need to be in place, at home, on the range, to create seldomosis? Perhaps clear skies without animals playing would make “seldom” only mildly dispiriting.
  • Is this purely an auditory phenomenon? If a person is home on the range, the skies aren't cloudy all day, and there are both deer and antelope playing, will they be discourage by reading the word “seldom,” or must they hear it spoken to have the wind knocked out of their sails?
  • Lastly, are there any other words that upset sufferers of seldomosis? If so, is it phonetic or semiotic? That is to say, would “solemn” or “selenium” or “celadon” cause as much dismay as “seldom?” Or would those words be fine, but “rarely” and “infrequently” bring about feelings of hopelessness.
Any assistance that you can provide in unraveling this mystery would be much appreciated.
Bomaria Spp. (unknown cultivar)
The garden tour was a great success. The Hillside Gardeners of Montclair sold over 350 tickets, which exceeded all prior tours. My garden looked great and everyone had a terrific time. Most of the flowers got the memo and agreed to bloom right on time. One, Sprekelia formossima clearly misunderstood, as it came into bloom literally just a few hours after the tour was over. The other 6 gardens (of 8  total) that I was able to see were excellent. Anyone that got to see all 8 gardens on the tour had an opportunity to see some really amazing plants and garden designs.

Sprekelia formossima
I am finally getting back to "my regularly scheduled life already in progress." Hopefully my backlog of blog ideas will come spilling forth. Thank you, dear reader, for your patience. I can get back to reading, writing, and cooking. I can also get back to harvesting from my garden. I was leaving things in place so that the visitors could see what was growing. Here is a photo of yesterday's harvest.
I haven't written a damn thing in a couple weeks. My combined email inboxes now contain over 1500 messages. My friends on Facebook wonder what happened to me...

It's spring time here and I have been spending all of my spare time (and then some) in the garden. The urgency is particularly great with the Hillside Gardens tour just one week away (I was interviewed for the local newspaper yesterday - nice.)

While I still have a lot to say, a lot to write, and a lot to cook, spending time outside definitely has advantages over sitting at my desk. Amongst many, many things, I get to see the natural (and naturalesque) world more deeply when I spend my time in the garden. Yesterday I was outside talking to my friend Andy (who is also my landscaper.) I saw a bee sitting on my white lilac but not moving. It was so odd, it was completely immobile, so I went closer to check it out. I realized that it was in the jaws of an almost perfectly camoulflaged spider. Wow! (Note that I cropped the image and increased the contrast in Photoshop to make the spider more visible.)


Creepy but beautiful, and fully part of the natural world. I like the ant peeking out from behind a flower petal just to the upper left of the scene.


Postscript 5/4/11:  Found this on Wikipedia. I think it is Misumena vatia. Apparently this spider can change color at will!


The water feature in my garden.

Busy, busy, busy.

It's spring here in California, and when California springs, it doesn't kid around. I've completely lost count of the number of hours I have spent in the garden over the last two weeks. Weeding, pruning, fertilizing (organic), spraying (Safer Soap, etc.) Then there's "The Farm" - turning the soil, tilling and cultivating, pulling old carrots and planting new ones, planting corn, tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, cucumbers, zucchini, patty pan squash, herbs... Then there's the spring harvests - crazy amounts of chard and fava beans. On top of that I have to do something with all that food.

Busy, busy, busy.

Spring in the garden is always a busy time, but this year it is doubly so because my garden will be featured in the Hillside Gardeners of Montclair garden tour, May 1. This is a wonderful tour of gardens in Oakland's Montclair district that raises funds for various horticultural educational projects. I'm very pleased and honored to have my garden on the tour. However, it is an extra challenge because I want to time things so that by May 1 my garden looks perfect, but I also want it to look untouched. Perfect but effortless. No easy feat.

As if that weren't enough, I noticed that the Hillside Gardener's of Montclair didn't have a web site (tsk, tsk.) To my surprise, HillsideGardeners.com was available! So, I registered it and created a web site for them.

Busy, busy, busy!


The Tomato Tart's Online Bake Sale fo Japan Raises 8,269 for Second Harvest Japan


Congratulations to The Tomato Tart and all the many chef/bloggers who made this happen.  Wow!

The Uncarved Block Waffle
Aka The "Andrew Needs Adult Supervision in the Kitchen Waffle"

Finally, The Uncarved Block Waffle! It's not an easy waffle to make, but for the official waffle of The Uncarved Block, why should it be? It is fluffy inside, crispy outside, and sweet with a multi-layered flavor. It is a profound waffle. (Not at all modest, am I?)

Wet Ingredients:
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 13.5oz can of coconut milk (As with so many products, Chaokoh has downsized their coconut milk instead of increasing the price.)
  • 2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tsp Tahitian vanilla
  • 1/8 cup Malibu coconut rum
  • 1 cup fresh, ripe sweet mango, medium dice
  • 1 cup cooked white rice (preferably Jasmin)

Dry Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup rice flour (NOT glutenous rice flower)
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp sugar (heaping)
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt

Method:
Preheat waffle iron (the first step in all waffle recipes, doesn't this go without saying?)

Whisk the egg, coconut milk, vanilla, butter and rum together in one bowl (note: the butter should be melted but not hot). Then gently add the mango and rice. Sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl, making sure they are thoroughly combined. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until fully combined into a thin batter, but without beating up the mango too badly. Note that there aren't many glutens present, so you don't have to worry too much about overworking the batter.


The last instruction in most waffle recipes is "Make waffles according to waffle iron manufacturer's instructions," or some such. However, for this recipe do NOT necessarily follow the the manufacturer's instructions.

I recently got a fancy schmancy new waffle iron that purports to tell you when your waffle is ready (the Chef's Choice M840.)  I don't know how it decides when the waffle is done. Perhaps it thinks it is done when the heating element returns to a certain temp after being cooled by the batter? Maybe it is just a timer? I don't know. But, in any case, this is a very moist dough and the mango and rice are full of water. The Chef's Choice instructions say that you should not watch for the steaming to slow or stop as with old fashioned waffle irons, but rather to open the iron and remove the waffle when the buzzer sounds regardless of steam. With this recipe, if you follow those instructions, you get a waffle that comes out beautifully crisp, but 10 seconds later it is a soggy noodle.

My best results come from setting the M840 at #4 (out of 5) darkness, and letting it go through two whole cycles before removing the waffle. Also, placing the waffles on a cold plate causes instant condensation and sogginess. Resting them first on paper towels cured this problem.  If you have an "old fashioned" waffle iron that requires you to pay attention, wait for the steam to dissipate as usual but be prepared for it to take a relatively long time.




Serve with fresh fruit (preferably more mango,) or powdered sugar, or both. Maple syrup is definitely not recommended.

Notes:
  • The rice must be cooked, but need not be freshly cooked. Last night's left overs are fine.
  • This can result in a very thick batter depending on a lot of factors like weather, water content of the flour and the rice, etc. Add water to thin the batter down as needed.
  • If your waffle iron has a temperature adjustment, you may find better results at a lower temperature than usual (and longer time) to allow the center of the waffle to cook thoroughly.
  • I like Tahitian vanilla for this recipe. It has a sweet cherry-like tone that I find goes nicely with coconut. If you don't have Tahitian, Madagascar will do.
  • Don't use glutinous rice flour, it is just too gloppy.

Why have I developed this wild craving for root beer floats? I've no idea. If you figure it out, please let me know.

Here then is the official Uncarved Block Adult Root Beer Float (tm)

Ingredients:
1 bottle Virgil's Root Beer (or equivalent boutique root beer or homemade)
1 scoop homemade coconut sorbet (see below)
1 jigger Malibu coconut rum (or equivalent), more or less to taste
1 bendable straw.

Method:
Add Malibu and a few ounces of root beer to a tall glass and mix (mixing destroys the carbination in the soda, so we "sacrifice" a few ounces to help the mix.)
Place a scoup of coconut sorbet in the glass. Top with root beer. Note that with any root beer float, the root beer will foam up quite a lot, so add slowly, and as a precaution do this in the sink or on a towel.

Insert a bendable straw (this is vital!) Enjoy.

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For my coconut sorbet I start with Ming's Perfectly Simple Coconut Sorbet from Food.com, but there are two things I don't like about this recipe. Most important I feel like there is much too much shredded coconut. I also find it too sweet. Nonetheless, it could hardly be easier. So, check that out and note my comments on that page.