Dailies & Mud Stew Recipe

Lost yet another fishy today. I'm thinking maybe they are getting over fed because of the bugs falling into their water, and us giving them fish food? No clue. Maybe I should have bought fish bred for pond living, but goldfish are pretty hardy fish and I thought they'd survive better than this, even for walmart fish. *ponder*

In other news, we had a decent storm in the afternoon, with a relatively small about of hail. The hail surprised us, but didn't really last for very long. I caught about 20 gallons of water in our bucket system. We REALLY need some storage barrels for all of this water. *chuckle*

Ladybug & Littlebit were supposed to go to the fountain to play today with Dliwehtfollac, but I think there was a misunderstanding because Littlebit ended up staying here all evening while ladybug took off and went to the fountain. I made it up to Littlebit by squirting her with the hose. *chuckle* At least she still had some good fun before the storms hit.

Introduced the ratty girls to the ratty boys, and the girls earned their names. There was a lot of sniffing, chasing, and claimbing around, as well as a few small dominance dances, as are to be expected. The fawn one is Walenda (as in "The Flying Walendas" circus troupe- she's an acrobat, even hangs upside down from the top of her cage for fun), the other one is Yodette (because she has some mad flying-around-the-cage-and-kicking-the-crud-out-of-other rats-at-high-speeds kung fu going on -like Yoda). Wow, we're lame. *laugh* We have housed the males in with the females in separate cages to allow for the first mating. We will keep them together for a full week to assure that a breeding has taken place, then switch them back to girls in one cage, and boys in another. It's time to buy some kitten food for the girls this next week, as they'll need the extra protein and nutrients to grow healthy babies.

Speaking of babies, The doe bunny is filling out nicely, and she looks like her pregnancy is moving along beautifully. She is much calmer since we put her in our (much quieter) bedroom. Rorschoreo, the buck (cross between Rorschach and Oreo) is having an absolute blast trying to rip his cage apart and tossing his food dish all over the place.

Checked on the Freecycle(tm) group before I left for The Radish and there were 22 messages in the pending messages area! *sigh* I was late before, but it took me a good 20 minutes to moderate all of the messages, so we ended up being nearly 2 hours late to the potluck.

This week's potluck was amazing though, even though we were so late. I made a new recipe "Mud Stew" and it was delicious! Even more delicious was when I spread the spinach dip on a piece of frybread and then spread the stew on it. WOW! There was a really good showing, and a good time was had by all, as usual. *smile* Discovered that the coffee makers are busted. Well, I'm thinking that we did indeed trade a vacuum cleaner we dumpster dove for the yard sale for a coffee maker... *evil grin* Looks like my trade went really well at just the right time. *smile* We took the dishes home to wash this time.

We watered the plants, and I let Keebler sleep in for most of the day because he has an exposed nerve in one of his teeth. I'll do nearly anything to keep him from having to suffer through that, including letting him sleep all day. Tomorrow we're going to be calling a few dentists so that he can get it fixed or pulled.

Recipe: Mud Stew
1 burdock plant with flowers (about 6-8 leaves)
1/2 bag frozen turnip greens
1 large dandelion root
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 heaping teaspoon vegetable "Better Than Bullion"
1/2 teaspoon mushroom "Better Than Bullion"
1 can slivered beets (undrained)
3 cups water
6oz baby portabella mushrooms
8 oz button mushrooms
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 green bunch onion
4 pearl onions
1/8 teaspoon creamy horseradish spread
2 level teaspoons mild curry seasoning
1 cup instant brown rice (optional)

Put water, bullions, peanut butter, beet juice from can, and curry powder into a medium pot and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Wash and chop everything green into 1" pieces. Wash dandelion root and chop finely. Wash mushrooms and chop into 1/2"-2" chunks. Quarter pearl onions and add everything to broth. Boil 30 minutes on medium.

(optional) For a thicker stew, dip, or an exotic side dish add rice. Leave on heat to simmer/slow boil for 5 more minutes, then remove from heat. Let sit 10 minutes to cool and enjoy!

(This recipe is very good for boosting the immune system as burdock, dandelion, garlic, onion, and tumeric are all beneficial to the immune system. It is named Mud Stew because it looks similar to the thick mud soups that kids make in the spring, complete with "leaf litter", "worms", and assorted bits of "what's ThAt?")