Monday, May 26, 2025

Memorial Day 2025


It's not a day off from work.

It's looking at history, and what has withstood time and conflict.

It's not meeting friends for a meal and fun.

It's not ice cream and a barbecue.

It's not sitting in your lounge chair.

It's raising your flag, remembering what is important as you look hard at everything.

It's being thankful for those with the courage to serve.

It's remembering brave sacrifices.

It's expressing your pride in your country for all to see, not just on this day but every day of the year.

It's remembering duty and courage and the willingness to defend. 
It's honoring the memory of all of those brave men and women who gave their life in the service of this country, so you could live, here today, in the safe place they made for us. 

Monday, May 19, 2025

Happy Birthday, Sunny D. Lab

Dad's Home!

Who is that redhead on the porch waving two treats like semaphore code? I don't know, and I don't care because DAD is home!!

Sunny, the rescue, just turned 2. Adopted from a rescue organization that got her out of a puppy mill on a small farm, where she'd been left to grow in a too-small crate, her legs permanently "wonky," she has grown strong and healthy. She doesn't let her orthopedic issues slow her down at all.

The first six months were "challenging". We still had Lorelei with us (we lost her to sudden, inoperable cancer a couple of months later), Partner in Grime was on the road a LOT, and Sunny was 10 months old, with NO socializing or training, but TONS of energy.

She and Lorlei bonded quickly, but she was a handful when she wasn't sleeping.

Don't let this sweet face fool you.

THIS is the look you'd get after she'd do a zoomie in the house, launching off of the recliner like a Flying Wallenda to hit the sofa, which was just before "Bitey Hour" (that time before dinner when one has to gnaw on EVERYthing, including Mom's fingers, toes, and backside)  

There's a reason that since I don't drink alcohol any longer and I cut back on black coffee, I had to resort to THIS to get through my mornings.

We also had to do a little training on proper social interaction with our landscaping, including the large lilac bush.
But she's turned into a great dog, finally mellowing. Having gone through the "teen years," she learned how to burn off extra energy outside, first by learning to play ball in the yard, then with her new best friend, Napoleon, the Golden Retriever, whom the neighbors behind us brought home with them one day.  


Happy birthday, Sunny D. Lab. Like your predecessors, Lorelei Lab, Abby Lab, and always- Barkley, you are loved and you are safe now.

Friday, April 18, 2025

Happy Easter


May you all have a safe and happy Easter weekend  - wherever your travels may take you.

The Johnson Family and Sunny D. Lab.

Sunday, April 6, 2025

Part of this Complete Breakfast

Sunny D. Lab here - Mom makes the fluffiest gluten-free pancakes in the world.
But she refused to make me a giant dog bed out of one.   
She said I'd just eat it.

I don't know WHAT she is talking about.


Mom's Gluten-Free Pancakes  (Mom uses goat kefir and butter as it doesn't bother her eczema like cow dairy.)
In Bowl #1
1 cup plain kefir (In the yogurt aisle and Trader Joe's.) Shake well first.
1 large egg at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tablespoons melted unsalted  butter

In Bowl #2 mix
1 1/4 cups (150 grams, I recommend weighing) Bob's Red Mill 1/1 Gluten Free Flour Blend
1 Tablespoon Hain Sodium Free Baking Powder (or 2 tsp regular)
1/2 teaspoon EnerG Sodium Free Baking Soda replacement (or 1/2 teaspoon regular baking soda)
2 Tablespoons organic sugar

Mix wet and dry ingredients together, stirring just til combined,  adding up to 1/3 cup spring water to get the consistency you want (I like mine to be thicker than cake batter, to dollop it on the grill rather than pour). Cook on a 325°F Griddle, flipping just once.  Makes 10 small pancakes.

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

The Value of Things

$108 for dog toys at PetsMart  - yawn

A shipping tube dropped on the way to the recycling bin - SCORE!





Sunday, March 30, 2025

Hey Mom -


You put 3 treats in your pocket before our walk.  
You only gave me TWO.  

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Last Snow

 It was only two inches and had not been forecast until about 12 hours before it arrived, but we got our final snow of the season.  Sunny enjoyed every minute of it before it melted.







Sunny will run UNDER the higher part of the ramp leading to the porch, it' like watching Barrel Racing for Labrador Retrievers. 



BUT I DON'T WANT TO COME INSIDE!