Friday, September 29, 2017

Flowers and Not Stinkbugs

Greetings friends and fans. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your diligent doggie reporter
Chester L. W. Spaniel. We have a very busy day to tell you about.


It seems Fall weather has finally crash landed on us! It was 90º Tuesday, and now it's 50º!
Typical here in WNY! So now we'd better show you the flowers before they get a frost.







And now I have something amazing to show you! 


What's on this pear leaf?


Here's a closer look:


Dad put it under his microscope:


Ghostwriter said these are probably stinkbug eggs! Yipes! Who needs more stink bugs??? Oh, but look what came out of them the next morning:


A whole army of tiny inchworm caterpillars! Ghostwriter scooped them all into a jar, and then let them go in the compost pile where they would have a lot to eat. 

Yup!  Lots of good stuff in there! 

Here's what they might look like when they grow up: 


We can't let you go without looking at at least one magnificent spider! Can you see her?


The rest of the day was devoted to watching the weather.

Sunny and bright.

Rain clouds.

Rainbow!

All clear again!

The moon is up early.

Spectacular sunset.




Sleepy time. 

I hope my dearest Princess Leah saw the moon too.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Noonies

Greetings friends and fans. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your confused doggie reporter 
Chester L. W. Spaniel.


First, I want to say thank you to my good friends Ojo and Jacobi at dogdoesntfetch
for asking if we were all right since we haven't posted for about a week. Everything's OK here. Ghostwriter has just been very busy. She told me—and I didn't quite understand this—that she has to get a noonie in a couple weeks, and this needed a lot of planning and doctor appointments. What the heck is a noonie???  So she showed me a picture:


I remembered that she had surgery on her left knee several months ago. But it didn't help, and the knee has gotten more and more painful. So now the only thing that can be done is to get a new knee. The doctor will cut her old knee out (like a soup bone) and put a metal and plastic thing in it's place. Being a doggie, I wondered what the doctor will do with her old knee, and asked if maybe I could have it to chew on. (Well, she did say soup bone!)


I think the answer to that was no!


 What do I know about such things? To me, a bone is a bone! Apparently ghostwriter will be staying in the hospital for a day or two while she gets her new knee. I wondered what I will do while she's there, since Dad will probably be visiting with her most of that time. I overheard them talking about putting me in a doggie jail hotel for a couple days. (Gee, I didn't think that bit about getting to chew on ghostwriter's old knee was such an issue!) But then my Jason human, sibling #4 of 4, said maybe I could stay at his house. He says he has a fenced back yard and could take me for a walk! He has two room mates who said they wouldn't mind having me around for a couple days. But they also have a big old kitty cat named Xerxes who is quite demanding of attention. The only kitty cat I've ever lived in the same house with was Maddie cat, who used to punch me in the nose!

Xerxes

Yipes!









Thursday, September 21, 2017

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Hello everyone. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your steadfast doggie commentator Chester L. W. Spaniel. It's that time of year again! You know what I mean: pumpkin spice latte season. I still have no idea what's so great about it, and neither does ghostwriter. She's just not a fan of sweetened flavored coffee. Why don't you just have a cup of regular coffee and a piece of pie? So I decided to redo a post from way back in September 2013. 


This is how it goes:

Hello. This is The Daily Bone and I'm your humble doggie host Chester L. W. Spaniel along with my esteemed colleague Joseph (Joey dog) Spaniel. 

It seems Fall is suddenly here. One day it's a sweltering 90º, and the next day it's 50º. But as the saying goes here in Western New York, if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute! Of course the humans have yet another way to celebrate the commencement of Fall: pumpkin spice latte coffee! Blah! Here are ten reasons why we doggies are so over pumpkin spice latte season:

Um, sleeping is better?

Seriously, why would you pay over $5.00 for a drink of something when
there's perfectly good water in the toilet bowl that's absolutely free?

Because after pumpkin spice latte season is Christmas shopping
season and you'll dress me in silly outfits like this. 

Pumpkin spice latte is fattening.

Because yum yum crunchy meatballs doggie food has all the
nutrients you need for a long and healthy life.

Because you're way overdue in buying me a new squeaky toy instead
of that silly drink. Bark bark bark! 

Because you're in such a hurry to go out and get one, that
you forgot to take me for a walk!

Who needs all that artificially flavored sugary sweet stuff when
you can have delicious all natural pears right from the tree? 

But all in all, we're going to go with sleeping as a better
alternative to pumpkin spice latte coffee.

Yup!

How did this get here?


Finally, here's my favorite singing duo, Trout Fishing in America,
with my favorite song for the season:



Did you get it?


If you want to see more doggies who are seriously over pumpkin spice latte season, check out this:



Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Yum Yum Food Report

Hello everybody! This is The Daily Bone Special Yum Yum Food Report. I'm your salivating doggie reporter Chester L. W. Spaniel. Today I'm featuring some local Western New York favorites.

I'm not wasting any time. Let's get right down to business. Here is a delicious, sweet, juicy pear. Along with it we have a grilled sandwich with Swiss cheese, tuna, and roasted red peppers. (Ghostwriter stole this recipe from Fox's Deli, except she used Pain de Champagne bread from Wegmans instead of rye bread.)


Next we have a wonderful dinner with a grilled Zweigle's red hot (a WNY favorite!) with locally grown corn on the cob from Gro-Moore Farm, and steamed vegetables. 


Here's a mouth-watering grilled pork chop that has been marinated in State Fair Spedie sauce, with spanakopitas, and a salad with dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) feta cheese, tomatoes, and Greek salad dressing. 


On Sunday we had a family dinner. Ryan was quite happy to be eating a piece of Pizza Corner pizza with lots of crunchy, fresh vegetables, and a plate of pickles. There were also Buffalo style chicken wings with bleu cheese dressing on the side. 


Ghostwriter tried out a new recipe for the pears from our tree, but she didn't want to do any baking. These are going to be caramelized pears. She dipped the cut sides in a mixture of sugar and cinnamon and cooked them face down in a big pot. When the sugar started to brown, she added a little water and let them steam a bit. Yummy! 


Most of the pears from our back yard tree got ripe super fast. Ghostwriter simply peeled them and poached them with a little sugar and cinnamon. Now we can store them in the fridge.

Sweet yummy dreams everyone!


Here's some information for locavores: 

Fox's Deli is in Rochester, NY.


Wegmans supermarket is based in Rochester NY


Zweigle's hot dogs are made in Rochester NY.


Gro-Moore Farm is in Henrietta NY


State Fair Spiedie sauce is from Binghamton NY. 


Buffalo style chicken wings originated at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo NY (of course!) 


Pizza Corner is in Henrietta NY, only a short way from my house from my house! 


Fresh pears courtesy of Joey's pear tree in our back yard. 
He would have been proud of this year's crop!