Balsamic Barbecue Sauce Recipe. Yes, Homemade!

I was running low on ingredients.  My refrigerator held a vacuum packed slab of Pork Shoulder, Boneless.  

Where do they get Boneless Pigs, and how can they live without bones?

Anyway, I remembered that I lived near a restaurant supply store where I previously bought a gallon of Balsamic Vinegar. 

Yes, A Gallon.  Right around four liters if you prefer.

Most barbecue sauce has vinegar in it in some level and this recipe has saved me multiple times.

Since the Pork Shoulder was about 8 pounds (4kg), I wasn't going to soak it in the sauce overnight.  I merely coated it at 6 PM and then a top off coat an hour later at 7:30 in the evening.

At 9pm, I turned on the oven at 225F (107c) for 12 hours.  At 9AM I added another 2 hours.

Perfect.  I had a Slab of Meat that shrank some, but was at 205F (96c).  

At 11:30 I was able to eat some of the most buttery barbecue that I had in a very long time.  

This sauce you make at home, over the stove.  It took about 1/2 hour of total time, 15 minutes prep, 15 of simmering.  It thickened and I was able to say this is a winner again.

Yes, I used it on Pork but it works well with Beef, and Poultry.  Yes, I have done all three.

For my Vegetarian and Vegan friends and Family, try it on tofu or a Veggie Burger.  

It is awesome.  It is my go to barbecue sauce.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  

Process:

• Add the ingredients to a saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
  Alternately add the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. 
• Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Refrigerate and use fairly promptly like any homemade goods.

What happened after the wheel was invented? A revolution. (That's one way to spin it.)

 A truck carrying a shipment of Worcestershire sauce was driving through Loughborough, when it ploughed head-on into a Lamborghini Murcielago.

The truck then swerved and crashed into a Hyundai, carrying refractive geo optical accoutrements, severely injuring two ophthalmologists seated inside. 

One practitioner, originally from Saskatchewan , already afflicted with strongyloidiasis, instantly suffered an onset of hypercholesterolemia.

A local man, Tarquin Cholmondeley-Featherstonehaugh who witnessed the scene, alerted the emergency services using his Xiaomi smartphone.

A police spokesman later said

“It’s really difficult to say what happened here”.

And since that was a bit weird and shortish...

My dad found out I had an imaginary girlfriend.

He said, 'You know, you could do better.'

'Thanks, Dad, that means a lot,' I replied.

He winked and said, 'I was talking to your girlfriend!'

What do you call an annoying chemist? A pain in the flask.

It's Saturday, at least I am sitting here writing it on one.  The weather is beautiful today so Summer has broken and we're in our Secret Season in Flaky South Florida. 

I'm about to go out and get dragged around town by Mr. Dog in the cool (75F) full sunshine before it starts getting warmer (85F) but before I go, have a trip on the Sesame Street Bus!






 The Sesame Street Bus

John was a semi-retired bus driver. His old employer would call him to fill in on days when too many folks called off. He and his wife Mary, who met at their mutual first job at McDonald's, were both retired.

One day, John gets a call from his old boss asking if he will come in and drive a route. He then asked, "Which route?" to which boss reluctantly said, "It's the Sesame Street Bus, John."

"Oh no! That route is full of weirdos!" John replied, but his boss was insistent and begged, eventually offering pay double. John, with his anniversary approaching thought about getting Mary the earrings she always wanted and VERY reluctantly agreed.

John dreaded the route, and true to form, the weirdness began at his first stop. Two women that could easily be on my 600lb life boarded, each saying, "Hi, I'm Patty," before taking a seat.

Later a man boards and says, "Hi John. Nice of you to help your old boss, and I agree that Mary will love the earrings." John, perplexed, replied, "Do I know you?" The man looked at him and said," No, but I'm 'Special Ross.' I have ESP." He paused and added, "Your singing voice will come in handy later." John shook his head and continued on the route.

Later, another man boarded with bare feet. He sat behind John and began digging into the bunions on his feet. The harsh aroma of limburger began to fill the air. John said, "What the Hell?" The man smiled and said, "I'm Lester Cheese, man!" John didn't want trouble so he finished off his route.

When he got home, Mary asked him about his day. He was about to recount it and instead chuckled, remembering what 'Special Ross' had said. He replied, "It reminded of our first job." To this, Mary asked, "How?"

John then sung, "Well, I had two obese Patties, Special Ross, and Lester Cheese, picking bunions on the Sesame Street Bus..."

Heat Gun plus Bone Broth plus Peanut Butter Jar Lid is how to get some Canning Jars

I joke, often, that I am on my way to becoming a 1950s homemaker.

When I bake, it is from scratch.  I have churned butter, made buttermilk, and biscuits on many occasions.  Dog food is from ingredients that I source in bulk from a Restaurant Supply Store, and I have multiple recipes from a maintenance diet to a diet for my own elderly dog.

I buy Beans and Rice in 25 pound bags. 

My counter, when installed in the house after a remodeling, we thought was a "landing strip".  Now it's cluttered with random ingredients.

Yes, I need to put away the flour.  It is in bags, and I think I have 12 pounds of the stuff laying around. 

I stock the kitchen with these Meta Ingredients because I enjoy baking.  I should since I am an extremely active person.  I measure workouts in multiples of "marathons" in two sports.

All of this baking and cooking requires a lot of storage space.  My own massive "American Style" refrigerator freezer is too small for the task.  It may be as tall as I am, but it is literally crammed with homemade goods that are waiting to me enjoyed as well as ingredients for the future.

I even have 8 cups of Mango Chunks harvested from the backyard tree that are waiting to be turned into Jelly.

The Jelly needs to be placed into Jars.  Of course, I taught myself home canning so that I could make a stupid amount of food and set it aside to be enjoyed when the trees are no longer bearing fruit.

Home canning can be an time consuming proposition.  You need all the tools to boil, sterilize, and store the food.  Boil your jars, lids, and tools for 30 minutes, fill with the food, then boil for 30 minutes more to make sure you don't end up with nasties that will explode your jars.  Botulism is not a joke.

That is only a rule of thumb.  There are of course little wrinkles here and there.  

I have been known to tailor my shopping to this.   If you were to follow me into a supermarket, I have a tool.

A Lid from a Jar of Peanut Butter.

Seems a little random, doesn't it?

Yes, I buy my jarred food based on whether the peanut butter lid will fit it.

Why?  Even now, there are plenty of food stuffs that are sold in glass jars.  There was a time where Plastic was something you only heard about in a movie like The Graduate and it wasn't in the home in wide varieties.  Even baby shampoo came in a glass bottle.  Not the best idea, your toddler or cat would knock that glass bottle on the floor, and now you had shards of glass where you might be in bare feet.

But the wrinkle is two fold.  If the peanut butter lid was the same size as your random glass jar full of Pickles or Broth, then the jar should be able to be reused to can more Jelly in.

I did say Mango Jelly, but I can get bags the size of my laptop full of various fruits out of season to make all sorts of things.  

Large jars.  I run them through the dishwasher and hopefully the label will release from the side so I can reuse them.  Anyone want 32 ounces of Jelly in a reused jar of Bone Broth?

But the comical wrinkle of this is the label.  They don't always release.

All those bumper stickers you see stuck to the tail end of the car in front of you in traffic, as well as the back of street signs, and laptop lids can be removed.

If they are stuck to a plastic thing, you may be stuck with them forever.

In Automotive Detailing, the rule of thumb is to try to peel the sticker off, gently.  If it doesn't come off, use a heat gun to loosen the adhesive but only on something that will take the heat.  Plastic bumper guards won't take to this treatment at all.

This is where I got the bright idea to try it on my jar of Bone Broth.  It's a fine size. It is a quart, or a liter if you must.  I was thinking that over the holidays season, I can fill it with some homemade something and send it off to family and friends.  Last year my Jelly was not very good as I was struggling with consistency issues.  The answer was to send off some of my own recipe mixes in jars with the recipe written on the side.  Having extra jars will help.

I was standing in the kitchen just this very morning under the stove hood.  I did not know if I was going to start a fire.  The heat gun says it produces 1000 degrees of heat directed at the target.  Paper burns at Fahrenheit 451 - hence the title of that book!

Loaded for bear!  I turned the stove hood on to vent fumes outdoors, pointed the heat gun at the label on the jar and started to melt the glue behind the label.

It was a success but in the process, that peanut butter jar lid I mentioned?  Well... it's in the trash, melted.  I should have removed it first! 

Oops.  It was early, and I was having a Senior Moment!

Get that label good and hot.  If it starts to char, turn off the gun and try to peel.  Then turn off the gun and set it down somewhere safe.  I used a serrated steak knife to peel off most of the label, then use it to remove most of the remaining goo.  When through, full strength dish soap and an abrasive stainless steel scrubby finished the job.

All nice and sparkly and waiting for whatever comes next.

Perfect size for a mix or to make iced tea until then.

Anyone up for some rather strong iced tea?  It's cooling in the bottom shelf of the fridge.

Let's go to the kitchen and have a glass!

I recently purchased a water bed. The wife's worried we'll drift apart

Since I know someone named Kevin, I can completely see him doing this.  On the other hand, he's like a border collie, and would have the office "tuned up" and running on a more normal basis than to allow this to happen.

Right, Kevin?




Kevin walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had.
Kevin said: 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Kevin what he had....
Kevin said, 'Shingles.' So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Kevin to wait in the examining room..

A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Kevin what he had. Kevin said, 'Shingles..' So the nurse gave Kevin a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Kevin to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.

An hour later the doctor came in and found Kevin sitting patiently in the nude and asked Kevin what he had.
Kevin said, 'Shingles.' The doctor asked, 'Where?'
Kevin said, 'Outside on the truck.  Where do you want me to unload 'em??'

Have you heard the story about the fish who fell in love, lost its slipper, and escaped it's abusive home? It's called Salmonella

 It has been a while since I have gone to a proper restaurant.  I get most of my food here from a restaurant supply so what you pay a lot for, I get in bulk, and I guess I know the cook.

On the other hand, a seafood restaurant does sound nice...



A woman goes out to lunch and she wants to try this new seafood restaurant.

When she’s seated, she looks at the menu. There are tons of choices that all look delicious. But she really wants to try the clams.

So she orders the clams and the waitress comes back with a lightly fried Alaskan cod in the form of a really thin rectangle.

“Excuse me, miss. This isn’t what I ordered. I ordered the clams.”

The waitress profusely apologizes and takes the plate back to get the order corrected.

She comes back with another thin rectangle of fish, this time it’s halibut.

Again, she gets the waitress’ attention and wants it fixed.

And again, the waitress apologizes and brings back another plate. Once again, it’s not clams, but this time it’s fried Pollock.

This time, the woman is furious and demands to speak to the manager about this unsatisfactory service and how she’s wasted her time on this restaurant.

When the manager comes out, the woman lets her have it.

“I’ll have you know this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever been through. How hard is it to get one order right? I just want clams, but all I’ve been given was fish!”

The manager nods, apologizing. “I’m sorry ma’am. But have you tried the food given to you? Maybe you’d like it more than the clams.”

The woman sputters, indignant. “No I’m not going to try it! Why on earth would you think I would try food I didn’t want in the first place!?”

The woman storms out, slamming the doors behind her. The waitress looks at the manager.

“What do you suppose her problem was?”

“I don’t know. I guess not everyone is a fan of fish shticks.”

A Look Behind the Fourth Wall of a Blogger. The Photo Roll.

I take a lot of pictures.

Far too many to put online.

I do enjoy them, and the whole act of photography.  Probably in a parallel universe who knows.  If CERN could have another weasel that got into the particle accelerator, and jump us into a more "normal" time line, who knows.

The raw stack of pictures, the large volume, serves as a memory booster.  What did I do, what was important, where are we going, when will we get there.

I am not saying anything new here.  We all had shoe boxes of photos "Back In The Day" where we kept our memories.  I have a book full of them from the trip to France we took when I was in High School.  There are even a few people from that time who have passed into memory.  

People come in to your life, stay a while, make an impression, and move on.  It's normal.

A lot of pictures of weird minutia.  

My own reflection in the meter of the gas pump turns up a few times, and no I won't put that here.  I do keep a bit of a record of how well I do on a tank of gas in the Jeep.  It helps me know if it needs service or not.

There was a time during the Covid lockdown where I went out and did some needed service to the car.  Once it was started, it could backfire, and run extremely rough.  It turned out that it needed new Oxygen Sensors, Fuel Rail, and other random parts.  16 MPG is bad enough, but 10?  No thank you.

So lots of Jeep Pictures.  I have had the car since 2002, and Wranglers in general since 1996.

Dog after dog picture.  Ok, so he's my muse.  As was Lettie before him, Rack is now an official Old Boy.  15 years old is old for a dog.  That bout of Pancreatitis last month was scary.  He's still here, still moving along, but he is also cutting his walks shorter.  This morning, the normal 2 mile walk was down to 1 1/2.  

The trick with a Herding Dog is teach them the lay of the land, then follow them.  If your dog takes you home, you have had enough too.

I'm an athlete, so it takes a lot to get me to say I've had enough.

Plenty of pictures in the camera roll of that.  Cycling and Inline Skating.  I need to "finish" skating.  I'm still about 400 miles from the lifetime goal of once around the world in miles.  

When I had my fall on skates, I lost my edge.  I need to find that back.  400 miles is not too long when you are an endurance athlete.

This may be a 3000 mile year on the bike.  Solidly Intermediate.  There are many who get on a bicycle and do 100 miles on a weekend.  I don't think I want that kind of a workout, it's too dangerous here because it puts you on the road with scary people who see you as a target, no matter how much spandex with bright colors you are wearing to scare them off.

I'll stick to the trails, thank you.

I'm sure that your picture roll, no matter where it is, is full of memories.  That is why we take a photo after all.

So before I bore someone, I'll move on.  Rack is guarding the door.  I think he's ready for the yard, and I know I need more Iced Tea.  Where ever you are, have an excellent life in front of and behind the camera.

Why is it so hard to get up in the morning? Newton’s First Law: A body at rest will remain at rest.

Even athletes get that.  On the other hand, a morning moving is better than a morning sitting on the couch saying "Why didn't I go for a workout?"!




Hiking

A dad comes home and sees his son with an expensive cell phone. "Where did you get that ?" he asks . 
"I bought it" the son says. 
"With what? Where did you get the money?" 
"I earned it while hiking ". 
"Hiking, what are you talking about?". 
"Well ,every day after you leave for work, the nice man across the street comes over to see mom, gives me 20 dollars and says "take a hike "."



Since it was short, here's another one!  Kind of a theme today I guess.





A blonde entered a swimming competition and came in dead last. It was not even close, as all the other women swimmers had gotten out of the pool, toweled their bodies, and headed to the changing room.

Finally, the blonde emerged from the swimming pool, went up to the referee in a huff and loudly complained that all the other swimmers had cheated.

“How did they cheated?” Asked the referee.
“This is a breast stroke competition, right?” Said the blonde.
“Yes.” The referee replied.
Indignantly, the blonde shouted “they all used their arms!”

I added my grandmother to my speed dial...I named her Instagram

Nothing like playing around on so called Social Media an hour before dawn right?




Did you know that Shakespeare’s girlfriend made delicious dairy drinks to entice young men to act in his plays?

That’s right: her milkshake brought all the boys to the bard.





The train ride

A professor sits next to a farmer on a train. Quickly becoming bored, the professor decides to suggest a game to pass the time.

"I have a little game for you," said the professor. "I'll ask you a question. If you don't know the answer, you give me €5. Then you ask me another question. If I don't know the answer, I'll give you €500. What do you think?"

The farmer, intrigued, nods and agrees.

The professor begins: "What is the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon?"

Without saying a word, the farmer takes €5 out of his pocket and hands it to the professor.

Now it's the farmer's turn. He thinks for a moment, then asks: "What animal climbs a mountain with three legs and comes back down with four legs?"

The professor was taken aback. He racked his brains, reviewed everything he knew, consulted his notes, and tried to find a logical explanation. But nothing worked. Finally, he gave up, took €500 out of his wallet, and gave it to the farmer.

The farmer takes the money with a satisfied smile and settles down comfortably for a nap.

But the professor, curious and unable to leave the question unanswered, wakes him up and insists: "So, what is this animal?"

Without saying a word, the farmer takes €5 out of his pocket, gives it to the professor, then goes back to sleep peacefully.

French Toast on a Workout Day? Sure, as long as the goals are in sight.

When I was skating, in season, I would put on the inline skates and go 100 miles in a week.  That is a lot of distance, and a lot of calories to burn.  

Back and forth between Philadelphia, and past Valley Forge.  Schuylkill River Trail.  Pretty country for somewhere both near and in one of the larger cities in the US.

I had a routine.  Actually quite a few routines.  Pack plenty of water.  Pack plenty of snacks.  Load the iPod (remember those) with some tracks and audio books.  Get out to Oaks, PA and sit down on the bridge over the Perkiomen Creek and enjoy the sun.  Allow the heart rate to come down to a normal level. 

Then eventually return to the car and go home.

When I got home, I would have a meal to re-balance the blood sugar.  We figured that I would burn about 100 calories per mile of skating and a good long workout was three hours and 33 miles.  3300 calories burned.  

During Season, April to early November, dietary restraints went away.  It did not matter, and I had a Runner's High for Spring, Summer and Fall.  Off season, I had to aggressively adjust that intake.  Cutting your diet back by half is not an easy thing to do.

If I was not skating, I had a full weightlifting regimen along with miles of walking.  

That meal was typically some French Toast on the weekend.  Richard Hammond of Top Gear and The Grand Tour called it "Eggy Bread" and I suspect that fits just as well.

Today, I didn't skate.  I did, however, go to the park for a cycling workout.  The conditions here are still Summer Hot, so I cut the workout short at 20.23 miles.  32.5 km.  Ok, so I was an elite inline skater, but now an intermediate cyclist.

Came home and remembered that there was a loaf of Raisin Bread.  Cinnamon, Raisin, and Pecans.  Made up the typical custard of two eggs, two tablespoons of milk, and a dusting of Cinnamon, because, of course, I would.  

A rose by any other name. Raisin bread soaked in egg custard, pan fried in butter, coated in Maple Syrup, tastes just as sweet.  Real Maple Syrup.  None of that artificial pole syrup nonsense that is made by squeezing a telephone pole.  Tap a Maple Tree and distill the sap.  

It is what the doctor ordered.  Had that plate of one slice of French Toast for lunch about a half hour ago and I'm sitting here thinking that it should be enough.

It was that and more.  6.5 ounces of very heavy bread soaked until it absorbed all that custard, then cooked in the skillet until it tied together.  I'm thinking maybe 1000 calories.

No, it isn't a light meal.

I workout to eat, eat to workout.

I had a nutrition discussion with a restaurateur once.  She knew that I worked out heavily, typically 50 miles on inline skates on a weekend.  Ordering a piece of Chocolate Cake that is best described as a slab, I joked "Just One this time".

Massive Slab of Chocolatey goodness aside, I did say that once that was done, I was still hungry.  Resting Metabolism is still about a 3000 calorie burn plus the 3300 calories on the workout.

I get that Get Out Of Jail Free Card when I workout.  I do watch what I eat, but it is more from the standpoint of making sure I get enough fuel so that the afternoon nap is caused by a sugar crash and not a lack of enough to do. 

Find your ideal weight for age and conditions.  That ideal weight will tell you how many grams of protein you need per day.  For me that's 90 grams.  For you, your mileage may vary.  My own theory is to load the protein, evenly through the day, and fill with fat and carbs as needed.

Remember, Cardio is Your Friend.  Having a resting heart rate due to exercise that is low enough that the doctor is surprised is a goal.  Sitting on the bench, coach, is something to do once in a while, not because you require a stent.  Years of inactivity and bad nutrition is going to catch up with you eventually.

Years of doing crazy-long workouts will result in your getting to retirement with a resting heart rate in the low 50s and a doctor who is confused as to why you don't need more meds.

So, you!  Off the couch and move.  You won't see a difference today, you will eventually.

What do you call a typo on a gravestone? A grave mistake.

Something fishy in this trip if you ask me.


 The Fishing Trip

Henry called his wife from work one Friday afternoon and said, "Lorraine, honey, I'm flying up north with my boss and a few friends for a weekend fishing trip. Please pack me enough clothes for three days." Without giving her a chance to respond, he continued, "Also pack my fishing rod, tackle box, and my new blue silk pajamas. I'll stop by the house after work to pick everything up."

Lorraine thought the pajama request was a little strange, but she packed everything as asked. Henry stopped by for his stuff, kissed Lorraine and the kids goodbye, and took off.

After the weekend, Henry returned home. Lorraine asked him if he had caught many fish.

"Sure did!" he replied. “Lots of Walleye, a few Bass, and some Pike. But why didn't you pack my blue silk pajamas like I asked?"

Lorraine smiled and told him, “I did. They’re in your tackle box."



Furthermore...


 I went in the pet shop to buy a goldfish.

The owner said "Do you want an aquarium?"

I said "I don't care what star sign it is."

I now realize tofu is overrated. It's just a curd to me.

Actually I don't have a problem with Tofu.  It can be made into many things and since I like Chinese Food as we could get it in Philadelphia, I'm open to it.

On the other hand, it does taste like Wet White Bread to me so we have that. When I do find that recipe that promised to make Tofu into Ice Cream, Chocolate I think, I may attempt it.




Getting the day off

Two factory workers are talking on the floor.

The woman says, "I can make the boss give me the day off."
The man asks, "How will you do that?"

She climbs up and hangs upside down from the ceiling. The boss walks in and asks, "What on earth are you doing?"

She replies, "I am a light bulb."
"You are working too hard and you have gone crazy. Go home and take the day off.", the boss says.

The man is astonished, but after a few seconds starts walking away toward the door. "Where are you going?!", the boss shouts at him.

The man replies, "I am going home too. I cannot work in the dark."



And since I am due for Dog Walk 2 shortly, there is this gem...

My dog ate a bunch of my Scrabble tiles so I left him at the vets, knowing full well his next bowel movement could spell disaster.

Trust in Dog. When Rack Decides for you that The Walk Is Over

Walking along muttering to myself.  I was trying to put some plan into the day.  That's what I do while following after Rack.

To keep a McNab Dog, or any other herding dog, mentally stimulated in an urban environment, you need to get a few things worked out.  This is a solid rule for any dog, but especially for a herding dog.  

They need to know the lay of the land.  I have seen this sort of thing with Lettie before him, and Rack knows where he is at any given moment.  We would get out onto the walk and I would stop and say "Lets go home!".  At that point, I would be led by my dog to my front door.  The walks are as much as two miles (3Km) at one go, and we have four walks per day.  It gives them plenty of room to explore, to meet favorite people and favorite dogs, and there will be lots of sniffing.

They have always known how to get to the front door. 

For the first few years, we purposely would go out on our walks and try to get our dogs "lost".  It never worked, they would always lead us to the house.  Smiling the whole way.

Trust me on this one, this is why we have a dog.  Never mind that some people would cross the street to stay away from someone with their dog - those are the ones you don't want to run into anyway!  Companionship and protection.  After all, they don't know that my dogs have always been trained to be in any situation, and to be friendly at the very minimum.

While they are out, they are engaged in Dog Enrichment.  Keeping them aware, letting them free think, let them apply their own version of Dog Logic to any given situation.  

Rack is old.  15 years old.  In dog years, that's ancient.  He's learned the lay of the land.  That is why this is so strange.  Getting to the middle of the walk, we would normally head through the central business district of our town.  Lots of friendly people, lots of things to see.  

We stopped. Hard.  Then Rack decided to do a Hard No and turn around the way we came.  It wasn't weather conditions.  He's old enough that when he can hear, it is a Hearing Day, as he is mostly deaf now.  

It wasn't that there were any trash trucks nearby, except the rolling dumpster of a Cybertruck which says more about the owner's bad decisions than the noise levels around us.

Rack is the same dog that once had a trash truck ahead of him, and pancaked on the sidewalk because there was another one coming around the corner behind him and he couldn't escape the noisy beasts.

This was just a Nope, I Am Not Doing This moment.

So we turned around and walked back home.  No thunder, no rain, no angry barking anywhere behind us.  One of those mysteries that has us repeating "Well, this is new!" and following behind.

Who knows what lurks inside that little furry head.  We passed by some of his favorite people that he had just passed on the way down there.  He saw them, gave a wag or two, and walked right past.  I had to say to the people "He's on a Mission!" and continued on to his intended destination.

Hard to know.  Our vet has told us that he has active tumors.  She doesn't know how he's still going on his Bonus Years as we call them.  I insist it is nutrition and exercise - I'm something of a trainer in two sports so I'm a bit of a force of nature myself.

I'm really just thankful that he's doing as well as he has been.

He is also recovering from a bout of pancreatitis.  It exposed his weakening.  He's now losing muscle strength and mass.  He's spending most of the day laying flat out on the cool tiles in the house, and having trouble getting up.  It's a part of being on the trailing edge of the bell curve of how long a dog can last.  Or so we understand.  Whatever his infirmities are, he's in something of a remission this week.  It could change overnight, who knows.

As I explain to everyone, Rack Leads.  We go where he wants.  We watch what he needs and cater to them.  It has always been that way with him, that way with Lettie before him.  Once they learn where they are I simply Trust In Dog.

I would do it all over again.