CSI - Rockport

The other day I was leaving the house and saw my cat Brotherboy laying in the culvert of the ditch behind my house. No big deal; that is his hangout.

His back was to me, so I rolled down the window to talk to him. He just laid there and then looked back over his shoulder and started talking.

Crap! Cat's don't do that....just lay there I mean...in a ditch.

So I got out and crawled down into the pit to find my BroBro couldn't move his legs on one side.

He was filthy and smelled like a ditch. He told me all about it.

I called the vet and she was heading back to Rockport from her holiday. Six hours later we met at the clinic and she determined Brotherboy had been shot in the neck with a pellet gun.

Now he is being pumped full of steroids and we are hoping when the swelling goes down and he heals that he will one day walk again.


I took this picture last week, at the time, I did not know it would become a crime scene. If you look close....you can see Brotherboy in the pipe.

I just have one question: Who shot my cat?

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am.

I Heart Home Ec

Today Laci and I went to the store and pre-shopped for her next food lab. Laci has to buy 250 eggs in the morning. I don't miss that part of my job. You see, I taught home economics for 15 years and LOVED it. My favorite subject was Food Science and Nutrition.

I grew up before Food TV and used to watched Julia Child every Saturday with my mom. Mom had a lot of cookbooks and was always trying things out she read about or saw on television. She and my brother Bill like to talk and read about food. They go to grocery stores for fun. I do too.

Now that my friend Laci is teaching Food Science and Nutrition at Rockport-Fulton High School, I get to go up there and help out. I recently got to show her how to make biscuits from scratch. I had to laugh when I was showing her because I slipped back into teacher mode. It was just me and her but I was talking like I had a class of 30 sitting there in anticipatory set. Demos were my favorite.

Right now they are learning about eggs and cheese, so naturally an omelet lab is in the works. I used Julia Child videos (along with my demo) but Laci is using the more hip and trendy Alton Brown DVD. Same technique just a little more appropriate for this Food TV generation.

My friend Stacy teaches junior high home economics in San Antonio. We talked today, at length, about omelets. She told me about a very successful lab she used with her 8th graders....Omelet in a Bag.

I was hooked and had to try it. If I were teaching I would soooooo do this in class. First they would do it the classic way (French/rolled) and then the wacky, mad scientist way. Man, where is a classroom when I need one?

For a copy of the Omelet in a Bag recipe please, click here. I encourage/dare you to try this at home, and if you do tell me about it. As Julia would say, "Bon appetit."

Noodle Returned to the Earth

Well, this has been an odd month. First of all, my apologies for being absent from the Twelve Days of Catherine. I didn't post once about it, or even publish my annual Wants and Needs Birthday List (which, by the way, is still available if you're interested).

In my defense I was VERY busy with the Young Life Fish Fry fundraiser. It being an all consuming fry makes it hard for me to get into the spirit of Catherine. I wasn't bummed, just too busy.

Then there was the Noodle factor. Her health slowly deteriorated until I decided on the night before my birthday that the next morning I would take her to the vet and have them pull the plug. Instead I woke up at 3:30 a.m. thinking about her and decided to go check her status. I scratched her ears and she kicked her leg a little. I said her name and she opened her eyes. Then she took a deep breath and left me. It was 3:58 (I got that from watching ER).

I got flowers for my birthday, so after a day or two I took them out and put them on her grave.

Carlos and I have formed a support group.