dmk

Awesome! Nerd Babies ABCs

Last night, I modified this Oatmeal Fruit Bars recipe and baked it:

Oatmeal Fruit and Nut Bars

Ingredients

• 3 cups assorted dried fruit (prunes plums, apricots, mixed raisins, craisins)
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 Tblsp grated orange peel
• 1 cup assorted nuts (walnuts, peanuts), chopped
• cooking spray
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup rolled oats, 5-minute style

Method

• Combine the dried fruit, orange juice, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
• Continue to boil, stirring for 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens and becomes like a paste.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the orange zest. Let cool completely.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Spray a nonstick 13x9x2-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
• Mix the butter with the brown sugar in a medium size bowl until well blended.
• Beat in the flour, baking soda, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and oats until the mixture is crumbly.
• Press half the oat mixture into the prepared pan.
• Add the nuts to the fruit/juice mixture.
• Spread the filling in an even layer over the oats.
• Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the filling and press down lightly.
• Bake the bars for 25 minutes, or until the top is golden.
• Cut into bars while still warm. Cool the bars completely and store them in an airtight container.

Notes

• I don't remember whether I put the cinnamon in the fruit part or the oat part.
• The oat mixture was really dry, and crumbled while I was cutting the bars. Need to find a way to make it stick together better; probably just add some water.
• A similar recipe called for baking the bottom layer of oats for 12-15 minutes at 375°F, then adding the fruit and baking an additional 20-25 minutes at 375°F; this might help set the bottom crust. This recipe also used baking powder instead of baking soda.
• Possible change: Use Brown Sugar Splenda instead of real brown sugar.
• Possible change: Use applesauce instead of butter.

Hey, whc: How do they taste today? Are they holding together or more crumbly?

Calypso still has blood and possibly crystals in her urine. She urinated in the cat carrier on her way to the vet yesterday, and that's what they tested. So, we'll be continuing the antibiotic, this time in pill form. Clavamox 62.5mg twice a day for fourteen days. (It's a GSK product!)

For her first pill, I used a "Greenie" pill treat. She ate the treat and spat out the pill. Fortunately, I was able to use the pill gun quickly and effortlessly. Much better than bubble-gum flavored liquid! And it turns out that it's cheaper, too! Two bottles of liquid for ten days was $44.50; 28 pills for fourteen days was $25.10, plus $5 for a pill gun. I'll probably try the treat one more time, then resort to the pill gun.

She also needs to go on a special diet. I need to find out if this food would also be OK for Luna; the cans are ~$1.30 each, so not much more than other premium canned food. The two options available at my vet are: ( Purina UR ST/OX ) ( and Royal Canin / IVD Veterinary Diet Cat Urinary SO. )

Complicated stuff. I'm a little concerned about the ingredients. I've been trying lately to buy premium cat food without by-products or other bad ingredients. I have had them on a dry diet, and all of my previous cats have thrived on dry food.

I've started her on the Purina since it looks more meaty; she likes it. I'd like advice on other brands that might have fewer by-products, or recommendations on where to buy it cheaper.

It might also be time to look for a water fountain for the cats. I've heard they encourage the kitties to drink more, which can help guard against UT problems. Any advice here?

Today we bought a new battery for Steven's Topaz at Advance. "Autocraft Silver" for $72.98 + tax = $78.59. Warranty: 24 months free replacement, 72 months pro-rated. Mileage was 84,314.

I was watching the election coverage on my local cable channel here in NC. McCain visited Wake Forest University today (flanked by Fred Thompson and Senator Burr) and said:

Senators Obama and Clinton have very different ideas from my own. They're both lawyers themselves. And don't seem to mind at all when fundamental questions of social policy are pre-emptively decided by judges instead of by the people and their elected representatives. [cite]

So, lawyers are Evil and our government has only one branch? Sounds to me like he should have signed up for a class in Constitutional Law from Barack Obama (or eighth grade civics!). And how does he square this with his position of stacking the court with anti-choice and anti-First Amendment Justices. Does McCain, a former POW, really want more justices like Justice Scalia, who is on record as saying that "torture is not 'Cruel and Unusual Punishment' because it is not punishment".

Did you?

A representative democracy is only as good as the people who vote. Every election is important. This year, the Democratic Primary for President is not yet decided. There are (depending on your district) other primaries, also. And several judicial (non-partisan) slots are open.

(I live in North Carolina; not all states have an election today.)

Mom and I voted (different locations) around 10:00-10:30. She was #273, I was #288.

Bill voted around 5pm and was #627.

Calypso wants to know what this "bubble gum" is and how she can avoid it in the future. She does like the cat treats she gets after her antibiotic. She even licked the remaining antibiotic off her face. Yuck. On the plus side, she is acting more "normal". Fortunately, no signs of diarrhea (must remember to give her some yoghurt this afternoon).

Calypso would not pee for the nice vet today. They sent her home with an antibiotic and instructions to bring her back next week for a urinalysis. She spent the day with Mom, who said Calypso was more laid back than usual. [Clavamox (amoxicillin trihydrate / clavulanate potassium) 1.5 ml b.i.d. for 10 days.]

Last night, right after I put the fresh-from-the-dryer mattress pad on the bed, Calypso jumped up on it. I turned around, looked back, and saw her peeing on it. She did not have the look of a defiant cat as she did when she was a kitten; if anything, she looked surprised. I looked closer and saw some blood. I dried her off, tossed her (gently) out of the room, and put the mattress pad (my only clean one) back through the washer and dryer. I then noticed that she was playing vigorously with various cat toys, and decided she couldn't have been in too much pain. It was probably the warmth of the mattress pad that eased her pain (probably a UTI) and made her pee. This morning, I'll cart her off to the Cat Clinic to be checked out. I hope they can fit her in. If not, I might bring her to the local PetSmart, which has longer hours and is more likely to have room in their schedule.

Addendum: Cat Clinic has an appointment this morning.

At the end of yesterday, the odometer on Scooby (my 1997 Subaru Outback) was 199,998. So, it will roll to 200,000 on my way to Mom's this morning! (There was a little problem last year with the odometer, but it was short enough that we'll just ignore it.)

http://www.supernet.net/~jclark/vw/buybus.html

MoveOn is running a contest for Obama ads: Obama in 30 Seconds. Some of them are great!

I just found a Slim Jim on the floor. It had feline teeth marks through the wrapper. Maybe I should unwrap it and see what they think then.

What's the craziest thing you've found your cats using as a toy?

I love the concept: Take a photograph similar to an old photo, and post them both. Check out Young Me - Now Me. Some people manage to get the right facial expression, or recreate a parent-child photo with their own child.

Vocational Guidance Films, Inc.
Presents
Your Life Work Series
Telephone and Telegraph (1941) [YouTube]

Been busy. The previous weekend, we went to EveryBus. A great time was had by all; weather not too bad. This past week, I've been running around town doing family chores; very stressful, but productive. Over the weekend, we got a bunch of outdoor stuff done. I raked and swept the back deck and spa area (almost done; need assistance with some big/awkward/unknown-home stuff). wordwelder mowed the front lawn; whc planted our figlet (the fig cutting we took before moving from the old place). On Sunday we went to Rail Days out in Spencer, NC at the NC Transportation Museum; we dodged the rain. Lots more happened, but it's all a blur.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups (16 oz) ziti
• 3 cups (about 26-oz jar) spaghetti sauce, divided
• 2 cups (16 oz) ricotta cheese
• 12 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiana cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 1 Tblsp dried parsley flakes
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Method:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Cook pasta about two minutes less than package directions (about 7 minutes); drain
• Reserve about 1/4 of mozzarella cheese, 1/4 of parsley, and about 1 cup of sauce; stir together remaining ingredients in large bowl
• Add pasta to bowl and stir
• Spoon pasta mixture into 13"x9" baking dish; top with remaining sauce, mozzarella, and parsley
• Bake until cheese on top melts (about 30 minutes)

Notes:

• This recipe works well with other small tube-shaped pasta, such as penne
• Be sure to use whole milk cheese, not part-skim, for best flavor
• You can shred partially-frozen mozzarella or just slice it thinly
• You can add vegetables, such as spinach

Here's info on holodeck development at the CyberWalk project at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics! (Thanks, keith_m043!)

This is an awesome video! An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Our orange tabby, Luna, also participates in "postmodern cardboard reconstruction"; Luna and Calypso often engage in "performance art"; I love the bit about the "dead bird simulator cat toy"; and there's even a section on global warming!

(Thanks for the link, auryn29a!)

Bout 2.7 gallons of propane for the tank on the Vanagon today from L. G. Jordan @ $2.72/gal, total $7.85. In future, stop by either early in the morning or late in the afternoon; one of the propane drivers will fill the tank.