She said it's a male, can we keep it?

Midnight, Morris & Me

     Growing up we always had numerous pets. Whiskers was my brother’s dog and was around before I was.  He was a sweet old dog with a bad case of mange on his back. He had also been backed over by a car which broke his leg and they had to put pins in his leg. The accident didn’t hold him back at all, he still ran down the road running alongside me on my bike but he kinda ran sideways like the old Chevy Novas did with their rear ends looking like they were going to pass up the front.  If you said get the bunny he’d fly up over the hill to look for one!      

     We also had a cat named Tiger, and boy was he was mean. Of course that had nothing to do with the fact that Rich and I would wrap him up in a blanket take him outside and throw the blanket high into the air although he always managed to land on his feet.  Unfortunately it made him very mean!  I remember one time he hid behind the couch and as one of the girls from the neighborhood walked by he attacked her, grabbing her leg with all of his craws and biting her at the same time.  We eventually sent him to live on a farm. 

Midnight meeting me at the wall

     Whiskers was my brother’s dog so my parents let me get another cat.  Morris was his name. We later found out he was a she. Morris gave birth to a litter of kittens and my mom let me keep two of them. Two beautiful long haired cats which I called Fluffy and Midnight. Fluffy had a bad habit of climbing on top of warm car tires and was accidentally run over by my mom’s Avon Lady so we had to have him put to sleep.  Midnight lived to be 19 years old and was my buddy. He knew the sound of my car as I would come home from work and he would be waiting for me at the front walk. This long haired, jet-black cat was the sweetest cat you would ever meet. He loved to have his belly rubbed and was a gentle as a lamb when inside. When he was outside he was the king of his domain. He would catch small prey and fend off dogs, and was caught on film fraternizing with the raccoons.  He was an amazing cat. One time I took him to a cat show and he wasn’t very happy and actually had diarrhea all over my mom and himself, poor cat. Mom had to go home and get washed up and changed. Midnight, however, did win Blackest Cat! (and the stinkiest.) Needless to say that was our last cat show. We found out later that many people sedate their pets for shows.

     We also had bunnies, LOTS of bunnies.  My brother and I came home with a (male) bunny (or so the woman told us) from the petting zoo at ACORD Park and after all was said and done this male bunny ended up being a pregnant female.  Then they started multiplying. Dad spent most of his spare time building cages to try to keep them separated. Our shed was a bunny heaven. When we finally decided to stop the bunny-palooza we had well over 30 bunnies throughout the year. Our gardens grew wonderful that year thanks to the huge amounts of natural fertilizer. 

     Whiskers was still going strong and would often round up the bunnies in the yard kinda like a sheep dog with sheep. Unfortunately he disappeared one Fourth of July.  We think he was afraid of the fireworks everywhere.  Rich and Donna eventually went and picked up a mixed breed dog from the pound and called her Knucklehead, Knuckles for short. 

Knuckles

     Knuckles, although a Heinz 57 and a dubious name she was very smart and very talented at catching Frisbee. The one day she was catching Frisbee she went out in the yard several times and brought the Frisbee back, the third time she ran after the Frisbee but this time kept going straight, forgot about the Frisbee and instead ran several houses over and grabbed a nasty little poodle dog by the throat and shook it with all her might.  We couldn’t help but laugh. It was a nasty little dog who used to chase us on our bikes and cars as they went by.  It survived and Knuckles continued to keep a close eye on it every time we played Frisbee. 

 

Grizzly Bear

      Knuckles had a litter of puppies and what a great mom she was, and very protective of her pups. My brother walked into the basement with a towel over his head and Knuckles went after him protecting her puppies. Rich didn’t get hurt, but the water meter reader wasn’t so lucky as he pulled back a bloody hand. It wasn't as bad as it sounded and he never said a word realizing he has walked into our basement without warning. We kept one of the puppies which looked like a fuzzy bear. I named him Grizzly Bear. He wasn’t very smart, and hated to go for a walk (it was more like a drag) but I loved that dog and his very sweet disposition. Grizzly would howl at planes flying overhead and fire whistles. He also went missing like Whiskers but complete with his chain and all. We think the next-door neighbor who didn’t like his howling took him and got rid of him. Knuckles was with us for several more years until mom unfortunately found her hanging from her dog house. She loved to perch herself on top of the house and her chain got caught on a nail that was sticking out. I felt so bad for my mom who had to get her down and take care of her lifeless body. That was the end of pets for us until my brother and I had families of our own.

 

Simple Cookies using Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix and a few extra ingredients!

melting Snowman Cookies

This is a simple cookie using Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix plus a few added ingredients, but the decoration idea takes it over the top! What a fun idea and no cookie has to be the same as the last.

 

 

CRAN-PISTACHIO COOKIES

Add pistachio instant pudding and pie filling mix, flour, eggs, butter, salted pistachio nuts and dried cranberries and you have an elevated cookie that not only tastes great but looks the part for the holidays!

 

Dolphins, Horses and Birds Oh My!

Dolphins frolicking in Clearwater Florida

Clydesdale Horse at Anheuser Busch

A handsome horse close by our house

 
 If you don't have your turkey in your refrigerator yet you better get on it quick. 

Thanks for reading.

Ron

Random memories of growing up. 

     My mom was always amazing in my eyes but when she started having hamburgers (from McDonalds), hot dog and pizza days in grade school she was everyone's hero. She was always involved as the head of the Parent Faculty Organization or being in charge of the snack bar at the local pool. It was so awesome to know my mom was there.

Falcon Gas Station

     In the 70's my buddy Scott Kelly and I found a box full of anti-siphon devices for car gas tanks in his grandpa’s garage and his grandpa said I could have them. Since we were dealing with the 70's fuel crisis and people were having issues with people siphoning gas from their cars I decided to stand alongside the road and sell them to people as they would line up for gas at the Falcon Gas Station where my brother worked.  I was trying to earn enough money so I could go to the barbershop international convention that summer. Thanks to mom and dad, and selling all of my gadgets, I was able to go.  The trip getting there was another story for another time. You won't believe it. 

     Many summers were spent sleeping out on my next-door neighbors’ porch or in a clearing we had made in the woods.  I laugh every time I think of the pranks we’d pull on each other and other neighbors during those summers growing up on Plumer Avenue. I also remember being at my friend PJ's house on Saturday nights watching wrestling on WOR TV out of New York.

     Cars, cars and more cars! We always had all kinds of cars while I was growing up. Between my dad and brother they were always working on something. I had no clue how a car worked or how it went together but when my brother offered for me to tear his old Corviar apart to the frame I was all about it. It was so much fun learning how to use tools and watching as the car slowly disappeared. What was really amazing was watching my dad and brother put cars back together.  When it came to working on cars (and my brother's motorcycles) dad always had an ace in his pocket. His amazing faith. Faith you say? Yup, it seems that my dad (and my mom) have always had a personal line to God and when they prayed many times their prayers were answered. I remember one particular time my brother couldn't get his motorcycle to start. He tried and tried and my dad came down to the garage and asked what was wrong. My brother said, "It won't start!" Dad said let's pray about it. We did, the motorcycle started first try. That freaked us both out. 

     My dad was great at a lot of things, buying cars in colors that my mom liked was not one of them! My mom hated the color green and she would always say "I don't care what you buy, just nothing green!"  One day my dad left to go car shopping and when he pulled up with a Maverick in Olive Green. She said, "You're kidding right?" Dad said, "it's brown!" Dad had no clue since he is colorblind. he went on to buy several other green cars in my lifetime.

     The summer when I was 13 the circus came to town and was taking place in the parking lot of the North Hills Raceway.  Curious about the circus I went there and asked if I could work for them.  I was hired and had a choice of cleaning up after the elephants or doing the dishes and I chose dishes!  I cleaned what essentially were metal pie plates the performers used for lunch.  For my work I received six free tickets to the show. How many people can actually say they've worked for a circus? I can.

Herb Scott

     Oh yeah, North Hills Raceway. Every Thursday night throughout every summer my friends and I would head to North Hills Raceway. We rarely missed a night watching the dirt track races featuring drivers like Blackie Watt, Bob Wearing, The Pegher Brothers driving the yellow Auction Barn cars and my favorite driver #7 Herb Scott. One night my dad took my brother and I and we took my mom's beautiful Blue 70 Ford XL Convertible (my mom picked out this one!) Anyhow, we took it to the races and my dad left the top down. When we came out after the races were over the beautiful white leather interior was now a nice thick layer of red clay! What a mess.

     After I started Junior High School my mom decided that she wanted to get a college degree and teach. She went community college and then transferred to Duquesne University. She loved college and even joined a sorority. The great part about that was that she would often invite the girls (who were about my age) to study at our house. I was in heaven! Just two years later my mom graduated Summa Cum Laude from Duquesne University. We were all there and screamed “Way to go mom!” when they said her name. I was so proud of her. 
 

Mallow Cup Coins

     I remember collecting Mallow Cup coins and sending them away for FREE Mallow Cups. I would collect the coins and cut them out and put them on a long piece of masking tape. When I got to 500 points I sent them in and waited for my chocolate! This is when I learned not to do this during the summer months when UPS delivered a Mallow Blob!

    
     Apple & quince battles from the huge weeping willow tree in our yard. It was my brothers friends versus us and we always lost.  I think I still have welts from those. Thinking back that was a really stupid idea. I recently I asked my dad about our quince tree that was in a lot above our house when I was growing up. I never remembered doing anything else other than throwing them. My dad never remembered tasting them either. The other day I was at Wal-mart and they actually had quince fruit. I looked them up on my phone and found out you have to cook them to eat them.  Next time I'm there if they still have some in stock I plan buying some and doing just that.  

1970 Ford XL Convertible

     Back to my mom's mighty awesome 1970 Ford convertible it had a 351 Windsor Engine and she loved to make it GO!  I remember my mom would often pick us up at the bottom Plumer Avenue where the bus left us off after school. One day we offered a neighbor boy a ride up the hill. My mom flew up the hill and as the hill crested she jumped the car over it. Billy Dobranski would never ask for another ride and our leather car seats had the impression of his fingernails. 

As a member of the barbershop harmony society they would often offer schools to learn the craft. One of my favorite places to go was a 4 day school held every June called Apple Corps (our district is called the Johnny Appleseed District) so they chose and apple theme. The school is held at the amazingly beautiful campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, OH.  I have a couple of particular memories that stand out from many years going there.  The first was the year that I gathered all of the young guys attending the chorus and we sang as a chorus in front of everyone at the picnic. The reaction of everyone was so amazing. They loved it and were very encouraging.  The sound of young voices singing is so fresh and clear. 

Joanne Woodward & Paul Newman

     Another memory of Apple Corps was when my friend Leo and I decided to get some lunch at the little coffee shop on campus and we met Joanne Woodward (actress and wife of Paul Newman). She and Paul had attended college there and she was in town visiting. We sat and had coffee with her and talked. It was awesome. 

More memories to come.......

Savory cookies? These may end up being your favorites!

     Had enough of sweet things? Yeah, I know the answer to that. But I've decided to offer up a couple of savory options for a nice change of pace.

 

Salt & Pepper Butterscotch Pine Nut Cookies

This cookie was the Cookie Swap Winner on "The Chew". The pine nuts and cracked black pepper & flaked sea salt play nicely with butterscotch chips for a unique and addicting cookie. 

 

K and C Thumbprint Cookies

     

These black pepper and Parmesan Cheese cookies have a slightly spicy flavor which is complimented by the orange, cranberry & thyme marmalade filling the cookie's thumbprint.

Thanks for reading! See if there are any Thanksgiving sides you can prepare early so all you have to do is throw them in the oven on Thursday.

Ron