August 31 Link Log

I won't be online for long today, may or may not be online tomorrow, and don't expect to be online at all between Friday and Tuesday. (I would suggest that local lurkers look for me at Duffield Daze, but what are the odds of finding any specific person at Duffield Daze? It's more fun if you just enjoy the show and mingle with people as you find them. I expect to be miles away from a computer and too heat-and-crowd-dazed to know which end to plug in if I did come across one.) Anyway, it looks as if there may be time today for a few quick links...Categories: Special, Animals, Blog Feed, Book Link, Food; lots of recipes because most of the links were shared via Google +.

Special 

Isn't #NovaSkye special? That's the name of the adorable infant I'm backing in this "cute photo" contest. Her father is a cancer survivor. Her mother is +Lyn Lomasi . Vote here if you agree that the combination of a cancer survivor and a writer who's trying to help other writers get paid, plus a cute baby picture, deserves $250:

http://www.thecutekid.com/photo-contests/20160825/cute-kid-1472145666

Animals 

Depending on the relative sizes of human and dog, this "no hands" dog leash could become an adaptive device for some dog owners with partial disabilities, like +Sandy KS :

http://rusty2rustyschatter.blogspot.com/2016/08/hands-free-dog-leash-by-purr-fect-paw.html

Dog memories. (Jaquo is a memory-hog site that may or may not open in your browser. I don't know for sure, but I suspect cookies.)

http://jaquo.com/dogs-i-have-known-and-loved/

This dog is actually up for adoption. After trying Petfinder I'm almost as wary of online animal adoption as I am of online dating, but if anyone out there is in the right part of the world, looking for puppy love...

http://www.blogbourne.com/hi-i-am-jill-the-doberman/

Blog Feed 

Google + users may recognize +Andria Perry 's blog as the newest addition to this blog's feed.

http://getoffthegrid2.blogspot.com/

Book Link 

Every Link Log needs an Amazon book link; here's one that I've wanted to read for some time now, and haven't read yet:



Food (Yum) 

Something different, and eggy, to do with zucchini. If you don't eat cheese, you could add more eggs or some cooked rice to fill up the dish, or just toss the veg with the seasonings and oven-roast them.

http://www.blogbourne.com/mountain-mans-mushroom-zucchini-bake/?

Would you like pepper and vinegar with that? (I don't really enjoy a meal with vinegar on the table, but in recipes it's not a problem, since I automatically read "lemon juice" for "vinegar." Some vinegar is more sour than lemon juice, some less so--but if you can get lemon juice to the table while it's fresh, it actually adds nutritional value! And fibre! And a smell and taste I find appetizing.)

http://www.blogbourne.com/mountain-mans-terrific-tantalizingly-tangy-hot-sauce/

Do you pick blackberries? Buy them? Want to preserve them? I have to admit that, coming as they do in between strawberry/cherry/raspberry/blueberry and peach/apple/pawpaw/persimmon season, blackberries tend to seem like weeds to me. My recent forebears felt the same way. A few stragglers still survive in the orchard, and sometimes they bear a few berries, but nobody's cultivated or really harvested them in the past sixty or seventy years. Currants and gooseberries never got a lot of love here, either. Grapes, which another local family have tried to make their main crop, got lots and lots of love...from possums, so at the Cat Sanctuary the humans gave up on them at some point back in the Reagan Administration. However, this is the basic formula for making jam and jelly out of whatever fruits you care to preserve. Some need more sugar and/or lemon and/or Sure-Gel than others; taste your fruit before it gels. If it gels, and your jars and lids are sterile, it's 99.9% guaranteed to stay delicious until next year's harvest.

http://getoffthegrid2.blogspot.com/2016/06/how-to-make-black-berry-jam-and-jelly.html

Gluten-free pizzas are more of a challenge, but regular pizzas are quite easy to make at home. Here's a basic recipe:

http://www.blogbourne.com/making-homemade-pizza-dough-and-sauce/