a remedial lesson ...

  As I was getting ready for bed late Friday night, with Charlie out taking care of his business, a scent wafted in the open back door and through the house.  "NO!" I yelled.  "Tell me you did NOT forget what happened when you got sprayed by the skunk in Wisconsin!!!"

  He did.  

  Trust me when I say that West Virginia summer skunk spray smells 1000 times worse than Wisconsin winter skunk spray.  He got three baths before the smell on him was somewhat tolerable, although because it was so close to the house, there was nothing I could do about still being able to smell it.  He wasn't happy that I wouldn't let him sleep on the bed with me that night, and took his pout to his office bed.

  A neighbor was able to get my flat tire off the truck, however, the cause of the flat was dry rot ~ most likely from winters in the Michigan Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin.  He pointed out that the three remaining tires all had dry rot, and that the drivers' side front was a blowout waiting to happen.  Because of that, I've made the decision to not drive the truck at all until I can afford to get four new tires at Walmart, and will just have it towed there when they have been purchased.

  The last thing I need is for that, or one of the others, to have a blowout while I'm on the highway going to a doctor's appointment, or my upcoming MRI.  I feel like a tire blowout at 70 mph is a little worse than cancer.  I am also immensely grateful and blessed that they did not go flat or have a blowout while I was driving from Wisconsin on multiple highways while towing a UHaul trailer.

  One of my friends will let me borrow her truck for my appointments, and another new friend (from my out-of-box leap) has offered to take me to and from my eventual-ever-pleasant-always-looking-forward-to colonoscopy.

  Onto other more pleasant topics.

  Last night my sisters and I were texting about recipes after discussing that using tomatoes to get the skunk smell off Charlie was ineffective and would only result in him smelling like a skunk that had bathed in tomatoes.  I had commented that I'd rather eat my tomatoes than waste them, and then added that I was currently looking at some magazine recipes I had torn out to add to my "wanna-try-this" binder.  The recipe at that moment was for grilled mushrooms panzanella with tomato vinaigrette.  Unfortunately, I can't link the actual magazine's recipe here, but promise to post it once I've tried it and decided it is a winner-winner keeper recipe.

  This is a photo of my current cookbook collection, which includes the rainbow-striped binder of recipes I tear from magazines to try.   Once tried, if they are keepers, they stay.  Otherwise, they get thrown away.  Most of my collection now is from a friend who sent me some she was downsizing, and a few I found for $1 at a thrift store.  My original collection was lost in Wisconsin.  I had been collecting cookbooks from places I visited, and one of them seen here from The Double Musky Inn, I was able to purchase again.  It was a restaurant I ate at in Alaska when visiting my cousin.  Cookbooks I found are more fun and functional for vacation souvenirs than coffee mugs or t-shirts.

   I'll need to get another George Foreman grill to make the panzanella recipe.  There is also a recipe I found for savory cheddar waffles to make as a toast or muffin option for a fried egg breakfast sandwich, so a waffle maker is also now on my Amazon & Walmart wish lists waiting for decent sale prices.

  I miss having reasons to do a lot of cooking and baking.  Living alone I don't usually cook fancy for me, but the waffles I could make in advance and freeze, then toast when wanted.  I need to think more along those lines.