It is pretty difficult
to contain the mayhem when you have four dogs, two birds and a partner who
needs to sleep during the day to work at night.
Things really came to a head with this issue today. My neighbors to the east don’t really keep up
with their trees. It has been an issue
for quite some time and bugs the crap out of us. This morning we see a tree trimming truck in
the driveway of their house. Just as
Tiffany is going to bed, the chainsaws start up in full-force. It is Saturday so we know this is going to
happen. Not really much you can do about
yard work during the day. However, they
are the nosiest and dumbest tree trimmers ever.
Around 10:30 this morning a tree hit the side of our house. As if the boom wasn’t loud enough, they also
scraped the limbs along the side of our house as they moved the fallen tree to
their truck. For some reason, they also
kept walking through our front yard which constantly set the dogs off in a
tirade of barking. From their cages, the birds could also see the limbs falling
which caused them to scream and whistle Andy Griffith.
Later in the day, I was watching
Dallas and having some spaghetti when I heard a knock at the door. Naturally, the dogs went ape shit crazy. Like any sane person, I ran and hid. We’ve had an issue with security companies
and Jehovah’s Witnesses coming to our door.
I’m not interested in what either is selling so hiding is the solution
to this problem. When I sought shelter
in a proper hiding spot, I left my spaghetti unattended. At some point during the crazy barking one of
the dogs ate my spaghetti. As I was
checking their mouths for evidence of the crime, I heard another knock at the
door. The dogs went off again and I
heard Tiffany say, “What? Why?” I sprang
into superhero mode and ran to the garage, opened the door, stormed out and
yelled, “What do you want!?” It was one
of the tree trimmer guys. He asked if he could get in my backyard because they
cut a tree down that fell across the fence into my yard. Incredulously, I
looked at him and told him my partner was sleeping and his screw ups were
really louder than the average screw up.
I let him in the backyard to find that the tree had fallen on our
electrical line. I gave him another good
lecture, but I doubt he could hear me over the sound of the two brain cells in
his head fighting for control and the continuing roar from his two coworker’s
chainsaws. Can you imagine what would
have happened to this guy if he had jacked up my electrical line and screwed up
my viewing of Dallas??
Creamy Mushroom and
Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
½ pound dried pasta
13 ounces ground mild
Italian sausage
2 tablespoons olive
oil
3 cups sliced crimini
mushrooms
¼ cup diced shallots
2 cloves garlic,
minced
¼ cup white wine
1 cups mushroom broth
½ cup half and half
¼ cup light sour cream
2 ounces cream cheese
softened
¼ cup fresh chopped
parsley
Salt and pepper
Preparation
Cook pasta according
to package directions. Meanwhile while
pasta is cooking, brown Italian sausage in a pan over medium heat. Once browned drain on plate with paper
towel. In the same pan that you cooked
the sausage in add two tablespoons of olive oil and heat over medium heat. Stir in mushrooms, shallots and garlic. Cook 5 minutes or until mushrooms are
softened and brown. Pour in wine and
mushroom broth allow to cook for 5 minutes.
Scrape any brown bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Return sausage to the pan. Stir in one tablespoon of the hot broth into
the half and half to temper it. Stir
tempered half and half, sour cream and cream cheese into broth. Continue cooking until the cream cheese has
melted and the sauce has thickened slightly (5-7 minutes). Stir once more and add chopped parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
1 cup yellow cornmeal
