First off, a Sunday morning trip to the barn. I couldn't pass up a ride in this gorgeous weather...70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! I rode Lamont for about 10 minutes before he decided he was going to be lame. (As in, he was limping. Not like, uncool. Apparently he got kicked by another horse earlier in the week.) Another rider was nice enough to let me hop on her horse for a few minutes until I talked to Kim and got the ok to ride Chance. So not all was lost!
The best part of the day, however, was a family trip to Fido's Festival in Woodstown! That's right, a festival all about dogs. I decided it was about time Murphy got to have an adventure of his own. After being cooped up in the house for 3 weeks, this may not have been the best idea. Having left all his doggie friends back in Connecticut, he's pretty much desperate for some dog conversation. So let's take him to a fair at which there are more dogs present than people and see how he behaves. Brilliant. (Talk about sensory overload!) Aside from some mild leash-pulling, barking at me when I stepped on his foot, and almost dragging me off the bleachers when a puppy ran by, he did pretty well. He was definitely not the worst-behaved dog there, and that's good enough for me.
Highlights of the festival: (which BearFace just LOVED, by the way. Kidding, but he is a good sport!)
- Dog costume contest (Ok, these people are the true crazies. I would not participate in such an activity.)
- Dog dock diving contest (Best part was watching a very confused chocolate lab try to figure out how to retrieve his toy from the water without jumping in.)
- Dog playground (Murphy was overjoyed to play with a coonhound named Tesla, who was more concerned with taking a dump in the middle of the concrete.)
- Dry land dog sledding demo (Murphy thinks huskies are the devil. We steered clear of that one.)
- Lure coursing (We watched many dogs crash and burn through the course.)
Murphy actually participated in the lure coursing activity. Basically, the dogs chase a motorized lure around a track. We were about 15th in the line to run your dog. Murphy was more interested in making friends with the dogs in front of and behind us at the beginning. But as we got closer, he actually started watching the dogs go. By the time it was our turn, he knew exactly what to do. Also, moving objects make him INSANE. So of course he was a natural. He clocked in at just under 17 seconds. Certainly not the fastest run of the day, but far from the slowest. (Hey, he's out of shape!) I actually had to drag him away from the course after his run. He wanted to prove that he could run faster!
I was born for this.
We also spent some time watching the Disc Dog Demo. Man, can those dogs catch a frisbee! Murphy got a little upset watching them play. It reminded him of his frisbee-playing days (again with the moving object insanity), which are now over due to his knee-injury.
Just doin' a quick back flip. No big deal...
With a busy day behind us, I whipped up a tasty dinner of sausage and quinoa. I wasn't really satisfied with my last attempt at sausage and quinoa, so I did some recipe searching, and came up with this. It's a combination/improvisation of several different recipes:
1 pound Italian sausage, sliced
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp salt
2 cloves minced garlic
1 medium onion, chopped
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup quinoa
1 cup broccoli (I used frozen; if you want to use fresh broccoli, add it at step 3.)
1 cup spinach
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Brown sausage and onions over medium-high heat, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic, rosemary and sage and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth, quinoa, and salt and stir. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
- Add broccoli, cover, and continue to simmer another 10-15 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
- Add spinach and stir until wilted.
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