25 thoughts on “January 30, 2023: Out West”

  1. StL weather confounded the officials here once again when a front came through (expected), and a light layer of moisture and a later dusting (unexpected) became black ice and caused accidents on multiple highways. "Shut down all the trash compactors on the detention level schools!"

  2. Midway through the afternoon the Poissonnière began complaining the back of her head hurt. A fever soon followed. She put herself down for a three-hour nap (unheard of), and when she woke up she said her neck was stiff. Not good. Then, just before I left to go get buttermilk, complaints of stomach pain, light sensitivity & breathing being harder. Extra not good. The nurse hotline walked us through a couple of diagnostic tools and said it seemed unlikely to be meningitis, but they wouldn’t rule it out. Naturally, urgent care was closed, so off to the ER we went. They saw her pretty quickly, swabbed her a couple of times, and we left with a diagnosis of strep and a prescription for amoxicillin. She’s looking much better today.

    The pepper jack cornmeal biscuits tasted good when I finally pulled them out of the oven at 11pm, but the Brunswick stew was the star. Thank goodness for pork shoulder & chicken thighs being forgiving of their linger-than-anticipated stay in the Dutch oven.

    1. Strep is so weird. When I was a kid, it was throat pain, 103 temp every time. As an adult it's been nagging sinus pain that lasts months. I just assumed it always meant tonsils on fire.

    2. Glad your kido is better - I had strep so many times as a yout that the disease remains a fear - however you kinda buried the recipe. Do tell, do tell.

      1. First time making the Brunswick stew. I followed Chef John’s basic recipe, but subbed the chop for 2x the amount of bone-in pork shoulder and reduced the chicken thighs to use what I had in the kitchen freezer. I also bumped up the amount of garlic, corn, & limas by 1.5x each and used red potatoes.

        Chef John recommended the pairing the stew with the biscuits, so I made them according to his recipe. Next time I’ll double the amount of pepper jack for more kick; I had a good cheese, but just wanted it more forward in the end product.

        1. Interesting. It almost seems criminal to use that beautiful pork chop that way, but the final product looked pretty tasty. Your choice of shoulder seems appropriate.

          I like your sub of red potatoes for a little more sturdy bite.

        2. Re: pepper jack. We got some Tillamook garlic chili cheddar that is tasty cheese with some real zip. It's making the rotation for sure.

    1. Now now, we had tickets to Boyz II Men a few years ago. It got cancelled.

      I actually love Del Amitri, and enjoy BNL and Semisonic. Used to be a big fan of BNL actually. So this is a pretty great lineup. Thanks for the heads up!

  3. Harper had a bad day yesterday, listless and lethargic, her right rear leg is clearly getting lame, and her breathing has been heavy with a lot of panting. I found a little infographic on tumor sizes, the largest ones in her lungs are about the size of peas and there are quite a few of them. I've been able to get her up and outside, though, and I cleared a spot out front for her to do her business so she won't have to navigate the deck stairs. She seems better today, more alert and she's moving around the house okay, but with a clear limp. I got the call from the vet with her lab results right after lunch. Not conclusive, but they eliminated some possibilities and now all of the symptoms and clinical indicators point to bone cancer as the primary morbidity. I can't believe how fast this has all happened, she seemed perfectly fine and healthy until she fell on the ice three weeks ago.

    1. Again, this is just the shits.

      Glad that you’ve got some time with your dog in front and sorry that there isn’t more.

      1. Thanks, we plan to make the most of whatever time we have left. Yesterday I had to do 3 hours of online training so I did it from my bed with the dog chilling out beside me. We never let her on the bed before, but I'm going to be a little bit lax on that rule now.

  4. as i was saying…

    1. The Dubs seem to have weathered their storm of injuries and are playing well. Last night, they beat a very game (and young) OKC team in OKC. Moving them up to 5th.

      They are at the Wolves tomorrow.

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