Week in Review: These are the Dog Days of Summer, but you sure can't tell it by the great weather we've been enjoying. Dog Days are supposed to be hot and the air, stagnant. The ancient Greeks and Romans called them caniculares dies (days of the dog) after Sirius, the dog star. I took advantage of the cool weather and moved some more lily of the valley out of the woods and put it around the grave of our first Shetland Sheepdog, "Tess, the Dog who Only Barked When Necessary." She was a great dog. Bob always reminds Maddie of this if the two of them happen to be anywhere in the vicinity of the hallowed ground. He'll turn to her and say, "Now there was a dog!" Indeed, they still speak of her in hushed and reverent tones down at Champs and Tramps Grooming and Kennel. They even took her along to visit nursing home residents a couple of times when she was boarding there. Maddie, the Amazing Barking Dog has never been invited by the ladies at Champs and Tramps to go along and help cheer up the elderly. In fact, she's been known to bare her teeth at those ladies when they mess with her tail (not that we haven't all felt like doing that, at times)

You know, the ancients believed the Dog Days of Summer were days of evil "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, and dogs grew mad." They would sacrifice a brown dog at the beginning of the Dog Days to appease the rage of Sirius. I am not making that up.

Our front door mat

And more about dogs: This is what Rob and Candace bought this week with the change they'd been saving. Her name is Roxanne.











From the Archives: How about a picture from, probably 1993, of the kids and Tess, the Dog Who Only Barked when Necessary.












Recipe of the Week: 2008 is the Chinese year of the Rat, but around here it 's certainly shaping up to be the Year of the Pie. We've seen a lot of pies come through here in the last several months, and considering the fact that I put 30 pounds of cherries, 9 pounds of blueberries and some peaches in the freezer this week, I'd say our future pie prospects are promising.

The Year of the Pie isn't that big of a deal, but it's better than the Year of the Rat, and way better than the Year of the Grasshopper Scourge, or the Year of the FBI Surveillance, or the Year of the Chronic Eye Infection.

Here's the recipe:

Maine Blueberry Pie
6 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg white, lightly beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

Of course, always begin with Opie's No-Fail Pie Dough recipe. Then:
lightly toss the blueberries with 1 cup sugar, the cornstarch, cinnamon, grated lemon and vanilla. Brush the bottom of your pie shell with the egg white mixture to prevent sogginess. Put the blueberries in the pie pan and add the upper crust. Slash the top of the pie to vent and sprinkle on remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake in the lower part of a 400 degree oven for about an hour or until the filing bubbles.

"People think it would be fun to be a bird because you can fly. But, they forget about the negative side, which is the preening."
Jack Handey