Eatin' Apples and Bakin' 'Em

This is our dog Hannah. She will be 11 yrs. old on Wednesday. She is old. That's, what, 77 yrs. in dog years? She's climbin' the age ladder quickly.

It's getting tough for her to get up from a lying position on the hardwood floors. Poor thing. She slips and slips and finally gets up - all the while I'm somewhat holding my breath. It's only a second or two, so I'm not holding it long ;) Still, it's sad to see her deterierating, albeit slowly. This last year, really the last 6 months, has been real telling that she's on the down side of her little doggie life. ::sigh::

She has been an incredible dog. Anyone with a Golden can vouch. She has been a guardian for our children all these years - another little mother - another pair of eyes. She's got nothing better to do, so she'll go sit and just be with them. Where ever they wander, she'll be with them. A little companion. Who doesn't complain of the heat (too much).

If the kids go over to the neighbors back yard, there Hannah will be. Just lying there. Watching. Enjoying. It's very very sweet. As a mother, I totally appreciate her maternal spirit.

There's one story Dani recently told me.

Our neighbor saw Hannah in her backyard and thought that that was a bit strange that she was back there alone. Until she saw her little boy coming up the hill into the backyard! She told Dani she couldn't believe that Hannah was watching out for her son! The kids must've all been back there prior and Hannah stuck around until all the kids were back in the safe zone.

Good Girl, Hannah :)

You know how you hear of those amazing pet stories, the ones that save the whole family from a house fire? Or the ones that attack an intruder in the middle of the night to protect her family? Or save a child from a deadly animal? I always had doubts that Hannah would actually do that in those life-threatening situations. I'm now doubting that doubt. I think besides just licking someone to death she actually loves us enough to maybe bark? Anyway, I'm a little more optimistic about her heroism these days, in her old age. In my old age ;)

Okay so what in the world am I posting about my dog with the whole APPLE title thingy? There was a point and I kind of got off on a tangent.

You see, we just recently found out that Hannah LOVES apple cores. Just in the last few months. We've had her for almost 11yrs. and are just now discovering this obsession she has. She will haunt any child with an apple. Our neighbor's 5yo child had an apple and Hannah followed her everywhere and wouldn't be more than 2 feet from her. I had to ask her if she'd kindly feed Hannah the core when she was finished.

I can't help but think that she's wondering about all the cores she could've had - that after all these years she's found this wonderful treat! It is really cute to see her following the kids. Oh, but don't put that apple down to pick something up off the ground.... gulp!... as Charlie found out! LOL - "Hannah ate my apple!!"

Good eats!

There are actually a couple things I won't miss when Hannah finally does leave us (sniff, sniff):

The dog hair!!! ( I see all of you dog owners nodding your heads - Golden owners are actually yelling out "YES!" as well as nodding )

And the bomb, if ya know what I mean :)

Here are a few more Charlie shots apple shots, and then some...

I love the dribble of drool! Dani thought it was gross, but no, I love it! He has always been a slobber monster - never disappointing!

Another good thing about having so many kids is that - for Hannah - it means lots of apple core treats!


I also made that Apple Puff Pancake that was over at Jessica's a few weeks ago. I made it a few days after I copied it from her blog. It was so simple and the kids enjoyed it. I think I will double it in the future. Makes a great weekend breakfast in the cool autumn months :)

And here's the recipe which I printed up on Word and posted here:
Apple Puff Pancake
One of the things that I don't care for with Scribd is that it doesn't upload the same font I used in Word. On my Word doc. it is much more appealing to the eye because of the pretty font. Oh well, just one of those things I'm picky about ;)

Enjoy!