Our Poor Pets on Halloween

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Hallowed Bean

 Spooky Dog

 Glamor Witch

 Boo Boo the joker.

 The Dread Pirate Layla

 ...dreads Halloween...

Her best Nefertiti impression.

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Dying Easter Eggs With Onion Peels

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Rachael discovered a website online the other day demonstrating how to create onion-skin-dyed Easter Eggs. We thought that it looked like a neat idea, and decided that we would give it a try.

I have found a couple of additional websites since that seem to offer some ideas that would probably improve upon the results that we had, but as you can see from the picture above, even our eggs turned out with some very attractive, whimsical designs. I'll include the links with alternative methods at the end of this post.

The very first thing that we did was gather some leaves, stems, and flowers from local plants along one of the local hiking trails.

Next we went to the store and bought the rest of the necessary supplies:

Eggs...

Flowers:

Red and yellow onions (with lots of dry skins):

And some sewing thread, of which I didn't get a picture.

Next, we collected all of the thin yellow and red onion skins that we could.We kept them separated because the red skins are said to dye the eggs much darker than the yellow.

After that we picked plant parts that we thought might create neat patterns.

We used plates with covered with a wet paper towel as our work surfaces. Then we used a spray bottle to wet the eggs and the plant parts so that the plant pieces would stick to the eggs.

A second method, which we found mentioned on another website, was to use a pair of hose to help keep the leaves and flowers in place.

The next step was to wrap the eggs with onion skins, trying to keep the plants in their intended places. This was probably the only challenging step in the whole project. After we had completed our project, we found a website that suggested soaking the onion skins for 15-20 minutes before wrapping the eggs. This is probably a good idea.

As we wrapped the eggs with the onion skins, the next step was to "fix" the skins in place by wrapping them in a cocoon made of sewing thread.

Now we had several egg cocoons to boil in the left over onion skins.

We made a separate pot for the yellow skins and for the red skins so that we could observe the difference between the finished results.

Next we put the eggs into the boiling water for 15 minutes.

* Note: Other websites that we have found since have recommended boiling the water with the onion skins for 20 minutes before putting the eggs in to create a darker dye, and to leave the eggs in the dyed water until it cools so that they have longer to absorb the dye. We also saw later that one website suggested adding a few tablespoons of vinegar to the onion skin "dye." Based on our results, we'll try each of these suggestions next time.

Finally, it was time to unwrap the eggs, and to view the finished product.

* Note: We put our eggs into the water as soon as it started boiling, and placed them into cold water immediately after their 15 minute boil. Our results were subtle, but based on some of the pictures in the links I've included below, you can see that boiling the onion skins for 20 minutes before adding the eggs, and then allowing the eggs to cool in the onion dyed water, can create a much more dramatic effect.

At the end of the day, we wound up with some cool Easter eggs, and a nice bouquet of leftover flowers to boot.

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Some links to check out before beginning your onion-dying project:

http://www.simplynotable.com/2012/dying-imprinted-easter-eggs-with-onion-skins/

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/how-to-dye-easter-eggs-naturally-without-a-box-onion-skins-beets-cabbage.html

http://www.vintagesavoirfaire.com/2012/04/how-to-color-easter-eggs-with-onion-skins/

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Halloween 2011

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2011 Jack-O-Lanterns

My costume this year...

A giant carved zucchini.

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What Easter Means to Me

"Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." ~Clarence W. Hall

I like this quote. Of course it will mean different things to different people. I like the symbolism of Easter. I personally believe that Jesus was at least a great teacher. I am open to the possibility that he may have been more than that. I might learn the truth of this mystery when I die. 

I do believe that there are many roads to heaven, salvation, enlightenment (whatever your chosen word for the highest achievement possible for the soul). Christianity may be one of those paths, but I'm not certain of that. It might also be the one and only path which leads to an eternal heaven. For me, personally, there is no way to know these answers on this earth. 

I am no longer concerned with my lack of solid faith. I am honest about my genuine and sincere efforts to understand as much as I can, my cynicism and doubt about any one religion's truth, as well as my inner sense of spirituality and hope. But that hope is not for an afterlife, or for a God that I can anthropomorphize, or for answers to the mysteries of life that I can understand. 

My hope is that we humans can see that no matter what is waiting for us on the other side, we have the opportunity right here and now to create a more loving and compassionate world. I like the symbolism of Easter. It means that the legacy of our lives, our words and our efforts in life do not end with death.

 

Christmas with Dogs

Bean's Poker Face

With Smudgie on Christmas Eve

Scarlet looking festive.

Mushka, a.k.a. Moo Shoo who was visiting for Christmas

Mushka and Bean facing off

Mushka invites Bean to play. Bean is not so sure.

Bean goes into Matrix Christmas Ninja mode.

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4th of July News

I worked training dogs for part of the day on the 4th, and then rode my bike into downtown Monterey to meet up with Kate. We walked around in the crowd of folks that had come out to see the fireworks over the bay, and then we headed over to the Monterey Bay Whale Watch to get on board the boat to watch the fireworks from out in the bay.

http://www.montereybaywhalewatch.com/

The fireworks from the waters of the bay were fantastic. We could hear the patriotic music echoing from the shore and blaring from a few of the other boats around us. Campfires were glimmering all along the beach.

On a more disturbing note, considering the recent fires here in California, we could see lots of illegal fireworks shooting off all around the bay. We even saw one group of folks setting off fireworks from the bike trail near the wharf.

After the fireworks, we returned back to the dock and headed over to say hello to Kiera the cat. It was great to be out and about because all of the streets in downtown Monterey were closed, and we were able to ride our bikes down the middle of Del Monte Avenue, swerving between the reflectors and dodging skate-boarders doing stunts in the street.

Pacific Grove Good Old Days Parade

Promoting the Xtra Cycle. More gas efficient than your Prius!

Who knew that Jaws was eco-conscious?
(And apparently more sophisticated on the evolutionary ladder
than previously believed.)

I think I saw this outfit last Friday night at the Mucky Duck...


What a rabble rouser

One of the undisputed stars of the show... a dog riding a skateboard!

Here is a short video of the dog on the skateboard.
My batteries died during the next shot.

Christmas 2007!

Here is the tree that Kate and Ria and I decorated with all of our ornaments. What a beauty!