BostonZest

Grab a Tree for Social Distancing! Photo Tales & Quotes

With warmer weather coming, social distancing in parks and on walks is going to become harder. My suggestion is to grab a tree.

The other day I met two neighbors, from different households, along the Commonwealth Avenue Mall. It was obvious we were all trying to set a comfortable social distance so we could talk. I suggested we all pick a tree as our place to stay while we chatted. Along the Mall, on sidewalks, and in many other parks in the city, trees are well spaced for safe social distancing. 

This morning Sarah (the lovely human who slid her scarf down so we could see her smile) and Harriet (the lovely dog who is always smiling) grabbed a tree while we talked and they agreed to be my models for this post. Sarah suggested that when it is not as wet as today, you can even lean on the tree!

My favorite quote for today is from a truly great man, Warren Buffet.

"Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

About Photo Tales & Quotes: We keep hearing that people miss our cover photos that ran for years in the Back Bay Sun. That assignment was to provide a photo that showed what the week was like in the neighborhood. Often the photos illustrated favorite quotations. Photo Tales & Quotes is an occasional offering to our BostonZest readers featuring photos along the same theme but taken wherever we happen to be.

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2020 Penny Cherubino  

Preparing for an Animal ER Visit

Would you be ready to take your dog or cat to an emergency animal hospital if you had to do it in the next five minutes? Here are some things you can do to help make that stressful situation a bit calmer for you and your animal.

Angell Animal Medical Center is open 24/7/365 (directions & contact information are in the link).

Be Ready to Go

First, you should know where the nearest 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital is located and have a transportation plan and route in mind to get there. We are car-free city dwellers and, over the years, have taken taxis, rideshare cars, and accepted offers from kind friends to bring our dogs to the ER.

When traveling, we always check for the nearest veterinarian and emergency hospital. It's not a bad idea to develop a habit of noticing any signs for veterinary services when you’re on the road. You just never know when you will need one.

Do your best to slow bleeding, stabilize injured limbs, and prepare to deal with gastric upsets on the way to get help. (Photo courtesy of the American Veterinary Medical Association.) 

First Aid

If your furry friend is hurt or sick, you’ll wish you knew some basic first aid and a bit about caring for a sick dog or cat. Do some reading on these topics ahead of time and consider adding a pet first-aid kit and a Pet First-Aid app to your smartphone. Or, take a course in pet first aid.

Do your best to slow bleeding, stabilize injured limbs, and prepare to deal with gastric upsets on the way to get help. We recommend that anyone with pets keep a package of puppy piddle pads on hand. These highly absorbent, disposable pads can save hours of cleanup and help reduce stress. Having had a carsick dog in the past, we have a prepacked “barf kit” that holds a few pads, paper towels, a bottle of water, and plastic bags for trash.

Poppy was on the way to the ER for a sore paw, but we covered the car seat and protected it in case the ride upset her tummy.

Moving a Hurt or Sick Animal

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) suggests calling the clinic before you leave so they can be ready for you. They may also be able to give you suggestions for the best way to care for the cat or dog until you get there. 

Your next challenge is moving a hurt animal to a vehicle and keeping everyone safe on the way to the hospital. The AVMA begins its advise on this topic with this warning, “Never assume that even the gentlest pet will not bite or scratch if injured. Pain and fear can make animals unpredictable or even dangerous. Don't attempt to hug an injured pet, and always keep your face away from its mouth. Although this may be your first impulse to comfort your pet, it might only scare the animal more or cause them pain.”

You might want to improvise a muzzle for an injured animal as long as they are not vomiting. You can use gauze, a bandana, or scarf for this purpose. Small dogs and cats can be wrapped in a towel or blanket and carried or placed in a soft carrier. A blanket can be used to make an emergency stretcher for a large dog.

In research done with Angie's List members, 65 percent have experienced a pet emergency. We know that we have made a lot of emergency veterinary visits during our years of having canine companions. 

An animal emergency is the time to accept the help of others in your animal community. Especially if you are facing transport alone. Again, this is best arranged ahead of time. You can set up a reciprocal arrangement with a friend to assist one another, if needed, for an ER run.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino, Top photo courtesy of MSPCA.

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)

 

Your Most Expensive Food Is the Food You Waste

People complain about the high price of food in restaurants, especially those places that source prized, fresh, local products for their menus. Ed and I hear complaints about the price of produce at farmers markets compared to supermarket sale prices or places that sell overstock and remainder clearance fruit and vegetables. But, in reality, the most expensive food most of us buy is the food we throw away.

Tip: A quick stir-fry, like this cashew chicken, can prevent wasted food by using up the bits and pieces in you refrigerator.

Wasted Food vs Food Waste

A lot is being written these days about food waste. We need to rethink that term. Food waste, to us, is the potato peels, apple cores, trimmed fat, and onion skins left when we finish preparing a meal. Many of those item can be turned into compost and some of what you are tossing can become a new menu item with the right recipe. We'll have more resources for doing this in upcoming posts. 

Wasted food, on the other hand, is the avocado that became overripe and was tossed because I bought too many. It’s the leftover chicken that sat long enough in the refrigerator for us to question its food safety. It’s the moldy orange or rotten peach in the fruit bowl. We’ve taken aim at this wasted food in our personal campaign to get the most value out of our food dollars.

Tip: We hard boil any older eggs whenever we buy a new carton. Those ready-to-go eggs help us turn a bit of leftover potato salad into a well-balanced lunch.

Vacation Lessons

If you are at all like us, you shop with greater care in the weeks before a trip because you have a set deadline to use up all the fresh food you buy.

Tip: Some toasted bread cubes, a ready-to-use avocado, and a drizzle of good olive oil can turn take-out gazpacho into a favorite meal.

Before and during a recent visit to Provincetown, Ed and I restricted our shopping list to those things we could use up in a few days. We bought food one or two meals at a time. When we extended our stay in P-town, we continued to follow that pattern. The result was that we had very little wasted food as we packed to return to Boston.

Since we’ve been home, I’ve followed that same rule. Each day I think about what I have on hand and only add staples that will soon run out and items I need for the next few meals to my shopping list. Try it and see how much less food you waste. 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Farmers Market Asparagus Ragout à la Jacques Pepin

We have had Asparagus Ragout for supper repeatedly in recent weeks. We visited the Provincetown Farmers Market on a recent trip to our favorite spot on the tip of the Cape and bought a bunch of asparagus from Silverbrook Farm. We didn't want to turn on the oven in our rental apartment to roast it, so Penny remembered a Jacques Pepin cooking technique for cooking fresh vegetables in a little water and a bit of butter. We both loved the result. 

After returning home, we located a Jacques Pepin video with instructions for what he calls Asparagus Ragout. (This dish is first up on this the program.)  

Via Wikipedia we found this about Ragout, "The term comes from the French ragoûter, meaning: 'to revive the taste." The Italian ragù (the word being borrowed from French) is a sauce such as Ragù Napoletano used typically to dress pasta."

While this farm fresh asparagus did not need reviving, this method of cooking it certainly results in great flavor complete with a light sauce. (Naturally, Ed selected his favorite utensil – a slice of fresh bread – and sopped up every drop of the sauce remaining on his plate.)

When we returned to Boston, we bought more asparagus at the Atlas Farm stand at the Copley Square Farmers Market and had a second supper of lovely, local asparagus.

We do peel the stalks and this time we had watched the video and followed Jacques' method. If you have the time, you can make an asparagus soup from the trimmings. 

We highly recommend this quick and easy cooking method for many of the fresh, local vegetable you'll be gathering at local markets this summer. 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Train Your Body for Dog Walking with Tai Chi

Recently, one of our favorite dog publications, Bark: the dog culture magazine, featured an article under its Training and Behavior section titled Tai Chi and Dogs.

Penny has been a student of Tai Chi for about a year now and says this will be a lifetime practice for her. Naturally, this post from a most reliable source caught her attention. We thought so much of the content that we decided to share it with our Sunday Dog readers.

Author Christie Green has been studying martial arts for nearly 20 years and has taken her knowledge of Tai Chi and applied it to some of the most common training issues we have with dogs.

She covers:

• How to prepare your body for a dog who is about to jump on you
• How to use your larger back muscles to counter bad leash manners
• How to use a weight shift to control pulling
• How to use relaxation to help with all aspects of dog life but also to improve your reaction time.

What Green says rings true to what Penny has been taught in her Tai Chi classes and gives her one more reason to be grateful for all she's learned while exploring the possibilities of this ancient art.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: Screengrab from Bark: the magazine of dog culture 

Save the Zest...Orange Zest That Is!

If a nice selection of citrus is around your home this time of year, you may be tossing out something that others pay good money to obtain – the zest of the peels.

We save some of each citrus as dried zest in a collection of little spice tins. The one above is from the Cara Cara oranges that Penny likes for snacks.

Using her favorite Kuhn Rikon Y peeler, she takes the thinnest strips of zest she can, leaving as much of the white pith behind. 

Penny piles them on a plate to dry completely before tucking them into a tin with the last batch. 

The zest strips will be used in teas, in beef stew, ground up into spice blends, and for other times when the cook is inspired by their great aroma. 

Of course, if you want a supply without the work, you can buy organic orange peel, organic tangerine peel, or organic lemon peel. We just like getting them for free along with our citrus purchases!

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2018 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Winter & Holiday Preparations for Families that Include Dogs

When you think about preparing for winter, your first thoughts might be about snow tires or weatherproofing windows, but there are some dog related items you might want to add to your winter preparation list.

Maxie looks great in her winter sweater!

Before all the de-icing supplies for your building are purchased, you might ask that pet safe de-icer be used rather than salt or other toxic chemicals. This will not only benefit your dog, but also all the dogs who pass your home. It may even help some inside kitties since the people in the family won’t track in potential poisons.

Poppy loves winter more than we do. This is her response when we say she's been out too long.

If your winter gear is in storage, it’s time for a switch. Put away the beach gear, life jackets, and sun shades. If you haven’t taken a good look at your dog’s winter supplies, such as jackets, boots, sweaters, and your own cold weather walk equipment, now is a good time to assess and resupply before a sudden storm calls for full winter gear.

If you have a car and your dog travels with you, winter requires protection for seats from snowy, muddy paws. If you use car services, be sure to bring a towel or waterproof pad when your dog shares your ride. We always contact the driver to say we’re bringing a dog and something to protect your car seat.

Zipcar requires that members use a travel crate or bag when they take a pet along. In addition to the crate, we cover the back seat with waterproof pads so that Poppy can walk to her crate without leaving behind paw prints, sand, mud, or salt.

Here are a few more of our winter tips for dog families:

• A Folding Alternative to Our Dog Boot Drying Hack
• Once-a-Block Dog Boot Check
• 7 Salty Winter Tips for Boston Dog Lovers

 

Marley is a well-traveled dog and a perfect guest in any home.

Travel Plans

The holiday season often requires special arrangements if you plan to travel or spend time with nearby family or friends.

Even with hotels and other lodgings you have visited with your pets in the past, confirming current policies and fees can prevent a nasty surprise when you arrive. We find that some fees are unreasonable. For example, Disney recently decided to allow pets in some of their hotels. However, they are charging a $50 per night cleaning fee.

Should you plan to have your favorite pet sitter, boarding kennel, friend, or family member take care of your critter while you are away, it’s a good idea to discuss this now before all spots are filled or other plans are made.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)