Yardball
Kids and pets - when they have a favorite toy they have a favorite toy. The favorite toy du jour in our house is Yardball.
Yardball started life as an ordinary tennis ball and was living in the back yard. Doggo loves a good tennis ball, and enjoyed playing with him. Then Yardball had a run in with the lawnmower and became the Best Tennis Ball Ever. Something about the gnash must have made him extra chewable, and she became obsessed. She played with Yardball every time we went outside, and eventually insisted on bringing him into the house. I kept tossing Yardball back into the yard when she wasn't looking, and she kept bringing him back.
Mid week we had a big ol' snowstorm and Yardball disappeared. Oh well, it happens. Hubs came back from Scout camp this weekend with another tennis ball that had been lying around Scouting HQ for a good long time, and Scoutball became the new Yardball.
But then this morning the snow melted and suddenly the OG Yardball turned up in the yard again. All is right with the world and Scoutball had been demoted to secondary status.
Eats
My big kitchen success this week was a tofu bowl with spicy peanut sauce. This Youtube video plus this peanut sauce recipe.
I prepped the carrot slaw, tofu, and peanut sauce one night when I had some extra time. The first day that I had it for lunch I was planning to cook up some noodles, but I ended up crunched for time and luckily whenever we make rice I freeze up the leftovers in a single serving size so I had an alternate carb ready to go. I added some cucumber and enjoyed lunch.
Workouts
The deep freeze had me glad to be indoors and on the treadmill. I'm still alternating the 30/12/3 workout with some kind of attempt at run/walk. The treadmill version of run/walk that I've settled on for right now is 2 minutes walk/1 minute run/2 minutes walk/2 minutes run until I get to two miles.
Watching
Still going strong on Seinfield with the Hubs. We just finished season 2.
Reading
Last time I was almost finished with Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker. My 80% of the way in verdict was that this novel with a domestic violence story line was well written, the non-DV part of the story was unexpectedly and delightfully funny, but part of the story was getting a little out there and I had the feeling it might jump the shark.
My 100% of the way verdict: overall I'm a fan of this book and I'd recommend it. The author said that she was working on satire of motherhood but kept coming back to her real life experience with her parents' marriage and ended up combining the two stories. Overall this works brilliantly but I would say that there is a "crack" where the gap between what started as two different stories starts to show. The crack gets patched up by the end, but there is definitely a "oh come on now" glitch toward the end. However, even with the flaw this is still an incredible book, so I'd say go for it.
After Madwoman I jumped back to the Alphabet Murders. These books are all good but G is for Gumshoe really pops as my favorite book to date.
Currently: still reading the Alphabet Murders! Currently on H is for Homicide.
Also currently: I started a new audiobook. After all of these years of hearing about David Goggins and reading Life With a Seal this summer, it was finally time to hear from the man himself. I'm listening to Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds. The audiobook has a very unusual setup - the book is read by the ghost writer, with breaks for the ghost writer to interview David Goggins. It takes a hot second to get used to the format, but since it's David Goggins, it works.
That's all for this week! Catch ya later
First of all, that's a great photo of Doggo, and of Yardball, too. The story of Yardball is freakishly relatable, even though I don't have a dog. I guess it's because I have children. The demoting of Scoutball made me chuckle.
ReplyDeleteI admit that I've never tried tofu. Your recipes looks tasty, so I'm intrigued.
I do not like to run or walk on a treadmill, so cold weather months are not my favorite as I miss running. But I saw a break in the very cold weather and I was able to run twice in the last few days. My timing was a bit off, and I missed running on Sunday which was practically balmy. I opted for Saturday and Monday. Today wasn't bad, Saturday I felt like I'd lost a bet.
I just told Coach that I think we should rewatch Cheers. Of course I say that without knowing if it is even available to stream-? Maybe it's on DVDs. I'd like to have a go-to show to view with the college kids when they're home over break. The time lost churning over what to watch drives me mad.
I've just started a book for book club called 'The Great Believers.' So far it's very good.
The difference between dogs and children is that dogs do everything that you say and are always glad to see you! Other than that, they are exactly the same!
DeleteThat is actually a brilliant idea with your run walk rhythm!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently coaching a young woman to do her first 5k in February, and we're doing 90secs of running, 60secs of walking. She seems to plateau there and I'm wondering what to do next.
I'll try that 2 min walk/1 min run/2 min walk/2 min run for 3km and see how she responds to that. Thanks for the idea!
What goes around comes around - you got an idea from me and you just gave me an idea in return. I can't figure out how to get from 2 minutes of running to 3 minutes of running on the treadmill - and now I realize that's not the only option! I can try doing 1 minute - 2 minute - 2 min 30 sec -2 min - 1 min ladder!
DeleteOh my goodness - I love the Yardball story. May Yardball live a long and fulfilling life.
ReplyDeleteThat tofu bowl with spicy peanut sauce sounds delicious. I would probably swap the tofu for a different protein though. Every time you mention Sue Grafton I get the itch to reread the Alphabet Series! One of these days...
Heck yeah, skip the tofu and go with chicken or shrimp instead! Your bowl your rules!!!
DeleteYARDBALL! Rex doesn't have a favourite toy, he seems to have instantly lost interest in all of them. He does have a rope that he'll play with but only if someone is playing with him. He does love a good stick chew though.
ReplyDeleteMmm I love a spicy peanut sauce!
My husband and I watched the first two seasons of Barry back whenever they came out, and now there's like season four, but we couldn't remember anything that happened, so we started re-watching from the beginning. I forgot how funny and clever it is. I'm also still on my watch of NYPD Blue, we are in season 3 but I only watch an episode a week so this will be a long project.
I said to Engie this morning that I'm reading The Girls From Corona Del Mar and am obsessed. I am highly resentful of anything that takes me away from reading it.
My spidey senses are telling me that I need to run and not walk to The Girl from CDM - as you know I looooooved Margo and I'm very open to reading more Rufi Thorpe. I just checked it out on Libby and I'll start as soon as I finished my current book in a few days.
DeleteDoggo is starting to cool down on her toys. When we first got her she was always playing with them and destroying them and it was hard to keep up. She's still very partial to tennis balls, squeak balls, her Wubba, and her stuffed Santa toy. I swear that she used to chew her Benebones for hours every day, and now it's more like the occasional 10 minute chewing rampage. Sigh, the kids grow up so fast nowadays. Someday we're going to have an adult dog and life is going to be so boring.
Ha, I love "yardball." And I can see why you keep throwing it outside! I'm imagining Doggo's delight when the snow melted and yardball was discovered again.
ReplyDeleteThat lunch looks GOOD. It's reminding me- it's been a while since I've made a peanut sauce. Tofu, broccoli, rice and peanut sauce is a dinner my daughter well eat, AND she'll eat leftovers in her lunch. Hmm. We might me having that tonight.
I remember my husband listened to that DG book on audio. He really liked that format (I read the print version.)
I swear that I have peanut sauce amnesia. I keep forgetting about it so that's why I hardly ever have it. And it's soooo good.
DeleteI love a spicy peanut sauce, so sub in chicken for tofu (can't do tofu, I think due to texture but can't bring mysel to keep trying to find how I'd like it made) and it'd be a hit for me!
ReplyDeleteYardball! What a delight! We have not had a significant snowfall, much to the chagrin of my children. We had a dusting and Paul said he wanted to go play in it, but it was bitterly cold and how does one play in an inch of snow in the freezing cold? I talked him out of it.
I plan to read Madwoman! Right now I am reading Blue Sisters which is very melancholy but it's working for me.
You just reminded me - I've been meaning to try whipped tofu. The only time I've had it is at Kim's when we had dinner this summer. I'm seeing recipes for it here and there and I want to try it.
DeleteBoo boo boo that you haven't had much snow yet. We actually got two snow days last week for just a few inches of snow. Having something pretty to look at and being able to play in the snow with the dog made the cold much more bearable.
I am coming over for dinner. I love tofu, love spicy, love peanuts. Lotus foods has these brown rice ramen noodles that are super good, but rice is definitely a good carb too. After I found out that you can easily cook brown rice in the InstantPot, I was hooked. I used to hate how long it took to cook! (hint if you care, 2 to 1 for about 30 mins).
ReplyDeleteI was going to read the Goggins book, as a running friend recommended it to me, because he actually was in the military with Goggins and was a friend of his. However, I never got to it so I will be interested to hear what you think!
Lol my memory of cooking brown rice is that the exact time is An Eternity. It's a snap in the IP, but that was around the same time that I figured out that my belly doesn't like brown rice, so the cooking time is irrelevant to me. But yes, I'd be perfectly happy to take a bath in peanut sauce.
DeleteI like the Goggins book a lot so far - we got through the rough childhood, military stint #1, and he just made it into the Seals.
Yardball 4EVR! Also, nice to have a backup, so glad that Scoutball is there in a pinch, always prepared to play. When we got Mulder he came with some toys, one of which was a toy crab, imaginatively named 'Crabby'. We all loved Crabby, especially when he would give it a good shake and the legs would go flopping around. So cute. Every time Mulder chewed off a leg, I would get him a new Crabby. I suspect he found that frustrating, maybe he was just getting Crabby the way he wanted it? I don't know. For Christmas, Mulder had his own gift bag, and he knew it was his and went over and took his toy out. He didn't touch any of the other gift bags. He LOVED Christmas and his was usually the first gift I would buy. I have a recipe on my blog for some really tasty peanut butter dog biscuits if you want to make some for Doggo. Will she have a gift bag or a stocking?
ReplyDeleteDoggo came with a puppy care bag from the shelter with a ton of toys, and she loved them all. Our "Crabby" is Raffy the Giraffe. She's currently on Raffy III. Raffy I lost two legs and Raffy II got so many holes in his head that I couldn't sew him up anymore. So far Raffy III has only lost one foot and she's had him quite a while.
DeleteI just did a search on your blog and found the recipe! It's by Ina Garten!!! Full circle.
Here's the peanut butter dog cookie recipe, from happier times: https://jellyjules.com/happy-birthday-puppy-boy/
DeleteOh, there are two recipes. The one I sent you the link to is a bit easier, and he loved them just as much. I love that you keep replacing Raffy. Humans are funny, do you think Doggo cares? (OF COURSE SHE DOES)
DeleteAhhhh, Yardball! I love it! I hadn’t heard of David Goggins. How is that even possible, since MY LAST NAME IS GOGGINS? I’m guessing we’re not related.
ReplyDeleteI think I only know about David Goggins from chatter from Hubs and the stepsons and a little bit from the running community. It's taken me a long time to get around to reading his book, but now that I'm here I like it a lot.
DeleteAww. What a precious picture of Doggo and love the story of Yardball - haha.
ReplyDeleteI've been doing some 12-3-30 lately (sometimes not the whole 30, just as part of a 1-hour workout, I'll do a stretch at 12 incline/3 to get my heart rate up) and wow...I can't believe you're still doing it! I find it sooooo boring now. But it is amazing exercise. I sweat like crazy and almost no exercise makes me sweat!
Well, yes it is boring, but it's a "good" boring? What I like about it is that it's just a half hour, it's a solid workout, and I don't have to think. Just get my butt on the treadmill and watch TV until it's done. Between you and me, I'm pretty sure that my treadmill incline is off. I do it at 14% on my home treadmill and it feels A LOT harder when I do it on hotel treadmills.
DeletePS I'd heard about 12/3/30 but it wasn't until you wrote about it last year that I actually started doing it - Cool Bloggers hook Cool Bloggers up with good workouts!
DeleteHer little face! I want to squeeze Doggo and tell her to live her best doggy life. Hannah will play with toys for about thirty seconds and then she is done, so may Doggo live for Hannah.
ReplyDeleteZelda the Cat has a beloved brown ball, though. It is currently hidden away until she is no longer radioactive and I hope that after an absence of 80 days, she still loves it.
I can't wait until Zelda and Brown Ball are reunited. I bet anything that they will pick up right where they left off.
DeleteDoggo used to play like a maniac but she is starting to slow down a bit. I'd say that balls are her favorite thing right now. Yardball is starting to fall apart to the point where I think he's going to start breaking into pieces so he is going to have to "disappear". Thankfully she still has Squeakball, Scoutball, and other unnamed tennis balls.
Yardball is amazing! Why do they get so attached to these certain toys?? There is a very specific toy that Ellie goes NUTSO for. It's just this tiny little piece of candy toy that I think I got in one of their advent calendars. She has dozens of other toys around but THIS ONE IS HER FAVORITE. She often bats it under the door of the HVAC closet and I always forget to retrieve it for her, so it's always a special treat when it returns!
ReplyDeleteOMG the yardball LOL. YARDBALL WILL NEVER DIE! So so funny. Our cats have a fave toy too, and it's the on they always leave on the bedroom floor during the night. Every day we wake up and it's there!
ReplyDelete