Our Appleversary Cake!

For our Apple-versary, I baked the same cake that I made for Apple's birthday, and he must have remembered it, because he freaked out and wanted to eat it so badly! I am glad he likes this cake so much.

I cut the hole in the ziploc bag a little too big on this one!

Apple's birthday cake

I found this cake recipe on a website called Dog Health Guide. I chose this one because it contains no baking soda and is made with APPLEsauce!  It also calls for no sugar, but I confess I do add some to make it more palatable to us humans.

Cake Recipe:
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce 
2/3 cup hot water
1 cup whole rolled oats
3 eggs (I only used two and it worked.  Lower in cholesterol!)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup granola 

First, you combine the applesauce, oats, and hot water, mix it, and let it sit for 15 minutes. Then, you combine all other ingredients, put it into a greased pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. 

For the icing, I mix 16 oz of Neufchatel Cheese (like cream cheese with lower fat content) with 1/2 vegetable shortening, some sugar and a bit of oil. I put food coloring in it to make different colors to decorate the cake with as well.

Making these cakes has been very fun and Apple loves this cake so much. He eats so much of it and always comes back for more, and I do let him gorge himself a bit on this cake. We have already eaten the whole thing, and I think Apple had 10 slices of it!

Eating the  cake!

To My Dog's Previous Owners

To my dog's previous owners,

I wish I could read my dog's brain, or see a movie of what his life was like before that day we found him, so I'd know exactly what he'd been through. Because I can't do that, I can only take the pieces of what I know about him from the day we found him to form a picture of what you were like.

I know you existed because he knew how to sit on command. He was friendly around humans, but terrified of us when he had accidents in the house.

He had no collar or microchip. He wasn't neutered. He had fleas and an eye infection...and he was young, energetic, and very needy.

We never saw posters of him saying he was lost, and nobody responded to the found report we did online through the city, so we assumed you abandoned him because he was too big or difficult to handle.

Why? What would possess you to leave such a young puppy alone in the street? Did you take him to our apartment complex, or did he find his own way there? Why couldn't you just take him to a shelter where he would be safe?

I ask these questions, and then I realize, that as awful and horrible I think it is to abandon a puppy, if you wouldn't have taken that course of action, he never would have been ours. We weren't looking to get a dog. But we found him and we shaped our lives around HIM. We changed our home and our lifestyle FOR HIM. We eventually moved to a new house JUST FOR HIM. We didn't get a dog on a whim and decide to get rid of him if he didn't fit our specifications.

But then again, what we did might be considered illegal in some interpretations of the law. I didn't realize until a few months after we kept Apple that we "stole" him. And if you came back looking for him, we might be expected to just hand him back to you. But we'd never give him up without a fight. (And I think the fact that we've had him for a year now, and put in a found report would put the law on our side.)

All in all, I might feel very angry about what might have happened to our dog, but in the end I almost have to be thankful that it happened the way it did. It seems sick and twisted to want to thank you for getting rid of him, but I have to. If any one little thing would have happened differently, we never would have gotten Apple. It was fate for us to have this dog, and your treatment of him was part of that plan. I am just so thankful that he found his way to our apartment and chose my husband to wander up to. I can't imagine if it would have happened any differently.

One year later, I don't know if Apple remembers anything about his previous life. I wish I could ask him. I hope that this never happens again, and that you take better care of any other dogs you might have...but for now, for today, I have to let go of what makes me angry and just revel in the happiness that everything worked out the way it did.

Apple is much better for it. So are we.

Let's Play Catch (Up!)

Hello blog universe!

Sorry I have been away for so long. Like I told my team lead at my end-of-the-year job chat today, I've just had so many things going on in my personal life that it has been hard to keep up with everything (like this!)

However, it is a great time to get back into my blog, because tomorrow is a big day...

Tomorrow is our Apple-versary...aka the anniversary of the day we found and kept our wonderful, beautiful dog, Apple. There will be many posts to come about this :).

Since I last posted, we did manage to find a house that would take Apple and our application was accepted!

In our front yard!

The houses that we looked at the day after I posted Moving When a Family Member is Four-Legged were a bit interesting. The first one was decent enough, but it had a tiny yard, some cleanliness issues, and it just didn't seem right. 

The second one was like something out of a nightmare. There were cracks in the walls, dirt and grass all over the floor, brown smudges, holes in the ceiling, and it reeked of drugs. It was awful. I was so worried we would never find a place, and I desperately hoped the last house would be better.

The last house was much better, and although Steven had to leave to go to a temp job, I went ahead and put the money down on it. We had a few security issues when we first moved in, but since then, everything has been fine and great!

The yard is awesome.

The Google Maps satellite picture of our house

 We painted the majority of the interior of the house, and it took 3 weeks to get our stuff settled in, but now we are quite established here. :)

Me painting the kitchen

Our living room

Our bedroom

I am so glad they accepted Apple, but I had hoped to foster dogs for Austin Dog Rescue after moving, and I have been too "chicken" to try to clear this with my landlord....we'll see if anything ever comes of this.

Apple has been really enjoying the yard, but has unfortunately been digging, and misses the company of other dogs at the dog park, so we still try to take him somewhat often. 

Tomorrow, I really promise that I will post blogs! I will have to show you his cake, and I plan on posting "To My Dog's Previous Owners," a blog similar in style to To My Dog's Mother, On His Birthday. It should be a great day!