Kiss my car goodbye! Thanks to it Catching Fire on my way to Ohio!

We were on our way to Columbus, Ohio's, to go to Ohio State Veterinary Hospital to pick up Roxie's leg brace  (I have yet to blog anything about Roxies leg injury) when 19 miles outside of Columbus we stopped to use the rest room at a DQ my car started smoking. I just thought it was the stirring fluid leaking... But it turned out to be my car was on fire... My passenger side door handle didn't work and John was in the DQ using the restroom...So I went across the seat and jumped out the drivers side door..grabbed Roxie and got away... Not once did I think CALL 911...! I know right... luckily the workers at the DQ did.... It took them a good 20 or 30 minutes for the fire department to get there.... and by then the entire motor was burning.... It was a mess..  Originally the DQ works and my husband tried to get the hood open so they could spray it with the fire extinguisher.... but the hood was stuck closed.. So when the fire department got there they had to pry my hood open with what looked like a mini jaws of life... and then they sprayed with the extinguisher and then the water hose... They totally flooded the car... They ripped the dash open and sprayed through it.... It was a mess...

Did I mention I only had liability??? Stupid me!!!!

This is the parking lot after the fire. I hope I don't get charged for damage. all I seen was some stains... No real damage.
But the guy took my insurance just in case.. Sad thing is I only had liability... and when I called I found up that it
Won't cover the parking lot if they decide that there is damage... 

 I was upset... But not as much as I expected really... It sucks that I lost my car... but atleast we have a truck to get around in... and I hope John gets his car fixed soon so we can have 2 vehicles again... I can't wait till some of our bills get paid off though... so I can get a newer fuel efficient car... We originally planned on trading his talon and my stratus in on a newer car.. But I guess that won't happen now... :(   After they put out the fire.. we looked decided it was totaled... and decided to leave it with a place called Just Junk It...They offered use $300 for it and I couldn't afford to tow it home and fix it since the motor was gone! So I took the offer... I couldn't get the money without the title though... So right now my car us still there and I have no money and they are waiting on me to send them my title so that I can get my money...

After that the Fire Chief was nice enough to give us a ride to the airport to pick up a very expensive $313 one way rental car to get us home! It was a 2010 Hyundai Elantra with XM radio which was nice... But it sucks how much it cost... I really didn't have the money to put forth.... but what are you going to do.?? Totaling a car has always been my worst travel nightmare...So I guess travel only looks up from here...

Roxie Making herself at home in the backseat of the Fire Chiefs SUV. 

Waiting at baggage claim for John and the rental car.

Roxie was such a good girl at the airport for over an hour. She was nice to every one who came up to us!

XM Radio in the Rental car

The nice rental car

Had a nifty gear shift

We did end up going to the vet and picking up her little hot pink leg brace... Which she wears everytime she goes outside to make sure she doesn't over use her tendon while it continues to heal... She is happier now that she can go outside again.. And I am too because the puppy pads are messy and expensive...Plus after the costs of Roxie Exams, traveling three times to ohio, and the $400 brace... I am broke! and can't afford the puppy pads anymore....

Roxies New leg Brace

She is doing pretty good with it. although she will run around the yard kicking her leg up and to the side...lol

We also stopped by Wholefoods on the way home and picked up a case of Earth Balance stick.. They are 5.99 a four pack here... and it cost 2.89 a four pack at wholefoods... Plus I bought a case that was a little over $5 off plus... I had a $1 coupon for ever pack I bought... So I really got it at a good price! I also got a case of WholeSoy yogurt and 8 packs of lightlife sausage... Wish I would have got a case of the sausage... I didn't know the case would actually give you a better price... But I also had a dollar off ever Lightlife item... It was 2.69 each so I paid 1.69 each... So I was a money saving queen... :) O yeah lightlife sausage here is 3.99 a pack...  and I can't get plain containers of Soy yogurt here... So I stalked up for baking... I also got 6 packs of Tofurky since its cheaper there....

I was going to stop at a couple other places life Trader Joes and a Vegan Bakery but I didn't have the money or the time... So we came the Five hours home...

But at that it looks like, even if John gets his over time back, that we are not going on any kind of vacation this year.. That really sucks... John is from Charleston, SC and we were really looking forward to going there this fall... we havn't been there since his dad past over 3 years ago and I know he wanted to visit his sister....


Other pictures from our trip....

Stopped to let Roxie have a brake and for me to make a phone call and John showed me these... They were so awesome I had to get some pictures...

These high tension power lines make the weirdest sound....

Going through an old town. Thought these buildings looked pretty cool..

a new school they are building in Camron, WV. It looks like it will be very nice.

The old Prison in Moudsville,WV. They do tours but we didn;'t have time to take one. But it looks awesome from outside..

Whats Cookin' Latley: Waffles, Cupcakes, Muffins

Been trying out different recipes for the farmers market that I plan on setting up a table at very soon...

The Joy of Vegan Baking- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
These turned out really yummy but I will not be adding the chocolate
When I sell them they will just have nuts... I think more people will
be likely to buy them that way and they will be less expensive.

The Joy of Vegan Baking- Chocolate Peanutbutter Cupcakes
I made these a a Cakewalk Fund Raising for my Little sisters 3rd grade spring festival.
I will also be making these for the Farmers market

French Toast Muffins- 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes

The Best Banana Bread Recipe- 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes
I have become quite  a fan of banana bread and have tried several different recipes. Not because I didn't like it... Just because I like to try new ones... The only thing I changed in this recipe is that I added walnuts. I have never put nuts in our bread but to put some more nutrients into it I decided it would be a good Idea. I also doubled the recipe so I could freeze one for future use. They cooked up in 43 minutes and came out very pretty.

I will also be making these recipes at the first farmers market I go to....

The Joy of Vegan Baking

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Chocolate chip Cookies

Peanutbutter Cookies

German Apple cake

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Caramel Popcorn ( With added chocolate)

Vegan With a Vengeance

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins

Vegan Celebration

Sweet Southern Cornbread

Other Recipes

Rhubarb Bread

Banana Bread

No Bake Cookies

Haystack ( Cornflake Cookies)

Later on I will be adding more recipes and switching them out and in as the summer goes on. I am excited and can't wait to go to my first... I have already missed the first 2 and will probably miss this weekends as well. But After that if all goes well I will be selling VEGAN baked goods at my local farmers market!!! Yay

I have also made some other new recipes from some of my fave cookbooks that I still haven't worked my way through.

Igors pasta from Vegan Vittles is one of those recipes that I return to over and over .. One of my faves! Made it twice last week!

This week though I have made:

Crispy Banana-Cinnamon Waffles from Vegan Diner. this is the first recipe I have tried from this book. But I will say with all the flour in the recipe I had to double the milk to get it to mix up. Then I had to double everything else but the flour to get the right flavor... So I am not sure exactly how I screwed up or if the measurements are just wrong in the book.... Who knows... But they did turn out really yummy! And are going to my freezer...

I had to set the waffle iron on its highest setting to get these completely done , brown, and crispy. They are so yummy once I got the right setting. They do take a while to cook even on high!

This made about 24 individual waffles that I am going to freeze some of. That is after the quick fix to the recipe.

Lemon Waffles from Vegan w/a Vengeance . They are crispy and so good. I wish I had everything to make the blueberry sauce! I can just imagine how great it would taste on them! I had to add 3 or 4 tbsp of flour to thicken it up because every '/time I would cook 1 it would crisp up and over cook very quickly. So I also had to turn down my waffle iron that doesn't get very hot to begin with. It is trial and error right now trying to get them done but not overly so. also freezing what I have left of these after all the cooking problems. Hope they freeze well.

These are sweet and lemony and so good once you get the batter & temp just right. I really loved these
and wish I had the blueberry sauce to eat with them.

Ready to go into the freezer.

The first 3 that I really messed up... The batter was to thin and the iron was to hot!

I also added my first flowers to a cake... on 5/29/2011.. Jess's mom put the icing on the cake and then asked me to write and add some decorations.. I Don't normally do flowers or sheet cakes... so it wasn't the best job but I love that I learned something new like the sweet pea flowers...

Chicken lays egg while Getting Xray!

Found this link while looking up chicken X-rays to see how they look compared to Gaia... Check it out!!!

Gaia Chickens 1st Vet Appointment, Chicken Xrays! & A Surprise visitor at the Vet Clinic!

Today I took Gaia to her 1st vet appointment. She was a good little trooper through all the exams & shots. But I also have to say the Vet and staff are so good with the chickens and kind.. I can't help but smile when I see how well they treat and handle the chickens just like any other animal that has been brought in. And I love that about them! I have been to vets that question treating chickens and ask why I just don't kill her and to have a vet and staff that show respect and love for them it is heart warming and I could never trust anyone else to treat them.. :)
She had lots done and she was a good little trooper all day. First they weighed her and she weighs 4lbs. She is under weight and her keel bone is sticking out. I think she should be around 6lbs. Then we had to wait for a few minutes so she decided to try to fly and land on the chair and fell off so I picked her up and sat her back on her chair... where she stayed till the vet came in and she walked over onto my lap and was trying to peck me in the face while I was talking to our vet...lol ... He examined her and her belly is distended a little bit...Then they took a fecal sample to check for worms... Then swabbed her Crop to check for sour crop which is a fungal infection, while he gave me a mouth & throat anatomy lesson.  Then she got to walk around the room for a while and poop on the floor...lol... Then they came back and got her to get an ultrasound which they didn't find anything on so the did two xrays.

Test results...
Fecal: as far as they can tell she didn't have anything. But they gave her a shot for worms just in case...
Crop Swab: Not sure but she is on sour crop meds now to see if that helps her.
Ultrasound: Inconclusive
X-rays: They showed a few things... One her bone health is not very good. Her bones should be pretty solid in the xray and they are speckled...very speckled! Which means she is not getting enough calcium, or not absorbing it properly, or something is leaching calcium from her.... 2nd her crop is very full. Not as big as it was the other night..and he said that could be the right size for her..maybe.. but it looked pretty full.So he was a little worried about that... It also showed a very white round"something" in her belly/intestine... I am not sure where exactly... he said it could be metal causing metal toxicity or just a dense small rock...

So for now she was given a shot for worms and other parasites.
She was given a shot to slow the diarrhea
She was given meds for fungal infection in her crop (Sour crop)
And she was given an antibiotic just in case she picked something bacterial up...
O yeah and she also had some Sub Q fluids

We are going to watch her. Make sure she is eating and drinking... And hop that she gets better. If not next is blood work to show if something else is going on. He sounded pretty worried about her bones and said if this doesn't work it could end up being something rare like Leukemia! So please keep her in your thoughts a prayers...  He said if she doesn't get better with this that the next step would be blood work, and then exploratory to see what the opaque white round thing is...

So I really hope this works and we don't have to take it that far.

So since she was so great and had such a long day I brought her home and let her free range in my moms front yard for an hour of so. She also had some spinach, blueberries, and strawberries on the way home. Plus the girls gave her 3 grapes and some more blueberries when she was running around in the yard enjoying the sun and grass. She looked very happy and didn't seem bothered by the days events at all!

But I will post Xrays later if the vet will send them to me...

On a brighter note... There was a Bald Eagle (Thunder) (click the link and it will take you to her page)at the vet clinic when I was leaving... Well I was supposed to be leaving ... I stopped and talked to the guy who had brought her in first.  She is gourgous and is part of the West Virginia Raptor Rehab. She was found after being shot when she was 3 or 4 years old. She didn't have her white head yet at that point. Eagles don't get the white till around 5 years of age...  She was shot through the left leg and it caught her wing and her wing had to have part removed at the end so she has lived with the Raptor guy for 20 years now. She weighs 14lbs her wingspan is 7 1/2 feet (if she would still have her wing tip) She can't fly. But she was so gorgeous! It was amazing to see her so up close and it just gives you such respect for them. She is having problems with the muscle in her left leg now so she was going to be xrayed

They also have facebook
And a running list of things needed on a donation list on amazon
I take all our Ferrets and Chickens to The Cheat lake Animal Hospital in Morgantown WV. They are all awesome. The staff is great and answer all my questions. Our chickens normally see Dr. Fallon but can be seen by Dr. Amy too. And our ferrets see Dr. Amy but can see Dr. Fallon too... They are both great!!!