Bite of Benton, Tiny Weasel Update, and Screech

Today Ben and I went to A Bite of Benton, where you pay $10 for five "bites" of food, drink, or dessert. The desserts were the best: we each had a small cup of Francesco's gelato, plus brought an extra brownie home for later. Now Ben is off to work and I'm back in my office, which I escaped yesterday for a board game night in Albany.
Tiny Weasel is fine and reports that the top layer of sutures (which she chewed out) was quite unnecessary. She's been reintegrated with the other ferrets, who seem pleased to see her again. Here's a video of her drinking water ten minutes ago, to show she is alive and well for those of you who voiced concern (i.e. my mom):

This video, or something close to it, is what Ben pictures happening in my mind whenever I have a vacant look in my eye.
Out on our deck, we've traded our original scrub jay, Peanut, for a new scrub jay who we've named Screech. This morning, Ben came home to find him sitting on the bowl of peanuts screaming his lungs out at two other scrub jays. Even though he sometimes wakes us up at 6 a.m., I prefer Screech to Peanut, as the latter had developed a taste for my strawberries. All of a sudden, my plants seem to be producing a lot more berries.

Tiny Weasel's Big Day Out

Tiny Weasel had a couple irregular bumps on her, so on Tuesday I brought her to the vet for surgery. It was that or rename her Tiny Bumps, which doesn't quite have the same ring as Tiny Weasel. Sadly, she decided to tear out her sutures today. We brought her to the vet for emergency care and they used a special glue to close the wound. An hour later, she decided the glue needed to come out, too. Ben and I theorize that she has become a Christian Scientist.
With all the vet visits, Tiny is absolutely done with me, vets, medication, and trips in the car. Luckily, now she's on heavy sedation, so she no longer cares about any of it.

Translation of weasel stare: "How could you do this to me?"

Other than the Tiny Weasel emergency (and that's a pretty big other, all considered), it's been a pretty good week -- at least in terms of food. Tonight Ben and I made dumplings, and last night I made overly elaborate pizza bagels for dinner.

Spiny Norman helped with clean up, as always. He does not like tomatoes, but he says Veggie Shreds are pretty awesome. Garlic is OK to eat once, and then never again. I ate all the olives and basil, so he didn't have a chance to perform his restaurant critic powers of observation on them.

Waterfalls and Lava Rock

Busy week! Ben and I cruised over to Clear Lake on Monday night and spent a cozy night at Coldwater Cove Campground. The next morning, we did a drive-by of the waterfalls on the McKenzie Highway and then went up the mountain pass. Our hike up Black Crater was cut short by Ben not feeling well and snow at the top, but we still had fun. And we discovered that it's definitely worth stopping at the observatory tower at the top of the pass. Inside, tiny rock windows outline each mountaintop beyond with its name underneath. It was hard to take photos that captured both the mountain and its caption, but I did get a good picture of one window:

Today I finished the first short story I've written in quite some time (nice to take a break from a different project!) and then Katie and I went down to Eugene for their weekly sunset hike of Spencer Butte. Needless to say, it was gorgeous and a good hike with a nice friendly crowd of people.

Now, Ben goes back to work and I go back to writing articles... with another chance of a hike and a possible trip to Portland this weekend. I love Oregon!

Sausage Rolls and Voodoo Donuts

I love Corvallis, but when it comes to food Eugene wins. Today Ben and I drove down to see our friend Ben P. and did what we always do in Eugene: eat awesome food. At the Whiteaker Block Party, I devoured a sausage roll while Ben F. made short work of a meat pasty and Ben P. worked hard (OK, not that hard) at making himself a bicycle-powered smoothie. Afterwards, a potluck with burgers, mussels, shepherd's pie, lemon meringue, and other treats. And then, because we hadn't eaten enough good food, we went to Voodoo Donuts where they happened to be selling boxes of two dozen donuts for $5! Flavors range from questionable (bubblegum) to amazing (Mexican chocolate). We've invited a few people over tomorrow to help deal with this delicious problem of too many donuts. Win!

Kung Pao Chicken and Dimple Hill

This evening Ben and I hiked up Dimple Hill in Corvallis. The trail going up wasn't impressive, pretty much a gravel forest road the whole way, but the view from the top is one of the better ones here in town.

Afterward, we cooked up Kung Pao chicken, and now we're in the lounging around the house stage of the day. Tomorrow, we're going back to Eugene to pick up the moped and watch Whale Rider with the Eugene Book and Social Club. One of these days, I should post the recipe Ben uses for Kung Pao chicken since it's really good.

Artichokes, Deer, and Mouse-Sized Pancakes

Yesterday I slaughtered and steamed one of the artichokes growing on our deck. It was OK, but definitely not an Earth-shattering culinary experience. For some reason, it cooked kind of unevenly. Two more are growing outside, and hopefully I'll do a better job cooking the next one.

After working this afternoon, I went for a walk at Witham Hill. I didn't bring my camera, so I ended up spending some time watching a doe and her fawn snack and even take a nap about ten paces from me. I missed another good photo opportunity this morning: I made Spiny Norman a mouse-sized blueberry pancake, which he really enjoyed. That's about it for today -- back to work to get as much done as I can before Ben's next stretch of days off begins.