Grits

I finally used up the remainder of an 11-year-old packet of yellow stone-ground grits, after looking up some recipes. It actually tastes quite good this way, savory and somewhat creamy:

2/3 cup grits
5x that amount liquid; half soymilk and half water (1 + 2/3 cup of each)
2 vegetable bouillon cubes

I heated the water and soymilk and dissolved the bouillon cubes in it.
After bringing the liquid to a boil, I whisked in the grits and turned the temp to low.
I simmered the grits for an hour, stirring every few minutes to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
After removing it from the heat, I stirred in 2 tablespoons of non-dairy butter.

tippy tappy

I am amused at myself for the term I just used when speaking to my dog about me using my laptop:
"doing my little tippy-tappy".


Tippy-tappy also describes the sound of her paws when she walks across wood floors. It's a cute sound except when you keep hearing it when you're trying to fall asleep. But from what I've read, it indicates her nails are too long. It's difficult for me to cut her nails as she squirms so much and pulls her paws away when I try. Also, the last time I did, I cut one nail too far and it started bleeding. That made me feel bad. Before I try again, I plan to buy some styptic powder to stop the bleeding in case it happens again.

To get her quicks to recede to make them less likely to get hurt and bleed, I will need to cut her nails fairly often, little by little (some tips I found are listed below). At her annual vet checkup last week, they trimmed her nails for us, so that's a good start.

Dog Grooming: How To Trim Nails On Difficult Dogs
(Wrap dog in towel like a burrito, but with paws sticking out. So actually, more like an enchilada.)

How To SUCCESSFULLY Recede The Quicks (Watch If You Have Struggled!)
(She says to cut around the quick from the front, top, and sides. That way it will recede.
Make sure the clippers are sharp, not dull, so they can slice thru the nails rather than crush them.)

How often should you do a dog's nails to recede the quicks? | ADVICE FROM A DOG GROOMER
@2:48 photo of nails before & after trim - shows them ground from the top edge not just the bottom.
She grinds them every 2 weeks for normal trimming.
@4:45 even 3 sessions 5 weeks apart made the quicks recede.

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Note to self: To include an "at symbol" (@) in my posts before another character, and to avoid it being interpreted as a mention and replaced with a user head icon and invalid link, I should use the HTML code: @
"commat" stands for commercial at.