Short Stuff

SCARY HAIRY: I don't post photos of our dogs very often. But Kirby's bad fur day yesterday was epic, and I just have to share. 

CERTIFIED: Yesterday's mail brought a nice surprise for CJ and Annabelle. They each got McDonalds gift cards from the Allied Arts of Renton Creative Kids Contest for their COVID-inspired art.  (The art is on this previous blog post: https://magnoliaprep.blogspot.com/2020/10/signs-of-times.html

BOO! NASA's picture of the day is perfect for this spooky season. Check out The Ghoul of IC 2118 

Here's what NASA has to say about the eerie image: "Inspired by the Halloween season, this telescopic portrait captures a cosmic cloud with a scary visage. The interstellar scene lies within the dusty expanse of reflection nebula IC 2118 in the constellation Orion. IC 2118 is about 800 light-years from your neighborhood, close to bright bluish star Rigel at the foot of Orion. Often identified as the Witch Head nebula for its appearance in a wider field of view it now rises before the witching hour though. With spiky stars for eyes, the ghoulish apparition identified here seems to extend an arm toward Orion's hot supergiant star. The source of illumination for IC 2118, Rigel is just beyond this frame at the upper left."

Weekend Scenes

DROPPED OFF: Today, we voted early, depositing our ballots in one of King County's 70 or so handy drop boxes well ahead of election day on Nov. 3. Since I let CJ help me fill in my ballot, I figured Annabelle should have the deposit duties. 

Last time she dropped a presidential election ballot in the box for me, polls predicted we'd have our first female president. They were wrong.

This time polls predict we'll have our first female vice president. Time will tell if that pans out. Next presidential election, Annabelle will be able to mark her own ballot.

FEEDING TEENS: I was so happy to find out that I didn't have to work on Saturday, because we had Teen Feed that day, and that's a whole lot of work.

Back in the day, our volunteer group would meet at the shelter and prepare the meal together, enjoying each other's company and serving the guests cafeteria style. It was great hearing their feedback and being able to make each meal to order. 

Well, the pandemic crushed all of that. Now, we still have to provide the meals, but they're to go. And that's actually more work than serving them on site, because we need boxes and baggies and ramekins, etc. 

After every service, I write up a recap. I think it's good to help us keep track of what worked and what didn't, and it's a great way to thank the volunteers. I'm pasting the text of that email below changing names to protect the awesome volunteers. :) 

Another Teen Feed in the books, and it was an excellent example of how we're still getting it done in these interesting times. 

Since we can't all cook and serve on site together any more, it's all about rounding up or delivering donations in a way that works for everyone. For instance, last Sunday, Tina and I met in West Seattle so she could give me her goods. Jana and Donna PayPal-ed dollars for their donations, and my family shopped and prepped for them along with our donations. Katie was kind enough to set up a donation station at her place on Queen Anne, where Aida dropped her hot dogs and water, which we picked up along with Katies's chili on the way north to the shelter on Saturday. Meanwhile, Linda's goods went to Anna, whose son Saul came with Nancy Anderson and family to do the dinner service. The Andersons also brought the BIG dog donation from new team Teen Feed member Kasey Louden, and Inga's beautiful shortbread sugar cookies were handed off in the alley from her husband to mine. 

All of this careful choreography resulted in another amazing dinner for our guests!  

During service, a very busy Nancy managed to send a text reporting, "All of the teens are loving the food! Chili dogs are a very nice welcome to the cold weather in their bellies." 

We had a MOUNTAIN of big buns, thanks to Jana, Darci, and Katie. There was an abundance of chili (thanks Katie and Jana) to top the big dogs, as well as ton o' shredded cheddar (thanks, Jana!). Diners could dress up their dogs with Fritos (they loved those, Tina!) and ramekins of onions and jalapenos on the side (CJ and Annabelle filled dozens of them).  Diners also got some big dill pickle spears (kudos to Darci), and sweet desserts (thanks to Annabelle, Jana and Inga). 

Alice, Donna, Linda and Tina put the sparkle in the service with their water donations. 

One great thing about our group: Not only do people provide what they sign up for, they often throw in a little extra. When a number add a bit more, it becomes a significant increase. So not only did we meet our 80 meal goal, we crushed it. "One hundred and twenty five meals! Five vegan," Nancy summed up. "We got a thumbs up from the teens as we walked out!" she reports. 

Pics of our stellar service crew, some yummy meals ready to go, a BUNCH of buns, and some steaming vegan chili

We try to cater to all of our diners' palates, and that includes a few vegans. I have to say, the pot of vegan chili I made was pretty darn good. :)               

Below is a before-dog box and chili shot. The toasted bun has chopped onions, jalapenos, mustard, ketchup and Fritos on the side. 

CJ helped get the chili going. Chili for 80 chili dogs is a LOT of chili let me tell you.

We had a mountain of oversized buns before service.

And below is a cart loaded with many to go meals.