Zucchini: Day Five Progress Report (and Thanksgiving summary)

"Huh?" you might ask yourself. "Who or what the heck is Zucchini?" Ummmm...I think that's the puppy's new name. I've gone around and around, and my poor puppy probably suffers Multiple Personality Disorder at this point, but it takes awhile to get to know a puppy's personality. He came with the name JoJo, and I changed that to Joey (which really suits his personality). However my father requested that I change his name, as my nephew and my sister's new boyfriend are both named Joey.

Then the puppy seemed to like the name Smeagol. There is something about the sound of the name that is music to his ears! And I still may use that as a nickname for him. But it doesn't do his "cuteness" justice.

Then today happened. Standing in the kitchen cutting vegetables for Thanksgiving dinner, I kept giving the pup a taste of stuff. Last night he went crazy over raw green beans (and we discussed naming him "Green Bean"). Today he went crazy over zucchini and carrots (but was not fond of parsnip. I can't say I blame him. I found that I don't like it either.) And I thought that Zucchini was a fitting name for him. Unfortunately throughout the day it has grown, and has now become Zucchini von Pickle Bottom. (This is probably because Woodrow and our friend came up with a goofy nickname for our friend's dog, and it infiltrated my subconscious.) So today his name is Zucchini, or Zuchi or Zuch. Who knows whether he'll have a different name tomorrow.

So Zucchini LOVES raw apples, green beans, zucchini and carrots. So it's looking good for turning him into a vegetarian dog eventually!

He's been sleeping through the night, and sleeps on the bed in whatever place I put him, and when I get up in the morning, he's in the same spot. He learned to use his dog bed and the cat door that leads out to the porch within the first 30 minutes in my home. And after 5 days, we've still never heard him bark. A couple of times we heard a little "humpf", but that's it.

Yesterday we went out for a few hours, and we left Zuchi crated while we were gone. I meant to only be gone for two hours, but we were gone for three. When we got home, Zuch was ecstatic!  He cried like I've never heard him. This video was made about 5-10 minutes after I'd gotten home, and he was still pretty excited.

Things went great today at Mom's with her dog Katy. She and Zuchi became good friends, and I got video of them playing together...

Then he came in all tuckered out from the excitement, and climbed in his bed for nappy time.

This was my first vegetarian Thanksgiving. I made Braised Carrots, Parsnips, Mushrooms and Shallots in a red wine sauce, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter, Zucchini Cakes, Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy and vegetarian homemade stuffing. I may post some of the recipes later, but here was our table...

This was my plate. Mom made deviled eggs, roast chicken, au gratin potatoes and sweet potatoes.

That was some good stuff! Well, except for the parsnips. I found that I do not care for parsnips. The vegetarian gravy was AWESOME in flavor. It was a little too thick, but very good flavor. The stuffing was a little too wet and mushy, but again the flavor was good. Yummy asparagus. Mom's deviled eggs were good, and au gratin potatoes are always good, but I didn't have room for the sweet potatoes. Those came home with me to eat later.

Dinner was followed by coffee and pumpkin pie. I brought a little sweet potato pie home with me for later, too.

So overall we all had a really nice day, and we are all exhausted and well fed. I hope that everyone else had as good a Thanksgiving. I and Zucchini von Pickle Bottom wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!