Raspberry Cream Cheese Cake

 

• 1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 18 ounce package yellow butter cake mix
• 1 3 ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly spray a 9-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, with the mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream cheese and vegetable oil until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until blended, about 2 more minutes. Fold in fresh raspberries.
• Pour half of the batter into the prepared baking pan. Spoon the raspberries preserves over the batter evenly and pour the other half of the batter on top.
• Bake for 50 to 55  minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan for 25 minutes then carefully transfer to a rack to cool completely.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

D, O and K

Kaylene got grad pics taken and Oakley B and Drew jumped into one of them to get this super cute shot.  The only thing I have to say about it is..."look at how happy Oak looks!"

Bees 2022

We got our new bees last weekend (April 9)!  As per the usual, we had drama!  One of the queens was already out of the cage that they come in, which means she could have been killed because the worker bees didn't have enough time to get used to her phermones.

So we held our breath and waited a few days to check the hive to see if she was alive.  Jim checked today and great news - she is alive!  WOOT!

So now we wait and let them do their work and hope for the best!

Also - these queens are named after my CCI pups:  Queen Lydia and Queen Astrid.

Long Day

Lydia went back to work with me last week.  We had a 2 hour Town Hall meeting which was quite boring to her.   This was her under the table.   She also kept moving towards our CLO's executive admin so that she was always touching her.  I would drag her away and she would ooze back so she was touching her feet or her leg.

Homecoming

I am thrilled to announce that Astrid was released from professional training and is home now!   It's a little bittersweet to know she is not going to be a service dog but we knew this was coming.  She has never been interested in working and has shown signs of being hard to motivate and disinterested during professional training.

She was in a team training session from Monday to Wednesday and she was just too hard to get to do the tasks asked of her, which is not what you need in a service dog.  She knows "how" to do them - she just doesn't want to.   I know that in the back of her mind, she was always wrestling with wanting to go back to fetching, swimming, boating and camping.   And now she gets to have that life!

She is spending a few days with us to de-compress and then she will be spending a few weeks with her breeder caretaker while we get the puppy's toe healed.   

Dehydrating

I have been experimenting with dehydrating for my upcoming backpacking trip.  This is a mushroom stroganoff.  It is in a ziploc baggie in the fridge, ready to go!  My friend Susan, who is a dehydrating expert, will help me re-hydrate it on the trail.  And I will serve over mashed potatoes.