A Texas Christmas Miracle

It was Christmas Eve, 2004.  As families gathered in their homes to celebrate, snow clouds gathered in south Texas skies. Weather forecasters called for wintry precipitation with a slight chance of snow. 

Like so many Gulf Coast Texans, I'd seen these sensationalist forecasts fall through too many times and figured if we got any snow at all, it would likely be a few flakes spotted in some remote field by a farmer or at best, a powdery dusting like I'd seen a few rare times in my life. I also recalled that the few scant sprinklings we'd had always came in January. Even though Christmas cards portrayed smoke curling from the chimneys of snowbound homes nestled among white tipped evergreens, we'd never in history had snow for Christmas. Even the national weather map a couple of weeks back showed a 0% chance for a white Christmas in my area. Nope, it just wouldn't happen

Holiday Fruitcake - A Recipe for Those Who Hate Fruitcake

                           Let the Turkey Be Thankful, Go Veggie

Nothing says ‘home for the holidays’ like laughter around a warm, crackling fireplace and the delectable aroma from a colorfully laden table of homemade pies, fancy candies, creamy eggnog and a rich, moist fruitcake.

Bake this easy dessert, without all the citrus and gooey ingredients, to serve at Thanksgiving or Christmas parties and watch even those who don't like fruitcake reach for seconds.

Canine Flu Reports in Texas Cities

There’s been recent news that Canine Flu is spreading around Texas. Cases have been reported in San Antonio, Houston, and Austin and it’s probably just a matter of time before it shows up in other places.  

Canine influenza in dogs is similar to flu in humans, except that it’s caused by the H3N8 virus. It is a respiratory infection that originated in horses as the equine influenza virus but was discovered to have moved into dogs in 2004 when a number of greyhounds were found to have contracted the H3N8 virus. It has since mutated into a dog specific strain and is contagious between dogs.

Symptoms of Dog Flu

Symptoms in dogs are similar to flu symptoms experienced by humans. According to Cynda Crawford, an assistant professor of shelter medicine at the University of Florida, most dogs will