My Running Buddy Cola and Something I don't usually do

Several people have asked questions about Cola including asking if there were any runs that I did not take him on.  The answer is I take Cola on every run I go on and I have since he was 6 months old.  Occasionally if he is muddy or covered in manure i make him stay home while I drive the kids to someone's house and run from there.  He has gone on runs of up to 16 miles which is the furthest I have run. 

 You've seen pictures of him all grown up.  Here he is as a puppy.  So cute!

 The cat was bigger than he was when we brought him home!

 We have officially had him for a year now!  We almost lost him once when he got kicked in the head by a horse (hazards of country living) but he recovered and you can still feel a ridge in his head where the horse kicked him.  We thought he was a goner.  :(

Cola is a 5H stockdog. What is a 5H stock dog you ask? They are a working dog. Bred for working with sheepp or cattle.   

The 5 H's stand for herding, heeling, heeding, hardiness, and heading. Most of you are probably thinking WHAT?  If you want an explanation you can check it out HERE 5H stock dogs are roughly 50% Border Collie for the heeding, herding, and heeling traits; 25% Blue Heeler for heeling and hardiness traits; and 6% Bull Terrier for the hard-to-find heading trait as well as to add genes for a short, slick coat. The rest depends on the strengths of the particular strains of dogs used.    They are hard workers and can pretty much run all day.  They originated in Austrailia and my Aunt Linda and her husband started breeding them sometime in the early 1990's. 

They usually do not make good pets for people living in the city as they are so high energy and active.  If they get bored they start developing bad habits .  An 8 mile run is a walk in the park for my dog

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Border Collies have a very high need for exercise and can be expected to have high indoor activity. They are vigorous dogs that require good hard exercise on a regular basis. They make good watch dogs and poor guard dogs. They have a high learning rate and a very high obedience level.
—Country Journal, December 1987.

They are generally great with kids, although when the kids start running around the house like crazy I usually have to put Cola out as he gets to excited and wants to jump on them.  

Okay here is something I don't usually do.  I don't really enjoy cooking or baking even though I adore eating, but we had a Thanksgiving potluck at work yesterday and I made my requested Sweet Potato Casserole.  I made it last year and everyone loved it.  I get so many recipe requests for it.  My mom started making this for Thanksgiving years ago and it really is the best way to eat sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. 

I stole this picture from allrecipes.com because I never got a picture of mine. 

ingredients list
 

• 4 1/2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beaten

 Mix together and put into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  I like to mix in a little cinnamon too.

Ingredients for the topping

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped pecans

mix together the flour and brown sugar, cut in butter with a fork until crumbly, and pecans and sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.

 Put in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes and ENJOY!

Have you tried this kind of sweet potato recipe before?  What is your favorite way to eat them?