Carmelized sauerkraut and other disasters

Cold and dreary again--and Silbey did not go to his new home. A glitch in planning--he'll go tomorrow. But every time I looked at him today, those huge brown eyes seemed to say, "You said you loved me, and nowyou're sending me away."  Meanwhile Scooby is confined to the house, which always leads to "accidents." I'm careful about food, but I'm afraid they'll get into a territorial fight over Scooby's doghouse which Silbey has taken over. 
Jacob arrived in a funk, the kind he gets into if he's rudely awakened from a late afternoon sleep. It takes him about an hour to get his personality back, in which time he skipped dinner and went right to dessert. My own fault: when he was devastated that his parents were leaving, I told him life is uncertain and sometimes a fellow should he dessert first. He took me up on it, but he didn't miss much with supper. I cooked a chicken sausage from Central Market--way dry, though it may be okay with mayo tomorrow for lunch. Canned corn--how can you go wrong with that. Home fries--a few got too burned but they were mostly good. But the great experiment went awry.
Years (and years) ago my brother's first wife used to carmelize sauerkraut. I can still see her standing at the stove, patiently stirring and shaking sugar over it. John and I have talked about  it and agreed it can't be that hard. Tonight, with a sausage and potato dinner I decided to try it--failure! I guess I didn't use enough sugar because it wasn't sweet, and it was sort of stiff, as though it had been fried--not soft like I remember it. Too high a heat? The web was no help--most recipes that came up on search called for sauerkraut with carmelized onions. Maybe it's John's turn to try.
Jacob is now climbing all over my desk, laughing at his own cleverness--a completely recovered child.