Saturday Stroll

In between all the rain showers we headed out to the park this morning. Mom hasn't been feeling well all week so we have only been taking little strolls.

Raining raining - growing growing

We have had a couple of days rain so no park time but it is sure making our garden grow. I thought we would share some of what is growing seeing how there no picture of handsome and debonaire ME!  (okay Mom found a pic of ME and the Dweeb to add in - we didn't want you forgetting what we look like :)  Now Mom just has a little veggie patch but she is quite proud of it. This year she planted cabbages, (english and savoy) potatoes, onions and arugula (dads favorite) - oh there is a strawberry growing too - it came up all by itself from last year. The tomato's are in pots this year and although they are growing well we just have one single tomato at the moment and it growing huge. Our apple trees are growing and filling out and we have apples on one. The blueberries are also growing like crazy and we have lots of blue berries on them.

1 handsome dog on a log plus a dweeb :)

Gold Delicious Apples

Blueberries

English Cabbage

Savoy Cabbage

Beef Steak Tomato

Mine Mine Mine !!!!

A few weeks back Oz The Terrier had a competition and I won ! Yes me - mine..... all MINE!  MY prize was these wonderful all USA made and sourced treats from Clear Conscience Pet. 

Dog oh dog there was Beef Tracheys with a flavor burst of Organic Flax and Super Veggies. Some Bison and Beef Liver Bark also optimized with Super Veggies and some Beef and Cheddar Sliders (jerky sticks) Can you say "ONE HAPPY ME".

And then the Mom had to go spoil MY happy moment by saying I HAVE to share with the Dweeb!  NO I DON'T MOM - yes you do Reilly -  NO I DON'T MOM - yes you do Reilly - NO I DON'T MOM - yes you do Reilly - this went on and on until Mom said something even WORSE !  She said if I didn't share she wouldn't take me to MY park - that is so unfair!  I finally HAD to give in and say okay - Dweeb could have ONE of the jerky sticks.

With the latest scare regarding treats AGAIN - it is nice to know there are treats you can buy that you don't have to worry about  so here is some information on Clear Conscience Pet

Our story: Clear Conscience Pet® was founded in 2010 to create holistically formulated, cleanly sourced, and artisan prepared nutritional products for dogs and cats. The company is family-owned and was started by two pioneers of the natural pet food movement with over twenty years of experience in the field. Their dream and vision was to follow a philosophy of uncompromising quality, ethics, and dedication to animals to go far beyond the products of the past and reinvent in all categories to set a new standard for the future.

What we make: Clear Conscience creates delicious and healthy natural and holistic pet treats, natural dog chews, and organic grain free dog biscuits, as well as nutrient and taste enhancing pet food toppers. The company has developed and owns the following brands:

• SLIDERS® brand “holistic pub” snacks for dogs
• SuperGravy® pet food toppers: Holistic Instant dry pet gravy mixes
• OSV™  Omega + SuperVeggie Enhanced Treats and Chews
• Cruncherz™ Organic Grain-free and gluten-free biscuits

Our Pledge:

• ALL NATURAL: No artifical preservatives, flavors, colors, synthetic supplements or GMO ingredients
• MADE IN THE USA with pride at the artisan level of excellence & quality
• WE SUPPORT sustainable farming, humane livestock husbandry and fair trade practices
• 100% GUARANTEED to naturally delight your animal companions

Shopping around the world

Bacon and Fozzie have asked us all again to do a shopping trip around the world. The items this month are :

• Price of internet for one month. - WAY to much!!!! Our  Cable High Speed Internet is $60
• A pint of Ben & Jerry’s.  If you don’t have Ben & Jerry’s, post what you do have. $3.99 - We prefer Breyers  Gelato and that is $4.49
• A six pack of Coca Cola. - Can you buy 6 packs??? We don't drink cola at out house but we checked and we could only find 12 packs of cans - $4.99 or a generic brand is $2.78. Mom buys a single bottle of sprite or cream soda for when she makes apples and they cost $1.70 at the gas station.
• Coffee.  Whatever brand you buy, just be sure to list the brand and size. No coffee drinkers in our house  
• A regular sized Snickers candy bar. - 79 cents 
• Grooming.  :) Most of us anipals get groomed.  How much does it normally cost you to go to the spa? FREE - Mom does it at home - she doesn't trust groomers after they cut my fur the one and ONLY time she ever took me! She checked at our local Petco and they said bath and brush and dry is $45.99

The Mating March

We had a strange ride to the park this morning - the Mom was swerving and weaving all over the road - WTD we were thinking........did she have to much rum and raisin ice-cream last night!   Thankfully there wasn't any other traffic at the time and twice she even stopped, jumped out of the car  - picked up rocks off the road and gently laid them in the grass on the side. SERIOUSLY - we were beginning to think she had gone bonkers! 

When we finally got to MY park and started our walk - we found more strange things -  walking rocks  YES walking rocks on the path 'what the dog!!!!!' We sniffed at them but didn't find them very interesting and then Mom explained it it 'tortoise time' when all the tortoises that live in our area start marching around looking for a mate. The last couple of years we have even found them in MY back yard. This guy had a really pale colored shell - most of the time they are much darker.  Hey Easy - we wonder if this guy is a cousin of Hel-Mut?

Chewy.Com - Halo Wild Salmon Protein Treats Review

26th May 2014

Today thanks to Chewy.com we are  reviewing Halo's Liv-A-Little  100% Wild Salmon Protein Treats. Halo make a number of excellent treats and you can see them all HERE - Halo Treats  at  Chewy.com.  Did you know that Halo is co-owned by Ellen DeGeneres and is based on holistic principles of dog care?









Here Are The Basics

• Can be crumbled over food at mealtime
• Suitable for cats and dogs
• Grain-free
• Made from 100% wild-caught salmon
• No other ingredients
• Cost -$7.29 for a 1.6 oz jar
• Company website : http://www.halopets.com/ 
• They are made in the USA
• Available from - Chewy.com

Taste Test

• Can you say TOTALLY YUM!

Positives

• Made in the USA
• Small size and easy to break or crumble
• Is for both cats and dogs
• Just 1 single ingredient - salmon
• Doesn't smell fishy!

Negatives - Kind of - Sort of - Maybe - Not Really

• For us - not a one - we totally loved these little morsels!
• For Mom - she had a heck of time getting the jar open and ended up having to use pliers to pry the safety plastic off and smashed a fingernail in the the process - she was not happy!

Rating

• No doubt about it - we give them all of 8 paws!
  

Disclaimer : Chewy.com sent us a packet of the Halo's Liv-A-Little  100% Wild Salmon Protein Treats in return for an honest review. We were not paid or compensated for our review in any other way and our opinion is purely our own.

Sunday Snippetts #4 - Our Week In Review

Snippet 1 - Our mention of the snakes on Monday at the lake beach had many of you shivering - now we have been there many times before and never seen a single one.....but this spring so far we have seen 5 - so we are thinking it is just all the wet weather and it being slow to warm up that is bringing them out. It isn't normal that we see so many. Luckily Mom isn't scared of them (when she was a pet care manager she handled them every day while cleaning out their tanks)  but - but she also doesn't like them much and knows it is best to just leave them alone and give them their space.

Some of you also asked where the water goes when they drain and lake and why they drain it. The water is drained back to the bigger lake that it came from originally and the reason they drain it each year is to limit the amount of fish, turtles and birds that could use it. The lake is closely monitored through the summer season for bacteria levels and such - last year it was actually closed for 5 weeks when one one pair of Canada geese took over it and raised 4 babies there - just that one pair sent the bacteria levels sky rocketing and it had to be treated with all kinds of chemicals to bring it back down to safe for humans level (the geese were moved to the bigger lake once the babies were big enough).

Snippet 2 - On Tuesday we were asked why the alpaca was shaved - they have their wool cut off every year otherwise they would overheat during summer. There use to be 2 alpacas in the field but last year the mate died. This little girl is actually full grown - not a baby - she is actually miniature alpacas - in fact all the animals on the farm are, they also have miniature sheep, goats and cattle - we will try to get pics of them this week.

Snippet 3 - I saw many of you noticed the Dweeb photo bombing my happy smile pics - revenge is sweet I say !

Snippet 4 - Bacon and Fozzie are hosting another "shopping around the world" this Wednesday the 28th - so get your shopping pad and head to the store to find out the prices where you live.  Here is your list :

• Price of internet for one month.
• A pint of Ben & Jerry’s.  If you don’t have Ben & Jerry’s -  post what you do have.
• A six pack of Coca Cola.
• Coffee.  Whatever brand you buy, just be sure to list the brand and size.
• A regular sized Snickers candy bar.
• Grooming.  :) Most of us anipals get groomed.  How much does it normally cost you to go to the spa?

Here the link to Bacon's Page http://piglove.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/shopping-around-the-world-dont-forget/ 

Snippet 5 - Our dear buddy Goose is VERY sick - please use the POTP to wish him well and visit his Mom and leave a few comforting words. http://gospelofgoose.blogspot.com/

The Squirrel Scurry

The Dweeb has JUST discovered the joys of squirrel chasing although in his case we call the 'squirrel scurrying'. It is a longish video but grab a cuppa, sit and relax and enjoy as we wander through MY park and hear the early morning birds.

Sweetly Scented Stroll

We wish we had smell-a-vision on our blog and could share how amazing our walk was this morning - at least that is what Mom says. There is honeysuckle growing wild EVERYWHERE in MY park and when we went this morning the sun was just warming it up the perfume was almost over powering. Mom said she felt she was  walking on a cloud of perfume!  If you can click on the pictures you can see them bigger and see how it is all over the place. Now personally we were much more interested in the pee mail and all those darn squirrels we could hear but couldn't see. It is also wild flower time too.















Here are some close ups - the first one is the honeysuckle - Mom doesn't know the names of the other but they are sure pretty. And those daisys - they are tiny - only about a quarter of an inch.

The Push Me - Pull You

If you are REALLY old like my Mom - you may remember the original Doctor Doolittle movie with Rex Harrison. Mom remembers it because it was the first EVER movie she saw at a movie theater and she was 7 years old (we think she is fibbin cause we are pretty sure they didn't even had movies back then -  and that she spent her childhood watching the dinosaurs wander by !!!)

Anyway - one of the things she loved in the movie was the "Push Me - Pull You" and when she saw these pics of us - it suddenly popped back in from the most ancient part of her memory. Now admittedly we have the same shaggy long fur but I think that is where the resemblance ends. After all -  at one end of this duo is a suave handsome super intelligent  dog and at the other - is well a Dweeb and yes - it is the one with the brown head that is the Dweeb !!!!!!

Got my happy face on

Now I know most of think I am the serious sometimes grumpy old BIG dog - and you right - I am - but every now and again I feel a strange playful happy urge hit. (Personally I think Mom slips something into my food!!!)  I will (gasp - shock - horror) even play with a ball sometimes! Usually I do it just to annoy the dweeb who is ball crazy - dog oh dog - he gets soooooo annoyed when I catch the ball before him baaawwaahhhhh. 

Of coarse this extreme burst of energy only ever last 12.5 seconds  and then I am done, kaput, wiped out and spend the rest of day snoozing and thinking what a weird dream I had about actually playing !

Mom says it wasn't a dream and that she has photo proof to back up her claim - but can you say photoshop!  - there is no way that can be ME looking all happy and actually playing can it?

Farmers Market Funnies

Mom and I went to the famers Market (she didn't get any pics because she couldn't juggle the camera, a lead (on which I wasn't tugging !!!)  and a bag full of goodies all at once - (useless women). You can see where it was in the background of the donkey photo. After the shopping we went over the road to the ASU (Arkansas State University) small animals farm to check out the Alpaca and miniature donkeys. We had a good chuckle watching Mr Alpaca who has recently been sheered ...he was an itchin' and a scratchin' and looked so funny!  And if you thought those donkey were up to something naughty - your were right - Mom couldn't show the next photos !!!

It's beach time (if you are brave enough)

Now we don't have a REAL beach near us - but every year they make a pretend one at one of MY parks. It begins with them turning on the wishing well waterfall (this actually floods the lake that is empty over winter and fills it up) Here I am at the top of the wishing well and then the steps lead down to the lake below. We followed the path all the way around the lake stopping at the theater in the park - but nothing was on - we were hoping to hear a "dog day afternoon" but alas there was only bullfrogs and birds playing and they got pretty boring after 2.2 seconds!














And here is the before and after pics taken of the lake can you believe they empty it and fill it up EVERY year! The water comes from another much bigger lake that is nearby. They also put down new sand each year. The little bridge we are sitting on is the overflow for the lake.  Mom always thinks it is  kind of funny to go swimming here with the fishies and turtles. What is kind of scary is we saw 3 snakes in the water today too and one big old brown one about 6 feet long just sunning himself on the grass. Mom made us stay on the path after that !  It makes Mom chuckle - people always ask her about ALL the snakes in Australia but she has seen more since living in the USA then she ever did in the 40 years back home!

Sunday Snippets #3

Snippet #1 -  Many of you asked how the patch of iris came to be in MY park. MY park has been around since 1937 and is 697 acres in size but before that there were some farmhouses and building there. Every now again we come across the remains of some of the old buildings - just the floors as the all the buildings were removed. Now some of these houses originally had gardens  - which is how with think this  patch of iris's came into being. Over time it has got bigger and bigger and they just seem to thrive where they are.

Snippet #2 - Mom is still pondering over how the hang the finished rug on the wall but in the meantime she put it on the floor in an area we don't use - but some doggie has decided he REALLY likes to lay on it. Mom decided she would start another rug - but this one is much smaller and is going to be a front door mat. Mom is going to use the same colors as the Goanna rug (because she still has some of the wool left over) but it is going to have different creatures on it.

Snippet #3 - Our persistence finally paid off - all those hellos encouraged a young couple who were fishing  to chat with us and they even gave ME and ear scratch and a back rub. Oh coarse I was tempted to nip the guy when he called me "a Lassie dog" and told me what a 'pretty girl" I was!!!!.  Mom quickly explained I wasn't a collie or a girl - it was a good thing he was nice otherwise I would have had to take matters into my own paws!  I really liked the lady though as she kept telling me what a handsome boy I was :) Dweeb of coarse hid behind Mom the whole time and wouldn't let them anywhere near him.

Take my paw and come walk with me

Well not really - cause I would fall over if you held my paw....but come along as we take you on MY boardwalk in MY little park. We start off on the lower deck and as you see this is just above the lake. It slowly gets higher and higher until your reach the visitors center.













Then you go up all these steps and you are up in the tree tops. The boardwalk is actually built on a steep slope so on one side the ground is few feet below and on the other side is the lake. Mom says it is really more like a swamp then a lake as the trees and shrubs are all growing in the water. Bawwwaaaahhh she says some days it really smells like a swamp too - sheer perfume to me - much better then that forest smell SHE likes.













Once you are up on the boardwalk there are little lookout areas where you can stop and admire the view. They also have these display things with buttons on you can press and you can hear all the different birds, frogs and other critters calls. Of coarse Dweeb was terrified of the noises and pulled Mom away before she got any pics! So there you have it - you can let go of my paw now :) :)