Jaffles & Pip and Puddles Appreciation Day

Jaffles or Toasties as Aussies call them are basically just grilled pie type sandwich. They were first developed to use while out camping and Aussies often fill them with Baked Beans, Spaghetti, Savory Ground Beef, Ham & Cheese, - basically what ever you want to put in them.  (They make the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches!!!) Of coarse these days you can get ones for the kitchen and they are often called Sandwich Makers. It is important to get a good quality one - one that has heavy metal plates so that you get that really crunchy crust when you cook your jaffle.



We have the Krups one for our kitchen  - although Mom prefers the outdoors ones the best (those also work if you are lucky enough to have a gas cooker). She also prefers the ones that don't cut in the middle of the jaffle  - but we couldn't find one when we bought ours a few years back (it lets you put more filling in a whole one) There is an advantage to the half ones though - you can make a half sandwich if you are not very hungry.

Below is a selection of Jaffle Irons - they come in round and square and some even leave cool patterns on the bread. The other picture shows how they are placed in the fire to cook. So there you go and now we are off to help Mom eat her Jaffle!  We take our jobs as official food tasters very seriously. Happy Jaffling everyone ! PS - if anyone is interested - they sell the Jaffle Irons and Jaffles for kitchens over on Amazon.






And today is Pip and Puddles Appreciation Day - Well deserved as these two have bought so much happiness to all of us and have made us smile endlessly. In honor of Pip and Puddles we took over the RoadKill Cafe today and made a Jaffle named after them - The P&P Cheetos Cheeseburger Jaffle - we are taking orders now. Pip and Puddles have taste tested hundreds (someone had to do it they said) until we got the perfect recipe.

Tastes From Abroad

One of the advantages of having multicultural parents is you get to sample foods from different places in the world. Mom has been suffering with a bit of 'missing home' (Australia) this week and when ever she misses home - she cooks things that remind her of home. Monday she made Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding, Tuesday was Meat Pie Jaffles and Wednesday was Aussie Scones with Strawberry Jam and REAL whipped cream (not that can stuff) She even let us have a little sample and dog oh dog they were good. Oh - we must point out that Aussie scones are big light and fluffy - not like American scones which Mom says are called Rock Cakes anywhere else in the world and are best used as hockey pucks rather than eaten!

Dweeb had to be all "delicate" about his - gently licking off the cream first and then the jam and then finally nibbling the scone - seriously !!!! what a wuz!  Me - I went for the direct method - whole thing in the mouth slobber slobber drool drool and it was gone.  Now we bet some of you are wondering what a 'jaffle' is - we know our Aussies buddies will know - but can you guess?

Let's Keep Going Boyo's

Following on from yesterday - we traveled down the road a few more miles and came to Crowley Ridge State Park. Now this is MY kind of park, it has lots of fun places to explore, paths going off in all direction and some odd things you don't expect to find in a park - like a beach and an open air amphitheater!

First thing to do was go up the steps "Come-on Dweeb - you are slowing me down" We walked a little and then came down some different steps and then followed this cool boardwalk. So nice of them to put this in just for me..... so my feet don't get muddy.  "Hey Mom - remember to leave them a thank you note in their suggestion box when we leave and don't forget to tell them about the need for cookie dispensers every 100 feet"

Next we came across this little arch drainage  'thingy' that Mom seem fascinated about - personally I can't see anything of interest about it but she mumbled something about how clever the rock work was and that it reminded her of the bridges in Tasmania.  WHAT EVER Mom!

Next in the middle of a big stand of trees we came across all these seats and I am pretty sure I could smell the remnants of picnics and barbeque there. Mom said it was called an amphitheater and it is where they hold open air concerts on warm summer nights - we wonder how they could hear anything with all the endless buzzing. (No not the cicadas - but from the one foot long blood sucking mosquito's that Arkansas is so famous for!)

And finally the beach - well who drank all the darn water!!!!  Yes folks - they have a swimming beach at MY park - each summer they fill it up with water and drain it during winter so they can lay nice fresh sand down. As you can see - they have been busy doing this. So there you have it- what an adventure we had and now it's time for a good long nap.

Comeon Boyo's

Two sweeter words we never tire of hearing - cause it means we are going 'somewhere'.  Here we were enjoying a nap when out of the blue Mom says the magic words - we jumped up so fast we were just a blur of white fur.  But Mom didn't take us MY ordinary park - NOOOOOO we went to two newly claimed MY parks. Our first stop was Lake Frierson State Park. We had the WHOLE place to ourselves apart from some maintenance guy blowing leaves around with some machine that terrified the Dweeb - not that it takes much to terrify that dude! Mom of coarse took a gazzillion photo's but we will just share some of them today and some tomorrow.

MY new park has a man made lake and we must say they have done a nice job. We like the way they have edged it with rocks and they provided us with some excellent sniffing - even the Dweeb took a few sniffs here and there. Mom said she loved the way they had put benches around the lake edge - she enjoyed just sitting there watch the world go by. We checked out the dock where peeps can go fishing and we saw this strange net thing - we think it is a shrunken human catcher - to keep those pesky little critters out of MY park - way to go!

And look MY lake has some paddle boats. I must admit I wasn't to sure about this as the dock moved when we walked on it (mom says it's a floating dock) and it made loud creaking noises too. I was brave Reilly though and walked on it anyway and anywhere I go - the Dweeb has to follow so even though he didn't like at all - he still walked on it. Come back tomorrow and see what we found at MY other new park!

The Pig 'N' Whistle English Pub

We decided to go on an adventure this weekend after hearing about an English Pub. (The Mom is always craving English/Australian food) so off we went. It is called the Pig 'n' Whistle Pub and is in Hardy, Arkansas. It's about an hour and half from where we live and we had  a really nice drive through the Ozarks to reach it. Hardy is a small town with a resident population of about 800 but it is on the Spring River so during summer is a very popular holiday place. Many people have holiday homes built along the river. For the rest of the year though it is pretty much deserted.  The couple who opened the pub are Phillip & Rebecca Ashcroft - he is English and she is originally from Hardy but they met while they both worked on a Disney Cruise Ship. Phillip told Mom he had also lived in Sydney for a year and he LOVED it there.

Mom and Dad had lunch there - Dad had 'Bangers and Mash' (a type of English breakfast sausage) and Mom had a 'Cornish Pasty'. Mom ate quite of bit of Dad's 'bangers' too !  Can you believe they didn't save us any! Mom was super super happy too as they sell some British 'stuff' at the pub and she was able to get a new "brown betty teapot" (dad broke the handle on her old one). And see the little Mini - that is always parked in front of the pub - it a 1977 mini - made in England and then sold in New Zealand. It came to the USA in 2000 and was converted to left hand drive. 

After lunch we went and looked around all the antique trash/treasure stores (there are a lot of them in Hardy although they are only open during spring, summer and fall). Mom was hoping they might find some train stuff - only one store had some and sadly it was the wrong scale but she did find one thing for the Dad - we will show it later in the week. Hope you all had a great weekend too.

Choo Choo - Chuff Chuff

We have added a couple of new things to Dogville - Remember you can click on the photos to see them bigger. Oh someone asked what scale our train is - it is HO which mean everything is at a ratio of 1:87. We have no idea what that means - we just know it is small :)

The first item is Eva's Pampered Pooch Spa and Salon - named after Miss Eva - The Sheltie Princess. Can you see her sitting by the door waiting to show you in?  Next we have this little bookstore which we named in honor of Remmington - he too is waiting to show you in. We know he loved books and he crossed the rainbow bridge just a few days back which was very sad as he was only 4 years old. We hear they have a pawsome library over the bridge.

















Next we have a new truck for Dad - Nesquik is a Nestle Product and he works for Nestle - so when Mom saw it she had to get it. We also have the Nestle Freight Car and The Gerber Frieght Car (Gerber is also owned by Nestle)










We now have a school house - Mom says we need to be educated doggies - NO WAY are we going to school - it is full of Shrunken Hoomans and we ALL know how scary they are! We did find this cute little play set to add to the school ground though, there are swings, a slide, a see-saw and a round-a-bout.

Shrunken Hoomans, Goose Imposter and Invisible Monsters.

We are having the most wonderful day - a nice 60 degrees, clear blue skies, bright sunshine - perfect for my prescribed walkies. We headed off down to the other end of the lake today - you can see in the background the RV's - can you believe that - they allow camping at MY park!  People LIVING in MY park - it is an outrage I tell you!  It is bad enough I have to chase the pesky ducks and geese away and the occasional C.A.T - but now I have to herd people out of MY park (Mom's don't count).














Here are the dweeb and I checking out the dock - I swear that boy needs to have his nose checked - he never sniffs at anything while we are out walking. He just spends all his time looking over his shoulder to make sure there are no shrunken hoomans around or any big ones comes to that.

I wonder sometimes if he thinks there are invisible monsters following us. We did hear rumors a while ago there might be something other then fish and turtles living in the lake. There was even a rumor about it being seen in the background of  a photo someone took of their two doggies.

Now see that way across the other side of the lake - that is the Home of the Shrunken Hoomans - to be AVOIDED at all costs.  Thankfully they were out eating and devouring Ogres today.

Heaven only knows what the shrunken hoomans would do to a pair of cute doggies such as us - use  us a toothpicks I am thinking!

On our way back to the car we cut through the RV area and we got the biggest surprise - GOOSE - GOOSE - is that you buddy - have you come to save our sticks???  Nice ride you got there dude!

But then - can you believe it - Goose got all agro and started barking at us - not a nice -"glad to see you guys" bark but  a "come any closer and I will rip your heads off" bark. I barked back at him "Hey Dude - there are enough sticks for EVERY DOGGIE here!" He didn't seem impressed.

Mom said "No Boys - that is NOT Goose - let's skadaddle out of here - he doesn't seem very happy to see us"  Hmmm it sure looked like Goose - are you sure it is not him Mom? Mom said "I am CERTAIN that is not him boys - he would never behave like that". I am pleased to say we got safely back to the car with no Shrunken Hoomans, Goose Imposters or Invisible Monsters getting us.

Warm Fuzzies Wednesday

Ahhhhh.....what could be better. A big soft bed, a nice bit of laser therapy, the release of some happy making endorphins and my dogtor prescribed walkies. Life is good !

Note From Mom - The laser treatment is really helping the Big Dog - he is now able to get up much more easily and just looks so much happier. He still has a bit of a wobble when he walks and is still a bit stiff when he gets up from a long nap but overall he is doing so much better. He LOVES has his treatment and just chills out while it is being done :)

Red Dog

This weekend we watched a movie with Mom and Dad called Red Dog - it is based on a true story and it is funny, sad and just simply heart warming. Now this is an Australian movie so it has some weird Aussie humor in it - so be prepared for that. The movie is based around the 1980's era and is filmed in the West Australia Pilbra region which is a big mining area. It basically tells the story of Red Dog and the one person he truly loves beyond all things.

It is available on Netflix and Amazon and we would highly recommend it - we give it 4 paws up!  Mom says you might need a box of tissue handy though as the ending is a bit sad and happy at the same time. Oh check out Red Cat too - he would even give Allred a run his money!!!

You can check out the movie trailer here http://www.reddogmovie.com/

Musing On Monday #11

After I had my laser treatment on my back this morning my dogtor told Mom to take me for a little walk just to stretch the muscles - wow oh wow - the dogtor PRESCRIBED a walkie - how cool is that and there is NO WAY Mom could ignore the dogtors orders!!!  So Mom drove to the park after our visit and the first thing we noticed is how high the water level is in the lake - in fact is was overflowing! This is the new spillway they built last year and it seem to be doing its job quite nicely. I must admit I was loving the cold wind blowing across the lake - the Mom not so much.













Next we headed up through the little play ground area and thankfully there was none of those screaming loud shrunken hoomans there (actually there is never is when we visit although sometimes we hear them from across the lake where the BIG playground is). The Dweeb in particular doesn't seem to sure about the shrunken hoomans - he thinks they are very strange and noisy.

Sunny Days - chasing the clouds away

Even though it is only 29 degrees outside which is quite cold - (although the perfect temperature for us) the sun is shining brightly so I thought I would do a little sun puddling. Mom says getting some sun is good for me.  I am still a bit limpy and sore but better than I was yesterday and it is not quite such a struggle to get my rear end to move now.

Now of coarse this also means I haven't been able to play with the Dweeb and needless to say he is getting bored. Not only have ALL the toys made their way outside - this morning Mom found her hairbrush, a pen, the TV remote and a pair of Dad's socks outside too - I wonder how they got there?  Mom says we have a kleptomaniac living in our house - we never see him doing anything and yet all these things end up outside - in I might add the infamous "Denny Spot"

Follow Up Ouchie

Remember last Saturday Mom and Dad rushed me off to the Dogtor VET when I couldn't put my back right leg down on the floor and was hobbling around on 3 leggies. Well  - it took a couple of days and I was able to walk on it again but Mom being the ever vigilant (worry wort) she is ....noticed "something" still wasn't right. I still sort of favored that leggie but she also noticed I have been having trouble getting up  - my rear end doesn't seem to want to support me. She said I a funny gait too - what ever that means!

Mom also noticed I have hardly been moving the last two days - no racing out to tell that EVIL dog that lives behind us off - no racing to my dinner dish at night time, I didn't even get up or get all excited when she said the MAGIC word  "walkies" and that did it - Mom KNEW something was just not right ...so off we went to the dogtor again this morning.

We got to see MY dogtor - Dr W this morning and he gave me a good going over and noticed straight away that my back is ouchie. When he pressed lightly on my spine in one certain spot - my  leggies collapsed and I went down on the floor - very undignified and embarrassing I might add!!!! He doesn't think there is any disks out but he says there is a lot of muscel swelling and the muscels went into spasms after he pressed it.

He has given me some tablets and a shot of prednisone and I also had this really neat "cold laser treatment" - dog oh dog did that feel good. I got to lay on a big softie bed while they worked on me and it causes the body to release endorphins which made me feel sooooooo good. Mom noticed how my ears perked up and I didn't look so sad after it. I have to rest now for a few days and I am going to have 6 more treatments of the laser over the next 3 weeks. Monday I am going to have an X-ray of my spine just to make sure there is nothing else going on - there was too much swelling to do it today. 

It came ! (For Ricky)

Remember when Denny found Mom that cute little agility set for OUR Model train layout - well it came and even though Mom has been suffering with the sickies - she worked on it all day yesterday to get it in place and we have named it after our little agility buddy RICKY.

Ricky had a bit of a break from his agility but is now back practicing and having so much fun - so it was perfect to name it after him. And check out Ricky's little cafe with all the seating and the outside fireplace for the peeps on the cold days.

Remember you can click on the photos to see them bigger. Now what you may not know is Mom puts all the models together herself - with ME dogervising of coarse - YES they actually come in pieces so she puts in all the windows and doors, puts the walls and roofs together and paints them all. In this little agility set Mom had to even build the little tables, she hand painted all the little people and had to put together all the pieces in the agility set. Getting all the little sticks straight on the little weave poles was the hardest.  The set  actually came with a picket fence but I decided a hedge would be better  - that way we wouldn't be bothered by things happening in the street if we couldn't see them!   And don't worry Ricky - you will soon be playing in your agility place - Mom just found a little miniature sheltie that looks just like him :)