Missing Home on Australia Day

Today the 26th of January is Australia Day here in the USA (yesterday back in Australia) and it is a day that always makes Mom really miss home. We have a number of Australian songs that we love but the one that means to most to Mom is "I still call Australia home" written by Peter Allen and made even more famous when Qantas (the Australian Airline company) made it their logo song and in doing so also created the Qantas Children's Choir. This version of their song also includes the indigenous Aboriginal culture and language. We will be sharing a Vegemite sandwich with Mom and hoping she makes more Aussie treats today. Happy Australia Day.

Far far away.....in the realm of Blogville

Frankie and Ernie suggested we share a  secret about a far far away place.....in the realm of Blogville. It is a small hidden town by name of Dogville and it is the MOST wonderful place in the world because it is 100% pet friendly. All pets are welcome in every store, house and restaurant. There is a wonderful agility park, a dog park and lots of open spaces for pets to roam. Now special magic surround this town making sure pets can't stray from its bounds - keeping them forever safe. As you  look around you will see many familiar names as all of the buildings are named after buddies - some who have sadly left us to go over the rainbow bridge. For those of you new to our blog - Dogville was the creation of our Mom, she made everything you see, she made and hand painted all the buildings, made the tunnels and decorated it so it would perfect for us. Also check out the Smile box as it shows the building in more detail and remember to look closely - we doggies are everywhere :) Sssssshhhhh don't tell anyone but this is we where all go in our dreams.

This digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Letter to my boys

My two sweet boys
I have struggled with this letter - simply because I cannot find the words to describe how much I love and adore you both, how much you mean to me and how much I would be lost without you. You are my adventure buddies, my reason to get up each morning and start my day, my reason to go out and explore our world. When I am sad you are there with your soft brown eyes looking into my soul and warming me from the inside out - letting me know you understand and will wait for me to come back from that dark place. My greatest joy though - is watching you running and sniffing, seeing your tongues hanging out and the sparkle shining in your eyes. Your happiness is my happiness and I will do everything I can to always give you the best lives I possibly can.

Blue Skies - Smiling at Me

Never saw the sun shining so bright - Never saw things going so right

Noticing the days hurrying by - When you're in love, my how they fly

Blue skies, smiling at me - Nothing but blue skies do I see

What the dog???????

We got a surprise package in the mail yesterday - it traveled long and far - all the way from South Africa and came from our buddies Wallace and Samuel. Mom was of coarse in one of her silly moods (it happens a lot during winter) and tried telling us that there are many ways to wear the bandanas. First she tried the head scarf look - really Mom - this is so NOT us - we look like a pair of old washer women !!!  Then she tried the round the neck bib look  (she says it will stop us from getting treat crumbs in our fur) - well that is totally silly because we NEVER leave any crumbs. Then she went with the polite over the knees napkin look which we must say is our preferred choice given that we are nothing if not true gentlemen. Thank you Wallace and Samuel we love our bandanas :)

Mini Heat Wave

Wow weeeeeeeee - we had 71 degrees yesterday - it was totally pawsome

Can you believe it !!

We reached 65 degrees yesterday afternoon and that meant we all got to go the park - even Dad! Actually we went to both MY parks we were enjoying the weather so much. Of coarse it seemed like everyone else in our city was also at the park - we have never seen it so crowded. Needless to say everyone was stopping to say what beautiful boys we were and some even patted ME. Dweeb of coarse was convinced they were all zombies and thought the shrunken screaming ones at the playground were the worst of all  ......... he hid behind Mom's legs every time any of them came close.

Shake it off

Mom loves that new Taylor Swift song 'shake it off' and after a good goose chasing I thought I would bop along to the song and do my own bit of 'shake it off'  It is so nice to just ruffle the furs and let the cold air in ....... plus a little neck stretching this way and that sure helps gets those winter kinks out. You might need to biggify the pic to see me in action (just click on them)

The chase is afoot

We had a balmy 46 degrees today and Mom said those magic words - "Card Ride to the Park Boys" - oh my gosh - we bounced around, we woofed, we whined and we jumped into the car so fast we nearly flew right out the other side! It seemed to take like 87 hours to get to the park even though Mom said it was only 5 minutes - we were just so excited. We finally arrived and as Mom opened the car door I spotted those sneaky geese amongst the trees and it was on for one and all - I took off after them, nearly knocking Mom off her feet and barking loudly to tell them off - it is one thing when they are in the water (which I don't like) but to be amongst MY trees was just totally unacceptable. The best thing of all was watching the geese go SPLAT as they slipped and slid -  cause guess what - the lake is frozen barrwwwaaahhhhh.

Two minutes and lucky four

Did you know that now we have passed the winter equinox (the shortest day of the year) we are gaining two minutes of daylight each day and will continue to do so until we reach the summer equinox (the longest day of the year) - we can hardly wait because every two minutes that passes means we are two minutes closer to spring and adventures! We feel like we have been hibernating for the last few weeks and even Mom has been going a little stir crazy.

But things do still happen in our small world and yesterday we were lucky FOUR times. First we won a book from our buddy Dakota in a giveaway he had - thank you so much Dakota - we will enjoy reading it......then we won some treats for our buddies the GBGV's Emma, Bailey and Katie thank you so much ladies - we will really enjoy those. Third - Mom got a special treat - she received a little package from Australia - from Miss Tobi, Roxy, Dui and Bella - it had some of Mom favorite Aussie Chocolates in it and that made Mom super happy. Thank you so much Miss Tobi. And our fourth bit of luck was Mom took us to Petco for a sniff around and to get us out of the house and we found some of our favorite treats on special and Mom found these Christmas stuffies that were $7.99 on sale for $1.49. Now Mom doesn't normally buy stuffies anymore cause "The Shredder" (Denny) has them shredded and destuffed within minutes but seeing how they were cheap she thought they would keep his little gnashing toofers busy.

Wordless Wednesday

Black and White Sunday

Chewy.com Review - Purina Pro Plan Healthy Rewards Salmon

9th January 2015

Welcome to our first review of 2015. Today thanks to Chewy.com we are reviewing Purina Pro Plan Healthy Rewards Salmon

Here's the Basics

•  Purina Pro Plan Hearty Rewards are chewy and tasty, bite-sized treats your dog will love.
• 6 oz bag is normally $8.19 but it is currently on Sale at Chewy.com for $5.49

Key Benefits

• Made with real salmon
• No artificial flavors or colors
• Made in the USA!

Come on Mom - open the packet!

How come yours is bigger Reilly?

Taste Test

• Both Denny and I could barely wait for Mom to open the packet - and when she did our noses were twitching like crazy because if there is one thing we love is salmon.
• The treats are a soft crunchy type - kind of like the freeze dried treats we have tried in the past. There are all different sizes in the packet and they are easily broken but personally we like like the BIG pieces.

Ingredients

• Salmon, soy flour, wheat gluten, soy protein concentrate, glycerin, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, salt, animal digest, garlic powder, malted barley flour, natural flavor, sulfur, garlic oil

Cuddle Buns is Denny's nic-name

I am going in for seconds, thirds, fourths

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

• Not a one - we totally loved them. Mom also wanted to mention that they don't have a fishy smell which she liked a lot.

Rating

• Definitely a 8 paw rating (that is 4 paws from each of us)

• We also wanted to point out the Sticker that was on the package Ms Sydney sent us - how did she know that "Cuddle Buns" is the nickname Dad calls Denny?

Disclaimer : Chewy.com sent us a packet of  Purina Pro Plan Healthy Rewards Salmon 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.

Wordless Wednesday

Booty Call

We have noticed a weird big booty or butt trend this past year but really I think I win the booty call paws down cause I REALLY know how to shake my booties!  Trust me - those silly women have nothing on my technique!

Just look at that style, the flowing wind tossed hair, that elegant model stride - a subtle bounce in the step while maintaining a look as if I am floating on air. Yeah - I know how to strut my stuff along the runway - move on over all you booty queens - there's a new guy in town and he is going to put all your booties to shame !

Thinking ahead

We have been busy pondering what we will do this year - one thing is for sure - we are impatiently waiting for Spring to arrive so we can go adventuring again. We have been busy on the Yaptop checking out little hidden treasures in our area - we haven't found too many yet but we will  :)

Happy New Year One and All

We want to wish all our buddies and their peeps and wonderful, happy and safe coming year.

Shopping Around The World

We are joining Bacon and Fozzie in a Shopping Trip Around the World again

• Soup - It is that time of the year here in the States for soup – shivers.  What is your favorite can/container to buy and how much is it?  We don't eat a lot of soup in our house but Mom recently found two she likes to have with a grilled cheese sandwich - the first is Cambell's Tomato Bisque and the second is Cambell's Orange Tomato Harvest which is made from yellow tomato's (why they don't call it Yellow Tomato Harvest we don't know) Mom doesn't eat tomato's normally as the acid in them burns her mouth - but yellow tomato's are low in acid and she can have those. If Dad is feeling puny - he will always go for stock standard Chicken Noodle Soup

• Christmas Trees – Since it’s Christmas time, how much are real trees going for in your area? We don't buy real trees unless they in pots and still growing. YES - Mom is a tree hugger and it makes her so sad to see trees cut down and just thrown out a few weeks later.

• Cold Medicine – Tis the season to get sick :)  List what kind you normally keep on hand/price. Mom always reads all the ingredients on the packet and if she can find a generic brand that has the same things in it as the brand names do - that is what she will buy. Generic brands are between $6.99 and $8.99

• Hot Drink – During the cold season, what do you keep on hand for something hot – whether it’s coffee, tea, hot chocolate, hot toddy, etc.  Name what you have/price.  Mom use to be a obsessive tea drinker but because of her ulcer she has had to give it and now just drinks hot water. Every now again she will have a cup of hot Milo (which is a kind of chocolate drink but has vitamins and minerals in it) - Mom gets it from Australia and likes the Malt Milo the best. Dad doesn't drink any hot drinks at all

• Random Item of your choice. Growing up in Australia - Real Fruit cake at Christmas time is something Mom loves. She has a recipe her Mom used (it has over a pint of different alcohol in it and is made at the beginning of November - once a week it is brushed all over with brandy or rum. It costs about $30.00 (mainly the cost of the alcohol) to make but is a huge cake. It will keep for up to a year and is awesome!

Winner winner cookie dinner

We finally got to try our Christmas Cookies yesterday and they were so yummy - Thanks Ms Deb and her Furbabies for sending them to us. Mom was being mean though and made us share one instead of giving us a whole one each all because SHE said they would last longer than way.

Our final card count was 

Us - 83 cards (we were in 2 card exchange groups this year), 17 e-cards and 2 presents - Peeps 4 cards and 2 presents

We are pretty sure we deserve a whole cookie each for winning the card count.

The Day After Christmas

First - we want to thank our Christmas present swap buddies Shilo and Shasta for the pawsome gifties they sent us - there was tuggy toy for me, squeaky balls for the Dweeb and Venison treats for me both of us. Thank you so much - those were the pawfect gifts for us and we sure hope you liked what we sent you.

Our day was really quiet - Just Mom and Dad and us. The sun actually came out and even though it was still chilly we went for a nice long walk at MY park then we watched some Christmas movies and shared lots of cuddles. We hope you had a wonderful day too.