Nearly Wordless Wednesday 15/8

You know, I really am quite sleepy.......

I'll just close my eyes for five minutes.......

zzzzzzzzzz.....................

Baking with Declan

Hello everyone, it's lovely to be back! I've been keeping up with the Olympic events, but not much else, so let me know if I've missed any major happenings!

I thought that lots of my doggy pals (and possibly even putty tats) might like to try a  recipe I've come up with whilst on my short sabbatical... I've called it Fishy Fudge Cake.

To make it, you will need the following ingredients:

185g tin of tuna in brine (do not drain)

2 eggs

Flour - either wholemeal, or gluten and wheat  free depending on any allergy issues

Porridge oats

Water

2 tsp dried parsley

Put the tuna, eggs and parsley in a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand-held electric mixer. 

We're not quite sure about the exact amounts of oats and flour (well done Mum....) but suggest adding a tablespoon of each and mixing. Keep adding in equal quantities until you have a thickish cake-like batter. Add a little water to thin if necessary.

Ooooh I could eat it right now......!

Heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade

Grease and line a cake tin - we used a 7 1/2" x 1 1/4" sandwich tin, but anything similar will do. 

Place the mixture in the cake tin and place in the oven for about 35 minutes

Gordon Ramsay would have a fit but it's too good to waste..hehe!

Hurry up and get it out of the tin Mum.....

Fishy Fudge Cake.....drool drool....

STOP teasing me Mum!

LET GO damn you!

Fine. I'll just eat your fingers as well...nom nom nom nom.......

Here are some additional ideas you might want to try out:

• Use sardines in oil, brine or tomato sauce instead of tuna.
• If your Mum or Dad has a strong stomach, use fresh liver, finely chopped in a food processor....!
• Add a tablesoon of cod liver oil to the batter
• If you like your treats really smelly add some freshly grated garlic!
• Use rice flour instead. This is good for those with wheat / gluten allergies and tends to give a crunchier texture. 

Tuneful Farting 2012

Welcome everyone to the Blogville Olympics 2012

 Tuneful Farting Event !! 

Tuneful Farting is a noble and ancient art, originally practised by greyhounds and their ancestors. Our breed can be traced back to 6000BC - so you see we have had a LOT of time to practice. By the 10th century we were (quite rightly) considered the dog of kings and nobility. In fact in Wales at that time, the killing of a Greyhound was punishable by death. I knew there was a good reason for going there for my holidays.....but I digress..

We worked with our masters to hunt stag and hare.(Not that I approve of that sort of thing, but try finding a Tescos 1000 years ago...) We are sighthounds so once we spotted our prey we needed to alert the huntsmen. Some breeds of dog barked to do this, but not us greyhounds; we FARTED! And not just any fart; there was a a plethera of different toots used to advise our humans. PHHAARRPP! meant "stag ahead and to the left". SHURRRUUMP! meant "hare under bush two trees hence"  So you can see how we learnt to be so prolific and tuneful, and thus the sport of Tuneful Farting was born.

Here is a picture of my ancestor, Windy Britches De Percy. He is the black dog letting on rip at the rear of the picture.

Tuneful Farting is divided into two heats (and boy, were some of them hot....!) So make sure to watch the two videos below.....

Tuneful Farting (Heat 1)

Well done to all our wonderful atheletes:

Bridget - Dip Dip And The Bridge

Beechnut & Sarge - Sarge Speaks Out

Corbin - Oh, Corbin

Daisy, Roxy & Bella - Downunder Daisy

Brinksey Winksey Pudding Pie - Kissa-Bull

Jake & Baby - MadSnapper
Maggy & Zoey - Zooaltry
Mayzie - Mayzie's Dog Blog
Molly - Molly The Wally
Roo - Roo's Doins

Rubie - Rubie A Miniature Schnauzer
Mesa - Dog Is God In Reverse - My Life With Dogs
Nina & Yenna - Bird Brains & Dog Tales
Lassiter Chase & Benjamin - Lassiter Chase And Benjamin The Shelties
Sasha - Silly Sasha The Lovable Shih Tzu
Tess - The George And Tess Adventures





Tuneful Farting (Heat 2)

Well done to all our wonderful atheletes:

Bert - Four Legged Views
Beckett - Home Is Where The Hounds Are
Storm - Charlene And Stormy Pie
Bertie - Bouncing Berties Blog
Barnie - Bordoggy Terrier

Casey - The Legacy Chronicles
Dougall & Floyd - The Dougall Diaries
Nola - Dachshund Nola
Susie & Sidebite - Susie & Sidebite -Adventures Of The Scottie Twinkies
Madi - Madi & Mom

Target - Katz Tales
Lily Belle - The Doxie Life Of Lily, Muffin And Their Humans
Murphy & Stanley - Murphy & Stanley
Goose - Gospel Of Goose
Stella & Rory - Stella & Rory From Down Under
Winnie - Winnie's Dog Blog
Puddles - We 3 Doxies

Don't forget to visit today's other events:

Keep Away hosted by The legacy Chronicles

Best Nippy Faces by Troublin Times

Fierceful Yawning by Three Tabby Cats in Vienna

A brief brush with technology!

Last weekend, Other Mum decided that it wasn't possible for her to live a second longer without another laptop. Non of her arguments sounded terribly convincing to Mum, but she's learnt to recognise when there is no point arguing. So now we are a two laptop family. Does that mean we have moved up a grade in the socio economic grouping? No? We've just caught up with everyone else. Oh I see.

As my regular readers will know, Other Mum is quite a technical whizz. She loves her flashy phones (which she appears to upgrade more often than most people change their socks!) and her PC's and laptops.  And then there's the software. She's never happier than when she's Photoshopping something or designing a webpage.

I think Photoshop was one of the excuses reasons she used for needing something with 4 million Gb of memory and 8000 terabytes of hard drive. It was at this point that Mum began to glaze over and stopped trying to be helpful. It seems that Other Mum was not that impressed with her saying "What about this one? It's a lovely shade of navy blue with an interesting wood effect finish"

Don't you think that is nice? Apparently not.......

Eventually the laptop was chosen. It is a very nice shade of red, which I must stress had NOTHING to do with the decision to buy it. Oh no, it was all to do with gigabytes and terabytes and processors. Yeah right Other Mum!

When we got home Other Mum reluctantly graciously said I could have the old laptop all to myself for my blogging and Facebooking....... on one condition; Mum & I must not go anywhere near her lovely new laptop. What does she think we're going to do to it?! Apart from the snot marks on the screen from my nose and Mum's tendency to eat hot buttered toast whilst helping me type, I really can't see what the problem is...Anyway Mum and I winked at each other and nodded at Other Mum in unison. Hehehehe........!!!!

Come Monday morning we were very excited as we shoved Other Mum out the door waved Other Mum off to work. We knew we'd have to be careful or Other Mum would find out about our underhand and sneaky plans. So Mum came up with an idea......

If I cover my paws...

....And keep my nose off the screen, Other Mum will never know!

Hmmmm. Hsvr ypu ecrt trord typunh wiyg psws nevrr mond wjen wesring sovkd? 

  No I don't expect you have tried it! "Mum this typing with socks on isn't going to work you know...."

I told Mum she'd have to do the typing for me.....

"Ahhg thus iz a bot diggicylt is;mt ir"?

So it seems our cunning plan has failed. We are back using the old laptop, but at least we can eat toast and leave snot smears to our hearts content..... There's a moral in there somewhere I'm sure........

NOTICE!

Mum wants me to tell you that we are going to have a bit of a break during the Olympics. She also said I must make it perfectly clear that it has nothing to do with the hooman Olympics, which she is already sick of, and we haven't had the opening ceremony yet!

Obviously I will be hosting the

 Tuneful Farting 

event on 4th August and I will be visiting the daily events to support my fellow hosts and all the competitors, but other than that I won't be around much. Mum says we need time to catch up on stuff and this seems likea good time to do it! So if I don't see some of you for a while, have a great couple of weeks or so...

Your pal

Deccy x

Nearly Wordless Wednesday 25/7

Declan suddenly realised that when it came to being tall with a long neck, he'd been outdone!

Bloggers Unite for Dog Rescue

Today, Blog the Change for Animals is joining Bloggers Unite for Dog Rescue  and asking us all to use our blogs "to promote the life and death difference that consumers can make by adopting a dog instead of purchasing through a pet store or breeder. Millions of dogs are euthanased each year while waiting for their forever home"

Now I'm not looking to get into an argument with folks about buying dogs from reputable breeders. Mums accept some people do and they have reasons for it. Mums like to adopt, that's their personal choice.  However, if you are looking to get a dog and you feel able to consider adoption, please please do. 


Some of you will have read my post last week about my life as a racing greyhound. Unfortunately I didn't know about this campaign then, as much of what I said is pertinent to it. 


Last year The Retired Greyhound Trust  rehomed  4120 greyhounds, (I was one of them!) but given that over 10,000 retire each year and many aren't good enough to become racers in the first place, there are a lot of dogs that aren't so lucky. 

Now, being a retired racer myself, I may be a tiny little bit biased about the fact that adopting one of my many friends is the best idea you'll ever have! But if you don't believe me talk to my Mums. Mum adopted her first hound    Flynn, and I think it's fair to say from day one she was a greyhound addict! She says crack cocaine has nothing on  us (allegedly......ahem...) Whilst Mum adores all dogs and would happily own other types/breeds she says she can't imagine life without a greyhound at her side (or on her lap.....)


I think a lot of myths about greyhounds have been exploded over recent years but for the uninitiated, here are a few facts:

• They need very little exercise. Most are happy on 2 x 30 mins a day, though they'll go much further if you want them to.
• They can curl up to the size of a ball
• They can stretch to the size of double bed
• They bark much less than many dogs - some hardly ever
• They have a gentle and kind nature
• Many live happily with cats and other small furries. (Yeah I know, I know... but Flynn lived with 4 different cats and 2 rats in his time and was friends with them all!)
• You've never been truly loved until you've been loved by a greyhound
• They are bigger couch potatoes than you could ever dream of being
• They look you in the eyes and smile at you
• The first time you see your hound in full flight, you'll cry at the sheer beauty of it. 

See, I'm smiling at you!

All dogs deserve a kind loving home, pedigree, mutt or retired working dog, but non more so than the greyhound. Being a racer can be a very hard life and sadly many dogs have been subjected to appalling cruelty. Mum says she can't really remember why she decided on a rescue hound when she got Flynn; she only knows it was the best thing she ever did. 

Please adopt your next dog if you can. Or you can help in other ways:

• Donate to a local dog rescue organisation
• Foster a dog
• Volunteer at a local shelter or rescue organisation
• Spread the word by sharing this post across all forms of social media.

Thank you. Deccy 

Wey Hey Loads of Birds!

Ha! That got your attention didn't it?!  Well actually I'm talking about the feathered variety. As everyone (because us Brits haven't stopped banging on about it) knows, summer here as been nearly a total washout. So the Mums think themselves very lucky that when they went on a recent visit to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire, it was a beautiful day. I didn't get to go (can't imagine why...) so I spent a very pleasant time with Ganny.

Yeah well...like I even miss you when I've got Ganny's garden to run in...

Slimbridge is a magnificent place (apparently - I wouldn't know, would I? - sniff) covering over 120 acres. It was founded in 1946 and is one of nine wetland centres across the UK.

     source

Obviously David Bailey Mum took her camera with her and got really snap happy. Whilst some of the photos aren't too bad, David Attenborough she ain't so I am unable to tell you what most of the birds are....

Pelican

She has a habit of taking this sort of shot.....

Not the foggiest.....

Errrr....black swan?!

Baby black swan (I'm getting good at this....!)

You got me there....

And again.. though one of them seems to be headless......

Ooooh I know that one - Flamingos!

When Mums eventually came rushing back bothered to come home, I gave them my best deeply hurt look. Good isn't it? Hehe!