A Dog-related Quiz (humour, not serious)

I've been neglecting this little blog, I don't really know why. Well I do actually, this is just one blog amongst many, and I also have a life that has not much to do with blogging...

Anyway, one of the things I've been spending time with the past few months is self-publishing and I currently have a book almost ready to release into the world. And when you self-publish, you also have to self-advertise and self-market.

So, here goes: I am going to publish a funny book with funny words and funny illustrations. At the back of the book is a quiz. The book is about Mindfulness from a dog's perspective, and the quiz is to tell humans whether or not their dog is one of the mindful ones.

Are you interested in knowing the truth about your dog? Check it out here!

http://dig-it-carolyn.blogspot.com.au/2016/02/sneak-preview-from-doggone-it.html

Keep your eye on that blog to find out more about the book the quiz comes from!

Something to Spread the Word About!

Oh wow, has it really truly been this long since I made a new post on this blog? I just checked, and yes, my last post on this blog was in September last year! Oh dear, I loved this blog so much, how and why did it all go so wrong?

Never mind. I've been doing other things, working on other blogs I have, that seemed more important, more relevant to my life at the time. I read a post on Facebook earlier today, or perhaps yesterday, bemoaning friends who only show up when they want something from you. I'm afraid I'm about to be one of those friends...

Blogs aren't sentient beings though, so I suppose it's OK to treat them like I'm about to do. They are things that do better if you tend to them regularly though. And if your blogs is doing well, that means you, the blogger is also doing well, in terms of hits & clicks and things.

Anyway, to the reason I'm back here with a new blog post. This blog has a stated subject of dogs. And I'm a person who is interested in writing, so here I am, with some news about writing and about dogs. It's about a book about dogs that I wrote. I actually wrote this book back late 2009. I had an initial print run of 100, sold out and ordered another print run of 100. I now have only one copy left. Or maybe two, I'd have to check all of the book shelves to be sure. Book shelves, and assorted other places I may stash books... I don't have time to do that. It's not relevant at the moment.

What is relevant, is that I wish to spread some happiness around the world. And the way I want to do this is by doing another print run of my book about gardening and dogs. It's a funny little book, funny words by me, in the guise of a dog named Buster. And there are funny images, done by my dear friend Ally Hean, who I don't see very often now. She's working, I'm not and also, she's living further away from me.

I'm going to catch up in some way though, if this print run goes well, and if I sell enough books to pay Ally for the privelege of using her lovely funny pictures. The book I'm talking about is this one "Dig It! Gardening Tips For Dogs"

That is the link to the blog I set up way back when I wrote the book. You can see from this that I at least had some knowledge on how to market a self-published book. And when I consider that I sold or gave away almost 200 copies of the book, with little work really, I think I've done quite well. I enjoyed doing the work, and had fun working on it initially with Ally. I've been doing this print run by myself, but have made a couple of connections with other people who are interested in having copies of it. That's been fun. One of the people is in South Australia, where I live, and the other person lives in the USA, and in Egypt, depending on the season.

It's going to be fun have a new stack of copies of this book, and talking about it. I know a lot about how dogs like to garden, and even if some of the things I know aren't wonderful, there are plenty of fun things about the way they garden! I think everyone with a dog and a garden should have a copy of "Dig It! Gardening Tips For Dogs" Even if it doesn't physically help them, it should give them a bit of a giggle, and we all deserve that, every now and then!

Oh, this poor, little blog...

I was so keen and excited when I got this blog up and running all those years ago. Then I thought of another subject to blog on, and started another blog, and then another differently themed blog and then another.

Then I was convinced to give another blogging platform a go, and slowly my posts on this blog faded away. I feel so sorry for this blog, I'm sorry and ashamed of myself for ignoring it in this way. I recently posted a link to the blog though, and I'm hoping there's been a little more activity, with people visiting... I haven't been game enough to check though. Maybe later, after I've finished this abject post of apology...

I'm still in love with my dogs, the real ones - they still give me something to smile about every day. Whether it's Nena the schnauzer asking for a pat, or Lah Dee the boy pharaoh doing something totally clown-like, they still bring me joy. I can hardly imagine the sad life I'd be living if I didn't have these four canine companions living their life in my house with me.

Tomorrow will be an election focused day, with the dogs all left at home, while Graham, and then me, do our volunteer work, handing out how to vote cards for Nick Xenophon in the Senate. So, vote 1 Nick X in the Senate!

Dogs or Cats - which one do your prefer?

This is a subject that interests me. I think there are big differences between 'dog' people and 'cat' people. I'm definitely a 'dog' person, and I have a theory that cats are eventually going to take over the world. 

I have a short story I wrote a few years ago, based on this theory. The short story is fiction. Or is it? Whatever, I have some of my thoughts are in a fictional story which you can find here http://authspot.com/short-stories/a-cat-encounter/ if anyone would like to read more about what I think of this issue. You may have to cut and paste the link, if you'd like to read the story, the link doesn't seem to be working properly. Sorry.

Please take a look and leave a comment there, and come back here if you wish to discuss the matter further!

Dogs Rule!

Hot Weather shouldn't mean Hot Dogs!

In my part of South Australia tomorrow, it's going to be a hot day. This means our dogs will spend almost all of the day inside, where it's lovely and cool, and where there's plenty of water to drink.

We live in the Mallala district, 60 km or so from the capital city, Adelaide. The forecast for tomorrow, which I saw on the ABC news a few minutes ago, showed a forecast high of 37 degrees celsius. That's too hot for me to be outside, and too hot for the dogs to be outside too!

When you have a dog, it's your responsible to make sure it has shelter from weather extremes. This means hot sun, strong winds and heavy rain. You wouldn't want to be stuck outside in those conditions, and you shouldn't make your dog stay out either.

Hot dogs are not happy dogs, that's for sure!

Our Dogs are Dogs, They Like Killing Things

We have four dogs, living with us in the house and in the backyard. In the backyard, the dogs come into their own, they're hunters, they love to hunt! It's been an ongoing thing for us at this time of year though - creatures, wild ones, are out and about, looking for food, mates and whatever else they need when Spring comes along. These creatures seem distracted in Spring, and fall foul of our dogs with their zest for hunting.

Yesterday we had a wild visitor to the backyard, a reptile, fortunately not a snake, but a blue tongue lizard. These lizards are quite common in South Australia, and the one we had yesterday is certainly not the first one we've ever had. There was one in the yard a fortnight ago, that lost in the battle with the dogs, and it died.

This most recent lizard had obviously had a run in with one of the dogs, I don't know which one, but the lizard had the end of its tail bitten off. I kept an eye on proceedings once I knew the lizard was there, I wanted to give it a chance to go somewhere else, away from our pack of hounds, somewhere it could heal itself...

Today, the lizard is nowhere in sight, so the dogs are having more free time out in the yard, but, as usual, they're happy to be inside most of the time, on their favourite place to lie down - the dog sofa!

Making Dog Treats

Would you like to learn how to make treats for your dogs? Click Here! for a link to a great recipe book.

We've got four dogs living at our place. I don't have a paid job, and I have lots of spare time. Add to that the fact that I quite like cooking, and you have to wonder why I don't make yummy treats for our dogs!

They have quite eclectic tastes, they love vegetables and fruit, they eat anything they catch (usually spotted turtledoves). They don't bother catching and eating mice though, much to our annoyance!

Our hounds may think mice aren't good enough for them I don't know, but I do know I wish the dogs would keep the mice out of the kitchen!

Anyway, our dogs may not keep the mice away, but they keep us amused in many different ways. They sit when they're told to sit (most of the time). They come when we call them (as long as there's nothing else that catches their attention).

Maybe if I start making treats for them, they'll be more eager to come running when I want them? What do you think?

My List of Birds

I have a book, inside this book is a handwritten list. The list is a record of the common and scientific names of every different kind of bird that I have been able to identify on our property in Redbanks South Australia. I began this list some time after we moved to Redbanks, but I’m not sure how long after we moved I began the list.

We moved out of the suburbs and into the country in November 1988, so the list may have been going for as many as twenty three years. I’ve always liked watching birds, but since we moved out to the country, I get the chance to see many more birds than I ever saw in the ‘burbs.

I don’t write down a new bird until I’m positive I’ve made a true identification – to write down a bird if I wasn’t certain I had the correct name for it would be cheating, and I’m certainly not going to cheat myself on this. The list is inside ‘A Field Guide to Birds of Australia’ by Graham Pizzey. This excellent book is a tool known to many serious birdwatchers, I’m sure.

I have forty-one different kinds of birds on my list. One re-reading my list just now, I saw that I have in fact included one bird I’m not absolutely certain about. This bird is the brown falcon, or Falco berigora. Thinking back about twenty years, I remember I was almost certain, and I couldn’t find anything else it might have been, so I wrote the bird down. To be honest about it, I wrote ‘probably’ so that I could show the truer situation.

Anyway, my list ranges from boring non-natives like sparrows and starlings, to rarer native birds such as the purple-crowned lorikeet and my favourite, the wedge-tailed eagle. Some of the birds on the list are ones who live here in our trees and shrubs. Others are visitors who live nearby and pop by every now and then. Then there are the ‘seasonal’ ones, who appear only at certain times, and for a brief period.

One of these visitors is the purple crowned lorikeet, that comes here only when one of our kinds of gum tree flowers. This brings this bird and minors, and another kind of lorikeet, the musk lorikeet. When these birds are here, the noise level rises! Most of the birds stay out of our backyard – our dogs are hunters of birds, and the birds tend to be wary of them. The dogs have been able to catch some birds though – the most common snack the dogs catch on the fly is the spotted turtle dove, in spring, when the birds are somewhat distracted by more important things! One day when I was standing by our back door, with Ananka, our oldest Pharaoh Hound next to me, a sparrow flew by, and Ananka suddenly jumped up and caught the bird, then ran off to eat her prize!

One of my favourite ways to relax is to sit outside looking at the birds that are within sight. Every time I sit down out of the front or back of my house, I know I will see at least those common imports, sparrow and starling. If I’m sitting by our pool, I’ll often see swallows, circling around and diving down to skim up some water from the pool.

Somebody told me that the swallows are probably getting some water to take back to make mud to build their nest. I’m not sure whether or not that is true. I know that swallows do incorporate mud into their nests, so it might be. Perhaps someone out there might know for sure?

Anyway, that’s an insight into my birdwatching activities, I’d love to hear about some of the birds you have where you live!

Is it OK to Let A Dog Lick Me?

Have you ever been told that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's mouth? Did you believe it?

I've been told the same thing, but I certainly won't let my dogs lick my face, and I discourage them from licking me anywhere. It's not that I think they're got filthy mouths necessarily, but I know that most dogs, and my four dogs in particular, aren't terrible fussy about the things they eat and lick.

I've seen my dogs in the backyard, playing. They'll pick up a creature that's dead and has been dead for a long, long time, by the smell of it. The dog will lick it to give it a taste test, then have a chomp on it if it smells ripe enough. Yuck!

I was wondering about the truth of this idea though, and decided to look into it further. My main place to find out the truth online is Snopes.com. This link will take you to the answer to the question. The myth is not completely true, and it's probably a good idea to stop the puppy kisses if you can.

Dogs can pick up all kinds of nasties in their mouths, and transfer them to you. They may have bacteria in their mouths that can kill other bugs and things, but is it really worth the risk. I say, pat your pup, but don't let it lick you. Dogs can have tapeworms they can transfer to you, by licking you. Oo yuck, you wouldn't want that.

I say love your dog, but don't let him kiss you!

I love Autumn

I have to say, this Autumn day I'm having right now would have to be the most perfect weather possible. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and there's a lovely cool breeze outside.

I'm not out there in the lovely weather though. I haven't been outside at all today, I only know it's lovely because of what I can see, looking out of the windows, and what I can feel - the breeze blowing in through the screen door. The dogs are all flaked out inside too, two on their sofa, one on our bed and the other one lying down in the open crate near me.

At least the dogs have been outside though, they have sufficient breaks outside for drinking and toileting, and chasing birds. They actually caught a bird yesterday, in the morning. The Pharaoh Hounds were all outside, Jake had put them out while he got ready for the new day. Hubby and I were still in bed - the joys of no longer working!

Then the dogs began barking, like they really meant it. I thought they were just barking at birds, so I didn't worry, until hubby told me Nena, the Schnauzer was outside too. That got me out of bed quick. The four dogs have been getting on really well lately, but I know it won't take much for it to go bad again. Our two oldest bitches are still not settled on who's the top bitch.

Anyway, I went to the door and called Nena. She came to me and I went outside, leaving Nena in the house. I did it that way because Nena is the only one of our dogs who's reliable with coming when she's called. The Pharaoh Hounds come when they're good and ready, which is rarely exactly when they're wanted.

The Hounds were all barking and trying to get something in a large bush - leaping at it and bark, bark, barking! Then suddenly one of them broke away from the others - it was our male PH, with something black in his mouth. The others took off after him, but he glared at them and they backed away. Then he crouched down and proceeded to get stuck into eating the creature.

I'm not sure what it was, other than it being a bird. It may have been a spotted turtle dove, judging by the size, and the fact that there are often those doves up in that bush. The dark colour though, that makes me think it may have been a starling. We have lots and lots of starlings living around our place.

Anyway, that was yesterday. This morning, nothing like that happened. It's just been lovely, and you know what? I reckon I'm going to leave the house and sit outside for a while. I'll catch some sunshine, and watch the birds out there. I love bird watching!

If you love bird watching too, which are your favourite birds? I love birds of prey - I saw a fork tailed kite yesterday, circling overhead. Beautiful!

We have Fish as Well as Dogs!

Our house is set on one and three quarters of land. It's separated out into different parts. There's the part our house is on, a fenced off backyard, fenced off pool area and a fenced off dog run.


The rest of our land has a fence all around it, different parts of the perimeter are able to be seen through or not, depending on which bit you're looking at. The front fence is a wire fence, easy to see through and get through.


The back fence though, is a high fence, and solid, so it adds privacy. The side fences are solid too for the back end of both.


Our fish pond is down the back of our place, near the back fence. We have a few pepper trees down there and other trees too. The pond is shaded for most of the day, and our fish are doing well down there, even though the water's a disgusting colour at the moment!


Anyway, I go and count the fish sometimes, sit there watch the splish splash of the fish and sometimes I write poetry there. It's a lovely way to de-stress. I wrote a bit about this and posted it  on my Facebook page today - this is what I wrote:


OK everyone, it's time for the Cordon Family Fish Pond Critter Count Report. 

'After a total fish count of a week or so ago of 10 fish, I can report things have changed, finally! So what did I count critter-wise? I counted eleven different swishy fishy, one inquisitive frog checking things out, and one buzzy bee collecting pollen from the Pepper tree blossom next to my face.

I heard the barking of one small dog, and various tweets from unseen birds.

A successful session down by the pond!'


I've received some lovely comments from some of my Facebook friends, and if you have any fish pond stories, please share them here - I'd love to read about your fish pond!

Hot Day Again Today

Today in South Australia we're having 40 temperatures again. The people in the house are staying inside, apart from visits to the swimming pool as needed.

And the dogs? The dogs are all staying inside, and loving it. We have our evaporative cooler going and the dogs have water available in the house if they need it.

I hope nobody is stupid to leave any dogs inside their cars today. The temperature inside a parked car can go from OK to lethal more quickly than many people realise.

If you have a dog and it's outside, why not bring it inside with you? It's the kindest thing to do. The same goes for the opposite weather extreme. Dogs may be better off than humans outside in freezing weather, but still, if it's too cold for you, maybe it's too cold for your dog as well.

When we bring a dog into our life, we have a commitment to bring that dog fully into our life. Your dog loves you unconditionally. Do you love your dog that much too?

Christmas with Dogs

Actually, our dogs pretty well missed out on Christmas. My husband, son and I went out yesterday, which was Christmas Day, and again today. We didn't give our four dogs anything special for Christmas and they certainly don't know enough to feel they've missed out on anything.

Of course, dogs have no idea about the Christian tradition, and they certainly don't shop. Our dogs did get fed, let out and let back in again as possible. They were all locked away when we went out, Lah Dee, our male Pharaoh Hound was shut in our bedroom, Nena, our female schnauzer was locked in a crate, and Ananka and Missy, our two female Pharaoh Hounds were locked in another crate.

I'd love it if we could leave all of our dogs loose together in the house, with easy access to the yard. Sadly, that isn't possible for us. Lah Dee digs holes in the back yard, and when he was put in the dog run this morning he began barking non-stop. He was not a happy puppy, so he came back inside.

We can't have Nena loose with either of the other two girls, because they're currently enemies. I hope they may one day become friends again, but they're certainly nowhere near that time yet.

We could have left Ananaka and Missy together in the back yard. These two are mother and daughter, and they are friends. Ananka has a higher position in our pack, and Missy is perfectly happy with that.

To add a further bit of interest to our pack situation, Missy is in an interesting condition, to put it delicately. She's been in season for over a fortnight, and judging by the way Lah Dee's acting, she's probably ovulated now. Lah Dee's been pining for her, and not eating much of his dinner, for the past couple of days.

Once Missy's back to normal, then the three Pharaoh Hounds will be able to be loose together in the house, and perhaps with Nena too. The dogs all act better together inside than outside. I'm glad about this, but we still have to keep watch on them. These creatures are dogs, and they have their own pack rules. If the people in the house get involved, then it won't be a good thing. So we keep them where they can all be happy and not have to fight to work out the hierarchy. 

This of course has nothing much to do with Christmas. We offer our dogs love and goodwill though, and that certainly is a Christmas thing. I hope you've had a Merry Christmas!

A good day's work

Some days I don't seem to do much, I just drift around the house and the internet without much to prove I've had a worthwhile day. Some days it wouldn't have made a lot of difference if I had just stayed in bed.

Well, that's not actually true, the dogs wouldn't be happy with me if I stayed in bed, because if I did that, they wouldn't be able to go out, come back in, go out again, come back in, etc! I don't mind that much being the door lady, I suppose. It's a job that has to be done, otherwise the house would get very, very messy. I'm not a great housewife, but I'm certainly not that bad!

Anyway, today wasn't one of those do nothing days. Today I was out of bed before Jake left for school. Today I finished off two subjects of my TAFE studies and sent them off to my lecturer. Today I did kennel maid duties, spoke to a person about an article in the Mallala Crossroad Chronicle. Today I bought more Viscotears for Missy's eyes, and more postage stamps for the household.

Today I also filled out and sent off a questionnaire, and filled out and sent off a form to do a new volunteer thing. So the day has been a busy and productive one. I also found out there's a brand new baby in the district, young Herbie, another son to Dylan and Bek Stodart.

So today has been a good day. Now though, even though it's getting on to my usual bedtime, I have to stay up so I can pick Jake up in Mallala after the school Forum event. It will be good for me, certainly good for Jake, and I can perhaps sleep in a little in the morning.

There, that's my day, how was your day today?

I wrote this blog post some time ago. I'm not sure why I didn't actually post it, but I'm posting it today to help me to remember that day, when I did things and thought enough of those things to write them down. I've done some things today too.

I watered some of our plants, in particular our bonsai collection. Well loved little trees in shallow little pots that suffer the most when the watering doesn't occur. I watered our hanging pots too, because Graham asked me to, and I had no reason not to do it.

I filled up the dog's water bowl outside. It is our duty to make sure the dogs always have water available. I cleaned the stove top a little (not enough to make it clean, but that may happen later). I cleaned the bathroom sink well, I put away the washed clothes from yesterday.

I put dogs out and let them back in, I put our pharaoh hound boy, Lah Dee, down the back dog run because he didn't want to come inside and I didn't want to leave him in the back yard because he loves to dig holes, and we don't want any more holes in the back yard. I can hear Lah Dee barking now, no, he's stopped again. Hmm I'll see later if he wants to come inside, or I may leave him there longer.

Some of the things I've done this morning may have been because Mum's visiting this morning and I wanted to actually do something in preparation for that. Usually I go to her place once a week, but I don't have a car available at the moment, because I crashed my car on Monday night and it's been written off by my insurance company. It hurts when I thing about that, but it could have been so much worse. My car is a wreck but I am fine...

That's enough for this blog post, I might stray into too sad places if I go further right now, and I have other things I want to do now. I've written a poem about my car crash and that makes it all feel better. Writing about things creatively is how I get my head around things. Personal creative therapy is my personal healing. It's the thing I want to do to assist other people for the rest of my life. I haven't got to that place yet, but I'm edging closer all of the time.

My Long Overdue Dog Report

Well, what can I say? It's been quite a while since I last wrote anything on this blog, I've been spending my time online in other places. But today is the day I'm letting people know how our hounds are going.

The first thing to say is that our four dogs are absolute failures at what should be their prime task, which is rodent removal. We have a bit of a problem with mice inside our house at the moment, and the dogs aren't doing enough to deal with the issue.

We've been regularly catching mice in traps set in the kitchen, but I still haven't seen any of the dogs catch a mouse. Every now and then the dogs might get off the sofa and look intently at something, but there's never a pounce and catch.I'm starting to think about what I can do next to encourage them.

I briefly thought of not feeding them but I really couldn't do that to them. It's an owner's responsibility to care for their pets. These are dogs, anyway, hunting and killing things should come to them naturally, especially our three Pharaoh Hounds.

I don't really know what to try next. We've had some intense action the past couple of days. About two hours ago Nena, our schnauzer, chased something I couldn't see - she ran behind the computer, scrabbling madly, then she managed to unplug the computer and get stuck underneath the little table the printer sits on. I was not happy!

The day's before the incident was Nena again - she and the three pharaoh hounds started carrying on near our entertainment centre, running up and down like mad things. Then Nena got behind everything there and I think she couldn't get out again. I didn't see what happened, but someone, I think Jake, got her out of there.
Nothing seemed damaged.

Yesterday morning though, I found out she'd done something - I tried to switch on the Wii Fit and nothing happened. Graham and I both looked at it and poked around a little, but gave it up. We decided this was a job for Jake, our Tech Expert. It was Sunday morning though an Jake was still in bed. Fortunately Jake didn't sleep in too long and he easily fixed the problem once he was up. A big thank you to Jake on that one!

That's about it for now, except to say our four dogs might be dunces at catching mice inside, but they are absolute stars at resting on the sofa - any time of the day or night, if the dogs are loose inside, there's usually at least one reclining on their sofa!

One good thing about the four of our dogs now, Nena and Ananka, the two oldest girl dogs seem perfectly happy to co-exist inside with no fuss. That makes for a happier household! If this doesn't, I'll probably give all of the gory details on this site.

Goodbye for now, but hopefully not for too long!

A Day in the life of me and the dogs

We have four dogs - one schnauzer girl, Nena (the oldest) and three pharaoh hounds, one male (Lah Dee) and two females. One of the PH girls (Missy) is the youngest of your dogs, the other PH girl (Ananka) is mother to the two younger PHs.

OK, get your heads around that and then I'll let you know what they're doing. 
I let Missy and Ananka back inside, from the back yard. Nena and Ananka circled round each other briefly, but nothing untoward occurred. These two are the most likely to fight, neither really concedes superiority to the other. Inside the house they’re usually cautiously OK. Outside is a different story. Outside they’re quite likely to fight, with nasty results. The role of Alpha Bitch is much sought after if you're a female dog.

We try not to have the two oldest girls outside together, for that reason. We also make sure that the dogs are fed separately, so there are no fights over food. The giving of scraps happens with them all loose, but you have to be careful, they get a bit snappy over food.

At the moment, Nena is lying down in her crate which is about a metrre and a half from where I sit at the computer. She’s not asleep, but she’s not far off it. Ananka is lying down at rest on the dog’s sofa which is just next to (on the right of) my spot at the computer. Lah Dee is also on the sofa, and he looks like he’s asleep. Missy is lying down on the carpet, next to the sofa and about a metre and a half behind where I’m sitting. She’s awake, but she looks like she could be sleeping really soon.

This is often how the dogs and I spend the day. Me on the computer, searching the net, connecting through social media, checking emails. The dogs rest, getting ready for when it suddenly gets exciting. What could make it exciting?

Well, I may stand up. Then the dogs would get up and maybe rush to the back door, to go out for a drink and a toilet break, and to chase birds out there. If I put them out, the chasing bird thing could last for a long time. We get sparrows, starlings, spotted turtle doves and black birds every day, every time the dogs are out. Sometimes one of the dogs may get lucky  and catch a bird, in which case there might be some chasing of the lucky hunter. If it’s Ananka who catches something, she’ll get left alone. The youngsters know it’s safer to leave their mum alone.

This might all sound very boring, but I have fun with my internet connections, and my dog watching. At dinner time the dogs rush to the laundry where the dog food is. Our dogs are mostly fed a dry dog food and they usually seem to enjoy it and eat it all up. Any food that gets left is put away for the next day. Nena didn’t eat all of her tea last night, so I’m keeping a bit of an eye on her to see if she seems OK. She does, and I’ll be checking her out when she gets her tea tonight.

Nena is probably my favourite dog. She’s been with us the longest, and she may well be our last schnauzer. I love the breed, but I’m sick of the grooming involved. The PHs are much easier to groom – leave them alone most of the time and give them a brush if you feel like it. It wouldn’t matter if they hardly ever got brushed. Our dogs are no longer show dogs. If we were showing the PHs a lot more work would be required.

So that’s it. Leave a message if you’d like more info about me or my dogs. It’s a quiet life here in sunny Redbanks!

Dogs or Cats. I know which I prefer!

I've written a few different things about Dogs versus Cats. I have this idea in the back of my head, a crazy conspiracy theory type of thing, that cats will eventually take over the world. I actually wrote a short story about this some years ago - it won first prize in a competition, which was a huge buzz for me!

If I can find the story on my computer in amongst my paper files, I might past the short story on this site. But that's only a sideline to the reason for this post on my blog. I am a stay at home worker type of person, trying to make a few cents working online.


One of my money making things is to post articles, stories, photos and poems to a particular website - Triond. For the month of December I am going to get $3.00 or more paid into my Paypal account. I know this isn't actually much money, and I'll never make a living wage out of posting things to this site, but I'm hoping to raise my earnings somewhat for 2011. For me though, it's not all about the money, the thing I most like about Triond is the sense of community and connectedness.

This little article, click here about the reasons why I prefer Dogs over Cats, has gained me over 1,200 readers and $3.19 since it was published on the site in June last year. The money is ho hum, but the comments and discussions that have resulted have been terrific. That's the reason why I love to write - hearing what other people think about what I write.

I hope you are interested enough to read the article yourself and leave a comment. If you're interested in having a go at writing for this site yourself, click on this link.

Thank you, and Go Dogs!

Second Day of 2011

Well on the second day of this brand new year, things are looking pretty much the same as the first day of the new year. The weather is warm, but not too warm and there's a gentler breeze than we had yesterday.

Yesterday the wind was quite strong. I prefer days like today where the few clouds in the sky drift past overhead, and the branches are waving slowly with the wind. Yesterday I was feeling a little sneezy too, but not today. I'm grateful for that.

I'm lucky that I don't suffer much from hay fever, unlike some other people in my family, including my mother and my husband. I've seen their suffering, and I remember times when I've been a sufferer too, and I hope I can keep that affliction at bay.

All right, so today is a lovely day. I've done my exercise for the day, nearly up to the half and hour one of my medical advisers said I should be doing. Not, they didn't use the word 'should' - that's a nasty word - they recommended I aim for thirty minutes a day, for the best results.

'Should' is a blaming kind of word and is not at all useful to a person, it just makes them feel worse about not doing things. 'It would be good if...' is a much more empowering way of saying something, whether to yourself or to others. It's these kind of things that can break us or make us.

Now, a little about the day happeneing where I am right now - our male pharaoh hound, Lah De is finally quiet - he's been whingeing  near our schnauzer Nena for days now - Nena is in season and from the way she's been acting and he's been reacting, she's very close to or just past ovulation. She been acting like a tart  and he's been acting like a wannabee stud.

Of course, as responsible dog owners, we're keeping her locked up where he can only sit near and whine. It can be annoying when Nature intrudes on a quiet home life, but that's the thing about having dogs - they are sooo close to Nature, they can't help but show what they're feeling!

I think the whole thing is silly, but hubby has got a little annoyed with the poor dog. I figure poor Lah De can't help himself and we, as the superior species, should remain calm and loving to the dogs. Of course, Lah De has been a little confused and looked with intent at his sister Missy, who isn't in season. She showed her brother her teeth and yelled at him. He's leaving her alone now.

That's it for now. If you have any thoughts about my crazy dogs, please, leave a comment. I love to connect with others!

Life goes on

We've got over the funeral of my father, tears were shed, stories exchanged. Now, we all continue on with our normal lives. Graham has gone back to work, Jake has gone back to school, I have gone back to spending endless hours online.

There are some changes, for me at least. I am more aware of my mother, and will take every opportunity t o keep in contact with her. After talking with Mum, I now realise properly more about what the death of my father, her husband, means to her.

Dad had been a constant in my mother's life for fifty years - Mum had been with my father for more years than I have lived. I knew that, of course, but I now truly know it in my heart. I know what it means to Mum. 

It's all too easy to take things for granted. I will endeavour to be more mindful in my life, looking properly at things, thinking about things from as many points of view as possible.

I hope and expect I will continue growing to be the best person I can. I will think properly about things, continue doing nice things for other people and myself.

And of course, I will continue looking after our dogs. The dog pack we have, one schnauzer and three pharaoh hounds, continue to be a constant in our lives. We need to keep them fed, sheltered, medicated. We need to keep them safe.

Remember, everyone, if you ever take on the care of a living creature, you are taking on the responsibility to that creature. Looking after them should be a prime responsibility to you!

Dogs or Cats - which do you prefer?

I know lots of people have different ideas on the question on which pet is better - dogs or cats. I have written about this idea before, most recently here

I prefer dogs because my dogs love me, they're entertaining, they look good and a million other reasons. A dog will listen when you need to talk, they will never look down on you. Dogs do heroic things to save people and puppies are sooo cute!

What do you think about this issue? I'd love to know!