My Barkday Cake!

How time flies! I'm gonna be 3 years old next week and since the humans are having a x'mas eve party tonight, my M decided to have an early celebration for my Barkday too! So she's gonna make me a yummy cake. You can try out this recipe at home too but there's no guarantee how it'll turn out coz my M does everything in estimation.

Sorry if the photos turn out blurry or with a strange color cast coz my M left her camera at Scuba's house and she had to make do with her phone's camera.

First, you'll need these:


Of course, what's a doggie cake without meat? So you'll need this too:


Minced beef (or whatever meat), stir fried with chopped garlic. Then boil and mash the potatoes.

Mix them with the egg (coz I think the egg holds everything together)


My M happens to have some left over cream and she was afraid it'll spoil if kept for too long so she added it in as well but you can skip this if you want.


And how can a cake not have flour? So we have the healthier wholemeal version. It's also to soak up any excess juice if your mixture is too soggy.


Mix, mix, mix. I wanted to help but my M won't let me.


But in the end she found something that I can help out with.


I think this is a very good job for me, cleaning hands.

This year, my M decided that instead of the usual round or square cakes, she'll try something special. Can you guess what?















She's gonna make me a Me cake!


And this is what the finished me looks like!


Complete with 3D ears!


After that it's baking time, about 200 celcius for 30 minutes. Then the cake has to be cooled down before we can start decorating.

Speaking of decorating, my M was actually wondering if there's any sugarless, or healthy icing (for dogs). She's not a cake person so in the end she used cream cheese again. But she'd like to try something else (with some color hopefully) next year. Drop a note if you have a recipe please!

ok, so here's the cream cheese deco in progress...


And the completed one...


Now comes the hard part.... trying to put my name on it.

My M DIYed the 'icing' with mashed sweet potatoe (actually she cooked 4 sweet potatoes but ended up using only one).


Luckily my name came out all right.


And here come the hardest, hardest part....











Taking a photo with my cake but not being able to eat it... *pout*


My M says I have to wait til the pawty tonight to share with my friends.

PS: Psstt.... I've actually had a secret lick when she wasn't looking. Don't tell her that.

New Calendar!

My new 2010 Calendar is out! ok, it's not really mine, coz my baby sister and my big brother herbie are featured in there too. My M likes to use our photos and make it into a calendar every year so that she can admire us in the office.

Here's handsome/ pretty us!


Well, this year, besides the doggie version, she made another baby version for the grandparents. The baby version has more peektures of my baby sister, but me and my big brother herbie managed to sneak in some months. But I don't think it's as good as the doggie version so I shan't bore you guys with it.


On a side note, my M's friend found a white huskee look-a-like dog around Serangoon Gardens. The dog has no tag and not microchipped. Aunty SY said that the dog is very friendly. If anyone has lost a similar looking dog, please go to the SPCA quickly because that's where Aunty SY has sent it.

I really want that!

I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want...



I really, really want that froggie



(M: Helios sat there for a good 20 minutes just waiting for the frog at a friend's house. He didn't get it of course, but it didn't stop him from going back there to wait again every time he thinks some human is going near the frog)

Is that me??

My M and MM went out for dinner the other day at this restaurant called Big O, and on one of the walls of this restaurant, there were lots and lots of doggie pictures.

As my M was glancing at those pictures, she did a double take, coz my picture was up there!! She wondered how did my picture get up there so she took another look, and another, and another, and then she decided to go up to my picture and take an even closer look.

Can you find me?



And then she realised that it's not me. But it certainly does look like me, right? She later found out from one of the waitress that the dog belongs to a friend of the owner.

Maybe it's my long lost twin.

Not talking

We're not talking to each other right now....
































Gotcha!


Did we manage to trick you? Don't worry, we're still best buddies.


And we love each other...


My M and MM took us to the Botanics Garden to take nice peektures. The last time I was here, my big brother herbie was still with us and I took lots of nice peektures with him. Now that he's not here anymore, my baby sister is taking over his place.

If you'd notice, the chair is the very same one I sat on with my big brother herbie.


Maybe I'll post more nice peektures once my lazy M is done with sorting them.

Freud needs a new home!

My M just got an email from one of my readers, Jo, asking to help publicize Freud's plight.

Freud is a 3 years old black mongrel whom Jo has rescued about 4 months ago from his very irresponsible previous owner who neglected him by locking him in the balcony for over a year with no walks and no attention. He was severely malnourished. I can never ever imagine a life with no walks and no attention. My M calls me the 'attention-seeking boy' and I think I'll just die if no one loves me.

Anyway, Jo has managed to fatten Freud up a little, but as she already has a dog and cat at home, her family is not keen to foster Freud, so poor Freud has been staying in the boarding place for the last 4 months.

Well, I guess a boarding place is better than his previous home, but it's not as good as a proper home and it's not a long term solution. So Jo would like to find Freud a new home, or if a foster for now until he finds his furever home. She says that Freud is very sweet, takes easily to people and very very smart. (But I still think I'm smarter, although my M calls me silly)

Here's what freud looks like:


So if any of you can help, drop me a mail.

Fishy Friends

I realise now that my baby sister is a cat too, like me! But I still don't know why I'm a cat when I'm obviously a dog. My M calls me the scardey cat, and now my baby sister is the copy cat. There sure are a lot of cat names around.

Maybe we're called cats coz we both like fishies. I've heard that cats like fishes.

Everytime I pass by the fishies' home, I like to pay them a visit. I will pull my M towards them so that I can say hi. But I think fishes are not very friendly coz they usually ignores me.

Visiting the fishes!


And look, even my baby sister is fascinated with fishes! And she's got bigger fishy friends than me. *pout*

Artistic Project

My M is now embarking on another of her project and she intends to do something with it. She won't tell me what she's doing, but she did give me a sneak preview.

Can you tell who's who?


I wonder what she's making this time....

Love that transcends species and dimension?

As I was sorting my mail over at the rainbow bridge the other day, deleting spam mails that promised me riches beyond my wildest dream (I wonder why no one ever sends mail to tell me that I've won a whole lifetime supply of dinners? Oh wait, I used up my lifetime. Darn!)

And then one of the mails popped up. It was something different. It was written with so much feelings, I can feel that this writer truly loves me, nevermind the bad english.

This is what she wrote:

Hello dear new friend.
Glad that I'm just browsing now in the Internet and I come acros your contact and i was much feelings oaver it,I'm miss angel wilson by name,please i will like us to hold a good relationship with a real love,I'm happy to look at your contaact today ,you sound so gentle to me that was the reason why i fall very much interested in you,contact me personal with my private box for more introduction also i will sent my pictures to you so we can know more about each other,i will be happy to see your mail my dear,age or colour even distance can't deny any genuine love,so please lets give our self a trial,thanks till i hear from you,
miss angel

Oh wow, my very first love letter! And I truly agree with her that genuine love transcends age, color and distance! But I must say she has really chosen for herself a really testing love story, for I am 8 years old (at last count), golden brown (with a pale gold underbelly) and currently living over the rainbow bridge.

But wait, she's Miss Angel! I wonder if there's a chance she might be living somewhere near the rainboe bridge. Maybe around St. Peter's gate? If that's the case, it would make travelling so much shorter.

Now I just wonder if she minds an 8 year old (and dead) brown dog.

Do you think she will accept me?

Over-strained

My MM has driven the car to the neighbouring country for the next 2 days so we were left car-less. My very adventurous M then decided we should all have a long walk on Thursday morning to my baby sis's infant school. Since I did not have my regular Sunday shower last sunday, she thought it'll be perfect to shower me and then air-dry me as we walk.

It's a 10 minutes drive usually, but it ended up being a 45 min walk because my M complained that I was behaving like a tourist taking pictures at every landmark. Because I was taking pit-stops... I mean, pee-stops at every other tree. But I can't help it, the trees were all so fresh and un-peed on!

Well, we finally reached the infant care safe and sound and took another 45 minutes walk back home.


We passed by our regular park and my M decided to unleash me for a while and she was amazed that I could still run after such a long walk. But never did we expect I'd start to suffer in the evening.



That night at Scuba's house, while I was horsing around with my M (she was slapping my bum in play), I suddenly screamed. Tommy looked kinda worried and Aunty Viv thought what happened as she has never heard me scream. And I was shaking and looking VERY worried, which got my M worried too. She pressed my thigh a bit and I screamed again. But I could still walk, so the humans deduced that I must have strained my muscle, like what happened to my tail when I swim too much.

Anyway, you'll be glad to know that I have totally gotten over my muscle strain after a good night's sleep, although my M said she won't be bringing me out for long walks today.

Awww.....

Sicko family

It's official! Everyone in the house is sick, except for me! I am such a strong, healthy boy! It first started with my baby sister 2 weeks ago with flu, then my M got it, then my baby sister decided she must win so she went ahead and had diarrhea, then my MM joined in by having stomach flu, then my M got fever and cough again.

So today all of them are on medical leave! The good thing of them being sick is that all of them get to stay home, with ME!

Being sick is not such a bad thing after all.

Healthy me, the healthiest one in the family!

Sunday Park

I finally get to go to the park again after 2 weeks! I was initially quite happy to be there.... until I got chased by some dogs.

What happened was, I was the second dog to reach the park, and there was already a JRT in there. After that a family of 4 westies came in. I think 2 of the westies are more dominant as they were kept on leash, but it was all right coz we were all minding our own business. Then came a family of 5 shih tzus! Now we have 2 different packs of small dogs, both in different corners.

Then I managed to find an empty plastic bottle and was playing with it. My M threw the bottle and I was running after it when 2 of the STs came charging and barking at me. I was not too happy so I showed them my teeth and ran back to my M. The owner pulled the STs back into their far corner and my M decided to pause my bottle game.

After what seemed like an eternity everything seemed calm so we started the bottle game again and they came charging at me again. This time I snapped at them and my M had to drag me off but she didn't scold me coz it's not my fault. Anyway that's the thing with a family of dogs, as they say, power in numbers.

It was only after the 2 packs left that I finally get to have fun with my bottle!



But I think after the scuffle I was on wary mode so I got into a near fight with another dog who came in later. My M didn't see what triggered it but she and the other owner quickly broke up our quarrel and we ignored each other after that.

And then came a Mini Scuba! There was a 5 months old MBT puppy who kept wanting to make me play. My M said that finally I get a chance to taste my own medicine (ie: being irritated to death). I must say I don't think I was every that irritating. Was I? I'm not.... right?



All these happened in a mere 1 hour. I must say my sunday morning park's schedule was quite packed.

Wet Wet Weekend

It was a rainy weekend, in fact it was wet, wet, week. So with it being so wet, my M can't bring me out to the park. So we took pictures with my baby sister and I played ball along the corridor.

Resting with my ball and baby sis


And my baby sister tried to run me down when I wasn't looking. Don't they give driving licenses out for this kind of thing? I think she seriously need one.

Bad driver...


But it's ok, I still love her, coz she loves me too...



.... but only after checking that my ears were clean (they were, in case you want to know)


And I can't go to the park again next weekend coz my M will be out of town.

I'll miss my weekend park.

Customized Collar

A lot of people has been asking my M recently where she got my customized collar from. Actually, since my big brother herbie's days, we've been wearing customized collars. All our fabric collars have our names sewn on it.

Our names!


And because my M doesn't like the sounds of clinking tags, we don't wear dog tags, but she had her phone number sewn on the inside of our collar so that if we every get lost, which is unlikely, there's still a contact number.

I hope the founder will look on the inside for the number!


Anyway, the collars are normal collars bought from any petshops, but she took the collars when she went on howliday to Bangkok, Thailand and got the names and numbers sewn at this shop called Seven Sisters located at the 6th floor of Mah Boon Kong (sp?). It's very cheap for the sewing to be done there and you can choose the fonts and colors of the thread.

But for those who are not going to MBK, maybe you can check with the local Beach Road army shops to see if they can sew the names. My M reckons that if they can sew names on the army uniforms, they should have no problem sewing collars.

So now you know where to get your personalized collars as well!

My successor

Hey guys! It's been a looong time since I was away and while over at the rainbow bridge, I pondered long and hard as to who should take over my place as the Kitchen God and King of Begging.

Of course, Helios is one of the obvious choice, but I've realised that now there's a competitor to that position, who is none other than our baby sister!

The humans have been wondering if our baby sister is me reincarnated since we both share similar traits (begging and sleeping) but I must make it clear that much as I love my family, I won't want to come back as a human. Humans have to study, take exams, work, earn money... all those stressful things. I'd rather come back as a dog and just eat, sleep and play all day.

Actually, I might be coming back. My M was speaking to a friend's aunt who was a psychic and my M asked in passing if she sense dogs. So I managed to pass a message to her. Anway that's another story.

Back to my successor. Why do I say that my baby sister can be a candidate as well? Well, look at the photos below and tell me if you spot any similarities.

Then: Me and Tommy...waiting outside the kitchen....


Now: The potential successors.... still waiting outside the kitchen...


Then: Waiting to be fed...


Now: Still waiting to be fed...


And this video....



So now you understand why I say my baby sister can be my successor as well?

Now all she has to learn is to plonk her head on the human's lap.

Long lost friend - Found!

I just found my long lost friend, Oscar! We used to play together a lot at the park, but he had to move to a far away place called Dubai a year ago coz his dad was sent there.

I think Oscar had enough of the sand in Dubai so he made his dad come back here. I'm not sure what's wrong with the sand in Dubai, I thought sand always comes together with the sea, and that would mean swimming?

Anyway, after 1 year away, Oscar's back! The first few times at the park we were a little awkward with each other so we didn't really play but yesterday, we got our groove back!

We started playing like old days...


And he even has his boxer gang with him. I was seriously outnumbered...


But it didn't matter coz we all had fun!

I'm so glad I now have a friend to play with at the park.

Growling baby

My M thought it was quite funny that my baby sister, I mean my baby brother... was making growling noises when I played with Scuba. I think she's a copycat, coz I sometimes growl a little when I play.



Maybe when she's a little older we can be a tag team!

Where's my sister?

Something very strange happened recently. One day, my M and MM went out with my baby sister...



... and they came back with a baby brother!



I think they traded my baby sister in for a new brother coz my baby sister was pulling out her own hair so much that she became half bald and quite ugly.

Half bald baby sister


I better not shed more fur then I can afford to lose, otherwise they may trade me in for a labrador too!!

Can someone help me find my baby sister?

Baby's 1st Barkday!

How time flies, my baby sister just had her 1st barkday on Sunday, but the humans celebrated it early for her on Saturday.

Of course, I had to be around to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Like checking out the decorations.

I think the balloons are a little crooked


I wonder if the food's gonna be up to standard...


I must say the cake looks very nice, but I wasn't given any coz it has chocolate, and alcohol in it. :(



The barkday girl was pretty knocked out by the end of the party and actually fell asleep! What a lousy host!



She didn't even wake up when there was a human change.



Luckily I was still going strong, checking out everyone if there's still food left... I mean, if they had a good time.

Scuba the living backdrop aka Bullying the Bully

Last weekend, my M carted the whole portable backdrop to Scuba's house for a shoot. Scuba, as the host, was the most co-operative. The humans just plonked him in the middle and he didn't even attempt to move away, so he was featured in EVERY photo.

So he had photos taken with Tommy...


with J&J...


and with me!


My M said I have a goofy grin but I thought I just looked handsome.

And since Scuba was being so co-operative, the humans decided to put the babies on him.

Tommy's baby brother so liked being on Scuba that he would climb up on Scuba on his own. There must be something about Scuba's ears coz all the babies seem to like to pull it.

Tickle ears


My baby sister was not very happy to be on Scuba coz she wanted to crawl around but the humans keep putting her back. Look how grouchy she looks!



The humans wanted us to take a group picture but gave up in the end coz we were all too excited to sit still. They said there'll be a round 2.

I hope they don't get the babies to sit on ME.