It's that time of year

Mum's been busy filling in all the important days in her new diary - important days being birthdays which always come with cake or home made biscuits.

She's also said I have to make a new year revolution, you know about being good or doing something that you don't really like doing.  So, I've decided for next year I will:

1. be good when being groomed (it sometimes takes ages and I fidget a bit)

2. try not to bark too much (and avoid that smelly collar)

3. be good when we go out for walks and back to training, listen when I'm being called and respond accordingly (i.e. come back when Mum whistles)

and my favourite

4. continue to be a loveable, cuddly rogue and enjoy my life with Murphy, Mum and Dad.


Ahhh, I can be so cute sometimes

Happy New Year to all my friends, I look forward to seeing you soon and having some fun in 2013!

A day of firsts

... for Mum.

Today she went out of the house for the first time in a week!  She was so excited to be coming on our walk with us and really enjoyed herself.  We liked it too because we had 'breakfast on the go' as she puts it which really pleased Murphy as he's not too good at eating breakfast from a bowl all the time.
Mum has also managed to drink her first full cup of coffee for a week without feeling queasy afterwards, which is a real bonus for her as she is usually a 6 to 8 cups a day girl!

All of our attention is now focused on Dad as he is sneezing all over the place.

We like to share in our house.

That's it then

It's all over and we had a very nice, if quiet Christmas.

Me having a quiet moment!

 Mum was feeling very poorly all this week and hasn't been able to go out with us at all - Dad's been a hero and taken us out for a walk every day whatever the weather, and we've needed it eating all that turkey that Mum couldn't manage!

Dad took these photos of us with some of our presents..

 

I heard a little story yesterday that my cousin Tigger, not happy with stealing my dinner last Saturday also stole a WHOLE turkey leg from the cooked bird BEFORE any of the humans had even sat down to their dinner.  Apparently he just nicked it off the table.  Mum said he was a 'cheeky monkey' .  I think she might have said something else if it had been me wot done it!

 
Just before Christmas we brought home some more new fish.  These new guys (6 of them) are called Harlequin Rasbora and are very small and very fast, hence the not so good photo of them.

We now have eleven fish and loads of room in the tank for more.  Not sure what's coming next, something a bit easier to spot hopefully.

 
So we are having a few more quiet days and then Dad says it will be time for new ear?  I thought we had one of those a while ago, but it seems they come around every year.

Two sleeps

Only two sleeps to go and it's Christmas!!  I'm SO excited and can't wait to get my paws around all those presents under the tree!

Yesterday we went to see my doggy cousin Tigger.  We were able to get out into the garden and have a play which was great fun.  We bounced and played chase - he's very fast because he's a greyhound.  I quickly realised that he prefers to run around the garden  anti-clockwise  ....
 ... how sneaky am I for running the other way which really threw him!

We got on really well, until it came to dinner time.  Mum gave Murphy and I our dinner at the same as Tigger had his, but there was so much going on (other humans had arrived and they were all sitting down to eat) that I didn't eat mine and Murphy left half of his.  Mum picked up our bowls and said we could have dinner when we got home.  She put them in her back on a chair in the kitchen.
A little while later we realised that Tigger had been very quiet and found that he had pulled Mum's bag off the kitchen chair, emptied all of the contents across the floor and into the hall, taken the covers off our dinner bowls and EATEN THE LOT! 

Mum said we couldn't tell him off because we hadn't seen him do it.  I know exactly who ate my dinner and it WASN'T ME.   

It's gone again!

Look what we found when  we went for a very wet walk today ... the beck has broken it's banks again!

Decorating

We've been busy today supervising the decoration of our Christmas tree which was delivered yesterday. All was going very well, until Mum decided Murphy and I needed a bit of sparkle ...

Murphy doesn't look too bothered ... I on the other hand was not impressed!

New arrivals

Yesterday there was great excitement in the house when Dad brought home the first fish for his new aquarium.  He has to add the fish in stages, so this was stage one and we now we have 5 Cherry Barbs (2 girls and 3 boys apparently). 
They are quite small and very fast, so Mum has only managed to catch a couple of them in a photo

I'm not sure what's coming next, but I hope they're a bit bigger so we can spot them easily.

Busy few days

We've been busy since I last posted .. last Friday we met up with Milly, Duggie, Fergus and Dougal along with Max and Inca (Labradors who think they are Welshies) for a big pre-Christmas walk.  It was really nice - cold but quite dry and sunny, so we had a big run around.  Mum let me off my lead for a big part of the walk, so I was shattered by the time we went home.  Afterwards, we dogs all got cheese and garlic biscuits that Mum had made and the humans went for Christmas lunch, which they seemed to enjoy very much.

On Saturday we went to choose our Christmas tree.  Actually we had already picked it out with Mum earlier in the week, but we wanted to let Dad have a final choice.  He was happy with what we had picked, so the nice man at the nursery is going to deliver it to us this Friday.  So, after that it was home to locate all of the decorations (Dad missed a box in the attic and has to go back up there) so we could make the house look pretty through the week.

We've also been out for some great walks in the fields at Clumber and do the final bots of shopping for presents - the Christmas draw is looking quite full now although we still have loads of sleeps to go before Murphy and I can have a good look at what Mum has put in our stockings.

Whilst I am beginning to get quite excited, I must share with you a photo of my good friend Percy which has been sent to us by his Mum Fi today.  Now Percy is usually a very happy little Cocker spaniel, always with a big wag and a happy smile when we meet.  Not so much in this photo ...

Sorry Perce, I couldn't resist posting this! 

Can you see me?

I am in there, busy rooting around

but what with wearing my camouflage and having had a big session with the scissors yesterday, it may be difficult to spot me.

Here's a funny photo of Murphy.

He's not behind bars for being naughty, he's just sitting with his head through the stairs waiting for Mum to tell him dinner is ready!

Break through

Mum says we've had one of these this morning, but all I've had is my breakfast.

I think what she means is that she's managed to hoover the lounge, yes already and it's not 9am - that's what comes of Dad leaving very early to go to work and everyone else being up and awake!

Where was I?  Oh yes, Mum's hoovered the lounge and I didn't bark once.

I don't like the hoover, so I usually bark like crazy and try to bite it as Mum's using it.  A few days ago she put one of those spray collar thingys on me when she hoovered and I got a blast of something not very nice up my nose when I barked.  The next time she put it on me she didn't turn it on and I only barked once.  Today I didn't wear it at all and opted to sit on the stairs watching quietly.

I got a big cuddle for being a very good boy.  Rather have some chocolate.

Where is Murphy in all of this?  He had gone back upstairs to bed straight after finishing his breakfast!

That time of year

It's that special time of year again when Murphy and I get chocolate every morning for a month!  Yes, on Saturday Mum opened our very own Advent Calendar!

We're looking a bit low on biscuits there Mum - isn't it about time you did some baking?


Yesterday we went for a very wintery walk at Clumber ...

ok, so it doesn't look particularly wintery in this photo, but believe me it was cold on the old paws.