a bit of a paw situation

uh oh guess where i was last night...

yep... a visit to mr vetty!!!

and what got me in this pickle... grass!

this grass to be exact, barley grass...

i was a bit worried that the krampus, (the ugly, horny dude who takes away bad kids), may get wind about my wee plight so i tried to hide it from b & c, bit tricky seeing as i was doing the major lick treatment...

was i good?... i was magnificent... stellar infact! i let mr vetty get the barb out with no anesthetic, nope... nothing... i just gritted my fangs and let him do his stuff with the big menacing looking tweezer thingey. mr vetty was most impressed and so were b & c when they found out i had just saved them $250 avoiding the surgery!!! mr vetty said 99.9% of dogs would not be able to do that, no muzzle, not even a growl and it was my front right paw so i saw everything! hey santa i'm waiting... yoo hoo... surely i've topped your good list...no?

maybe i should consider shoes... how silly do you feel mr chair?

go hard!

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a cranberry thursday

oi doyle it's cranberry...
what's cranberry
this weeks colour...
so what am i meant to do about it
find some...
but they're not really a nz thing...

how about our pohutakawa tree... it's flowers are cranberry coloured...

perfect doyle, the new zealand christmas tree or metrosideros excelsa, who every xmas obligingly clothes itself with masses of cranberry coloured flowers

hey, down here, i said down here... did i hear flowers?

where?

here?

where... there?...

oh mollie... our pohutakawa is too young for cranberry christmas flowers... maybe next year when you won't eat them!

and while we are on the subject of xmas, auckland was asked whether their santa was an 'iconic auckland institution' or a 'sad old dodgy man'?

well santa lost his battle, the 'people' labeled him a dodgy old man and forced him into cosmetic surgery... why oh why... he was part of my history!!

seems people thought him too sleezey with his squiffy eye and 'come hither' finger...

hey guys... that's what made him an iconic piece of our history dam it!... (nice link if you click on the word history)

now we have this dude, he may have the usual cranberry coloured getup but he aint got half the character of the old fella... the proverb 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink' tends to spring to mind... it is unfortunate but some people will only do what they have a mind to do... shame creepy santa, you will be missed!

oh i need a drink... a nice central otago pinot with cranberry notes whilst watching a spot of wrestling will do nicely thank you...

oh mollie, leave him alone...

next thursday will be boxing day... woah!!! and blue has set the challenge as christmas...

it will be our pleasure blue... we are going to take it as our xmas post so it's all things go!

in the meantime everyone, have a safe and indulgent xmas... we are off to prepare for the onslaught of goodies...

fa la la la la, fa la la la ...

'tis the season to be jolly...

fa la la la la, fa la la la...

woof hoo to all of you!

an aqua thursday

aqua eh... well we won't lie the last week and a half have been arfing tough on us dogs i mean b & c have been all mopey, tired and somewhat self obsessed... time to get over it guys there is major cuteness in the house...

if you guys are not careful she's going to take over with all her demands...

she wants constant grooming, continuous play, the house is full of newspaper and you guys are always cleaning arf arf...

hey doyle nice spread of aqua in that pic bet you didn't know aqua is a another word for water so consider yourself lucky this post is not about baths! yes we have been mopey and we do miss our mate woody heaps but we are feeling much better about it all.

as a final tribute to the ratbag we post one more pic of woody on lake alexandrina, paradise as he used to call it, he once sent us this message "Glad you like the photos, what they don’t convey is the staggering silence"...

woody... it's the acceptance of your perpetual silence that is the hardest thing for us to bear...

woody 24 april 1963 - 28 november 2009, too young, too soon!

next week blue's playing cranberry... saucy indeed!

a cream thursday and a sad farewell

our best mate woody just needed to get to the next place, he left this world on saturday the 28th, his decision... bugga you woody!

we were going to do a cream post, b even took the pics...

but instead as a tribute to woody we are going to post our recipe for creamy carbonara - you see on sunday the 5th of May 1991 woody first introduced b to carbonara, it was the night his daughter max was born, it was a celebration meal... and now, to us, carbonara will always be a celebration, we love you woody!

ah carbonara... bacon, eggs and cheese... what is not to love? it's a little creamy, salty and best of all, it will always remind us of woody

serves 4-6 and you will need:

about 450gm or 1 pound dried spaghetti

about 2 tablespoons kosher salt for pasta water

7 slices thick cut bacon, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

fresh cracked pepper

fresh chopped parsley

bring 8+ pints or 4-6 quarts water to boil, add salt and stir in pasta. cook until al-dente 9-11 minutes. strain, reserve 1/4 cup pasta water.

meanwhile, in a large pan fry bacon until crispy. strain on paper towel. reserve 2 tablespoons bacon drippings. add garlic to bacon drippings. cook until softened. pour cream over onions and garlic. Cook 2 - 3 minutes. Return bacon to pan.

add pasta to pan with cream, garlic and bacon. toss with tongs to coat. cook until the pasta is hot and absorbs the sauce about 1 minute.

beat together eggs and both cheeses. slowly add a couple of tablespoons of reserved pasta water to temper the eggs. remove the pasta from the heat. pour egg mixture over the pasta and toss with tongs constantly until the pasta is coated. add remaining pasta water only if pasta seems dry or is sticking together.

sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper and chopped fresh parsley. toss once more. serve with love.

the recipe is very forgiving, as was woody, do with it anything you want, omitting or replacing the cream with some white wine works wonders for the waistline!

oh and b, don't forget our house is cream too...

next week blue's challenge is aqua gulp!

bye bye ratbag...

woody

let's be thankful it's an orange thursday

so blue at true colours, in honor of thanksgiving, has challenged us to orange this week. no problems i can show you my moves with my orange mr pumpkin head...

if mollie will ever let me have a go...

while i waited for the mollie monster to share some play, i got thinking about how thanksgiving is not really a new zealand tradition. it's a harvest festival right? so you are spose to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general by scoffing lotsa food with friends and family? gobble and go kinda thing? mmmmmm that gave me an idea... today we will post a huge thanks to all our blogging friends and in keeping with the spirit of all things orange, all my bloggy friends have something orange in their photo... (pee ess, if we've missed you out we are furry furry sorry - maybe we don't know you visit us?? be sure to woof out so we know you are out there... licks and loves ;D)

first up we have the 4 b's, in a way its kinda appropriate they are the first pic cos they were the first blog we ever visited infact, it was these dudes who inspired us to start our blog

asta, she might be the queen of orange and style in manhatten, but she's also got the biggest heart of gold

barkalot boyz, jake and harry... always an adventure in florida

bogart, sadly bogie lost his h-dad earlier this year, he has since taken up the challenge of protector of his h-mom whilst serving as a very informative guide to the arty side of portland's sidewalks and forests

butchy, oh butchy we are furry sorry your sidekick and soulmate miss snickers didn't beat her strange illness, we can only hope you do not get too lonely

checkers, always the fashion statement you should see her knitted creations

deetz & sharkie, who found and rescued a stray kitten, jinx, all on their own

duffy, he might be new to all this bloggy stuff but being asta's bro we know he will excel

eduardo, the snuggle puggle... he might be small but man courage wise he's twice the size of most, keep fighting that horrid sickie eosinophilic myositi eduardo

fred, a poodle like no other

gooberstan and stella, to celebrate the notion of new friends, today we add these two characters who we know will provide us with much laughter

guiness and saige, who are so big they have to wear reflector vests so the hunters dont shoot them

ike, who's just relocated to barkingham... we kid you not

joey, who splits our sides... love your style

kyhra, generous beyond words, it was actually khyra who gave us this weeks orange idea, she offered the infamous orange rescue van her momma uses to help dogs who are less fortunate than ourselves, if you can help go visit the last resort rescue by clicking on this link or peemail khyra at KhyraSH at Gmail dot Com

lacie, spirited beyond belief how do stanley and scruffy hack the pace we wonder

laura, ok she may not be a dog and she's definitely not a bee but she's our first internet friend who lets us come up and rent their wee farm cottage the acorn, bliss

life with dogs, so clever and witty they always deliver a laugh

mack and sally ann, generous, loving and oh so great shoppers

madison, who gave us our first vote of confidence in mango's mango minster, for that we stay loyal

mango, big guy, huge heart and master of the slobber

mitch and maggie, true friends... without these two we would have most likely missed the odd true colours, they rally us on and as far as we know they have never missed a post, a tough act to follow

peewee, agile and wise mind you he would have to be since he lives with the one that goes by the name 'relentlessly huge'

petey, ok he may have a small tail (actually it looks pretty long in this pic) but he always has a huge tale to tell

sasha, such sassy sweetness

sasha the dane, the biggest kid on the block

snickers, aw snickers, she shared so many of her adventures with us, she may be gone in body but her spirit will always be with us

spatial peepol, ruby and scooter standing with renner in front. always sharing such lovely photos and words... before you ask... yes we think ruby's spots are a kind of orange

sparky, a cavapapipoo... he's got the smarts (and naughtiness) from the poodle, the agility from the papillon, and the willingness to please from the cavalier one very smart 'designer dog'

suzuki, have you seen any of the above? we fear they are missing in action and feel we should put out a missing persons alert...

tank, a wee joker with a lot of panache and attitude

tanner, if we didn't have tanner we wouldn't have doofus, right?

teddy, always up to something and most definitly a strong willed player

tibby, always showing so much style, another true designer dog

twinkle, living the high life with a smile

vodka, cute as a button

walter, a mighty courageous pug who is beating all the odds, a true superdog

and finally a furry special thanks to blue seen here with her friend jackson. it is blue's meme 'true colours' that keeps us on track with our weekly posts. blue never fails to surprise us with her own last post to every colour challenge... cake - no matter how weird the colour, blue always manages to find a cake. this next pic is especially for blue... blue you take the cake!

next week apparently things are going to get creamy...