Wonder dog

Today is my birthday :) Godpa helped me pose and took a series of nice portraits.

Meanwhile he's been reading some comics (at his age?). I wonder who's this Wonder Woman? Godpa says she's a super hero, a former Goddess of Truth, and a role model whom I should aspire to. Hmm, I guess I can be as much of a princess as her.

Al fresco style grooming

Godpa sent the car to the workshop today for routine maintenance. He didn't bring me along coz it's a place with lots of oil and grease that will dirty my coat.

He showed me what he had for lunch: a bowl of simple century egg and peanuts porridge. He sure knows how to compensate for the more sinful curry horfun last night.

When he got home, he and his dad brought me out. I was so excited thinking we're going to the dogrun or something. I should have run off when I saw them packing the clipper and scissors. They were bringing me downstairs for a hair cut! As usual I prefer professionals to do the job, but you can see my paws were trimmed revealing my claws more clearly, and there's also less fur blocking my eyes. Overall I'm quite happy with it. And tomorrow's my birthday that marks 6 months under the care of godpa. Any surprises for me? :)

Deepavali home alone

Sigh, it's been raining lately especially in the afternoons, which means I seldom get long evening walks. Godpa tried to make up for it last Friday with an hour long walk that brought me to new locations with lots to see and sniff.

Today is the Indian festival of Deepavali or Diwali in Hindi. I thought godpa might bring me to Little India to take a look. Wishful thinking on my part actually. A thunderstorm came in the late afternoon and I was left to watch the house on my own. I tried to look calm though I'm afraid of thunder, and sent them off at the door as they left for shopping.

Godpa wanted to share some interesting snapshots with me to brighten the blog. Curry Ipoh horfun with fried pork (Suntec City foodcourt), fresh salmon on ice, and bright yellow peppers,

Vagabond

Godpa couldn't keep me company on Saturday as he had a work event to attend. Well, it seems like a nice place to be working on a weekend. Only complaint he had was the bad restaurant service and quality of food served. He swore the beef steak was only something I'd enjoy (is my taste so low class?). He said I could have finished the whole dish on my own (it's that small a portion!). Poor godpa.

This morning, godpa came across a vagabond female dog and he was surprised to see it had red dots on its forehead. Some nasty human thought it was cool to decorate her with the markings of a Buddhist monk! Godpa says she looks well fed and not afraid of humans. If anyone wants to adopt her, do contact me and I'll inform godpa to provide the location. Right now she's loitering around the Yishun area.

Precious Moments

Moment: Farewell godpa, see you tonight after work, even if you forget, I'll still be waiting here.
Moment: Savour good food, godpa recalls sweet memories of a foreign land. Taiwan style stewed minced pork with rice (台灣肉糟飯).

Moment: Night Blooming Cereus quietly blooms and fades at dawn (昙花一现). Found in Uncle Leon's neighborhood.

Constant change (oxymoronic)

Things change so fast in the human world. I heard from godpa that KM8 may be closing down end of the year due to its lease expiring. We just went there about 2 weeks back. I hope the beach remains popular with dogs and their companions.

Wonder when's my next outing? Otherwise, it's the same old routine of indoor toys and the same old path around the estate for me. Sometimes I get shorter walks due to the changing weather from suddenly sunny to rapid rains.

Scandal

This is scandalous, what was godpa doing with two other girls last night! Furthermore they're JRTs that I don't really have an affinity with. Godpa told me he was just at an acquaintance's place

and he happened to keep two 6 yr old sister JRTs. The one with an eye patch is called Dash, and the sister's called Bullet. I smelled them immediately when godpa came home late. The girls were all over him. Godpa says they were just being friendly. Hmmph! Am I expected to believe that?

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The Bad: Godpa told me he tried some mee siam recently at the renovated basement food court of Orchard Cineleisure. Well, tastes are subjective but to him, the beehoon was stiff, the gravy too sweet and thick, the fish cakes sour(turned bad?), and the whole thing was prepared in microwave along with the gravy. Caveat emptor.

The Ugly: Godpa was feeling a bit down yesterday and he indulged himself in some retail therapy. He should have indulged in getting more treats or toys for me! Ok, the shoes do look comfortable and good on him.

The Good: To compensate for lousy mee siam earlier in the week, godpa had much better mee rebus at the Marina Square food court yesterday. It's from the stall selling the famous nasi lemak and popiah.

Obviously this is not a food blog, so here's more updates on me. We went to the dog run yesterday late morning and we had a swell time, or at least godpa tried to coax me to enjoy the company of other dogs. I had the experience of being pinned down by a big girl also named Nikki. She's a 2yr old German Shepherd Collie mix and was there with her doggy mum, Nana. Nikki was equally a tough gal, she pinned me down with her big jaws and her human companions apologised to godpa about it. I was a little apprehensive but godpa was cool with the whole episode as he thinks it's good doggy socialization lesson for me. We learnt Nana was also an adopted dog, rescued from SPCA. Nikki's actually quite playful, chasing after dogs in the park. Because of her breed and size, some humans misunderstand her and worry about their precious pooch being attacked. Poor Nikki. I hope we meet again.

Classmate blog

Godpa just found the blog that my classmate, Dodo the Sausage Dog, started. I'm gonna read it all tonight. It looks like she's got a younger companion in the house. I wonder if godpa will ever find me a companion dog? He says if ever there's another doggy, she'll be much larger than me so that I won't be able to bully her. Well, we'll see about that.

Beach dog 2

Uncle TK put up the beautiful beach photos he took for us. Aren't the boys handsome? Add to that, it looks like Bear is going to get on the dog -walk of high fashion coz he's nominated to be Cover Dog for the Club Pet magazine. For me, I'm just contented to be on the floor as sleeping beauty.

Beach dog

We had a day at the Tanjung Beach yesterday! Although godpa brought me to East Coast Park before, this was my first dip into the waters. I was reluctant initially but godpa managed to coax me in and I'm not sure how but I just started to swim, dog paddle style of course. I also loved catching leaves in the water, maybe coz I thought those were delicious fish.

The beach was crowded with humans and dogs were seen all over the place. The humans were clothed almost like me, if you know what I mean. I attracted some attention too as many thought I was a cute puppy. I think I never got caressed by so many strangers in a day, some girls even posed for photos with me. As for dogs, it was a new experience snapping at them on the beach.

Oh, I mustn't forget the reunion with Bear and Bruno and their Pa. They were still so nice to me even though I was rather aloof and snappy. I saw everyone eating and drinking, treats from Uncle TK, but as usual all of us dogs could only watch pleadingly. Godpa forgot to take photos with the two boys; I think he was busy watching out for me in the crowded area, in case some tipsy bloke stepped on me or I zip off to snap at dogs. I'll wait to see if Uncle TK has taken a shot of the boys on their blog. As the day ended, we walked off into the sunset. Romantic isn't it?

"The Lord's my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose.
Through restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.
And though I go through the valley of darkness no evil will I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff and with these you give me comfort.
Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me the rest of my days."

Leisurely Saturday

We went for a walk this morning outside the estate. Godpa still remembers my unruly behaviour the last time I was out. Of course that was before taking up obedience classes. We kinda miss the lessons now.

I still get my refreshers every day, sometimes doing Stand, sometimes doing Down-Stay. It's rather relaxing actually, since I just have to keep still most of the time.

Once home, it's breakfast followed by playtime with godpa and my latest toy, a simple white towel.

Cooking Godpa

Godpa was on leave yesterday and I guess he was bored and wanted to try his hand at cooking for me. He prepared thinly sliced young corn and diced cherry tomatoes, boiled together with some shreds of pear. I gave it a try today and cleaned it all up. I wished he had time to cook more often, otherwise it's back to my basic raw meats and occasional rice. Think he'll try to freeze the cooked veg the next time.

Singapore Special Lucky for adoption

There's a Singapore special breed doggy who's looking for a home. His name is Lucky, and he's just 1 year old. His life seems to have many ups and downs just like mine. Wish I could have a younger and larger sized brother like him to play with at home. Details for adoption can be found here.

Since completing obedience class, godpa has been thinking of getting me to network with more doggies and improve my social etiquette. He says he'll bring me to meet Bear and Bruno soon :)

Blessings

Weather was great and we all went to get me my blessings. The church was beautiful but that did not stop me from my usual misdemeanor. Many dogs were there along with rabbits and turtles.

The ceremony was short and simple, and we spent some time relaxing in the serene outdoors. We got a pleasant surprise when a lady who reads my blog came up with her dog to say hi :) Her dog's Scooby. Too bad I didn't know how to do a proper dog greeting, maybe next time.

Who's that girl?

Godpa scanned in my certificate and grades for yesterday's class test. Yep, it's something worthwhile to let people know that adopted dogs (and their owners) are not losers. I'm no purebred but I can certainly do well if not even better than high class pooches.

Godpa and family are bringing me to be blessed at St Mary of the Angels. It's all because of one particular St. Francis of Assisi who loved all creatures. I'm pretty excited to meet some priestly folks and see other creatures there, let's hope the weather's good later.