Winter solstice: survived thanks to a $7 designer coat.

I'm so sorry I've been a very bad doog pal of late. Can you all forgive me? (well, my slack ma, actually). I'm looking forward to sniffing around your smelly blogplaces real soon.

Now, on to the news.

It's been really cold here in Adelaide these last few weeks, almost as cold as we experienced when we lived in Canberra.

The ma was feeling rather sorry for me sleeping outside at night. I shivered and shook (at appropriate moments. I was actually rather comfy. But you doogs understand it's important to milk the sympathy line for all it is worth.)

So what did she do? Did she buy me a kennel? Nope. Did she allow me to sleep inside (the easiest, most sensible and PREFERABLE option by far)? Nope.

She bought me a coat. A COAT, for Dog's sake.

Me. Tin Tin. Who NEVER wears clothes. Ever.

(Except that one time Jay sent me a bandana, and I posed. And looked handsome.)

Okay, here we go:

See my wagging tail there? The treats made me do it.

My Yoda impression:


"A new coat, I have."


The coat fastens under my (much trimmer) tummy and around my chest.

I hope all you bee-itches out there have noticed how it strains over my dogly chest.

I actually got used to it very quickly. It's lined with real synthetic sheepskin, and although I'm loath to admit it, it has kept me really warm and toasty these last couple of weeks.

Oh, and those things hanging off my collar? My registration tags. The ma thought she'd leave them on like some kind of decoration or something.

So now I'm walking around with relics of my past status hanging off me.

Whatever.

Tin Tin the tree termite terminator. So how did you spend your Sunday?

A tree that looks like a tuning fork is in our back yard. Trouble is, the tree is almost dead.



The da hooked a chain around it.

And guess who pulled it down?



Before you guess, here's what it looked like. Those termites were havin' themselves a big feed.



Blowin' on the paws, gettin' ready for the pull...



...is this helping?



I feel kinda like how Ao4 or my other Sibe pals must feel when they're pullin' sleds and other stuff.



Tin Tin termite terminator at your service.

Now where's the treat ma?

PS ok so I didn't yank the tree down. The stupid humans thought it would be funny to make it look like I did.

Ha blinkin' ha.

I'll be baaaaaaack.

PPS Bye bye sweet FuFu. And hell-oooo hell-oooo Girl Girl.

Dog interrupted

So the ma thought it would be a good idea to take me for a walk on Sunday.

To the beach.

Two problems with that.

1. It was pouring rain. It was windy. And it was cold.

2. It was in the middle of the DWB Whine and Shes ummm, Cheese pawty.

Actually make that three. Problems, that is.

3. I had a marrow bone to finish.

Here’s the unfinished paw-work.

Big sigh.

Pick a time when I'm socially AND mandibly engaged, throw in some crap weather, then decide to bring me for a walk. How'll I ever train her?

Anyway, it was great to chat to all you bloggydogs and beee-itches at the weekend. What a barkin’ success the pawty was!

To those I didn’t bark at ‘cos of time zone differences or why-ever else, I'm sooo sorry I missed you.

To those with whom I did share a bark and wag, thanks for the lovely experience.

And a particularly big bark out to Opy and Charlie’s humans for hosting, and to Sunshade’s human for co-ordinating.

As soon as the ma has gone through the pawty pix, I might post one. If they're fit for doggy consumption, that is.

Coz I love you

I’ve missed you doogs, thank you all so much for continuing to drop by my smelly blogplace to check up on me. I’ll be doin’ the rounds shortly to chez vous all…

The ma is busy. So who isn’t? How come your humans don’t neglect your deliciously smelly blogplaces like my ma does?

Le sigh. Hard to find good people these days.

Anyway. Onto one of my fave topics: food.

So a couple of weeks ago, the mailma(n) arrived.

With a box. With my name on it.



My ma’s name was on it too, but the stuff was all for ME.

It wasn't my burpday.

It wasn't Christmas either.

Then I thought maybe the ma was trying to get into my good books by paying me some attention.

But there was a certain exciting, delicious, dribbly, delectable, mouth-watering doggy scent from this box that howled E D I B L E.

Sure enough, opening it up revealed…a treasure trove of treats for MEEEEEEEE.

All from my pals Charlie and Opy (sigh…). With a love note. Which I’m treasuring.



To all you Opy-lovers out there: BIG RASPBERRY. (Ummm, a polite one, of course.)

Anyway, back to the box. Not just a bunch of LOVE HEART biscuits from my gal-pal Opy, but a devilishly orange coz.



Here's the stash:



Yaaaaay. Finally the coz arrives Down Under.



Thank you so much, Opy-gal and Chuxie.



The treats are going down a, ummmmm, treat.

The coz sleeps with me each evening.



Don’t get me wrong, I’m a tough chewin’ doooog.



But I have my soft spots.



(Oh, and black ones too.)

Reasons for being abandoned occasionally

So I thought I’d update you on why I am abandoned sometimes by my ma and da.

And pictures tell a better story, don’t they?

So here are some taken by my da, who's a really really really really really really good photographer.

First up, here's a beautiful leafy sea dragon. They're quite difficult to spot in the water.



This is actually the official marine emblem of South Australia. People come from all over the world to find and photograph these absolutely gorgeous creatures. This Phycodurus eques was photographed at a really nice place called Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula.

Can anyone guess what these are?



Okay I’ll tell you. Baby Nemos. Yep, baby clownfish. In Papua New Guinea, where my ma and da went on a diving holiday last September (abandoning me in the process).

Here's a broadclub cuttlefish at 30m (that's 98 feet for my imperial pals), also in Papua New Guinea.



Sepia latimanus is the second largest cuttlefish species. Also, see the sea grass in the background? Sea grass at 30m? Nope, in fact it was a bunch of garden eels.

And here we have Homo sapiens extraordinarious, aka my ma. Hee hee hee.



And because this is my blog, here’s me.

Tin Tin Canine superiorous legendoris.

Some of me has disappeared. So I need more lovin'. Oh, and here's a Limerick.

Thanks to everyone who voted for my photo at the Bone Zone.

I won. Woohoo!

Considering the amazing competition, we’re very proud and humbled here at Tin Tin HQ.

So my glorious me-ness is on the front page of Dogs With Blogs for the month of March.

Now, you may recall that weird-al-vetkovich said I had to lose 5 kgs to be at my ideal weight.

Guess what? I’ve already lost 2.5 kg (and don’t know where to find them).

The ma’s done away with kibble for now and I get carrots (oh my dog I love those things) with my meat each evening.

This is me munchin' the last of today's feast. My dogpal Wally would be proud.



Food is food is food is vital.

I feel it’s important to maximise the dining experience and get every last scrap out of the bowl.

I stepped out …



and I stepped in again…



You know what?

That rhymes with Finnegan.


Move over Marvin the bard,
I’m takin’ over your yard
Bee-itches to woo
With a ditty or two
I’m not just a bunch of lard.




Just call me Your Sleekness.

Of six-legged chickens. And voting.

Sorry for the infrequent dogpostings, doogs.

The ma is slack. Busy with other things but slack with attention to my important smelly blogplace. What's that about? Does that happen to anydooog else?

Now, for strange things part (i).

This is what we found in our supermarket recently:



Does anyone think that's just plain WRONG?

Bwuhahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

Oh, and that hydrodog photo of me in the water has been nominated for photo of the month at Dogs With Blogs. Thanks doooogs!

Clicky here and vote, if you haven't done so already. Voting closes Saturday 24 February.

And don't forget to vote for your fave movies in the FIDO Awards. The Tin Tin jury has already pawed in its vital votes.

I'm not in them this year, but I'm prepping my dogmatic skills for next year.

Guaranteed.

That day. The day that's in it. Happy it.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all you bee-itches out there. And doogs.

I love you all, and that’s the truth.



Here’s a heart-shaped box of strawberry heart-shaped jellies I helped eat.



Here’s a stupid heart-shaped cushion I was supposed to pose with.



Uh-huh, that went well.



What can I bark.



I got bored.

It’s not like I was cuddling up to any of my favourite gal-pals, like Opy, Chelsea , Cairo, Isabella, Sunshade, Amber & Stormy, Holly, Sophie, Sid, Charlie, Bella, Snickers, Freda (sorry Charlie), Ivy, Fei, Maggie, Meeshka, Onion, Tosca….I could bark on and on…and sorry to those beee-itches I haven't listed... (oh my dog I'm such a slut...).

The thing is, I want to send big howl-outs to all the guys too.

And I'm definitely not going to list all of them.

So here’s to all Dogs With Blogs.

And even those who haven’t heard the alluring howl of the internet yet.

Love, peace and plenty of marrow bones, doooogs.

(Oh yes, I had one of those.

Marrow bones, that is.

Oh yeeeeeeessss.)

Appeasing Apollo

You're not serious.



Ummm, yes you are, apparently.

You're sacrificing ME to Apollo, the Sun God.

And all while the ma looks on and takes photos!



Whew, some quick thinking and swimming, and a sacrificial drama avoided.



The da and human sister stayed out there, but eventually came back to shore.

No sacrifices this particular day.


Oh, and thanks for everone's concern...I've answered your questions in the comments box of my last dogpost.

Yes the ma is feeding me, she's bulking my food up with raw carrots and cutting back on the ole dry food. And you know what? It's y u m m y.

Hydrodog

No.
Energy.
To.
Blog.
'Cos.
Not.
Getting.
Enough.
To.
Eat.

There you are, Comet. Ummm, you look different.

I got really excited earlier this month. I was certain Comet and BLU were coming to visit me, ‘cos I heard the ma and da say that they could see gorgeous Comet.

I waited and waited.

But here’s what they were talking about.



Introducing comet C/2006 P1 McNaught. (Or maybe it's Boomer's Dog Star.)

The brightest comet to be seen here in 42 years.



Lovely.

But I’d prefer a visit from my pals.

Oh, by the way: the ma still hasn't made me any biscuits.

And I'm just back from weird-al-vetkovich after getting my annual C5 shot and do you know what he said? He said I had to lose 5 kilos.

Absolute dog poop.

I need my energy for chewing, looking cute, and harrassing the ma to make dog biscuits.

It's '007. Shaken, not stirred. Hopefully tasty.

Hi bloggy doogs, sorry about the lack of posting…due to intense crotch-sniffing of international and interstate visitors. Oh, and temperatures of 39ºC. The paws were too sweaty.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that Santa laid down some real treats for you all.

I got some great chew toys but, as you may have read in my previous post, chewing mechanisms were primed. So they (the toys, not the chewing mechanisms) lasted for a day. No photos to prove they ever existed. Does this mean I didn’t actually get any?

Here’s the bag they came in. This has yet to be demolished.

My human boy pal Will and his folks gave me a biscuit recipe and biscuit cutters all the way from historic gold-mining town Ballarat in Victoria.

I’m worn out trying to encourage the ma to make the dog-dang things.

I’ve missed you all; I’ll be around to all your smelly blogplaces over the next little while.

I hope 2007 will be an even bigger and better bloggy year for all of us.


Goodbye, and gentle tail wags and sorry sniffs for Beagledom’s wonderful Daisy Mae and Peanut. And also for Tara, whom I didn’t know so well.

We miss you.

Christmas chewing rehearsal

Yep, I'm on track.



Chewing mechanism is primed...



...honed...



...and standing by.

Bring on those Christmas treats.