What we did at Christmas

We hope you all had a good Christmas!

This is sort of how ours went:

Oi! Don't you think it's time

that we got our presents?

Oh for goodness sake.

They're up here!

Tear it! Just tear the paper!

Grandma has no idea how to have a good time opening prezzies!

Come on, get your teeth into it!

Look, like this!

Oh at last!

Thought we were never going to get our presents.

And once the paper is off, the squeaking of soft toys is of course, one

of the traditional sounds of Christmas ...

What did you get?

Do you want to swop?

Roast turkey dinner!

 

Time to catch up on a nap now ...

Not quite the night before Christmas

Yes, we know!

But it's nearly Christmas, so you can't still

expect us to fit in all our usual blogs!

We've been busy doing this

 

 

and this

 

 

and are trying to catch up on this

 

 

And if that wasn't enough, the Madwoman has pressganged

us into helping do the 12 days of Christmas for Haunting Hounds and

Dog Friendly Gardening.

We told her we already did it last year, but she says it happens every year.

Does that count as recycling?

On the trail

We went for a mooch at the Open Air Museum yesterday.

 

 

We kept a sharp eye out for any signs of reindeer activity ...

 

And kept our ears pricked and alert for any jingle-bells noises ...

 

 

No sign of Santa, but we did find some good scent trails:

even the Madwoman managed to pick up

the whiff of fox wee but as usual was strangely reluctant to get her nose

down and do some proper sniffing.

We feel sorry for you short-nosed, nasally challenged humans.

You just don't know what you're missing out on.

Lying in wait

We're sure we heard reindeer hooves in the front garden.

So we're taking it in turns to keep an eye on things out there.

It's a good place to sit too, right next to the radiator which

the Madwoman has actually turned on today...

Being good AND busy ...

We have once again been busy ...

Let's see, there's been:

 

 helping with The Madwoman's Advent calendar on Facebook

to help raise funds for Scruples Whippet Rescue;

 

 

inspecting progress on the Dog friendly garden at Tilley Farm near Bath;

 

helping to put up Christmas decorations;

 

visiting our dog-godmother Sarah Fisher - she refused to pose for a photo as she'd left her make up bag at home so here's a picture of The Madwoman's horse Flash instead, who always looks good wearing a veneer of mud ...

 

So Santa, yes, we have been very very good!

 

 

 

 

Helping out

 

We are being busy and helpful at the moment.

The Madwoman has been creating a special Advent Calendar for her

Haunting Hounds Facebook page.

As 50% of all profits from the Haunting Hounds book are being

donated to Scruples Whippet Rescue,

we thought it was the least we could do.

So we have grinned and borne it as the Madwoman has pointed her camera

at us, and even suffered the humiliation of wearing ... but no,

we're not going to tell you.

You will just have to go visit the Facebook page HERE each day and

wait until you see that particular photo.

Yes, you'll know which one it is when you see it.

In the meantime we're off for a well deserved nap.

Just look at us. Exhausted.

Oh, and get yourself over to Amazon and buy the book

if you haven't already.

It's for a good cause and we don't want all our hard work

modelling going to waste either!

Here's the UK link:

Haunting Hounds

 

Getting festive

Off to the Chiltern Open Air Museum this morning

for their annual traditional Chilterns Christmas.

We were a bit uncertain about this lot at first ...

 

But then they introduced themselves and we found they weren't really scary.

In case you're wondering like we were, they are mummers.

They did little plays.

Lots of fighting and declaiming

- and quite a lot of prompting when they forgot their words too.

 

A bit further along we came across this worrying sight.

Santa's sledge.

We straightaway noticed that the reindeer were missing.

And our presents.

 And if you look very carefully you can see a cow lurking in that

barn. It's new. There's a competition to name it and the other

one which is being even more shy.

We suggested Rex and Rover.

Sleeping positions: 1

Sleeping Position No. 1:  The Comma

Points of view

 

 

 

 

While out on walks, the Madwoman has been babbling on about the rich tapestry of autumn colours ...

 

We have no idea what she is on about of course, because we are red-green colour blind and see the world around us in shades of blue, yellow and grey.

A bit like this ...

 

She should try getting her nose down in the undergrowth if

she really wants to experience autumn fully.

 

Trouble is, she'll probably only get this, and wonder what all the fuss is about ...

 

                                      While with our superior snouts it will be more like this ...



Zzzzzzzzz

Having a lie in.

Come back later.

Cold!!!!!

Another late post, but we have a good reason.

The central heating pump has broken and it's been far too cold for us

to sit around writing stuff.

We have been keeping warm by:











Refusing to go out without our coats

 

Running like the wind

 

Shivering violently until The Madwoman puts our pj's on
(the furry boot didn't fit. We know because we did try)

and spending a LOT of time doing this:

Two whippets, not one with two heads.
 

 All warm wishes gratefully accepted.

Although a new central heating pump would be even more welcome ...

Immortalised

We are rather excited.

We have been immortalised by clever and talented artist person Jane Miller Robinson!

The picture was then auctioned in a charity auction by iheartwhippets and

raised lots of money - a whopping £240!

Naturally, if you want the real thing, according to the Madwoman,

our price is beyond rubies, and there's no point in  even bothering to enquire ...

 

The total amount of money raised by the auction was a fabulous £4,562 which has been distributed between three very deserving charities close to our own hearts -

Scruples Whippet Rescue,

Hounds First Sighthound Rescue,

and

Kim's Home for Elderly and Abused Sighthounds.

 

So thank you Jane! And iheartwhippets  and of course, all the people who made such generous bids to help support such good causes.

The Madwoman was very smitten by the picture and did bid for it.

Unfortunately her hand got stuck in her pocket just before bidding ended.

But we still love the picture and hope that whoever won it loves it just as much!

Sloshing around

 

Bit wet out.

What more can we say?

Special delivery

A parcel arrived for us today!

A box full of special Bedtime Treats from Lily's Kitchen.

Archie got to work at opening it while the Madwoman

was faffing around trying to find scissors ...

 

Success!

 

Wouldn't you know it?

The biscuits are inside yet MORE boxes ...

 

Time travelling

 

It would seem that a blue police box is no longer

necessary to go time travelling.

Dr. Who eat your heart out:

Apparently a blue van does just as well ...

In which we find a rainbow

We found a very short rainbow

indoors the other day.

 

The Madwoman was really mean.

She wouldn't allow us to start digging at the end

of it to find the crock of roast turkey cos

she said it would ruin the carpet.

Typical.

 

 

Wrapping

When we have birthdays, both of us get presents.

Quite right too.

This is Angel unwrapping hers on Archie's birthday last Saturday.

Blink and you'll miss it!

Archie has a birthday!

It was Archie's birthday yesterday - 10 years old!

After brekky with a few blueberries as an extra treat the celebrations started in earnest!

A bit wet out so we got dressed up in our coats to go out.

The birthday walk.

As it was Archie's birthday he was allowed to decide which way to go.

Made a nice change from the Madwoman's usual high-handed

"I'm in charge so we're going this way" attitude.

 

Birthday blueberry muffin!

The Madwoman actually got up early enough to

make a batch!

Nom nom nom ...

Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to stare while

we're eating?

Opening my present!

 

There IS something in here, isn't there?

 

Got it!

A squeaky new squeaky tennis ball!

Just what I wanted!

 

Test driving the new ball.

Got to make sure it works properly ...

 

Birthday dinner.

With turkey of course.

 

Party games!

The Madwoman got out the Spinny game, filling the holes

with bits of turkey.

 

About to take a nap.

While keeping a close eye on my new ball.

Don't want the Madwoman pinching it and

wrapping it up again for Christmas instead of buying something new.

You may laugh, but it happened once before ...