To new lang syne

I thought I should reflect on 2010 today as I may have an enforced break from the blog for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow is not just New Year's Eve but it's the Lady Of The House's birthday. It was also the day that the LOTH and the MOTH got married. She says it was her idea so he wouldn't forget it...he says it's all a bit much when you only just had Christmas five minutes ago. Anyway, we might be a bit too busy celebrating to get on the blog...in which case I'll see you in 2011.

It's obviously been a special year for me coming here to my new home. The Boy Of The House has always been scared of dogs, but he and I now get along famously as you can see here. I'm glad I could help.

I still like to help my family do stuff to help me old racing pals find new homes through the Retired Greyhound Trust and it was such a shame that the bad weather in December meant that lots of Christmas fund-raisers and fayres had to be cancelled.

It costs so much money to keep us in kennels while we wait for the right homes to come along - but I hope that this Spring there's lots more we can do to help.

Well, I'm off now to try and wrap a little present (my paws aren't too good with sellotope but I think the BOTH is going to help me).

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and that 2011 brings you everything you could hope for.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog and I hope to keep hearing from you - and reading your adventures too - in the New Year.

Almost wordless Wednesday

This is my version of Usain Bolt's victory pose

Chew choo

Today I am mostly carrying around the house my latest favourite Christmas present.

I didn't show you this one yesterday as the Lady Of The House saved it for Boxing Day so I didn't overload my sensitive greyhound tummy....what with helping them eat the turkey and that.

It's a lovely chew that looks a bit like a Christmas cracker and the LOTH's cousin and her family bought it for me.

I love it and I am currently carrying it with me everywhere I go. I lick it occasionally but haven't tried chewing it yet. I am savouring the moment.

Present joy

Hello again

I've had a lovely relaxing couple of days, and I hope you have as well.

Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

Although it's hard to get moving again after two such chilled-out days I thought I'd drag myself over to the keyboard to share some of my Christmas morning photos with you.

The first thing the Lady Of The House showed me was an edible Christmas card from my friends in Nottingham

It smelled very nice

What's this?

Oh!! It's a racoon!

It has a squeaker in the head

And another squeaker in the tail



Next there was a present from the Girl and Boy Of The House



It was a reindeer with long legs

Love this edible Christmas card

I love all my presents. Wasn't I lucky?

It was lovely to be with my new forever family. That was the best present of all

A Christmas Blog Hop

It's nearly here!!

Can you believe it's Christmas Eve already?!

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!

We had a Harry Potter party at our house last night. It was something the Girl Of The House and her boyfriend organised for four of their friends - but the Lady and Boy of the House got into the spirit as well dressed as Dolores Umbrage and Severus Snape respectively.

The GOTH was really busy all afternoon making butter beer, and sweet potato pie (because she couldn't find pumpkins) and chocolate frogs filled with peanut butter.

There wasn't really anything greyhound-friendly on the party food table - so I'm hoping for something special in my doggy Christmas dinner tomorrow to make up for it.

I watched a bit of the first Harry Potter film with them - but when they started calling me "Fang" I decided to retire to my bed in the kitchen and leave them to it.

Butter beer and the rest of the party food (note spillages on tablecloth - clumsy humans)

Chocolate frogs - not for dogs

So, all that remains to be said is have a lovely day tomorrow and I hope the big man brings you some great presents tonight.

Lots of love from Winnie xxx

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Teaching them a bit of independence

The thingumybob that the family use to play films on the television from shiny silver discs has been playing up for ages.

This leads to a fair amount of muttering and grumbling and jumping up and down from their chairs and pushing and tugging at leads and sometimes propping up the box thing at funny angles.

This puts me out a bit, to be honest, as of an evening my place is centre stage in the living room and they have to keep invading my personal space to try and sort it out.

Anyway, the Lady Of The House bought a new one the other day and the Man Of The House had to get it out of the box last night and plug it in instead of the old one.

This also led to a fair amount of muttering and grumbling, pushing and tugging and jumping about. I thought about offering to help - but I think they have to learn how to do these things on their own. Sometimes you just have to give them a bit of independence and let them make their own mistakes.

Come on, MOTH, it's easy enough

Should I offer to help?

Where's he gone now?

Santa sent more snow

Last night was very exciting in our house (this is by OUR standards of course).

There was a knock at the door, and then the Lady Of The House, The Man Of The House, The Girl Of The House and even the Boy Of The House started a rather embarrassing scrabble around the house for coins to give to the people at the door.

I wondered what was going on, and then I could hear music and bells.

The MOTH found some money in the end, and then the LOTH popped my lead on and took me outside.....and guess what??? It was Santa on his sleigh!! His voice was booming out saying "Just four sleeps and I'll be back soon to see you all!!"

There weren't any reindeer though so I'm not sure how his sleigh was moving but it was covered in lights and I could see him really clearly and he WAVED AT ME!!

Then his sleigh started to turn around outside our house (because there's no more road) and there were children outside getting all excited and I heard Santa boom: "Mind the car children.... I mean, THE SLEIGH".

Then he was gone and we went back inside.

But this morning when I woke up there was snow everywhere. Me and the LOTH walked down to the village. I kept stopping to smell all the smells. I kept sticking my head in bushes and getting snow on my head.

A nice lady waiting at a bus stop said to the LOTH: "AAahhh! He needs little boots on". Which would have been a nice thing to say if I had been a boy. (But she wasn't to know with my big coat on).

But I'm fine and it's actually warmer than it has been in a funny sort of way.

Stay warm and safe everyone.

Cold and colder

It's really really frosty here. Very pretty but very cold and even though I wore my BIG red coat this morning with the thick fleecy lining I still had a little shiver when we had to stop for traffic on our morning walk.

But it was worth it when we had crossed the road and got to the nature reserve. I had a really good sniff and met a couple of friends.

Well, I say friends. There was a little dog with a long tail who thought he owned the place and barked a lot at me.

But there was Jasper the cocker spaniel too. He's a lot of fun and very bouncy and the person he looks after, called Sue, is getting well-trained by him.

The Boy Of The House is going to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in a bit and I'm going to curl up and watch it with him (well, I'll sneak a peak now and then while I doze by the fireplace). Hope it's not too scarey!

It's Santa and the MOTH!

With all the bad weather I've been a bit worried that my letter to Santa might not get through....so this morning the Man Of The House nipped out very early because he had heard that the great man himself was calling in to Burton Albion's football ground.

The Boy Of The House thought he was a bit big to sit on Santa's knee, but the MOTH came to the rescue and he sat on Santa's knee and told him I'd been a good girl all year.

And the good news is that Santa's promised to do what he can for me and ALL my dog friends.

Hurray for Santa and the MOTH!!!

Keep warm this weekend friends - and be careful if you are going out.

Eight sleeps to Christmas!

According to the Lady Of The House's phone application, it's only eight sleeps to Christmas. Actually, for us greyhounds it's probably a few more because we are GREY-T at time management and we can get LOADS of sleeps in to any 24-hour period.

So, let's have a look.... This 'app' thing also says it's 182 hours to Christmas. Wow! That sounds soon....and 10,950 minutes (a few less by the time you read this).

Anyway, I'm going to be very comfortable in the time that remains thanks to this lovely new memory foam dog bed that I got as an early Christmas present yesterday.

I've got my favourite doggy duvet on the top and it's really comfortable.

At night I still sleep on my original bed that came from Crossing Cottage Retired Greyhound Trust kennels with me, but this new bed will make waiting for Santa to come down the chimney a lot more comfy.

Think I'm helping the L O T H wrap some presents later today...so better get some extra zzzzz's in now. See you tomorrow. Have a lovely weekend.

Oh Mickey! You're so fine! (for a cat)

You know I'm not much of a cat fan...but I do have to give an honorary mention today to 19-year-old Mickey, who belongs to the Lady Of The House's parents (well, her mum really).

You remember me telling you the L O T H's dad broke his arm? Well, he went into hospital yesterday to wait for an operation.

Now, the L O T H's mum tends to nod off in the evening while she's watching TV and she relies on her husband to wake her up around 11.30pm when it's time for bed (I know...I don't understand humans most of the time either...wake up to go to bed?).

Anyway, he always startles her awake her by calling her name even though she always tells him to wake her more gently by just stroking her arm.

So, last night she settles down to watch television with Mickey curled up in a chair. The next thing she knows there's a really soft stroking on her arm. She opens her eyes to see Mickey sitting on the settee beside her. He's pulled his claws in and is stroking her arm with his paw. She looked at the clock and it was 11.30pm.

Smart-Alec cat, eh? Next thing you know he'll be using the telephone........

Did I speak too soon?

Carry on nurse

Sorry I didn't make it online yesterday, but I was busy on nursing duties.

Both the Lady Of The House and the Boy Of The House went down with some nasty bug and I had a very important job to do of lying on the floor between them sending positive thoughts.

I was very very good and quiet and didn't ask to go out for a walk or jump around and I just padded out quietly into the garden when the urge took me.

They are a lot better today so it must have worked.

In fact I could tell the L O T H was better this morning so I jumped up and put my paws on her chest to tell her how pleased I was. I wouldn't have done that yesterday.

Santa's little helper

Watching "Elf" last night certainly got me in the Christmas spirit.

If Santa needs an extra reindeer on Christmas Eve I might be available.

Lazy Sunday

Me and my Sunday paper

So this morning the Man Of The House was cooking a lovely roast chicken dinner (don't worry I did get some later); the Girl Of The House (home from University for the weekend) was helping the Lady Of The House set up her new netbook and the Boy Of The House was playing some games on the computer.

But as you can see, I decided to curl up with the Sunday papers. Actually, it's MY version of the papers, a squeaky plastic newspaper.

The family were thinking of throwing it out because I haven't played with it since I arrived here in August (it was one of my toys that I brought with me). But I soon put them right on that one. It's mine and I want it, I said. So it's not going anywhere now.

Hope you've had a lovely sleepy, snoozy Sunday. I'm off to watch "Elf" on the television with my family now and get even more in the Christmas mood.

Good news for Alfie

Just a short, late, quick post from me today.

We've been a bit busy helping the Lady Of The House's mum and dad. They are so lovely ... and they doggy-sat me early last week when the L O T H and the M O T H went to a concert in Birmingham for a few hours and we had a really nice evening together.

But then on Friday the L O T H's dad fell over on the ice and has broken his right arm just below the shoulder. So the L O T H has been doing a bit of running around to help out ever since then.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Alfie, who I wrote about yesterday, has now got enough money for his operation. There was LOTS of support for his page on Facebook and Happy Endings wrote to the L O T H tonight to tell her that Alfie will see one of the best vets in Europe for liver problems in dogs next Tuesday.

I'll be crossing my paws for him.

Alfie on the Happy Endings Animal Rescue website

Help Alfie get his own happy ending

Special mention today for 20-week-old Greyhound-Labrador cross Alfie who's been given up by a succession of owners during his short life after they found out he was seriously ill.

Alfie has ended up at the Happy Endings animal sanctuary in East Sussex where they are appealing for help to fund an operation after finding out he has a rare liver condition that stops his body getting rid of toxins.

Alfie has a Facebook page which you can join and share with your friends.

Alfie looks so lovely. He reminds me a bit of my friend Frankie.

I hope he gets his operation and a new forever home for the new year.

Monkey madness

Oh the sheer joy of life!! Sometimes there's nothing a girl can do except zoom about in the back garden with her favourite toy and turn him into a little snowman.

Monkey and me played in the snow and it was great fun!!!

Deck the halls

Yesterday we put up the Christmas decorations at our house.

Well, I say "We".

To begin with I wasn't very happy because they moved my 'day bed' out of the living room while they moved some furniture around to fit the tree in. So I followed my duvet out to the hall and lay down there (so they had to keep stepping over me).

Is this what they mean by deck the halls?



It got more interesting though when the boxes came down from the attic and I got to have a good nose at everything.

I think this one should go on the mantlepiece

Then I met a couple of new friends.

This little fella sings when you press his mittens!

Then there was this little thing that looked like a mouse - but didn't smell like a mouse

Oh good grief!! This one sings too!

Finally, when it was almost all over I spotted this like fat-cheeked santa on the bookcase. He looked so cuddly I really wanted to play with him....so I gave a little howl. But they said I had to leave him alone or the real Santa might not bring me any toys on Christmas Eve.

He doesn't sing but he looks fun

Snowy nose

Look! I stuck my nose out of the back door and got a snowflake on it.

Snowflake on my nose

I have skipped out in my BIG winter coat today for a morning walk, but once I get in the warm I'm crossing my legs and not bothering about going out into the garden much before my afternoon walk.

The Lady Of The House keeps chewing at me though, because I do like to stretch my legs and go to the back door. So she opens it for me and I stand there in the doorway gazing out on my territory.

"Either go out or come in," says the L O T H. "You are letting all the warm air out, Winnie."

But I like to take my time and stand there with my body in the way so she can't close the door again in a hurry.

I like to stand there looking wistful and thoughtful and letting the snow land on my nose.

Now, if I see one of those cheeky squirrels, I'll be out there like a flash.