Goodbye beautiful girl

It is with great sadness and heartache that the Pritchard family informs you of the passing of their beloved Winnie.

She was taken ill at the weekend and passed away in her sleep this morning.

Whilst we are stunned by the suddenness of her departure we remember her with much happiness. The joy she brought into our house was immeasurable and the new vistas she opened up for us made the world a smaller place.

Our thanks go to our friends around the world, drawn to us by Winnie, who said a prayer for her and who will now express their sympathy.

Winnie was a beautiful greyhound whose presence in our lives enriched us incredibly.

Her final race is now run.

RIP Winnie Pritchard

Where's Winnie?

Good question!

But first of all - Happy Thanksgiving to all my blogger friends across the pond. Hope you have a lovely holiday.

I am right here, where you left me, but my blog writing (and reading) exploits have slowed down to almost a full stop.

It's all the fault of the Lady Of The House, for taking her clothes off - and the Boy Of The House, for being a bit of a superstar.

Back in the summer the LOTH and her friends in the Little Theatre Company decided to do a Calendar Girls-style cheeky calendar in aid of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. This is because they are doing the play of Calendar Girls in March and wanted to get into the spirit of the play and raise some money to help beat blood cancers. (This is a recap for those who missed the story first time round)

You may know that the original Calendar Girls were members of a Yorkshire Women's Institute group who did traditional "WI poses" - making jam, and baking cakes etc - but without any clothes on. The LOTH and her friends have done 'theatrical poses' instead.

Anyway, it's getting very VERY busy for them now and the LOTH is helping with the Burton Calendar Girls blog and social media and stuff and today she's been setting up a Just Giving page so if anyone further afield would like to support the cause, they can do it easily and securely. The 'girls' (and I use that term loosely) are also making lots of appearances at craft fairs and things to sell their calendars in person.

And what about the BOTH? Well, after he played one of the Lost Boys this summer - when his school did the Stiles & Drewe musical version of Peter Pan - he went along to open auditions to be in a professional panto version of the story in Derby. And he got picked to play John - Wendy's brother. He gets to FLY through the Assembly Rooms on a harness alongside George Sampson (winner of Britain's Got Talent 2008) who is playing Pan, and a great British actor called Larry Lamb who's Mr Darling/Captain Hook.

Rehearsals start this Saturday and the show runs from December 5 to January 6. The LOTH is going to be very busy taking the BOTH to and from rehearsals and performances - and she's been licensed to be a chaperone backstage.

Her work as a writer has got busier and busier too..... but don't worry, I'm still getting two walks a day and lots of hugs and cuddles. It's just that something has to give and it looks like it's my blog for a bit.

I'll try and get the odd word with you on here and on my Facebook Page but thought I'd explain why I'm quieter than usual.

In other news, I was delighted to win this striking pair of matching greyhound drinks coasters in an online auction by Kama's Cave Greyhound Sanctuary recently.

So I thought I'd choose one to send to my good Facebook friend Winnie in Tennessee, who sent me a lovely  greyhound suncatcher last Christmas.

I chose THIS one to send - and I kept the other.

Now we have one each. Tennessee Winnie's mum wrote to say hers arrived JUST in time for Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for your friendship and I'll be back in touch when I can.

P.S: The LOTH says she'd love to hear from any of you who might want to follow or leave comments on the Burton Calendar Girls blog. She says they have some exciting craft projects coming up that some of you you might enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday: I LOVE scrunching through autumn leaves

Winnie the greyhound and the great rabbit rescue

So here's a story that the Lady Of The House wants to tell you.
I don't know why.
But over to the LOTH.
I'm going for a lie down.


Thanks Win.

So, me and Win were taking a gentle walk through the housing estates near our home one morning when she suddenly got her 'cat face' on.

This involves her ears flying straight up like flagpoles and her eyes focusing forward in a steely gaze and is usually immediately followed by one loud warning bark before she attempts to fly forward as far as her lead will allow in the attempted pursuit of a cat she's seen ahead.

But this time it was 'cat face' x 10.

I'd never seen her so intent on the chase. And what was more worrying I couldn't see a cat - or a squirrel.
I was hanging on to the lead and wrapping it round my hand as she barked incessantly and fought like fury to get at something.

Her attention was focused on the base of a tall hedge beside a path between a couple of houses.
I suddenly saw that tucked under the hedge was a large, beautiful, brown and white pet rabbit looking slightly startled but thankfully not taking flight.

But I now faced a problem.

The chances were the rabbit has escaped from one of the two houses nearest to the hedge, but Winnie was going so completely batty there was no chance of me getting closer to either house as it meant getting closer to the rabbit and I didn't want to spook it. I also was beginning to suspect that Winnie might pull me off my feet if she got any closer and any more excited.

I hoped help was at hand when I saw a woman walking down the path towards us beside the hedge.
"Excuse me," I shouted to her. ""Have you seen that rabbit. There look, under the hedge."
She glanced over her shoulder and then smiled at me. "Oh no," she said. "I hadn't" and she speeded up towards us and passed us (giving mad Winnie a wide berth).
"I wondered if you could...." I started. I'd been hoping that she might knock on one of the house doors for me..... but she was clearly not keen to get involved and was away before I could finish the sentence.

With no-one else in sight I looked around for a house that looked as if someone might be at home and not at work.

The house level with us has a car in the drive, so I slowly made my way to the front door with a shrieking, writhing and pulsating Winnie on the end of the lead and without ever taking my eyes off the bunny.

I knocked on the door, and did find myself wondering if I looked outside and saw a strange, harassed woman staring fixedly across the road with a mad howling dog spinning like a top on a pink lead in her hand whether I'd open the door to them.

Maybe they thought the same. The door stayed shut.

Thankfully, the commotion has fetched a woman out of her house further down the road to investigate. As she walked towards us I said: "Oh, can you you help me, there's a rabbit under that hedge and I can't get closer because...."

"Oh," she said. "I know who he belongs to. "He's been missing for four days. they will be delighted. Don't worry. I'll sort it."

So I made a graceful-ish retreat in the opposite direction....with Winnie still baying and twirling.

This is Winnie on a later walk, hopefully inspecting where the rabbit had been in case he was back. He wasn't - and I'm delighted to know he's safely back home and we played our little part.

P.S: Relating this story to a friend, she said: 'Did you get a picture of the rabbit and Winnie for your blog?'

I replied: 'Do you REALLY think she was in any mood to pose? It took all my strength to hang on to her! I wasn't going to get my phone out of my pocket and take a picture too!'.

Crochet for Kama's Cave Greyhound Sanctuary

The Lady Of The House saw an appeal on Facebook to crochet, or knit, four inch squares for Kama's Cave Greyhound Sanctuary in Lincolnshire.

So last weekend she got busy.

So did I.

Don't worry. I'd just had a bath and cleaned my teeth.

The squares are on their way to you now.

They're fine. Honestly.

Find out more abut Kama's Cave at their website.

Doggy bag winner revealed

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post.

I'm glad so many of you felt the same as I do about the friendships we have formed.

I used a random number generator to pick a winner from all the comments and the winner was

What Remains Now

Lori - if you can email the Lady Of The House at elaine<at>caittompublishing.co.uk with your postal address we'll post the bag to you with all our love.

Busy times here for the people, but I'm taking it easy and watching the world go by. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Celebrating friendship - with blogs and a bag

I never cease to be amazed and delighted by the bonds of friendship that are created through blogs.

When the Lady Of the House started me blogging soon after I arrived here in my forever home (two years ago last month) I never dreamed where it would lead. Our lives feel so much richer for the people we've met through blogging and the laughter (and tears) we've shared. I feel as if many of you are real friends - even though we've never met.

For a few weeks now the LOTH and I have wanted to do something to celebrate how thankful we are for that friendship. So this is what we've decided.

One of the LOTH's bestest ever friends is called Carol - and she is VERY clever when it comes to quilting. She made the LOTH a lovely quilt and a bag for her birthday and she makes lots of bags both as gifts for loved ones and as raffle prizes to raise money for charity.

She made us this beautiful bag and said we could use it however we wanted - so we thought it would be nice to offer it as a gift to one of our blogging friends. It was made with love by Carol and it will be sent on with lots of love from me and the LOTH too.

It's just a little gift, and it can only go to one person - but I'd like it to represent the gratitude we feel to all of you who have supported us over the last 24 months with your comments and your friendship.

If you look closely you can see quite a lot of the dogs whose blogs we visit - I can see Dachsies, and Scotties... and is that a French Bulldog among others?

Carol said she did try to find some material with greyhounds on - but didn't find any that she felt did us justice. I quite understand. Besides, I might not have let the LOTH give it away then.

So if you are a follower of my blog - and you'd like to receive this bag as a gift of love and thankfulness from me and the LOTH - just leave a comment below in the next week. We'll send it anywhere in the world (it's very light).

Today is also a special day for one of the best friends any pet blogger could have - PIP!

You can read all about his special day here on Frankie Furter and Ernie's blog and also about the special day when Pip came to his forever home - here. It's a lovely story about the triumph of love and hope. Enjoy it.

And last but NOT least...one of my great blogging friends is Suzy. Her son Marc has TODAY started a coast to coast walk in aid of Greyhound Gap - a small but very important UK charity which rescues and rehabilitates and then rehomes greyhounds and lurchers across the UK who are otherwise at risk of being put to sleep.

You can follow their progress over the next 10 days at Suzy's blog, or on their Facebook Page. If you can spare them even just a few pennies, there is an online page HERE where you can donate, It would mean a lot to Greyhound Gap.

It's WINNIE - not Whinnie, thank you very much.

I've been having a few 'health challenges' - but as you can see, I now have my paws crossed that I'm out of the woods and doing OK again.

It started when the Lady Of The House noticed a tiny hard bump on my head. We trotted off to the vet and they gave me some antibiotics at first, but they didn't help and the little hard lump got bigger.

Then the eye that I've had that other problem with before began to itch and I was rubbing it a lot with my paw and winking so we went back again. They gave me some new drops and also stuck a needle in my little head bump (TWICE!!!) to get some cell samples to test.

While we were waiting for the results my other eye started itching and I was now spending a lot of time with both eyes squeezed shut, a semi-permanent frown, and doing a lot of eye rubbing.

We went back straight away and got some different drops to try.

The good news is the test results show the lump is either a cyst or a non-malignant tumour - and my eyes have now stopped itching.

For now we're seeing if the lump gets bigger or changes before we make a decision about removing it. The LOTH isn't keen for me to have a general anaesthetic unless it's really necessary.

Anyway. I think I was JOLLY BRAVE through all these vets trips (although I have now got a new technique of digging my claws in to the vet's door mat to try and stop them getting me into the consulting room).

So you can IMAGINE how unimpressed I was when I saw (even through my itchy eyes) that the vet had given me a new name on one of my medications.

WHINNIE PRITCHARD!

How VERY dare she!!

On the PLUS side I was very excited and honoured today to be featured as the first home working greyhound on a great blog the LOTH found recently called How To Work From Home.

Feel free to pop over to How To Work From Home and leave a comment on my interview so that UK home workers find out how many great pet bloggers there are besides me!

Wordless Wednesday - Sunshine Supergirl

Wordless Wednesday - Shady Lady

The Howl

I'm not allowed a Twitter account, but The Lady Of The House entered a competition on there for me recently organised by Dog's Today magazine.

They wanted to see pictures of pets in the Olympics spirit, so the LOTH sent them a couple of my pictures form the Pet Blogging Games - and we were one of three winners!

The prize was a print called The Howl! You may be able to spot the famous painting from which it took its inspiration.

The LOTH framed it and it has pride of place with all my other treasures.

Wordless Wednesday with Winnie the Greyhound

My final event in the Pet Blogging Games

Friday saw me competing in my final event of the Pet Blogging Games - The Snoopendous Sniff-A-thon hosted by Luna and Cynder.

Sniffing is one of my very favourite pastimes - and a walk can take a long long time when I get the scent of something compelling up my nostrils.

Not everyone appreciates how important sniffing is to dogs. It really stimulates our brains and makes us happy and satisfied.

So KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON SNIFFING is my motto.

The closing ceremony for our Pet Blogging Games is a bit earlier than the one in London. See if you can spot me on Finn Howard's blog.

The games has been a great success and has really brought us all together in the pet blogging communities - even the kitties and the odd turtle.

Back to normal life again tomorrow.

Zooming and roaching with Winnie the greyhound

Well I am shattered after taking part in yesterday's Zoomies event at Susie and Sidebite's blog. Another chance for me to show of my athletic skills. I'm just a blur, a blur, I tell you, when I start zooming.

I was SO relieved after expending all that energy that the next event was Roaching and Rolling. Thanks to the magic of Blogville, I was instantly transported to Canada to compete on Ruby and Penny's blog. I went in heat 2. I like to think my entry was a slight homage to Usain Bolt.

I am also very proud to say that my performance in Roaching ALSO won me a copy of a print called The Howl in a Twitter competition run by Dog's Today magazine. The Lady Of The House is getting it framed and I'll post a picture of it soon.

Proud to be Team GB tonight

We're all very proud to be Team GB in our house tonight.

Apparently there are some human athletes who have done some good stuff - winning medals for sitting down and standing up and running and jumping. But, as ever, the REAL stars are the dogs and cats taking part in the awesome Pet Blogging Games.

I am very proud to have participated in FOUR events - Count them. Four! - since I last blogged:

My best event ( I feel) was Digging - hosted by We Three Doxies

 I also entered Authorised Chewing ...

... and Freelance Chewing, both hosted by Murphy and Stanley.

My final event was Tuneful Farting where I showed everyone my methane producing style in Heat 2 of this event hosted by Declan's Dogs Blog. 

I am very honoured that all my worthy competitors and I were awarded a gold medal.

Winnie on walkabout

The People Of The House have been so busy with the real Olympics that my blog's not getting a look-in! More of them and their adventures another day.

Meanwhile, thanks to Corbin for hosting the Walking About the Neighbourhood event in the Pet Blogging games - one of my personal favourites.

Here I am - all alert to anything out of the ordinary that may happen on one of my walks.

Catch up on ALL the events here - and thanks to ALL the hosts who have worked so hard to put these events together.

No sunday lie-in for Winnie the greyhound today

I've scarcely recovered from the excited and sheer wonder of Friday's opening ceremony - than I am in the thick of the action today with TWO entries in the Pet Blogging Games.

You will find me in the Crazy Sleeping Singles Event over on Oskar's blog (it may LOOK like I'm resting - but that kangaroo impersonation takes years of practice to perfect, let me tell you).

I am also in Bouncing (narrative style) on Bouncing Bertie's blog. He's a TOUGH act to follow.

I need some more sleep now.

The big day is finally here!

Finally!! It's the opening day of the Pet Blogging games and here I am flying the flag for team GB. I stuck a flag of St George in there too for good measure.

You can see me and the other athletes, parading now over at Posie Dorg's blog.

Over at Roo's blog you can see the torch lighting ceremony - and some bloopers (not from me as I'm perfect *coughs*)

Here is the schedule of all events and links to each blog hosting it (borrowed stolen from my good friend Zola - who did all the hard work so I didn't have to bother).

Opening Extravaganza ~ http://www.roosdoins.com/

Parade of Athletes ~ http://posiedorg.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY, JULY 28

Swimming ~ http://sargespeaksout.blogspot.com/

Window Nose Art ~ http://jazzis-world.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY, JULY 29

Crazy Sleeping Singles ~ http://oskarsblog.com/

Synchronized Snoozing ~ http://oskarsblog.com/

Bouncing ~ http://bouncingbertie.blogspot.co/uk

MONDAY, JULY 30

Beach Ball ~ http://www.twofrenchbulldogs.com/

Cross Neighborhood Walkabout ~ http://cutecorbin.blogspot.com/

Hiding ~ http://housecatconfidential.blogspot.com/

Competitive Napping ~ http://hufflemawson.blogspot.com/

TUESDAY, JULY 31

Couch Potato Peeling ~ http://lovablelily.blogspot.com/

Gymnastics ~ http://downhomeinnc.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1

          Bathtub Wrestling ~ http://ro-uj-iz.blogspot.com/

Cat Tree Gymnastics ~ http://housecatconfidential.blogspot.com/

Critter Stalking ~ http://justustexasdachsies.blogspot.com/

Tongue Curling ~ http://justustexasdachsies.blogspot.com/

The Raspberry ~ http://justustexasdachsies.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2

Counter Surfing ~ http://katniplounge.blogspot.com/

Discuss and Frisbee ~ http://pipinthegame.blogspot.com/

Pole Jumping ~ http://fourleggedviews.blogspot.com/

Singles Stick Carry ~ http://gospelofgoose.blogspot.com/

Team Stick Carry ~ http://gospelofgoose.blogspot.com/

FRIDAY, AUGUST 3

Digging ~ http://wethreedoxies.blogspot.com/

Marathon Chewing ~ http://murphyandstanley.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY, AUGUST 4

Best Nippy Faces ~ http://troublintimes.blogspot.com/

Fierceful Yawning ~ http://catboys.paulchens.org/

Keep Away ~ http://savetheboxers.blogspot.com/

Tuneful Farting ~ http://declansdogsblog.co.uk/

SUNDAY, AUGUST 5

Camera Avoidance KaeKwonDo~http://mayziegal.wordpress.com/

Equestrian ~ http://rubieadventures.blogspot.com/

MONDAY, AUGUST 6

DE Stuffing ~ http://k-9katastrophie.blogspot.com/

Synchronized Peeing ~ http://beagle-home.blogspot.com/

Wrestling ~ http://housecatconfidential.blogspot.com/

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7

Freestyle Zoomies ~ http://susieandsidebite.blogspot.com/

Roaching and Rolling ~ http://agenuineruby.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8

DRAW Your Own Peeps ~ http://cheshiredanes.blogspot.com/

Smackdown ~ http://friendsfurevercatblog.blogspot.com/

Squirrel Hurdles ~ http://sheltietimes.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, AUGUST 9

Boxing ~ http://chicamom85-sassysasha.blogspot.com/

Extreme Weather Sports ~ http://theadventuresofthetank.blogspot.com/

Snack Sack Race ~ http://www.thefogcitylu.blogspot.com/

Turbo Track ~ http://maxthequiltcat.com/

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10

Snoopendous Sniff-A-Thon ~ http://lunadogslife.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11

The Great Tennis Ball Tournament ~
http://kwing-dogeared.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12

Closing Ceremony ~ http://finnhoward.blogville.com/

ON GOING EVENTS

Balance Beam ~ http://corycattalks.blogspot.com/

High Jump ~ http://catfromhell.wordpress.com/

Red Dot-A-Thon ~ http://daphnex.blogspot.com/

Synchronized Snoozing ~ http://www.island-cats.com/

Team Lounging ~ http://daisymaemaus.blogspot.com/

Countdown to the Olympics

Just a few days to go before the start of the Olympic Games in the UK - and the even MORE important Pet Blogging Games.

But, first I want to take you back to a very wet Saturday morning, June 30, 2012, when the actual Olympic torch ran along the outskirts of our village of Stretton.

There was great excitement from the Lady Of The House as she prised the boy and the girl from their beds just after 6am and marched them through the rain to stand on a grassy bank next to the Burton Albion Football Club ground. They were joined by the Girl of the House's boyfriend. I stayed at home and watched the proceedings over the Internet with the Man Of The House. Look how happy the young ones were? (Well, one of them was, kind of sarcastically I think).

The LOTH says they weren't that miserable really. It has stopped raining. briefly.

There were a few big vans drove through first.

Then came the big moment.

Can you see it?

Look again.

And then it was gone.

But it did inspire me to get back out later that day to pound the pavements in my own training schedule for the Pet Blogging Games. This is me training hard for the Cross Neighbourhood Walkabout event being hosted on July 30 by Corbin. Please cheer for me and ALL my worthy competitors.

I see sunshine - and lots of birds

Shock, horror!! The sun came out this morning. There were shadows on the ground and everything when we went for a Saturday morning walk around Barton Marina (a short drive from where we live).

There are always lots of different types of ducks, and geese and waterfowl around the lakes. The Man Of The House said we should be careful as we went past the swan family because they would be very protective of their young family - and swan are NOT to be messed with. Not that I would.

You see, there was another reason for me to tread carefully. Ever since I posted to say that I thought our garden birds maybe got fed better than I did - I've been a marked dog.

It's NOT that I'm paranoid. They really are after me.

It started one morning when the Lady Of The House saw the unusual sight of a flock of white doves on our bird table. She thought it was lovely. But through the glass they told me I was being watched EVERYWHERE I went.

.

Next day, in the neighbouring village of Rolleston, a chilling cry rang out through the still morning air. It was a peacock. They were sending in the big guys to keep and eye on me now.

At the brook another swan came up close and personal to put the beady eye on me.

I think he wanted to be paid off, but the LOTH hadn't even brought any stale bread along! LOTH!!! What are you trying to do to me???!!

At the canal the ducks were even lining up to form a threatening cordon of beaks and feathers. I was getting really scared now.

So when the geese closed in this morning at the marina, I told them straight: "You tell those garden birds from me. They can have ALL the seeds and fat balls and whatever they want in our garden. I'll never say another word....just PLEASE leave me alone!"

I think it worked.

Phew!!!

Today I am joining the Saturday Pet Blog Hop hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.

If you'd like to join in and make new pet blogger friends, please follow your three hosts, add your blog to the Linky and copy and paste this week's new Linky code into the html editor of your own blog. The list will automatically update on everyone's blogs as new sites add themselves over this weekend and we can all hop from blog to blog and find out everybody's news.

Thanks again to our three hosts for putting on the hop!

If you follow a new blog after finding them in the blog hop - please let them know that you found them on the Saturday Pet Blog Hop.