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.

Trick or treat?

What extra hour? I don't understand? What have I missed.

I woke up at my normal time and gave a few whimpers and cries to let my people know I was awake...and they came down to let me out and start the day... but they kept saying it was an hour early, and the clocks had gone back. I'm not sure what they meant.

Is this one of those tricks people talk about when they say it's the day for trick or treating?

Someone who has been playing tricks on her owners today is Maggie May - who the Lady Of The House follows on Twitter. Her tweets today reveal that she rolled in some dead fish on the beach this morning and has been stinking out the car. She does make me laugh. She likes chasing squirrels too - so she's all right by me even if she isn't a greyhound.

Finding fame on Project Dog

There's now a picture of me - in characteristically active mode - on the Project Dog website.

I am happy to admit this was nothing to do with me. The Lady Of The House had been Twittering with Project Dog over in America and decided to add an entry for me on their website.

Project Dog is trying to photograph each of the American Kennel Club’s 173 recognised dog breeds - both a purebred and rescue dog of each breed (346 dogs total), from 19 US metropolitan cities, for inclusion in a book.

(Did you know that apparently there are about 77.5 million pet dogs in America? WOW!)

But Project Dog is happy for any dog owners anywhere in the world to add their dogs to the website - although they won;t make it in to the book. The website is also publicising a lot of good stuff about dogs needing new homes and promoting responsible dog ownership.

Project Dog is the brainchild of pet photographer Kira Stackhouse of Nuena Photography in San Francisco.

A fun Saturday for Greyhounds in the West Midlands

Just seen on Twitter another great event for a good cause if you are in the Midlands and looking for something to do tomorrow.

Perry Barr Retired Greyhound Trust is holding a family fun day and companion dog show which will also raise awareness of the great work they do and boost their funds.

Hey! There are even some classes for dogs that AREN'T greyhounds - you can't say much fairer than that.

The show starts at 9am and admission is only 50p - it's £2 to register to enter a class. If the weather turns nasty on us again it's indoors too!

So get along to Solihull Riding Club, Four Ashes Road, Bentley Heath, Solihull B93 8QE

Fargo goes far thanks to the RSPCA

Here's a nice happy tale to round off the week.

The RSPCA officially opened a new animal centre in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, this week - and one of the guests was this gorgeous dog called Fargo.

Fargo from the http://www.rspca.org.uk/ website

Fargo was one of the first residents at the £2million Felledge Animal Centre after he was found emaciated and covered in sores. 

Now, as you can see, he's a picture of health and happily settled in with a new forever family who say they can't imagine life without him. So they all headed back to Felledge for the official opening ceremony.

Now, if you ask me, Fargo and his family should have done the honours of declaring the centre open, but apparently that job was taken by former Coronation Street star, actor and singer Adam Rickitt.

Adam played Nick Tilsley (some time before I started watching Corrie with MY new forever family) and is a BIG dog lover.....so I'll let him off for taking the limelight- and I'm sure he didn't upstage Fargo.

If you want to keep up-to-date with all the news from Felledge, you can follow them on Twitter.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Finding a kindred spirit on Twitter

So it turns out that I'm not the only dog who's handy with a keyboard? Or should that be 'paw-y'?

Tennis star Andy Murray's terrier Maggie May now has her own Twitter profile where she posts updates about what's doing. A bit like my blog but she only has to do 140 characters or less (which is easier on the pads and claws).

I did have to smile when I saw her update on Saturday that said: "Getting ignored in favour of xfactor, killing my stuffed pheasant in desperate bid for attention."

Me in the garden with my toy pheasant

I know what she means - not that I was watching X Factor, but I do like killing my stuffed pheasant toy for attention. Being a larger hound though I tend to stick to the garden for such activity.