Wordless Wednesday: me and my pal Bunny Rabbit

Wordless Wednesday - Anyone want to play?

Making a sock toy with Alyson and Frankie

Our friend Alyson was very surprised that people and pups liked her sock toy that I wrote about yesterday.

Alyson says she just makes them up as she goes along and no two of her sock toys are quite the same.

So here, in response to your requests, are Alyson's instructions of how she thinks she made my sock toy.

1. Take one short sock and two knee-length ones.
2. Scrunch one short sock up to make a ball (If you wanted to make a bigger toy scrunch two socks up together it doesn't matter if they have holes in, or are odd colours or anything).
3. Stuff this balled-up sock into the toe end of a knee-length sock.
4. Stand on the (ball) end and pull it really tight, twisting it at the same time (better to do on when you're on your own as it looks a bit strange!)
5. Do the same twisting thing with 2nd empty knee-length sock.
6. Then 'plait' the two knee-length socks together tightly and knot them at both ends.

You could also put a tennis ball into a sock instead of making a 'sock ball' but you'd have to take it out to wash it.

Alyson is quite shy, so here is a picture of her lovely girl Frankie (being unusually quiet).

Hope you can persuade your folks to make you a sock toy out of odd socks. If you do, PLEASE post some pictures for us to see. Pictures of your people making them might be REALLY fun.

Sock it to me

I love my new sock toy made for me by the Lady Of The House's friend Alyson. She made one for her dog Frankie (who is very tough on toys). As you can see I am MUCH more gentle.

Like every home in the world (it seems) Alyson found she had a fair few odd socks lying around so she thought making them into dog toys was a good use for them.

If the brother of this sock turns up she's not having it back now I'm afraid.

Thank you Alyson! (The LOTH says to tell you she's not holding a grudge even though your team, Arsenal, knocked our team, Leeds United, out of the FA Cup last night).

Happy New Year - and a look back at Christmas

I've had a lovely lovely Christmas and New Year break with the family and done lots of eating, playing, walking and just lolling lazily about.

My first blog post of 2012 has to be a quick look back at Christmas morning in our house to share with you my excitement about the three great presents that Santa brought me.

The first one was the most exciting and special (I thought). Forgive the blurred photos below but they capture the speed with which I moved to protect the great gift.

The Lady Of the House read out the tag and told me Santa had sent it from her cousin, Laetitia, husband Melvin and their lovely daughters Katie and Rebecca. I KNEW it was something great so I tried to help her open it QUICKER.

It was a Christmas reindeer in a Santa hat! The LOTH wanted to get the cardboard and the plastic off it - but I thought this might be a trick so SHE could keep it and play with it herself.

We had a little tussle.

I knew I had to move FAST.

So I grabbed my dear deer and headed out of the room to safety.

Only when I was sure that I had made my point did I come back - and then I kept my paw on my new toy for a long, long time.

My other great presents were - a toy frog....

....and a squeaky, cuddly, turkey.

When you are not playing with him he makes a great pillow.

I hope Santa brought you all you wanted and that 2012 is a great year for you all. I'll head off now to visit some of your blogs and catch up with your Christmas and New Year fun and games.

Wordless Wednesday - My toys are my first line of defence

The lone mouse-keteer

I love playing with my toys in the garden.

I especially like throwing them up in the air and catching them again. I am very good at it.

Sometimes my toys get to camp outside overnight.

They don't seem to mind.

This morning the Man Of The House let me out quite early - because he had got up to finish some work.

Imagine my delight when I found a new little furry toy outside! 

I pounced on it, and threw it up in the air and was having a nice, quiet little game with it when the MOTH came outside to look at what I was doing. 

He had looked out of the window and thought I might be preparing to dig a new hole under the pear tree.

He took my toy off me. 

He said it wasn't a toy - it was a field mouse.

By this point it was a dead field mouse.

I am QUITE A BIT sorry, because I didn't really mean it.

I thought it was a toy, really I did.

The Lady Of The House said cats are supposed to be 'mousers', not greyhounds.

I did not like being compared to a cat.

But I did shout at one I saw on my walk later - to let him know that I'd made a good catch.

The LOTH said she didn't think I was fast and nimble enough to catch a little tiny mouse.

CHEEK!

Tidy-up Thursday

Visitors were coming, so the Lady Of The House decided my toys needed to be tidied away in a corner of another room. She thought they looked messy scattered all over the living room floor.

But I snuck in when she wasn't looking.

Everyone needs a stuffie to cuddle every day - and she's NOT getting her hands on this one.

Please notice that I DID choose the cleanest toy from the pile.

Wordless Wednesday - Thoughts and dreams

Wordless Wednesday - Everybody needs a pig for a pillow

Learning a 'less lawn' lesson

So I trotted out into the garden this morning and found that something was VERY VERY wrong.

Had overnight winds scattered the garden chairs around?

Looking more closely I could also see string forming a circle behind the chairs - and there were little bits of silver foil tied to it.

It's sort of sealed-off the brown bit of the garden - you remember - where my rabbits had dug up the grass.

What do you think is going on here, folks?

I wondered if the family had tried to create a special private toilet area for me - bless them - so I did step gingerly over the barriers and obliged....but they just gave me a funny look. So I think I may have been wrong.

It certainly makes it tricky for me to gallop round and show them a bit of my old racing pace.

I don't think I like it much. But The Lady Of The House has been taking me out for some particularly great walks though - which is cheering me up. I have now got a new nickname of Cinderella. Because when we go through the park where all the non-greyhounds are off their leads and playing with their toys, the LOTH always tells me I can't go to the ball.

Grassed up

So this man comes to the door and says to the Lady Of The House.

"Good afternoon. We are Green Thumbs and we are working in your area and we can send a lawn expert to your home - free of charge and with no obligation. He will examine your lawn and tell you what is wrong with it and how any problems have happened."

The LOTH laughs and says: "Thank you - but I think we know exactly what is wrong with our lawn and exactly WHO is responsible!"

I said: "Yeah!! Too right!! It's those new bunnies of mine. I'll have a word with them".

Bad bunnies!!

Wordless Wednesday - Double bunny fun

A reindeer is not just for Christmas

Mr Reindeer thinks he's a Christmas toy - but I think he's fun all-year round and I decided this week that it was my responsibility to expand his horizons and show him a bit about the world outside.

So, Mr Reindeer, this is our garden....Over there is the pear tree starting to blossom and the bird table. We have to keep the squirrels away - if we can - so the nice birds can have their breakfast in peace.

Now, let me take you for a little gallop....You can see that some strands of green grass are trying to fight their way through the VERY SMALL (tiny, I would say) bare patch I caused in the lawn this winter.

Did you see the daffodils? Are you paying attention, Mr Reindeer?

That's enough lessons for one day. Being a teacher is tiring.

Wordless Wednesday - Me and my monkey