Fudge Explains New Years

Hi Everybody. Happy New Year!

We dogs understand about Christmas, sort of. Humans bring a tree into the house, then tell us not to water it. Be honest now, how many of you sneak over and water it when they're not looking?

We understand about presents. We get lots of toys and treats and sometimes stuff we don't really want like a new brush or a trip to the groomer. That's kind of like humans getting underwear for Christmas. Nobody really wants it, but you have to be nice about it.

What we don't really understand is this thing called New Years. Our humans act like it's important, but why? They stay up late and watch a ball drop off a building on the TV. They can watch our ball drop off the deck any time they want to.

Then after the ball falls on the ground, they do this.

Then they do this. I wondered about this stuff they were drinking, so I stuck my nose in a glass. I started sneezing and couldn't stop. Mom thought it was funny. That woman has a warped sense of humor.

As soon as the ball hits the ground we start hearing a lot of noise outside and start barking.

All in all, this New Years stuff doesn't make much sense to us. Then Dad did something that changed everything. He made us New Year's sandwiches. Look at these!

He put turkey and Swiss cheese on party rye and made one for each of us. Wow, were they ever delicious!! Now we think New Years may be one of the very best days of the whole year. 

Tell your humans that its a New Year's custom to feed turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches to you dogs. They may not realize this little known fact.
Your pal, Fudge

Have You Met Mr. Chewy?

With my active pack, we go thru a lot of dog food and Fudge reminded me that includes treats. From time to time Rob has asked me if there's a company that will deliver it to us and I've looked at several over the last couple years. What I found was that the shipping charges were out of sight on some and where they offered free shipping, the price of the food was much higher than I can pay locally.

Recently we were introduced to Mr. Chewy.

Mr Chewy carries over 70 brands of dog and cat food. Several of my dogs are on prescription diets and those are only available from my vet, but I checked the food we use most and the price was within pennies of the price I pay locally. Good so far!



But what about shipping costs on a heavy item like 40 pounds of dog food? Here's the good news. Orders over $49 are free. That's right no shipping costs. With a pack like mine getting to $49 is a breeze. If your order falls under $49 there's a flat shipping fee of $4.95. Or you can do as Fudge advises and add a bag of treats to reach the free figure.

We decided to give Mr Chewy a try.

Last week two boxes arrived and the dogs were very excited. I didn't need to tell them the boxes were for them. They knew from the wonderful smells inside.

I ordered a bag of dog food.....

and two bags of treats. These were treats I wanted for Samba and was having trouble finding locally.

Shipping only took three days and that was working around holidays, so we were very pleased. Now Rob is happy because he doesn't have to drive across town and carry heavy bags of dog food around. I'm happy because I have access to products I want for my dogs.

Happiest of all are the dogs.

Mr Chewy also carries Frontline for flea and tick control. He also has a great return policy and even pays the return shipping.

Noah Is Cute

Dear Mango, Honorable Judges and Voting Public,

My name is Noah and I'm a five year old boy Portuguese Water Dog.

When I was born I was only about half the size of my brothers and sisters. Some people called me a runt. That's not a very nice thing to call someone. My Mom called me her little peanut.

Well, all my brothers and sisters had a head start and grew bigger than me. I'm still kind of small and that can be a problem for a guy like me.

My brother Sky is a big guy and he's a really good ball player. I'd like to be big and fast like him.

My Dad Fudge is a big guy and he sings and dances and pushes other dogs around. I'd like to do that, too, but when people look at me they always say, " Oh, he's so cute!"

So you see the problem, I'm just cute.

My favorite activities are riding in the car and sitting on Mom and Dad's laps. Come to think of it, Sky and Fudge are both too big to sit on laps, so maybe there is an up side to being little and cute.

Mom suggested that I enter Mango Minster. She thinks it'll give me an ego boost and make me feel like a big dog.

Believe me, it's not easy being the 'cute little guy' in a house full of over achievers.

Thank you for accepting my entry.
Noah

Bailey The Adventurer

Dear Mango, Honorable Judges and Voting Public,

My name is Bailey and I'm a five year old girl Portuguese Water Dog.

We had a family meeting to decide on what category I should enter. My Mom says the category of Adventure Animal was made for me.

Mom says that even before my eyes were open I was trying to climb out of the whelping box to go exploring and the day they opened, I left the box.

By the time I was five weeks old I was climbing out of our four foot high pen and I've been busy exploring ever since. Mom does insist that I confine my explorations to the house and yard.

Being the adventurous type keeps a girl very busy. I have to stay on guard for any intruders that may enter my yard. I'm on duty rain or shine, sleet or snow.

If strangers enter the yard I check them out to make sure they're friendly.

I'm ready if the yard is invaded by wild ducks.

There's a mouse that lives in this wood pile and I plan to catch him.

Squirrels run up this tree and I think maybe I can learn to climb trees if I try hard.

Maybe I'll start by scaling the walls of the tower. It's good practice for tree climbing.

I try to keep the yard tidy at all times. While doing it I imagine that I'm fighting my way thru the jungle.

I think I'd like to visit my friends in Oz and check out those strange animals called roos, but Mom says Oz is on the other side of the earth. No problem, I'll just dig thru.

It's hard digging in rocky ground so I got some help from my brother, but I have to supervise to keep him on target.

Lots of explorer/adventurers have buddies.  Lewis had Clark, Orville had Wilbur and Batman had Robin. I have Monkey.

Monkey goes everywhere with me and is my best friend. He gives me moral support and in turn I protect him from large brown and white predators.

Thank you for accepting my entry. Monkey and I would appreciate your vote.

New Year's Eve Celebrations I Have Known

I've been  fortunate to celebrate New Years in many styles. For a number of years I worked for a bank and had to work on New Year's Eve. The bank fed us and with any luck we made it home either shortly before midnight or not long after.  After I left the bank I attended some parties at restaurants or clubs and sometimes  house parties. My favorite New Year's celebrations were far from home.

In December of 1984 I traveled to The Soviet Union with my cousin Missy. Under  Communism Christmas was not an official holiday so we were just in time for the big New Year's celebration. Here is a New Years's tree in front of the Bolshoi Ballet Theatre. There were festive trees in our hotel and even in our tour bus.

Here I am dressed for the Russian winter weather.

I toured my favorite building in the world, St. Basil's Cathedral. I spent most of the day there wandering from chapel to chapel. Every inch of the interior is brightly painted.

The hotel we stayed at, The Kosmos, threw a wonderful New Year's Eve party for us. We celebrated with tourists from Japan, Finland and several other countries. Every hour was New Year's somewhere and we celebrated them all. We had a nine course meal with the most wonderful melt-in-your-mouth chicken Kiev served somewhere around midnight. The ice cream ( there is nothing like Russian ice cream made with pure cream) arrived around 2AM. There was a balalaika band playing and we all danced well past dawn. The special Russian traditional drink that we shared was an Aurora Borealis. Here are the direction, if you want to try it tonight.

Into a large punch bowl pour one bottle of champagne and one bottle of vodka. Then pour in another bottle of champagne and another bottle of vodka. Now pass the punch bowl around and each person drinks from it. Continue passing the bowl around till either the punch is gone or everyone has passed out. Cheers!

Some of us, including me, stayed up all night. Early in the morning those of us who could manage it went to Red Square to join the long line of people touring Lenin's tomb.

This is a forbidden shot of the changing of the guard at Lenin's tomb. We were told that we were not allowed to photograph certain things and any shots of soldiers were strictly forbidden. That's why you can see that I'm standing behind someone to hide my camera.

Then it was on to visit Catherine The Great's carousel.

When we got there we were treated to a troika ride. Six of us snuggled into the sleigh under blankets and rode thru the fields. We sang Jingle Bells at the top of our lungs and the driver was so pleased that he took us around again.

The trip lasted about ten days and although the temperature was colder than anything I'd ever experienced and I got very little sleep because I didn't want to miss anything, it was one of the most exciting times of my life. I fell in love with Russia, the people, the customs and the history.

If cold (-36 degrees) doesn't turn you on, maybe you'll prefer my New Year's Eve in Trinidad. In 1991 Rob and I flew to Trinidad on New Year's Eve day. What a contrast to Russia!

The Caribbean drink that we shared at midnight was a Bentley. I liked them immediately and continued to enjoy Bentleys throughout the trip. If you'd like to try one, here are the instructions. They aren't as deadly as an Aurora Borealis.

        1 measure of freshly squeezed Caribbean lime juice
        2 measures of cane sugar
        4 measures of club soda
        2 dashes of Angostura Bitters per serving
        1 red Maraschino cherry
Enjoy, they're really good!

On New Year's Day we went to the annual horse race which was conveniently right across the street from our hotel. We then took a walking tour of the city and listened to steel bands practicing for Carnival.

We walked thru the botanical gardens. Notice the size of this wild Poinsettia. It's the national flower. We also went thru the zoo which is next to the gardens.

But when you're on an island, you must go to the beach. The beaches of Trinidad and Tobago are the most beautiful that I've ever seen, including Mexico and Hawaii.

Maracas Bay, Trinidad

Mt. Irvine Bay, Tobago

Rockley Bay, Scarborough, Tobago

Mt Irvine, Tobago   The beach nearest our hotel.

Rob playing tourist. The temps were in the mid eighties every day.                                                          

So, wherever in the world you're celebrating the new year, we hope it's a safe, happy, healthy one for everyone. Happy New Year from Rob and me and Morgan, Tsar and the Porties.