Happiest Dog EVER

Here's to the happiest dog EVER. Isn't that the face of a happiest dog ever?

Happy 3rd Birthday

to you DUKE!

we stole a cake for you from the web... *shhhhh*

we got you a DVD cover for your mom to store all your videos :)

 Do drop by Duke's home and send him some birthday wishes :) He will be delighted!

Duke's Pawwwty

Have a great celebration tomorrow Dukester.

Woofs & Licks,
Piper and Dommy

Love Thy Neighbour

What do you call a man who does silly things? A silly man of course :)

My backdoor neighbour has a personal crusade against the "wild cats" in the neighbourhood. Yesterday evening i saw this grown man with big stones in his palms, running and chasing the cats in the backlane. With a very angry face, all puffed up and sweaty, he ran up and down the backlane chasing stray cats.

Today he had a tiff with his sister who lives next door to him. He told her not to feed the cats quite loudly. Maybe he was trying to send the message over to me and my next door neighbour too. He was still pissed after one whole day.

I wonder what the cats did to him. These strays probably are just minding the own business, catching some rats in the drains or looking for a bite or two from the scraps that some people leave out for them.

Strays are an issue as they multiply quite fast. If we do not feed the strays, would they just dissapear overnight? Seriously, does he have to chase them down with big stones. Heartless idiot. I couldn't let him have a piece of my mind... as he's our neighbour and this man is way older than me.

Some people get through life without ever having a pet or knowing one. They are just too into themselves that they will not open up their lives for a cat or a dog. Somehow they do not realise that pets can make them a better person. Stroking a dog helps bring down your blood pressure. If he only knew. He could probably pop an artery getting so angry over some strays. Or he's probably bored. So chasing strays with stones in his hands are cheap thrills for him.

His sister lives next door to him on her own. Sometimes i hear her crying or wailing loudly. The whole neighbourhood says that she's crazy. But i think she's just lonely. If only they knew what a pet can do to her life. It could probably turn her life around. She could get better. She does plant beautiful flowers. And she is definitely more humane than her brother. She feeds the strays in the morning.. quietly.

People who are living alone and lonely live better lives when they have a companion pet. They are not so prone to depression. Autistic children could learn to cope better with animal therapy. The list is endless if only they knew.

Did i tell you about the old man and his dog? After his wife passed away and his children moved away, his only companion day in and out is his dog. Day after day, i see him walk slowly to buy food. I see that he is happy. He does not have an angry face like my "wild cat chaser" neighbour.

I read on Marg's blog this quote... People who hate cats, will come back as mice in the next life. *LOL* Hope he does. Oh yesssss... i am wicked sometimes.

"wild cats" of our backlane

I don't know why he calls them wild cats. They are just strays. They are not wild.

Anne

Our roadtrip from last Sunday morning. After we dropped Piper and Dom off to the boarding house, we went on our way to Penang. Penang and Malacca are both my favourite towns in Malaysia. I can never be bored of both places. There's always so much to see, so much to eat and so much to be photographed in both places. If you are a first-time tourist to Malaysia, don't forget to visit both towns. They still have the old town charm. Both towns whispers stories to you when you weave in and out through the alleys. There's always something to discover there.

St Anne at Bukit Mertajam

Before we get to Penang, we stopped over to see Anne. Anne as in St Anne's Church in Bukit Mertajam. The St. Anne's Annual Novena & Feast Day Celebration starts on the 23 July - 1 August 2010. We are usually a week earlier.

The old church which is now the chapel

Shrine at the top of the hill

We have been coming to St Anne even when my mom was around. It was always happier when she was with us. But as the years wear on, the final years of her life, she was not able to go up the hill to pray at the shrine anymore. It is quite a steep hill. She sits at the foot of the hill and wait for us to come down. I am sure my mom was with us last Sunday.

This is where my mom used to sit while waiting for us to come down from the hill.
This lady is waiting for her kids to come down from the hill too.

Both my sister and i will usually come home from Kuala Lumpur, do a pitstop in Ipoh to pick my parents and Boy to go straight to St Anne. I am usually quite clueless with strange roads. I get lost all the time. My sister however is very smart with roads. We depend on her to get us there each year. Strangely each year we seem to take a different route to St Anne. The roads keep changing. But if you head for the hill, you will always reach the St Anne's Church. There's only one hill in Bukit Mertajam.

St Anne has granted many prayers. Especially for couples that pray for children. On one of our visits there, i saw a couple holding a very small baby and running up the stairs to the chapel. Both grinning and very happy. Their prayers were answered. Its is a very holy and peaceful place.

New church of St Anne. Minangkabau roof and lots of natural light flowing in. 

If you want to visit St Anne's one day, here's the link to their official site. http://stannebm.org
It is a very beautiful sanctuary for prayers.

And off we went to Penang after visiting Anne :) Tomorrow hopefully.. to be continued.

Each year i take photographs of this same place. Here are some of our old pictures of St Anne. Boy is home. Goodnight people. Have a great weekend ahead.

A New Bed for Sky

Yesterday was the end to the Pretty Giveaway sponsored by CSN Stores. Both Dom and i did a draw. And our winner is...

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Sue from The Portuguese Water Blog

Congrats to you Sue and Sky. Hope Sky will love his new bed :) Thank you again to CSN Stores for sponsoring the giveaway.

Sue.. please drop me your email. CSN Stores will send the gift certificate to you to shop at their online store.

The cup with all your names :)

What am i supposed to do with this cup? It ain't smelling like food/ice-cream Curly says...

He just messes up all the papers (with your names) and munching on some of them too.. he's no help

All this work is too tiring for the Curly...

Hope you all enjoyed this giveaway. Thank you so much for participating :)

Always On Your Side

Always On Your Side ~ Sheryl Crow & Sting

This is a very beautiful song. I've always love Sting.. and Sheryl Crow. In that particular order.

We are getting quite busy over here. Our summer break's almost over and the lull is gone. Everyone's gearing up for September (ops! we forgot about August) but we have to be at November. That might sound a bit too confusing.. hehehe.. but we have to work few months ahead of time.

After our short roadtrip to see Anne and to stuff ourselves silly, we came back to a small mountain of laundry and a whole lot of work in the mail.

We'll post later about our roadtrip. We have many stories to tell you :)

The weather's been extremely temperamental. One minute i see dark clouds... next minute its all bright and sunny again. Its like someone is playing with the switches up there. We shall be patient and just enjoy it come rain or shine.

Till then.. do enjoy this song. It is a heat-breaker :)

You Are My Everything

Responsible Pet Care. You are their everything. They only have you to depend on for everything.

If you want to own a pet, be prepared to take care of them for 10-15 years. Do not dump them when the going gets tough or when you get bored of them. Our pets makes us whole and teaches us to be more human if only we take the time to observe and spend more time with them.

The Pretty Giveaway

The weekends are here! I was writing this post earlier but i got side-tracked and ended up watching too much tv. Yes. That has become quite an addiction lately.

My weekends are for sorting out stuffs in this old house. We have accumulated so much stuffs that we don't use anymore. Cupboards are kind of falling apart in some places. And beds are getting thinner and thinner too. I feel like i am sleeping on springs sometimes :D

Over the years, we have given away some of the old furnitures which are pretty sturdy compared to the new furnitures now. My parent's old wedding bedroom set was given away quite sometime ago to a new family who were just moving into the neighbourhood. I can still remember the shape of the bed and the drawers on the left and right with the funny knobs. There was a glass panel where the headboard is and inside the glass panel, my sisters and i used to keep a lot of stuffs. It was like a parade inside.

The bedroom set comes with an awesome vanity and a cupboard (which is still around). I call it the awesome vanity as it is really awesome. I haven't found a vanity quite like that shape and pattern till today. It comes with a tri-fold mirror and the whole mirror can be folded back down to keep it safe and clean when its not in use. Its a weird shape vanity that you keep at the corner of a wall. It fits perfectly in a sharp corner. Now i wish we didn't give it away. That was my mom's vanity.

But with all things old and new, we have to give something up to make space for something new. Changes are good. They are necessary be it for life or work.

CSN Stores contacted me recently and offered me a giveaway on my blog. They are one of the top 3 online retailers of home and office goods. They have a huge range of stuffs for our furry friends too.

Here's how you can be in the running for this gift certificate of USD60.00. To enter to win the gift certificate go to any of the CSN websites and leave me a comment on this post on what you will get if you win! This giveaway ends next Thursday night at 11.11pm (Malaysian time) and I'll announce the winner on Friday. 

We'll do an old fashioned way of drawing for a winner :D Now we got to get back to our very springy bed and sleep. My sister is coming home with PP tomorrow and we are going to head off to see Anne. I'll tell you more about Anne when i get back next week.

Footnote: There may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses.

Summer Holiday

Summer Holiday ~ Cliff Richard

"We are going on a summer holiday.. no more working for a week or two. Fun and laughter on a summer holiday. No more worries for me or you for a week or two. We are going where the sun shines brightly.. we are going where the sea is blueeeeeeeeee...."  

Cliff Richard. My eldest sis was such a big fan of Cliff Richard. Was and still is. She used to sing his songs over and over and over again when we were kids. She went nuts when she saw/hear him sing. *LOL* I still see a sparkle in her eyes when she hears Cliff Richard over the radio today. Summer Holiday is the song from my childhood. We used to sing it in the car when my parents took us for roadtrips. We used to go for many roadtrips way back then.

My dad is humming this song quite happily now. He is having his headphones on in the hall and singing quite loudly :) Maybe he is getting pretty excited and happy that we will be going off for a short roadtrip this weekend. We are going off to see Anne and to some beaches and finally to stuff ourselves silly with food. Hawker food :D Yum yum...

We have summer all year round here in Malaysia. We melt especially on a February when we get intense warm weather. Staying under the shower seems like the best thing to do in February.. and even now. I probably shouldn't complain so much about the lack of rain. In some parts of the world, rain is creating much havoc.

We have a giveaway coming up soon :) If you are interested to win a voucher to shop online, come back here tonite. I'll probably be done drafting it out by then. Its just a simple contest. All you have to do is just leave a comment. We'll do an old fashioned way of drawing a winner and walla! We will have a winner then.

PP is coming home tomorrow. Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thoughts...

1. I had two bananas for lunch and now i am feeling like a monkey.
2. Go hang upside down from the fan my colleague says.
3. Does eating too much vegetables make you feel like a rabbit?
4. Why is a dutch oven called an oven when its a pot?
5. The rain is trying to be funny with me today.
6. Running out as fast as my stick legs can carry me to fetch the laundry is not easy if your furry friend tries to run just as fast beside you while thinking its a game.
7. Some people cannot sleep without their dutch wives.
8. Spongebob is annoyingly funny.
9. Its so warm here that trying to work is NOT an option anymore.
10. Rain is still trying to be funny with me.
11. Maybe i should become a bat and work at night instead while hiding under the bed with Dom during the day.
12. I think Dom has a special fur-growth formula that works. He is a furry monster again. Any hair-growth companies that is interested in this fur-growth can contact Dom @ Piper Kingdom.
13. Annoying vans with speakers that play annoying songs that sends some dogs howling are making their rounds.
14. Be nice to the people that come by to take the census. Our country is doing the census this month and all the folks around here are too afraid to open their doors to strangers. *LOL*
15. Don't sc**w with me rain or i'll i'll i'll...

I'm Mr Lonely

Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
I have only a cookie for my own.
I'm so lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely,
wish I had someone to call on the phone.

Wordless Wednesday

Of Innocence

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

A part of a poem Auguries of Innocence from Blake.

Would anyone like to help us understand that part of the poem?

Building Playgrounds

I Love How You Love Me - Bobby Vinton 

Soppy Love Song Day. Its been a while since i last posted a soppy love song :) I do love to start posts with a song. It sets the mood for the day or hour and lets you get carried away while you hummed to the song :) Gotcha there ya?

We have been busy playing at another playground and building some new playgrounds :p We'll probably open up another playground for you to come over to play soon. Or maybe in a few more weeks when the grass grows better and the rides are painted. Yes yes.. we are quite a crazy bunch here.

My nephew was home last weekend for a short visit from college. Its not the term break yet. But i guess he misses home a lot. He's looking forward to term break in two weeks time to scoot on home again. Grandpa was extremely happy that his favourite grandson is home. He even went to the store to get all his favourite drinks and snacks to line them up in the fridge. Yes.. he is a pampered one. He's 18 already but we do pamper him quite a lot around here. But a kid has to be loved and pampered and spoiled sometimes. And only a grandpa usually loves to do that.

When we picked him up from the station, he grinned and grinned and never stop talking for quite a while. Both grandpa and grandson had so much to tell each other. I kinda felt like the taxi driver eavesdropping into their conversation. I guess both of them misses each other quite a lot.

Two days and many meals later, we have to send him off at the train station bright and early on a Sunday. I have never seen a sadder face than the one looking back at me through the window. Reminds me of the time when i was about 20 and going off to the city to work. The journey back to the other side is dreadful. You cling on to the food that is packed for you from home and savour it all even though its cold. You cling on to whatever that is home and hang in there till the next trip home.

He's has grown up quite a lot in these two months. He rather spend time with his grandpa now than to go out with his cousins and friends when he is home. When he is not home, the house feels so empty. Even Dommy is yawning louder to fill up the air.

We are going on a short roadtrip again this weekend. Hopefully... we'll catch some memories in the memory keeper to share with you. Am looking forward to a break again :) Now we got to head off back to the other playground to get some work done. Goodnite folks. Hope you enjoy our soppy love song.

This, That and A Melon Hopefully

Ahh... the raindance worked. Quite a big storm we had. We even had to pull the phone lines for the internet out. We had rain the whole of yesterday from morning till night. The gardens were watered and some flowers are blooming. I wonder if my watermelon plant will survive. Yes.. i am trying to grow watermelons. *LOL*

My neighbour, my father's friend is growing watermelons and grapes in his yard. The watermelons are already about the size of grapefruits and he is pretty proud of them. He gave me a small watermelon plant the other day. I dug a hole in the garden near the hedge and hopefully it will survive. Without no green fingers, the only probable thing that survives in this garden are weeds and hardy plants.

If i am successful with the melons, Jaiboo might have watermelons next time he comes home :)

Dom is becoming quite the senior dog that he is. He is so bored without the cute little one around here. Yes.. cuteness sells. He's been sleeping the whole day. But its really too warm for him to do anything else. His friend Lester haven't come by for quite a while now. I wonder what happen to that little guy. The little guy usually escapes from his big house few roads away and comes running back to our neighbourhood to visit his friends braving traffic and heat. Quite a trooper.

1728 hours. I should probably start cooking dinner. But since its been extremely warm today, i'll do something light and easy. Porridge. When i get a bit too lazy to cook, i do a one pot thingy. Not much of a cooking involved but the porridge is good enough to get us through the day.

Dad don't actually eat quite a lot for dinner. He munches on a lot of stuffs throughout the day and when it comes to dinner, he is actually quite full/half full. My cooking portions are getting smaller and smaller that sometimes its getting a bit crazy. But i don't quite like to have leftovers and wastage. Whatever that gets into the fridge as leftovers sometimes stays in there and gets forgotten.

Cooking rice even became a challenge. We have a big rice cooker here. And cooking one cup of rice in this rice cooker is pretty funny as the rice is just at the bottom bit of the pot. Its not even an inch. Wastage when the rice gets stuck on the bottom. So now we just steam the rice in a small steel bowl. Just enough for both dad and i.

Boy is coming home for a short break tomorrow. I haven't seen him for the longest time. I bet he is just as excited to come home and sleep in his own room and on his own bed. Even for 2 days would be quite a luxury for him. Cooking will take a different turn tomorrow :) We are cooking for one more person and that should be more fun.

Watermelons if this survive :)

Wordless Wednesday

Comments Under The Weather

My apologies to some of you who have commented on my latest post. My comment "thingy" seems to be a bit under the weather today. I haven't found out what's wrong yet.. but soon :) else i'll probably change the template again *LOL*

Its an extremely hot day today. We are almost melting in this heat and Dommy has gone under the bed to seek the coolness there. But he still keeps nudging me once in a while to let him go out in the garden (in this extreme heat) to take a leak (which is his diabolical plan) but he's actually wanting to go to the garden to roll around on the grass. With eyes shut and lots of grass all over his curly self, it is a sight. *LOL*

That's all for now... i think i better go join him under the bed and hide from all this heat. If you are outside and out on the road, do drink lotsa water ya. We could use a rain dance now.

Burp!

Ops! Please forgive my bad manners. I ate too much and am too lazy to even roll over. Ops lagi!.. i've been mixing with Dommy too much. What am i doing rolling over for? :D

As promised.. here's the chili dish i cooked just now. Good thing it turned out okay since i can never cook the same thing the same way with the same taste again.

It doesn't look very red hot spiffy.. i mean spicy.. hahhahaha.. but it is spicy. The chili paste i got from the market from this nice old lady is a real knocker (chili paste is very useful when you don't have time to grind your own.. and when you are lazy). I think she grinds all the chili padi (bird's eye chili) that she cannot sell for the day into this chili paste.

Anyways.. here are the ingredients.

There's only 6 big praws (because there's only dad and i eating dinner) *LOL* which is marinated with salt and tumeric. Chili paste from the makcik at the wet market. Cucumber sliced and to be eaten raw. One bombay onion. One tomato. Ops! And two cloves of smashed garlic (yea.. they are not there in the above picture).

Fry the prawns in a some oil for a while. Not too long else the prawns get too tough. Then dish it out.

Using the same oil, sauté the onions and garlic. Drop in the tomatos. Stir stir stir. Pour half of chili paste since i only have six prawns *LOL* Stir it a bit.. add a bit of water.. and a bit of sugar to balance the taste. Put the prawns that are fried into the pan and stir stir stir. Dish it out immediately when its mixed nicely with the sauce.

This portion is for two people. And dad and i are not big eaters. The chili prawns are nice with hot rice. Loads of rice. Don't think i can do a website on recipes. I just remember to stir stir stir and forget to take the picture of the sauce when its cooking. *LOL*

Here's the pot of chicken breast meat i cooked for Dommy in the morning. Sometimes i add one carrot and one potato in. Today's pot is just chicken. I just boil it with some water over low fire until the water almost runs out. When the meat has cooled off, i smash it up with my hands and mix it around.

Then i pack it into daily portions and freeze it. The packed meat lasts about 2 weeks as there are only 14 packs. He only eats one meal a day (and he is overweight at 9.3kgs). The vet says he's overweight a bit. Usually he has a pack of chicken meat that is warmed up and mixed into a 1/2 cup of kibbles for dinner. He has 2 biscuits in the morning and sometimes a treat in the afternoon. Do you think i am overfeeding him?

Dommy's packed chicken for the freezer

That's all for today. Tomorrow... i want to tell you about "The Fool". Goodnight people :) Dommy sends a *woof* too. He's dozing off already.

Snoozing away on his own ole poang. Its a cold night *hehe*

Crumbs

If you leave your blog for too long without an update, you lose some of your readers. But if you lose your mojo to blog, it is good to take a break and come back later with a bang or less of a bang. If your readers love what you write, they will be back. But if you are writing for yourself and just want to rant and rave and sort out your thoughts... it is okay if there are no readers too. *LOL*

Personally i write to collect my own thoughts and sometimes to share some stories with my sisters. And i love it when i can connect with other animal lovers out there too. We can learn a lot of things from other people's experiences especially about our pets.

Last weekend no one came home. It was kind of lonely. Dad was singing.. kind of like howling (singing with the headphones on). I guess he is mighty bored. No one called him too. I told him, if they don't call you, you can always call them. But no. He waits for calls. Old people are like that.

I took the time to clean up the kitchen and rearranged some stuffs. There's loads of things to clear and pack. Haven't got around to doing it as i am lazy. I am just doing small parts each weekend. When i am rearranging things, i end up throwing a lot of things. When i get to the store room, i bet half of the things will be thrown out. *LOL*

We collected so much debris over time. And weekends are great for clearing stuffs. We have vans that come by each weekend to collect stuffs that you don't want. Some are recycled and some electrical goods that still function but you don't use it anymore can be passed on to others who will find use for it. Over time we keep buying new things too without fixing the old. And that is why the storeroom will just burst one day.

The only things i buy nowadays are books, food, books, petrol, books and groceries. I don't see the need to buy clothes or shoes anymore. I have been working from home for the past 3 years plus. When i am expected at the office, it is quite hard for me to find something presentable to wear anymore. Once i landed into my office in my track pants and some crummy tee-shirt. *LOL* My colleagues asked me if i just crawled out of bed. Just to make them happy.. i said i wore this track and tee to sleep too. And they went yeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

There's this place i usually go to hunt for books. Its a second hand bookstore. Last weekend, i came out with 5 books and a silly grin. The bookstore owner is usually quite happy to see me. I can spend a long time there and sometimes i find gems for quite a steal. I've bought some books for 2 bucks or 3 bucks. A good condition book will cost a bit more but still cheaper than my normal jaunts at Borders. Borders cost me a hole in my pockets each time i step in there. I couldn't resist the smell of new books. They just entice me to buy them.

Dommy also went to the vet to have his distemper jab. I was late in taking him for his yearly jabs this year. We got his ears checked too because he is having a bit of an itch lately. After some swabs and checks under the microscope, the vet said NO MITES. Thank god. I was afraid of mites getting into his ears. Doc also asked me to give him Omega 3 tabs as it will be good for his skin. And i asked the vet.. Omega 3 for dogs or human. My vet laughed and told me.. you can buy the omega 3 tabs for human and give him. I am quite clueless sometimes.

He tells me not to give him too much of the canned food because his skin is no good. Usually we mix one tablespoon of canned lamb/chicken to his kibbles. Sometimes we pack his food and freeze it in daily portions after we boiled the chicken breast meat. He loves that most.

Well.. my dad is still bored and whistling some oldies now. He is off to take Dom for a walk while i start getting dinner ready. I'm frying some big prawns with some chili :) I'll show you the picture tonite if it turns out okay :D

Fluffy Friday # 31 - Oh Bernard!

Ain't this fella a big fluffy one? He was drawing a lot of oooooooooooohhhhss and aaahhhhhhs from a lot of us who were at the shop. I was at the pet supplies shop last weekend and saw this cute little St Bernard. His name is Cash and just four months. He's going for quite a steal but not a lot of people can afford to keep this dog. He's gonna grow really big too. I held his paws to check. Huge huge paws. But very soft fur and friendly little puppy.

In our tropical country, this dog is sure gonna suffer if he's kept outdoors. We have summer whole year and extreme heat waves in the beginning of the year. Poor guy. Hope he goes to a very good home and be loved, pampered and have a good cool area to stay.

Happy Fluffy Friday everyone :)

Share your fluffy friends with us every Friday! Whether it's a favourite stuffed toy or an adorable pet - basically anything fluffy, we'd love to see your pictures & stories! Leave ONLY the POST URL here and grab the Fluffy Friday badge at Meow Diaries. Any unrelated links will be deleted.