Some Eye Candy and Meandering on...

We continue on our journey thru the nooks and crannies of Malacca. First, our apologies for being slow and lazy with the posts :)

Certain towns in Malaysia still have a lot of old town charm... they are very charming to travellers like us. Its not hoity toity like the big cities with their big malls and the branded brands. Like some coffee gets branded and cost a bomb but taste like crap. Except for Starbucks of course. *LOL* I still love my macchiato with cream. An indulgence when i get to the city on errands.

We went to a back alley (which was surprisingly quite clean and doesn't smell) for charcoal grilled tofu with fishballs in a thick peanuty sauce. It was simply delicious.

This stall is called Tong Bee’s Cockles Stall. We didn't ordered cockles as we were both not really great fans of boiled cockles. It was a pretty neat place to eat as we have to sit on these low stools in some very dark back alley.

It is surely not for the less adventurous if you are edgy about hygiene and safety. Motorbikes were also passing by us slowly just inches away from where we sat.

Next we walked to the Stadthuys which is the red square of Malacca. This is a favourite place to take loads of pictures for most tourists. The exterior of all the buildings around here are red... all of the same hue.

You can also find many colourful and heavily decorated pretty trishaws to take you on a spin through the streets of Malacca.

When we got to Jonker Street, we met a juicy man.

He turned his back to us and kept flexing his muscles. All we can do is just stare with eyes wide open. O.O The body glisten like gold and were shiny in many many places. We continue staring and he continue adjusting his muscles for our eyes.

A few of his friends showed up and they all continue to torture our eyes with their juicy beautiful glistening bodies. We continue staring with buttery legs. Our jaws dropped with each flex of them muscles. It was too much... too much eye candy for a birthday. I was getting a sugar high.

I felt woozy in the head. I need air. Too many people.. too many muscles. Too much eye candy for a night. Halpppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp...

Some of you might be missing the Curly. He told me that he upgraded himself to angel status. He says he's most angelic and behaving like an angel lately. I kinda think that his halo is weighing him down.

His halo started travelling to his back. I wonder why.

Its getting a wee bit late here. Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving dinner and am thankful for all loved ones and the things in life. Save some turkey for us. We'll be coming over soon. For more eye candy and if you wonder why there's so many juicy men that night, we'll indulge you on our next post... if we don't get too lazy.

A note to Lil Miss Maple & Yuki's momma ~
The Majestic Hotel is not spooky at all. The rooms are at the new tall building behind the mansion. Its only 10 years old. The old mansion only houses the lobby, reception, library and a big nice restaurant upstairs. No spooky spooks :)

Raw vs Kibs vs Love

It is the summer... and during summers, people can be allowed to be lazy. Right? It is mid August... and we are picking up speed at work again. Gone are the shaking legs and bum days. July was pretty nice. We had a bit of a lull at work when the markets go for their summer breaks.

My mind hasn't been here or there lately. I took almost 2 weeks to learn something new. The heart is just not in it. But work has to be done eventually. Things can be easily done when you set your mind to get it done. A much wasted 2 weeks of dog dreaming.

I've just been bogged with things about the Curly. Things to cook for the Curly. Things to make the Curly eat. During these past weeks, i have become a chef for a Curly. Perhaps i am a bit crazy.

Everyday, my mind do whizzes and whooshess. I think i am in trouble. Curly's got the upperhand now and he is now the top dog. He has gotten me to handfeed him every single meal. He just gives me the.. feed me or i'll faint look. And i'll be on my knees beside him begging him to eat. Hmmm... Do you think i should starve him a bit? Till he eats on his own?

I can't be cruel to a sick dog. Can i?

I've always believed that you must teach a person to fish than to fish for the person. If you keep fishing for the person, the person will be dependent on you for the rest of his/her entire life. Same goes with feeding our furries. If they are hungry, they will go to their food and eat them eventually. Right?

But if you touch his curly tummy and its all sunken in and he looks hungry and tired but will not eat from his bowl, won't you handfeed him? Maybe i should buy him a new bowl. Maybe he got bored of his bowl. Maybe his bowl smells of stainless steel.

Oh for god sakes... please eat Dommy.

I have tried all kinds of food for him. I've read so many many sites on feeding our furries. We even tried a raw diet. Piper enjoyed his piece of meaty raw chicken and even sneak the bone back to his bed to enjoy it slowly. For someone with very small teeth, he manage to finish up the bone with a big big smile on his face.

raw moment

We ended up washing his bed and pikachu after his meal. Dom... he just have a few tiny pieces of raw chicken. Handfed.

My dad was appalled that i am feeding them raw chicken. He asks me again and again about bacteria and stuffs. He just had this shocked look on his face. He kept asking me if i am doing the right thing.

I did do my research before i handed a raw piece of meat to Piper and Dom. Piper has been with us since he was a kitten puppy. We never feed him anything raw before. Its always cooked and he always have kibbles with cooked chicken meat or peas or carrots. On some occasions, he have some broth and some sauces with his kibbles. But never anything raw.

The 1/2 an egg thief

Dom might have some raw meat before when he was living in Australia. Some people swear by the raw diet. I am just wondering, how many of you out there serve your furries a complete raw diet. I am thinking of going that way with Dom when he gets better.

I am pushed to explore the possibilities of feeding a raw diet as i'm almost at the end of the rope on what to feed Dom. I want him to be well and i just want him to eat.

If you guys would be so kind, please help me with the polls on the top right corner. Thank you.

On one of my own saddest day, i was able to stuff myself with food to sustain and to live. I did not want to allow myself to be sick and to breakdown. Somehow it was the right thing to do. When i am sick, i still try to drag myself to cook something to eat. Eating is a way to live. Why does he not want to eat like he used to?

Curly is sleeping most of the time

We went for the follow-up visit to the vet to get his heart medicines last Friday. He trotted in to the clinic on his own. The vet says he looks much much better but no baths yet.. still. Dom was all smiles when the vet didn't put the termometer up his "toot". He was all smiles when it was time to go home.

We have rain these past few days. The air is so much better. Its cooler in the afternoons too.

I just tweeted the word FML a while ago. For some reasons, i was having my FML moment. It soon passed. For some who are not in the know about the abbreviation FML, google it ya.

This is a good site to have a laugh when you feel like you are having a FML moment. My FML moment passed soonest i read some of other people's FML moments. Here.. have a laugh. www.fmylife.com

What saves a man is to take a step. Then another step. ~ C.S. Lewis

Good Life ~ One Republic

Fragile

Pip's little sister went for an operation last Friday. We hope she's healing beautifully. We have our paws and fingers all crossed for you. Our thoughts are with you Pip and Kristin.

We finally got around the scare and the scary and found a certain balance in our lives again.

I had a scare one morning last week. Waking up and moving over to Dom's chair, i looked at him and he didn't move. Usually when i wake in the morning, he will be all ready to go for a leak. But here i am looking at him and he didn't move a muscle. I put my hand over to his chest to check. Suddenly he jumped up startled. He was just in deep sleep. Very very deep sleep. It must have been the medicines.

A day later, i found him a bit wobbly and didn't quite use his left hind leg. It got worse and he started to hobble around and lie down most of the time. That got us worried and we were off to the vet again last Thursday.

The vet checked all his legs and was bending it here and there just to make sure he didn't sprained it. Then he made Dom walked here and there to see his gait. It turned out he became anaemic from not eating properly. Poor nutrition.

He hasn't been eating his kibs for the past 2 weeks.. or so. Ever since he was sick, he stopped eating his kibs. He has been very choosy about his food lately.. and still needs to be handfed. I think he's beginning to like the idea of being handfed.

Eating just chicken breast without the normal nutrition from his kibs is just not enough. The minerals that are contained in his kibs are just not found in just chicken. The past week has been a bit of a topsy turvy as each day, we struggled to force him to eat something... and trying to come up with new ideas for food for him. At one time, i even started to beg him to eat. He seem to understand and took a few more mouthfuls.

The vet advised that if he really does not eat, give him some essence of chicken... or an egg.. or something. We got to keep him eating else he'll be wobbly. When he's anaemic, he does not feel like eating at all. Lethargy and he just lies down the whole day.

Then we cooked a pot of chicken... added some carrots.. peas... potatoes... and sweet potatoes. We mix some up with an egg... with some flour and oats.. and we have meat patties. Meat patties go into the oven for a crunchy feel and he seem to like that. My sister suggested i put some of his kibs into the mixture too and we have meat patties + kibs included. He ate some of that too.

We made some progress these few days. He is not limping anymore and seem to have more energy. He's even eager for a walk. We had a short slow walk yesterday around the neighbourhood and he was so happy to get out there for his mails. We can't do long walks at the moment as we do not want to stress his heart. We are being careful and am scared.

His lungs are much clearer and he is without fever now. The medicines did help but his enlarged heart will always be enlarged.

We had a long talk with the vet... and dad asked the vet a lot of questions. Even the ones that i didn't want to know. The vet said, if we are lucky, we'll probably get 2 more years with Dom. He was quick to add that his own dog survived 4 more years after his dog was diagnosed with a heart condition. We can't really know. It will probably get a bit worse in the end and some of his organs will give way slowly. But for today, we'll just have to be happy and be thankful for another day well spent.

What we must know is that we cannot stress him too much. He'll just be like an old guy taking it easy now. With love and lots of care, he'll probably outlive me :)

We have a lot of people praying for him everyday. Thank you all so much. He is so loved by so many.

"We who choose to surround ourselves
with lives even more temporary than our own,
live within a fragile circle;
easily and often breached.
Unable to accept its awful gaps,
we would still live no other way.
We cherish memory as the only
certain immortality, never fully
understanding the necessary plan."

~ Irving Townsend

Wordless Wednesday

The Oh So Good Life

didya didya miss me?

Today is my friend Chewy's 2nd Barkday.

Happy Bark Bark Day Chewy!

Holaaaaaaaaa... we are finally home from our roadtrip and festivities. The festivities are still ongoing until the 15th day of Chinese New Year. That's the normal number of days that some chinese celebrates. 

We are back at home working furiously since Monday. A week of laziness and bumming around causes an avalanche of emails when we came back. Work piles up like pancakes but work surely don't taste just as good :)

Our apologies for not coming by to visit all of you yet. We manage some of you... we are coming around slowly but surely.

We had a feast on the eve of Chinese New Year in one of the chinese restaurants in town. No one wanted/dared to cook this homecoming feast. So we opted to eat out. Mom used to do all the cooking for Homecoming dinner. But being lesser cooks, my sisters and i did not dare take on this gargantuan task (we were also lazy buggers).

Yee sang

The dish above is called Yeesang and its like a Prosperity Toss. The family will gather around the table each with their chopsticks and just toss the contents causing a major spill on the table and all around while saying all good wishes for the year. The dish contains raw salmon, shreaded vegetables, condiments and some sweet sauces. After all the tossing, we eat it.

Another Yee sang. This was much nicer as the raw fish was not too thick.

  A very well-fed doggie at one of the restaurants.

Her pose made us smile.

Even the trees were not left out in the celebrations.

Black Stout Crabs. This is very nice.

Sweet and Sour Crabs.. yes yes.. we are quite a crabby fan.

Dom was gambling along with us but he could not keep his eyes open in the wee hours of the morning. 

Gambling is one of the things we do during Chinese New Year. It runs in my family for a very long time. Usually we play black jack. From the youngest to the oldest, we are all gamblers (only on Chinese New Year).

Dommy all poofed out on the way home.

Our very hungry strays.

Our friends from the backlane were so hungry when we got home. One of them gave me quite an earful and complained non-stop. *LOL* After a big meal, he finally settled down and snooze. These cats from the backlane are quite hardy. They are able to take care of themselves when we go away. But they always come back to eat when we return.

That's some of the pictures we got. Most are taken with the mobile as i've become quite lazy to lug out the camera :) We have families coming back this weekend. It will be a busy weekend for all of us here. My dad will be celebrating his 70th birthday too. We have 3 birthdays this weekend. All his siblings are coming home. Mr Piper will be home too.

The weather here is getting pretty warm. The Chinese New Year heat has finally arrived. Send me some snow Booker!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Rainy Days and Mondays ~ The Carpenters

An old song from my childhood :) Its been rainy here almost everyday and somehow this song came into mind. Since its a Monday, all the more apt. With a bit of a boom boom and kaboom that probably haven't hit my router yet. We are pretty still safe but we are on thunder lane and sooner or later, the router will probably see smoke if we don't turn it off when the thunder comes.

Some people do not understand why we have to turn the modem/router off when there's thunder and lightning. We live in a very old neighbourhood where the powerlines and the phone lines are all on poles (still). In the more modern, urban new neighbourhoods, powerlines are usually all underground. Safe from lightning strikes and thunderbolts.

Our garden is all lumpy with wet soil and very happy worms and snails

Dad: Dommy... wipe your feet before you come in.


Dommy: How? How do i wipe? I am all thumbs


Dad: Don't go running in the garden when its wet then.


Dommy: But but i have to pee... and poo... and chase out my meow buddies


Dad: Sand... its like a desert here in the hall. Stop bringing the sand in


Dommy: But grandpa... the sand just came with me. I didn't ask them to come in with me...

Dad's been complaining of too much sand in the house. *LOL* With a curly around, sand just follows. Sometimes grass follows too. We'll probably have to get Dommy some clogs or shoes to wear soon...

I'm innocent. Don't check between my paws. I got no sand in them.

With the constant rain, Dommy's been reduced to being a sluggish curly with no where to go except sleep. We found some kangaroo meat from Nature's Gift at our pet stores lately. He has probably have had it before when he was living in Melbourne with his first family. I sense a look of nostalgia on his face when he tasted it. Its probably my very own active imagination. *LOL*

Dommy has always been on a chicken or lamb diet. Our vet says beef is not too good for him. How much of lamb and chicken can a dog take day in and day out. Roo meat was a nice change. He leaped with joy and finished all his food in a jiffy. With a contented burp, he licked his bowl two times... grin and went on his way. Even a dog deserves variety in life.

What's a dog to do on a rainy day but zzzzZZZZZZzzzz

Footnote: We've noticed a bit of a cyber-bullying going around among some bloggers lately. Cyber bullying is really not necessary. We all blog because we have something to share. We should all blog for the right reasons and not to hurt people with comments. If you seriously do not like certain blogs or bloggers, just don't visit them and end of story. There is a blogger's code of conduct. Do not say anything online that you wouldn't say in person.