Saturday, July 31, 2010

The Chariot - Test of Courage Part 2

We must live on the neighbourhood chariot route. When we got home from dinner today, there was some commotion on the street leading into the house. I thought maybe someone had died or a house break-in (so much for positive thoughts!). Well, we found out that the chariot is coming again.

This time around, my kids were as quiet as mice...nobody let out a single bark the whole time. They were watching the whole parade intently. Notice the line of retreat as the chariot made it down the junction in the below photo.

As the chariot passed upfront, Ruki thought it was best be sit by me at the front door. Funnily, Ruki had a long drool coming down the side of his mouth, which was shut as tight as a clam, the whole time.

The kids enjoyed the show from a safe distance. I think they were mesmerized :D.

When it finally passed, a small crowd followed. Ruki must have thought it wasn't quite a "safe distance" and retreated into the kitchen to wait for the coast to be clear again.


My boy can bark as fierce as a rottie at times...but at times like this, he can be such a scaredy cat!

Photo on 31 July 2010

Monday, July 26, 2010

Something about Mari(ko)


I often make passing comments that my girl is more dog-like than my boy. But, as soon as I make such statement, I think I have to eat my words. This is her typical routine at our house:
1. In the morning, she licks any part of me that is outside the covers...to check if I am still asleep.
2. She sits in front of me the moment I am awake for her morning pet as I question her on what she has been up to for the past 2 hours since she got up.
3. She leaps into the car as soon as I open the car door to get the dog leash to go walking.
4. She watches Ruki and I leave the house for our morning walk from the back seat of the car.
5. She waits patiently by the gate for our return.
6. She gets way too excited that she could hard sit still to be leashed for her walk.
7. She automatically heads for the bathroom when we get back from our walk out of habit...although her wipe-down location has shifted to the kitchen.
8. She seldom waits in the kitchen as I'm preparing breakfast because it's more exciting being outside until meal time.
9. She takes her time eating. She eats like a cat, chewing every kibble before swallowing.
10. She eats slowly from one side of the plate to the other. She makes sure everyone waits for her to finish before we leave the kitchen. Otherwise, it's our fault she didn't clean her plate.
11. She excuses herself from the breakfast nook when duty calls for her to bark at something outside. (even if the shortest way out is crawling between the backdoor grills which is getting too narrow by the day for her).
12. She goes to investigate her brother's bowl when he's done. If there are leftovers, she has a taste before coming back to her bowl.
13. She is called at least twice to get back to her bowl to finish her food.
14. When breakfast is done, she always thinks it's time to play/ wrestle her brother down the ground.
15. She hangs out under the bathroom sink while I get ready for work.
16. She is first to jump into and out of the car to day care.
17. She jumps like a silly billy goat when I get home.
18. She waits at the kitchen to get her wipe-down and nightly yogurt snack.
19. She perches on my lap at least twice to see what I'm doing/ eating at my desk.
20. Twice a night, she sits attentively at my side and awaits to be petted.
21. She gets at least one belly rub with her nightly pep-talk.
22. She loves to check on her brother to make sure he is sleeping in the bedroom.
23. She sleeps on the coach with her chin rested on the arm rest until I go to bed.
24. But, she dashes outside at lightning speed, if she hears a pin dropped from outside.
25. She always thinks my side of the bed is the best place to sleep.
26. When she's scooted into her rightful place, she makes sure her bum is always facing my face when she sleeps.
27. She thinks anytime between 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. is good time to rub her nose on my toes to signal to be led outside to pee or stretch her legs.

I guess she has trained me well. o.O

Photo on 26 June 2010

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Not-so-bravehearts

I was watching Robin Hood with my earphones tonight. I could hear the kids barking in the background. Quite normal. But after a long while, it didn't stop...in fact, it got louder. So, I decided to investigate ...for the sake of my neighbours. I looked outside and saw this.


It must be for an Indian festival of some kind. As the chariot was coming down the road, the kids bark excitedly at the gate. My girl slowly retreated to the front door to watch it pass. She was rather scared...as she hasn't seen anything like this before.


When the chariot got to the front of the house gate, my boy made a dash for his life...to the back of the house! Sigh...there goes my hopes that he will one day save my life.

My Not-so-braveheart freaked out and ran for the hills. Only after a while, he came out of hiding...and moved to the side of the house to watch chariot pass by.

Photos on 24 July 2010

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The spoilt of the spoilt

So, I am at my desk doing stuff after sending the kids to bed. My boy comes out from the bedroom half an hour later to nudge me.



This can be two things - "it's time for me to go to bed" or "please check the air-con". Too early for my bedtime. So, I went to the bedroom to check. Sure enough, the room was stuffy. The temperature was adjusted and all is well again at sleepville.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

July Birthdays

AWWWW...my kids...all smiley and looking good with grandma..



They are seldom still enough to take photos together. So, this is just perfect:D
Yeah, these are the same kids who wrecked my flower bed 6 hours earlier. They are lucky they are cute ;)

Monday, July 19, 2010

Tsunami strikes again

Black Monday. I realized that I left my car keys in the ignition and the battery was dead this morning.

So, the kids couldn't get to daycare since the only car they will climb into is mine.
So, they were (real) home alone until my car was restored.
So, they left to their own devices...hmmm.. my kids unsupervised. o.O


Now, I have left them at home before for a couple of hours - indoors and outdoors. The house was still intact when I returned. But today, the usual suspect decided to do some gardening in my one-month old flower bed at the garage. It was literally tsunami-ed!

When we got home, I put on my stern voice - who did that? As usual, the culprit was the first to flinch from the guilt. She had the same face and low head hanging like the earlier time ... like this.


As I was sweeping up the mess, they tried to hide behind the bushes. They didn't dare to step into the house until I was in the shower. When I came out, they were in the hall keeping a low profile like this.

Then, I called upon my girl to come to me. She hesitated a while before walking towards me. When I said "naughty girl", she circled back. So, I called again. When she finally came and sat down, I lectured her for a few seconds. She had a truly sorry almost-tearing face like this.

When I was done, she walked away and sat down. My dumb blonde came over and sat in front of me apologetically. Their normal routine was totally upset today. So, I decided not to punish them by sending them to bed without supper. So, they got wiped-down and my girl had her yogurt as usual. Usually, she will hang around in the hall and garden till midnight. But tonight, she gingerly walked straight to the bedroom after her yogurt at 9pm. :O

Hopefully, the lesson is learnt. I might just put a dead plant at the crime scene...as a warning to them.

All photos are from my collection except for second photo since my camera doesn't take good night photos.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Bath Time

The weekend begins with bath time after their walk in the park. My kids are total opposites when it comes to bathing.

When the leash comes out, my boy's face lights up. YES! YES! YES!. My boy enjoys all scrubbing and the massage. It's probably the only time he listens attentively and follow instructions. Stand still - left-side scrub, turn right-side scrub, bum-tail, neck-ears, cheek-rubs, lie-on-the-back (legs up) tummy scrub, ..stand up RINSE. Shake-shake. Towel dry.


While the boy enjoys the attention and pampering, my girl has to be coaxed to the leash. When the water comes, she stands like a statute until the whole process is done.


I'm trying to ease her into any water-related activities. She's just not into them...yet. I hope one day she will be ready.

Photos on 17 July 2010

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Dog traffic jam and pesky cat pedestrians

Got to a late start this morning. The kids were already up and ready for the day over two hours ago. So, off I went walking with the boy. Hardly 10m out of the house, we approach our morning man-on-bike with his dog. Now, most of the time my boy is cool with bike man's dog. Ruki will normally slow down and whimper a bit because he wants to get closer for a sniff. Other times, he just goes all-barky...like the dog is a sworn enemy. Today, he was psycho-barky :(

So, we turned back immediately because I will have nothing to do with this bad behaviour. Ruki got an earful from me during his walk of shame home. I took my girl out instead. When we got back, he was calmer..with only his usual hints of excitement of being his turn to go out. I wonder whether he remembers his bad deeds from 15 minutes ago. Before we got leashed up to go out again, Heran, the black lab came walking with his owner and Ruki went territorial barky at the gate. It's NO GO again.


So, I went to do some weeding, while the kids doing some crazy chasing around the lawn. After 15 minutes, we got ready for our walk. Just as we open our gates, my neighour's maid was outside with their mongrel. Another NO GO. By the time we finally made out walk, we are faced with another challenge. It seems that the 10am slot is for cat traffic! So many cats...maybe because it was garbage collection day. I had to be on high alert because my boy is prone to sudden lunges to get close to them. I'm glad to make it back in one piece today.

Saturday is bath day...so, they are spanky clean today. While waiting for breakfast, they were play tugging, wrestling and chasing each other round the house. Crazy. Then,they gobbled down breakfast and went away fighting over the hump pillow. What's with all the energy today?? The worst thing is Ruki aggravated his paw injury. Slight bleed. :(


First, Riko got sleepy and konked out while holding to her tug rope.

Finally at noon, both were knocked out cold. What a morning!


Photos on 3 July 2007, messy bed coz it's laundry day