Bed and breakfast at 6 Haruki

This is the second weekend that Brownie decided to stay overnight. Last night, we met him during our night walks. He was locked out of his house. Nobody seems to be at home. He followed us back. It rained during the night and so, there wasn't any point to send him home in the rain.

After last week's bad manners, he was fed at the porch every time he came over, while the kids were fed indoor. Aiyoo...his heart-wrenching stares from the windows...

So this morning, I decided to try feeding them indoors again. When the food was put down, he initially lunged forward. I held him back and I think he got the picture that he needed to behave himself at breakfast indoors. So, he sat down like the rest of the kids and waited. Then, I signaled to eat and he didn't move an inch. I tried a few times until he felt that the coast was clear to eat . At first, he ate sitting down! Poor kid...really like a street urchin.

So, now everybody has eaten and are sleeping again at 6 Haruki.

My boy was sent outside to keep him company. He is napping and occassionally swatting flies.

Our guest is sleeping too.

My girl is the most pampered. She prefers to nap indoors.


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The Big Breakfast

So, the morning after, I served them all breakfast in the kitchen.

Brownie looks emancipated in broad daylight. He couldn't wait to have his food. Food comprised of premium dog kibbles, long-grain basmati rice, beef bits, chicken feet (from my lunch doggy bag yesterday) and two omelettes (which my kids didn't touch from their dinner last night). Meanwhile, my boy was waiting patiently on the side, despite being served his food an hour later than usual. After Brownie finished his breakfast, he started to growl and snarl at Ruki having his breakfast next to him. My boy was oblivious about what he was doing...courtesy of privileged upbringing, probably. The food guarding behaviour didn't stop. So, the house broom came out and Brownie was led outdoors.

After that, my kids were hanging around the kitchen looking rather "snooty bored". Riko decided to skip her breakfast. I guess she has never experienced food scarcity a day in her life. We still have to coax her to eat at every meal time! And my boy...well, my boy was "looking after her food". This meant when no one is looking, he'll steal a few bites from Riko's plate.



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The night Brownie slept over

Ever since Riko found out where her BF lived, she'd make sure we passed his street every time she goes for her night walk. The good trade-off for these visits is that we go round the block and come straight home. The kids will have their play date.

However, Riko got smart in our next visit. She decided that we first head for her BF's place. Pick Brownie up and walk home. Then, leave him at our front gate while she continues with her walk. Serious. She stays rooted to the ground unless we head in any direction except homewards:D

Tonight, we found him standing outside his home while another black lab-like dog was behind the gate. I did hear from my neighbour that Brownie was disfavoured after the owners got another dog. But, I never saw that other dog until today. Anyway, I didn't think much of it because I was happy that some nights he was found behind their gate and one night, he was having his (scrap) dinner. I was somewhat grateful that he's still has a home and being "fed".

Since I found out that he has an owner, I normally let him go home around midnight... so as not to be rude. It's customary that I feed him a cup of dog food just outside the gate (like giving him cookies and milk) before sending him off. He normally quite anxious to eat and go home.

Tonight, I served him his usual dog food outside. For the first time, he stayed firmly behind our gates. He refused to go home and is now sleeping on my (recently-destroyed) zen gravel garden.

It's as if the boy didn't want to go back to his (broken) home. Rather disheartening.

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Back to basics

My boy has been sleeping outdoors for most of August. For a while there, I thought he may have successfully influenced his sister to do the same. But luckily, Riko only lasted a few nights outdoors. That too... she slept mostly on the cushioned patio bench. One blessing for the new sleeping arrangement was I needn't get up at the crack of dawn to let them out to wee. However, my full privilege to sleep in was quickly revoked when my girl decided to whimper incessantly outside my bedroom window every morning like this.



Now one will think that Ruki will have a default comfortable sleeping place outside. Nope. Some nights, he'll plonk himself in the middle of the garden. Other nights, he'll sleep glued to the gate or randomly in driveway. But lately, I noticed that he had settled for my Japanese gravel pit...much to the destruction of the zen-look I tried to achieve in my garden.



After weeks of sleeping in the wilderness, my boy Ruki decided to spend tonight indoors. Why? Because it's a hot night....and he needed the air-con! And, I guess he was too sleepy to walk to his regular nook by the window, he just plonked himself right at the doorway.



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The night my girl took me to her boyfriend's house

My girl and I have always taken the same walking route every night for the past few months. I found that this routine worked the best with the kids because I'd know where the cat zones were, the default Haruki poo plots and cat poo caviar buffet stretches were. For Riko, her route had less houses with dogs and street cats because she tends to react to them by jerking on the leash a lot.

Two things happened in the nights before tonight. For the past week, strangely her toy boy Brownie hasn't been around the block. Gone missing. Riko has been trying to sniff out scents on certain stretches of streets. The night before we had did an extended route which we passed by the house I suspected to be where Brownie lived. No Brownie. There we were standing right in front of a stranger's gate for the longest time because my girl refused to leave.

The next night, we headed out the gate as we always do for months. As usual,my girl zipped a few feet ahead up the road until we reached the first right turn.

There, my girl made an unscheduled right turn and charged forward. I stopped her and tugged her back to our usual direction. Her feet stood rooted to the ground. She refused to budge unless I was going where she wanted to go. So, I followed her ..... to her boyfriend's house.

When we arrived at his doorstep, we found Brownie tied to the gate. She was mighty glad to see him. Tail-wagging and all. Brownie's owner told us that he was in detention for biting someone. She was kind enough to release him and he followed us back home to play for a couple of hours. I think my girl was very happy that night. And I (in a way) meet my in-laws.

Images: "Walk the dog" from my 2011 Sketchbook called "Make mine a double"

Syntea is now on Tumblr daily.

After the nap

It's the long Independence day holiday week...and I'm loving it. It's giving me the time to catch up on my work (unfortunately), my art, my inspirational resources and my kids.

Things are rather simple with the kids. After breakfast, they usually doze off for hours.




It's great because I get to enjoy most of the day peacefully until they wake up.

My boy is usually patient after waking up from his nap. He'll watch me intently until he thinks it's time to go to grandma's.



Notice he moves a couple of feet every couple of minutes until he reaches my feet to nudge me to go.

Romeo and Juliet ..... and the lamp post

Things with the kids have been pretty much routine lately.

Wake up.
Hang around the garden while I water the plants.
Bark at neighbor's dogs.
Chase each other around the garden.
Wait for food. Eat food.
Get into car to daycare.
Say bye to momma.
Sleep. Wee. More sleep.
Wait. wait.wait.
Go for walk with Grand dad.
Eat dinner.
Wait for momma to come home.
Come home.
Go for scenting walk. Poo.
Dip in pool.
Roll on ground.
Momma turns on air-con in bedroom.
Wipe bodies and pep talk.
Sleep.

Only thing different these days is that we have a "Romeo meets Juliet" scene every night.

My uptown girl is rather smitten by her downtime boy, a scrawny mongrel with suspected flea issues. Despite this, I let them have their fun chasing around the garden and wrestling each other on the ground. Sometimes, my boy feels like a lamp post during these visits.

Yet another lazy (yellow) Saturday

Yes, another lazy post from me.

Lazy (Yellow) Saturday

We are waiting for the maid to finish cleaning our house.



An hour later, I look down at them. Seven little dots were on the floor near my boy.

FLEAS! They were on the floor, rapidly moving away from my boy. My boy wears a flea collar...maybe the fleas found out too late they were poisoned!

Soon, they became seven bloody dots on the floor. They were baby fleas or ticks. I can't tell. This means it is a recent contraction.

Emergency flea control ensued. Looks like we had too much of "brownie" this week.

My gay boy

I was asked this week why my boy is still a virgin.

This is the answer.

Pied Piper of the neighbourhood

Ever since we changed our walking route, we noticed that we were being followed.


...by something light brown with four legs. I'll call him "Brown", the neighborhood dog who decided that it was his duty to escort us around our circuit. Some nights, he'll turn up at our doorstep ready to walk with us. Other nights, he'll join us mid-circuit. Last weekend, he came by and started barking and whining at our front gate in the morning.

So, I decided to let him in (against my better judgement). I suppose my kids must understand how privileged they are...and they must learn to humble themselves towards mongrels. I am only joking.

My girl was thrilled to have someone to run about in the garden with. There was innocent playfulness all-round. Then, my boy, being desperate started to hump on him. Then, the girl wanted to hump him. Then, Brown wanted to hump the girl. It was a hot mess for a while.

Quite suddenly, the threesome will turn into innocent playfulness again.



* Drawing from "Make mine a double" Project Sketchbook 2010, currently on tour in the U.S.

Number 3

Ever since meeting cousin Tango, I've been thinking about number 3. Wishful thinking...even though I know, it's gonna be a black boy. Name has already been picked for him. Don't panic. I'm not ready to walk 12 legs and pick up triple amount of poo.

..but, it does make the family complete. Hmmm... I'd better not wish too hard. That's how Mariko came about the last time.

I know my boy wants nothing to do with a new kid on the block. He was irritated by Tango's presence and went about snarling and nipping him.

My girl is definitely game for it because she's dying to have a playmate. Her brother only likes to eat and sleep most of the time. She might re-think it if she knew that she will no longer be the baby of the house....until number 3 grows to full-size.

I wonder what happened to my gentle boy. He was definitely smitten when my girl first came. He even let her chew on his cheeks. He's still very gentle and allow her to chew on his cheeks in the morning. But, I think he knows better than me that to add another one means less sleep, more annoyance and longer waiting time before food ...because the little ones can't get their acts together at dinner time.

Sunday photos - Let sleeping dogs lie

One of my favourite things to do on weekends is to check on the kids when they are sleeping. They have the cutest and most serene expressions on their faces.

On rare days...they sleep close together. I'm waiting for the day my boy lets his sister cuddle with him while he's sleeping. Right now, he still thinks she's annoying.

My boy's position under the dinner table when guests come over.

Sleeping areas are often strategically chosen....like at the doorway, busy pathways, bottom of the stairs...

...to make sure, they don't miss out on anything while they take a nap.

Sleeping positions vary...

...sometimes, un-lady like.

Somehow, they find comfort in aligning themselves to the nearest wall.

This is my favourite sleeping torpedo boy.

The only time Riko didn't sleep well was when she had to be boarded at the vet for a night. When she came home, she just fell on the floor and slept for hours.

Needless to say, she had a spat of special treatment after spending a night in a dingy cell when her ovaries were removed.

I never intended for Riko to sleep on the bed. At 9 weeks, she climbed on the bed on the first day she was let into the bedroom. She never left.

My boy prefers the floor. Mother's guilt found me buying him a bed too...which he sleeps on for like 5 minutes. I think he treats it like a throne rather than a bed.

Back to school, my Terrible Two

ok, don't laugh.

I'm going to do some serious disciplining with the kids. Their command-taking has never been good in the first place...yes, due to my poor reinforcement on them.

It has now come to a point when....
come = sit or stand still wherever they are with a "what?" look on their faces
sit = sitting for a second then sliding into down position
stay = follow me
fetch = stare at me with the "you get it" look
leave it = grab it, fling it in front of momma or run away with it

the only effective command is "down"....and that's because they are about to receive their treats or waiting for dinner.

So, I need to re-start tomorrow because if they behave, they will get to go for pet therapy gathering in 2 weeks. I don't want them behaving like total hooligans. I might end up needing some therapy myself!

Dreaming today

If this was mine, I will have really happy kids.
Imagine watching the boy swim in the pool with such a spectacular view.
Imagine the off-leash running and scenting trails my kids will be doing everyday.
I won't see them until dinner time...and after dinner, they probably be knocked out cold. What a life!

But, imagine how much walking I have to do picking poo! Well, exercise is always good.

Introducing Do-Re-Mi

My tri-color lab search is over with a four-month old labrarot boy. Well, too bad he's not mine too. It's cousin Tango who is such a sweetie. My terrible two at that age were always acting like monkeys. As usual, it was near impossible to get a great shot of all three being still and saying cheese to the camera.


This was what was happening behind the scenes. And, they are very good at doing this.

Mariko makes her stand

And so, I'm back from my vacation and realized my sweet girl is all grown up. I swear she had grown a bit. :D

Mariko has never been an easy walker.

I can still remember her very first walk. She was all leashed-up and ready to go .... but no, she refused to budge. She just sat in the front of our gate. Unlike her brother, he was out the door with nose-to-ground the moment the gates opened for the first time. She didn't get the concept of the leash. She probably finds it undignified to be led around or that we should take the car instead.

In the early days, she stuck close to my legs. But, as she saw more and more of what was over the fence, she became more and more courageous.

Nowadays, she literally springs and gallops the whole way. It has been impossible to keep her at my heels because she speed walks. One would think that the walking difficulty is proportionate to the size of the dog. Nope, not here. My boy heels better because he's big and walks slower...well, that is when he's not tugging about the grass. My girl, on the other hand, is a springy lamb!

To make things worse, she gets excited at any moving objects - especially cats wondering around the neighbourhood. When it comes to dogs behind gates, she charges forward with her barky attitude.

She knows her walking trail by heart. So well, that when I changed routes, she knows and insists on take the "right" way. One good thing is she isn't picky with where I take her. Somehow, this week... something changed.

We walked our usual trail and were on our way home. We turned into our road and was heading towards home when she stopped dead on her tracks. All four paws rooted to the ground. You would think it's easier to get a 50-pounder up on her feet. Nope, she didn't budge. So, I thought she had a memory loss or something and forgot where she was. I dragged her back home the first time.

The next day, the same thing happened after we turned the corner into our street. What's with her? It turns out that she didn't have a memory loss. Rather, I had a light bulb moment. She didn't want to go home yet!

Since that fateful first time, she'd be happily trotting the first ten steps after the corner home. Then, stops dead on her tracks once she recognised that this is the road home. I still get amused by her doing this every night!

If I pulled her towards home, she will not budge an inch. If I pulled away from our gate, she continues to side-step away from our gate. So now, I have to put in an extra block or two for her.

(Must get a photo or video of her in action!)

Drill sergeant from hell

When the kids are in full-board at day care, it's like boot camp. This means being outdoors more (camping!)and having more rules than normal. And, grand dad(Ah Kong) is like some kind of evil drill sergeant. My girl likes to be near people all the time. Unlike Ruki, she finds rules and boundaries hard to follow.



Then, yesterday...according to a boot camp report said that...
Ah Kong finally allowed her to lie in the living room after she gave him her POWER EMO stare


Ah Kong = grandfather

It has been a mopey week so far

Mopey 1 can't go walking since it has been raining every evening.

Mopey 2 hasn't gone for a walk or car ride since last Friday.

This is their self-entertainment- ripping plastic flower pots apart!


Now, how can I ever go for more than a week's vacation?

on vacation

I am on vacation in some island somewhere for a week...and the kids are on full board bored at day care.

Poor things!

note: si comot means dirty boy

Rainy days and Mondays.....to Sunday

This is my personal trainer.

Without fail, rain or shine every night...he will be waiting patiently at the door and if that does work, he's nudging me persistently until I am up on my feet. It seems there are a list of things he needs to do before bedtime - like rush out to the public toilet bush to poo, pee-marking, smell every inch of the park and if lucky, gobble some cat poo! Once back, he dips in his bathtub and gets wiped down in his air-conditioned room.

Only after all this is done, he is ready for bed.