Return of the Magic Wand

We have settled into a nice walk route since the start of the year. So, I thought.

I'll normally control his walk-sniff balance whereby, I will allow him to sniff on certain parts and strict walk on parts of the route. But, for the past 2 weeks, Ruki has been sniffing way to much while walking. It's to the extent that he's been walking zig-zag under some kind of trance. He'll want to double back on some interesting sections. When I direct him to certain parts of our usual route, he will turn around and face the direction he wants to go. So, we are pivoting around the same spot until he gets his way. Presumably, my route choice is way too boring.

So, this week...we saw the revival of the magic wand. I hope I will regain control of my boy...because we are starting to look embarrassingly comical on our walks in the neighbourhood.


P.S. My sketchbooks made it safely to New York. It will start its tour in Austin, Texas. The exhibition is at the Austin Museum of Art on Saturday, March 12 and the 29th St Ballroom at Spider House on Sunday, March 13 from noon until 6pm each day.

OMG! I almost killed my girl today

I left my girl locked in my car at daycare while I left for work in a hurry. I didn't realize she was hiding at the backseat when I shut my car door and got into the taxi. I did find it strange that she did stand at the driveway to bid me goodbye. I thought she was up to some mischief somewhere in the garden. I didn't think much of it until I received a call from grandma. She was looking for my girl on her way out and couldn't find her anywhere....until she saw her bopping head in my car. Lucky for me that someone was at home...my car was parked in the garage (not in the sun)...and she was found within 10 minutes.

Scary to think that she could be left longer than she did in my car with the windows up. She loves to go into the car. I think she just wants to follow me around. One of these days she'll smuggle herself up the car again. If she stays really quiet, I wouldn't realize it until I reach the office.

Thank God it's Friday!

Scent of a woman (dog)

I will not hesitate to say that my girl smells great all the time. I'll sniff her whenever I can .... just to spot-check. I have no idea how she does it... but I'm not complaining. Both kids eat the same foods, bathe the same frequency and do the same stuff. My girl smells equivalent to a baby. It's very distinctively like burnt sugar...like caramel. Perhaps, that's why she turned out to be brown in colour!

Meanwhile my Busuk* boy often smells like rotten fish...to be exact...dried fish...the Asian-style kind (a.k.a. ham yue). He has a thick coat and perhaps...in his past life or so...was a happy fish. He has to dip in his water pool every day ... rain or shine.

* Busuk = smelly in Malay

Poo patterns

My boy loves public pooing and peeing. Our daily walk starts with him rushing from our gate like he has a stomach. He makes a beeline to the end of the road where there are public bushes stalls for him to make deposits.

My girl has NEVER done the number one or two outside EVER. I think she finds it undignified to squat in strange places. So, she prefers the privacy of her own home.

So, when it comes to the matter of pooing and peeing, my kids are polar opposites. But one thing's for sure...there's always "packages" to pick up every morning from the lawn.

Blast from the Past

Haruki at 10 weeks

Mariko at 10 weeks


Wish my kids could live forever at this age (all potty-trained).

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

I often think how grateful I am that my kids get along. They always share some tender moments like this...

Then, moments later...it erupts to this. Believe it or not, my girl loves playing rough and being chased a lot.

To think that, it was only yesterday they spent their first V-Day... when Ruki found her cute but annoying (he still does).

Then, when she was in heat...my boy fell hard for her.

Nowadays, I would like to think they are great buddies. My boy is still so patient with her annoying antics. Riko idolizes her brother and often emulates him. It's amazing.

You know you have crossed the line

when you shared the same toothbrush as your kids one sleepy night...and when you realized it...you kept on brushing.

It's not even Valentine's Day yet...

Bowser and Mariko sitting in the garden
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
luckily no pup in the baby carriage!


Momma caught someone kissing on Chinese New Year's Day


Full frontal khalwat* scene for Bowser's dad to see...



* khalwat is the malay term for close proximity for unwed parties.

Happy Chinese New Year!

It's the time of the year for hong bau! The kids shall have red envelopes filled with treats..

My kids in January 2011

In a rare ocassion when my girl looks larger than my boy...

Ruki goes to the salon

It's been a long time (1.5 years) since our last visit to the groomers. So, when i stopped by the week before to make an appointment, I was surprised that the groomers remembered my boy. Haruki... the yellow lab? yeah...that's my boy alright.

We haven't been back often since Ruki cannot stay clean for long. But, I think he loves the attention and pampering. He loves his bath time a lot. He has no problems being left alone at the "spa" while I go for yoga.



Unfortunately, he still like to mark in public. He made sure that the few bags of Eukanuba dog food at the front of the pet store is his. Then, he said goodbye to the groomers by marking their front dog!

He managed to stay clean for a day. At least, he enjoyed himself at the spa and a visit to the pet store later that day.

If your dog was human, what would he/she do for a living or hobby?

My dog forum posted the above question. Let me see...

Haruki would be a food tester or a spa owner.


Mariko would be a FBI agent or a mattress tester.

My natural snooze button

For a long time now, I lived without an alarm clock in the house. My kids are up at the crack of dawn... and I let them out a crawl back to bed. They usually entertain themselves ...barking at everything and anything that moves and running up and down the yard. Somehow like clockwork, my boy will come into the room at 8.45am. At first, he'll sit quietly by the bedside. Then, the soft whines will start...followed by his high-pitched bark and foot nudges.

Today, my snooze-button boy rang four times and jumped on the bed twice to get me out of bed. That was even before my maid arrived.

You see, on Friday mornings, the maid comes at 8 sharp to clean the house. However, this morning...it rained so it really felt like 7 am. I was wondering why my boy was demanding I get up so early. When I finally got up, I found that it was already 9.30 and my maid had called in sick.

I suppose from now on I should not question my alarm clock!

Meet the Cousins

Today, my kids met their cousin Bowzer for the first time. Riko took an instant liking for the four month old beagle. She kept the cutie pie under her legs as much as she could.

Ruki sniffed and frisked him well to make sure he was not the enemy. Ruki was happy just being a spectator and occasionally showing fearless Bowzer who's the boss. Otherwise, he was just rolling about the grass after making trips to his dipping pool.

The kids got along well. It shows that they could get along with a third pup...not to say that I want another. No, two is just enough!

Meanwhile, my boy has been looking and acting like a St. Bernard these days. He's been submerging himself in the pool any chance he gets...and of course, the best time is always when we are getting ready to go to daycare! He also needs to sleep in an air-conditioned room... otherwise, he can't sleep. I need to find some time to send him to the groomers to trim his fur a bit...so that he looks a bit more decent. Half the time now, he looks like a wet mess from spending too much time in his pool.

I need him to look like this all the time. My dream dog (after grooming) Look at his aerodynamic waist line just a year ago!

I almost had a heart attack when...

...Grandpa told me he tried to let Mariko go off-leash outside.



Apparently, he took my girl out to the little green patch he uses with my boy. My girl was running up and down the patch off-leash. After two successful recall, Grand dad shouted "GO!"....and my girl LEFT the scene. She took off to the roads on her own!!!

This off-leash green zone connects our street with the next street. So, off she ran down the neighboring road .... looking back only to see when grandpa was frantically tailing her. She zipped right down to the end of the road. Luckily, she didn't cross the busy junction down the road to get to her usual walking circuit.

Thank goodness, grandpa caught up to her as she was trying to get to the next street. This is not the way I want to start my New Year!

Mariko Christmas and Haruki New Year!

I've been super busy lately and hadn't the chance to make a post here. I've still got backlog work to complete, emails and text messages to reply...which I have to (unfortunately) carry forward to this year. It's been crazy month. We hosted Boxing Day dinner last weekend....serving Eurasian-styled Devil curry, ratta yogurt salad, minced beef with potatoes and rice...with Pineapple-upside down cake for dessert.

Here's Mariko looking pretty with her Princess Leia crown. It's once a year I subject my kids to this ridiculous act.

My boy did not want anything to do with his santa hat. Since he's been "off-leash", he thinks he's a big boy now.


Today, we hosted our New Year Brunch...which I had only confirmed to hold yesterday when I finally had a chance to do grocery shopping. How did I spend midnight as the fireworks were blasting away? Well, I spent it on all fours on my kitchen floor! I spilled some batter in my still-running oven which seeped through to the kitchen floor. Geez...I hope this "clean-up messes" is not indicative of the year ahead!! *touch wood*

This morning... of all mornings, my kids decided to let me sleep in...when I was supposed to be preparing for brunch! Luckily, I was awaken by my mobile phone ring at 9am. So, my kids had their New Year breakfast feast outside while I was cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

Even in meals...they are in formation...right up to their tails. ;)


In the end, our New Year brunch turned out great...despite the last-minute shopping and using untested recipes I was admiring a few days back. I glad that I managed to make my quiche after talking about doing so for a whole year. Finally, last year's resolution crossed out this year!

Menu
Bacon-brie quiche (delish!)
Greek Baked pumpkin omelette
Breakfast sausages and portobello mushrooms sauteed with fresh herbs served with capsicum relish
Salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cranberries and toasted almond flakes with Italian dressing
Oatmeal buttermilk pancakes with blueberries
Freshly-squeezed lemonade with mint and coffee


And when it was all over, we were all dog-tired.

It felt like only yesterday....

...Little Mariko came home. I'm glad the kids get along swell. Riko idolizes her big brother. Ruki tolerates her being at his face and following his every move.

then...



now...my dogs in formation

Something smells

For the past week, it seems there is some kind of windfall of soup bones at day care. It might well be due to Grandma striking a little win from a lottery. So, the kids have been having giant bones to gnaw on during the day. Mariko seem to have an obsession to them. She decided to take one back from daycare on Monday. As it turns out, most nights this week, she has been gnawing a bone on the ride home. The car ride had been blissful until the car started to reek like the meat section of the supermarket.


So yesterday, I threw the bones out of the dogmobile into the garden for her prolonged enjoyment. All was well again when I went to bed.

You see, my bedroom is temperature-controlled for my boy. He prefers to sleep in near artic conditions. Apparently, the kids smuggled a bone in the bedroom. By the time I went to bed, I thought I had walked into a meat-packaging factory!

..except...the only bodies lying around were my kids!


After a trilogy of fart, poo and reeky odours.... I am desparate to see green pastures, fluffy clouds and blue skies by year end.

The ugly truth about being off-leash

Some weeks after my sprained ankle incident, I found out that grand dad has been taking my boy off-leash to a patch of grass next to the main road. I'm resolved to trying to stay positive about the whole idea. I'm also intrigued about knowing how it's done .... how you wake the boy from scent trance when it's time to go.

With my ankle still on recovery mode, I've mustered the courage to do some off-leash with the boy this week after dinner. On the first try-out, we went to the park down the road. Ruki went on his sniffing frenzy the moment he jumped out of the car. I was yelling at him every few minutes to stay close while walking my girl on leash. Now, every walk is not complete without a poo. So as Ruki started to squat down, I noticed his leash dangling at his behind. We rushed over to pull the leash from under but.. Too late...I got piping hot poo on my hand!! Yucks! We left the park hurriedly and I drove home with one hand on the steering wheel!

I had a feeling Ruki didn't get enough as it felt kind of rushed the first time. Like a pit (poo) stop. So, the next night...we were back again. This time, I'm trying to be calm about the whole thing...no dangling leash. Ruki was freely sniffing away. I was still calling him to stay close like every other second. When he reached the end of the path, he decided to climb up a hillside and disappeared into the darkness. Since I was in no condition to climb, Riko and I ran back to the car. As I was bundling the girl into the car, I heard running sounds coming from the darkness. It was Ruki racing down the road. Thank goodness! Immediately, I summoned him into the car. He did his last sniff and jumped up the car.

TOO SCARY...so far it's been sniff zombie, runaway boy, frantic "come here" shouts, zero recall and poo-in-the-hand.

One good thing is the prompt departure from daycare. They get harnessed-up before leaving daycare. So the dilly-dally Boy gets promptly into the car before he knows he's going off-leash in a while.

The not-so graceful side of Miss Riko

Last night...like every other night, I have my usual pep talk with my girl to let her know how good and how naughty she has been during the day. She takes in my lectures with such grace, patience and understanding...she could sit with me the whole night listening. Well...I think she enjoys head-and-neck scratch and belly rub more than anything else. So as she was enjoying herself yesterday...there was a sudden **poot** sound midway through our session. It startled the poor girl to her feet staring at her bum with a "what-was-that?" look in her face.

Hmmm...looks like someone had a bit too much of ginger and vinegar-cured meat from the table last night.

The curious case of Mariko Leong

For the past few weeks, Riko has been eating erratically again. On slow days, she spends breakfast hovering over her bowl trying swat flies, rather than eating. When she does eat, she's always chewing and looking at what's going on outside at the same time. On really slow days, we always end up having to hand-feed her. Sometimes she eats..sometimes, she doesn't even open her mouth for a kibble like a kid being forced to take some bitter medicine. As soon as you start to serve a lesser portion (to reduce wastage), she suddenly does a rare chomping down of her meal unassisted and going for second helpings. Hallelujah!

She likes her kibbles more than real meats. For that, I've attribute it to her not-so strong set of teeth. Then, I am proven wrong when I watch her take down a giant bone. She is weird.

Treasures found in our Dogmobile

Today, grand dad took our dogmobile for a much-needed car wash. Besides his usual embarrassed looks while handing the car over to the car wash attendant, he reported that they found 2 half-bitten bones, a bottle and a ball at the back seat.

Haruki & Mariko - The Book

I'm taking part in a Sketchbook Project. Last week, I completed my sketchbook!


My book will feature ..who else..but my kids. I hope to mail it out by end of this month. Yay!

My humble little book will take part in book tour in several cities in the U.S. next year. Hopefully, I'll get to view it myself in 2012 at the The Brooklyn Art Library, New York where it (along with thousands others..hahaha...) will become a part of their permanent collection after the tour.

Perhaps, I will give some sneak previews every now and then in my blog. But, if you are anywhere at these U.S. cities on the tour dates in 2011 or in New York in 2012 onwards...do visit my book (ID# 35070 and 31100)!!

Fairy Godmas come visiting

My kids' godmothers came over for pie party yesterday. It's been a while since the kids have seen them. The last time Riko was still a cuddly tiny tot. Since her period and spaying operation, she must be thinking she's all grown up. Typically, she likes to come up to a family member and "demand" for free petting sessions. But yesterday, it was a different side of her that we saw. She'd rather hide in the backyard or sit outside on the wet grass. If you know her well, you will know that she'd rather not pee than get her dainty paws wet in the garden. She was even caught sitting in the bathtub in the dark, a few times last night!



I think it must be a bad case of the "grandma wanting to pinch your cheeks and you are not likin' it one bit".

* "Geli" means ticklish in Malay

Ruki goes to face the corner

Mariko seems by default the first to be blamed for any naughtiness at home. Somehow, there is always an outpouring of guilt from her each time I say "WHOOO did this?". She usually side-steps out of the crime scene and hides behind some pots or goes to the backyard. Whilst, Ruki is always lurking around the aftermath investigating the scene with me. For some time now, I have been suspecting that Ruki is not all that innocent.

For the past 2 consecutive morning, I have woken up with the kids entertaining themselves at the foot of the bed. Yesterday, it was the coconut husk and today, it was a plastic flower pot. The moment I sat up on my bed, Ruki quickly grabs the "object of the day" into his "throne". It looks like the only time he gets on his dog bed is when he is holding something important and wants to get my attention.


SOMEBODY knocked down the coffee table this morning.

SOMEBODY moved the couch a few feet away from its normal position.

My boy and his bed

Ever since he was a puppy, my boy been totally contented on the cool hard floors. So, it was a blessing that he's one that doesn't sleep on the couch, bed or carpet. But, over the years, the hard floors have been giving him ugly callus on his elbows and paws. These days, his legs look pretty bruised up and he's been starting to look like an abused boy!

So, my boy has a new bed this weekend.

After much coaxing with butter cookies, he got on the bed. As you can see from his expression, he's not exactly liking the whole experience. Hmm..... he got the largest size from the shop but it's looking rather cramped once he's on it.

For now a least, I think the bed is going to be his throne for having cookies. It seems that the only reason he'll get on it is for cookies! I will have to keep working on him....otherwise, the bed will become the next white elephant in the house.

The referee, the ring leader and the bait

Of lately, I seem to be playing referee at home. My brown girl, the resident night owl, is always poking her brother while he's sleeping. So, he gets annoyed and starts growling. Soon, the situation erupts into a full-blown sumo wrestling match. At times, Ruki-san is not totally innocent too. Like tonight, he was up to his antics. He thought it would be fun to snitch my slipper from under my study table. He swings it around to get our attention. Luckily, I shoved Riko in the bedroom otherwise, there will be a crazy cat-and-mouse chase in the house.

Just 10 minutes earlier, I diffused another chasing situation outside. My brown girl went to grab the kong and started swinging it in front of the boy. Since she did not attract sufficient interest, she ran over to the dog pool and stuck her feet in. Usually, under no circumstance you will find Riko deliberately getting wet. For whatever strange reason, Ruki normally loves to chase a wet Riko. She was setting herself up as bait!.

I was lucky tonight because Ruki was tad lazy to give immediate chase. So I managed to shove Riko inside the house in the nick of time.