Sci Fi Saturday-Tribble Edition!

Weasley here:

Sometimes mom strikes out in the toy department and a toy just doesn't get our mojo running, but she scored a home run when she got us these Silly Squeakers Balls from doggy loot.  

 These things are amazing!  With a super loud squeak and lots of neat fluffy hair, plus they are they are perfect size for a pugs mouth. (Our big guy Norbert likes them too, but mom is not sure if they would be good for big dogs who are aggressive chewers.)  When I hear them squeaking I just go crazy (sorry for the blurry photos but my speed was too super awesome for mom's camera phone)!!!

Another super cool thing about these balls they remind mom of the tribbles 

from our favorite show Star Trek!  Too bad our toys don't keep reproducing like the tribbles on the show.  We think mom is already going to have to get a new batch.

 In a final nod to the awesomeness of  Star Trek (and of course my own awesome self) mom has to include two picture collages of me in Tubby's Kobeyashi Maru t-shirt (a reference for serious trek fans only) courtesy of zazzle.  It's a little tight on Tubby which is why I am sporting it. 

Friday Fun-Star Trek Sweaters (and another Birthday)

If you have been reading this bog you know we are Star Trek Fans (just check our Geekery page) we were so lucky that Melissa from Pug Notes was able to make us truly out of this world Star Trek inspired sweater vests, complete with insignia!  Check us out (we are posing in front of our Star Trek The Next Generation Fan Mosaic, which features picture of Weasley and Bob):

Tubby as Captain James T. Kirk

Weasley as Lt. Commander Spock

Ping as Lt. Uhura

The whole crew:

Today is also Tubby's 12th birthday.  I started this blog when he was turning ten and I was having a hard time with his advancing years, I wrote about it in this post: Ten Years of Perfect Pug Love.

Now ten sounds down right young.  I'm so lucky to have had Tubby in my life for 12 years and I hope and pray we have many more years together.   Whatever time we have together I try to look at Tubby as my model, he appreciates every moment and never worries about getting older.  A great way to "Live Long and Prosper" if you ask me.

Sci Fi Saturday

Weasley here:
After the Hollidays mom got a package.   Its the Star Trek Fan Mosaic celebrating 25 years of Star Trek the Next Generation.

A fan mosaic is a picture of something made up of little tiny pictures of the thing's fans, and guess what.  Bob and I are in the fan mosaic.   You need to look really closely to see our pictures, but they are there!  (On the fan mosaic website you can search for the pictures using an email address or you can use the zoom button and see lots of pictures of other fans).

"The pictures are so small....where am I?"

We hung our new picture right over the TV

Christmas Cooking Countdown -10 Days to Christmas Chocolate Earl Grey Truffles

Star Trek fans are famous for being able to connect their favorite show to anything and everything: politics, moral values, the invention of computers, the internet,  cell phones...... and so on.   However, connecting Star Trek to Christmas is a bit of a stretch.   Still I have found a recipe that make a great Christmas candy gift and includes the favorite ingredient of an important Star Trek character.  The recipe, Chocolate Earl Grey Truffles form epicurious.
The character: Captain Picard from Star Trek Next Generation, who was frequently seen ordering Earl Grey tea from the replicator.

 Watching hours of this as a kid may be responsible for my love of tea, and of Earl Grey  in particular.  

These truffles may not be for everyone but if you like Earl Grey tea and bittersweet chocolate they are tasty and like all truffles very easy to make and keep.

Chocolate Earl Grey Truffles from Epicurious

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
4 tbsp butter
4 tsp loose Earl Grey tea leaves (don't replace with tea bags, loose tea leaves are of higher quality and will give the truffles more flavor)
12 ounces of good quality bittersweet chocolate chopped, I used Scharffen Berger baking chunks
Unsweetened dutch process cocoa for rolling (about a cup)


Heat the cream and butter over low heat until very warm and just about to simmer (watch closely since you don't want it to actually start to simmer or worse boil).   Add the tea leaves and cover, steep for five minutes.  Put the chocolate chunks in a mixing bowl.  When the tea has steeped in the cream using a fine mesh strainer to pour the cream over the chocolate so you separate the tea leaves from the clean.  Immediately whisk until the chocolate is totally melted and smooth.  Refrigerate for about 2 hours.   Place the cocoa in a bowl and spoon out tablespoons of chocolate and roll into a ball and then dunk into the cocoa.  Place finished truffles in a container lined with parchment paper and refrigerate.    Like all truffles these keep very well.  This recipe also makes a lot, about 60 truffles, so you may want to half it.

STNG Fan Mosaic

Readers of this blog who have seen pictures of our shirts

may know that we are big Star Trek fans here, particularly Star Trek The Next Generation (STNG),  (if any of you are Daily Show fans mom was so excited that Captain Picard AKA Sir Patrick Stewart narrated the intro to the election night show, but then crushed that he made no other appearances!).

Anyway for the 25th anniversary (gee mom feels old) Star Trek made a fan mosaic.   This is a picture of the adored item or event or whatever made up of little pictures of all the fans.    So we clearly had to participate.  Now, tragically mom could not get the picture of Tubby and Ping to upload to the website so she used two photos of Weasley and  Bob in Star Trek shirts and with their insignia and tribble dog toys from Pugs in The Kitchen.

Here is the fan mosaic (link)



and here are the links to the tiny pictures of Bob and Weasley that help make it up (they may be the only dog fans in the thing!)


Bob and Weasley.

If you click on the links you can see how Bob and Weasley helped make the mosaic!

 

Sci Fi Saturday

Norbert's Star Trek Inspired ID: Live Long and Prosper Tag from Fetching Tags.

Our mom is a big giant nerd.  Now thanks to cafe press  we all can all be nerds too, or at least we can have nerdy t-shirts.  On August 19 mom dressed us up for a Star Trek party in honor of Star Trek creator's Gene Roddenberry's birthday.   August 19th is also coincidentally an important day in real world space exploration history, it is the anniversary of Belka's and Strelka's flight, they were Russian dogs who became some of the first creatures to survive orbital space flight.  We did a post on their adventure last year: link.   

Here are some pictures of us this year in our Star Trek t-shirts from cafe press, playing with our insignia and Tribble toys from Pugs In the Kitchen, and of course watching Some Star Trek on TV.  If your parents have on obsession of any kind like our mom does they can get you cool t-shirts from Cafe Press.  Warning, though, it is very addictive because they send you  TONS of coupons and discounts one you start ordering.

 

Pugs in The Kitchen Treats-(Not Just for Pugs)

Anyone with a dog knows the most popular room in the house, no matter how shabby its condition, is the kitchen.

After all that is where the human is likely storing the dog treats, as well as all the tasty tidbits that are off-limits to even the most deserving hound.  Its also where that human magic called cooking occurs.  Now, I love cooking for my dogs, but sometimes I am just feeling too lazy or too busy (such as when a new puppy has entered the home).  At those times I like to turn to treats from Pug in The Kitchen.   .

Sir Tubs-a-Lot (Tubby), Starship Pugerprise (Weasley)  and (Ping-a-Ling) Ping in Weasley's X-Pen in the kitchen (The Nicknames are from Sarge's Nick Name Game)

 There treats are home-made by real dog lovers and contain nutritious, yummy ingredients.  They offer grain free and allergy friendly options.  The treats  are made in small batches and are all natural so you never have to worry about re-calls.   Plus their very economical!   For aproximately 20 dollars you get 2 lbs of tasty tidbits.   Treats from Pugs in the Kitchen arrive vacuum packed to ensure freshness and can be frozen until you want to use them.

Grain Free Lavendar Chicken, Cheese Pizza, and Pumpkin Kisses Treats

You definitely don't need to be a pug to enjoy these treats.  All of the urban hounds are wild for them.  We particularly like that they are soft and chewy, a nice change from the usual crunchy treats.

"Put away the damn camera and give me a treat already!"

"I think I'll help myself"

"Hey Bob, when do you think she is going to give us a treat?"

"Yum!"

"Nom-Nom"

So anyway just when we thought Pugs in The Kitchen could not possibly get any cooler, they did!  They got way cooler!  because they introduced toys, not just any toys but toys with a Star Trek theme.  I mean what could be better for a family of dogs that have shirts like this:

Mom bought the toys right away and luckily she bought extra because they don't seem to have the Insignia dog toy anymore.  Hopefully, they can still make it because it is already our favorite. Weasley in particular loves the toy, after a nice round of fetch its perfect for a nap

 Particularly when you are wearing your Star Fleet Cadets t-shirt!

Norbert and the Struvite Crystalline Entity

Poor Norbert, his urinalysus did not go as well as his blood test and unfortunately he is now facinga Crystaline Entity, or more specifically Struvite Crystals.  (If you are a Star Trek fan you will get 

the reference to the Crystalline Entity,




otherwise just bear with me at times like this it cheers me up to mention one of my favorite shows.  Anyway, back to Earth and the 21st century.  Norbert's problem is that he has Struvite Crystals in his urine.  The good news is this may mean nothing, up to 40% of dogs have these crystals with no problems, also Norbert's kidney's are functioning perfectly.  The bad news is that he may have a bladder infection and/or bladder stones.   So this means more tests, a urine culture and an X-Ray.  So send some good Ju-Ju Norbert's way to help him defeat these nasty crystals,  just like they did on Star Trek!

Wordless Wednesday-The Final Frontier

Our mom is such a nerd!  Look at the t-shirts she got us from Cafe Press  for Christmas.   

Sheesh!