Happy Birthday Norbert!

This weekend we celebrated Norberts 11th birthday, the date is guestimated but we know he is 11.   Its a scary age because there is no denying that particularly for a big dog Norbert is old.  We are lucky that he is in good health and his Adequan injections seem to be helping with his mild arthritis.  We are hopeful that we have many more wonderful birthdays left with our big boy, but we wanted to make this one extra special.

Unfortunately the day did not start out as planned.  When we woke up we saw this:

 Our neighbors tree had fallen in front of our gate blocking us from getting our car out.  This prevented the early morning walk and picnic we had planned.  Luckily Norbert's dad was able to go out on his bike and get Norbert a special birthday Bagel, which he really enjoyed, probably even more then a cake.

 

 After Norbert finished his bagel the fire department came and moved the tree and we were able to get out.

 By now it was VERY hot so we had to cut Norbert's walk short.  We decided to head to his favorite store Canis Minor.  We walked past the elephant sprinklers, nice for a wade.

 The store is pretty big and has lots of neat toys and treats.

 After shopping we went for a little walk in the shady section of the neighborhood.

 Norbert posed with his present choices a giant snake and some turkey treats.

 When we got home Norbert got the rest of his presents, Wagatha's senior biscuits and a planet dog senior ball.  You can read our review of Wagatha's here.

 The Planet Dog senior ball is softer then their other balls so its easier on older teeth and jaws.


 
 The giant snake was the best toy of all its bigger then Norbert at over five feet long.

 

Weasley in particular likes the giant snake.

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth!

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

 

English Summer in a Glass

If you read this blog or have looked at the title, then you know that I live in the big city. Here are some of the sites we routinely see:

The NYC skyline (not that near our house but its a pretty sight).

Our tiny concrete carport back yard.

Rowhouses

And our porch, (apologies for he super old picture.)

However, I wish I lived here:

That is why in the summer one of my favorite drinks is the summeriest, Englishiest thing out there, it could almost transport you to the English cottage of your dreams.

Pimm's Cup

 

2 ounces Pimm's Number 1 liquor

Ice
Lemonade, preferably fizzy lemonade
small handful mint, chopped
Cucumber Sliced and one long spear
Orange Slice

Fill a tall glass with ice.  Add 2 ounces of Pimms and top with Lemonade.   Put in the mint, cucumber, and orange slices.  Stir it up with a cucumber spear.  Yum!

 

Easy Beefy Bites

Did you know June is national beef steak month?  Well apparently it is and that makes a perfect time to make these treats from the Whole Dog Journal.  

They have an exhaustive ingredient sure to make any dog drool: Beef Steak.
We used london broil since its reasonably price. 

All you do is trim any large pieces of fat from the meat and then cut it into smallish cubes with a sharp knife.  Put those cubes on a foil lined baking sheet and put in a 175 degree oven.   Leave the meat in the oven for about 6 hours, or even longer, stirring them around with a spatula periodically.  The goal is to make the beef chunks completely dry.   I turn of my oven and leave them in over night to really cement the drying process.  Of course if you have a food dehydrator you can make these in a jiffy with that.   Serve the treats to any dogs in the vicinity and June is sure to become their favorite month.

Don't worry Norbert and Bob got beef treats too, but mom liked the pugs beef expectant faces.

We Met Finn!

On Saturday the pugs were so lucky to meet our blogging buddy Finn in the fur.  We met Finn and her momma at the Martha Clara Vineyard.   Mom has always wanted to take us to a dog friendly winery and this one fit the bill for sure.   Dogs were allowed all over the property and even in the air conditioned cafe and tasting room, which was nice because it was a hot day.  The winery had some nice farm animals and we had a great time meeting them.

We all got along really well.

Weasley wasn't shy about meeting the goats

or the pigs.

Exploring the farm was fun.

Our Dad, Finn, Finn's momma, and us pugs.

We really liked the air conditioned cafe.

Our Dad even got the honor of holding Finn's leash.

We are so thankful to Finn and her momma for joining us on this fun outing.

Wordless Wednesday Day-Stay Cool

Remember be careful not to let your dog overheat, if you have a flat faced breed anything over 80 degrees is risky.   Check out this article about dogs and heat.

Pupsickles and Popsickles (and a product review).

Credit for this recipe goes to Kolchak Puggles mama who came up with this delicious idea for Pina Colada inspired Taste of the Tropics Kong stuffing.  Sadly the hounds really don't like eating out of Kongs, I know weird.  I agree with Kolchak Puggle that Kongs are a great way to keep a dogs brain busy, and I used to stuff a kong with pb and banana (too ingredients they love) freeze and leave for work, Id come home to the very top licked and melting PB and banana on the kitchen floor.   Now they are left with some other chews and toys, they love chewing on the Bad Kong balls, and everyone is happy.

Kolchak's mama mentioned the famed song:

If You Like Pina-Coladas

And Walks in The Rain...

It put a smile on my face for this reason.  My late father who was a very funny person, was something of a connoisseur of goofy pop music (apologies to anyone who really likes the Pina Colada song).  He used to play the record for my friends and I when we are in junior high until we laughed ourselves silly.   Enough of memory lane.  Here is the recipe for the pina colada pupsicles.

Pina Colada Pupsicles

1 cup pineapple chunks

1/4 cup low fat plain yogurt

2 ripe bananas, sliced

1/2 cup pineapple juice

3 tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes

Puree all the ingredients in a blender and pour into the Popsicle molds.  This should make four or five large pupsicles.

As you can see from the pictures below the pupsickles where a big hit, my husband was swamped  with eager pina colada mad patrons like the most popular bar tender at a beachfront tiki bar.

 Rather then leave all the fun to the hounds, I wanted to make some Popsicles for my husband and my self, particularly since I wanted to try my new  Tovolo Groovy Icepop Molds.   So I made these peaches and cream ones from epicurious and they where delicious.

Peaches and Cream Popsickles

4 ripe peaches, diced, no need to peel

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup greek yogurt, preferably full fat

1 tsp lemon juice

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp Amaretto

Combine all of the ingredients in the blender and our into molds and freeze overnight.  If you don't have Amaretto you can easily substitute almond or vanilla extract.

 

Now for the review part of this post.  I absolutely love my Tovolo ice pop molds.   They are $12.99 on amazon, free shipping if you have prime like I do, and they are the best popsicle molds I've tried, and I've had several.  For one things they are made of strong but flexible BPA free plastic and they are designed to stand up easily in the freeze.  The molds fit comfortable into the base.   Some reviewers on amazon complained that the pop sickles where a bit large, but perhaps due to my piggish appetite I liked this aspect.    With a quick run under some hot water I was able to remove the popsicles easily, many other molds I've tried left the Popsicle behind in the mold and the stick in your hand.  If  you are planning on making any popsicles this summer either for yourself or your dogs I thoroughly recommend this product.