Old Friends, New Friends, Lucky Charms and Sad Goodbyes.

Well.. what a weekend. I've been catching up with old friends, making new friends and sadly saying goodbye to one friend.

So firstly I would like to pay tribute to my friend Cooper.



Cooper is now in a beautiful place called the Rainbow Bridge. I didn't know Cooper for very long sadly, but I loved to visit his blog and I will miss him very much. Our thoughts are with Coopers Mum and Dad, Don and Jean, please stop by and send them a hug or two.

May your spirit soar sweet Cooper.

So the DWB 2nd Anniversary Chat Pawty has been a blast so far, I have met up with lots of my friends and made new friends. It's been a riot.
The Tanner cam has kept Mum enthralled and ever so slightly in puppy love!!
Ive been keeping Mum up late so she looks kind of rough... well actually she looks kind of rough most days hehehe

Mum has been craving Lucky Charms





You can no longer buy them in the UK and it annoys the hump out of her, so if any of you doggys know of a place here in the UK that sells Lucky Charms.. please let me know so I can cram her mouth full of them and shut her up!!

She settled for Cookie Dough Ice-Cream and ate it ALL.. she didn't even give me so much as a lick of the spoon! The greedy heffer. She claimed it was too late for me to be eating ice-cream!! Talk about double standards! Then she whinged that it hadn't really scratched her itch and she still wanted Lucky Charms... Jeeeze, she will end up the size of a house!!

I also discovered that the Thuglets live in the area that Mum and Dad adopted me from! What a small world it is!! Mum is hoping to get to one of the Pawz fundraisers at some point so it would be nice to meet up with them. They are one handsome bunch!

Well, the beans have a birthday party to go to and I need my walk so for now i will finish... Mum took some photo's of me spark out after the pawty but Dad borrowed her camera today so I will post those later.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Ben xxxx

Anyone want 1,000,000.00 Euros???

According to the following I just won 1,000,000.00Euros (yeah right!!) being a dog I don't have much use for it so feel free to use my winning numbers and take up this wonderful opportunity (read as: criminal scam)

Contact!!!‏
From: Postcodeloterij (nedmesage@libero.it)

Sent: 25 April 2008 12:30:46
To:

Contact!!! REFERENCE N0 :KH067/0068183JK. BATCH N0: KC/977/0617569601.PRIZE NO: PR/CA08/54302. You have just won 1,000,000.00Euros(One Million Euro), in the POSTCODELOTERIJ N.L, The Netherlands, which was held on the 21st April,2008. Your winning numbers are given above,For further Clarification and procedure please Contact: Contact Tel: +31-659-002-044Contact Person:Dr.David MatoyaContact Email: remitvsnsbnk@aim.com Congratulations. Yours faithfully,Alexander MaestriGames/Loterij Coordinator.www.postcodeloterij.nl


should i write back and tell them where they can shove their euros?

HAPPY ST GEORGE'S DAY

HAPPY ST GEORGE'S DAY





To all my British pals a Very Happy St Georges Day.

Oh and yesterday was Earth Day.. I did my bit by conserving the Earth's water supply... I went to the park and peed up every tree... Mum was not amused at my efforts... I'm a dog.. what did she want me to do??

Mum is partially recovered (in that she looks human again) so I have been let off the doggy doctor duties for a little while. I demanded a little time to catch up on everyones posts.. which will probably take me the rest of the week!..so bear with me!
She didn't have a cold (thank doG.. being sneezed on is NO fun) She has a cyst in her eye which made her eye and face swell up so she looked like a cross between Shrek and the elephant man. The human doctor gave her some eye drops and some antibiotics.. and the antibiotics made her sick. She says you have to get sick to get better, which made NO sense to me at all.. but she looks normal again (well as normal as she ever looks) so i guess all this toilet worshipping IS making her better.. in some wierd human way!

Mum says thank you for all the get well wishes.. they really cheered her up... try not to cheer her up *too* much though, she hasn't been singing while she has been ill and whilst I do want her to get well.. the singing isn't something that I will welcome back!!

Mum being ill was bad news for the economy too, she hasn't been slurping the usual copius amounts of Latte so coffee producers of the world are probably experiencing a huge slump in sales.. just to reassure... she will no doubt make up for it when she is fully recovered!!

anyway.. enough about her.. she has had quite enough attention from me this week!!

A package came for me at the weekend, I was so excited. I ripped it open and... it was a bandana!! Now I don't mean to sound ungrateful.. but I can think of about a zillion better things that could have been in there! Take note Mum.. treats and toys are good.. silly things to dress me in are bad! Here I am looking suitably disgusted!



I think I will start a petition for BETTER and MORE INTERESTING gifts!!

Ben xxx

Doctor in the house

Sorry if I don't post for a couple of days or so.. or get to catch up on anyones blogs.. Mum has been under the weather over the weekend and is still not so good so I have volunteered to be her personal Doctor and will be tied up prescribing love, cuddles and healing kisses for a few days.. love to all my friends.. will catch up soon.


Ben xxxxx

Twinkle ... Look what you made me do!!!

Well.. don't say I didn't warn you Twinkle buddy

mwahahahahaha




I will remove this picture if justice is served and Ben-Ben is set free

Attention Spammers... I'm a dog.. but not a stupid dog!!

No-one ever e-mails me, so imagine my delight when i saw I had a message waiting for me!! I was so excited I almost peed on the laptop!

this was my e-mail...

FROM: MR.WILLIAM MUYEKE
DESK OF CHAIRMAN
Sub-Committee on Finance
South African World Cup bid 2010
24 Steven Bikko Blvrd Pretoria,
Republic Of South Africa.
Tel : +27-72-587-0437
Email: w_muyeke@hotmail.co.uk

Attn: Sir,

Greetings you must be aware now that my country The Republic of South Africa won the bid to host the world cup by 2010,prior to this bid my committee was mandated to lobby the members of board of Federation
International Football Association (FIFA) on selection of the country to host the world, the bidding was intensive but at the end we got the hosting right. Mycommittee was given the sum of $29 million dollars to lobby the members of the FIFA ruling body to make sure that we win the hosting
right considering the gain that comes with the hosting right like South Africa?s economy will receive a massive direct boost from hosting the 2010 World Cup,
financial impact report for South Africa's World Cup bid committee shows that the 2010 World Cup will pump R21.3-billion into South Africa's economy, and creating an estimated 159 000 new jobs.With the help the living legend of our time 89-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr.Nelson Mandela who made an emotive case for The Republic of South Africa, we got the bid without spending all the money, I and my committee members saw this as a God sent opportunity to secure our future and that of our family therefore was mandated by other committee members to look for a
way to move the remaining money to a safe place with the help of a foreigner who we can trust and is ready to assist us to move the funds considering the fact that we are still members of the bid committee and in the eyes of the public. we have in our possession the sum $21millon since we spent just $8million for lobbying.We are ready to give you 20% for all your assistance then me and my colleagues will keep 80% lf you are willing kindly reply to my letter for further directive. we will want to invest our share into Real-estate and air taxi business in your country with your assistance,bearing in mind that confidentiality is of great essences so is time in this project I will await your response.

Best Regards,

Mr.William Muyeke.

All responses should be sent to: w_muyeke@hotmail.co.uk


Now I may be a dog.. but I clearly I have slightly more grey matter between the ears than Mr Muyeke.

This is my reply...


Dear Mr Muyeke,



Re: your e-mail dated 16th April 2008 (URGNET PLEA FOR ASSISTANCE {this is not spam}



before i respond to the content of the e-mail please may i point out that URGNET is not a word recognised in the english dictionary.. am I to assume that you mistyped and actually meant urgent? Sorry to be so anal, but if you are asking me to deal with you in respect of millions of dollars then I would feel far more comfortable about it if you could at least use a spell checker when corresponding with me!



Now down to business..



Whilst I would just love to assist you I think there are a few points that I need you to clarify first.



Now as I am in the UK.. dollars are no good to me so lets talk British Pounds, doing a few calculations in my head, you have a sum of 21 million dollars, which roughly equates to £10,661,522.. you want to keep 80% ofthat so I am looking at a figure of £2,132,304 for my trouble. Now I don't want to seem ungrateful.. but that seems rather imbalanced. So before I could consider finalising any assistance to you my financial advisor insists that renumeration must be at least £3.5 million (taking in to account the low value of the US dollar and the approaching credit crunch in the UK)

Now lets assume that you are prepared to accept these terms.. there are a few other issues which I would need further claification on.

You say that you would use the remaining money to invest in Real Estate and Air Taxi business in my country. Firsly the housing market is in a slump and downward slide so this would be a very unwise investment, it worrys me somewhat that you have clearly not researched matters to any great degree.

Although you don't clarify as such in your email, I assume that the arrangement would require me to have some kind of bank acount .. now this may present a HUGE problem as I have no bank account and am not in a position to obtain one.

Also, although you again do not clarify this, I assume that in order for me to "assist" you and be rewarded with a chunk of your millions you will require me to make some kind of Western Union money transfer to you, for legal papers etc.. This could be a problem as I don't actually have any money, not a bean, not a penny, not a dime.

Ok I'm done messing with you now.. let me spell it out to you

You see the fundamental point that you missed when you decided to SPAM me with your very obvious and rather pathetic attempt at a scam was that I am a dog.. albeit a dog who clearly has more greymatter between the ears than you and your little scammer friends.

My e-mail is only posted in one place.. A DOG BLOG.. therein you see was the clue.. that I-AM-A-DOG.. how many dogs do you know that have the facilities at their paws to launder money??? Maybe you knew I was a dog.. Maybe you have finally realised that 99.9% of the populating humans of this planet will never fall for that scam so you have decided to target us canines (wrongly assuming we are less inelligent) To save you the time and effort.. I will tell you now that we can sniff out rotten meat a mile away and probably have more intelligence than you could ever hope for.

I am going to hazard a guess that you haven't read this far.. already moved onto the next would-be victim... but just in case you did.. a little heads up.. I would get rid of that e-mail address pronto.. I have a funny feeling that you may be getting a little more mail to it than you bargained for!



THE DOG.

*sigh.. thats 30 minutes of my life I will never get back!!

Turbo.. go sic em!!


Ben xxxx

Boys and their Toys

In order for my sulking to cease I have now been issued with this...



so whilst I am not ready to forgive I am now no longer sulking.. it's way more fun ordering the peasants about

It seems I forgot to show you any photo's of my easter gifts (I know I'm a slacker!!) so to placate those who enquired...

Here I am with a couple of them.. namely the giant lobster and caterpillar..



Now onto more important issues, there is a cheese thief in this house and it is MY cheese that is being stolen.. so I decided to do a little investigating.. after questioning Mum, Dad and the beans I decided they were innocent and then...

I caught the thief in the act!!

HEY!! Thats MY cheese!!



I'll take that thank you very much!!



I think the safest place for this cheese is in my belly!!



Now take that you evil monkey!!



WARNING to other Cheese Stealing Monkey Dudes... Don't mess with MY cheese!!



That Monkey dude distracted me from my initial intentions.. so back to business.. Boys and their Toys..

here is Dad with his toys.. looks like a lot of fun and Me, Mum and the little beans are going along next time, although apparently I don't have the appropriate licence so I shall be a mere spectator... hmmm we will see about that!!









here is the bike Dad *killed* before anyone got any photo's of him riding it..



and look at the state of this one when he had finished!!





Peter went along with Dad and Cooper but just spectated from the safety of the Landrover, he is much better and can't wait to get back out on the bikes.
Mum thinks they are all totally INSANE but... being a girl... she just doesn't understand Boys and their Toys.

Oh and before I forget, Pippa has pencilled me in to star as Love Rival in his upcoming movie.. I've been practising looking handsome.. whaddya think?



Oh and I almost forget to tell you the exciting news, Abby agreed to be my girlfriend!! I have a girlfriend!!.. I will catch up with Pippa the stud muffin soon!!!

I'm feeling quite exhausted after all that typing... nap time I think!



Ben xxxx

Sucking Up... Part 1

The sucking up has begun.. Mum is desperatley trying to make it up to me for blatantly letting that cat get one over on me.

Yesterday she and the skin kids decided to make me some yummy treats so they made me some of Sherman's Super Stinky Salmon Cookies. YUMMY!! Ive been pleading with Mum to make some of these since Sherman's Mom posted the recipe (Thank you Sherman's Mom)



She got my little bean to do the hard work!!



Hurry up already!!!



Mmmmm stinky heaven!!




and I confirm that eating too many of these leads to the *stinky* part..all's fair in love and revenge though :)


Ben xxx

Upstaged by a CAT!!!

Ok I'm slightly humiliated.. actually VERY humiliated. I have been totally upstaged by.. of all things.. a CAT

a giant ginger furball!

Jasper belongs to my Grandma, now i kind of like him (in the sense I drool when i see him and lick my lips a lot) but ultimatley I KNOW that I am better than him.. this is fact. But the ginger furball has got one over on me!!

The local paper ran a competition called I LOVE MY PET. Owners submitted pictures of their pets and readers voted for their favourite. Categories were:
Best Dog
Best Cat
Best Other (any other animal/critter)
Best Overall Pet

and the ginger furball only went and won the Best Cat category!!

and worse still... Mum voted for him!

and even worse Mum didn't even enter me so I wasn't even able to show the ginger whinger that I would have blown his socks off in the best overall pet category!!.. my only consolation here is that he was beaten in that category by a Lizard!! Oh how i laughed!

Mum has some major sucking up to do.. and i MEAN major!

The feline furball is gloating like crazy GRRRRR

and now he gets to have a professional photo shoot.. and be treated like royalty! Mum will probably get one of the shots and hang it on the wall.. just to rub salt in my already VERY deep wounds!

Judge for yourself.. is this floof monster more handsome than me??

Foster Carers... and Grumpy Bobby

I would like to introduce you all to my friend Bobby



or Grumpy Bobby as he is also known as.

Bobby is currently in Foster Care with John from Pawz For Thought (A charity rescuing and rehoming dogs) based in the North East of the UK.
Check out Bobby and Johns blog Here its full of Bobbys tales.. John's hilarious antics and stories of dogs who John has cared for who have found their forever homes. It's a funny and heartwarming blog. Now I know I already told you about this blog a few days ago.. but I just want to sing the praises of everyone who has ever fostered a dog, in fact everyone who has ever worked in rescue. Mum says they are heroes in her eyes and the job they do is extremely important for every dog out there searching for the love of a family.

Here is Mum's poem that she wrote as a tribute to all those who foster, but especially for Liz & Bri.. John and the many other foster carers who selflessly volunteer their time, homes and hearts to the doggys rescued by Pawz For Thought and of course to Lynne whose life is completely over-run by her dedication to Pawz and every dog that passes through.
If you live in the UK and think you could offer Bobby (or any of the Pawz doggys) a home, please contact them using the blue contact button on their website.

Love you Auntie Liz and Auntie Lynn XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx


Ben.




To Angels Who Foster

Have you ever loved something enough to let it go?
Even though it breaks your heart to watch, you know,
That in order to flourish it's wings must spread,
In order to grow it must move on and look ahead.
Like a first child leaving the proverbial nest,
Your heart aches, but you know it's for the best.
You have nurtured, nursed and taught all that you can,
They were never your's to keep, that wasn't the plan.

Could you volunteer to have this pain week after week?
To break your heart quite literally, so to speak.
Open your home, your heart and your mind,
To the abused, the needy, the unloved, the blind?
Could you nurse them back from pain and despair?
Make them understand that love is out there?
Watch them come back to life before your eyes,
Knowing soon you will say your goodbyes?

It's a special person who can foster a dog.
Turn around it's life, push sunshine through the fog.
Be a gentle hand,a calming voice and a loving ear,
Soothe all it's pain away and calm every fear.
To love it so much after seeing it's pain but prepare to let it go,
To find it a new family they know can love it so.
And when their heart is breaking as they watch it walk away,
Open their door to the next dog knowing it will all end the same way.

So to you angels out there who foster, mostly unsung,
Thank you from all the foster babies, old and young.
Thank you from the families whose lives you have transformed,
When you gave them that bundle that you so much adored.
Without you these dogs would have far less chance.
Have you any idea how many lives you enhance?

Do you know how many people stand back in awe?
You are utterly amazing, you couldn't do more.
Thank you for having the courage to let go,
The strength to do it all again, I admire you so.
To the dogs you are angels, their saviours and their friend.
Just know each one remembers you, with love until the end.

Some more Pawz doggys currently looking for their forever homes:

Benji



Buster



Libby



Cool Hand Luke




Meg



Milly



Molly



Mr Robinson



Mr Jones



Noro



Paddy



Pushka



Saffy



Snoopy



Toby



Yodi

Tagged

Maggie and Mitch tagged me for the middle name meme, it was some time ago.. oops!! Sorry guys I was away when you tagged me and then in the midst of catching up I kinda forgot!



Here are the rules:


1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.


2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).


3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)


My name is Benjamin Samuel

S - Soulful Eyes (according to Mum anyway)
A - Acrobatic.. when i can be bothered i'm one flexible pupster
M - Mad as a hatter - sanity is overated
U - Uber Gorgeous (If I say it enough the girl doggies may start believing it!!)
E - Egotistical - It's all about ME
L - Lazy - What can I say.. who doesn't love to nap!

So ummm.. who to tag..

I tag Lizzie, Cara The Collie, Abby and umm anyone else who hasn't done this already.. hey i'm a rebel.. I was never any good with rules!!

Ben xx

Doghair Despair

Mum is a little sad today. Houdini (one of her Australian RedClaw Crayfish) has passed away. Mum was so upset that Dad had to get her out of the tank as Mum couldn't bear it. Mum has had them since they were tiny babies and so she is really gutted. Dad immediatley started eyeing the tank up for his fish and so Mum got real mad at him. It does make sense to shift Little H into the smaller tank now she is on her own but Mum was in no mood to discuss it. Swim free at the bridge Houdini, your antics will be sorley missed :(

Dad picked Peter up for a visit on Sunday evening. His stitches are all out from his face and it is healing nicely, he has lots of staples in his knee and a wierd splint kind of contraption on his leg but he says it is feeling much better and he can hobble about now at least.
I was soooo happy to see him, I missed him as he is usually a very regular visitor, so Mum and Dad had to keep reminding me not to jump on his bad knee.. when he is better i am jumping on his knee for a cuddle and not getting off for a week!! He managed to play tug with me for a while though so I was happy.

Mum decided to make a pasta bake last night and look what happened when she opened the peppers...



Rasta Peppers!! Red, Gold and Green in one single pepper.. this prompted mum to start singing Bob Marley tunes at the top of her voice (and trust me.. this isn't a good thing!!) Me and the kids ran for cover with our paws/hands over our ears. She then insisted on speaking in a Jamaican accent for the entire time we had dinner!! Seriously.. anyone know a good therapist?

Mum is despairing at the moment about my hair (would she rather I was bald??) She says she has never known a dog shed so much (which i'm sure is an over dramatisation of the situation) As fast as she sweeps the hair up it is all over the floor again. She *claims* that brushing me yields enough hair to produce sweaters for the entire civilised world... hmm likes to embelish facts a little i think!!
Well newsflash Mum.. I'M A DOG - SHEDDING MY COAT IS WHAT I DO... GET OVER IT!

now I think it may be nap time, I think Mum thought she was competing in an olympic dash on our walk this morning and so I am bushed.


Ben xxx

Pawz Doggies and Kind Hearts

Hi all, just a quickie post to ask you all to pop along and take a peek at a couple of great blogs.

Life and Times of Lizzie is a great blog from another doggy rescued by Pawz For Thought who has found her loving furever home.Lizzie is just adorable.


Kind Hearts is the blog of Bobby and his foster carer John. Bobby s still looking for his furever home but he has many stories of the dogs who did find love and some still looking. This blog is just full of humour and warmth.

So please pop along and say hi.. tell them the handsome Rott sent you ;)


Ben xxx

PS.. another Pawz doggie is now blogging.. so feel free to pop along and say hi to very gorgeous Cara The Collie

Windows, The Easter Bunny, Motorbikes,Mayhem, The Aftermath and more!!

Oh my goodness, I've been away FOREVER!! Where do I start?? Well I guess the beginning would be a good place!

Windows

Shortly after my last post Dad's computer died on us.. it shut itself down and went on strike. No matter how many times Mum and Dad tried to encourage it to fire up.. it just refused. After a few days of no computer Mum decided to get out her laptop. Apparently she packed it away when some work was being done on the house last year and has never bothered to unpack it. Hurrah... back to blogging!!

or not as the case was..

Mum's laptop had some kind of hissy fit after being packed away so long.. so it kind of worked and kind of didn't.. to cut out all the boring and technical stuff.. in order to get internet access she had to reload Windows.. now at this point I thought she was losing her mind.. Windows?? On a laptop?? and who is this Bill Gates who seemed to be on the receiving end of many an expletive from her usually polite mouth?

I gathered at this point that blogging may be on hold for a while and wandered off to sleep/play/eat/shed hair/annoy the fish.
Dad was getting ready for a weekend away camping/fishing/trial biking with pals and Mum was getting ready for Easter shenanigans with the beans so repairing the laptop and/or PC seemed to be the last thing on their mind. Almost Easter though.. wonder what the bunny will bring?

The Easter Bunny... Motorbikes and Mayhem

So Dad went away the Friday Morning at some ungodly hour in the morning. Mum, me and the skin kids spent the day playing games and watching movies.. the weather was awful. Cold, wet, windy so we had several short walks instead of any lengthy ones. Dad rang to say he had arrived safely and claimed the weather wasn't so bad.
Saturday was much the same. Awful weather, so we went to visit Grandma and Grandad for a little while, then home and the kids made me some treats.. Peanut Butter Pup Pops Yummy!!



Mum called Dad at lunchtime to see how the weather was and... uh oh... Mum suddenly didn't seem happy at all!! She sounded a litle panicky and scurried away with the phone.. I followed to make sure she was ok. Turns out that Dad and his friend Peter had got into an accident on Peter's motorbike the night before and Peter was in the hospital. Dad had a lucky escape, cuts and bruises to his arms and legs and a bashed up elbow.. but Peter had a head inury, a badly cut face and had shattered his knee and detached all the tendons... OUCH!!! He was having an operation that day and Dad was heading back to the hospital to see how he was.
Mum was completely freaked out! I tried to calm her down with a nice game of tug.. but failed miserably. Dad said he wouldn't be coming home until Peter could get out of the hospital.. which Mum understood, but I think she just wanted Dad home.

Sunday morning we had an egg hunt.. well a toy hunt in my case. The kids got lots
of eggs, toys, money etc and i got some treats and loads of new stuff! A huge lobster toy, A huge crab toy, a monkey, a frisbee and a big rope. The Easter Bunny brought the kids a DVD all about training your dog and cooking for your dog.. it came with a cute toy for me and a book full of recipes for yummy things that the kids can make me... gotta love that Easter Bunny dude!!

Dad called to say Peter was being released from hospital so he could get further treatment closer to home, so Dad was coming home.. YAY!! Oh and did i mention we woke up to SNOW!!! and lots of it!! I loved it.. I ran around like a lunatic trying to catch snowflakes in my mouth.. Mum was too distracted to take any photos.. so feel free to give her a telling off for that one!!

The Aftermath

So the upshot is that since Dads return.. they have been slightly distracted and busy with injured friends, ill relatives, little beans return to school (Lilli has started full time school!!) and various other stuff and so they only just got the Laptop back to full working order.. so now I have lots of catching up on everyones posts.. lots more to tell you.. and..and...sore paws from this post.

If you stayed awake to the end of this... well done!!

It's good to be back!!

Ben xxxx