Well, goodness gracious me - Cathar curries!

Earlier this week saw a large increase in activity around the kitchen with some lovely smells arising from whatever was going on there. The action levels reached a peak on Thursday morning, just before the unexpected arrival of some 13 of my favourite people, all of whom, for some reason, were dressed very strangely.

Soon all was revealed. I turned out that mum and dad were holding a Curry Tiffin lunch for a load of friends and that dressing up in true Indian style was requested. Some people excelled themselves at this challenge whilst others were a little more modest.

Another feature was the application of a large red dot between the eyes - apparently some Indian mark of one's status in society. Even yours truly was not excluded from this but then I suppose that is only right in view of my position in the social hierarchy of this family.

With dad in the role of head chef, some four large vats of curry together with a large assortment side dishes, nibbles, and other delicacies were served up followed by a scrumptious Indian dessert made by Auntie Jo.

Not unexpectedly, bottle stuff was, as usual, in good supply, but strangely there was also a pot of stuff which had various bottlestuffs emptied into it together with all sorts of spices and fruits and then heated up. Apparently this is called mulled wine - a new one on me - and it proved exceedingly popular. I did not get offered any to try so I cannot comment. However, the end result of all this imbibing was that a good time was being had by all.

I didn't manage to sample any of the curries either, but I did manage to snaffle a samosa, a bit of naan bead, and a bit of poppadum when no one was looking and they were yummy.

And now I also have a new best friend - Uncle Stuart and Auntie Jo's son Tom who was over here for Xmas. He is a lovely person and I spent quite a bit of time on his lap and even managed a bit of a snooze whilst I was there.

As I had been up all day organising and then socialising, and as Uncle Tim and Auntie Mary stayed over that night, it was very late by the time I actually hit the sack. Consequently I had a bit of catching up on my sleep to do the next day as well. Come to think of it, I might just need a bit more.

Oh, and by the way, it is three years to the day today that I came to live here in lovely Montazels. Where did those three years go?

Happy New Year everyone.

Frightening objects and an industrial injury

Now as you all know I am a big, brave hunt dog and not much scares me...... but I must admit that occasionally something rather silly does. The other day mum bought a new pair of kitchen tongs - and they frighten the life out of me. Maybe it's because they are purple.

And I have always been a bit worried by the big ceiling fan in the lounge but recently this star thing has appeared dangling below it and that is really scary. I have to sit and stare at it for hours....just in case!

Yesterday my nursing skills were called upon. Basically, dad fell off a ladder in the garage, landed on his head on the concrete floor, and was rapidly leaking blood everywhere. Mum tended to the practical aspects of stopping the blood flow, dressing the wound, and administering brandy whilst I stepped in to administer TLC and maintain a "concussion watch" just in case he had done any real damage.

Glad to say that thanks to our combined efforts he is fine today apart from a small lump on his head and some quite sore bits of body. I think I might need to slip back into an 'elf and safety advisor role to ensure there is no repeat.

Other than that, all is well on the run up to Xmas. Dad has still to buy some more bottle stuff but mum is pretty much on top  of the food situation. I understand we are having "eggs benedict royale" (smoked salmon instead of ham) for Xmas day brekkie so I will look forward to that!


Oh, and by the way, my ringworm has nearly all cleared up and I stop getting the daily daubes soon, thank goodness. And it has been raining for three days now!!!!!!

Being a care assistant turns out to be quite a tiring occupation, so the sofa beckons.

Out of sorts and isolated!

Hello again everyone. Yes, I know that once again it has been over a month since I posted but this time I do have an excuse.

You see, I have been a little out of sorts having come out in a rash in a few places including one that I would rather not go into. Turns out that I have contracted ringworm and it seems that I have caught it from one of my best mates. Now I am not going to name any names as I do not want to be dragged up in front of the Leverson enquiry or anything similar - but you know who you are.  Although the rash is now largely sorted I am banished from contacting any other dogs for a few weeks yet and still get daubed twice daily with this evil smelling (and tasting) liquid. I don't mind that except my mum really should not be asked to handle that part of my anatomy with such frequency (I now have a new name "Willy the Worm").  This is a clue as to where the original rash started!

Other that that things have been pretty quiet as I am not allowed doggy visitors. Mum popped over to see her dad in England for a week so dad and I had a bachelor week together. Then dad popped back to see his dear friend Clive who is very ill, so mum and I had a few days of "cuddle time" together - lovely! Thing is, when one of them is away I have to be even better behaved than normal as I cannot then play one of them off against the other - something I am very adept at.

Suddenly there is a flurry of decorating activity going on with lots of lights being put up, a tree being decorated, and baubles everywhere. I guess it must be that time of year again called Christmass, although judging by the antics of the last few years it ought be be called "Super bottle stuff time" as so much of it gets consumed. Still, another couple of weeks and it will all be over and we can get back to normal.

Will report back soon with a progress report. In the meantime I had better get a bit of rest before the social rigors of the festive season descend upon us.

Frog dog goes to Spain

I know - it has been nearly a month since I last spoke to you all. SORRY! But, I have just been on hols to Spain for the very first time so now I have got something to write about.

On Monday we all set off to Cadaqués which is a small, pretty, little town on the north east coast of Spain only about three hours drive from home.

Now I love traveling in the car and I also love staying in hotels as it means I get to sleep on the beds with my mum and dad.We did loads of walking during the days, interspersed with eating, and of course, for mum and dad, much of the bottle stuff.

We stopped at a few cafés for refreshments and in some the nice people brought me out my own bowl of water - very welcome. It was also a great opportunity to have a cuddle with my mum. Well, I was on holiday after all!

Cadaqués has its own lighthouse about an hour's walk from the town so we all marched out to see that. I saw no ships!

It is also  the place where Savador Dali spent many of his childhood summers and for this reason the local tourist information office has a lifesize cutout photo of him outside. Now Dali was a bit of a scary looking guy and the first time I came face to face with this I have to say I was a bit frightened. Not that I showed it, of course, so I put on a big show of bravado and loads of barking, much to the amusement of the locals.

Much as I like holidays, they can take it out of you so it was a good job there was a comfortable bed for me (and dad) to crash out on and recover.

It was a lovely holiday and I really enjoyed it, but I fear it will take a fair amount of relaxing to fully recover from it. I am off to do some now.

Found a new pub & vendage ends

Mum, dad and I went for a bit of a drive yesterday and, after a somewhat circuitous route, finished up in Chalabre. Now I have never been there before and dad was thirsty so we stopped to look around. To my delight we homed in a cheerful looking bar and ordered drinks all round. I have to say they certainly do a good bowl of draught water there, not that dad was interested in that of course.

Me outside the new pub

Sad day today as, at about seven o'clock this morning a very large and noisy grape picking machine went up the hill, woke up my mum,  and started harvesting Uncle Francois' merlot grapes. These are the last grapes to be picked in my neck of the woods so now my choice of early morning snack is limited to those grapes that either the pickers or the machines have missed. Mind you, there are a fair amount of those, and as the leaves fall off the vines it gets easier to find them! Probably enough to keep me going for a few weeks yet.

Still enjoying lots of nice sunny hot days here although apparently the pool has cooled to socially unacceptable temperatures, not that I would know. Suppose I had better go and bag a few more rays.

Scary dogs and creature comforts

The other day my best mate, Lilly, came round to lunch with her mum and dad. The humans, as per usual, gathered round the table and got stuck into loads of food and the bottle stuff.

I had not seen her for a while so there was a lot of catching up to do, a bit of lizard hunting, and then we decided to have a contest to see who could look the scariest dog. I won, of course!

Today mum and dad went shopping and came back with a lovely present for me. It is a super soft rug to go in the conservatory in front of my day bed. Those of you who know how much I like my home comforts will appreciate that I took to it straight away and have hardly been off it since.

In fact, it is so comfortable I might just have to try it out for a quick nap.

I've found my ideal job

I was browsing through the local paper the other day when I came across a very interesting article. It was talking about the methods used by wine growers in our region to tell when the time is right to harvest the grapes. Traditionally this has been done by measuring the sugar content of the grapes using a reflectometer or by doing a more detailed analysis in the lab looking at other features such as acidity levels.

However, it appears that increasingly some growers are abandoning the time honoured methods in favour of using taste buds. And here I don't just mean their taste buds, but more importantly those of their dogs. One grower reported that he decides when it is time to harvest when "his dog decides to start eating the grapes".

Those of you who follow this blog will be well aware of my penchant for the noble grape but I am fussy in ensuring their ripeness first. It would appear, therefore, that I have found my ideal role in life - that of Chief Taster of the Grapes. 

Me at work in my new role

On that basis they should have started harvesting here last week as I have been busy munching grapes for about 10 days now - but they are only just getting round to it in our locale. Don't say I didn't tell them, and don't blame me for a duff vintage!