So Autumn is here and it brings the cold weather. We’ve had the first frost and the dogs love it!
Halloween was uneventful. We did carve a pumkpin though and the dogs enjoyed it once we had finished. Here is Kiska with her share.
I love Autumn mainly for the lovely colours that are out there. We had a great walk last Saturday in all the fallen leaves. Koda really enjoyed it 
So we had to go out and buy Taz a new cage this weekend.
This was because the bad bird had figured out how to open his old cage. I went into the dining room on Friday to find him sat on top of his cage, cackling merrily. Andrew put him back in with a cushion (we can’t handle him as he BITES!)
On Saturday morning I came downstairs to find him on the dining room floor, having a staring competition with the cat. Monkey was in full hunt mode but fortunately, so was Taz. He can really stand up for himself despite his size and even the dogs flee the room when he is loose! It doesn’t stop Monkey from wanting to eat him though. It was a bit like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
So we bought the new cage and managed to get 35% off the price. Fabulous. With the money we saved on the cage, we bought a whole pile of toys and perches to furnish it with. Monkey had to test the toys to make sure they were parrot proof.
Taz is now happily installed in his new home and seems louder than ever for some reason! He has had a great time exploring and you can see his excitement looking at all the new things to destroy. A friend said that perhaps the learning to escape was his masterplan to get a new home. I think she may be right
We are having some sunny weather here at last!
It has been so nice and we have been spending so much more time in the garden which is great. The dogs think the sunshine is brilliant and have been having a lovely week going for nice walks and charging round the garden.
I was out there with them yesterday and caught Koda slinking up to the top of the garden…
The big thief had been in the bin bag that I had not managed to tie up! He was just settling down to chew his findings in the above picture. That is until I shouted at him!! In the below picture he is giving me his best guilty look and this was taken the split second before he shot off to hide whatever it was he stole!
Monkey has also had a trip into the garden attached to a lead! He really loved the warmth of the sun and the feel of the grass. He was a bit unsure of things when the wind blew but he soon got used to it and explored the garden. He had a while in the hen pen which he quite liked but he preferred rolling in the longer grass by the pond.
He is certainly growing and we can really see a difference when we look at the photographs of when we first brought him home. He is such a character and is always up to mischief! His name is very fitting as his favourite place to sleep is on a shoulder - he doesn’t care who it is
Kiska has been up to mischief too. Whenever I turn my back she is straight into the hen pen, searching for whatever has been thrown in there. She came out the other day with half a coconut over her muzzle which did look interesting. Yesterday I caught her trotting up the garden with a whole cauliflower in her mouth! She didn’t eat the whole thing though as Koda managed to snatch some!
On Saturday we went to the World Sheepdog Trials at Dinefwr Park.
It was a really good day out with stalls, a food marquee, shows in the country arena and of course, plenty of collies! We met the hounds from the local hunt and entered their raffle. Andrew also had a go at their coconut shy and managed to knock off four coconuts with three balls! Result
The “Jive Pony” show was good and for some resaon, Andrew was glued to it.
We also spoke to a lady from the local Falconry centre. Andrew is thinking on going on one of their hunting days this autumn. For the first half of the day you get your own bird of prey and you go hunting with your bird and ferrets for rabbits. Then you have a pub lunch and for the second half of the day you go out with setters hunting pheasant. It sounds like a really good day out and you can bring home anything you catch, which would be much appreciated by Koda, Kiska and Buddie!
I’ll just include a picture of Monkey:
He’s doing really well and is growing quite a bit! He is still a loony and is always getting into mischief. I had to quickly wash his paws yesterday after he walked in the kitchen sink full of bleach. Of course, he had managed to walk all over the sofas first. He is becoming very good friends with Taz the parrot, who calls him over with a whistle and then tries to bite his tail!
Sep 15, 2008 | 1 | UncategorizedI have never known a cat to be so vocal! I know Siamese can be chatty, but my GOD this cat is loud! You hear him from the moment you dare to move a muscle in the morning, until the moment you close your eyes at night. It’s a good job we have no neighbours that could hear him through any walls. Can you complain about a loud cat?!
He is a very hungry cat too! All he wants to do is eat. He is on a cat food called Applaws at the moment as he doesn’t really seem keen on anything else (trust him to choose the most expensive brand) and is supposed to eat one tin a day. Monkey will happily eat three tins a day and still yowl for dry food as well. His tummy is looking a bit like a tennis ball, so I have cut him down today. Sometimes I think I am mistaking his noise for hunger when really he is just after a chat
He loves toys and I keep tripping over tiny blue mice and ping pong balls. His favourite toy however is a laser pen. It does different shapes like a star and a mouse but he isn’t fussy - he’ll chase it anywhere! He won’t give up either - he would go for hours! It is quite funny as when I am downstairs, I can hear him thundering around upstairs, on the bed, off the bed, down the stairs, on the sofa, up the stairs, in the bath, etc etc! He is more like a naughty dog than a cat and is really keeping us entertained
The dogs are miserable as the rain still hasn’t stopped. They hate getting wet. The chickens are miserable, even little Taz is miserable as in the summer he likes his cage out on the wall in the garden so he can hear the wild birds and soak up some rays! We just haven’t had a chance this year. I still blame Andrew for buying a new patio set and gas BBQ in May. He must have cursed us.
Aug 20, 2008 | 0 | UncategorizedIt is my birthday today - I am another year older and another year closer to 30 
What really made my day though is this fantastic picture that Lon, a fellow malamute owner, did for me of Buddie. I really hope that she goes into doing commisions. As you can see below, she is very very talented and I would love one done of the others in the future!
Aug 17, 2008 | 6 | Uncategorized
It has been a while! I keep meaning to update but life has been busy lately and I never seem to get to sit down.
The biggest news is that we have a new family member - Monkey the blue-point Siamese kitten! He is 15 weeks old and just adorable, if naughty. He has a bit of a thing for the laptop and can be found curled up on the keyboard when he is not sending e-mails or social networking on Catbook.
Other stuff. Buddie enjoyed his recent visit to the poodle parlour! He was apparently on his best behaviour and loved being bathed and brushed by a professional He thorougly enjoyed his holdiday with Jane and Rob of Green and Furry and had lost some of his podge, which was great!
Koda is coming to the end of his moult, and just as Kiska is looking fabulous with a gorgeous coat, she decides to lose it. That dog is a pain - she will never have a coat for longer than a week, I am sure.
The chickens are not enjoying all the rain. Where is our summer? They spend all day snoozing under the palm tree and only come out for food. I don’t blame them.
Aug 13, 2008 | 1 | UncategorizedI think we may start showing Kiska again… just for fun.
Here she is at 6 months old. This was the Alaskan Malamute Club of the UK’s show back in 2004. She did very well and came away with two 2nds and a 3rd
We aren’t going to do any Championship Shows with her as there is just no point - we don’t want to do Crufts… so we will more than likely try her in a few local Open shows, if we can find any coming up soon.
I’m looking forward to seeing her in the ring again! She loves to show-off, so hopefully she will remember what to do and so will Andrew as he will be taking her in.
Wish us luck!
We are still having lots of rain here - when we moved, we didn’t realise West Wales was so wet. It is good for the garden though and the grass is growing back after a winter of mad dogs.
Hopefully the weekend will be nice enough to actually do something in the garden and maybe get some photos of the dogs without worrying about a damp camera!
Koda wasn’t in the good books yesterday after waking us up barking at half past five in the morning. Andrew went down to investigate and found four magpies sat on the fence closest to Koda, winding him up. He really hates magpies as if he leaves a bone on the grass, they fly down and peck all the meat off and he cannot do anything about it from the kennel except bark at them
These magpies were eating pizza put out for the hens, which must be far more appealing than bones.
Jun 24, 2008 | 2 | UncategorizedFor anyone that knows Alaskan Malamutes, you will know that 99.9% of them have an extremely high prey drive and cannot be trusted near livestock.
We found this out the hard way when Kiska and Koda decided to eat a few of our escapee hens. We have to be very careful with the hens, as they sometimes get loose and then they are fair game to the big dogs who will chase and kill.
So can someone tell me why it is, for the last few weeks, that I have found either Kiska or Koda IN the hen pen, hoovering around for food, without touching the hens??
Or, when Penny and Gertrude, the naughtest hens, have flown over the fence into full biting range of the dogs, they have not given them a second glance? In fact, Kiska has sniffed them and walked away and Koda has dropped to the floor.
I cannot cannot cannot think of any explanation apart from someone has transplanted their Malamute brains and given them normal-dog brains.
We have finally got some veggies in the ground and growbags! The greenhouse veggies are doing well and the veggies in the plot are too. All we have left to do is make a herb section and get some salad veg in
So far we have: Runner beans, peas, cauliflower, pumpkin, spring onion, radish, tomato, cucumber, courgette, butternut, melon, sweetcorn, basil, parsley, coriander, mint, oregano and sweet red peppers. And all from seed too. Next year we will have more groundy things like carrots, beetroot, parsnips etc but couldn’t this year as the land wasn’t ready. Still, we will have quite a bit to be going on with!
Jun 17, 2008 | 4 | Uncategorized