Lets make some cheese !

Hi hi everyone, it's me Tess coming to you from Bryan's recliner. We hope you all had a happy Christmas. We got some pretty cool presents this year. This lovely stuffie came all the way from Molly, Taffy & Monty's house in the UK. Sadly, it no longer has any stuffing but that's ok, we can still toss it around. Thanks pals.

This one that Willow has came from another dale pal in the UK. Thanks Dexter. It to has been destuffed courtesy of Lucy!

She tries to look all innocent but no one is fooled. Lucy, you're trouble girl !

We'd also like to thank our dale pals Ludo & Otto for the cool stuffie they sent us. It's gone to toy heaven now but it was fun while it lasted.

The big news here is D & B have decided to start a new venture. Last week D ordered a cheesemaking kit online. It arrived just before Christmas so now D & B are learning to make cheese They started with this simple soft white cheese called Quark which originated in Germany. Here it is hanging so all the whey drips out leaving the curd. Once it is dry enough B said he's going to make a yummy berry cake with it. I hope I get to try some.

Finally, check out this little guy. It's a baby bat that fell off its mum. Our friend Jane who volunteers for WIRES is looking after it. He thinks Jane is his mum lol. Can you see, he's eating a piece of apple.

Well that's all for today. Oh by the way, it has rained non stopped since Christmas morning. What happened to the hot Aussie summer we sang about in our song??? Actually, we're glad for this rain because it's been very dry and our garden really needed a big drink.

Have a great week everyone.

Tess xx

Merry Christmas maties

G'day blogging maties,
We must apologise for being a somewhat absent lately. We're slowly making our way around to all your blogs but D keeps making excuses saying she's busy.......hello, we've a blog to maintain and friends to visit......crikey. I think the festive season should be called the hectic season.
We've noticed that some of you are getting snow and that you might even have a white Christmas. Sigh.... we wish we could have a white Christmas. It's been hot here this week and we've been doing lots of snoozing.

This is our Christmas card for 2009. B thinks he out did himself this year but D still thinks our nativity scene of 2007 was best. I like this card, it's traditionally festive.

We hope your Christmas is stress free, relaxing and fun with lots of yummy food & drinkypoos.

We leave you with a song we wrote last year. It's to the tune of "Winter Wonderland"

Christmas time in Australia
Can get hot let me tell ya
It's Summer time here
Fill our dog bowls with beer
Living in an Aussie wonderland

All our friends get the white stuff
But down here Summers real tough
The footpath gets warm
Cool it down with a storm
Living in an Aussie wonderland

On Christmas day we sit around the barbie
We're panting cause it is so stinking hot
Then they say 'its time to go a walkies'
Thanks all the same but we would rather not

After lunch we go a snoozing
And the peeps, they keep on boozing
We wish you the best
For next year and the rest
To all our maties in their wonderland

Stay safe and we'll catch you in the new year.

Chrissy Cheers!
Noah Willow Tess Lucy

Birthdays, awards and has anyone seen my teeth?

G'day blogging maties
I must show you what I got for my birthday. See the stuffies in my basket? They came all the way from the land of Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie. They are awesome. One of the stuffies is a sling shot. I haven't had the chance to fling it yet because I was whipped off to the vet to have my teeth removed but that's another story.
You may notice other stuff in my basket. My best matie gal Lacie sent me a blanket in her fav colour purple AND some very special Lacie fur which was stuffed in the blanket so our Customs wouldn't find it. Good thinking Mumsie. Aussie Customs is impossible...very stricked but we fooled them whaaaa haaaa haaaa haaaaa fools !
I also got a fantastic email card from Asta but D cant upload it here....It's great. I wish I could show you.
Oh Tess wants me to thank everyone who wished her a happy birthday for last Monday. She is 7 now and B calls her an old boiler hehe.


Look at this video. It's not D with dyed blond hair. It's Megan, B & D's niece from New Zealand. She is living here with us and guess what...she's a vet nurse. Yep we have our own vet nurse.
Anyhoo, she isn't working at the moment because she is going back to NZ for Christmas but she has been helping out big time with the B&B. Naturally, D doesn't want her to leave......EVER.
She's also really great with us dales and she loves the FOOD channel just like D.

We'd like to thank some of our pals for the following awards. This one "Circle of Friends" came from Ernie & Sasha. The rules are we have to list 5 things we like to do so I Noah am going to do this.

1. I like to rest in my basket upstairs especially now I have a lovely new purple blanket in it.
2. I like to wade in my pond and then dig in the dirt and get all muddy.
3. I like to welcome D home from work every afternoon.
4. I like hoki fillets.
5. I like to bark at the laundry man. He annoys me.

I know many of you have received this award so if you haven't and would like to play please feel free.




This next award we got from our maties Buster, Persephone & Bailey. Thanks pals, we think you guys are a blessing to.

Now to the main part of my post for today. Yesterday I was taken to the vet and 2 of my molars were removed. Stephen my vet said they were cracked and in danger of causing infection so they had to come out. See my leg.....it looks poodleish. I look sad. Don't you think I look sad? Sigh.

But I still have enough energy to do this:

I have to take some antibiotics & pain killers for a few days until I'm 100%. D thinks I'm still a bit groggy but that's just me lol.

tailwags everyone

Noah xx

Airedale Xmas party

G'day Blogging maties
Well yesterday Tess, Willow & I went to the 2009 NSW Airedale Association Christmas party...crikey that is a mouthful. Lucy stayed home with Coral (our B&B sitter) & Megan (B & D's niece who is living with us) so she had lots of love and cuddles.


It really was a fun day. We headed down to Sydney nice and early. There were 14 airedales all together. Some of us entered the fancy dress party. You can see a Christmas theme happening. Well guess what.....I won 1st place.

Here is the line up. Our blogging matie Ruby and her baby girl Gracie looked great. D says they should have won. Teddy looked really great to and so did Major.

Another fun event was bobbing for frankfurts. Here is Harvey (we think) trying his luck.
D couldn't believe how much he looked like me. He was rather handsome.

This was camp dale. It was pretty hot down in Old Sydney Town....32 degrees Celcius. Too hot for me.


Here is our pal Ruby and her little baby Gracie and Santa & the elf.

Little Gracie is playing with her litter brother Fozzy. They were so cute but I still managed a little growl at them when they kept bumping into me while playing.

Oh I came 2nd in the agility event.....D still doesnt know how I did it and 3rd in the recall event. Tess & Willow didnt win any prizes. I guess there is only 1 talent in this family.

Look at Harvey in the background of the next photo. He is the spitting image of ME. Lucky boy.

How cute does Ruby look in her soft kennel. They are such an awesome idea. Even little Gracie had a big rest in there.

Last of all is a photo of Willow & her litter sister Legend. It was great for Willow to catch up on all the gossip. They haven't seen each other since they were pups.

We'd like to thank everyone who helped organise this awesome day out. We can't wait for the next one.

Noah xx

Our trip to New Zealand Pt 2

Hi everyone,
This was our mode of transport throughout the South Island. We chose a 3 birth motorhome. Thank goodness we went for a 3 birth and not a 2 birth.. It was kinda cosy..... but well equipped. It had a small kitchen, shower, toilet (a must!!!) and the front seats could swivel around so we could either watch telly from the bed or the front seats. We also had grand plans of buying fresh food and cooking our meals at night.......after the first night we ate at restaurants more often than what we thought we would hehehe.

Our first night however wasn't spent in the mighty motorhome but at the home of our friend Kaye and her aire-boy Torts. He was a very good host, showing us around the neighbourhood and his yard. Here he is with his new toy the Leuradales sent him.

After we left Christchurch (where Torts & Kaye live) we headed inland towards the Southern Alps. That is where we did our first helicopter flight from our previous post. On the way we came across this absolutely gorgeous church on the shores of Lake Tekapo. The area is stunning with that blue blue water.

Once we crossed to the West Coast we headed north to the township of Franz Joseph. We planned to do a helihike there which involved taking another helicopter up to the Franz Joseph glacier. The weather was a bit iffy so we weren't sure if they could take our group up. The tour organisers prepared us just in case the cloud lifted. We were fitted out in gortex jackets, boots, beanies and gloves and then we waited. Finally the cloud lifted and up we went. I was a little apprehensive but it was so worth it. It was an awesome afternoon.

Here we are about to walk through an ice cave. It got very tight down the other end and we had to crawl through. Thank goodness I'm not claustrophobic.

Inside the ice cave. The light reflecting made everything so blue.

There is another group in front of us walking on the glacier. Apparently it's quite easy to fall through the ice. A lady at work told me she did on her recent trip to NZ. Thankfully I wasn't aware of that on the day we did the hike.....

We walked around up there for about 2 hours. The time went so quickly. The guides were excellent and full of information.

It was truly an fantastic experience.

Back on the East Coast and we found an area with lots of fur seals. Some were huge.

Look at this fellow. He was getting some sun on the rocks when we rudely interrupted him for a photo shoot.

The coast line here was beautiful as was most of the South Island.

We found this cafe perched on the beach and had to stop for a coffee, well actually we really wanted to take more photos.

I have more photos so stay tuned.

Thanks for looking.

Denise x

Our trip to New Zealand Pt 1

Hi everyone,
I hope you enjoy these photos of our recent holiday to the South Island in New Zealand.
I just have to say if anyone is thinking of going there, you're in for a treat. It's absolutely gorgeous. The scenery was sensational. It is so different to Australia yet it's so close.

This photo is the view from the top of the gondola in Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ.

Since we only had 11 days to see everything we thought it best to take some helicopter flights.
This particular flight took as around Mt Cook, the highest mountain not only in NZ but Australasia. Before we actually flew around the peak we stopped for a photo.


Here is the top of Aoraki (Mt Cook)

This is the Tasman glacier. It is the largest glacier in New Zealand.

The glacial water is so blue, just stunning.

The top of Mt Cook again.


Remember how I mentioned that Queenstown was the adventure capital of NZ, well Bryan decided to be adventurous. He through himself off this suspension bridge. Luckily he was attached to a bungy cord.

Hella, it's a long way down there!!!!!!

He asked to be dunked up to his waist but he forgot to hold his nose as he came back up through the water.......dunderhead !!!

We have many photos so I wont bombard you all at once but I would like to show you some more so I'll post some more in a few days. Thanks for looking.

Denise x

A long abscense

G'day maties,


We're sorry it's taken so long to post. We arrived home from the kennels last Sunday and then our internet connection crashed..........very annoying as D has wanted to show you some of the photos they took in New Zealand.



Before we start with the gazillion holiday snaps I would like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes and a special thank you to Asta in NYC who sent me the most awesome birthday card. Smoochie kisses to ya Asta xxx.



We also wanted to say how sad we are about little Snickers. Butchy and Snickers were one of our first friends on DWBs and we will miss her dearly. Our hearts go out to her family.



Last Wednesday Lucy went to the vet to have her lumps removed. The vet comfirmed that they were just fatty lumps. She has a big scar down her chest and she isnt allowed to wear a collar so that means no walks for 10 days.

Tomorrow D is going to help us with the Christmas card exchange. She says it's going to be a mammoth job. Lucky it's the weekend so we have 2 whole days to finish them.

Last of all we hope all our American buddies had a great Thanksgiving.

tailwags
Noah xx

Taking a walk in our neighbourhood

G'day maties,
We want to show you some of the lovely flowers in our neighbourhood. This photo below is of our front yard. There is a magnificent rhododendron with pink flowers in full bloom just near the front hedge. You can just see our house on the right hand side of the photo.

B keeps our hedge nice and straight.

This beauty is over flowing with flowers.

Here are some more from a house down the road.

We wanted to show our maties Jake & Fergi some of the sandstone cliffs in the area where we live. It reminds us a little of where they live. These cliffs are what make the Blue Mountains famous and why so many tourists come to the area. Oh please ignore our Christmas hats. This photo was taken last year but it shows the land mark called the 3 Sisters and in the background is the Jamison Valley. That is the same valley you'd see if you walked to the end of our street.

The next photo is of the Grose Valley which lies to the north of Leura. It is a very dramatic and ancient landscape.

This photo is the Jamison Valley again. The view is slightly obscured by gum trees.

We'd like to do a whole post dedicated to the Blue Mountains but that will have to wait until we come back from our short break away. On Friday we are off to Kelston Country Kennels while the pinkies hire a motorhome and tour around the South Island of New Zealand.

We hope you've enjoyed this post and we'll catch you all when we come back in about 3 weeks.

tailwags

Noah xx