Death by Doxie : More! Elfi on the Sick Bed

The great news in our world at the moment is that the husband is almost fully recovered! He's back home and back at work and no longer losing a lung and/or climbing the walls with boredom. We missed our trip to Australia but instead flew the step-sons to Seoul for a few days, which was perfect - just what the doctor ordered, you might say. 

Yep, we no longer need a sick bed in our house, but Elfi looked so absurdly cute perched up on it that I'm sharing some more photos of her on the sick bed. How could I not?

My nephews...

...are freakin' adorable.  That is all.

Death by Doxie: The Dachshund Free Edition

"How can you have a death by doxie post without a dachshund?" I hear you ask, horrified. It's my blog so deal with it, I reply.

This is Coco.  She was my dog before Ferdi and Elfi.  She was a gorgeous chocolate brown kelpie x lab.  I'm writing about her because even though she hasn't been around for a bit over five years the other night I woke at about 3.30 am, thought of her and shed a tear or two.  And that's not the first time it's happened.  It doesn't happen often, but a few times a year I will think about my old hound and I will feel a bit sad.

I got Coco as a young pup from the RSPCA.  She was a pretty special dog.  She was unbelievably loyal and super smart.  She saw me through so much - my first 'serious' relationship, a broken engagement, several broken hearts, a move to Sydney which took me away from family and friends.  When I was feeling sad and lonely she used to sit next to me on the couch, right up close, and put all her weight against me like a big comforting presence.  She forgave me for being out all night and forgetting to feed her.  She was calm and gentle on a lazy Sunday morning, she was jumpy and happy on a lively Saturday afternoon.  She really was a true friend.

The problem was that Coco liked other dogs, but she did not like other people.  Around strangers she was nervous and aggressive.  Even around people that she knew well (like my parents) she could be unpredictable.  In these situations, she could be dangerous.  Coco needed extra special care and attention to ensure she didn't hurt anyone.  

And so, when I was about to move in with my now husband, and I knew his step sons would frequently be around, I had a long hard chat to my vet.  After 10 years together, I had to put my beautiful hound down (gawd writing this is harder than I thought...).  It was  heart wrenching taking her to the vet that one last time, her face still so full of trust.  Ughhh, it really was horrible.  But I know that I made the right decision - dogs like Coco and children do not mix.

Here she is when she was just a cute little puppy (on her first day home actually) - a little nervous and hermit-like maybe, but before she had jaws to do serious damage.

Do you have a special dog from your past that you still think about?

Death by Doxie: The Outtake Edition

In last week's Death by Doxie the ever handsome Elfi helped me launch my latest giveaway (which is running all this month - have you entered yet?  You can do so here).  It was her first 'real' photo shoot, with props and expectations and all that.  She did not come through with flying colours, but these photos crack me up (plus I really like the lighting and the persepctive).  So, here is Elfi trying to run away, steadfastly refusing to look at the camera, and generally hating every second of it...

Singapore has the best zoos

Singapore has the best zoos.  I can't say they have the best zoos in the world, because clearly I haven't been to all the zoos in the world and I might get done by the blogging equivalent of the ACCC, but they do have the best zoos I have ever seen (and I've seen a few).  

They have the best zoos because the enclosures are open and free ranging, because animal welfare is clearly the highest priority, and because they are obviously as obsessed with mouse deer as I am.  And because they have a night zoo, which means you get to see nocturnal critters out and about, rather than just sleeping.  We saw a fishing cat actually fishing!  And a flying squirrel actually flying gliding!

Also, what other zoo has an aviary-style enclosure complete with lemurs, sloth, bats and mouse deer just casually strolling about?  We were lucky enough to be in this enclosure at feeding time. When the chow came out it was on for young and old, lemur versus lemur, lemur versus sloth (a rather unevenly matched affair when it comes to speed...)

And yes, that is a baby sloth!  We were inches away from a baby sloth people!  Have a look at it's alien like arms - creepy and cute, no?

Also, mouse deer.  That is all.

ps. Towards the end of our zoo adventure there were some complaints from the group about the inordinate number of mouse deer enclosures, to which I of course replied 'when you tire of mouse deer you tire of life'.

Say 'moo'!

Ah yes, it's school holiday time and that means there is so much going on at the moment that it's hard to find time for blogging because of all the doing, which is a good thing of course and means I have lots of surprises up my sleeve.  School holiday time also means I am forced to have a proper lunch at a proper time every day because there are two ravenous children in the house, but as much as I don the apron and try to play the role I really struggle to get lunch organised before 1.30pm...but no one seems to mind if lunch is a little late if it's delicious Women's Weekly Cookbook crepes with ham and gouda, and maple syrup for later.  Delicious!

Anyhoo, that's all a bit off track.  What I wanted to tell you about is that yesterday we went to the 63 Building in Yeouido, apparently the tallest building in Seoul and the tallest art museum in the world (which is kind of an hilarious gimmick, don't you think?).  It has some spectacular views of the sprawling city, and down in the basement there's also a pretty cool aquarium, interesting but compact so you never get to the point of thinking 'oh yay, another fish...'.  

The penguins were regal, the otters cute and the spider crabs suitably creepy but the real star of the show is that little guy right up the top there - the cowfish.  And seeing as how the cowfish is possibly the cutest animal I've ever come across, and how the curious little critter  actually seemed interested and intrigued by my iPhone when I held it up to take it's photo, they may have just overtaken the mouse deer as my most favourite animal ever.  So here is some more cowfish goodness for you to soak up (apologies for dodgy iPhone photos, I did take my super fancy camera but of course I left it in the car...)

ps. One of the fun things about going to zoos and aquariums and amusement parks around the world is seeing how they are kind of all the same but kind of uniquely of the culture they are from at the same time.  For example, this aquarium had all kinds of wonderfully obscure objects placed in the fish tanks - like oversized snow globes filled with miniature african animals, or a giant blue seahorse sculpture.  But this one below really stumped me...so if anyone, anyone at all, can explain why there is a frog in a nazi uniform in one of the tanks at the 63 Building's aquarium I'd really appreciate it:

I'll take two, thanks...

[Photo by pica - pau, who also has an Etsy shop]

I don't normally buy the National Geographic magazine.  Whilst the photography is always mind blowing, the content is often a bit thin, I find.  But I absolutely had to get my hands on the March issue as it had an article about the domestication of animals, how dogs became our best friends - a topic rather close to my heart.

The article hangs on an experiment that's been going on in Russia, where gorgeous fluffy foxes have been selectively bred for years and years with those foxes who are most friendly to humans being chosen to breed.  The end result is a fox that basically acts like a domesticated dog - it seeks out and enjoys human contact, wags it's tail, plays fetch and responds to basic commands (ah, so not quite like our two domesticated dogs then...).  And to fund the ongoing research the clever boffins are trying to get permits to sell these happy foxes as pets!  Foxes as pets?  Death by foxie?  I'll take two, thanks!

ps. I would strongly encourage you to go have a look at the photo gallery for the article.  You will see a pig on a lounge chair, an angry mouse, lots of goats and a sheep prepped for a CT scan, which is way cuter than it sounds.  And friendly fluffy foxes of course.  Go look!

Death by Doxie: The Archives

Elfi as a puppy (and before she became a demanding, noisy brute of a thing).

Do I hear your heart breaking, just a little?

Death by Doxie: The Archives

Seeing as I've been away from the hounds for 12 whole days, I don't have any new photos of them to bore entertain you with, so I've delved in to the archives and found some adorable puppy shots (thank goodness I don't have children or else I'm sure they'd disown me for posting photos of them in their diapers...).

Anyhoo, here's Ferdi looking tiny and a little bit dapper in a grey hoodie.

Enjoy.