FFHT!!

Crikey ..... it's FFHT day again and I missed last month cause Mum and Dad were off gallivanting around the world whilst I had to get used to a new home without them and nearly died of starvation.  They're back now and my world is returning to normal so I've got the old creative juices flowing once more and am, once again, joining in Murhy and Stanley's FFHT's day.  Murphy and Stanley are very special mates of mine AND they are running for Mayor of Blogville.  How important are they, aye??  AND they always take the time and trouble to talk to me, plain ordinary, very unimportant, Charlie. How good is that??  See .... I told you they were good blokes.
But back to FFHT!!   Here goes .... hope you enjoy it!!

Crikey I LOVE halloween. Last year was my very first halloween.  It was my first Christmas too. Struth ..... I had a lot of firsts last year, aye??  I enjoyed EVERY day but I think the VERY best day of all was halloween. I had no idea what to expect.  My two legged sister, Jenni and her family came to stay the night. The 3 little girls were soooooooo excited. That made me excited too. Murphy their dog came as well.  We ran round like mad things in the yard until it got dark and when we came inside we could see things weren't as they were when we went outside. Everyone looked different. Could that be Dad?  He looked REAL SCARY!!  AND MUM!!  OMD she looked like a witch and some of her teeth were missing. I can't even begin to tell you what Jenni looked like.  All I can say is there was a lot of BLOOD on her and the 3 little girls and their Dad.  Fair dinkum .....  what a sight!  Who knew little girls could be so spooky.  It was terrifying. I didn't want to go in but Murphy didn't seem to care. He'd been around for many halloween nights before. What should I do? Stay outside by myself? I don't think so.  I stood at the door for a while trying to get myself in some sort of order. I sure didn't want to stay out in the yard all by myself so I took one tentative step inside the back door. I KNEW THERE WAS NO TURNING BACK NOW.    I overcame my initial fear and in I went.   Am I ever glad I did.  It wasn't so scary!!  What a night we had.  Kids came from near and far. We scared 'em all BIG TIME and you should have seen the lollies. OMD!! Mum handed out treats to the kids and when they were leaving Dad and our Jen and Shane AND the little girls would jump out from behind the bushes and the kids would scream and run for their lives dropping their treats everywhere. Murphs and I cleaned up after them. YUM!!!!!!!  It was worth the tummy ache that followed the next day.
Halloween ........ I LOVE it!!  We had so much fun!!  Sorry!!  There weren't many photos. Everyone was too busy busy having fun to worry about the flashy beast.

This was when they were getting ready. It looked much better at night.

There was a fog machine and a Huge spider that jumped out from behind a garden pot.

Crikey ..... No wonder I didn't want to come inside, aye??

Wanna run .... Love, Charlie.

CRIKEY!!!!!!!! What to say??

Crikey .... I'm overwhelmed!!!  I just want to say a big THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!! to everyone in Blogville for all the concern shown to me.  I s'pose you know by now that Mum likes to respond to each and every comment on my posts but she is a bit snowed under at the moment and she also has ME being VERY demanding of her time. She WILL definitely get round to replying to every single one of you in the next few days. She has read all of your comments to me and I must say how much I appreciate every single one.  What a great lot of blokes and Sheilas you all are. How lucky am I to have you as friends.  I'm feeling so much better today and I'm not so wobbly on my feet although Mum still follows me everywhere just in case. That anaesthetic stuff sure knocks me around. Something about not having any meat on my bones. I'm well and truly on the mend now though so I want you all to stop worrying about me. I'm fine. I know there's many out there a LOT worse off than me so lets all concentrate on them now, aye??  Mum and I still have to catch up on all of your blogs too. We have got a bit behind. How fantastic were the Highland games, aye??   What a wonderful celebration for Kyla.  Well done to everyone. So much effort and love was put in by everyone.
Murphy and Stanley,  mayoral candidates extraordinaire,  gave me a tip about links and things in their comment and I'm just going to give it a go here to see if I can do it.  Thanks Murphy and Stanley. My Mum needs all the tips she can get, aye??
We will get back to you and that's a promise!!

Looking better, aye??  If I curl up real small you can't even see the damage.

I still find it hard to keep my eyes open for too long though!!

Oh and here's a little PEE ESS ( I think that's somehow like Frankie and Ernie say it, aye? AND Mum just had to try the linky thing again):  Our Harri's gardenia is in flower.  Mum's sooooooo proud of it. Not only is she a real crook cook she's an equally bad gardener but look how healthy Harri's gardenia is!!

Wanna run (in a few weeks) .... Love, Charlie.

The horriblest day EVER!!!

Crikey ...... How horrible is this????? 

I'd like to be able to tell you that I was attacked by a great white shark while trying to protect my Mum or something but alas that's not how the story goes. No great white shark story for me. Just a great day at the beach ruined by a Moron with his equally moron dog.  Now I'm not blaming the dog!!  He's only a moran because that's what his moron owner taught him to be. It's the Moron himself that I blame. It all started like this.  Mum, Dad and I had been at the beach for a while. I was playing with my mates. Paddy, the Irish wolfhound was there. Paddy and I have the best times together. I think Paddy is my very bestest mate at the beach. Lots of my mates were there and Paddy and I were playing with them and we were all having a great time when we saw another dog coming. His owner was with him and he was on a lead. We had seen him earlier and had gone up to say g'day and his owner just kept walking and didn't say anything. He didn't ask Mum or Paddy's owner to keep us away he just kept walking so we just ran off.  Unfortunately for me, when we saw him again, we all ran up to him.  There were four of us and this time the dog just took a great lunge at us and he got ME big time, aye??   I ran back to Mum and Dad and I was screaming. Everyone on the beach knew I'd been hurt but do you know what that moron bloke did? Just kept walking as if nothing had happened. Mum was furious and after calming me down a bit she and Dad set off in pursuit of the moron and the VET.  They knew it was no use talking to the bloke but they did tell him that they felt his behaviour was inappropriate and were very disappointed to think that he didn't even stop to ask if I was ok. He denied his dog had done anything wrong and said he didn't so much as touch me before he lashed out with all sorts of very colourful, verbal abuse. Mum kept her cool but did tell him he was a moron before she and Dad walked away and took me to my mate Pete the VET. Crikey Pete's a good bloke. It was closing time but he and his nurse, Jackie, stayed back to operate on me. Pete said it was a very bad bite and if Mum and Dad had just left me to heal myself it would have become VERY badly infected and I would have been in an even worse state than I am now. I have a BIG problem with anesthetic too so Mum and Dad and Pete were very worried about me but hey ...... I survived and I am feeling a bit crook but it could have been a lot worse I guess. I had to stay at the hospital overnight but Mum and Dad came and picked me up real early this morning. There is no way I was going to eat or drink until they did. Jackie tried to get me to at least have a drink but NO WAY!!  Not until Mum arrived. Then I drank a bucketful. Crikey I was thirsty. I'm still a bit shaky on my feet. Mum was real worried and wouldn't let me down onto our lawn cause I was walkin' all funny like and she could just see me fallin' in the river.  Fair dinkum ....... what a horrible day, aye??  Me and my Sorry Ass have been sleeping most of the day. My good friend Goose http://gospelofgoose.blogspot.com.au/  gave me my Sorry Ass. He's my favourite stuffie.   He's real good to snuggle with when you feel a bit crook.

I don't think I'll be going to the beach for a while. We've been having a bit of a bad trot there lately, aye??  Pete says I'm going to be left with a bit of a scar and it's on my most photogenic side too. How bad is that?? Crikey ...... I hope my Enid  http://enid-aboutenid.blogspot.com.au/ will still love me.
AND my mate Bertie http://bouncingbertie.blogspot.com.au/ got into a bit of a tussle recently and he's got a scar too.We'll be able to compare our battle wounds, aye, Bertie??  Mum's just discovered the linky thing. She thinks she's so clever, aye??
Here's some more horrible stuff for the horriblest day ever. Our Jen got a phone call from Miss Jo's (the 6 year old Grandkid's) school to ask her to come to the school as Miss Jo had something in her eye and they had just called an ambulance as Jo was so distraught no-one could touch her. Oh No!!!  Another wounded soldier!!!  She's ok now. Once her Mum got there she calmed down enough that they could get whatever it was in her eye, out but she does have a bit of a sore eye still. Jo and I are sure going to look good for halloween, aye??  We won't even need to dress up.

What a horrible day!!!!!

Wanna run (in a week or two maybe) ...... Love, Charlie!!

The WORST morning EVER!! Please tell me it wasn't my fault!

Crikey ..... I feel sooooo bad and soooooooo sad!!!!   The day started off good. Dad's away in Sydney but Mum got up nice and early and we headed off to the beach. When we got there it was still good!!  There was only one other person on the beach but that was still good because she had two of my best beach buddies with her. Portia, a blue standard poodle and Meg, a beautiful, gentle Golden Retriever. The person, an older lady (but not as ancient as Mum) did not own Meg. She just collected her a few mornings a week to take her to the beach for HER owner, an old lady even MORE ancient than my Mum (if that's possible). Meg's owner is devoted to Meg. Meg is her reason for waking up every morning. Now comes the BAD part!!  When I saw them I took off at a rate of knots as per usual and Portia, as per usual, took off after me. We ran up into the dunes ..... we ran back down onto the beach ..... we ran up into the dunes ..... we ran back down onto the beach. Meg, as usual, watched us with glee in her eyes but, as per usual, waited until we had calmed down a bit before she came in for a bit of a run. Now Portia and I know this routine well and to make Meg happy we have a bit of a romp with her. This we did before heading off for another run into the dunes. Mum said Meg started to follow us, albeit at a slower pace, when all of a sudden she went down like a ton of bricks. Mum and the other lady ran to her and did everything they could but Meg was dead. They tried CPR to the best of their abilities but nothing happened. She was gone!!  Please God ...... it wasn't my fault WAS IT??????  Poor Mum and the other lady. The tide was coming in and Meg fell quite close to the waters edge. They were down on the sand trying to help Meg and a big wave got them big time so along with everything else they were soaking wet. As was Meg!!  I somehow think Meg would have liked that. After all she was a Golden retriever and they all, including Meg, LOVE the water, aye??  It was a very big walk, uphill, to the carpark from where we were and we had to get Meg back to the car and we were still the only people on the beach. Mum did ring Portia's Mum's husband and he was on his way but there is no way he could carry Meg. He was ancient too. Mum ran back to our car and got a big tarp out of the back. Thank goodness Dad is a builder, aye, and goes nowhere without a tarp in tow? They managed to get Meg onto the tarp, when to EVERYONE's relief, a young able bodied man arrived with his dog and they managed to get Meg off the beach and back to the carpark. Mum and I picked up everyone's belongings and we too headed off the beach. Portia's Mum and Dad then had the horrible task of going and telling Meg's owner what had happened. Meg was only 5 years old AND to make matters even worse Meg's owner's previous Golden retriever also died at 5 and in the same manner. But at home ..... not on the beach.

This was the only picture Mum took. She didn't have time for pictures. You can't really see but the dog is  Portia and the man and lady on the right are carrying Meg (in the tarpaulin sling between them) back to the carpark.

Not the best morning at the beach, aye??  I sure hope Portia and I didn't make it happen. I feel sooooooo bad and soooooo sad.  Please God ..... I don't think it was my fault!!
The WORST morning EVER!!

Wanna run ... Love, Charlie.

The best morning, EVER!!!!!!!!

Crikey ..... what a great morning I've just had. The weather was PERFECT!  The beach was BEAUTIFUL.  ALL my mates were there.  We played. We swam. Flossie's Mum fed me her homemade treats. What more could I ask for?  Well ...... I'll tell you!!   A DEAD MUTTON BIRD!!  BUT .....I didn't have to ask for it.  Here's what happened:-

What a beautiful moning, aye??  It sure looked good to me!!

I greeted all my mates with my special Arooooooooooo!!

Flossie's Mum gave me some of her homemade treats.  That's Flossie's little white butt off to the side. She obviously gets her fill of treats at home, aye?? Note how well behaved I am. Patiently waiting my turn.

I'd got into a bit of strife chasin' a LBF (little black fluffy) so Mum took me up close to the dunes to give the poor thing a bit of a break WHEN...... right there, before my very eyes, was another thing that looked just like that LBF but it wasn't moving. It was deaded. As deaded as anything deaded that I'd EVER seen. Well I got that thing and I ran from one end of the beach to the other with it. I tossed it up in the air and caught it when it came down and I ran and ran. Everyone on the beach stopped to watch. What's with that??  I'm not some sort of entertainment for all those blokes. Mum called me.  Hmmmmmmmmph!!  Who'd listen to that??  Not me!!  She kept calling!!  What's with her?  Does she think I didn't hear???  Will she never learn?? Once is enough! I have PERFECT hearing and much better than hers, aye?? She tried to take a photo or two but I wasn't having that, either.  Didn't want her getting too close and stealin' my find. I played with that mutton bird for about 87 hours or something. I was well and truly over it by then so I dropped it.  It sure looked crook but it was never going to look good again anyway, aye??  Mum, good sport that she is, told me I was a good boy for dropping it and gave me a treat. Have I got her where I want her or what??   Ok ..... show over. Everyone on the beach went back to doin' what they were doin' before they stopped to gawk.  Mum and I went for a quiet walk in the dunes and I got to sniff out some crab holes before heading home for brekky.

I gave that thing a good workin' over, aye??  Pictures a bit blurry but I wasn't in gentle mode.

Can you see those feathers hangin' off me??  There were a lot more but Mum couldn't get the camera workin' fast enough to catch 'em.

Crikey ...... not lookin' too good, aye??

Sniffin' for crab holes.  That's our house up on the dunes. Pretty neat, aye??  Only jokin!  We couldn't possibly afford that!!

It was the BEST MORNING EVER!!!


Wanna run,  Love, Charlie.

Mum's and Shane's sauerkraut!!

Crikey ..... how funny is my Mum? Not to mention Shane!!  You'd think they were the only people in the whole world that had EVER made sauerkraut from scratch. Its been going on for almost a week now. They made it last Saturday and EVERY day Mum has taken pictures and sent Shane a text at work to show him the photo and tell him how the Kraut was going. She even tried to take a video to show him the bubbles coming up while it was fermenting.  She failed miserably at that one. She couldn't hold the camera still and poke the kraut at the same time. Weird, aye??  But then my Mum is hopeless in the kitchen so if she has a success she does get a bit excited and it seems this was a success. She reckons it tastes just like in Germany and she should know cause she sure ate a whole heap of it while she was over there.  We are going to have a big German night, maybe on halloween night, and have PORK (OMD I love that stuff), German sausages, The Kraut Mum and Shane made but all fancied up with bacon and stuff,  knodel, German potatoe salad, mustard, bread rolls, brezels, a BIG German salad AND here's the bad part ...  we will have to sit through endless holiday photos. Well it all sounds good except for the photo bit. Mum couldn't believe all the comments you blokes made when she told you she had made sauerkraut so if you want to know more just leave a comment and she'll make another batch and talk you through the process WITH PICTURES in one of MY blogs. She wants to try red cabbage next. She had great fun making it and it WAS real easy. Just as well, aye, with her limited capabilities?  Personally I think this picture should be enough for you. I don't think Mum should take over my blog to do more on HER sauerkraut but if, and only if, you want more, I'll be very magnanimous (big word, aye??) and allow it JUST ONE MORE TIME.  Over to you blokes!!

Wanna run ... Love, Charlie.

The trial run!!

Today was the trial run for Halloween night.  Crikey ..... the indignity of it all!!  I HATE, with a passion, dressing up!!  But it is for Halloween and I LOVE Halloween so I tried.  Yes 'VERY TRYING' said Mum!!  Look ..... I was ok with the cape.  I coped!!

I was ...... truly!!!!  I WAS coping!!

 BUT ..... then the mask!!  No way!!!  Wouldn't the cape do??????  Anyway Mum wasn't giving up so I did my best. Here's the results.  Which one do you think looks best??

The skeleton??

The witch??

OR ..... the spider??

Oh .... and here's the bloopers.

Look, I've had enough.  I just wanna lie down and pretend this isn't happening, ok????

Crikey ...... Fair dinkum ..... enough's enough!!  I can't see, for goodness sake!!

Let me outta here or I'll use these choppers on someone!!

Pleeeeeeeease!!!!!!!!

I'm with Miss G ........ Naked is BEST!!!!!! And this cape is going where that mask went!!

About time ... but wait .... is that bloke behind me trying to take me off or something?  There's nothing wrong with my ears is there?

Miss G wanted to get in on MY act!!  At least she's NOT naked, aye??  Mum and Miss G's Dad are in the background making sauerkraut. They've NEVER made it before. Mum's missing Germany already and she's just got back. I'll let her show you the sauerkraut when it's all finished, aye??  Takes about a week before it's any good or so they say. If Mum has anything to do with the making of it I doubt that it will EVER taste good.  She's not renowned for her cooking skills.

Wanna run ... Love, Charlie.

BIG things for Zoe with the beautiful eyes!!!!!!

Crikey Zoe ..... I saw your BIG potato and when Mum saw it she remembered she had a whole heap of photos of my cousin Murphy and some of our Harri too at some BIG things here in Australia.  Thought you might like to see 'em so here they are:-

BIG show off!!  He thinks he's sooooooooooo clever, aye??

The BIG orange!!  Yep ...... that's an orange in his gob!!

The BIG mandarin.  Not too keen on mandarins, aye??

Our Harri at the BIG dingo!!

The BIG JOINT!!!!!  OMD!!  Get a load of the spaced out eyes on both of 'em!!  Not to mention where Jen has her hand, aye??

The BIG prawn.  Don't come the raw prawn with me!!!!!! That's our Jen's sexy little RAV in the background. Cute, aye??

The BIG banana and a BAD hair day!!  Don't know how he sees anything at all.

The BIG cow!!  Mooooooooooooooo

The BIG pineapple.  It's real close to our house!!

The BIG shell.  It's even closer to our house.

The BIG stubby!!

Our Harri at the BIG Ned Kelly!!

The three BIG butts!!

AND finally ...... the BIG (beautiful) paws.  Sorry about the dirty nails!!

What's with people that they gotta have these BIG things, aye??  You can't eat 'em?  What good are they??  Weird things our peoples!!

Wanna run .... Love, Charlie.

A good arvo!!

We went to BIG dog beach yesterday.  I like BIG dog beach but little dog beach is better because ALL my mates go there.  Not many dogs go to BIG dog beach but it is BIG and there are really good smells and lots of places to explore. Mum LOVES big dog beach best because you can walk forever and sometimes not see anyone else. She's VERY anti-social, my Mum.  So, to please Mum, I went to BIG dog beach with her and here's the pictures to tell the story:-

Just as Mum likes it.  NO-ONE to be seen!!

Hmmmmmph!!  No footprints but mine.

C'mon Mum ..... lets get this over with, aye??

So we walked ..... and we walked ..... AND .... wait!!  Can I see something??

They don't call me a sight hound for nothing!!

I'm SURE I saw something!!

Yep ..... it's people!!

AND they've got dogs with them!!

I'll just let 'em get a bit closer, aye??

Even closer!! don't wanna rush 'em!!

Is the time right yet????

Hey wait for me you blokes!!!!!!!

Crikey ..... that was fun. We continued our walk. I sure was thirsty by the time we got to the creek!

  
It turned out to be a REAL GOOD ARVO, aye??????

Wanna run .... Love, Charlie.