The Sunday Schnauzer – My Ballie

Oma said I could write another dog blog because she is busy packing stuff to move to the Bowserlands. She has a lot of stuff. I don’t know why humans need so much stuff to be happy. I only need one thing (after food, water and love) and I can play for hours: my ballie.

Me and my ballie.
I love to play a game my humans call “Fetch”.
My ballie comes to the beach with me. I love to play fetch anywhere!
I brought the ballie back. Now I wait.
I double-dog dare you to take my ballie from me. Please?

I hope you have a ballie to play with today (along with food, water, and love).

Rock on,

The Bowz 🐾

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Birthday Breakfast Edition

I had a whole ‘nother post lined up for August’s WOYPBC and now it will have to wait until September…because of a conversation Joanne and I had on the morning of my birthday (July 27 – mark your calendars 😉). We FaceTime most mornings (I know – lucky me, right? 😄) and this was my birthday morning and the conversation turned to food. Well, OK it usually does. Specifically what was I going to eat on my special day. I mentally went through my cupboards and my fridge and decided I had all the ingredients to make myself French toast for breakfast on this most auspicious day – fresh BC raspberries, sourdough bread, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and milk. And maple syrup, of course!

So after our call I got to “work”. And while I was assembling everything I had another thought: I wonder if I could make French toast in the air fryer? A quick Google search confirmed that I most certainly can. I didn’t follow a specific recipe but just noted the approximate times and temperatures, and off I went!

Fresh and local. It doesn’t get better than this!
Bread soaking in beaten egg, milk, vanilla and cinnamon.
In parchment-lined air fryer basket. I used a temp of 370F, for 4 minutes. Then I flipped the toast and did the other side for another 3-4 minutes.
The finished product. Beauty!
Plated and ready to eat!
Food p*rn money shot 😜
Mmmmmmm. Happy birthday to ME! 😁

Please let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section of either of our WOYPBC posts (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s August post where she details her typical meals!

Trying this InLinkz thing yet again – thanks to Donna for setting this up! Please use this if you’d rather:

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Rock on,

The WB

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday – Sand Sculpture Competition

Last Friday, I reunited with Donna (home from an extended visit to the mainland) and we went for a walk down to the Parksville Community Beach. The annual Sand Sculpture competition had resumed, after a 2 year hiatus due to Covid-19. This was my first visit. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them. The theme was the Roaring 20’s. Here are the sculptures that I deemed the best of the best (and they were all great!).

Very literal interpretation of the theme.
The Algorithm – my personal favourite. Giving me Metropolis vibes.
Another view of above sculpture, showing both the young and the old woman’s beauty in the mirror.
Communication
Front view of the prize-winning sculpture
Back view of Unbearabull
Greetings from Parksville

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – My People and Me

Oma said I could write another dog blog post for her because she is pupped pooped out from helping Mom and Dad paint and renovate their new house AND from moving some stuff from her place over to their storage building every day. (Oma says she will be living real close to me soon, at the Bowserlands!!!) So anyways, here goes…

Oma is trying to get the perfect picture of her, Mommy and me. Mommy’s hair has got the zoomies.
Mommy’s hair is calmed down but Oma says I am not showing my best side. I don’t get it. I am perfect from all sides.
Oma says this isn’t perfect but will have to do. I am happy because I want to get down and explore.
This is Daddy. He says he is used to having big dogs only. You can see I am working on him. Plus I AM a big dog. I don’t know why humans can’t see that. I weigh 10 pounds now.

There are 2 more humans in my life now. Daddy’s two other pups are here for the summer. So I have lots of people to play with me even when the grown ups are busy with their renovating/moving/painting. Life is good. I hope you have lots of playmates too.

Rock on, (I don’t know what this means but Oma says I have to say it)

The Bowz 🐾

The Sunday Schnauzer – Now and Zen

Recently, one of our daily pup-exhausting fun adventures took us to Roberts Memorial Provincial Park, near Bowser’s current home (and my future home!). One thing you may not know about Bowser – he has these contemplative moments (when not sleeping or in action dog mode) where he likes to just sit down and absorb whatever is going on around him. Something about this walk really brought out this side of him…or maybe he just wanted me to pick him up and carry him around 🤷‍♀️. Who knows? This is the Zen of Dogs…😄

It’s about a 1 km walk through the woods to get to the shore. With plenty of stops to take in the beauty of this walk. Bowser wanted you to see the Inukshuk-type rock formation some creative soul built.
At the shore. On one of the many sandstone ledges. The unique circular formations are caused by salt crystals. Click here for a past post featuring more wonderful sandstone formations at another nearby park.
Enjoying some soft grass after exploring the rocky shore and playing in the water.
Gazing out to the sea, pondering the meaning of life…or when the next meal is. Reader’s choice as what is going on in his little peanut of a brain! 🤣
“Relax, do nothing…and just be.” Bowser practicing this mantra.
Enjoying some cuddle time with my little buddy.
Our zen moment over, Bowser looks expectantly at me to provide the next adventure.

After another 1 km walk back through the forest to get to the car, we headed to Bowser’s home for some snacks and a rest.

Mission accomplished! That’s what I call “dog-tired” 🤣

We hope your weekend is going great, and you have plenty of time for contemplation…

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – Going Places, Doing Things

In a somewhat vain attempt to burn off an abundance of puppy energy, we are trying to plan an adventure a day, when Bowser is in my care. It also helps with socialization, which is very important if you want a friendly dog who is open and confident when faced with new people, dogs, and situations. So far I have learned that Bowser is a bit of a “party dog” in that he wants to be wherever other adults, kids and dogs are hanging out. He doesn’t understand that dogs are not allowed on many of Vancouver Island’s beaches during the summer months not that this stops some people. We are staying on the right side of the community by-laws and exploring the parts of the shore where dogs are not verboten.

Ready for adventure!
Taking in the view at Piper’s Lagoon Park
No stick too big for this guy!
Except maybe this one. Ah well, we tried…
Feathers are easier to carry around.
Bowser loves beachcombing. At the shore in Ladysmith.
He also loves climbing the rocks.
And posing in front of Ladysmith Harbour.
It’s kinda lonely at the dog park though, when you are the only dog there. Thankfully we met a couple of nice ones on the trail that day.
It’s fun to explore fresh water too. Bowz likes it at the local creek.

Hope your weekend is going well, you are hanging with friends and family, and get to carry around some nice sticks (or feathers).

Rock on,

The WB

What’s On Your Plate Blog Challenge – Badass and Julia Edition

Thanks to inspiration from my co-host Donna and from the delightful Julia series on Crave TV, I recently became once again consumed with the idea of trying out some of Julia Child’s recipes. When the movie Julie and Julia came out, I was charmed by the idea of working my way through a cookbook like that (and also blogging about it). As I was firmly entrenched as the Mayor of Crazytown at that time, it was only a pipe dream (that I soon forgot about).

But now I am retired and I have an Amazon Prime membership, so it was only a matter a time before Amazon notified me of a price drop…

Oh yes, she did!

But what to cook first? The next time I was on YouTube, this video showed up in my feed as a “suggestion” to watch. Coincidence or was Big Brother watching/listening? You decide.

Hell yeah, I am making these.
I think I have enough butter to proceed 😉

I’d like to tell you that I had some kind of epiphany while attempting this recipe…well, actually I did. But not in the way that I thought I would. Hear me out. I thought that perhaps making one of Julia Child’s recipes would revolutionize the way I cooked from that moment forward. No high expectations here, eh? Instead, my revolution came in the knowledge that Julia Child was asking me to cook meat exactly the way I had been first taught by my mother.

The recipe
Slowly frying the onions
Patties done and dusted

Uh huh. Long before fat (especially butter) became a kitchen pariah, Mom was showing me how to cook the Dutch way. Melt plenty of butter (or *gasp* margarine because we were a broke-ass immigrant family) in the pan and wait until the foaming subsides and the fat starts to turn brown to introduce the meat.

Frying the hamburgers

I have to say that I was kinda disappointed and thrilled at the same time. Weird as that sounds. Even the addition of more margarine butter later in the recipe, to make a sauce/thin gravy to accompany the meat was what I learned at the kitchen stove from my mom. No wonder people sang the praises of her cooking…

Plated hamburger patty and fixin’s. Including truffle fries. And my homemade quick dill pickle slices.
It was delicious. Tasted like my childhood, minus the truffle fries of course. And the wine. 😄

Nope, I am not going to be working my way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking anytime soon. But I may dip into it for inspiration (and a challenge) from time to time.

Please let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section of either of our WOYPBC posts (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s July post, where she posts some mouth-watering photos of her vacation in the mountains.

Trying this InLinkz thing once again – thanks to Donna for setting this up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Bon appétit and rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schauzer – Mad Bowz: Thunderdome

Lest you think, gentle readers, that the grand puppy is some sort of cuddly angelic being that sleeps all the time (after last week’s post)…I bring you Bowser in the ON POSITION. Here is what immediately happens upon waking up from a nap. It starts off slowly but then inevitably builds up to crazy attack dog mode.

Oh boy, here we go…time to distract with a chew toy.
This works for a bit. Puppy teeth are sharp and puppies don’t always know how to be gentle.

We go outside and play “fetch” to burn off some puppy energy.

Bowz loves to chew the fetch toy when he’s tired of fetch.
He loves squeaky things. Including Oma, when he bites at her toes.
He pulls the socks right off my toes. Actually, I sacrifice my socks to save my toes.

When he gets really frisky we play Tug of War.

But even that isn’t enough to stop him from going after my legs and hands in a frenzy of play. The more I push him away or scold him, the better he likes it. Bowser thinks Oma just likes to play rough and he is always happy to up the ante.

How to survive with skin and clothes intact until Bowser’s parents come home????

Hey, wait a minute…I’ve got an idea!

Behold: THE THUNDERDOME
One can only hope…
You can’t reach my extremities now!
I WILL WEAR YOU OUT.
Surely, he’ll get tired soon…right? RIGHT????

Then I had an idea!

Safe and comfy on my lawnchair, inside THE THUNDERDOME.
“Hey, Oma! When you gonna come out and play with me some more?” Hehehehe…

Rock on,

The WB

The Sunday Schnauzer – Napping

My phone is rapidly filling up with photos of Mr. Adorable aka Bowser aka my grand-doggy so what’s a blogger to do? Create a weekly photo dump post of some of my adventures in dog-sitting, I suppose! I’ll start out with a post of the pup in his quieter, non-bitey non-crazy mode: THE NAP. Let sleeping dogs lie and all that 😁.

Here’s the progression of a nap from the week before last:

Here’s how it started.
And here’s how it ended.

Another day, another nap:

Now that the weather has finally heated up and we’re a bit older, this is the preferred nap strategy:

I am on high alert, waiting for Bowser to roll off the couch. My other grand-dog (back in Ontario) broke a front leg when just a pup by leaping off a couch, and I don’t want a repeat. No rest for Oma!
This seems marginally safer…
This started out as a stretch, but then he just stayed that way. Weirdo.
The head must hang off the end of the couch, always.

And finally, the car nap:

This doggy car seat is the best.

Rock and nap on,


The WB