Where will Bistro begin his journey?

Okay, so I have to keep nipping at the heels of these humans to get them to launch this project. They have good intentions but they are a little overwhelmed by life sometimes. The problem is this... there is not a 100% decision on WHO to send the package to for the "kick off." [See first post here]

I have narrowed the list to about five candidates but I was hoping to take a survey (where the candidates are anonymous) so it could be fun and "driven" by the blog. If you know you are one of the candidates you can send as many people to vote as possible but for fun you shouldn't reveal your identity here until after the votes! If people guess, well that just shows how smart those people are!! So vote with your comments and we'll be on our way!!

I will tally votes until May 1st (Monday) - Here are your choices:

1) A couple in Maryland who are expecting their first baby this summer (and are related to my humans).

2) A person that lives in L.A. and is a musician/percussionist (my person went to high school with him.)

3) A person in California that got a dog in Georgia by saving her from a tree she was tied to as a TINY little puppy (and they were two of my human's best friends out of college.)

4) A guy in Hollywood who recently began his own little film company and who was listed in the credits of "Lemony Snicket" (he shares a special history with my person.)

5) My human's, stepmother's, cousin who lives in San Francisco with several pups of her own (she was the first person to ever tell my person about blogging.)

It's like "Postal Dog Idol"... good luck and let America Choose!

Love you all as though you were scratchin' that spot that makes my leg kick!
-Joy Beagle

Photo Credit: Those cool cats, er I mean dogs over at DogPack.com

Sentimental Pet Piece

I don't know the origins of this... but I thought sharing it with you here on Joy's blog would be a sappy and perfect opportunity for us all to go... "aaaaaaaw, that's so sweet!"

Goodnight all,

-Chris

What DO humans do at this hour?

I am lying on the bed trying to understand the insanity that keeps Chris up all night on his computer. I shuffle around from the bed, to my little doggie bed behind his desk, and a few other random spots around the house... but there he sits clickety clacking on that computer keyboard ALL NIGHT LONG.

I feel sorry for you humans. Having so many projects to complete all the time. As for Sarah and I, we have perfected the art of lying around all day, with intermittent bolts of energy and spontaneous barking. (Our favorite game is to run to a door or window barking frantically... it always makes our people think that there is an unannounced visitor, or at night a prowler perhaps.) But alas, when those silly boys go peek out the door or window, they find nothing that should provoke such a noise from us... it truly is an amusing game!

Tonight as I gazed at the computer screen, it seems that Chris is obsessed with Quicken - you know, that software that simulates a checkbook. Only judging by the contorted faces I would see him make, my person must have forgotten to notate some items in his checkbook that were CLEARLY causing some confusion with his mathematics! He always seems maddest when that little hyphen appears before the numbers in Quicken. I wish I understood you humans a little better!

Hey, a funny thing I want to share with you... my daddy brought home a postcard from work recently, and it looks like me! It's a rendering by a local artist... and if the dog in Ron Burns' "Andy's Pop World" was a girl and had a pink nose... by gosh she'd look like my clone almost! Check it out:





So naturally I think Ron is one of the most talented guys around!

Alright, since it is almost sunrise... here is a yummy dog treat recipe for ya:

Morning Gruel:

Have you human make up some oatmeal, the plain kind... and instant is just fine if you have it!

Add a tiny drop of vanilla, a dab of Molasses or honey - some tiny diced bits of an apple, a couple teaspoons of plain or vanilla yogurt - and Voila - you have a nice warm cereal to start your day right!!!

You can try some variations on the theme with pet diet approved add ins.

Ease your pups into this snack with small portions to begin. Any drastic change in our diet can give us "the runs" if you catch my drift?!

Bone-Appetit,
I'll see ya'll big ole insomniacs out there in the cyber-pound!

(Oh yeah, here is Ron Burns' "Don't Hound Me"... remind you of anyone?)

A Great News "Clip" From A Blogger

You humans are nothing if not resourceful! I was lying in my doggy bed behind Chris' desk this morning when I looked up to see what he was laughing at. On his screen was the Yahoo! story about Kyle MacDonald... this 26 year old who is in the process of trading a giant red paperclip (through a series of barters) up to a house! And he is having great success it seems. When Chris got up for a stretch break, I hopped up in the desk chair and and pulled up Kyle's blog immediately. I left a comment to thank him for his creativity. The blog is called One Red Paper Clip so click over and read all about his whimsical trading!

On the home front today, Chris is getting ready to send Bistro off on the first leg of his journey. We will post him to an undisclosed recipient who will hopefully notify us when Bistro arrives. I watched with anticipation Saturday night as the boys packed my buddy into his "US Postal" traveling vessel and took this commemorative photo:



This is going to be fun!

We should all wish Bistro a "Bone" Voyage...

Okay, that was pretty bad wasn't it!? Oh well.

Love ya'll more than my luggage,

-Joy Beagle

Introducing "Bistro" Bulldog

Hey Everybody...
I cannot even START to tell you how excited I am about this next post. I'm a pretty lucky dog. I came through that awful Hurricane, and ended up in gorgeous Red Rock country out here in Sedona, AZ. There were a lot of dogs that weren't as fortunate as me... and even though my new family is curious about where I came from and how I ended up rescued and in their lives - I just can't seem to recall my life before that storm. Guess a big ole mardi gras float may have hit me in the head or something! Anyhow, my new house is allowing me to relax and be more joyful. That is what my friend always says... my name was given to me as an aspirational title!

Anyway, since now I am going through a nasty process to get rid of my heartworms (I guess I got them from some silly old mosquito along the way) I have to stay pretty quiet and restful for the time being. That's why Sarah Basset and I decided we would sponsor one of our dog friends to go on a tour de force on our behalf. Now we can live vicariously through the adventure here on my blog!

We both suggested a doggy "replica" candidate to be the traveller. (Our people keep all these animals around the house that aren't real, they are cloth animals full of beans and white fluffy stuffing - side note: nothing gives me greater pleasure than when Sarah or I get to gut one of these and remove all the white fluffy stuff and that little squeaky thingy - what's up with that? Alright back to my point.) So, Sarah suggests Pickler, her stuffed Basset...



... but since Pickler is lifesize... I figured postage would be a bit steep to send her around from place to place. Not to mention when we did her application interview... I asked if she had any thoughts about the contest... she just stared at us and never blinked. Well, it did not bode well for her to be our roving Rover!(BTW-can anyone guess why we call her Pickler? Anybody watch that Tuesday night Fox show on TV that my people are always staring at? It has all those humans howling into a microphone... and that silly English alpha dog that growls at everybody. The term "Dogpound" gets tossed around like it's some special place... clearly these humans are CLUELESS about what to idolize.)


So, after Pickler is voted down, we agreed that the best candidate would be my buddy "Bistro" the bulldog. Here he is comforting me after my really awful heartworm treatments:




So he's the totally tricked out pup that will be hitting the road for the 2006 Bone Appetit Tour!

Well I don't want to give all the excitement away today... but suffice it to say we think Bistro is about to embark on the thrill ride of a lifetime! Good luck and Dog Speed!

Til the next pooch post, I'll leave you with the Joy Beagle recipe of the day. (Endorsed 100% by Sarah Basset... of course, she's been know to eat about everything our people put in front of her!)

Recipe #2: Liver and Brown Rice!

Daddy (is that too colloquial, okay I'll call him Chris) puts a cup and a half of unseasoned brown rice in the rice cooker with 3 cups of water. Then he takes a pint of chicken livers from the local grocer's deli and pan fries them in a little olive oil. While the organ meat is cooking thoroughly, he boils a pot of water and cooks two cups of green beans (frozen kind, not canned)with just a dallup of unsalted butter.

Basically when the liver and green beans are cooked, the beans get drained and added to the liver pan to simmer in the meat juice. Then a little tumeric and parsley are added and the pan is covered - but the pan is not over heat anymore. When the rice cooker has finished the brown rice, it is all stirred together in a big bowl, and then portioned out for Sarah and I to have for the next two meals. We LOVE this treat and it seems so much fresher than the mystery meat in canned dog food!

Well, we are drooling now so I'm gonna sign off and see if we can trick our Dads into thinking it is time to feed us.

Bone Appetit Ya'll!!!

Love,
J.B.

Hot Diggity Dog

Well, My person (who shall remain nameless) gave up on blogging. So as a young and on the rise writer myself, and incidentally a survivor of Hurricane Katrina, I (Joy Beagle*) hereby deem this a blog by the dogs, for the dogs!! (Your dogs, their dogs, anyone's dogs... it's for the dogs of the world!)

As was mentioned in the almost last post of RGBR there has long been a sense that we dogs live a secret life when our people are not home. Oh, they don't TRULY believe we steal construction equipment and go on daily adventures, wreaking total havoc with the humans we encounter... but my running mate Sarah Basset and I are happy that our people (John and Chris) become so amused at the tales of our pet antics. I figure there are lots of people out there like them!? Then again maybe we are living with some lone freaks among the canine companion realm! In either case... laissez les bonne temps roullez!!

Well... I also figured that now I have a place to share my recipes. If I can also research other doggie diet tips you will see them here. I am ready to explore this dog theme to the fullest and I hope you will play along! My paws hope to tap and type away at this keyboard every week until we have one Hot Diggity Dog of a blog.

My first delectible tip : Tonight Chris whipped up a mean old bowl of Pork Chops and and a side of tumeric oatmeal for Sarah and I. It was deafening to hear my Id tag banging against the side of the bowl as I woofed it down. I watched him make this stuff and this is what I saw:

1 cup of instant oats (plain - no sugary stuff of course!)
2 cups of water (Voila - quick oats are boiled and ready in five minutes)
He threw in a few shakes of tumeric powder - one of MY FAVES!!
A little pat of butter and some parsley were thrown in and he set that aside to cool.

Then he took a couple frozen porkchops and placed them in a covered frying pan with a little oil. The lid keeps Sarah and I from getting burned by spatter grease as we circle his feet at the oven like floor sharks!

When the pork had most of the outer frost melted off, he quickly added a splash of water ad lidded it before the "fireworks" began (you know - water in hot oil!!!) This steamed up the pan under that lid and helped make tender yummy pork chops. About 7-10 minutes over the heat and he poked the chops to make sure they were giving off clear juices. Once he couldn't see pink - the chops were removed and the meat diced off the bone.

Let me tell you, my home girl Sarah Basset and me - we PIGGED OUT (literally). You should give this a try if you feed your doggy good stuff. Remember not to salt or use onion or anything else that is bad for us pups.

And as my house trained human says to me every time he puts a bowl of kibble in front of me... "Bone Appetit!"

Love ya'll like a litter mate,
-Joy B.

[*-Joy Piggle is the name I was given after originally being called "Joy Beagle". I may use the two interchangeably. I am probably not a beagle at all, when I look in the mirror I see a little Pitt Bull (oh relax... all of us New Orleans evcuees had some Pitt Mix in us it seemed... it ain't all the terror it's made out to be) and possibly some Dachshound or Golden Retreiver. I'm sort of a Baskin Robbins multi flavor gal. But my People call me Piggle to allude to those famous (if not over exposed) Pug-Beagle "Pugles" that are the designer dog craze right now. I do declare, you humnans have a funny way of throwing all our genetics in a blender and coming out with some crazy canine cock(er)tails... ]