Poopettes

We are proud to announce that we have been (temporarily?) adopted by "Chewy" and "Prancer".

On Friday morning, a young couple came by inquiring whether or not these two young pups belonged to us, seeing that we had four dogs in the yard. Of course they weren't, but the couple couldn't take them with them - they already had ten dogs of their own! – so I decided to hold onto them in case they were escapees belonging to someone in the area. After further inspection - and a bit of de-ticking - it appears that they might be "drop-offs": pups that are unwanted by their owners. This happens way too much down here, but it is a fact of a dog's life in these islands.

This morning, however, our trusted and beloved gardener Josie tells us that the pups belonged to the new owner of the house at the end of our road. Considering the condition of these dogs, they no longer answer to that house and we still suspect the owner of the house let them out on purpose (they also have a vicious pit-bull which does not like puppies, so we are told).

Two days later, I discover that all of our dogs are ‘drama queens’: two are on hunger strikes, not having eaten their dinners in two days; Ben – our bigger Shepherd – thinks he has been banished from another family unit once again (he really is a sad-sack otherwise) and is now very timid about entering the house; and, “Garbage Guts” Elvis – the reigning “Queen”, as it were, who normally and oh, so woefully howls at feeding time for food (and will happily clean out any scraps left by the others whether they’ve finished their dinners or not), lay possum-like at the side of the pool, rolling his eyes pitifully to say, “You’ve already replaced me. I am dead to you. Just shove me into the canal, why don’t you? I’ll eventually drift out to sea.”

It's times like this I don't regret not having kids.

Whether we keep the pups remains to be seen – this depends on our original brood. I must keep them separate because of their size (our dogs will render them like they might a cat that strayed into our yard). Hopefully they will soon get their noses of out joint and accept them (Elvis is not long for this world, I’m afraid). I really didn’t think they would be so jealous of these young ones – but aren’t they soooooo CUTE???!!!

Heh heh.

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"L-O-L-A Lola"

I'm dying for a Caramilk bar.  It's one of the many edibles I miss living on this rock.  Oh, there are some Cadbury bars down here, but not my favourite Caramilk bar.  Sob.  "How do they get the caramel in a Caramilk Bar?"  was one of Cadbury's most successful ad campaigns.  I think they even had a contest about it.  And then there is the Crunchie bar, also produced by Cadbury. A chocolate covered sponge toffee piece of heaven that would stick to your teeth for some glorious molar licking sweet aftertaste.  Great hang time on the toffee, for sure.

"Don't eat so much candy...it'll rot your teeth."   So the saying goes.  So does methamphetamine.  Meth addicts like candy.  I guess they are doubly cursed.

But some of my favourites in the candy family were penny and Halloween candies.  Pixi Stix, Twizzlers, Shoelaces, and "Rockets".  There were also individually wrapped little hard candies, caramel cubes, tiny Tootsie Rolls, your basic suckers and the like.  The "gummies" came much later, but I enjoy those too.

Ice cream, snow cones and Popsicles are other things I consider candy.  One of my summer favourites was the "Lola":  a large triangular-shaped ice treat that I believe was introduced about the time the song of the same name was released by The Kinks.   It would take almost 2 hours to finish one of these ices and, if you were successful in sucking out all of the flavour (thereby leaving only the ice behind), you could crush the ice in its packet and cool your body off on a hot summer's day. A truly multitasking treat in my opinion.  Alas, Lolas are now relegated to smaller wedges:   it's just not quite the same.

So, if you are now craving "candy" and you really, really, REALLY don't want to screw up your diet or whatever, eat a banana, suck on a lemon or consider that your teeth may eventually look like this:

(My "Elvis".  I think he smoked coconuts, not meth)

Else, have at 'er!

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