Happy New Year!!

Hey Everyone! Brutus here! Mom's letting me have the honor of doing the last post of the year (it is MY blog after all). Hope you all have had a great 2009. From the looks of many of your posts, it looks like there were many good times and memories to be cherished well into the future.

It's been a good year for me - got my own blog, celebrated my 1st birthday, won at some dog shows, got me a motorhome, and lots & lots of new friends. I'd say that's hard to top (at least for a quadruped)! How many dogs get their own party hat for New Year's after all? I might look silly, but I gotta be me!!

We are all looking forward to sharing more of our lives with you in 2010. Mom wants me to be sure to say a big "THANK YOU" to all our friends, whether we know you from everyday life or from the blogosphere. Hope you all have a happy, healthy, prosperous, and just generally great new year!!

Now let's start off the new year on the right foot by beating Oregon! Please root for Ohio State in the Rose Bowl tomorrow (I think we might need all the help we can get!).

GO BUCKEYES!!!

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday: Yellow Donut

Just in case you need some perspective, here's the view from the other side of the yellow donut:

Christmas, Unwrapped (and Turporken)

As I promised yesterday, here are the rest of our Christmas photos. We awoke to remnants of snow still on the ground, before it turned wet & windy. The weather outside was frightful, just not in the way you picture it in the traditional holiday sense!! We didn't let that dull our celebrations, and started the day off by unwrapping our presents here at home. Brutus didn't hesitate to jump right in!

For me?? Oh what could it be??

Bone stuffies - alright!!

Another one - awesome!!

Keep 'em coming, Mom!!

Stella, are you in there??

Woohoo - a snugga!! Just my size too :)

Pretty nice stash here! Better make sure I guard them all from Mason!!

(Note from mom: none of these stuffies have eyes!!)

Phew! All this unwrapping wore me out!

Many of you inquired about the Turporken I mentioned yesterday. Since you asked.....

When we started hosting part of Christmas at our house, we started having Turducken. It was something my husband had heard of via the NFL commentator John Madden (he awarded turducken to the players of the Thanksgiving Bowl winning team), but apparently has been in existence since the early 80s. Looks like a turkey form the outside, but it's already been deboned, and stuffed with a duck that is stuffed with a chicken. Interspersed between all those yummy layers is cornbread stuffing.

We served Turducken for several years, but the duck part had limited appeal (maybe people were weirded out by the fact that "turd" was how the name of the thing started?). Anyways, we switched to Turporken (pork instead of duck) and have never looked back. We order it was jalepeno stuffing, so it's got a nice extra kick. It comes vacuum-sealed & frozen, shipped in a cooler from Cajun Meats.com. We order it a few weeks in advance, and it arrives the week before Christmas.

After spending a few days thawing in the fridge...

All we do is baste it and throw it in the oven. Easy as that.

No messing around with dressing the bird or any unpleasantries! Baste it with butter every hour, and in no time you've got a fabulous holiday feast!!

I might look like turkey on the outside, but take a look at what's inside:

In case you want to see even closer (look at all that cornbread stuffing!!!)

It's super easy to carve as well, since there are no bones! Just slice it like a loaf of bread (an electric knife comes in handy here). The only problem is trying to tell the difference between the chicken and the pork parts!! There were leftovers (only because the bird was huge), so we're still picking away at the remnants. It might sound hokey, but there's nothing like a turporken!! We've never had anyone over who didn't love it. In fact the only one who wan't happy with it was Brutus, and that's only because he didn't get any!! Here's how he feels about that:

Geez. They humiliate me, and I don't even get any turporken!!

Christmas Wrap-up

I woke up early Christmas eve morning to this lovely sunrise. It was crisp & snowy, just the way the holiday in Ohio should be. Our tradition is to spend Christmas Eve day with my side of the family, so that is what I'm posting about today.

Weather permitting, we being the day with a pack walk. Usually my step-sister comes along with her two greyhounds, although they didn't make it in time to accompany us here. But since my friend Courtney came over to spend the day, Mason was happy to be included for once!

It was pretty nippy and is always windy where we live, so Brutus got to model his stylish coat!

Greyhounds are perpetually cold, so here's Aunt Maggie all bundled up

Then it was back to my Dad's house for a wonderful brunch with the family. The other hounds had arrived, so it was nap-time for the pooches while we ate. Brutus and cousin Monty "gaurded" the presents to make sure nobody snooped!

This must be the official "greyhound napping position", seeing as they all flop down the exact same way!! This is Aunt Maggie and cousin Gracie (the white dog).

Brutus woke up when it was finally time to unwrap the presents.

Courtney, the creative person she is, made Brutus and I a wonderful bag of goodies (note who is featured on the bag, labelled "The Wonderful World of Brutus")...

... which included some of Brutus' most favorite treats!

I got my niece Mayna a cute stuffed pug (closest I could get to a Frenchie) that came with all sorts of clothes to dress it up. She opened it gleefully & reportedly hasn't put it down since!!

Here's my dad with all the hounds, who were a bit perplexed by all the commotion and wrapping paper.

With all the gifts opened, it was time to go back home & get ready for our Christmas Eve dinner (we served Turporken, in case anyone has ever heard of that wonderful creation). Good thing we wore out the dogs in the morning, as the rest of the day was a blur with preparations and hosting about 20 people. Other than some short periods of havoc that were mostly related to someone ringing the doorbell (I'm going to hang a sign next year that says "just walk in"), the boys were excellent - even sleeping uneventfully through dinner. Considering that having 2 people over is a big/rare event at our home, the fact that Brutus was "pretty good" with almost 20 people here was remarkable.

Tune in tomorrow for Christmas day (unwrapped). I'll leave you with one last photo, to Brutus' dismay. He did not appreciate my idea of using Courtney's bag as a Frenchie-carrier!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Brutus and I wish all of you the happiest Holiday season ever!  No matter how you celebrate or whom you celebrate with, we hope that this special time has many many fond memories in the making for all our friends!  

Wordless Wednesday: Brutus' wish list

Reindeer in Training

In preparation for Christmas I did some photo shoots with the Brute.  He outgrew some of the things we had from last year, so I was left to experiment with a few other ideas.  Some were more successful than others.  I had a few sets of antlers, thought they might be cute - Brutus did NOT agree.  Most of the time was spent bribing Brutus with treats, chasing him around, trying to pry the antlers out of his mouth, ect.  I did manage one or two useful photos, but thought you all might enjoy seeing the "outakes" even more than the successful attempts!!

Seriously?  Do we have to use these antlers?

How embarrassing.  What reindeer has antlers smaller than his ears!!

No wonder deer rub their antlers - these things are itchy!!

Sheesh......

Hope Stella doesn't see this.  Humiliating.

Just gonna bury my head in this fake snow.

Oh.  Great.  You've got a bigger set too.  

Why don't you go put them on Mason instead??

Not even gonna look at you now.

This reindeer is officially done with his training!

Woohooo!!!!  Can't catch me, mom!!

Nope, I'm not giving them back.  I'd rather play reindeer games!!

Let's see you do some begging for a change, mom!

Wait...  What was that?  Santa Claws, is that you??  Uh, oh.....

Fine.  Fine!

One last photo, only because Santa is watching.  

Just don't expect me to look happy about it....