Food of Champions

Hello fiends,

What’s been happening…. Max has gone home as Auntie Jill is back. We had a great week together, even fursister number 1, Thumbelina, was sad to see him go…… or was it just his bed she’ll miss!?! And guess what – Buster is staying this week – more fun and games!!  It was British Pie Week. And the Six Nations rugby was won by England –  what a win, what a match!!

And, hurray it was Clare Balding and Crufts again at the weekend – one of the World’s biggest dog shows. We loved watching all the rounds and the hero dogs in the Friends for Life competition and the fly ball and then the rescue dog agility competition are best. And we all love Clare Balding – just think when she grows up, she’ll be Mary Berry.

A Border Collie hasn’t won Best in Show at Crufts yet and English Cocker Spaniels have won the most number of times! That’ll please Max that the Spaniel clan are tops! And it was a type of Spaniel who won Best in Show again this year –  a young American Spaniel – though he’s actually from Blackpool!?! He had a very fetching long, brushed coat, am not sure I could carry that off….. I’d probably trip.

I often dream of trotting round the show ring on my lap of honour in Birmingham and being interviewed by Clare but, so far have only had a go in a local job show – it certainly isn’t as easy as it looks – even the mums have to prance round!! You can see my efforts in my Adventures of Ragamuffin episode Every Dog Has His Day   ah well you can’t win ‘em all.

It was great fun though and I made lots of new fiends but, didn’t bring any rosettes home…. still it’s all about the taking part not the winning. Mum had my favourite dinner for when we got back – she calls it the ‘food of champions’ which is a better prize than any rose vase or silver cup and sash!

It’s a pretty easy recipe if you want to have a go:

Mums Champions Liver Cake

• 2 kilos liver (cheapest) probably pigs
• Approx. 150g of wholemeal flour
• 1 egg or stock to add moisture

Put the liver and egg or stock in a blender till smooth or the liver is in very small pieces. Add the flour until the mixture is thick like brownies – if it’s too thick add a little milk or more flour if it’s too runny. Put the mixture in a baking tin about an inch deep will be enough. Put in oven at 170c fan for approx. 20 mins the mixture should still be a little moist and a knife will come out clean if you stick it in the middle. Leave to cool. If you want to use it as treats; cut into cubes and store in the freezer in bags. Eat within three days if kept in the fridge.If you can make it last that long!

As an extra you could try mums’ very special topping use; mashed potatoes made with a little butter and semi-skimmed milk – spread the mash on the liver cake and top with low fat natural yogurt when the mash is cool. For special occasions, you can decorate with those lovely little cocktail sausages. And most importantly always lick the spoon and bowl (the dogs, not the mums!!).

Think Buster will help me polish off the lot!!

 

Until next time

Rx

Six Nations Rugby

Hello fiends,

It’s chilly here though, don’t think we’re going to see any big snow I’m three and still haven’t played in ‘proper’ snow. Think the mums are quite pleased it’s not coming this week though.

 

Nevermind, there’s plenty on the tele today as, the rugby Six Nations Championship is on. It’s the oldest rugby championship in the world, it started back in 1882, I wonder if the mums went to the match. It used to be held between: England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, France joined in 1910 and Italy joined in 2000.

 

It’s difficult to know which team to support as mum and Uncle David have links with Scotland, I’ve got Welsh ancestors and we like Ireland but, of course, it must be England!!

We’re a ‘rugby family’ – Uncle David used to play when he was at school, in the Royal Marines and then for Hong Kong when he lived there. He’s the best player and has the most International caps ever – he made an amazing 55 appearances – I reckon that’s a rugby record!

And next is Cousin Richard, he plays for Loughborough at No.12, they’re brilliant; they just beat Bath and are second in the league thingy…. they could win it!! It looks like my expert coaching and training sessions have really improved Cousin Richard’s game….. wonder if I’ll get a mention when he lifts a cup!! The match against Bath is here and you can see Cousin Richard being interviewed.

 

Me and my fiends have great fun keeping Uncle David fit and training Cousin Richard; he looks pretty good in the picture below. We play on the beach and at the local rugby club when the proper teams aren’t playing there. They should let Uncle David and Cousin Richard play for them –  they’re legends.

 

Love doing my agility stuff with mum and us being a little team but, big team games like rugby, football, netball and rounders are brilliant fun too. You make new fiends; with team mates and the coach and supporters too.

Doesn’t matter if you win or lose you’ve got your team mates and everyone is playing towards the same goal (except the opposition of course!!) You all have different skills and putting them all together makes the team. It’s like us fiends really – me and Buster are good at the ‘doing’ type things, Moja is our supporter, Figgle is our runner and Max…… Max is….well, just there really and we love having him around….that’s what we call teamwork.

Loads of local rugby clubs have youth sides and have special games for very young fiends, even some of the big league teams. Have a look at their websites under the ‘Community’ section and they should have details there.

We’re looking forward to cheering England on!!

Until next time

Rx

All About Autumn

 

Hello fiends!

Another busy week and all sorts of exciting changes going on, from the Great British Bake Off news to the start of Autumn; the season when all of nature starts changing and getting ready for Winter. It’s a great time for me and my fiends to go for brisk, crisp walks in the colourful woods and countryside.

We can see farmers harvesting their crops, leaves starting to change colour on the trees, the sun’s lower in the sky, it’s getting dark a little earlier and our mums might need to wear a cardigan as, it’s chillier.When the weather’s like this; the chemical that makes leaves trees green (Chlorophyll) begins to break down while other chemicals (including Carotene) remain to give the leaves their fantastic yellow, red and brown colours.

 

Fir trees and other Evergreens don’t change colour or drop their leaves. Squirrels often build their nests, called a dray, in the Evergreens as, it’s warm and sheltered.

Today I saw a squirrel busily collecting acorns and nuts ready for the winter. Isn’t it clever they remember where they’ve hidden them. Mind you, I never forget where I’ve hidden my bones…then I can spot if my fiends; Buster or Max are trying to snaffle them.

Here I am guarding my stash.

 

I wondered how did Autumn get its name? It seems the name ‘Fall’ was used here in England in the olden days –  now it’s mostly used in America. It’s short for; ‘fall of the leaf’.  ‘Autumn’ comes from the French word ‘automne’.

Other words we’ve got from our French fiends include; ballet, café, mousse and omelette!

Us dogs love running and playing in a pile of scrunchy leaves and Hedgehogs are glad for the leaves too, using them to help make their den when they hibernate – the time they sleep through the coldest months of winter.

A great thing for you with colourful leaves is; make a bird picture by sticking leaves together onto paper or card or with drier leaves create some leaf prints by painting the leaf and putting it’s imprint onto paper like the ones below– Aunty Jules used do the leaf prints on spare, plain wallpaper and then use it to cover her schoolbooks. You can see how to do those and lots of other leafy craft ideas on websites including: Activity Village and Nurture Store.

In the woods today I spotted loads of different nuts and berries. Mum collected elderberries and juicy blackberries to make homemade jam and bake a yummy crumble! And don’t forget Conkers from the Horse Chestnut tree – they’re great for the famous conkers game and also look very good on the nature table or in an Autumn themed display.

Have fun spotting the wildlife and with your blackberry bakes!

 

 

 

Until next time fiends.

Rx

Bake Off is on!

Hi fiends, how’s it going?

The Paralympics kicked off this week and I’m loving cheering everyone on. Have you been watching? I’ve also been very excited every Wednesday evening because The Great British Bake Off is back on our screens.

I really love watching the show, like most people across the country! Last year’s final had an average of 13.4 million viewers and was the most watched show of 2015. Did you know that every morning the crew bake a Victoria sponge in each oven to check they are all working? That is A LOT of cake!

They also all have to buy their own ingredients, but if someone forgets an ingredient on the morning of filming, they have a runner standing by at a local supermarket ready to save the day.

I have all my ingredients ready to go.

I love watching the technical hallenges because they make really interesting things, like last week when they made dampfnudel and things didn’t go too well for most people. Actually the rest of you really enjoyed that too because it was trending on twitter.

Let the technical challenge BEGIN!

Hmm, yes… this one passes the taste test.

Last years winner, Nadia, even got to make a birthday cake for the Queen! That is really cool. It looked pretty tasty too…

For the first time ever this week, the theme of the show is BATTER! This is something I’m very excited about because I love to bake and cook with batter…

… although its a bit of a pain when it comes to washing up. Thats why it would be good to be on Bake Off because they never have to wash up, the crew do that for them! Although saying that, Mum normally cleans up after me hehe.

Remember (how could you forget!?) to watch the first ever Batter Week Bake Off on Wednesday evening at 8pm on BBC1.

Until next time fiends,

R x

Back to School

Hello fiends!

It’s that time of year again when we all buy new pencil cases, get our hair cut (or fur) and try on our uniforms only realise how much we’ve grown since July! It’s time to head back to school.

I’ve decided that I might give it a go this year, I know I am only three but that is 25 in human years so I think I am quite old enough to start my education! (you can see how old you are in dog years here)

I want to go into schools to help teach my younger fiends about how to look after animals, especially dogs! I will teach them things like not to leave us in hot cars or at home alone for too long and what food we can and can’t eat!

For example, here I am teaching a fiend that some drinks like fizzy pop aren’t good for dogs, we LOVE water just as it is.

I have already learned lots in my three years, like how to use a computer and drive a car… although I have needed help from my fiends. So I think it’s only time to return the favour.

 

What are you looking forward to learning about this year at school (or at work for the grown ups)? I have really enjoyed learning about how to use the computer and be safe on the internet in the last year, but this year, as you might have noticed, I have become quite interested in science. So I have decided to learn a little more about the world around us through science! I will share with you what I learn!

I hope this week isn’t too tough back at school fiends! And if you’re about to have your first day, have fun! It is so exciting.

 

Until next time fiends

 

R x

Wind Energy and How Every Dog has his Day!

Hello Fiends!

I hope you all celebrated Dogs Day in style this week. I certainly did…

 

This week in my blog I am going to be looking at solar energy, and in particular wind turbines. This is because I have noticed more and more turbines popping up, and there have been lots of stories about wind farms being built off the coast of Britain! Aunty Jules says she sees them on her journeys quite often and lots of children always ask what they are and how they work!

They use the kinetic energy (that means movement energy) of the wind which turns the blades of the turbine and transfers this energy to a generator which is housed in the centre of the turbine. Of course, this is me making it all much simpler for us all to understand… it is much more complicated than that.

 

Courtesy of Pacific Greentech

The wind is produced because of convection currents in the Earth’s atmosphere, which are driven by heat energy from the Sun. As a result of this, the kinetic energy in wind is a renewable resource which is great because it means as long as the Sun is there, we will have it! However, some people don’t like wind turbines because they can be considered an eye sore and when they turn they can be noisy.

 

My fiend Ellie told me that where she works at Glyndebourne, they have their very own wind turbine. It produces enough power to provide 95% of the energy for Glyndebourne Opera House, which is amazing when you think of all of the energy used in one show alone! Lighting rigs are not cheap to run!

 

Because of the need to have wind, you find wind turbines in windy places. That is why people want to build them out at sea. I always notice how windy it is down at the beach! This is good too because you can’t see or hear them as much.

 

Do you have any wind turbines or maybe solar panels near you? I’d love to see some photos of just how HUGE they are! If you’d like to know more about the science behind the turbines, you can take a look here.

 

Until next time fiends,

 

R x

Teg and Kate Humble

Hi there fiends!

Hasn’t it been a fabulous week for the Olympics! I loved watching the track cycling and gymnastics, and all of it really! I am a bit sad its over but I’m looking forward to the Paralympics which start on the 7^th September.

This week I watched TV with Mum and I was wowed to see I was on screen!

I don’t remember filming that one! It turned out it wasn’t me, but a great episode from Kate Humble called ‘My Sheepdog and Me’. I learned lots about Kate’s dog Teg, a female Welsh Sheepdog, because Kate was trying to trace her heritage and produce more Welsh Sheepdog puppies. Did you know there are only around 2000 in existence at the moment?

Throughout the episode Kate tries to discover if Teg is a Welsh Sheepdog by using her DNA and comparing it to other Welsh dogs who are certified by the Welsh Sheepdog Society. The study compared Teg’s genes and found that she was 75% Welsh Sheepdog, but also part Border Collie. I am a Border Collie but part Welsh Sheepdog! That explains why I look a lot like Teg, because we must have similar DNA!

Teg even has the same kind of different coloured eyes that I have! Kate said it was just like David Bowie which is what Mum always says to me.

Photograph: Craig Morris/BBC/Tatu Pictures Ltd/Craig Morris

I couldn’t believe that there were more than 20 breeds of herding dog, including the border collie, many of which are now either extinct or in decline. The show had great reviews and if you want to find out more you can read about it here or go and catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Photograph: Craig Morris/BBC/Tatu Pictures Ltd/Craig Morris

 

I’ve already started getting confused for Teg when I’m out… I mean come on, do I look like a girl!?

Until next week fiends, when I’ll be looking at wind turbines and how they work!

 

R x

Dogs behind the wheel…

Hello fiends! How are you this week? Have you been continuing to watch the Olympics? I was so excited to see how well we are doing and have been barking along in support! Isn’t Jessica Ennis-Hill just amazing!? I’ve loved following the swimming, diving and cycling too. Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know I like to do a Tongue Out Tuesday photo (#TOT), like some of these…

The best part of baking is licking the bowl… And your face! #throwback to pancake day. __________________________ #tongueouttuesday #tot #animals #dog #dogsofinstagram #dogs #summer #lookinggood #cheeky #petstagram #pets #tuesday #august #summerholiday #kids

A photo posted by Ragamuffin Lewis (@ragamuffinlewis) on Aug 2, 2016 at 5:38am PDT

Happy Tuesday Fiends! Get outside and sniff the flowers #nofilter #nofilterneeded #TOT #tongueouttuesday #pet #dog #dogsofinstagram #potd

A photo posted by Ragamuffin Lewis (@ragamuffinlewis) on Jul 5, 2016 at 4:25am PDT

 

What do you think? I think it really brings out my eyes 👀 #tongueouttuesday #tot #potd #lfl #dogsofinstagram #pets

A photo posted by Ragamuffin Lewis (@ragamuffinlewis) on Jun 28, 2016 at 12:39am PDT

 

And I was really pleased to see I had some support from Bradley Wiggins when he was receiving his Olympic Gold Medal with Team GB.

 

There is an upcoming episode of The Adventures of Ragamuffin where I drive a car… sort of! I stumbled across a video today of a dog left alone in a car who decided to take it for a spin… It didn’t end awfully well to say the least!

Far worse than my attempt, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled for that video soon.

However, not all of us are as careless and crash into supermarkets. Just take a look at some of the amazing things we are capable of with the right training…

Remember fiends, don’t leave your dogs in cars for too long or who knows what might happen! Especially in this warmer weather, it isn’t much fun.

 

That’s all for this week fiends, do let me know what you’re up to, or if you want a mention in my next blog, via Facebook and Twitter.

 

Until next time,

 

R x

It’s a Dog’s Life: Dogs Around the World

Hi there fiends!

The olympics are off to a flying start, even if there have been a few troubles with the accommodation! I watched the swimming yesterday and there are athletes there who are even better at me at moving through the water. Although I still think it’s a pity there is no doggy paddle category.

It got me thinking about how many people there are around the world, and the countries they live in… and more importantly the dog fiends in those countries! So I thought this week we could look at dogs around the world, starting with here in the UK.

We get treated very nicely here, I would recommend it to my fiends around the world. Just look at how Andy Murray treated his fiends Maggie May and Rusty when he won his Olympic medals…

 

America is a lot like here too. Dogs are considered pets and are looked after really well, although sometimes that does mean silly fancy dress!

It’s a similar story in Italy and France…

However, life in India is very different for dog fiends, much like it can be for human fiends too! Dogs are found outside and on the streets much more, running wild and free with no scary trips to the vet’s! But this does mean sometimes their fur isn’t as shiny and they can get I’ll more easily. It makes me feel very lucky.

Stray dogs surround an Indian roadside tea vendor as he reaches into a packet of cookies to feed them on a street in Allahabad , India, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Did you know in Saudi Arabia the only way dogs can be kept in the home as ‘pets’ is if they are classed as working dogs!? You find working dogs all over the world, as guide dogs, hearing dogs, sheep dogs, police, drug sniffers, money sniffers and security dogs! Attitudes are changing all over the world, and China – who hosted the 2008 Olympics – are even beginning to keep dogs as pets, which is great because they were not that nice to dog fiends to say the least.

But my absolute favourite place for dog fiends to be is definitely Nepal. I think I’ll ask Mum to take me there for our holidays next year! They have a whole festival for animals each year and on the second day, known as Kukur Tihar or Khikchã Puja (meaning worship of the dogs), people place garlands, tika (a Hindu marking), and offer yummy foods to dogs to recognise the special relationship between humans and dogs.

They believe dogs are messengers of Lord Yamaraj, the God of Death, and so it is very important to treat them well. So remember that the next time you see me or one of my fiends!

How do you spoil your pets? Do you live in a different country to me? What is it like? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook and Twitter!

Until next time fiends

R x

Here Comes Rio 2016!

Hey fiends!

I hope you’ve all been appreciating the technology of Cat’s Eyes while driving about since last week’s blog. I’m looking forward to the week ahead, but I can’t believe that its August this week! July has flown by. I am quite excited though, because this Friday it is the Olympics Opening Ceremony for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

This year rugby sevens is included in the games, which is great because it will really increase the profile of the sport and encourage youngsters to take it up! I have always been a rugby fan.

I’m also looking forward to watching the swimming, I have high hopes for team GB! I think I would be good enough to participate, but my butterfly isn’t yet strong enough… and there isn’t a category for dogs at the minute.

Great Britain always tend to do well in the equestrian events, so I’ve been giving that a go too this week.

I am also hoping that Andy Murray continues his winning streak in the Olympic tennis, sadly there won’t be any ball dogs at that event, only ball boys.

 

It makes me feel quite nostalgic because the last Olympics were, of course, here in England for the London 2012 games. I was just a twinkle in my mummy’s eyes then, but I have been seeing what I missed out on. The BBC have created a show about the 2012 opening ceremony that is really interesting and moving! You can watch it here.

And if you fancy swatting up on the last opening ceremony, here are some fun facts from BuzzFeed that you can WOW your fiends with.

Brazil certainly have a tough act to follow… even if I am biased! But I am so looking forward to watching it and cheering on team GB! Who will you be cheering for? Are there any events you are really looking forward to? Do let me know on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Until next time fiends,

R x