Photo Update Overload
Boy, have I ever got a LOT of new photos to share.
It’s fun spending time with them now – they’re starting to get personalities, as opposed to just being cute little Hamsters. They respond to us when they see us, they solicit attention, and they sometimes bark when they don’t get it!
Right now, Jacques and DP are the most reticent of the pups – a little bit shy, but very sweet. Po and Vela are bold and brave, attacking every new experience with enthusiasm. Hugo is mellllow – and boy, does that boy love to nap.
This afternoon, I’ll be moving them to the playpen in the family room, where they’ll start spending part of every day. This will expose them to new sights, sounds and experiences.
They’re still at the fat little chunky muffin phase, although the dark brindle girl has apparently inherited her grandmother’s reluctance to be awoken from naps. Like Sailor, the dark brindle girl wakes up frantic and more than a little bit pissed off – “How dare you wake me when I’m sleeping??”. I guess I know who inherited the princess gene.
Her silvery colored sister informed me yesterday when I picked her up that her name is Pickle. It’s funny how that works – one minute, they’re ‘anonymous puppy girl’, then the next you find yourself saying “Well, good morning, Pickle”, and wondering where the hell did that come from? Every so often, puppies just pick their own names. It happens.
This litter, by the way, is my Punk themed litter – how could the kids of Delilah and Dexter not be punks, I ask you? The little boy is veering between Johnny Thunders, Johnny Rotten (more for PiL, actually), Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone. No idea on the girls, other than one will be KatieJane (of Daisy Chainsaw fame).
Right now, I’m watching them fill out – they were a good size when they were born, but they felt a little ribby. Already, at three days old, that feeling is gone, and they feel packed and solid, with some weight to them. Their only goals at the moment are eat/sleep/eliminate/repeat, and not necessarily in that order. We hardly even see the puppies – Tula keeps them tucked underneath her flank, hidden away. I have to put her water and food into the whelping box for her, as she can barely stand to leave them. I love the little girl’s head already, but I try not to get my hopes up this early.
Easier said than done, of course.
As for theme names, I’m still thinking this over. I contemplated tea – Darjeeling and Earl Grey? Chamomile and Red Zinger? No, maybe not. Then I contemplated movie titles. Movie stars?
I just don’t know. Any suggestions for a pair of little cream cuties?
Meatloaf Kills
I occasionally get the urge for a plate of really, really good meatloaf. More specifically, I get the craving for a leftover meatloaf sandwich. Is there any finer second day meal on earth than meatloaf? The overnight stay in the fridge lets all the flavors melt together into one tasty, meaty melange.
Here’s the recipe I used (BTW, I have no idea if this is actually Gordon Ramsey’s meatloaf recipe, as I found it not on his official site, but on a Blog called – I kid you not – I Love Meatloaf):
Gordon Ramsey’s Meatloaf
50g butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely sliced
1 green pepper, finely chopped
4 spring onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chilli sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
125ml evaporated milk
125ml tomato ketchup
750g minced beef
250g minced pork or sausage meat
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
250g breadcrumbs
Freshly ground salt and pepper1 Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onion, celery, pepper, spring onions, garlic, parsley, chilli sauce, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes.
2 Add the evaporated milk and ketchup and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Discard the bay leaves.
3 Preheat the oven to 180C (About 360 F)
4 Place the beef and pork in a large bowl, add the eggs, breadcrumbs and vegetable mixture, and season. Place the mixture in an ungreased roasting dish and bake for 25 minutes. Raise the temperature to 200C/400 F and bake for a further 35-40 minutes.
5 Serve from the roasting dish.
Absolutely delish, if I do say so myself.
Unfortunately, I then had to take the bowl I’d mixed the meatloaf up in and figure out how to dispose of it. It’s stainless steel, so I wasn’t sure if it could go in the recycling bin, and even if it could, was it fair to expose all those hardworking sanitation workers to the possible risk of contamination from a bowl that had contained raw meat? I think not.
I finally hauled it to a friend’s smelter, where we melted it down. I then came home and cleaned all of my counter surfaces with a blowtorch.
What? Overkill? Not according to some veterinarians, who say that one of the risks of feeding your pets raw is that you can never really get the dishes clean that you use to prepare raw meat.
Better safe than sorry, I always say. Next time I make meatloaf, I’ll probably just burn the kitchen down afterwards – because you just never know with raw meat.
Nigerian Puppy Scams Still Going Strong
Jan over at Poodle and Dog blog recently engaged in a round of emails with a Nigerian scammer who was attempting to sell her a Bulldog/Yorkie/Who the Hell Knows puppy. Thankfully, Jan was smart enough to know he was a scammer, but apparently some people haven’t gotten the memo yet, because victims are still falling for it.
From the Bismarck Tribune:
Toni Miller, 23, now is out about $850 after trying to get two Yorkshire terrier puppies shipped to her from someone posing as a missionary in Nigeria.
Miller saw an ad in the Bismarck Tribune classifieds last week for a $550 Yorkshire terrier puppy. No one answered the phone number listed, so Miller used the e-mail address listed, jacj@;games.com, to get more information.
The phone number in the advertisement actually is a local church’s fax number.
Well, that part is a new twist – apparently the scammers have gotten wise enough and well organized enough to start running local phone numbers in their ad. And a church number? That’s a neat way for them to add an extra layer of respectability onto their advertisement.
The “seller” e-mailed Miller back, saying the dog was no longer available, but a previous buyer may have some puppies available, as the man was a missionary who had been transferred to Nigeria suddenly and was worried about the dogs.
Miller e-mailed that person, supposedly named Jack Frazier Sneed, at jackfraziersneed@gmail.com. He told her, via e-mail, it would cost $500 to ship his two Yorkshire puppies to her in Bismarck. Miller wired the money to a shipping agent named “Roy Wallace.”
The puppies were supposed to arrive Tuesday around noon. But “Jack Frazier Sneed” e-mailed Miller to say there were problems in transit, the puppies were stuck at a London airport and she needed to wire $350 more. Miller wired that money, too.
I also see that they’re still running on the theory that if suckers will pay a little, they’ll also be willing to pay a lot – especially if you hit them with sad stories of the puppies being stranded at airports. At least in this case they didn’t resort to threats – in some scams, they’ve actually contacted ‘buyers’ and threatened them that if they didn’t pay more money to get the puppy released from the airport, they could face charges of animal abandonment. Ballsy, huh?
I am willing to bet that most people reading this already know all about the Nigerian puppy scams (which I’ve also called ‘phantom’ puppy scams), but here’s a re cap:
– The scammer offers purebred puppies, usually at ridiculously low prices. That should be your first clue – no one, and I mean no one, is selling a pure bred Bulldog puppy for under $1500 dollars (and cheap at that price). Ditto Yorkshire Terriers, French Bulldogs, or any other pricey purebred puppy. Here’s how to check – google your breed of choice, and see what the average selling prices are. If you find one for sale that’s less than 50% of that price (or even less), trust me – it’s a scam. The scammers prey on your initial greed – a puppy for almost nothing! Once they have you, they’ll take advantage of your gullibility, and you’ll be out hundreds – and sometimes even thousands – with still no puppy.
– The scammer will claim to be over seas (usually in Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote D’azure, or another African nation). If they themselves aren’t overseas, then either they have a ‘friend’ there who is sadly forced to sell off their puppies, or a relative there who has died and their family are selling their puppies to “good Christian homes”.
– Whoever has the puppies will almost always claim to be a Missionary. This ploy works on two levels – it is designed to make Christians more trusting (“Hey, I’m a Christian, and the person selling the puppy is a Christian, and one Christian would never scam another, right?”), and it’s also designed to make you feel sympathetic to the plight of a hardworking missionary, doing God’s work in a foreign country and now forced to give up their beloved pet. How could you not support them?
Since the seller was describing himself as a Christian missionary, Miller felt it was her duty to help him care for the puppies.
“I’m a Christian, too, so I just thought it would be helping out a fellow Christian,” she said.
– The scammer usually tells you that you can have the puppy for ‘free’, but you have to pay the shipping fee. The shipping fee is generally low – under $500. This low price is a dead give away – it can cost close to this amount to ship a dog across North America, let alone to get it from Africa to the US. The scammers, however, keep the price low to lull the victims into a sense of security. After all, it sure doesn’t sound like much money to spend to get such an expensive dog.
– If you’re foolish enough to send the scammers the initial fee, they won’t stop there – they’ll ask you for more money, saying that the dog is stuck in customs, or is sick and needs medicine. In many cases, the scammers have made second, third or even fourth requests, finally resorting (as I mentioned above) to sending threatening emails warning of FBI charges and of ASPCA involvement. They won’t stop until they’re certain they’ve gotten every penny possible out of you. In the worst cases, they mange to convince buyers to send them bank account information, which can lead to account fraud and even identity theft.
Be smart. Remember the golden rules – dogs don’t come free, missionaries don’t take puppies to Africa, and NEVER use Western Union to pay for a puppy.