Versatile Blogger - Better late than never?

I received this award way back in August from Happy and Oscar & Ruby. It's Sept now. There are no excuses for tardiness, so I'll just extend my sincere apologies to Happy, Oscar & Ruby. As the saying goes.. "better late than never"... so here goes:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

Happy, Oscar & Ruby - Thanks heaps!

2. Share 7 things about yourself

1. This beagle is an expert scavenger - My humans have to be on high alert whenever we go for walks as I am prone to sniff out any bits of food, tucked away among the grass blades or buried under soil.
2. This beagle doesn't like to be left home alone. When I am home alone, I get the urge to be "productive". I especially like gardening (Kess' Mama: Digging and chewing off plants is a more apt description. Kess is currently in her digging mode so our garden is now patchy with holes)
3. My humans call me their little shadow as I follow them wherever they go. Sometimes I'm faced with a dilemma as mum and dad may be in different parts of the house. I try to be fair and divide my time equally between them both. But it can be tiring as I have to move around the house a fair bit!
4. When the mood strikes me, I can totally ignore my humans. It doesn't matter how many times they call, I am too comfortable in my spot to respond to them. So my humans have to look for me around the house - kind of like hide and seek :-)
5. This beagle is an expert escape artist. My humans are very glad that in my older age, I have mellowed. In my younger years, I've climbed over 7 foot fences and found my way to gramps' house which is at least 5-6 kms away.
6. This beagle is afraid of thunderstorms and fireworks. Just yesterday, I barked frantically at the fireworks that was being let loose in the night sky. I fear that I will be in for a very unpleasant weekend ahead as there will be more fireworks to celebrate the end of Ramadhan.
7. This beagle is well-loved. Despite my many trangressions, my humans love me - pure and simple. What more can I ask for?

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic. Note: Mine is a mixture of new and old blogging pals.
1. The Thundering Herd
2. Home of Team Beaglebratz
3. Khyra's Korner
4. Sapphire the Beagle
5. Terrier Fun with Molly and Taffy
6. Elbow and Hauwii
7. Beagle Diary
8. River
9. The Stoutino Inn and Foster Kennel
10. Beagles Lenni and Vekku
11. Fred's Follies
12. Key West Collies
13. Nottie Scottie
14, The Barkalotx Boyz
15. Mango the Maltese Kiddo

4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award.

I've been so slack with blogging so some of the awardees may have already been given this award earlier. For those of you who already have this award, just know that you are truly a versatile blogger! Please realize that you are under no obligation to accept this award and that it is done in the spirit of recognizing and acknowledging really great blogging!

Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog

Three cheers to Martha and Bailey, the two basset hounds who were the first to correctly guess the title of the song by Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll! Well done to the rest of the musical bloggers who also hit the spot with their guesses. Martha & Bailey wins the Dog Series award.



Technically, "Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog" isn't really a doggie phrase or an idiom. It's just a song written in 1952 by a couple of kids on the back of a paper bag. If you take a look at the nonsensical lyrics below, you can tell that it was written by kids on the back of a paper bag!

You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

The song was first sung by Wille Mae "Big Mama" Thornton who had the band bark and howl like hound dogs at the end of the song. This song was later made popular by Elvis Presley in 1956. While Mr Presley didn't end the song with howling (I took some poetic licence with the rhyming. Sorry, Oorvi), he did add his signature "pelvic gyrations". The Hound Dog sold over 4 million copies in the US and spent a record 11 weeks at #1. Not bad for a song about a hound dog!

Key West Collies also beat me to another dog song "Who Let the Dogs Out" released by the Baha Men in 2000. It reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and #2 on the UK Singles Chart. The catchy chorus essentially comprise of repeats of:

"Who let the dogs out?
Who, who, who, who? who?"

Strangely, this song became a sports anthem at stadiums and arenas worldwide. Mum remembers attending a rugby match a few years back where this song was played and enthusiastically chanted by the fans. I guess it added to the atmosphere and excitement of the game.

So there you have it, two fun nonsensical dog songs which achieved fame and glory. Hmm...I wonder if we dogs should charge them royalty?

Every Dog Has Its Day

Mum is super busy these days. She is working on a project with some very tight deadlines. "I just don't have time to blog, Kess dear" she says. "What? How can we let down our friends who have shown us such unwavering support for our nomination for the Awesome Blog Award? Besides you can't be working all the time" I whined, giving her my most pathetic beagle look. Obviously my ploy worked since this post is written! Hah, the beagle triumphs again.

Well, the results are out. And top dog, Mango has come up tops. Congratulations Mango - A well-deserved win indeed! On top of that, Mango is a really cool dog. After I dropped by his blog (and the other 2 nominees) to congratulate him on his nomination, he returned the favour and left me this note:
"Kess,
Good job on your nomination. Don't worry, the same thing happened to me the first time I was nominated. Some doggie had a super bloggy month and crushed the competition (and to be honest, I just started Mango Minster as a lark and never imagined how BIG it would be). You look like a super underdog!
Slobbers,
Mango"

Hey, I may not have won this time, but "Every dog has its day". I really love this proverb. It really is uplifting and gives me hope that every dog gets a chance eventually (yes, my friends, that means you too!) . Just look at Mango...The underdog eventually became top dog.

What I really cherish from this experience is how blessed I am to have such great friends (Thanks for voting for me!). Which leads to this very belated posting of the friends award I received from Dughallmor Beagles two months back! Thanks Dughallmor Beagles! This award goes out to all my blogging buddies, most of whom I've never met personally but through blogging have become my electronic pen pals. You are all awesome in my books!


"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)

Awesome Blog Award Nomination - The Underdog

Wow! I'm still reeling from shock. I received a note from Opy which said "hey,you have been nominated for Awesome Blog award over at the Bone Zone - head on over and cast your vote :) love opy". So, I head over to the Bone Zone to find out more. Turns out, that my pals, Key West Collies has nominated yours truly for the Awesome Blog Award - "We would like to nominate Kess for her study of the word Dog in the English Language". Thank you so much, Essex and Deacon. It truly is an honour to be nominated for this award and I am so happy that you guys are enjoying this series of posts on "dog" words and idioms.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete if I didn't continue with my "dog" word series, the very thing that got me nominated in the first place. Currently, I am starting out as an underdog. (An underdog is a competitor which is thought to have little chance of winning a fight or contest.) Mango, is obviously the top-dog of this competition, and most worthy of it too. The other notable nominees are Bubblegum dogs and Bae Bae. Anyway, underdog or top-dog, it's awesome to be considered for this award. What's really important is that we all have fun in this contest.

I never would have thought that when I ventured into the world of blogging on March 27 last year, that I would have made so many new friends from all over the world. Now, more than 90 posts in less than a year later, I've been nominated for the Awesome Blog Award. I am so totally blown away. Thank you.

And just for fun, I would like to share a quote by the comic bumbling beagle turned superhero - aka Shoe Shine from the Disney movie Underdog.

"There's no need to fear, Underdog is here."

So, if you guys like my blog and want to give this underdog a shot at winning the Awesome Blog Award, hop on over to Dogs with Blogs Bone Zone and cast your vote. Who knows, this underdog may stand a chance yet...




P.S. Do you see any resemblance to Underdog??? This was the closest picture I could find in my "superdog" pose. However, my ears don't flop backwards and seem to prefer to curl inwards instead! Does anyone know a good dog-dresser?

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it

Thanks to you...

It was a terrific Christmas...thanks to you... Ever since we've started blogging, my humans & I have really learnt from our blogger friends. We've had the chance to see how each of you live, your experiences and culture. It's a great learning experience. But best of all, at least from my point of view (you'll see why in a jiffy), my humans have learnt how to cook for me. Hurray! As a Christmas treat, my humans roasted special meatballs for my dinner. Since they were cooking meatballs for their dinner, they set aside some minced meat for my doggie version. Theirs had ingredients like onions and garlic and seasoning, which supposedly aren't good for dogs.

Human version

You can pop by mama's blog for the simple baked meatball recipe.
Naked aka doggie version

So, I had the "naked" version with breadcrumb and egg. My special meatballs were served in a bed of fragrant Jasmine rice, sprinkled liberally with my Innova kibbles.

My regular meal time routine. Sit and wait until the go ahead is given...

First, there were three meatballs.

Then, there were two...

Burp...


What a terrific treat. And with that, we think that it's appropriate for us to share this wonderful award which we received from Dughallmor Beagles with eight of our pals.


The award, which was started in Portugal states that "This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships!" In other clearer words, "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I really believe that blogs have brought us closer despite the distances that separate us. We have learnt so much from everyone. Thank you!

1. Amber Mae and her cool sistas from Malaysia - The champions of great food.
2. Lorenza from Mexico - The prettiest and sweetest Daschund we know.
3. Oorvi from India - Master philosopher and creator of cool doggie gadgets.
4. Ari- The Maine canine naturalist aka teacher
5. River from Georgia - who is blessed to belong to a wonderful human who loves and rescues dogs.
6. Happy from Malaysia - who really is a happy doggie and spreads happiness to all her friends.
7. Maggie & Mitch - the Conneticut brother and sister Airedales who are so well loved by everyone
8. Guiness & Shiloh from PA, the 2 big cuties!

Early Christmas presents

The Christmas countdown continues with great cheer! I'm still receiving e-cards from our DWB friends. In contrast to my tons of cards, mum has only received one snail mail card (you can see who has more friends....) from her good pal, Ai. Of course, since Ai knows us well, she has also addressed the card to me since I am such an important family member! Thank you my dear Ai.

But it's not just cards that I've been receiving. I've been given two early Christmas presents in the form of these 2 special awards:




The above award came from Mona & the Mommy too. It is an honour for my blog to be considered a "Dog Blog Worth Begging For". Actually, I would have preferred if the doggie biscuit was edible...but hey, I'll just have to beg mum for the real thing. After all, I deserve it, don't you think?

And to continue the tradition, I would like to pass this award on to:
1. Thor
2. Boo Casonova
3. Agatha & Archie
4. Penny, Poppy & Patches




Next, my Scottish pals, Dughallmor Beagles have given an "I Love Your Blog" award to me. Christmas keeps getting better!

And this award goes out to:
1. King King
2. Cayman
3. Mino
4. Erin, Bubbles & Texas

These awards comes with a poem too (it seems we're on the roll with poem writing...)
To our blogger friends
We bestow this award
Your fabulous blogs
Deserves this reward

A "Slow" Confession

I am feeling sheepish at the moment. After all my posts protesting that beagles are not slow dogs in the realm of "intelligence", I have to make a "slow" confession...I have been slow in sharing the awards that Georgeous George and Happy have so kindly bestowed on me 2 months ago (yes, you read it right...2 whole months ago). I am so sorry George and Happy. I really do appreciate the honour. Of course, I could blame mum for it. She's been away on a business trip for a few weeks. Before that, we were preoccupied with the "slow" beagle issue. But I won't offer any excuses. Instead, I'm going to rectify it right now.

Premio Dardos


“Com o Prêmio Dardos, se reconhecem os valores que cada blogueiro mostra cada dia em seu empenho por transmitir valores culturais, éticos, literários, pessoais etc. que, em suma, demonstram sua criatividade através do pensamento vivo que permanece intacto entre suas letras e suas palavras.“Este selo implica duas regras:a primeira, linkar o blog do qual recebeu o prêmio. A segunda – escolher blogs para entregar o prêmio.

"With the Premium Dardos, recognize the values that each blogger shows each day in commitment to transmit cultural values, ethical, literary, personal etc. that, in short, demonstrate their creativity by alive thinking that remains intact from their letters and words. "

I would like to share this award with the fellow bloggers who in my humble opinion demonstrates these values:
1) Sugar - Rane & Sugar have unlimited love for all creatures, big and small.
2) Xsara - Barbie & Xsara share great insights on topics close to our hearts!
3) Nottie Scottie - Mum & I totally understand your predicament of finding time to blog, esp. since we're in the same boat! It is great that you commit to blog and visit other blogs whenever you can.
4) Lois Lane - Thanks for sharing the dog seat-belt safety tip. You look so cute in that picture!

Gold Paw Award



This sparkly award goes to...
1) Mr T-Bone Beasley - hardworking organiser of the Christmas Card Exchange. Thanks for spreading Christmas cheer among doggie bloggers!
2)Genassus Pappilons - I love hearing your Scottish tales. Mum would love to go there someday.
3) The Little Brown Dog - Human and canine with hearts of gold
4) Dughallmor Beagles - My new pals from Scotland - Such great beagle adventure tales!

I Love Your Blog

It really is awards season! 2 in a row. My biggest human fan, Uncle Bok Jae, who has a soft spot for dogs, has told me that He Loves My Blog! Isn't he a sweetie? I love his blog too (and I'm not saying it just because he has given me this award). He always has a nugget of wisdom, (he has many, many years of human experience), a word of encouragement and heartfelt sharing on his blog called Listening, Learning Living.

Naturally,every award has its rules:

***start copy***

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you have nominated.

Previous awardees: Mabelle, Prily, Ate Norma, I Love Philippines Too, Shenga, Nova, WebbieStuffs, Nancy, Webloglearner, Pinay Wahm, and My So Called Life, Let's Spice Things Up, Beauty and Shop, Idealpinkrose, allin, kimchiland, Korean Food, The Paper Vision, Embrace Simplicity, Me and Mine, A Window To Our World, A Grateful Heart, Can of Thoughts, A Mother's Stuff, http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/, MommyAllehs Up-Close and Personal, Glossa~licious, The Spirit of Blogging, Help my novel save the world..., A Great Pleasure, Listening, Learning, Living, Brittany E; ECL; Emmaalvarez; Kess; Clonic; Rainbow; Azly Rahman; Wahseh; Wokkingmom; Tricia's Musings; The Insane Writer.

ADD YOUR LINKS HERE.
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Whose blogs do I love?

1. Amber Mae and her talented sisters, Chloe and Faith


2. Key West Collies


3. Happy


4. Cocoa & Barley


5. George


6. Jazz & Dixie


7. Pacco

Its Awards Season

My dear friend, Uncle Bok Jae has given me another award. I am honoured that he thinks I'm a "Kick Ass Blogger". I've had such an awesome time since I started blogging on 27 March 08. Now, 71 posts later, I've made so many new on-line friends from all over the world. Isn't blogging amazing?

The award rules are simple:

Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick Ass Bloggers"
Let 'em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to http://www.mammadawg.com/

I want to pass this award to my fellow "Kick Ass Bloggers"...

• Oorvi
• Thor
• Maggie & Mitch
• Mr T-Bone Beasley
• Biggie-Z

Congratulations!

How to say "Thank you". The tally is now 21!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for sharing how to say "Thank You" in other languages. The tally is now 21!

You may have noticed the captions under my awards section. The beautiful aspect about living in a multi-cultural society is that a lot of Malaysians are multi-lingual. My humans can speak English (international language), Bahasa Malaysia (national language) and Cantonese (Chinese dialect - mother tongue). They also picked up some basic Thai language when they lived in Bangkok. I only speak doggie and sign language, but my humans understand what my barks, whines, facial expressions and gestures mean.

Well, in case you're wondering what some of the words in the captions mean, I thought I'll give you some quick lessons on how to say "Thank You" in...

From Kess' Mama:
1) Bahasa Malaysia - Terima Kasih
2) Mandarin - Sieh Sieh
3) Cantonese - Toh Che
4) Thai - Kop Khun Kah (if you're a female) and Kop Khun Kap (if you're a male)
From Oorvi:
5) Urdu - Shukriya
6) Hindi -Dhanyawad
From Georgeous George Headley:
7) Italian - Grazie
8) Greek - Efkhareesto
From Thor:
9) Brazilian - Obrigada (if you're a girl) and Obrigado (if you're a boy)
From Sweet Jasmine:
10) Hokkien (another Chinese dialect) - Kam Siah Lu
From Amber Mae & River:
11) German - Danke
From Key West Collies:
12)Korean (Hangul) - Kamsahapnida
13) Hungarian (Magyar) - Köszönöm
14) Czech - Dĕkuju
From Maggie and Mitch:
15) French - Merci
From River:
16) Russian - Spasibo
From Lorenza:
17) Spanish - Gracias
From Happy & LS:
18) Japanese - Domo Arigato
19) Doggie - Wet licks (All dogs can relate to that!)
From Booker:
20) Northern England - Ta (Kess: Mum remembers this short form for "Thanks" fondly from her university days in Australia as the Aussies use this too.)
From CC:
21) Maori (New Zealand) - Tēnā rāwā atu koe

Better late than never...

Cocoa gave me this award last month (Thanks Cocoa!). But, with all the excitement of the New York trip, I haven't had the chance to put this up. So, this is a month late, but better late than never.

Here are the rules to this award:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you

3) Nominate 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

As most of you already have this award (this is what happens when I procrastinate...), I'm going to nominate:

1. Dory

2. Gus

3. Fei

4. Ben Ben

5. The Stoutino Inn & Foster Kennel

More surprises when I was away...

I can't believe how much I missed out whilst I was away for 3 weeks!

First, it was the awesome beagle clock by Oorvi...

Now, its the Arte-y-Pico Award from River and Thor. Thank you both for bestowing this awesome award to me.

There are a couple of house rules set by Arte-y-Pico:

1) You have to pick FIVE blogs that you consider deserve this award for creativity, design, interesting material and also contribute to the blogger community regardless of language.

2) Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award itself.

4) Award winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the "Arte-y-Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of the award

5) In compliance with said RULES, the award winner must show the RULES.

Of course, I can't keep this awesome award to myself. So, I'm going to pass it on to:

Sweet Jasmine, Uncle Bok Jae, Ben Ben, Ari and Diesel aka Snout Beagle

Excellent Award

Wow! 2 awards in 1 month. I am so honoured that Uncle Bok Jae has given me an "Excellent Award" for my blog. Mum & I have learnt so much from this man of wisdom.

And because all good things are meant to be shared, I would like to pass this award to:

Sweet Jasmine - for her excellent recipes
Amber - for her excellent "makan and makan angin" (which means eating and vacation in the Malay language) recommendations
Jazz & Dixie - for their excellent relationship

Xsara - for her excellent agility

My very first award - Daily Blogger Award

It's been 3 months since I ventured into the exciting world of blogging. I've made new friends. both of the 4-legged and 2-legged variety from all over the world. It really is great fun. To top it off, my good buddy, Sweet Jasmine has just awarded my blog a Daily Blogger Award. Woo hoo! I get to make friends, have fun and get rewarded with an award. It's a doggie's life indeed. Thanks Sweet Jasmine.

The Daily Blogger Award is given out to a blog that has at least 3 blogs per week. Now, this is incentive to keep blogging regularly. And now, to share this awards to my pals who are daily bloggers too (at least in the last 2 weeks)... Lorenza; River; Mona & The Mommy; Agatha & Archie; Booker.

Keep blogging everyone!