Birthday Special Scones!

Today we are celebrating my 11th birthday, while Gail is also fondly remembering my predecessor Hamish the Westie, whose life came to and end on the very same day that mine began.

And what better way to mark the occasion than for Gail to bake me some ultra-scrumptious Haggis and Cheese Scones*!

In a subtle nod to one of Hamish's most famous exploits, Gail served me the scones on the Nottingham lace tablecloth she inherited from Human Granny and Grandad. 

[You might remember also that I once staged a re-enactment of the 'Hamish trashes HGY's scones and  smears jam all over the lace tablecloth' episode...]

PS from Gail: huge thanks to our cycling friend Muriel for alerting me to this most deliciously Scottish scone recipe! 

Five years of blogging

Hi, this is Gail here, taking over Bertie's blog for the day.

As anyone who knows me well will tell you, I am the world's worst at remembering and celebrating birthdays, anniversaries etc.

But it's an incredible five years to this day that I published my first blog post in the voice of Hamish, my late, dear Westie and even I thought that this date was worth noting.

It all started off as an antidote to writing up my PhD thesis, which required a tediously dry scientific style. My initial goal was to post on the blog a minimum of once a week.

For six months Hamish and I happily blogged away to almost zero readership.Then I put the blog URL on the then 'Dogs with Blogs' website, and started to gain a wider following after Hamish received a favourable shout out from Jo and Stella in Minnesota, to whom I shall always be grateful. Shortly afterwards I submitted my thesis.

Hamish's blog ran for the last eighteen months of his life. There was a 'Between Dogs Blog' for a predictably short period until Bertie bounced onto the scene. Hamish was my first dog, Bertie my first puppy.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you'll already know what fun it is being part of the amazing, warm and caring dog blogging community. Perhaps I've been lucky, and perhaps I shouldn't tempt fate, but I can honestly say that in five years I have never ever received a negative or unpleasant comment. There have been over 7800 comments on Bertie's blog to date (spam excluded) and  I would like to thank our wonderful readers for every single one of them.

I wonder if you can guess the title of the post which has attracted the most page views for Bertie?

The winner by far is 'The Higgs' Boson Diet Plan', with, as of today, nearly 1500 views. Clearly, putting the both the words 'Higgs' boson' and 'diet' in a blog title guarantees notice, although I suspect that few of these page viewers were dog bloggers, who, as we know, favour stories about the misdemeanours of other folks' darling pups.

Which are my favourite ever blog posts?

It has to be the two posts about the 'scones and lace tablecloth' episode. Initially related on Hamish's blog, and later re-enacted by Bertie, if you missed these first time around, you can read them here:

Hamish tells the story
Bertie stages a re-enactment

My aims for my blog posts have been pretty constant throughout - each one should be well written and be fun to write, should entertain, and should offer readers something that goes beyond just "here are some more cute pictures of my dog".

As for the future?

I plan to carry on for as long as I'm enjoying writing and Bertie continues to provide me with plenty of subject material.

Based on his adventures in the past fortnight, I think we'll be going for some time yet!

A re-enactment of Hamish's finest hour...

Oh I am so excited 'cos I am shortly to take part in Jazzi's Back to School Bash 'Table Snatching 101' class.

Now Gail is a stickler for doing one's homework, and has been most anxious that I go to school well prepared.

In fact she decided to give me some extra tuition, by staging a re-enactment the famous incident involving my predecessor Hamish the Westie, some scones baked by Human Granny, and HGY's best white Nottingham lace table cloth.

I am a diligent student, as you know, and this is what I learned about the art of table snatching from observing this highly instructive re-enactment.

1. It is important to lull the humans into a false sense of security, having them believe you are fast asleep in your favourite chair. Pretend to be unaware that on a nearby table lies a plateful of scones, generously spread with jam and cream, ready for when the neighbours come round for tea.


2. When you are sure no-one is looking, have a quick recce, to check that the prize is worth the effort.


3. Agility training will come in handy when you need to make the final leap up onto the table.

4. And when you've reached your target, it is important to remember that half measures are pointless.


5. You might as well just make a meal of it.



The only thing missing from this re-enactment is a shot of Human Granny's horrified face when she discovered the fate of her precious scones (and tablecloth). Apparently it looked something like this:

I can't wait for the new school year to start.