Friday, September 28, 2007

Run For The Cure & Introducing Kville Horace

This weekend is the CIBC Run For The Cure throughout Canada. We've been very fortunate, because we've had quite a few orders for our Crunch for a Cure biscuits over the last couple of weeks. Some of the participants will be giving our biscuits as thank you's to some of their sponsors. Fantastic!

On a personal note, I'd like to share the final results of my Horace knitting project. After spending the spring and summer a broken man (knit but not yet pieced together), Kville Horace finally pulled himself together and is ready to face the world. Nothing but blue skies ahead for him.

You can view Kville Horace and other Horace Bears from around the world on the Horace Gallery at Bears United. (yes, such a thing exists)
You can buy a pattern from Amanda Hone's Etsy Shop here. (oh, and did I mention that Amanda does absolutely amazing abstract art?)

I'm not sure where Kville Horace's adventures will lead him. If he is feeling independent and in need of an adventure, he may just end up in my etsy shop.

Today is a gift. Do something good.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Bananas about Pumpkin

Well, I guess it's safe to say that you guys are bananas about pumpkin (or maybe you just want to win a Barking Biscuit gift pack!)

We've had 63 name suggestions sent to us for our new pumpkin biscuits. Wow. Such a great response. A BIG thank you to all of you!

Because of the overwhelming number of responses, we're going to narrow it down to a handful of finalists. These are a couple of the things we kept in mind when choosing the names:

1. We wanted to keep the word "pumpkin" in the name. We do have a couple of biscuits that don't have the flavour in the name...and that seems to confuse some people. The end result is that some of our stores ask us to put extra labelling on the bags. Our "Crunch for a Cure" biscuits are an example of that. Peamutty Barks is another one (although personally I think peamutty is a bit of a giveaway). Mind you, I've had some people not realize that The Barking Biscuit was a dog biscuit company.
2. We didn't want a name that was too seasonal. The hallowe'en themed names were great, but our biscuits will be available year round so we thought it might be better to have something a little less seasonal.
To everyone who sent us a name suggestion: please don't be disappointed. We'll send you a free Barking Biscuit button pin just for playing. If you want one, please email me with your mailing address. Let me know what kind of pin you want...our logo pin (choice of apple green, kelly green, olive green, golden yellow, orange, light blue, dark pink) or our cat logo pin (choice of apple green, golden yellow, orange, light blue, dark pink).

And, here are the finalists...drum roll please...
Howlin Prowlin Pumpkin
Pawsitively Pumpkin
Tail Thumpin Pumpkin
Pumpkin Paws
Pumpkinlicious
Pumpkin Please!
Pumpkin Bumpkin
Pumpkin Pawty
Howlistic Pumpkin


Please leave a comment or email me your votes by September 30th...I'd really love to hear from as many of you as possible!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Around The Hounds Raffle to help Greyhounds

Char at Around The Hounds has a raffle on her website, which ends on October 1st. 100% of the profits from this raffle will go to help in the vetting and transportation of getting greyhounds off the farms and into homes. The first prize is a Sock Monkey Lover's Dream! Second and third prizes are wonderful too. All the details are available on Char's web site here.
Here are some words from Char:

When a dear friend of mine and a dedicated greyhound advocate, Becky Rollison, contacted me last month with a sad story of one little greyhound brood mamma named Sapphire, I cried with her on the phone and then resolved to help Becky do something in her memory... Sapphire may have just missed the chance to have a comfortable forever home, but hopefully with the proceeds from this raffle Becky can continue to help other senior greys on the long journey to forever homes.
Char HardingOwner/Designer
www.aroundthehounds.com

Char is also offering a 10% discount on all collar purchases during the raffle. Simply type in the code: Sapphireraffle and the discount will apply on checkout.

If you haven't seen Char's stunning collars, take a look. All the collars are available in either Martindale or regular buckle styles in a variety of sizes.

Today is a gift. Do something good!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Ottawa PugFest: September 30

If you want to see 100 pugs all in one place...a special event for all you pug lovers out there. Here is the information we received from the organizer:

Event: Bi-Annual Ottawa PugFest
Invited: Pugs only and their owners
When: Sunday September 30, 2007 (rain date is October 14)
From: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Where: fenced-in area behind Lansdowne Park (beside the baseball diamond) on Bank Street, corner of Holmwood Avenue in the Glebe in Ottawa.
What to bring: your pug, water, plastic bags, chairs and your smile

Some of the fun scheduled: a pug fashion show, raffle prizes (photoshoot by a professional photographer (value of $200), a Bowser Pug Bed (valued at $125))
Tickets will be available on site. All the money collected with the tickets will go to UNDER MY WING - Pug Rescue:
$1 = 1 ticket
$2 = 3 tickets
$5 = 7 tickets
$10 = 15 tickets
$20 = 32 tickets

Here's the contribution from The Barking Biscuit: We even have a bag of biscuits included with 2 pugs on the tag!

Hope to see a lot of pugs on September 30!

Monday, September 24, 2007

A few little updates

Friday night's Going to the Dogs Dinner & Races event was a great success...and lots of fun too! I even managed to snag an item at the silent auction...a certificate for grooming. Our new Cassie is definitely in need of a hair cut. It's called a day at the "Spaw". John was heard commenting that he has never had a day at the spa, so it goes to show where he ranks in the family. (just for the record, I've never had a day at the spa either!)

The BARK picnic in August raised over $6000! Congratulations to Sharon and all the volunteers who made it a success.


Cassie update: things are progressing nicely with the new family. Cinder's nose was a little out of joint for the first couple of days and she growled every time Cassie got near her. We were thinking that Mulligan might be a little aggressive towards Cassie, but actually she is quite submissive. We're on Day 5 now, and they were all playing together outside today.
This is the new gang on our daily visit to the bench at the back of the yard.
Cassie (foreground) and Cinder...our two big black girls.

John bought a mini tire from the adoption centre because Cassie had been playing with one when we first met her. Both Mulligan and Cassie love to fetch it....and sometimes they even bring it back.
So, our life with 3 dogs seems to be progressing nicely.

One more name suggestion arrived by email for our Pumpkin Biscuit Naming Contest:
Howwwlllllling Pumpkins
We've received so many great suggestions that we'll probably be narrowing it down to 5 or so of our favourites. Get ready to cast your vote! And, we'll be selecting a photo to use on our pumpkin tag. If you have a photo you want us to consider (preferably with a pumpkin in it) send it by email in the next few days. Don't forget it needs to be a high resolution photo and will work best in a landscape style (not portrait style) ie, the photo should be wider than it is high.

Guess what? I sent out our first Christmas order of the season today. Seems to get earlier every year. I'll be adding our Happy Holidogs to our web site sometime in October...I just can't add it in September.

There are a few fun events planned for the next few weeks. I'll be posting about that soon. Pug lovers, greyhound lovers, aussie lovers, and bully lovers, and general dog lovers stay tuned!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Maxine

Maxine 1996-2007
One of our "grand-pugs" crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She was a great dog and we'll miss her.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Pumpkin Contest Update & Photos For Sale

We're off to the races tonight...Going To The Dogs Dinner & Race Night. It promises to be lots of fun. Can't wait to see all those great silent auction items. Hey, who knows, maybe John will even pick a winner tonight (stranger things have happened). We'll be sitting with Julie from Chilly Dogs and Sue, the URBAN Dog Photog....2 of the other Paws For Charity members...and their husbands too. Should be lots of fun!

Pumpkin Contest update:
I've received some more suggestions for our new Pumpkin biscuits. Remember, you have until September 30th to send me your ideas. Don't forget to vote! I have a very long list of possibilities, but not too many people have sent me their favourites yet. Here are some more names to add to the list:
Pup-kins (we also already had The Great Pupkin)
Boo-tiful Pumkin
Hauntfull Pumkin
Pumpkilicious (we also have Pumpkinlicious)
Howlin' Prowlin' Punkin
Jumpin' Pumpkin (someone suggested we stick with our former name)

I've added a few photo placques to my little Etsy store. These are photos professionally mounted onto a wooden board (plaque mounted). If you want to see them in the Etsy shop, click here. Or just send me an email if you're interested in buying them. I'll be adding a few photos from our Newfoundland trip sometime soon. Here are the low resolution versions of the photos. The colours in the mounted photos are very vibrant...they really pop. I love these photos...they are extreme close ups of marigolds after the rain. They look like modern art to me.
Enjoy! Have a great weekend.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Never say never

Let this be a lesson to all of you...never say never.

Here are some of the things I have said in the past two years (since our beloved Husky Bailey passed away):
I don't want to go back to 3 dogs.
When we do get another dog, I want a puppy.
I don't want another dog I have to clip.
I don't want another dog of the same breed...it would remind me too much of who we have already shared our lives with.

Well, as they say...promises were made to be broken. Even promises to ourselves.

It all started with Christine, a member of the Giant Schnauzers In Ontario Group. She posted a note to the group about a GS who needed a home.

Casi is about 3-4 yrs old. She is spayed, well behaved, obedient and very smart. As you know, her bad habits are sometimes (she has gotten better) getting food from the table/counter and loves eating tissue paper, usually from same areas. Go figure!!! She was given to a foster home by a really nice family who just did not have the time for her anymore. She’s great with special needs kids and LOVES men.

I talked to John about her, even though really I didn't think it was right to take on a third dog. Our Cinder is declining and I thought we should concentrate on giving her our full attention in the last months or years of her life. Christine posted more information about Casi.

Update: Casi is with Standard Poodle Rescue but is still available.

I went through the thoughts again in my mind. For some reason, I just couldn't shake the thought that this dog belonged to us. Crazy? Tuesday night I contacted Christine.

Christine is amazing. She's not officially in GS rescue, but you'd never know it. She went out and visited with Casi, she took photos and a video, she talked with the people at the rescue group. She arranged for us to go down and meet with them.

Wednesday afternoon we were in Bowmanville (a 3+ hour drive) with Cinder and Mulligan.

It didn't look good at the start. Casi wouldn't come near us and was afraid. The staff gave us treats to give to Casi, but she wasn't interested. We moved outside and John got our own Barking Biscuits. Wow. Casi liked them and decided that maybe we were okay. We spent an hour or so with her and then brought Cinder and Mulligan into the fenced area to meet her.
I was worried that our dogs would be aggressive but it was sort of a non event in their eyes.
Mulligan, Cinder, and Casi all want Barking Biscuits

By 5:30 we were signing the papers and paying the adoption fee.

By 6:30 we loaded the 3 dogs in the car and were headed out for our 3+ hour drive home.
24 hours later and we have a third dog (not a puppy, a dog who needs to be clipped, and a 2nd Giant Schnauzer! I broke all my own rules)
Cassie (foreground), Cinder (middle) and Mulligan (upper right) in the backyard.
Casi (which we are changing to Cassie) is laying at my feet as I blog about her.

I couldn't be happier. Thanks Christine. Christine (left) holding Cassie, Sara with Cinder and Mulligan

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Eye Candy - BIG and small

As promised, here are some photos of an art piece I purchased at a silent auction to raise funds for our local Youth Centre. It's a BIG piece of art! The artwork was a collaborative effort of 2 painters and a potter. Here is a close up of a pottery dragonfly:

Can you see the little pottery frog under the flower? Reminds me of our Frank.

And now for some small eye candy. Have you heard of Moo cards? They are very small biz type cards made from your Flickr photos. Cute as a button and memorable because they aren't the standard business card size. Here are some Moo cards from Fluffy Flowers.


Felicia makes handmade loveable creatures in Georgia. Many of her creatures are made from recycled clothes...saving the planet one creature at a time. Too cute for words.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Birthday Hugs for Miss M


It's a big day today for our granddaughter....her 6th birthday (I've replaced the original photo shown due to some scary things I've been reading about kid's photos being taken by supposedly respectable internet companies and used in some disturbing ways)
Happy Birthday Miss M!

It's hard to believe that this beautiful girl was born 6 years ago weighing less than two pounds. Yes, you read that right. Miss M was born 4 months premature and weighed only 1 pound and 11 ounces. She lived in the hospital for the first 3 1/2 months of her life and fought for her life many times.

By the time she turned 5, she had caught up in every way. Other than a touch of asthma, you would never know that this little girl had such a rough start.

Miss M is the reason I truly believe in miracles.

I know she has opened her presents, so thought I would share one of them with you. These are some of the talents of Beebee Mod, one of my favourite etsy artists. Not the best photo, but you can take a better look here and here.

Oh, and I couldn't resist this one, which Jen is putting on a long sleeve T for me and will be arriving in the mail soon. Perfect for a no reason at all fall gift!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Nothing but blue skies

Some days you wake up and feel like there's nothing but blue skies...nothing can go wrong, and everything looks great.

Today is one of those days.

Here's my morning routine: drink coffee (sometimes brought to me in bed...I'm a lucky girl), let the dogs out, feed dogs, feed the cat, eat breakfast, check email, read my favourite blogs, then take Mulligan for a walk. (Cinder can't go...her legs are deteriorating and she can't walk as long as we can)

My son and I watched The Truman Show last night. Cody is a mad Jim Carrey fan. My morning walks sometimes remind me of Truman's morning routine...waving and saying hi to everyone. It's amazing how many people in our neighbourhood are at home and outside every morning.

This afternoon, I get to pick up some special things. First, I had some of my photographs plaque mounted and they are finally ready. They are extreme close ups of marigolds after the rain, and the oranges really pop in the photos. Hope they look good mounted. I'll post photos of them soon.

Best of all, a piece of art I bought is ready to be picked up. I bought it a couple of weeks ago at a silent auction. The artwork is a collaborative effort of The Six Chicks from Gallery 6 here in Kemptville. The money I paid is going directly to The Youth Center here in Kemptville. How great is that? It's a fabulous piece...I'll post a photo of it soon.

I am doing some work today too! Orders are going out to the post office. Our Paws for Charity buttons and Crunch for a Cure biscuits will be available in London next week at the Hyde Park Feed & Country Store. It's a fabulous place for birders too...lots of great things there...check them out if you're in the area.

And, my day will end on our deck while John cooks me a fabulous meal on our Big Green Egg. I posted about our BGE a while back. The fortunate result of that posting was that I received an email from Erik, another BGE fan who lives in Russell. Russell just a short 40 minute drive from here...it's a small world! Erik gave me lots of great links to some wonderful BGE recipe sites.

So...what is a Big Green Egg? It's a charcoal smoker that we use instead of a propane BBQ. Yum.

Today is a gift. What are you going to do with it?
Have a great weekend!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Purely Pawsitively Pumpkin Pleasure Parade


WOW! That's all I can say. Less than 24 hours and the response to our "Name our pumpkin biscuit contest" has pumped me up! (ha...couldn't resist)

Here's what we have so far...

Pawsitively Pumpkin (2)
Tail Thumpin' Pumpkin
Pumkinlicious
Pumpkin Paws
Pump It Up!
Pumpkin Lights
Pumpkin "BOO"
Jack'd Up Jack-o'-lantern
Great Pupkin
Harvest Spice Snaps
Purely Pumpkin
Pumpkin Perfection
Pumpkin With Love
Pumpkin Please!
Pumpkin Light
Flickerin Pumpkin
Jack-O-lin Pumpkin
Pumpkin Parade
Pumpkin Bumpkin
Pumpkin Patch
Punkin Pumpkin
Harvest Pumpkin
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkine
Pumpkanine
The Howling Pumpkin
Punkin Pickins
Pumpkin Pawty
Pure Pumpkin Pleasure
Pumpkin Patch Pooches
Pumpkins Please
Lord of the Harvest
Lord of the Gourds
Howlistic Pumpkin Pieces
Tail Waggin' Pumpkin
Smashing Pumpkins
Extreme Pumpkin
Barkin' Pumpkin!
Fall Harvest delights
Citrouille la trouille (citrouille is Pumpkin in French - trouille is scary)
Jack'O Cakes
Diggin' for Pumpkins
Mr. Pumpkin Head
Calabaza WOOF

What do you like so far? Leave a comment, or send me an email.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Contest - Name our new pumpkin biscuits


We're still experimenting at the bakery to get the BEST pumpkin biscuits ever! In the meantime, I'm asking for your help in naming our new biscuits. If we choose the name you suggest, we'll send you a Barking Biscuit gift pack, plus of course we'll give you kudos in our blog. If more than one person suggests the same name, we'll do a draw to select the winner.

We did have pumpkin biscuits before, but one of the ingredients was rolled oats. Our new biscuits are completely grain free...a special biscuit inspired by a very dear friend of mine whose dog has cancer and can no longer have grains in her diet.

Our former name? Jumpin Pumpkin

Our new name? You tell me

Leave a comment or send me an email.
Winner will be contacted by email, and will be announced on this blog in early October.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

It's not too late! Going to the Dogs Dinner & Race Night

These little Barking Biscuit sample packs are just one of the things you'll receive in your goodie bag if you go to "Going to the Dogs Dinner & Race Night" on September 21st. Let me tell you, it took a bit of time to package up 300 of these little guys! Of course, a little self promotion is involved...I printed the inside of each tag with information about our Christmas biscuits, our dog photo search, and so on. Hopefully people will read them! The goodie bags will also have our Paws for Charity postcards with information about our button pins and cafe press tshirts printed on the cards.

This unique & fun fundraiser starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa, and promises to be a fun-filled evening with live horse racing, fabulous food, door prizes, 50/50 draw and silent auction.

Price of admission includes valet parking, coat check, all-you-can-eat buffet, complimentary race program and your first $2 wager. Price per person is $40. All proceeds from the evening go to 3 great dog groups...Aussie Rescue Placement Helpline, Canines with a Cause and National Capital Coalition for People and Dogs (soon to be Responsible Dog Owners of Canada).

For tickets contact Julie at morejulie@hotmail.com.

For more information contact Cathy at going2thedogs@gmail.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

How a shirt led to a conversation & PIFing news

We bought our home 9 years ago, when the house was 5 years old. In the past 9 years, we've had to replace LOTS of things...things you wouldn't expect to have to replace in such a "young" home. The latest in the long string of replacements (windows, french doors, furnace, hot water tank...) is our front porch. It was made from cedar, but it's rotting after 14 years.


So, I'm talking with the man who's doing the work (Pierre) and he asks me about the shirt I'm wearing. No, he's not interested in fashion. I was wearing one of my many "Barking Biscuit" shirts....a golf shirt embroidered with my company logo.

This led to a lengthy discussion. It seems that Pierre and his wife have bought my biscuits, and have been at agility events where they use my biscuits as prizes (they are both judges for agility). What a small world!

For all you budding entrepreneurs, my advice to you is to have your logo digitized so that you can have your logo put on the clothes you wear. It's not expensive (my logo costs $5 to embroider on anything I want), and it's one of the best marketing tools you can invest in. I can't tell you the number of times that people have asked me about my business just because I'm wearing a shirt with my logo stitched on. I'm my own walking advertisement!

Speaking of stitching...a bit from my personal life...

I recently joined a Pay It Forward (PIF). Sometime in the next 10 months or so I'll be receiving a little something from Joy. In return, I promised to PIF to three people. Well, I've sent my little somethings to Angelique and to Linda. I had lovely emails from them both, who loved what I sent. Here is Angelique's gift:

For some better photos, you can check out her blog entry here. The flowers represent Angelique and her husband. I revived my rusty embroidery skills for these projects.

And here is Linda's gift:

The colours aren't quite right in these photos...I was lazy and used my scanner instead of taking photos of them. My scanner dulls down the colours, and I'm not sure how to change the settings. There are 3 flowers around Linda's L...two flowers to represent Linda and her husband, and one orange flower that represents their daughter.

I have one PIF left...Corline, I'm working on it!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Frank is back & Meet Cypris

Back in April, I was hoping to obtain a spot in one of the largest Ottawa Christmas Gift Shows. I was really disappointed (but not surprised) that I didn't get a spot. It turns out that everything happens for a reason. I have a couple of big things going on that I'm quite excited about. It's a little early yet, but I'll share them with you soon.

Guess what! Frank is back. He's not a goner like we thought. Here he is, up to his old tricks, hanging out on the outside of our living room window at night.

Time to share a photo sent to me a few days ago. Meet Cypris...sent to us by Suzanne of Mountain Dog Lodge in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Cypris is a real sweetheart, adores all people & kids, goes to "work" (their doggie daycare) every day, and she's a rescue to boot!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Go Bananas Pawty Cake

Here's a cake recipe for you...well, actually for your four legged friends. Yes, a cake for dogs. What can I tell you? It's a crazy world out there. I have baked this cake on several television shows. Usually the host of the show will try it out. It's a little bland for the human palate, but dogs love it.

Barking Biscuit Go Bananas Pawty Cake

2 cups water
1/4 cup mashed banana
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
3 cups whole wheat flour (you can substitute rice flour, but you'll have to reduce the water)
1 cup dried bananas
1/2 tbsp baking powder

Frosting:
250 grams low fat cream cheese
3 teaspoons carob powder (not chocolate!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.
In a bowl, mix together water, bananas, vanilla, egg and honey.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, dried bananas and baking powder. Mix thoroughly.
Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well. The dough will be thicker than regular cake mix.
Pour into an 8 inch greased cake pan and bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The cake will be quite dense...definitely not light and fluffy.

To make the frosting, beat ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. Spread over the cake and decorate it with pieces of dried banana.

Store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Let your four legged friends enjoy!

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

One day you relax, the next you don't

Yesterday lots of parents sent their children off to the first day of school. Our son is in Toronto (about 4 hours from here) trying to find his first permanent home. Where did the time go? Seems like just yesterday we were putting him on the bus for school.


It seems fitting that we spent yesterday babysitting John's grandson. Mr. J is a joy to have around. We had a fun day with lots of adventures. The great thing about a two year old is that everything is a big adventure.

Playing with cars. Did you know that some float...and some don't? Amazing to a 2 year old.
Going for a walk with Baba (and Bama busy taking photos)
Watching the local machinery busy at work. And watching. And watching. Want to go home Mr. J? No! We didn't go home until the digger stopped for the day. Good thing we waited until the afternoon nap was over before we went for a walk to look at the machines!

So, yesterday was relaxing and fun. Today, not so relaxing.

Package an order and go to the post office. Go to the bank to deposit the cheques that came in last week (yay!). Go to the natural food store to purchase ingredients for the dog cake (yes, a cake for dogs) that I'm going to bake. Package 5 orders for delivery into Ottawa tomorrow. Process and print invoices for the orders. Bake a cake for a dog birthday party. John picked up the biscuits from our bakery to bring back to our workshop for packaging. When he arrives, we unload 500 pounds of dog biscuits out of the CRV and into the workshop. Whew! And it's not over yet...

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Going To The Dogs Dinner & Race Night

I'm excited to be part of the 2nd annual Going To The Dogs Dinner & Race Night.


This unique & fun fundraiser is scheduled for Friday, September 21st starting at 6:30 p.m. It's held at the Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa, and promises to be a fun-filled evening with live horse racing, fabulous food, door prizes, 50/50 draw and silent auction.


Price of admission includes valet parking, coat check, all-you-can-eat buffet, complimentary race program and your first $2 wager. Price per person is $40. All proceeds from the evening go to 3 great dog groups...Aussie Rescue Placement Helpline, Canines with a Cause and National Capital Coalition for People and Dogs (soon to be Responsible Dog Owners of Canada).

For tickets contact Julie at morejulie@hotmail.com.
For more information contact Cathy at going2thedogs@gmail.com

I've seen some of the items for the silent auction...they look great!

We went last year, and it was lots of fun. Hope to see you there this year.

Article: The Power of Blogs


Our Paws for Charity project was featured in a recent article about the power of blogs. A big thank you to Sherri Garrity of Make It Count Communications for including us in her article.


HIGH TECH, HIGH TOUCH - THE POWER OF BLOGS by Sherri Garrity:
If you're looking for a way to engage your audiences, reach thousands of people, promote your vision in an interactive way, and do so quickly and inexpensively, the blog is an incredibly powerful communications tool. Non-profit organizations and individuals are beginning to use them for mission driven and philanthropic pursuits.

Sara Harley of The Barking Biscuit and three entrepreneurial friends in Ontario joined talent and forces to form the PAWS for Charity project to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society. Their blog launched earlier this year complements promotions in their own businesses (check out the Pink Ribbon Chilly Dog Sweater from Chilly Dogs shown here as an example). Like many who blog, Sara had no prior experience and underestimated the reach it would have. The last 100 visitors to the site were from North America, UK, Europe and as far away as the United Arab Emirates. The success of the blog prompted her to start one for her own business.

As more and more people link to their site, news of their efforts has spread. The project was recently highlighted in the grassroots
Women Can Do Anything blog, another testament to using technology to unite people of common interests. The WCDA motto of Dream. Believe. Achieve. is a great motto for us all.

To read the full article click here.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Weekend Snapshots

It was a long weekend for us here in Canada, and I think for our U.S. friends as well. How did you spend your long weekend? Here's a few little snapshots from our weekend.

Bath time for everyone. We have a hose from Lee Valley Tools that is perfect for outside baths. We attach it to an indoor tap (the small bathroom on our main floor). It's a coiled hose that stretches to 50 feet. Since it's attached to an indoor tap, we can adjust the water to a warmer temperature than the freezing water that comes from our well on the outdoor tap. The theory is that the crew will like having a bath better if it's not with freezing water. I don't think the theory works. All in all, the 3 of them "tolerate" their clean up time but not one of them really enjoys it. Strangely enough, our cat Phantom likes it best!

Next was a ride in the Miata for John & me. Despite the dire warnings of greenhouse gases, one of our favourite things is still to "go for a ride". It was a perfect day for it...sunny, but not too hot.

Remember my Horace Bear WIP? Well, I finally started putting my poor Horace together. Now that I've started, I'm hoping to have him/her finished by the end of the week. I enjoy knitting, but I really dislike putting everything together. (as you can probably tell, since I am sadly behind in my target completion date of July 15th!)

On Sunday, we had visitors for a barbeque. Two friends drove up from Kingston to see us...and brought the food with them! We had an unbelievable meal BBQ'd by John on our Big Green Egg...the biggest steaks I've ever seen, salmon, grilled mushrooms, onions, and peppers, olive sour dough bread, potatoes, carrots, and home made baklava. Mmm Mmm Great.

Today we were off to a baseball game in Ottawa...the very last (ever) game of the Ottawa Lynx. We were there for the opening game on April 17, 1993 (a very cold evening) and were seasons tickets holders for a few years. We sort of stopped going to ball games once we moved from Ottawa. Anyway, the team is moving away so we thought we should go to their last game. It was a perfect afternoon for a ball game...sunny & hot (30 C or 85 F...however you measure it) Perfect for hot dogs & beer. (but they lost!)

Hope you had a good weekend!