Christmas message to our pals

 Well Pals, the Juniors are both home so our Christmas starts here, with the prerequisite amount of fussing, ear rubs, stroking and general loving. We wish you a similarly affectionate Christmas. After years of socially distanced festivities, this is the first proper one in a while, and we will be seeing quite a few folk over the break. There might be rampent inflation, sky-high fuel prices, rail strikes, postal strikes, nurses and paramedic strikes, and South East Water giving the additional seasonal blessing of no water for large chunks of our county, but we have made it to this point, with presents largely purchased, everyone mainly well, and with water still coming out of our taps; a seasonally miracle! If anything fails, we’ll just chuck a log on the woodburner, prop ‘Her Indoors’ up in a corner with the cooking sherry and Quality Street, crack open the Lily’s Kitchen turkey jerky, and enjoy ourselves anyway!

Us furs are good at enjoyment. All I need is to be in the same room as ‘Her Indoors’, ideally touching, and I’m a happy fur. The apprentice, Bear, likes to do a bit of theft and chewing, so she’s had a couple of tree decorations and a brief flirtation with a knitted Christmas mouse which was ‘too high for her to reach’ but which was rescued from her jaws before any real harm was done, fortunately for her. It’s not a good idea to destroy items that ‘Her Indoors’ has hand crafted…. We were dressed in fetching festive bow ties, and whilst Bear can’t get to hers, she has already deaded mine. She really is quite helpful at times!

I have promised her that she can sign off our Christmas message, but I shall be breathing over her shoulder to make sure she does it right, after all, she is still an apprentice *passes keypad over*

*Squiggles and wiggles excitedly* Finally Pals, I’ve been trying to get onto this blog for months! *pushes Uncle Teds away*. What happens if I press this? 👍😳🤷‍♀️😔😱😡🤣😂 Ooooooh! I wonder what this wire does *has a quick chew* ⚡️🫥. Anyway, as Uncle Teds keeps reminding me *sighs*, I’m supposed to be wishing you all a happy Christmas. I’m so excited. There are Christmas stockings and apparently Santa Paws leaves presents for good furs so I should get loads! I hope all my Pals have a great time and Uncle Teds and I want to thank you all for reading our blogs, magazine columns and tweets. You are all pawsome - happy Christmas with joyous lickings from us both, especially meeee!

What the Dickens....

I was having a quick snoozle

nice and comfy in my bed,

and although there was no nightgown

with a tassel for my head,

it was like a scene from Dickens,

but without the starving bit,

the fire was gently glowing

and the Christmas tree was lit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 When I might have wandered into dream

because what did soon appear,

was a vision scene of Christmas past

ere I was living here.

Rolo was a youngster,

glossy fur and full of joys,

the juniors were…well..junior,

with stockings full of toys.

 

 

Rolo’s bed was by the fireside

and his things were on the floor,

he was constantly in mischief

‘Him Indoors’ in a furore.

Rolo was a lithe and supple fur,

his eyes were clear and bright,

the juniors they loved him,

‘Junior Her’ just squeezed him tight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lovely vision faded,

I was back in our own room,

the second bed was empty,

toys gone, a sense of gloom,

the juniors were both grown and left,

and in the garden framed,

a plaque, in memorial, ‘Never knowingly well-behaved!’

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sighed and felt the ghost of loss,

but interrupting my malaise,

the joyous young apprentice

with her naughty, cheering ways.

We heard some people at the door,

and on opening there stood,

the juniors with presents

chocolates, wine and Christmas pud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cannot see the future

and yesterday is past,

the present is a fickle thing,

but Posse friendships last.

Whenever you are feeling down

you know just what to do,

get your paws on Twitter,

your Pals will see you through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So whatever is your Christmas now,

the Posse’s on your phone,

so share your noms and wag your tail,

you are never on your own!

 

 Happy Christmas to all the furs and hupeeps of the BTPosse. You make the world a better place.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....!

Here's my Christmas column!

Pals, if you have enjoyed reading these throughout the year, and you haven't already bought them, there are two books, 'The Last Rolo', a year in the life of the late, great, Border Terrier Rolo, and 'Sit, Stay, Roll Over', a spoof dog training manual. They are for sale individually or both for £10 on 'Her Indoors' website and make great Christmas presents. We also have mugs and Christmas cards featuring the lovely illustrations from the books, by Sally C Greenfield. Click here to purchase:

Buy here!

Anyway, end of the commerical break and here it is. Enjoy!

Life, death and Christmas!

 As many of you will know, me and my apprentice, Bear, unusually for dogs who normally bark, enjoy tweeting on a regular basis. This began when the Boss, the late, great, Rolo, a Border Terrier with a penchant for mischief and a lot to say for himself, stumbled across the BTPosse on Twitter, and the rest, as they say, is history! Myself and Bear have 3,627 and 2,320 followers respectively, whilst 'Her Indoors' limps behind on a lowly 1,313. I'm surprised she's got that many to be honest. What has she got to say of interest that doesn't involve us? Still, managing three accounts keeps her on her toes. The only other social media she does is Facebook and she tends to restrict that to people she knows in everyday life.

                                                       Me, busy doing tech stuff!

We have been somewhat distressed therefore, by all the controversy surrounding Twitter, since Elon Musk took over and has made what appear to be some frankly dubious decisions. I really do feel that they just aught to substitute a dog silhouette for the little bird and hand the whole caboodle to the BTPosse to run. We'd sort it in no time. However, the imminent collapse of Twitter has been regularly predicted, and people are leaving to set up accounts on Instagram and Mastodon, which, quite frankly, sounds like a rather nasty medical condition, as in 'I've got a bad case of the mastodons'. We tried Instagram some years ago and we never really got on with it, plus we really can't be bothered to learn a new platform - 'Her Indoors' is of an age where the tech doesn't come that quickly to her and paws are a mixed blessing on technological interfaces. Some people are leaving Twitter citing ethcial concerns about the new owner, but we are not sure any of the other platforms would stand close examination on that front. So the long and short of it is, we are staying put. Twitter might have got a case of avian flu but it can only go one of two ways, so until it is stone-cold dead, we shall continue to tweet into the abyss. We know it is a personal decision but we hope you'll hang on in there with us and just wait and see....

And whilst we are being a bit gloomy, one of the regular occurances on pet social media, is the loss of beloved furs and the grief of their poor hupeeps. Some people still struggle, years after their pet has passed, and, having lost the Boss ouselves, getting on for four years ago now, we know how hard that grieving process can be. 'Her Indoors' is a writing for wellbeing practioner and facilitates sessions in palliative care, so she decided to put her skills to good use and has a written a series of writing activities, ideally spaced over ten weeks, to help with coming to terms with the loss of a pet. She trialed it, with the kind assistance of a few people who have lost their furry friends, and the feedback has been positive. It was difficult to know what to do about payment as 'Her Indoors' wanted it to be accessible for anyone who needs it, but at the same time, we need our noms money, so she hopes she has priced it within reach of most. If it is genuinely too much and you think you would benefit, get in touch and we'll see what can be done. It is available on 'Her Indoors' website as a downloadable PDF here:                 Pet bereavement

Which, like a dog chasing its tail, brings us round to something a bit more cheerful! The Boss was not only the originator of Twitter in our household, he was also the first blogging fur. From his blog, he got the Sussex Living column, which has, of course, been passed on to me. Our writing voices are really very similar!😉Look out for our December edition and the festive photo that accompanies it. We were very good dogs and it didn't take too many treats! Anyway, the Boss wrote a couple of books: 'The Last Rolo', a year of his life in a series of blog posts or diary entries, and 'Sit, Stay, Roll Over', a spoof training manual, written from a dog's point of view. You can buy both for £10 from 'Her Indoors' website, and over the Black Friday weekend, from 25th-27th November, we'll throw in a free pack of four Christmas cards, featuring the lovely illustrations from the book, by Sally Greenfield, with each two-book order just click here! That's Christmas sorted! 

                                            Buy your Christmas goodies here!

                                          Bear, from last year's Christmas magazine photo shoot
 

                                             And in training, reading the Boss's manual

November's Sussex Living Column

 

 Thought you might like to share this month's Sussex Living column.

Borders bark back!

Blogging is a Border Terrier tradition in our household. First came my predecessor, Rolo, otherwise known as the Boss, whose successful blog led to his own magazine column and then his books. I followed on with my own blog, inheriting the magazine column after the Boss's passing three years ago. This has all been fine until I acquired my apprentice, Bear, over a year ago now. Like all good beginners, she was started with chubby crayons and her ABCs, but has had her own Twitter account from the outset, in another fine Border Terrier tradition. Anyway, she has now started pestering for her own blog, and as I know from hard experience, she can be very persistent. 'Her Indoors' has put her foot down and has insisted we share, so hence the new blog, Borders bark back, to allow both of us equal access to our own platform for barking back at the world. 'Her Indoors' has retained the right to blog occasionally in her own right too, although I can't imagine that'll be very exciting, but Bear will also be allowed occasional access to the keyboard if she is a good girl, so she won't be writing very often! Anything for a quiet life...

                                                Rolo started the tradition of blogging Borders

 

 

                                                        And here's me, at the keyboard...