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Carlisle Railway Station tv advert for Homebase

Carlisle railway station has been turned in to a film set this week as the DIY chain, Homebase produce a tv advert.

Bright colourful stripes have been painted on walls, sofas and chandeliers have all been installed and hundreds of extras have been recruited.

The waiting room on platform four has been turned in to a lounge,  a garden has been created and the connecting bridge has been painted in multi-colour stripes.

Visitors arriving at the station have been amazed at the transformation and many people are requesting on the social media site, Facebook that some of the installed features remain once filming ceases over the weekend.

Carlisle railway station is managed by Virgin Trains

Here are some pictures taken earlier today

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WebWatch with Charlie the Cocker Spaniel

It has been a while since I took a few minutes to look around the web and see what gadgets, gismos and websites I can find that interest me and in turn you may find interesting.

If you would like to suggest any gadgets, websites or stories for my next WebWatch then get in touch via the Contact Us form at the top of this page.

A quick thought for Valentines Day…
According to a survey conducted by a pet food company, 26 percent of dog owners “say ‘I love you’ once a day to their dogs—the same percentage that says ‘I love you’ once a day to a spouse or significant other.”

Gadgets

Power generating dog lead - A bit of lateral thinking has gone in to this gadget that harnesses the energy stored in our leads to generate light.  As we pull the retractable lead in and out a generator makes electricity. This energy is stored in batteries and used to power a light to guide the way.  Still as a concept but a great idea, investors wanted.

PawTrax - After two years of research, investigation and testing a GPS tracker has been developed for us. It is called The PATmicro.

Air conditioned and heated dog house - Now we are talking sheer luxury here.

The innovative Cool Pet House has been designed to cater for Small Pets up to 12kg and is Air-conditioned & Heated using newly developed state of the art ‘thermo-electric’ technology with temperature ranges from a cool 17°C up to a balmy 30°C (thermostat controlled).

The Cool Pet House also features inbuilt humidifiers to ensure that the living and sleeping environment remains at a constant and very pleasant 50-60% humidity.

There is also an optional WI FI Web Cam and LED interior lighting at the touch of a remote control button.

Websites

Ohmidog.com –  is the web domain of John Woestendiek, a former newspaper reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner who, after blogging about dogs and animals for the Baltimore Sun, decided to unleash himself from the newspaper and go out on his own.

As a stray, he plans to continue blogging and working as a writer on other projects, including a dog-related book.

He is assisted in this endeavor by the ohmidog! staff (listed below) and his dog Ace, who, whether he’s dragging his owner to the dog park or curled up and snoring on the futon, provides constant inspiration.

The other end of the leash.com - This is one for the humans,  as it is an ongoing inquiry about the behavior of people and dogs.

To Quote from the website ” My hope is that it will become a place for an informed and thoughtful consideration of the amazing relationship between people and dogs—my two favorite species.”

The blog is written by Patricia McConnell, a certified applied animal behaviorist and dog trainer who is crazy in love with her dogs.

Oldies Club –  The Oldies Club is a dog rescue, run solely by volunteers, that specialises in rescuing and rehoming older dogs – aged 7 years plus.

The Oldies Club rescue grew from an initial idea on an internet dog chat forum by a group of people who felt great empathy with the plight of elderly dogs that find themselves homeless.

You can help this club with collecting stamps from used envelopes. Please send them to Oldies Club Stamps, 35 Belle Vue Street, Healey, Batley, West Yorks, WF17 8DD. Please ensure Oldies Club is mentioned on the envelope, to ensure money raised is allocated correctly.

The Oldies club is also on the lookout for other items including mobile phones, printer cartridges. full details on their website.

Dog Art Today – Dog Art Today is devoted to daily dog art from around the world.

Features include contemporary dog art, the history of dogs in art, dog art auctions, books, posters, fashion and decor.

Launched in March 2007 this blog is run by Moira McLaughlin (MORE-a Mc-LOCK-lin) who is an artist and a dog lover. She has a Longhaired Dachshund muse called Darby.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures we have taken over the past few weeks and have kept as sort of a blooper part to this post.

A Sleepy Buster

Buster eventually finds somewhere to sleep.

Even if it is on the stairs with his head on some paperwork waiting to be filed….. sweet dreams

Amusing picture

And finally… Whilst we were out in the car the other day we spotted this image in the grounds of Lanercost Priory…. Bishop’s Move in a Priory…. Well we thought it was funny:-)

Until next time

Charlie

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Flood signs in Carlisle

Over the past few weeks we have become aware of a few new signs appearing on our walks.

Made in the form of ceramic tiles the small graphical artworks depict a local landmark or the extent of the Carlisle floods in 2005.

Interestingly the tiles seem to be embedded into the new flood defences.

Searching the web we are unable to find out if others exist or if maybe if they are part of a new trail around Carlisle.

The Civic centre tile is to be found on the new subway entrance from Victoria Park.

A red sign with the River Eden in blue is stuck to the flood defences to the rear of The Sands centre just off Hardwick Circus.

Other news

Things are starting to settle down after all the frost and snow over Christmas.

Local fields and the pavements are all clear of the ice and the damp wet normal weather has returned.  We much preferred the ice,  as everything looked brighter and we did not get as dirty.

The grown ups have been busy doing computer web stuff like mad since the holidays. Mum says it is like the modern proddy rug, where you gather all the bits and pieces during the summer then sort it all out during the dark winter nights.

Twitter

Don’t forget you can follow us on Twitter. Our username is ablogfrommydog. Dad has put a blue follow us to the right of this page to help you.

A quick update as we are just going to get a bath then settle down to watch some wildlife tv. Well it is Saturday night.

Untill next time

Buster and Charlie

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Mucky paws in Bitts Park, Carlisle

How many times can we start a blog entry by saying it is raining again?  We make a quick dash today, between the showers,  to Bitts Park so that we can get out and stretch our paws.

Finding a car parking space was difficult for dad as something must be going on at the nearby Sheepmount sports complex. Interesting and just an aside, the Sheepmount description from the link above says that the site has two cricket pitches and a cycle track, where?

The number of times we have visited the area and we have never seen anyone playing cricket or getting on their bikes except on the public paths through the park.

Our walk

Back to our walk and after parking the car and avoiding slipping in the muddy grass we finally got onto long leads and a scamper about.

In a previous update we mentioned that areas of Carlisle had been flooded in the recent storms well it looks like the new moat by the side of Carlisle Castle has now vanished.

Silt and mucky puddles line the path and it wasn’t long before the tidemark around our legs became visible.

Mum suggested that we should get some wellington boots.

We meet biscuit

Victoria Park, next door and along the same path, had not dried out and the calm duckpond reflected the sky like a mirror.

Previous visits to this park had revealed a number of burrows in the plant borders possibly made by rabbits or maybe a badger or two.

Mum and dad wondered if they had found new homes or had possibly drowned as the waters rose.

Bounding along, stick in mouth, came biscuit. Straight past us and into the pond he ran loving every minute of his walk.

We have met biscuit a number of times on our walk around the park and her human. Charlie gets fussed over as a fellow nutter and did make a bit of a collection of paw prints on his trousers, for which he can only say sorry.

Blossom

Many of the plants in the park have now hunkered down for the winter after loosing leaves and shedding flowers. However, some love this time of year including a winter flowering cherry.

Bright white flowers with pinkish centres contrast brilliantly against the dark grey sky and brown tree trunks.

Nearby, spreading scent across a wide area is a viburnum. Small white flowers dispense a perfume in to the cool breeze similar to jasmine.

One of the casualties of the flooding is a very tall willow tree which now has its roots above ground.

Willlow usually enjoy their feet in damp soil but the soft ground has given way allowing this tree to fallover.

Maybe the grounds staff will be able to replant it once the waters go away but more than likely it will be turned into chippings.

Let’s hope a new tree is planted in it’s place.

We return home and entering the house it becomes apparent that we may have picked up quite a bit of mud and debris from our walk.

The entrance hall floor quickly becomes covered with small mucky paw prints and as is so much the procedure these days, we go straight to the bathroom.

Yipee not a full bath, but a washing of our legs and tummies to remove the grit and dirt.  I think a few hours infront of the warm fire is needed now to dry off and chill. It is a weekend after all!

Until next time

Buter and Charlie

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Remembrance and fireworks

After many nights of being scared by the bangs and pops of fireworks we ventured outside this afternoon for a walk to stretch our legs a bit.

With big grey clouds on the horizon, we took a short car journey towards the town and our usual walking venue of Bitts Park.

Last night the annual bonfire and fireworks event took place here.

Usually around 35,000 people attend the show which is listed as one of the top 10 bonfires in the UK by The Times newspaper in 2007.

Two thousand fireworks and a bonfire, made to look like a local landmark, all went up in flames and smoke.

Although the metal crown barriers have been removed you can see where they were as a clear green lines criss cross the field.

All the recent rain has made this area very muddy and at one stage it was thought that the event may need to be cancelled on safety grounds.

It is a shame that the park looks quite a mess today, especially if you are a visitor to the area.

Lets hope the council will be out early tomorrow picking up the litter and emptying the overflowing dustbins.

Falling leaves

Autumn has arrived and the leaves are falling from the trees quite quickly now.

Paths in nearby Victoria Park are covered with golden shapes and piles of leaves bursting with new sniffs.

With the low sunshine, trees take on a magical glow, as branches are highlighted against backgrounds hidden during the summer.

Some leaves are managing to hang on, but the first winter winds and the cooler evening temperatures will soon relieve them of their grip.

Also taking advantage in the calm dry break in the rain, were many other dogs taking their owners for a walk in the park this afternoon.

People were also playing tennis on the outdoor courts and inside the tennis air dome.

Roses in full bloom

Some of the leaves have gathered on the sides of paths around the park.  One or two of the larger piles attracted our attention as they did seem to smell a little different.

Maybe a hedgehog had tried to set up home at some stage, using the leaves as a sort of blanket to keep out the rain and cold evening air.

One of the more unusual sights on our walk was a red rose in full bloom.

A small bud also was visible on the same plant.

Mum wondered if the plants were as confused as we are with the changing temperatures.

Remembering our fallen

Today many of the humans have been remembering friends, colleagues and family members in annual Remembrance Day services.

We also took a moment to think of some of us who have been killed or injured serving our masters.

Dogs have been used for centuries to relay messages, in a search and rescue environment, mascots and to protect people and property.

When mum was watching the remembrance day parade in London, she said that this year was the first year in which one of the Military Dog handler’s sections had been represented.

Our own Victoria Cross

During the First World War we had our own school, the War Dog Training School,  where we were taught to leap wire fences and get through the lines.

It was important stuff and had serious consequences for a human if they hindered us with our progress.

In cases of exceptional courage, bravery and loyalty we may even be awarded, by the Mayor of London, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross, The Dickin Medal.

Memorial

Throughout the world a number of memorials have been erected to those of us who have lost our lives in conflict or battle.

Here are a few that we are aware of.  Please let us know via the comments or the contact us form if you can add to this list.

USA

• March Field Air Museum – March Air Force Base, Riverside California – Further details >>
• Sacrifice Field in front of the National Infantry Museum, Fort Benning, Georgia - Further details >>
• The War Dog Memorial – University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine - Further details >>

UK

• War dog statue of the Mascot to the Free Norwegian Forces during World War II - Further details >>
• The Animals in War Memorial - Further details >>

Further information about our roles during warfare and conflict

• The Irish Wolfhound and a dog called Bally Shannon
• Dogs in Warfare – Wikipedia
• Dogs noted for courage, bravery or sterling duty – Wikipedia

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WebWatch with Charlie

It is a while since I took a good look around the web and posted a few website worthy of a quick mention.  Please get in touch if you would like to suggest your dog blog  or dog story for inclusion next time.

First thing I spotted was this article from the Daily Mail in the UK.
A paralysed dog has been put back on his feet again, raising hopes of a treatment for humans with severe spinal injuries.
Henry the miniature dachshund was unable to walk after discs ruptured in his spine last November. Read More

Here are a few more including some other dogs with blogs

Max the Golden Retriever’s Personal Blog – Max has become a bit of a celebrity even appearing in an article on CNN. Max is a three year old golden retriever who lives across the pond in the USA

 

All the Creatures – An unusual collection of videos, articles and still images featuring many kinds of animals including dogs.  We especially liked the idea of a heated bed .

 

The Hybrid Connection – Follow the adventures of two hybrid puppies. Sparky the Puggle (a cross between a Pug and a Beagle.)  and Patches the Beagler (a cross between a Beagle and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel).

 

New Yorker Cartoon. A bit of fun this to make you smile.  I had my own blog for a while….

 

Max’s Dog-Blog – Life from the point of view of an  ’Overweight and Middle aged’ German Shepherd

 

You can follow the adventures of Harry a Border Terrier via his blog. Harry was named after Harry Potter but heis real posh name is Bramble Keeper.

 

Farley has his one blog here. Dog Tails is a dog blog and diary written by a Golden Retriever named Farley. He is also involved in the 1000 golden project to track down 1000 golden retrievers and their owners and how they get on together.

 

Their seems to be a bit of a thing going on here with linking to Golden retrievers but here is another one.  Charlie lives in oregon and by all accounts loves to play and share his toys.

 

The Kennel club has announced the winners for the Dog Photographer of the Year 2009.  You can see the images on Flickr

Do you know of any websites we should feature?

Please get in touch if you know of a website we can feature in my webwatch feature next time.  Please get in touch via the contact us form at the top of this page.

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Return of the sprouts

‘Christmas is coming’ said mum as she arrived home this evening clutching a big bag of sprouts.

‘Woof and double woof’ we replied,  scurrying around her trying to get our sniffers into the bag.

Readers of our blog may have read that we love our sprouts and when they are in season we just can not get enough of the little fellas.

The return of the sprouts means we can say goodbye to our summer sustaining substitute of broccoli, or ‘little trees’ as we prefer to call them.

Interestingly the British Heart Foundation has released details of a study it commissioned with Imperial College London recently into the brassica family  (the human’s posh word for little trees).

The report seems to suggest that a chemical found in vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, can boost a natural defence mechanism to protect arteries from disease in humans.

We wondered if the same chemical, Sulforaphane, may help reduce our cholesterol levels and switch on the protective protein indicated in the research, assuming we have it.

You never know it may also have other health benefits for us pooches?

Until next time

Charlie and Buster

Further information

Alternative Therapies for Canine Cancer – Beta Glucan Supreme

A very technical paper related to the Nrf2 protective protein

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Rain affects crops & stops our walks

When will the rain ever stop and we can get out for a good long walk? Over the last several days we must have had many centimeters of rain and we are now starting to get bored of it.

Running around and sulking is all we seem to be doing recently and it is also very dark…. Actually we are just miserable.

Dad has just suggested a big pot of stew and dumplings for dinner, so he must also be feeling the weather in his old bones also…

Outside the garden is struggling as the tomato’s are failing to ripen and the shrubs, once full of flower and wildlife, are rotting in the damp conditions.

Mum has even gone as far as to suggest not growing tomato plants next year and is consulting the books as to what to do with the greenhouse growing season which seems to be only 3 months long, May, June and July.

We are hearing a lot of discussions about chutney this week. Maybe it will be an excuse for the cooker to be on and at least one room in the house to be warmed up.

Earlier in the year you may have read about the canopy thing in the garden mum put up so she could do some of the web work outside.

Well this is now being put to great use by us to avoid us getting wet when we go outside to play.

All the rain however has started to make it look a little black so we don’t think it will be long before it is washed and packed away for the winter.

Apples and soft fruit seem to have had a great growing season this year.

To the left is the apple tree, Lustre Elstar, at our  grandad’s in Lancaster. He says that he came about this tree after saving tokens from one of the national newspapers.

The label on it says that is is a heavy cropper, however the weight of the fruit is starting to bend the branches and may even snap one or two of them if some supports are not rigged soon.

Soft fruit also seems to have done very well despite the horrible weather and mum has been busy over the last few days sorting out some damsons and plums given to them from a friend. Keep an eye over on Food on a budget for harvest updates.

Other news.

Mum and dad continue to add stuff to Spirit-of-orkney.  Highlights this week include some desktop wallpapers and some graphic banners to help people link to the site.

Mum has also contributed by writing an article about the wild fuchsia seen in many places on the mainland.

You may have noticed a few tweaks also on this site.  You can now Twitter articles direct from the page using the new green buttons at the top of every article.  Go on –  follow what we do on the social microblogging site. Our username is ablogfrommydog.

Did you know you can now print out any of our expeditions or web posts?   Thanks to a new bit of software dad has installed on this web thingy a print button has now appeared at the top left of every post.  Clicking here formats the page so it prints out ok on most printers.

Darker nights mean early chews.

Finally for this update we should make you aware of the change in the clocks.

Usually we get a chew at 8pm human time,  after we have been on night time garden patrol.  However,  recently we are asking for our chews a little bit too early, at around 7.30pm human time.

So either our internal clocks are a little out or something else is going on.  Can anyone explain?

That is all for now

Buster and Charlie.

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Miniature houses on Orkney

When mum and dad visited Orkney a few weeks ago they spotted two miniature buildings on their travels.

Upon their return they have, even with our help, been unable to find out anything more about them. So can you help?

Building one

Situated around 20m from the A691 from Holm to Kirkwall is what appears to be a wooden stately home built into the fence line.

Dad initally thought it could be a horse jump, due to the nearby fence similar to those you see at equestrian events.

Closer inspection shows however little damage to fragile chimney pots or any real scuffing of the roof.

It would seem as if this building has been in place since at least  2005 as this Flickr posting indicates.

Building two

On the coast close to the B9042 on South Ronaldsay and with great views all around,  is this castle fit for a princess.

Built from what appears to be masonry this building is what appears to be a fantastic play house given it’s scale.

Mum and dad were unsure what building the model was based upon but, given the grand tower and long roof it looks like possibly a cathedral or building similar to Westminster Hall in London.

Do you know of the history of either of these buildings? Let us know via the comments box below.

Other news

New website spirit-of-orkney.com is coming along well and has now started to develop some great content. It is hard to pull the humans away from the computer as they write up loads of notes and discuss where photographs were taken.

Maybe we will get to see this place sometime…

Thats all for now

Buster and Charlie

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Silloth RNLI lifeboat launched

Never believe the weather forecast, for today it  suggested that it was going to rain just after lunch and as yet, not a drop of liquid sunshine.

Overnight it rained very hard, so most walks through the woods or forests were ruled out as mum didn’t want us to get too dirty, so we decided to go to Silloth.

Silloth offers us a longish walk both on concrete, to file our nails down and grass to run around on and is a a place we have visited many times.

Our walk started in the usual way from the Carrs Flour mill along the seafront. We then walked  back on the grass past the lighthouse and tennis courts back to ….. And this is where mum  just had to stop for fish and chips eaten in the open air on a park bench.

Somehow food eaten outside just tastes different. Mum and dad sat on the bench whilst we looked longingly at every mouthful. Fish is good for us we woofed when we wanted just that little bit more.

Just as mum was putting the waste wrappers in to the dustbin a number of cars passed by, a little quicker than is normal on a town street, down the road away from the town centre towards the coast.

We thought nothing more of it  until we approached the lifeboat station where a number of humans had gathered around and a bright orange boat was being trundled out of the lifeboat station towards the top of the slipway.

Mum then put the jigsaw pieces together and realised that the people in the quickly moving cars must have been RNLI crew responding to an alert and that the Silloth lifeboat was about to be launched.

The average time to launch an inshore lifeboat is seven minutes.

Silloth has a B Class (Atlantic) rigid inflatable lifeboat which is kept undercover in the lifeboat station.

When an emergency call is received the crew are summoned by pager to attend the boat.

It is then wheeled out and down the slipway in a few minutes.

With a top speed of 35knots and a crew of 3 or 4 the 1.8 tonnes of lifeboat quickly leaves the launch trolley and enters the Solway Firth.

The RNLI established a lifeboat station and a boathouse was built on the promenade at Seaview in 1860.

The current lifeboat station and improved slipway was built in the mid 1990’s and features a small shop and facilities for the crew to change and train.

It was officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Kent on 11 October 1995.

Once launched, the tractor and trailer are recovered from the slipway and wait nearby for the emergency to be over and the lifeboat to return.

The Silloth Lifeboat headed right as it left the cradle and with a range of 3 hours at full power could be gone for a considerable time so we decided to move on.

Looking at the RNLI website upon our return it looks as if it has been a busy day for some of the volunteers as lifeboats have also been launched in Sunderland, Skegness and New Brighton this afternoon.

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