It has been many years since either my parents or I have celebrated our birthdays. Just a reminder that another year has slipped by. However Liquorice’s youthful enjoyment of her monthly birthdays give us much pleasure. It’s silly I know but a full year is too long to wait and besides I am of the belief that Newfoundlands have too few annual birthdays. So today Liquorice’s family celebrated another of her monthly birthdays. Her eighth!
She enjoyed her usual grooming before her morning walk by chewing on a compressed rawhide “bone” and a piece of beef jerky. Liquorice’s morning games followed then her morning walk. As we wandered along the roadside our next-door neighbor but one pulled up on the road alongside us in her car for a natter. You can do that sort of thing out where we live, which is near the end of a series of dead-end streets on Sydney’s rural fringe. There is little traffic. People often stop their cars alongside each other for a gossip through the driver’s windows blocking the road if there were traffic. Marion asked after my little darling while stroking Liquorice’s head through the car window. Liquorice’s head stayed on my side of the window, not Marion’s. When informed that Liquorice celebrates her eighth monthly birthday today both Marion and daughter Kim burst in song with Happy Birthday to you, etc much to the delight of my little darling. But then Liquorice associates that song with birthday cake!
Upon returning home I prepared breakfast for Liquorice which as usual she enjoyed. During the course of the day she received her “presies” starting with a large marrow bone that I had the butcher split down the length and then cut in half making four quarters with all the marrow exposed. This kept her occupied while we had our usual late breakfast. She was still enjoying that treat when I took my father to the doctor and did some shopping which included Liquorice’s obligatory birthday cake. This month it’s a Caramel Mud Cake! Of greater interest to my little darling was a sizeable box of pig’s ears. Liquorice has her own cupboard of treats in the kitchen and she was delighted to be present when it was opened. More so this time as when I could eventually gain access, after Liquorice examined her treasures, it was necessary to unpack and rearrange some of the contents to make room for the box of pig’s ears. There are three shelves but it still took some rearranging however Liquorice helped as much as she could by finishing off the contents of a couple of near empty packages! But she was disappointed that those pig’s ears were for later. That is one cupboard that, for obvious reasons, is rarely opened in Liquorice’s presence.
Then Liquorice was “officially” given multi-colored plush dumb-bell with a squeaker in each end. I say “officially” given because she found that present a few days ago in my little home office. We next had lunch with Liquorice sitting at the table between Dad and me. Mostly Liquorice sits there watching us eat and generally refuses the tidbits offered her. On other occasions she is a black hole that cannot be satisfied. Today was one of those “other” occasions! For that reason she had to wait for her cake until our afternoon coffee break. However a pig’s ear made her happy. And eating it outside, on the back lawn, made Ma happy too.
Come the time for our late afternoon coffee and Liquorice was asleep on the lawn, probably dreaming of earless piggies and legless bovines. However the offer of a slice of caramel mud cake had her sitting up and keen. I broke the slice up into small pieces about a half-inch or so square feeding it to her one piece at a time. Liquorice took each piece gently from my fingers carefully watching how much was left in my other hand. I walked toward the back door but Liquorice bounded there and danced on the spot waiting impatiently for me to open the door for her. Then a dash along the tiled portion of the family room floor to the kitchen table where she came to a sliding seated position ready for another slice. My little darling loves her cake! Do not misunderstand, Liquorice does not eat the whole cake but rather shares it with the human members of her family. It may not be her choice but we enjoy her birthday cakes too! Then it was another game on the back lawn until I was too pooped to play. After a brief rest Liquorice had her afternoon walk and another romp, this time in the front paddock. Her evening grooming session followed where she chose to gnaw on one of the remains of marrowbone quarters instead of her rawhide “bone”. Her evening meal followed and another walk over to the front gate to take out the garbage and recycle bins for collection in the morning. A run back along the track left me tired but Liquorice still had heaps of energy. But then she ate more cake than I did! Liquorice quickly grabbed another marrowbone quarter from the breezeway and headed for the lawn for another chewing session. Later on tonight, just before bedtime, she will finish her special day with some ice cream, another favorite, but one that she seldom has these days. You see Liquorice is on a diet!
Poor Liquorice, for the next week or so she will have to have a lot of additional exercise to burn off today’s calories. Just as well her birthdays only come around once a month.
Arthur Witten
Liquorice – It would be easier to store those goodies in me, not the cupboard!