Ruthie at the manor house

We took Ruthie out to see a bit of history because she said she kind of missed seeing the castle in Ashby. But we've been to the castle and we know a lot of it has fallen down and it's quite scary when you go up the tower and so we took her to a place where there's lots more to see and it's not scary and high up and tumbledown and you don't get wet when it rains. It's called Donington le Heath.

There are lots of things to see at Donington and loads of history because it so old. You can see how old it is just looking at the walls but the garden is good and has lots of tall hedges in it like they had in the olden days. If you look in the pictures you can see that the house has lots of wood in it and there's this clever thing they can do with wood to find out how old things are. They take out a really small bit and count the rings and they can tell when the tree was cut down. They have to compare it with a big sheet that goes back thousands of years, to check the pattern, but it means they can tell you an actual proper date like 1066 or 1776 not just some century or other. So they know the house was built between 1288 and 1295, which means the builders must have been REALLY slow!

The kitchen at Donington is dead good. They've got it all set out like it was working and there's food all over the table but none of it is real. It's plaster and things except the bread and that's real but they coated it in something to stop it going off so you can't eat it but it looks like you can. We spent ages looking at recipes and medicines that you can make out of herbs and there was this massive plastic cheese on the table and if it had been real it would have been yummy except they didn't have fridges then so it might have gone a bit runny in summer. We thought it would be nice to sit round the big kitchen table and eat cheese and bread and fruit and chicken and stuff.
The curly things on the plate are called jumbles. They are a local tasty biscuit.

There's lots of good rooms in Donington and we liked them all but you couldn't see much in some because they had an exhibition thingy on but we liked the bedroom. It had a big bed with curtains and they said that King Richard the Third had slept in it. I hope they changed the sheets since then because it was supposed to be before the battle of Bosworth in 1486. I don't know how they know but it was probably written down somewhere because they have lots of records about the Manor House and they can read up all sorts of interesting stuff. Like back in the 1960s the house belonged to a farmer and he used it to keep pigs in. I wonder how they managed to get upstairs?

Don't forget to check out Ruthie's own blog to find out why she came to visit us.

Ruthie's visit to Ashby

We have a local market town called Ashby de la Zouch and we took Ruthie to see it. Its name is a bit French because it was once owned by a Norman Frenchman back in eleven hundred and something which was a long long time ago. They built a castle there and there's some bits of it left but we thought Ruthie might prefer to go shopping and have an English afternoon tea, so we did that instead.

There are lots of old buildings and the main street looks all old and rambly and there are historic old pubs and stuff. You can see the Bull's Head in this picture. It was built in Elizabethan times and you can just see the timber stuff on the front of it.

At the end of the shopping street there's a really tall pointy monument to an old lady of the manor. She was Countess of Loudoun and so it's called the Loudoun monument and it was built by a man called Gilbert Scott who also built St Pancras Station in London.

The building in the background is the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was designed by F.A. Walters and built in 1908-15 at the expense of the 15th Duke of Norfolk. We didn't go round it, but it's very impressive isn't it?

After we went shopping we went and had a cream tea with scones and jam and stuff. It's typical English so we had to let Ruthie try one.

Find out more about Ruthie here

Ruthie's here!

Do you remember that I said Ruthie was coming to stay with us?  Well she arrived last night, but Mummy had to go to work today and so we went to the office with her and took Ruthie along so that she wouldn't be at home on her own all day.

The first thing we had to do was sort out a coat for Ruthie because it has been raining really really hard here and Mummy said she might go soggy if she got wet and so we made her a rain poncho to help keep dry. We let Bamburgh do the styling because he's the one who's good at fashion and stuff (even though Dexter used to be a model in a shop, Bamburgh's the one with the design talent). We think that Ruthie looks good in her new coat, what do you think?

Well we got to the office and there wasn't much for us to do so we showed Ruthie round and I didn't know that Mummy has all these pictures of us next to her desk but she does. She says it makes the day go faster if she can look at us sometimes. I wondered where all my Moo cards went and now I know but  I don't mind because if it helps Mummy that's a good thing.

We were going to take Ruthie into town at dinner time to see Robin Hood but it was raining really really hard and even the coat that Bamburgh made wouldn't have kept her dry and so we stayed in and looked at the view but the car park isn't very interesting. There are students living in the house on the other side of the car park and their yard is really really messy so we tried not to get that in the photo. Maybe we should have because at least that's interesting.

There are lots of animals where mummy works because that's what she does, all about animals that get used in science labs and why they shouldn't be and we agree. We think it's horrid that people do nasty things to animals even if it's to make new drugs and things because animals aren't like people and so the tests are probably all wrong anyway.  So the office has lots of plush (which is why we like going there because there's always loads of people to talk to) and we introduced Ruthie to them and I think she liked meeting them because she had a big smile.

To use up some more time we played with the stuff on Mummy's desk and we got all tangled up in the paper clips and made long strings out of them and Mummy was a bit upset because she said she would have to undo them all again but we liked it because there were pretty coloured ones and stripy ones as well and Ruthie was good fun because she helped us to make the strings.

And we learned something today as well called ee-vole-oo-shun and it's all to do with where we come from and there was a big chart on the wall but it didn't have any dragons on it so I don't think it's quite right but Mummy says an important man called Darwin sorted it all out and he was good at it so it was right except he didn't know about dragons and so he just left us out.

Mummy says tomorrow is a day off so we can take Ruthie somewhere interesting but I quite enjoyed going to the office and I hope she didn't mind that it was raining and stuff.

I got an award!

I have been given a blog award. Thank you to my baboon friend Kolo Martin who awarded it to me.  Now I have to do a couple of things.

First off I have to answer some questions about me.

My favourite number : I don't know if I have a favourite number. I used to think it was one, because I was the only dragon I knew, but then I got a brother and I liked two. Now I've got loads of brothers and cousins and friends so I think my favourite number is lots.

My favourite non-alcoholic drink :  I like root beer. It tastes funny, but it's nice funny.

Do I prefer Facebook or Twitter:  I used to do Facebook but it was silly and I spent all my time playing a silly game and then they tried to get me to pay for doing it so I gave up. Now I just do Twitter and that's good because I can talk to all my friends and relatives.

My passion:  Lots of things are good and lots of things are important but I think my passion is my Mummy because she's good and important to me.

 My favourite pattern: I think my bestest pattern is one on my bestest shirt that has people all over it and they are plush people and they are all smiling.  I think smiles are my favourite pattern.

My favourite day of the week: My favourite day of the week is today, becasue I don't have to wait for it.

My favourite flowers: I like all kinds of flowers. I helped Mummy to plant some purple pansies in a hanging basket when I was first adopted so I always like those.

Now is the tricky bit. I have to pass on the award to 10 other bloggers.  That's going to be difficult to choose. I won't put them in any special order except for the first one. My cousin Mitch has just set up a blog to raise money to help animals that are used in laboratories. He is supporting a charity that finds ways to do science without needing animals. I'd like to help him tell more people about it.

I have to include my Wonderbunny Pink Bunny's Blog
Then there's the adventurous Berkeley Bear
And I mustn't forget the clever Oma's Patch.
And you'll love to hear about Sullivan Mc Pig's travels

You'll like Hammie Hamster too. He speaks two languages. (He calls two 'twee')
And if you don't know Dilly Dwagon you really should
And Buttons - just Because!
If you like food you'll love Auntie Anne
And you should meet Marlowe too.
 

Have you heard of Flat Ruthie?

We found out about a cardboard person who is travelling the world and visiting people and we invited her to stay with us and she has agreed to come and see us. Isn't that great?

Her name is Flat Ruthie and she is Merican and she has been to 10 countries and 23 states, which is more than we have.  I don't know when she will get here. I just know that she is on her way, but I don't know how far she has to travel. She has recently been to San Diego. That's in Merica.

We shall take her to see some places round here. If she arrives when we go on holiday we shall take her to Wales, but otherwise we might have to show her bits of England. I hope she'll enjoy it.

We have been to Yorkshire

It was Unclcleclecle Kevin's birthday this weekend and Mummy decided to take him to Yorkshire as a treat and of course we all got to go with them. We stayed in a nice pub that had a really good view. There were lots of books to read about places roundabout too. And they had good pictures in them but it was best looking out from the pub and looking at the scenery.

The weather was properly hot and me and Bamburgh had to stay in Mummy's handbag a lot of the time because we are both red and we fade easily but when it was shady we could get out.

We went for a ride on a boat on a canal and it was OK for all of us to get out because there was a shady shelf to sit on. We could look out of the windows a bit too because we went along the canal and back again so the sun was on the other side of the boat sometimes.

It was good fun because we hve never been on a canal boat before. We have been on boats because we took a water bus when we went to Cardiff to see if we could find Dr Who but canal boats are different. They are long and narrow and we were lucky because we got to sit right at the front for this trip.

After we went on the boat we had fish and chips and ice cream and we stayed in the pub and then the next day we went to another town where they make beer and we went to see the brewery. They have a special place where they make barrels to put the beer in and the lady who showed us round said that Master Cooper worked there but it was his day off so we just looked at his workshop.

Then we got the best bit because they give beer away at the brewery and they had special plush-sized glasses for us to drink out of. Mummy said we could have a taste because we are all big plush but the little guys had to do without because they are so small and it wouldn't be good for them.

Day out without dragons

 We have been out for the day today. We were going to have breakfast at the OK Diner last weekend but mummy was poorly and so she didn't want to eat anything for TWO WHOLE DAYS and that's not like her.

But anyway she was feeling better today and it is Unclclelcle Kevin's birthday soon and he had a voucher for a milkshake and so we went to see our friends at the diner.

We are very lucky because the diner is near where we live and so we can have burgers and curly fries and things like that any time we like (except when mummy isn't well) but this morning we had breakfasty things.

There were fried eggs and bacon and hash browns and pancakes and syrup and coffee and Uncleclecle Kevin had sausages too but he didn't have pancakes. He had a HUGE milkshake though, and it had banana in it but he let us have some of the lumpy bits from the bottom because they get stuck up the straw if you try to suck them.

 When we had finished breakfast we went to Birmingham because they were having a special event because a man wrote a book about elves and hobbits a long time ago and there were people dressed up in silly costumes and pointy ears and stuff and they said there would be dragons but we didn't see very many. In fact I think we were the only ones there.

We found a picture of one that was on a thing called a barefoot walk. People were walking along this thing that had all different surfaces on it like mats and sand and pebbles and it said that it was good for you but I don't know what all the fuss was about because we never wear shoes and we are always barefoot. Maybe that was why there was a picture of a dragon on it.

When we realised there weren't any proper dragons mummy was a bit disappointed and so were we but we decided to make it right and we bought mummy a present. It was a bookmark with a dragon on it and she likes bookmarks. It's a very elegant looking dragon and I wish I could be like that sometimes but mummy says I'm cute and that's better than elegant.