My Top 10 Posts of 2010 AND My 1st BlogHop Ever. Scary.

I just found out about this list, started by the very 1st dogblogger I ever wrote to, Dr V. It sounds like a marvellous way to end my 1st year of dogblogging. So here goes...

I'm taking the route of the prolific Kristine, and will start with my favourite 5 from this blog, followed by my 5 favourite from the tiny list of blogs I currently follow. I'm working on discovering more gems this ooops! NEXT year :)

MY Favourite 5, in no particular order.*
                                                                     *W=weeper  F= funny [a warning - because some people might not want to cry on the last day of the year, OR the 1st day of the year!]


I am the 10th dog. I lied. This one's special to me and is probably #1 on my list. Maybe because it's about the 1st dog I ever had. He lives on entirely in my memories because I only have 1 small fuzzy black and white picture of him. W

Mr Thumper's 15 minutes of fame. Rufus B Thumper is the other dog in the family. He's old, sickly and sleeps a lot. One morning, he decided to wake up for 15 minutes, I had a camera, he was in a happy mood, and the story got written. F

My Fashion Tuesday. Every dogblog should have SOME silly posts, right? This is an early effort. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing part, not so much the sewing! I'll be cheeky and include a link here that was the happy ending to the story. F

The day The Great Debate made way for a cooking show. I'm not quite sure why I like this post so much. Maybe because it captured the essence of Australia on the day, for me. Recipes before Politics please, we have priorities here, you know! F

The Purple Collar. This is a story I wrote for one of Georgia's friends, who died a few weeks ago from lymphoma. It was written for the children in the family. Someone sent me an email telling me she cried when she read it. I was a little surprised because, although the subject was sad, it was also meant to be hopeful. W?


My Favourite 5 From Other Blogs, again in no particular order.

Time from rescued insanity. I start my list with a post that isn't even about dogs, but it was 1 of those pivotal moments for me in my short history of dogblogging, when I read something that made me stop, think and comment. And I'm so glad I did, Kristine :)

Nothing gold can stay from the now defunct blog, One bark at a time. This is simply 1 of the best written, most heartfelt stories about pet loss that I've ever read. I discovered this blog too late, but the words in this post make me keep coming back. The author now has a new blog about Pound Dogs. 

Are you prepared for a dogfight? from Kenzo the Hovawart. Talk about timing. I read this shortly before Georgia got into a fight with one of her friends. Everything seemed to happen in slowmo as I tried to remember what I should do. Really I did...I heard Kenzo's voice in my head. Arf-arf!

A Dog's Diary; A Cat's Diary from Something wagging this way comes. I think this captures the characters of our 2 most popular family pets very well and, bloody hell! I wish I'd written it!

Leela and the dead penguin from Are you a pariah dog fan? The emotional lives of dogs. Do YOU believe it exists?

There are, of course, many more posts from top dog bloggers that made me smile, got me indignant, taught me lessons, etc etc etc. Too many to mention, but I'm guessing you already know who you are :) Thanks for making my 1st year i.n.t.e.r.e.s.t.i.n.g!

Now to click on that scary bloghop button. EEEk!

***

It's 12.44am, 2011 here in Sydney. I'm about to do an update.

Sorry, but I'm going to add an 11th post, 1 from this blog. I'm doing this because I just read this very sad post from Hero the sharpei.

There's every chance that, after you read I woke up full of good intentions today, you'll think me a toad. I wouldn't disagree, but it wouldn't change how I feel about it either.