Howl has a new bloggy format :)

Howl and hello to you all! We've decided to try to keep more up to date with our updates, as it is we are hiding are heads a little in shame as our 'updates' seem to be past their sell by date!
As Fayley has been busy over the past few days getting lots of new stock on the website and has oodles more to get on in the next couple of weeks I thought I had better get my paws back onto the keyboard and remember to update the howl section of the website as well!
So, we thought we'd go all out and try one of these blogger styley things rather than simply updating the old website. Plus we've been asked a few times why we don't keep all our old howls up on the site any more, and we totally agree it would be nice to look back over all our years of shop adventures, so over the next week we'll also be putting up all our old website blogposts on here as well.
Just don't look to closely at some of the old pictures or you'll be able to see just how many grey doggy hairs I've gained over the past couple of years (eeps!).

So, hopefully I'll be chatting much more to you all this year (that's my doggy new years resolution) and just to show you how happy I am to finally be getting back to work as archiver of shop adventures, here's a little clip of me this morning :)

Dec 27th 2010

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Christmas, with some time to relax in between all the partying/family visits/extra work etc! We've had a fab few days with some time off to enjoy catching up with our friends and family, and eating 3 full Xmas roast dinners in 24 hours :)
Just a quick howl tonight to show you that both boys and Kes got into the Christmas spirit!

Although we are not particularly taking 'time off' over xmas (still checking orders and emails any of you lovely peeps may like to send us!), our manufacturers are all on a break until the 4th Jan, so we will not be sending out any new orders until then. If you have any questions in the mean time just email us :) Much love and Xmas tinsel, fayley and Kes xx

5th December 2010

December? December?! Good grief where does all the time go? I have a confession to make that we have not been updating this howl as often as we should, but we have been going through a really horrible couple of months at home and
its had quite an impact on how chatty we've been feeling; I like to come on here and update you all on what's happening so that we feel we can keep a connection with all you lovely online friends and customers, but as a generally upbeat and happy person its been quite hard to come
on and write when we have been feeling anything other than upbeat.
Work is going just fine, home life is going just fine and really I shouldn't have much to complain about, however my beautiful mare Isha (the horse I am pictured with in my 'about us' page), has been suffering from lameness and has been on box rest for months. For any of you with horses you will immediately share a sympathetic groan with me, as 'box rest' has got to be one of the all time worst things you can hear from your vet.
Basically it means shutting your horse in a stable, 24hours a day, 7 days a week - and for most horses this is incredibly stressful as they are not designed to be confined, for all owners it really is incredibly depressing and stressful as you are left dealing with a very unhappy horse. I think I felt more trapped than her, she actually coped admirably well considering she is a personality that cannot stand still for more than a minute and is always wanting to charge around at full speed. My stable wall does have large holes in it now where she took out her frustration with her back feet and her teeth, but after a while she got used to the routine and just kind of resigned herself to it. And that is when it got really hard for me.
I could literally see the mare I have had since she was a 3 year old disappear before my eyes - her cheeky playful nature became withdrawn and anxious. Normally outgoing she became neurotic and explosive when I tried to lead her out of the stable.
And after months of this we didn't seem to be progressing, some days she would seem to be in less pain, other days she could barely walk.
And I became very withdrawn and depressed myself, feeling very isolated as no one could seem to offer a better alternative or any advice.
By pure luck after a late night googling session trying to find other people in my situation, I stumbled across a center in Exmoor specialising in the type of injury Isha is suffering from - soft tissue injury in the hoof - and this is where my story takes a happy turn!
Any horse owner may feel that it would be a very hard decision to send their horse so far away from home, but we had reached a point where actually it felt like I had been thrown a life line. We decided to send Isha to Rockley Farm in Exmoor under the care of an amazing lady called Nic who has successfully rehabilitated horses like Isha.
She has now been up there for just over one month and is already showing massive improvement, she is now walking out happily not hopping on three legs and has other horses to play with so her brain is much happier too! She has a way to go yet but considering I thought she may never be sound again its all looking very positive :)
The only downside is my insurance company are being a nightmare and are currently refusing to pay towards the cost of her rehab (something that should have been covered under my policy but I shan't get into a rant about it on here...), so I am having to find £107 a week (yes you read that right) to keep Isha at Rockley at the moment - so if you have been saving up your pennies and are considering making an order, please, order like you have never ordered before!! Every penny is going to the Isha fund at the moment!
I will keep you updated, I'm going up to visit her in 2 weeks and can't wait to see how she's doing :) Fingers crossed everyone for a full recovery for a beautiful mare.
Ok, that's my chatter and apology for our absence over, I shall pass you over to a very bouncy Kestrel:

Howl hello to you all, not only is Christmas almost upon us but we've got proper snowy weather down here
in sub-tropical Cornwall to get us all in the festive spirit!
It has caused us a smidgen of bother as for some reason a few inches of snow managed to knock our internet connection out for the best part of the week, but we are back online and raring to go now :)
Its blooming freezing here but I am managing to keep snug and warm in my doggy pajamas (yes I do wear pj's, don't laugh!) and a doggy coat when I am out, so I have had fun playing in the snow:

You may notice some young upstarts creeping into some of Fayley's photos - don't worry she's not replacing me, but she has gone and introduced some new dogs to the herd of animals here - so, here's introducing Kobi and Kujo: 

In all honesty I am not very impressed, they are noisy, hectic and lack any social grace (honestly, they come bounding up to me and lick my ears without so much of a how do you do), but on the plus side Fayley is buying them lots of puppy toys and chew toys, which being top dog I get to steal and have for myself, so I guess I shouldn't moan too much ;)

Hugs and Howls, Kes xx

easter chicks :)

Howl hello and wags to you all, I hope you've missed me! Fay has finally let me loose on the keyboard again to update my howl, its all very exciting around here as we have some new members to our menagerie family :)

Fay has been incubating some of her hen's eggs and we now have seven very fluffy and very cute chicks! They are huge time wasters though, its amazing how a minute can turn into half an hour when watching chicks do cute chick stuff - they are only one week old but they are already practicing scratching in the sand and dust bathing, eeeps but they are so much fun :)

Other than chick gazing, we've been making the most of the gorgeous sunny weather, the greenhouse is now jam packed with tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, and lots of seedlings. Hopefully some will survive the inevitable slug attacks, and I've had to bark at the cats a few times for sneaking in to dig in the dirt - bad cats! I'm not sure how cost effective all this home grown produce is, but its certainly a lot more satifying knowing where our food comes from :)

The website is fabulously busy at the moment, remember if you have any special requests for orders, need something fast or need something shipping to the far reaches of the world just drop fay a line, we're always happy to help :) I need you all to keep up the good work ordering all your gorgeous clothing to keep Fay busy or goodness knows what other animals she'll decide to fill her time up with, I don't want to be forgotten if too many other cute creatures move in with us - I need to be the top dog! :)

Kes xx

Wow, so the 'naughties' are behind us and now we're stuck in the 'teenies'... sounds more like a bad kids tv show or the latest invention for a one-hit-wonder pop band than a decade in my opinion!

We've had a super time over Xmas here, its been our first Christmas in the chalet with space to put up the Christmas tree and the log burner keeping the place warm it's all been very festive :)
Kes loved opening her presents, although she was rather impatient waiting for Christmas day as she sniffed out the parcel with her new balls in it and spent a few evening with her nose pressed up to the parcel staring beseechingly at me to let her open it early!

We also had a minor incident with the cat's present - a big bag of catnip. Dae managed to get hold of the whole bag one night and ripped the whole thing open all over the floor... it meant we missed the fun of watching them play in it, and even now Me'a and Nanook are licking the carpet most evenings, the hoover just doesn't seem to be picking it all up lol

The snow was pretty good fun down here, not so deep as to be a hideous pest, but we were without running water for 5 days when all the pipes froze so I was very relieved when everything thawed.

It was the battery chickens first snow, and I'm not entirely sure that they were that impressed by it, I made sure to put lots of straw down in their run, just looking at their feet in the snow made me feel very chilly!

So, after a great Xmas its been a pretty rubbish start to the New Year. They say bad luck tends to come in 3's, well I've had four already so I want a break now ok? First of all my car's alternator broke just before the snow, £80 for a new one (ouch), thankfully I was able to use my man's car for the week but meant I had no four wheel drive just when I needed it most and we had to stack the little car full of all the animal feed just when I needed to stock up, grrr!

Then my wonderful old goat, Winston Pinkerton, had to be put to sleep. RIP Winnie, you were the coolest goat dude ever. It was his time to go, he'd reached the grand old age of about a million years old and he just wasn't coping this winter so it was time to make the hard decision.

Then Kes got a gastric bug, not sure if she found something gross to eat in the snow or just picked up a bug on one of our walks, but she was very poorly for two days and nights (lots of throwing up and tummy ache, so none of us got any sleep), and had to have antibiotics and painkillers, another £60 (ouch again) but thank goodness she's over it and back to her old self again. She really feels sorry for herself when she's ill and worst of all she was really hungry but wasn't allowed to eat, so she felt doubly sorry for herself!

Fourth (and hopefully last) my wonderhorse Isha has just been seen by the vet (I haven't had the bill for that one but it will be a BIG ouch), she's been diagnosed as having strained her suspensory ligaments in both front legs... any of you with horses will know this is a horrid injury :( She now has to stay in the stable for at least a month... now this is a horse who finds it impossible to stand still for more than 30 seconds, so its not going to be a very good month for either of us :( 

I've bought oodles of things to keep her amused in the stable and have looked up lots of stretching exercises that I can do for her while she's in the stable so hopefully she won't get too stiff or too bored.

She hasn't even tried to take her frustration out on me yet, she's being very polite about it all (we are only 5 days into the month though). I've bought a football for her and she does wang that across the stable, rather funny to watch, as long as she just keeps taking her anger out on that we'll be fine lol

So, fingers crossed that the year didn't start the way its going to continue and all the bad luck is done with now.

Now the hecticness of xmas and new year is behind us I've got loads of site updates to crack on with and lots of new styles coming soon, so do keep checking back. The first things to be put up online will be some new gown styles, new corsets, and also a new range of more casual tops and jackets. All very yummy so I'd better knuckle down so you can actually buy them all and send lots of money my way so I can pay all my vet's bills lol 

Maybe I should just put a link on the website "fayley's animal fund, all donations gratefully received"! Or maybe run a campaign like the WWF, but instead of sponsoring a panda you can sponsor one of my chickens? I'll send you a photo and box of eggs ;)

Happy New Years to you all, lets make it a good one from now on :) Kes and fayley xx

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the Way!

D'ya know what, this bloomin horrid revolting weather has had me feeling very glum over the past month and I am totally fed up with it. So I have decided to cheer myself up by throwing myself into the Christmas spirit with wild abandon!

The tree is now up and tinsel is strewn about on just about any surface that can take it :) And the cats haven't even pulled any of it down yet :)

I also had a fab day out at the Eden Project today where they are also being all Chrissy-massy and so had the double bonus of first watching people merrily skating on the ice rink with Xmas tunes blaring out, then got to wander through the Tropical Biomme where it was hot and well, as the name would suggest, all tropical :)
So I got the best of a winter wonderland and then got to pretend that I was in the Caribbean and feel all summery :) A definite cure for the winter blues :)

I did get trapped in the gift shop on the way out (lots of pretty things but all so very expensive), finally succumbed to buying some natural Christmas tree decorations which smell totally delicious, all orange-y and clove-y and cinnamon-y. Yum. I shall put them up on the tree as soon as I turn off the computer :)

Other than that Kes and I have mainly spent the month getting very wet and very muddy here at home. Everything is soggy including the cats (I can now track their night time antics by observing where the muddy paw trails lead on my cupboards and kitchen units, naughty cats!), and the lovely battery hens we acquired in the summer have turned their run into a swamp. Yuk :(

Muddy chickens they may be, but they all seem to be very happy though and are still merrily laying eggs for me. I've been making them a yummy 'chicken mash' once a week with all the left over veggie peelings and ends of loaves so they are happy despite the weather. I was a little worried that they might blow away in the gale force storms, but hooray our little home made chicken coop withstood the wind :) Lots of other things blew away, including my wood shed (grrr) and panes of glass blew out of the greenhouse. But I guess that's much better than chickens blowing away lol

Right, before I sign off and carry on with decorating, just a quick reminder to get your xmas orders in - the last posting date for xmas is the 21st December, but please order by the 14th December to allow enough time for me to get your order ready to send :)

If you have left it to the last minute and its after the 14th please email me to check the delivery time before ordering.

fayley xx and Kes (who is currently curled up in front of the fire dreaming dog dreams) :)

Halloween shipping info

IMPORTANT SHIPPING NEWS: all UK mainland parcels are being shipped with an alternative courier to Royal Mail to avoid delays caused by the postal strike between now and Halloween. This guarantees you a next day delivery with tracking so all your Halloween orders will reach you in time. Any customers outside UK mainland (including N.Ireland, Scottish Highlands and Channel Isles), please email me before ordering to discuss delivery.
 
HALLOWEEN ORDERS - please make sure I receive your payment NO LATER THAN 22nd October so I can get your order ready to send by the 29th October. If ordering after 22nd please email or call before paying to check stock availability.

fayley xx

Sometime in the Summertime...

Hey hey my beautiful web friends, how are you all keeping? I'm trying to stave of the frustration of rainy summer days, but am getting quite fed up of all the thunder clouds as I have a box full of clothing waiting to have pictures taken so I can add them to the website, but getting them drenched would not be a great idea so please, someone send some sunshine this way so I can get on with photo taking!

I've made the most of the gloomy day by getting a few more gowns online for you all, they are all very beautiful (of course) so have a closer look by clicking on the links below :)

Ashwyn Gown

Dress Beverly

Dress Rachel

We've been having fab fun at home and the place is almost turning into a mini farmyard! We are now the proud owners of six very beautiful ex-battery hens. They are such lovely ladies and we were so proud of them - having come out of caged battery life and then being transported for an hour in back of the car to our place, the next morning three of them had still left us egg presents for our breakfast the next morning! Super stars!

We've had them a few weeks now and they have very much settled into the life of happy free ranging hens, scratching, dust bathing and running around flapping their wings gleefully :) They are all also very friendly and inquisitive, to the point where it can be quite difficult to check their nest boxes as they all come running over to see what I'm up to and its hard to move for chickens under my feet!

I did make the mistake of going into their run in flipflops with glittery nail polish on my toes - oh my how they liked the look of it and all crowded around to peck my toes! I was lucky to get out with my feet intact!

We also bought some chicks from a freind and one of the young roosters voices seems to be breaking at the moment in an embarrassing 'teenage' way, he is making chick cheep noises half the time and broken hooting noises the rest of the time, oh dear! No cock-a-doodle-dooing to wake us up quite yet but I'm sure it won't be long... hopefully I'll still think keeping chickens is a good idea when I've been woken up at 4am by a loud cockerel!

Kes has been very good around them and despite licking her lips a few times when they first arrived she has managed to control her urges, except if one gets too close and then she'll give it a shove with her snout - the chickens are apparently oblivious to her wolf heritage hehe :)

Cats are super-intelligent pan-dimensional beings...

Just wanted to share something to make you giggle, a mail from one of our friends, 'Felix the Cat', enjoy :)

"If you drop a buttered piece of bread, it will fall on the floor butter-side down. If a cat is dropped from a window or other high and towering place, it will land on its feet. But what if you attach a buttered piece of bread, butter-side up to a cat's back and toss them both out the window? Will the cat land on its feet? Or will the butter splat on the ground?

Even if you are too lazy to do the experiment yourself you should be able to deduce the obvious result. The laws of butterology demand that the butter must hit the ground, and the equally strict laws of feline aerodynamics demand that the cat can not smash its furry back. If the combined construct were to land, nature would have no way to resolve this paradox. Therefore it simply does not fall. That's right, you have discovered the secret of antigravity! A buttered cat will, when released, quickly move to a height where the forces of cat-twisting and butter repulsion are in equilibrium. This equilibrium point can be modified by scraping off some of the butter, providing lift, or removing some of the cat's limbs, allowing descent.

Most of the civilized species of the Universe already use this principle to drive their ships while within a planetary system. The loud humming heard by most sighters of UFOs is, in fact, the purring of several hundred tabbies. The one obvious danger is, of course, if the cats manage to eat the bread off their backs they will instantly plummet. Of course the cats will land on their feet, but this usually doesn't do them much good, since right after they make their graceful landing several tons of red-hot starship and pissed-off aliens crash on top of them.

Flaws In the Flying Cat Theory:
A logical analysis of the BFAD (Buttered Feline Antigravity Drive) propulsion theory clearly demonstrates the impossibility of such a system. Let us begin with a simple analysis.
1) Buttered bread must fall butter side down.
2) A cat always lands on its feet.
While both theorems are indisputable, the oracle offers no proof of the construct. The oracle implies that anyone who 'would' test this construct would immediately find the secret of BFAD. This is clearly nonsense. Let us assume a normal Einsteinian universe (although a Euclidean universe would serve our purposes just as well, the Einsteinian is both cheaper and drinks are readily available.)

To test BFAD, one must procure:
* Bread
* Butter (margarine, for some reason, will not work)
* A cat
* A strapping device.

Let us assume that all of these are readily available…. Attach the strapping device to the cat.

See?

No cat.

What has happened?

We have run up against an a priori universal law. By a priori, we mean that it takes priority over either the Buttered Bread Principle or the Law of Feline Landings.

What happens is that the instant a strapping device and a cat occupy the same four dimensional space, the cat disappears. Now, this can easily be tested, and has been repeatedly. There are two schools of thought about this phenomenon. The first holds that a cat and a strapping device are constituted out of different fundamental building blocks. According to this theory, a cat is constituted primarily of superquarks, (called meows by current theorists.) These superquarks demonstrate qualities that are both atomic (constituted as they are of groupings of normal quark particles) and feline (because these quarks exhibit characteristic of "charmed" or "lucky" particles.) Again, according to this theory, strapping materials are fashioned out of non-charmed particles. Bringing the two together causes one or the other to cancel out. One aspect of this theory that has not been sufficiently explained to date is the fact that it is always the cat, not the strapping device, that disappears. The second school of thought, and it is one that appears to be gaining ground in academic circles today, holds that cats are, in fact, super-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who exist in our four dimensional universe only because there is plenty of good food and a lot of creatures stupid enough to provide the food, along with plenty of attention.

Whenever a strapping device appears, the cat simply opens a door to a different series of dimensions, and goes on an extended tour.

According to this theory, purring is a cat's way of maintaining a constant balance cycling across multiple dimensions. This school holds that antigravity is impossible, but that theoretically, a REALLY good grip on a cat, while reaching for a strapping device, could result in our ability to cross dimensions with ease (barring scratches, that is.)

Pessimists argue that if there were anything really interesting in those other dimensions, cats wouldn't spend so much time here, so why ask for a good scratching?"

Kes xx (and Fayley xx)

Happy Birthday to Dare!

Happy Birthday to Dare! Happy Birthday to Dare! Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to Dare!!

Oh my gosh, I can't believe Dare is 6 years old today! Makes me feel rather old (I guess in dog years that's the equivalent of 36 years - blimey!) ;)

In a way I guess it feels like we've been around for a lot longer, when I think back to the very first shop in Penryn it seems like a lifetime ago, Fayley had only just acquired me
as a second hand rescue doggy, so everything was very new to me, but I thoroughly enjoyed those first few weeks playing with all the new customers and racing around the vast space in the Penryn shop like a total hoodlum :)

Then we moved to Redruth just under a year later, less space but a much better location, and I enjoyed having stairs to run up and down and a park to race around at luchtime right on our doorstep. Made some great friends at Redruth who are still with us today and I think of all the events we look back on the little Redruth shop makes us the most nostalgic. We were rapidly outgrowing the space though, and after a few months debating whether or not it was time to move, the fire in the street finally gave us the push we needed to move on up and out to Truro - very exciting and very nerve wracking!

Truro was amazing, big space, lots of customers and more new friends, and the creation of DeviLution rock night, so SO much fun and I know Fayley still really misses getting together with you all once a month :(

We've been trading soley online for just over 18 months now (again how fast has time gone?!) and its brilliant to have the freedom of working hours of our choosing, for me being able to wander in and out of the office as I choose and get a lot more outdoor doggy time than I did in the shops, but I do miss all the attention (and presents!) I used to get as the 'Dare Shop Dog'. Mind you we still have lots of regular customers who, although we don't get to meet 'face to face' I still feel like we get to know each other, and I love seeing familiar email addresses in the inbox :)

So I guess as well as a 'Happy Birthday shout out to Dare, here is a big huge warm thank you to all of you, for supporting us over the past 6 years and for all the fun we've had and friends we have made. Oh gosh I'm getting all soppy and sentimental, time to say goodbye before I get all overwhelmed! Hugs to you all.... now its time for Birthday cake!! :)

Kes xx (and Fayley xx)

March... heckhm ok I'm a bit behind... April 2009!

Sleepy smile for the camera :)

Hey hey everyone! Kes here! *wags and licks* :) How the devil are you all?! The Howl seems to have missed a month (nothing to do with Fayley having a big scary landmark Birthday in March and trying to hide it all from you I promise!).

We've all been rather hectic with a house move last month which seems to have swallowed up every spare minute, and I wouldn't want to bore you all with tales of painting, decorating and lugging furniture (being a dog I was exempt from all the hard work thankfully, and even managed to avoid rubbing up against the wet paint this time!), I'll just skip ahead to the good bit and say yay! its all finished and looking wonderful! I finally have enough space for all my dog toys (although there's still not quite enough room for all Fayley's gubbins, time to declutter a little methinks!).

Its been a hideous stormy day today so I've been a good girl and have snoozed in bed all day, giving Fayley time to focus all her attention on updating the website.

More items have been added to the sale and discontinued pages, there are some real bargains and not only that there are a couple of absolute gems on the discontinued page so grab them while you can!

Here are just a few of our favorites, if you like them order quick cos I know Fayley's not going to be able to restrain herself for long and will end up keeping them all, and her wardrobe really can't hold any more ;)

The items on the sale pages are still available in other sizes and colours on the main site, so if you can't get what you want on the sale page please browse the main shop categories. The items listed on the discontinued pages are only available in the size and colour shown and once they're gone they're gone for good, so be quick! There are also some pvc discontinued items - all sale goth, pvc and discontinued items can be found under the main menu title *sales ~specials*

Fay's also been pottering away on the links pages, so there's a few more interesting sites to ramble your way through when your finished on Dare :) If you have a relevant banner and would like to swap links please email us :)

The customer gallery is updated with some new pics of you very beautiful customers who've been brave enough to send me photos this month :)

I think you'll agree the four of them look a little lonely up here, so come on the rest of you get shooting and send me your photos - I love to be able to see you all :)

Kes xx (and Fayley)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

Wha-hey!! Snow galore! And oh my goodness isn't it so pretty? I hope you've had some where ever you are in the country! Its a rather rare event to get proper snow down here in Cornwall (a land much more inclined to mizzle or drizzle for 326 days of the year).

But yay and hoorah! We have had our share of blizzard :) Now I know I should probably moan about how tricksy it makes it to get anywhere on the roads, the delays it causes to the mail, the inconvenience of pipes freezing over, and the extra work involved with looking after the horses and other beasties during this white out... but NO!! Who care's about all that?! I LOVE SNOW!!!! *childish glee, childish glee, watch me dance in childish glee!!* Hehehe ^^

I did have a bit of excitement as I was travelling from Bath back to Cornwall this morning and got caught up in all the cancellations and delayed trains coming from London and the surrounding blizzardy areas, but made it home an hour before the snow hit big time here - and promptly got down to the serious business of snow ball fights (Kes thinks catching and eating snow balls is a great lark), and making snow angels, and well, generally running around screaming "Snoooowwwwwwww!!" at the top of my voice :) Happy days :)

Its also all three of the cats first ever experiences of snow, and although Mea and Dae were slightly more reserved, Nanook was pouncing and bounding around in it trying to catch all the snow flurries :) Utter cuteness!

Isha also decided to have a mad five minutes and galloped around the field a few times before rolling around in all the fresh snow like a mad woman lol Then she decided to be a snow plough and pushed her nose along the ground making tunnels and getting very snowy whiskers in the process :)

I think I just about have time to build a snowman this evening before it gets too dark, so I'd better dash, Kes and I still have some more snow time play to enjoy :) 

Hugs and snowflakes, fayley and Kes xx

Cold, wet and muddy January 2009!

Yuk, yuk, yukkity yuk, when will winter end?! I heard on the radio today that spring is due to arrive 2 days earlier this year than in the past due to 'global warming', but I seriously have my doubts at the moment, if it doesn't stop raining soon I shall start to grow gills!

We did have a lot of fun during the cold snap over December, Kes went on a few frozen walks and one pond she usually paddles about in was totally frozen over and so pretty :) She really wanted to go running about on it but I did my 'sensible mummy' act and wouldn't let her play on it, just in case.
I did let out my childish side as well though and thoroughly enjoyed stamping on all the frozen puddles - is it just me or does anyone else find the crunchy-snap of ice irresistible?

I've been making the most of the rainy weather by locking myself in the office and have finally updated the gallery pages, so thank you to all you beautiful customers who have sent in pictures, you are finally on the website!
Have a look at your fellow Dare shoppers in their wondrous new outfits!

Now all the excitement of Christmas is over and we're all feeling glum and skint, remember to check out the sale pages to grab yourself a total bargain and have some fantastic value retail therapy :) Everything on the sale pages is in stock to send immediately, and keep checking back as I've got oodles of things to add over the next week or two and all with at least 25% off the normal price - yay!

!click me click me! >>> *Sale ~ Special Offers* <<< ! click me click me!

Hehe ;) happy shopping, fayley xx

  

Merry Christmas time to everybody!!

So far Christmas is going brilliantly for us, the cats haven't even attempted to destroy the Christmas tree, and Kes has managed to resist unwrapping her presents early, although she has had a good stiff around and present pile and has correctly identified all the parcels containing balls, squeaky toys and dog chews lol - wrapping paper is no match for the power of her nose ;)

We've also bought the cats 'concentrated catnip spray' this year, hoping it has the same effect as the dried cat nip we usually buy them - there's nothing better than watching cats rolling around in catnip heaven :) Haven't decided what to spray the catnip on yet, but Kes has warned me to keep it away from her lol

Hope you have a wonderful time where-ever you are and whatever you are doing :) I'm sure you've all been very good girls and boys so enjoy all the presents Santa is bringing you ;)

We are turning off the computer for a couple of days and having a mini Xmas break, so don't be alarmed if you email and don't get an immediate response - we'll be back to chat and answer any questions from the 29th December.

Hugs and tinsel, fayley and Kes xx

Its October! Its October! *does a happy little 'Halloween is coming' dance* ^^

Gosh but I am excited already, I thought maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself planning my Halloween costume and getting decorations together, but actually now you are all clammering for your Halloween orders I think its definitely time to get excited ^^

Also to look forward to, we are going to be having a stall again at the Faery, Angel & Healing Fayre in Penzance on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th October 2008, it would be great to see as many of you as possible, I do miss everybody so much now I am working soley on line, so to be out in the real world again for a couple of days is going to be fantastic :)

If you want any details of the event you can find all the info here: http://www.mysticfayre.co.uk. As well as various stalls there's live music, guest apperances from artists and writers, performances, free workshops and demonstrations and just a fantastic atmospher for a lovely day out :)

I've been a little bit naughty and have yet again inflicted upon Kes a new member of the feline variey to our family: introducing Nanook! The most confident and naughty kitten the world has ever seen!

There was much hissing and hackles when he first arrived, all from him! 

Kes was adorable in a resigned kind of way (I think she has admitted defeat where cats in her home is concerned). 

Mea and Dae were not so impressed and refused to come into the house for a whole week, I was starting to think it was all a huge mistake when on day 7 they marched in, sat on the sofa and looked at me as if to say "so what, its a new kitten, no big deal". Ever since then Mea has started acting all kittenish himself so now he and Nanook rampage around the place, cat wrestling and cat racing around the room, with rugs, cusions and ornaments being sent flying *sigh*

Nanook has also now managed to chew through no less than two mobile phone charger cables, thankfully not plugged in, but still more than a little annoying. Especially as we bought half of the cat pet shop toys in existance to keep kittens and cats entertained. Silly kitten!

fayley xx

Things are on the up ^^

Anyone who ready the last Howl will know of the horrid accident I had while out riding, well my beautiful soul mate mare Isha is finally on the mend, 7 weeks on, (grief it really has been a long time), still not able to ride her as she's still a little tender on hard ground but at least there's no oozing hole in the bottom of her foot any more! Also I am soon to be moving into a new bigger home - yay! Lots of space for Kes and the cats to run around!

 I've spent the last 4 days solid painting and laying carpet, (thank you Adam! we'll get that decorators business started soon, watch out rouge traders here we come lol), and today the kitchen will be tiled :)
 I've never done that before so it may look a little 'jaunty' by the end, but hey, who likes straight lines anyway? ;)

My living room is pale blue, but do any of you remember the lush 'cadburies chocolate purple' curtains I used to have as the shop dressing room? Well since I closed the Truro shop they have been sulking in a bag... well no more! They have been trimmed and rehemmed and are now looking beautiful as my living room and spare room curtains - huzzah!!

And utterly greedy of me, I have converted one whole room into a walk-in wardrobe *big grin*. Ok so its only a tiny room, but even so there is now room for many a rail and all of my shoes ^^ Going to start unpacking clothing into it today and really should resist buying any more... but now there's more space... I am sure I need more pretty clothes to fill it *digs out Dare catalogues* ;)

Right, I should stop typing I guess and get on with that tiling, but first just to remind any ex-DeviLutioners, its our monthly cinema meet up tonight for anyone who wants to meet up with old friends - 8.30pm at the Regal Bar in Redruth for the screen 7 showing of Wanted tonight (Friday 4th July).

Ok, of to get messy with tile paint, if I'm not at the cinema tonight I'm stuck to the wall, someone come rescue me lol ;) fayley xx

Yucky yucky

I am having a horrible month. It all started off quite well, beautiful sunshine, getting loads of work done on the fields and in the greenhouse, but now I think maybe the world is out to get me again :(

I'd had a couple of weeks of non-stop work and very little time to chill out and relax and the one thing that really gives me solace from the hectic world around me is my horse. So any hour I can find spare I tack up and head out for a good gallop. As I said, I'd been too busy to ride much for a couple of weeks and was going stir crazy, so early on bank holiday weekend I decided to get out and blow off some steam with my mare Isha.

The ride started of wonderfully, we went through our local woods and enjoyed the bluebells all coming into flower, the birds singing, and the general peace and quite being up before everyone else on the bank holiday.

Then as we turned for home Isha suddenly stopped in her tracks, kicking out with her back leg. I jumped off and found, to my total horror, what I thought was a nail sticking out of the bottom of her foot.

Thankfully we'd just turned onto the road so I waved down a passing driver who held her while I tried to pull the nail out.
No luck.
So I held her while the driver tried to pull the nail out.
No luck.
The driver holds her while I hold her foot in the air and make a frantic phone call to my dad to bring tools. There is still a good inch of nail sticking out of her foot above the line of her sole and all I keep saying over and over is "good girl, calm girl, don't put your foot down, don't put your foot down".

Thankfully the next car to pass us is a friend who also has horses, so she stops as well as distracts Isha with mints and cuddles while I continue my mantra.

We get passed by 3 cars. Isha stands perfectly still, foot in the air. 5 minutes go by. We get passed by 4 trial motorbikes. Isha stands still, foot in the air. 5 minutes go by. Isha looks at me, "why haven't you made my foot better mum, I don't like this". She still stands patiently waiting for me to take the pain away.

Then two horses ride by. Now Isha is usually a total drama queen when she sees other horses out hacking, she wants to be with them, hates going away from them. But she stands still, foot in the air. Until just after they've gone past, then all she does is shift her weight slightly so she can watch them go, and down goes her foot. In goes the rest of the nail. Three very loud gasps and a long groan, from me, the driver and my friend.

Dad arrives with his tool box, and has to use a crow bar to pull it out. Then I see exactly what it is - not a nail - a threaded bolt - no wonder I couldn't pull it out by hand. Embedded a good 2" deep into her foot.

Apparently the public byway, used by dog walkers, riders and cyclists is the perfect place for fly-tipping. Usually I keep my eyes peeled for dangers and rubbish, but this kind dumper had set fire to the rubbish, so the surface of the ground looked like dark mud. Under the surface was a tangle of glass, bolts, metal etc.

We got Isha home, got the vet out (bank holiday vet's bills - not sure which is going to hurt more, Isha's foot or my bank balance). Thankfully the vet thinks the bolt missed bone so all we are looking at is high risk of infection and lots of soft tissue damage and deep bruising. Should I be thankful for small mercies?! At this point I want to go out hunting for fly-tippers, I still have that crow bar to hand....

Its now 2 weeks on, Isha has finished her long course of antibiotics but is still on painkillers, we tried to reduce them over the last week but she's still hopping lame. The scariest part seems to be over, it doesn't look like there is any infection there, but we may be facing x-rays next week if she's still lame in case there is any bone damage after all.

So far we've missed our first two shows of the season, and a lot of sunny evenings riding. But if that's the worst of it I will be a very relieved and happy horse mum.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Then today, with my bank balance reeling from vets bills, I get my latest phone bill. I don't use my land line much, so my quarterly calls are usually under £30.
This bill total is... £297??!!??.... hold on... what the *&*%£$"*!!!!!!!!?

I have been charged for engineering work carried out outside my property?! Yes I had an engineer out. Wanna know why? Because the phone line running to my house was rubbing on a power cabel. So much so that the phone line had worn through and my phone did not work.

To be honest I was more worried about the risk of sudden electrocution while walking to my house rather than a lack of communication! So I call BT, they send an engineer, who replaced the line and lowers it away from the power lines. he even said "you wouldn't have thought this line would have been put in like this originally". No, no you wouldn't.

And yet, despite being told I am not eligible for costs of work carried out outside my property, and being told by the engineer it was the location of the line leading to inevitable damage, I have been sent this whopping bill.

So far today I have spoken to no less than 3 different BT employeers, who couldn't pass me on to the next person quickly enough 'oh, ah, um, let me pass you to so-in-so until you get bored of holding the line' Apparently someone will call me back later with news on the charge.

Maybe its time for that crow bar again...

New lines :)

Oh what a totally gorgeous week, the lamb-kins in the field next door are leaping and bleating (too cute), the daffodils are blooming and Spring is well... springing! I've had a definite bounce to my step and extra wag to my tail this week, 'tis lovely to get a bit of sunshine of the snout ^^

Fay has been working far too hard so I've told her she has to take me for a stroll this afternoon in the woods and enjoy the weather before we slip back into the very predictable winter that March usually has to offer.

But before we sneak off to enjoy our afternoon I thought I had better show you all some of the new lines that have been put on the site this month. Click the links to see more detail or to order ^^

Forsaken Dress

Dress Jewel

Tartan Clasp Mini

Pinstripe Perfection Mini

Skirt Madeleine

Sweeping Satin Skirt

Top Carol

Bound is Beautiful Bodice

There is also a 'slightly new' discontinued page on the site - its been online for a couple of months now so you may all have spotted it already, but just in case it has passed you by, make sure you check it out; everything on the discontinued page is, well, as the name suggests, discontinued! So if you see anything you like grab it quick, all items shown there are in stock to send out immediately but once they have sold out they are 

gone forever! We've only got one or two left of each item shown so don't hesitate, grab it! ^^ 

http://www.daregothic.co.uk/discontinued/discontinued.php

 You will also find pvc, rubber and gothic sale items all at bargain prices on the website on  the main menu tab ** Sale ~ Specials ** ^^ There are so many pretty things in the sale/specials menu I shall not list them all here, but below are a few pictures to wet your appetite ^^ Happy bargain hunting!

Other than taking piccies and typing html for Dare, fay has been kept busy every month with DeviLution. Our next rock/metal night is on the 7th March, and as its only one week before fayley's Birthday we've decided to have a DeviLution Birthday Party ^^ 

It will be a themed dress up night for anyone who fancies dressing up, the theme is 'Heros and Villains'.

It can be any hero, any villain, from real life or fiction, comic book or film. And we'll leave the definition of 'hero' or 'villain' up to you, so that should leave you all with plenty of leeway to let your imaginations wander ^^

Of course you don't have to dress up if you don't want to. But you DO want to don't you? hehe ^^

For any of you not already familiar with DeviLution, all the details can be found here www.daregothic.co.uk/devilution.htm 

If you follow the link to our website DeviLution page there is also a forum you can join and chat to the regulars ^^ We are all very friendly and of course you don't have to be local or an attendee of DeviLution to join, any alternative thinkers are welcome ^^ Come say hello!

Right, I'm off to get my lead and round up fayley for this long awaiting walkies, see you all later! woofs, wags and slobbery kisses, Kes xx