I’ve actually been wanting to do this for a while because I love reading the searches that lead to places like Nanook’s blog but I just haven’t gotten around to it…

Today I am couch-bound because I had dental surgery yesterday and am not really in any shape to be doing a lot of work…but I figure typing out a few blogs isn’t that traumatic for me 🙂 I usually post these on Thursdays on our house blog and Self-Reliant Yuppies so I will likely move these to Thursdays as well…but you have to start somewhere!

1. newfoundland front paws
   Our Newf does in fact have front paws – two of them to be precise. They are rather large, about the size of the palm of my hand when measured across…and Ayla is a bit on the small side when it comes to Newfs 🙂
2. ayla
   Well you found her. This blog belongs to Ayla and I, her non-fur mommy, usually take responsibility for writing the blog although she does sneak in here sometimes and write a bit.If you’re wondering about the name Ayla and where it comes from, here are some details. Because Ayla was from our breeder’s first litter of puppies, we had to select an “A” name. We didn’t want something for the papers that we would never call her so we spent a few days scouring tons of websites for various names and eventually ended up with “Ayla” meaning “large oak tree” in Hebrew. We figured this was appropriate since she is roughly the size of an oak tree and just as stubborn 🙂

   When I searched for “Ayla” today, I found that the name now carries a lot more meanings – some we knew about and others we didn’t:

   Ayla is the combined talents of the German duo DJ Tandu and DJ Taucher. Apparently the name Ayla is Turkish and is inspired by a girl who was in the studio at the time of the first production. (They released a song called “Ayla” which has become a favorite of ours long before we thought about getting a dog and it just fit well when we started thinking of names.)

   From wikipedia:
   Ayla is a Turkish name meaning “circle of cristalic light around the sun or moon”. Since Ayla is reserved for the feminine, it is usually synonymous with “moonlight”.

   Ayla is a seaside living community in Jordan.
   
   Ayla is an electro-pop band from Eastern Europe with CD’s out called Nirwana & Angelfalls.

   Ayla was the main character in the book Clan of Cave Bears which was later a movie starring Darryl Hannah.

   According to Urban Dictionary:

   Ayla is just one of those girls.. one of those girls who can make you laugh (even when you shouldn’t), dance (even when you can’t), be a little crazy (even when you’re the shyest person in the world) and in all reality, just bring out the best in people. (This fits our Ayla very well!)

   Ayla is also “Oh my God!” in a few Indian dialects. (Now that seems really appropriate!)

   Ayla has also become a popular phrase in some areas for something intriguing, or mysterious. (This should read incorrigible and mischievous lol)

   Ayla is also a popular character from a video game, and the title of a Japanese magazine starring dozens of big-breasted animated women. (Okie dokie then)

   I could go on and on here but I will spare you now 🙂

3. blogger newfy
   I guess you found us. We are one of the Newfs with a blog on Blogger. There is also Nanook & The Count! Oh and Bear but he’s not been too active lately.
4. newfie
   Usually when people use this term I think they are thinking of people from Newfoundland, not the dogs. But I use the term “Newfie” interchangably with Newf, Newfers, Newf-o-rama and other similar terms for Ayla.
5. grandpa’s newf farm
   Well this sounds like a nice place. Are there lots of Newf’s there? I don’t know. We live on a farm but not a Newf farm. We’ve thought about raising more Newfs here and then maybe it could be considered a “Newf Farm.” Or maybe it’s good enough that we have a Newf guarding the farm and she thinks it belongs to her as it is 🙂