Celebratory walkies

Took a celebratory walk with Daughter this morning as George's eye is better and Holly's lung and heart scans showed no serious problems.

A beautiful morning for it too. While George has been receiving treatment for his eye the vet suggested cutting back on his arthritis medication so he's been walking more slowly than ever. I'll never be able to cross a busy road with him again. Although he's always taken his time crossing roads disregarding completely my urging to 'hurry up, George, there's a car coming.' In George's view all traffic should stop for him. 

Came home to left-overs for lunch. Some left-overs work better than others. Runner beans that weren't particularly nice first time round didn't improve with keeping. And now this afternoon I'm going to work on the marketing of my book, The Dog-walking Club, now available from the kindle store.

If you decide to buy and read it I would be most awfully grateful if you pointed out to me any typos, spelling, duplication or grammar errors that need to be corrected before I work on the paperback version. Thanking you in advance.

Friends?

Elsie asks if George and Holly made friends. That's an interesting question. I don't know if you can tell from the photo in the previous post but both dogs are being held in position for the photo.

George loved Holly. He especially loved biting her ears, her ankles, her tail, her tummy ...

Holly was very patient but they had a few good 'fights', tumbling over and over each other. I think I shall have to adopt Holly's technique of flattening George and pinning him down when he gets too bitey.

Husband had a new digital camcorder for his birthday. (I suggested he might like one so we could film George.) We have one of their 'fights' on record. If I can work out how to edit and upload it, I'll put some up here.
xx

Little and large (and even larger)

As I said, Daughter and Son-in-law were down for the weekend for Husband's birthday. They brought with them Holly Dog and Charlie Cat.



We used to think that Holly was small!

mud, mud, glorious mud

Husband set off for Hook at 6.15 this morning. Cleo took this to be a sign that everyone should get up and started howling pathetically at the bottom of the stairs (we have a barricade across it). By 7 o'clock, I'd had my breakfast, written an email and read some blogs - and the sun wasn't even up.

We went out for a walk in the woods just as the dawn was breaking. We heard a bird I'd never heard before. Obviously one of those that catches the worm but apart from that I don't have any idea what sort it was. Its cry was a high-pitched 'e-whoop' (long e, short whoop). Any suggestions?

Cleo is a water lover too and unlike Holly (but like Harvey), she stands next to you to shake.

Comparative skills (out of 10 with 10 being best)
Watching which direction the stick is going in
Cleo 7
Holly 6
Harvey 5

Sniffing out the stick when it's lost
Cleo 2
Holly 9
Harvey 7

Eating the stick afterwards
Cleo 1
Holly 5
Harvey 9.5

Cleo (already known as HollCleo) did come back to look for me when I was slow as I struggled over muddy bits on the riverside. It was probably to laugh at me but at least I wasn't alone. When we were out there I was reminded of one incident many years ago.

At one point along the river walk there is a very muddy bit closely followed by a high steep-sided mudbank. Only about mid-thigh height but try kicking your leg up on that when it's wet. Harvey had skipped up it quite happily and was wandering on. I think a piece must have been washed away as we often walked by the river and didn't usually have the trouble I had that day.

I tried once to get my leg up: failure. I tried again. Again I failed. I looked around. There was an ivy creeper hanging down from an over-hanging branch. I grabbed it and jumped up onto the bank. I was still saying, 'Yay!!!' when my feet slowly started to slip back down. Slowly as in slow motion slowly when you know it's happening but there's nothing you can do about it. I was hanging backwards and my feet were were leaving me. Clonk. Back where I started. There was only one thing left. I took a run at it, leapt across the mud and flung myself at a thick tree trunk, hugging it for all I was worth. Then I gradually edged my way round from the mud side to the slightly solider ground side. And while all this was going on, Harvey was somewhere in the distance smelling the flowers.

I'm not very good at looking after other people's dogs. I mean, I can take care of them, but I worry about them being sad. It's obvious they're going to miss their families but I hate to see sad eyes staring at me. It makes me feel guilty. Cleo has been sticking close to whoever is in the house, staying in the same room and getting up and following around. I go in the kitchen to get a drink of water and she follows me. I try to explain that I'm coming straight back but she insists on getting up. I end up going without my drink of water because I feel so bad about it. Is it me?
xx

Holly and the Himalayan Balsam

Himalayan Balsam (according to my Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers)

The sun through the trees

Holly has been down to stay. Only for one night but it gave me the chance to go walkies. I got home from work at lunchtime and Daughter and Son-in-law (who were also down) were out visiting friends. I didn't know if they'd walked Holly but I thought I should take her out, just in case. So we went over the tip, through the woods and back by the river.

It was a beautiful day and I spent most of the walk telling Holly stories about Harvey and how it was one of his favourite walks and how he loved the water too. Not that she was really listening; she just wanted to chase sticks.

I think Jesus must love Holly a lot. The best word to describe my stick-throwing would be erratic. Let's face it, I throw like a girly, and where it will go, nobody knows. But not one stick landed on Holly's head in spite of several coming within an ear's breadth, convincing me that someone was keeping an eye out for her.

Both Husband and I have been finding it more difficult of late. I think initially we felt relief for Harvey's sake - on the final morning he was very distressed - and, I suppose, a sort of relief for us. I often joked about checking that he was still breathing but I think we all were living with a sense of dread.

It's good that we're going on holiday tomorrow. Have I mentioned that we're going to start looking for a puppy when we get back? And I've offered to dogsit a friend's dog in October too. But little extras like walking Holly are a big bonus!
xx

I swallowed a fly

It has been fortuitous having Holly with us for the week: she has stopped us moping around. She thought sitting on my lap would cheer me up. And she was right.

We've also been on lots of Harvey's favourite walks, which he hadn't been able to do for some time. I say his favourite walks but actually any walk, or the one he was on at that particular moment, was his favourite. Even up to a couple of weeks ago he got excited if he thought he was going out - even though the reality was a lot harder than he remembered.

Holly and I have been exploring the woods. For the last eighteen months or so, council workmen have been clearing the undergrowth, particularly of the rogue rhododendrons that threatened to overwhelm the native woodland. Where there were narrow footpaths, now there are JCB-wide tracks and industrial-size shredders. It used to be that you could have put me down anywhere in the woods and I'd have had a good idea where I was but now all the familiar features have disappeared; it's very discombobulating.

Still we enjoyed ourselves although Holly now thinks her name is Harv-Holly.

Oh, yes, and I swallowed a fly. But I've no intention of following in the steps of the old lady.
xx

I hope there's no glass in this

Lest you think I am a complete disaster as a cook, let me show you this.

Yesterday was the birthday of one of what I think of as 'my boys' - lads from church who help me out and who live a long way from home. Because his mummy was far away I made him a birthday cake. Just look at the artistry in this:

Do you think I should consider a new career in cake decorating?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Daughter's dog, Holly, is at the vet's today for 'the op'. Daughter is in a state; I am fretting about both.

If you have a thought or a prayer to spare today, please direct it Devonwards.

Happy Birthday, Daughter!

Charlie poses with Harvey and Holly to wish Daughter a happy birthday.

Can you spot the joins?

Walkies today

Everyone is enjoying or hating the snow and this what we get:

The tide goes out a long way in the bay.

If you walk down the road from our house, and past the playing fields, you reach Swansea Bay. I rarely walked Harvey there as he'd get his nose down following a scent and wander for miles with ne'er a thought for me. But Holly's different. If you've got a stick for her to chase, she'll stick with you.

It was fine going; coming back, walking into the wind and rain, didn't half make my nose run. It's a nuisance, isn't it? You have to stop, take off your gloves, find your hankie, blow your nose, put your hankie away, put your gloves back on, walk ten yards, stop, take off your gloves etc.

I can understand someone losing a flip flop in the middle of summer ...

Walking back through the wood, a nasty dog began hassling Holly. I called her and she ran to me although I'm not sure what either of us thought I was going to do.

What puzzles me is the number of people who say to Holly (or said to Harvey), 'My, my, just look at you; you'll be having a bath when you get home!' Just because they're covered in sand or mud? It'll dry and drop off. No worries.

Coal nuggets, remnants of Swansea's industrial heritage, in amongst the shell debris.

Not in our garden but very pretty.

North, south

Holly has a much better understanding of the concept of direction than Harvey has. To be honest, Harvey has never grasped it. When I throw a stick and it goes in a direction neither Holly nor I anticipated, I can say, 'Over there,' pointing, and Holly will go 'over there'.

She also does tricks: rolling over, standing on her back legs, shaking hands, high fiving. She is amazing.

Can you imagine what I will be like when I finally get to be a grandmama? My grandchildren will all be child prodigies.

Not that Harvey isn't clever, you understand. He doesn't do tricks but that is because we never taught him to. It's our fault, not his. And he was just agile at leaping in and out of rivers when he was younger.

Harvey, however, is much more generous. He has let Holly come into his house and make herself at home, while Holly will try and squeeze in between Harvey and me if she thinks he is getting my attention. Poor Harvs. I tell him we have to make a fuss of her as she is missing her mummy. He is very understanding.

Walkies

Husband had the day off today so he could move furniture out of our bedroom ready for the carpet fitters. Then he was going to install the new light fitting but he's easily led astray and Holly and I persuaded him to come round the cliffs with us.

It's another of Harvey's old favourites that he can't manage any more, so it was lovely to have an excuse, in the sunshine, to walk it.

We walked from Limeslade to Rotherslade and back; Holly ran from Limeslade to London and back. Or the equivalent of.

Incidentally, our new carpet smells of cowpooh.