Well that wasn’t very good was it? So much for my writing a bit each day. And I don’t really know where the time has gone. Ok, I did finish up with Chris’ tax return – which got delayed a bit while we asked a couple of questions of the company accountant – and then after that I put together the book-keeping for his new company and brought it up to date, and that took a while. I also seem to have got most of my bits and pieces straight and up to date, so I’m feeling quite pleased and as though a weight has been lifted.
In terms of what else we have been up to in the interim, we went to London two Sunday’s ago for our ‘Christmas’ visit to Chris’ parents, his middle brother and his wife. On the way there we stopped off at Virginia Water lake to give the dogs a bit of a walk. If we don’t do that they are not only over excited by the time we arrive (which they are anyway, but would be a lot worse) but they don’t get any exercise during the day either. And Virginia Water is handy, being just off the M3, and is a lovely spot to walk. For those of you who don’t know, Virginia Water is part of the royal parks at Windsor. You can read about it here, plus take a look at the gallery:
Our actual visit to Chris’ family was dominated by football: it was called ‘Super Sunday’ as there were 3 matches on back to back which everyone bar Rosa (Chris’ sister-in-law) and I wanted to watch. So the TV was on the whole time. We did manage at least some conversation though, and Rosa had made a lovely lunch, with an even lovelier chocolate cake. There are photos from the day on my photo blog.
Last week we had one or two really nice sunny days, although we had some fairly hard frosts. It meant that I was able to get a few photos when I was walking the dogs (also on my photo blog, and on my Flickr stream). We have stopped walking Max so much again, though, as he has started limping badly again. To make matters worse he is skipping steps with his back right leg – not a good sign. However, I’ve watched him the last couple of times I’ve taken him out (Saturday and today), and he only does it about 5 minutes into his walk for about 5 minutes, then stops. If it doesn’t improve though I’ll have to take him back to the vet. Meanwhile we are swimming him twice a day every other day, with a short walk and a swim on the other, alternate, days.
Jez isn’t that great either – she’s not putting her full weight on her back right leg. Generally it doesn’t seem to be bothering her, although she refused to go for a walk one day last week, so I put her back on her meds for a couple of days. She has to go to the vet on Wednesday for her annual check up and booster, so I’ll get them to have a quick look at her then. We’re assuming it’s something to do with her spine, but I’ll get them to check just in case it’s a problem with her leg. This is the one that she’s had 3 operations on to stop her knee slipping out of joint, so I hope it’s not her knee.
On Thursday I had a check up with the podiatrist, who was really pleased with the progress on my foot. I have to go back again in 4 months. As I had to go into Poole for the appointment I did a bit of shopping using gift cards that Chris had I have had over the past 2 years. So I ended up buying the Blu-ray version of all 3 Bourne films, together with a Blu-ray version of all 4 Dirty Harry films. I’m not sure when we’ll get round to watching them though. We seem to be struggling to get through all of the TV programmes and the rentals that we’ve got. On top of that I’ve given Chris all 5 series of Supernatural, so we’re watching series 1-4 again in order to finally catch up and get to watch series 5 for the first time. Then we’ve got into the habit of taking Jez for a night-time walk, since she only has one walk during the day at the moment; and that interrupts our evening. She does love it though: she gets out there and does a full speed Staffy strut all the way round, trailing us behind her.
This Sunday morning I gave Max a good clip – he’d go so shaggy that it made him look a lot fatter than he actually is. After that we went to Dad and Pat’s for lunch. Dad had cooked a piece of gammon he’d bought thinking we’d go over Boxing Day although he didn’t actually ask us until a couple of days before, by which time I’d got food in myself. And Pat made the lemon chiffon pie that I gave her the recipe for. It was a really nice lunch, and the dogs always enjoy going over there.
There, I seem to be about up to date. I can’t let this entry pass, though, without comment on the two Sky commentators who made derogatory off-air comments about a woman lineswoman at a footie match on Saturday. They suggested someone should go down and explain the off-side rule to her, as being a woman she wouldn’t know it: I suggest they try explaining it to a lot of the male commentators, who frequently get it wrong. There comments were totally uncalled for. And what have Sky done? Given them a gentle slap on the wrist and stopped them from commentating on tonight’s match. In my view they should have been sacked: that’s what would have happened if they had made a racist comment. But apparently in Sky’s view, sexism in the workplace is ok. At least it reminded me to cancel my subscription to Sky Sports though, so I suppose some good came of it.
Showing posts with label springer spaniel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label springer spaniel. Show all posts
Monday, 24 January 2011
Friday, 29 January 2010
Tried to shift it, couldn't even lift it
We have finally got round to starting to assemble the new wardrobes that we bought for the 3rd bedroom. I decorated the room & we laid new carpet last summer. We had an old wardrobe & chest of drawers in there that we bought over 27 years ago when we first got married. They were cheap flatpack but were still ok. In fact, at the moment we’ve kept the chest of drawers and have donated the wardrobe to a local recycling charity. We had seen the wardrobes we wanted at B&Q but they were very expensive, so we waited knowing they would be on offer at some point. Sure enough between Christmas & New Year there was 40% off them, so we bought the, along with a couple of bookcases for the same room.
We thought we were going to have a lot of trouble with the wardrobes (you know what flat pack can be like), but we’ve been pleasantly surprised. Once we’d sorted out what all the bits were we got the carcases together really quickly.
This is the first one, awaiting it’s doors (that will come once we’ve got everything else together & the wardbrobes in place.
And here are the doors & the sides of the second one waiting to be unwrapped.
Max tries to help Chris put the second wardrobe together…
While Jez looks on…
Tomorrow we have to put together an internal drawer unit for one of the wardrobes. After that we’ll try and fix the doors.
Friday is normally cleaning day for me, but as the upstairs is covered in bits of packaging & stuff from the room at the moment, I limited myself to downstairs today until we’ve got stuff back together.
In the news Chris and I were both horrified to see that Ashley Cole had only been given a 4 month ban for driving at 104mph in a 50mph limit in South London. How disgraceful is that? Does he think that just because he is a famous footballer the law doesn’t apply to him. Well obviously he does.
I don’t think there’s much else to say today. Max’s leg continues to get better & is almost completely healed. As you could see in the photo above, though, he’s still wearing his buster collar as he will insist on licking it. And Max can’t content himself with one or two licks. No, he has to get obsessive about it and will just go on and on. Talking of the Super Pooper, that bone yesterday took it’s toll today: 4 poos before 10.30am and another 2 this afternoon! As for Jez, we still don’t like the look of that thing on her side. I think she’s going to end up at the vet next week at this rate.
Finally, I can’t really go without commenting on the iPad, which as everyone has said, sounds like a feminine hygiene product. It looks like a large iPod touch to me. I can’t see that it will replace a laptop – who would want to type a lot on it? But, unlike Chris, I can see that it will have its uses. IF you had the money, it would be a great coffee table item, for playing games & browsing the internet etc. And they are talking about newspapers, magazines & books on it. Now I like reading The Guardian on my iPhone, so I can get the newspaper/magazine bit. But books are another matter. I thought I’d try Kindle on my iPhone, but was actually more interested in the Sony eReader. Until I realised that you are paying full price for a book which you can’t then share with anyone else. The books I buy tend to get passed round before returning to me, so they work out quite cheap. But you can’t do that with these eBooks. I was saying to Chris this morning that it would make more sense if you could rent them cheaply (and go for volume sales like the iPhone apps). People might be much more interested in them. As for who would want one, other than people who must have the latest gadget, well it would be useful for someone like my Dad. He is nearly 83 and keeps going on about a PC so that he can access the internet. You may not have noticed, but there are so many things nowadays you can’t do or get if you haven’t got internet access. But he’d never cope with a PC. He loves my iPhone though, and I think would get on well with this iPad thing. But it is way too pricey. You’d really want the G3 version, and that comes in at $699, plus the cost of a separate G3 contract. Just cos Steve Jobs is made of money doesn’t mean everyone else is.
Chris thinks the iPad will fail. I think it will succeed, but only because people have more money than sense. Mind you, I thought that about the iPhone, and I love mine, so you never can tell. Without apps though, I’d never have bothered.
Oh, and if you are wondering where the title lyric comes from (if you are Keith Bell you will know), its from Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins. If you don’t know it here is a link to a vintage 1960s animated cartoon of it (which I actually recall!). You Tube Link
We thought we were going to have a lot of trouble with the wardrobes (you know what flat pack can be like), but we’ve been pleasantly surprised. Once we’d sorted out what all the bits were we got the carcases together really quickly.
This is the first one, awaiting it’s doors (that will come once we’ve got everything else together & the wardbrobes in place.
And here are the doors & the sides of the second one waiting to be unwrapped.
Max tries to help Chris put the second wardrobe together…
While Jez looks on…
Tomorrow we have to put together an internal drawer unit for one of the wardrobes. After that we’ll try and fix the doors.
Friday is normally cleaning day for me, but as the upstairs is covered in bits of packaging & stuff from the room at the moment, I limited myself to downstairs today until we’ve got stuff back together.
In the news Chris and I were both horrified to see that Ashley Cole had only been given a 4 month ban for driving at 104mph in a 50mph limit in South London. How disgraceful is that? Does he think that just because he is a famous footballer the law doesn’t apply to him. Well obviously he does.
I don’t think there’s much else to say today. Max’s leg continues to get better & is almost completely healed. As you could see in the photo above, though, he’s still wearing his buster collar as he will insist on licking it. And Max can’t content himself with one or two licks. No, he has to get obsessive about it and will just go on and on. Talking of the Super Pooper, that bone yesterday took it’s toll today: 4 poos before 10.30am and another 2 this afternoon! As for Jez, we still don’t like the look of that thing on her side. I think she’s going to end up at the vet next week at this rate.
Finally, I can’t really go without commenting on the iPad, which as everyone has said, sounds like a feminine hygiene product. It looks like a large iPod touch to me. I can’t see that it will replace a laptop – who would want to type a lot on it? But, unlike Chris, I can see that it will have its uses. IF you had the money, it would be a great coffee table item, for playing games & browsing the internet etc. And they are talking about newspapers, magazines & books on it. Now I like reading The Guardian on my iPhone, so I can get the newspaper/magazine bit. But books are another matter. I thought I’d try Kindle on my iPhone, but was actually more interested in the Sony eReader. Until I realised that you are paying full price for a book which you can’t then share with anyone else. The books I buy tend to get passed round before returning to me, so they work out quite cheap. But you can’t do that with these eBooks. I was saying to Chris this morning that it would make more sense if you could rent them cheaply (and go for volume sales like the iPhone apps). People might be much more interested in them. As for who would want one, other than people who must have the latest gadget, well it would be useful for someone like my Dad. He is nearly 83 and keeps going on about a PC so that he can access the internet. You may not have noticed, but there are so many things nowadays you can’t do or get if you haven’t got internet access. But he’d never cope with a PC. He loves my iPhone though, and I think would get on well with this iPad thing. But it is way too pricey. You’d really want the G3 version, and that comes in at $699, plus the cost of a separate G3 contract. Just cos Steve Jobs is made of money doesn’t mean everyone else is.
Chris thinks the iPad will fail. I think it will succeed, but only because people have more money than sense. Mind you, I thought that about the iPhone, and I love mine, so you never can tell. Without apps though, I’d never have bothered.
Oh, and if you are wondering where the title lyric comes from (if you are Keith Bell you will know), its from Right Said Fred by Bernard Cribbins. If you don’t know it here is a link to a vintage 1960s animated cartoon of it (which I actually recall!). You Tube Link
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Tangled up in blue
Another grey day, although the sun did manage to break through again at lunchtime. But very cold again – the local reading is 2C. And its due to fall to -4C overnight.
Max was really happy to be allowed back out for a proper walk this morning. We went to Broadstone Rec. I bandaged his leg to keep it clean, but he was dashing around and bouncing about. Being a typical Springer. This was him on our walk hoping that I would throw a cone for him…
On the subject of dogs I forgot to mention yesterday that Chris managed to bring Jez home covered in fox poo. His attempts to clean her up weren’t very successful, so it fell to me to try and scrub round her neck and get it clean (by then it had dried into her fur in clumps). Needless to say after that she’s wanted nothing more to do with me. She was not impressed.
We watched Hell’s Kitchen USA last night and were very disappointed that Gordon didn’t get bopped after all. That contestant must be really stupid: firstly, he got himself thrown out of the competition for nothing, and secondly, I don’t fancy most people’s chances again Gordon as he is big and very fit.
Now seems a good time for one of my catch up subjects. Over the past year we’ve gradually been doing work on the house, or in most cases, having it done. Last summer I decorated the kitchen and 2 bedrooms; we’ve have the en suite bathroom replaced; 2 radiators have been removed which has meant we now have new kitchen flooring; one of the bedrooms now has new bedrooms and new wardrobes (which we still have to assemble); we’ve had our old TV aerial replaced; the fascias and guttering replaced; a new fuse box, kitchen lights replaced and other odds of electrical work done. I think that’s about it. Of course, we still have to replace the roof tiles on our front porch, as 2 old ones broke on the roof and you haven’t been able to buy any that will fit with them for years. We have the tiles – but it’s been too cold to attempt it.
So with all this work you’d think that would be enough spending, wouldn’t you. But we seem to be going through one of those periods where everything goes wrong or the work has a knock on effect. For example, when we had the fascias done we had to have the TV aerial guy back as the wiring had come undone. Then, as soon as the electrics had been fixed the central heating packed up. It was something really simple, but still cost over £60. Then Chris’ PC went wrong last week – or more precisely the graphics card started playing up, followed swiftly by the network card. So we had another £60 plus bill to get the PC tested & our suspicions confirmed, plus £90 for a new graphics card. Then last week my gas hob started playing up, although that seems to have righted itself now. But we’re waiting for the next thing to go. Oh, and I forgot that the oil filter on the car sprang a leak 2 days before Xmas.
I suppose it’s not surprising. The house and many of the things in it are at that age where they are due to go wrong or be replaced. A couple of weeks ago I finally bought a new microwave – I’ve been considering it for months. My old one was 23 years old and although it was still going I felt I needed to get a bit more up to date. I doubt if I’ll get 23 years out of my new one. No doubt the TVs will be next – the one in the living room is Mark & Katja’s old one. But then I have a small Sony portable upstairs which is 27 years old and still going strong. Sadly it does not have the right connections for modern equipment. Oh, and our CD player is playing up – every time you turn it on it automatically goes into repeat mode. I’m wondering what we are going to have to fork out on this year.
One thing we are thinking about is replacing the boiler. We are eligible for one of these £400 government grants given that age of the boiler. We’ve asked for a quote, but are in two minds about whether to go ahead. I’ve been told a couple of times that although our boiler is inefficient and is 28 years old, there is very little in it to go wrong. But new boilers have a nasty habit of only lasting a few years, can go wrong frequently, and cost a fortune to fix when they do go wrong. Plus we will have to have our hot water tank replaced at the same time and the boiler outlets moved. We may well actually be better to stick with what we have, even though it’s not very environmentally friendly.
At least I shouldn’t have much decorating to do this year. Only the main bedroom, and possibly Chris’ study, which is small, need doing. But at least I’ve decorated them both before and there is no more wallpaper to remove before we paint, so they should be quite quick. Perhaps this year I can get some work done in the garden, as the front garden is desperately in need of some sort of makeover.
Chris has taken the dogs over the Heath this afternoon. He said Max jumped in every muddy puddle he could find. When I took his bandage off the gauze underneath was filthy. So I’ve washed his leg off again and it looks nice & clean and seems to be healing well. He’s got his buster collar back on now.
I think that’s about it. We’ve got stir fry beef for dinner tonight (leftover from the Pot Roast). I’m not sure whether to cook noodles or rice with it. Then Chris is watching the footie. We’ve only got Sky Sports on my iPhone (too expensive otherwise), so he has to watch it on that. I think I’ll watch the last programme on Gordon Ramsey in India.
Max was really happy to be allowed back out for a proper walk this morning. We went to Broadstone Rec. I bandaged his leg to keep it clean, but he was dashing around and bouncing about. Being a typical Springer. This was him on our walk hoping that I would throw a cone for him…
On the subject of dogs I forgot to mention yesterday that Chris managed to bring Jez home covered in fox poo. His attempts to clean her up weren’t very successful, so it fell to me to try and scrub round her neck and get it clean (by then it had dried into her fur in clumps). Needless to say after that she’s wanted nothing more to do with me. She was not impressed.
We watched Hell’s Kitchen USA last night and were very disappointed that Gordon didn’t get bopped after all. That contestant must be really stupid: firstly, he got himself thrown out of the competition for nothing, and secondly, I don’t fancy most people’s chances again Gordon as he is big and very fit.
Now seems a good time for one of my catch up subjects. Over the past year we’ve gradually been doing work on the house, or in most cases, having it done. Last summer I decorated the kitchen and 2 bedrooms; we’ve have the en suite bathroom replaced; 2 radiators have been removed which has meant we now have new kitchen flooring; one of the bedrooms now has new bedrooms and new wardrobes (which we still have to assemble); we’ve had our old TV aerial replaced; the fascias and guttering replaced; a new fuse box, kitchen lights replaced and other odds of electrical work done. I think that’s about it. Of course, we still have to replace the roof tiles on our front porch, as 2 old ones broke on the roof and you haven’t been able to buy any that will fit with them for years. We have the tiles – but it’s been too cold to attempt it.
So with all this work you’d think that would be enough spending, wouldn’t you. But we seem to be going through one of those periods where everything goes wrong or the work has a knock on effect. For example, when we had the fascias done we had to have the TV aerial guy back as the wiring had come undone. Then, as soon as the electrics had been fixed the central heating packed up. It was something really simple, but still cost over £60. Then Chris’ PC went wrong last week – or more precisely the graphics card started playing up, followed swiftly by the network card. So we had another £60 plus bill to get the PC tested & our suspicions confirmed, plus £90 for a new graphics card. Then last week my gas hob started playing up, although that seems to have righted itself now. But we’re waiting for the next thing to go. Oh, and I forgot that the oil filter on the car sprang a leak 2 days before Xmas.
I suppose it’s not surprising. The house and many of the things in it are at that age where they are due to go wrong or be replaced. A couple of weeks ago I finally bought a new microwave – I’ve been considering it for months. My old one was 23 years old and although it was still going I felt I needed to get a bit more up to date. I doubt if I’ll get 23 years out of my new one. No doubt the TVs will be next – the one in the living room is Mark & Katja’s old one. But then I have a small Sony portable upstairs which is 27 years old and still going strong. Sadly it does not have the right connections for modern equipment. Oh, and our CD player is playing up – every time you turn it on it automatically goes into repeat mode. I’m wondering what we are going to have to fork out on this year.
One thing we are thinking about is replacing the boiler. We are eligible for one of these £400 government grants given that age of the boiler. We’ve asked for a quote, but are in two minds about whether to go ahead. I’ve been told a couple of times that although our boiler is inefficient and is 28 years old, there is very little in it to go wrong. But new boilers have a nasty habit of only lasting a few years, can go wrong frequently, and cost a fortune to fix when they do go wrong. Plus we will have to have our hot water tank replaced at the same time and the boiler outlets moved. We may well actually be better to stick with what we have, even though it’s not very environmentally friendly.
At least I shouldn’t have much decorating to do this year. Only the main bedroom, and possibly Chris’ study, which is small, need doing. But at least I’ve decorated them both before and there is no more wallpaper to remove before we paint, so they should be quite quick. Perhaps this year I can get some work done in the garden, as the front garden is desperately in need of some sort of makeover.
Chris has taken the dogs over the Heath this afternoon. He said Max jumped in every muddy puddle he could find. When I took his bandage off the gauze underneath was filthy. So I’ve washed his leg off again and it looks nice & clean and seems to be healing well. He’s got his buster collar back on now.
I think that’s about it. We’ve got stir fry beef for dinner tonight (leftover from the Pot Roast). I’m not sure whether to cook noodles or rice with it. Then Chris is watching the footie. We’ve only got Sky Sports on my iPhone (too expensive otherwise), so he has to watch it on that. I think I’ll watch the last programme on Gordon Ramsey in India.
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Take a look it's on display
The butter chicken last night was excellent. It is a Gordon Ramsey recipe and you can find it here http://www.channel4.com/food/recipes/chefs/gordon-ramsay/butter-chicken-recipe_p_1.html. I can thoroughly recommend it. But please note you need to start it around 4-5 hours in advance in order to let the chicken marinate.
Today was supposed to be a day to relax a bit, but I seem to have been busy all day. The first job has been to wash all the bedding, including the dogs’ bedding. Then I’ve been tending to Max. I checked his leg first thing this morning and tweezered & cut away some fur that had matted & dried into the wound. I’ve also sorted out how to give it a salt water bath, so that I can leave it in there for a few minutes. I’m using a 2 litre plastic drink container. I’ll get Chris to take a photo – poor Max has to stand there with his leg in it. Chris says it’s humiliating. But I noticed this afternoon that it’s nevertheless a bit weepy. I think it’s where he occasionally licks it, so I’ve put his buster collar on him.
The other thing I’ve been occupied with today is getting my blog on WordPress. So now it’s in 3 places: Bowienet, Blogspot and WordPress. The reason is that I’m planning to lapse my B’net subscription in April, and I’m not at all keen on Blogspot. Mind you, I’m struggling with WordPress. At the moment it won’t link to photos on Flickr (within the text of the blog). It will link to Photobucket though. And I can’t work out how to get links to other blogs (like Jez’s) on the side of the page. Otherwise it seems ok. I’m sure I can do a lot more with it, although first I need to understand it all. Most of it is a load of gobbledygook to me. Somehow I think I’m getting past it.
Chris took Jez out this morning, and she behaved well. I’ve taken her over Upton Heath this afternoon and she was good, although she did have an attempt at not coming to me when I wanted to get her lead on – until she went in the wrong direction and then had to come running to catch up with me, which gave me my chance.
Since I’ve come back in I’ve been getting dinner. I’m doing a Jamaican pot roast from the Levi Roots book. It’s a good meal for tonight as I can leave it cooking while I go and have a bath.
Well that’s the bath over with. Just waiting for Chris to finish now then I can cook us a Yorkshire pud each to go with the pot roast. Ok I know it doesn’t exactly fit with the Caribbean theme, but Chris loves Yorkshire pud with his beef & veg. Unfortunately, since getting out of the bath I’ve noticed that Max’s leg has been bleeding again – I think it must be where he was racing around playing with Jez.
Today was supposed to be a day to relax a bit, but I seem to have been busy all day. The first job has been to wash all the bedding, including the dogs’ bedding. Then I’ve been tending to Max. I checked his leg first thing this morning and tweezered & cut away some fur that had matted & dried into the wound. I’ve also sorted out how to give it a salt water bath, so that I can leave it in there for a few minutes. I’m using a 2 litre plastic drink container. I’ll get Chris to take a photo – poor Max has to stand there with his leg in it. Chris says it’s humiliating. But I noticed this afternoon that it’s nevertheless a bit weepy. I think it’s where he occasionally licks it, so I’ve put his buster collar on him.
The other thing I’ve been occupied with today is getting my blog on WordPress. So now it’s in 3 places: Bowienet, Blogspot and WordPress. The reason is that I’m planning to lapse my B’net subscription in April, and I’m not at all keen on Blogspot. Mind you, I’m struggling with WordPress. At the moment it won’t link to photos on Flickr (within the text of the blog). It will link to Photobucket though. And I can’t work out how to get links to other blogs (like Jez’s) on the side of the page. Otherwise it seems ok. I’m sure I can do a lot more with it, although first I need to understand it all. Most of it is a load of gobbledygook to me. Somehow I think I’m getting past it.
Chris took Jez out this morning, and she behaved well. I’ve taken her over Upton Heath this afternoon and she was good, although she did have an attempt at not coming to me when I wanted to get her lead on – until she went in the wrong direction and then had to come running to catch up with me, which gave me my chance.
Since I’ve come back in I’ve been getting dinner. I’m doing a Jamaican pot roast from the Levi Roots book. It’s a good meal for tonight as I can leave it cooking while I go and have a bath.
Well that’s the bath over with. Just waiting for Chris to finish now then I can cook us a Yorkshire pud each to go with the pot roast. Ok I know it doesn’t exactly fit with the Caribbean theme, but Chris loves Yorkshire pud with his beef & veg. Unfortunately, since getting out of the bath I’ve noticed that Max’s leg has been bleeding again – I think it must be where he was racing around playing with Jez.
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Ready, Set, Go
So what is there to talk about? Well perhaps a little catch up, starting with the dogs as they have been the problem today. In case there are any new B’netters out there reading this we have 2 dogs: Jezebel (Jez), a 2 year old Staffy bitch, and Max, an 18 month old English Springer dog. Max is generally well behaved – Jez is just a very wilful little dog who likes to explore and get her own way.
Take today for example. For reasons that I will explain shortly, I had to cut their afternoon walk short, so Chris took Jez back out to her favourite spot, Delph Woods. Once there she had a great time, as she met her old friend Lenny the Lurcher whom she hasn’t seen for simply ages. So they had a good old play for about 45 minutes. A bit later Chris headed to the car to bring her home. Jez didn’t want to come home though, so she slunk off in the opposite direction. 15 minutes later I got a call from Chris to say he might be a while as he hadn’t seen Jez since she disappeared. By now it was starting to get a bit dark. Luckily though, just after he rang off, my mobile rang. Once I’d tracked it down (it was still in my coat pocket) it turned out to be one of the dog walkers we meet. Had I lost Jez? Cos she had her. It took Chris another 15 minutes to finally meet up and get her back. So the short walk he’d planned dragged out to something of a marathon.
Yesterday was the same (well almost). It was pouring with rain yesterday morning, which Jez usually hates. I took the dogs over the Heath and normally get her back on the lead towards the end of the walk before she has a chance to run off and explore the woods that border the main road. Yesterday she was way ahead of me and, I thought, heading back to the car at great speed due to the increasingly heavy rain. But when I got there (I was pulled in just off the road), no Jez. No, she was off exploring the local housing estate!
She’s a little terror. We thought we’d cracked this running off business – she has been really good of late (well, apart from the odd incident), but this past week she’s been a real pain and it’s happening more frequently again. And it’s worrying. Not that she’s get into trouble as such, as she’s such a friendly little soul, and people look at her little face and say ‘Ah, isn’t she lovely’. We worry more about her running across a road and getting hit by a car.
Anyway, the reason I had to cut the dogs’ afternoon walk short was that about 10 minutes into it (mostly taken up with throwing pine cones for them to chase) I spotted quite a bit of blood on the top of Max’s left paw. We were aware one of them had been bleeding earlier at home, but couldn’t see where it was coming from. This time though, as I looked at Max, I realise the whole of the back of his right leg was soaked with blood, and that it was dripping along the path. So home we came. I’ve washed it off and clipped the fur back and it turns out he’s sliced through the pad that’s part way up his leg. Fortunately he doesn’t stand on it, but apparently pads can take ages to heal. And we can’t stop exercising Max as he’s already a bit of a tubs who is on a permanent diet.
I’d better go now. I’m in the middle of cooking dinner. Butter Chicken, Bombay Potatoes, Rice & Nan Bread.
Take today for example. For reasons that I will explain shortly, I had to cut their afternoon walk short, so Chris took Jez back out to her favourite spot, Delph Woods. Once there she had a great time, as she met her old friend Lenny the Lurcher whom she hasn’t seen for simply ages. So they had a good old play for about 45 minutes. A bit later Chris headed to the car to bring her home. Jez didn’t want to come home though, so she slunk off in the opposite direction. 15 minutes later I got a call from Chris to say he might be a while as he hadn’t seen Jez since she disappeared. By now it was starting to get a bit dark. Luckily though, just after he rang off, my mobile rang. Once I’d tracked it down (it was still in my coat pocket) it turned out to be one of the dog walkers we meet. Had I lost Jez? Cos she had her. It took Chris another 15 minutes to finally meet up and get her back. So the short walk he’d planned dragged out to something of a marathon.
Yesterday was the same (well almost). It was pouring with rain yesterday morning, which Jez usually hates. I took the dogs over the Heath and normally get her back on the lead towards the end of the walk before she has a chance to run off and explore the woods that border the main road. Yesterday she was way ahead of me and, I thought, heading back to the car at great speed due to the increasingly heavy rain. But when I got there (I was pulled in just off the road), no Jez. No, she was off exploring the local housing estate!
She’s a little terror. We thought we’d cracked this running off business – she has been really good of late (well, apart from the odd incident), but this past week she’s been a real pain and it’s happening more frequently again. And it’s worrying. Not that she’s get into trouble as such, as she’s such a friendly little soul, and people look at her little face and say ‘Ah, isn’t she lovely’. We worry more about her running across a road and getting hit by a car.
Anyway, the reason I had to cut the dogs’ afternoon walk short was that about 10 minutes into it (mostly taken up with throwing pine cones for them to chase) I spotted quite a bit of blood on the top of Max’s left paw. We were aware one of them had been bleeding earlier at home, but couldn’t see where it was coming from. This time though, as I looked at Max, I realise the whole of the back of his right leg was soaked with blood, and that it was dripping along the path. So home we came. I’ve washed it off and clipped the fur back and it turns out he’s sliced through the pad that’s part way up his leg. Fortunately he doesn’t stand on it, but apparently pads can take ages to heal. And we can’t stop exercising Max as he’s already a bit of a tubs who is on a permanent diet.
I’d better go now. I’m in the middle of cooking dinner. Butter Chicken, Bombay Potatoes, Rice & Nan Bread.
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