goodbye 2008

sometimes I log onto this and feel empty of anything to say. Which is odd given that normally I'm full of excitement to talk! so next year I'll start havering on about anything and everything on the odd occasion that Murphy or Gizzy haven't done anything of note.

So... thank you to anyone who's been desperate enough to have read any of this and we'll see what happens next year. Slainge!

(ps Murphy continues to lie around, leaping into our laps at the remotest sign of movement in the hope it'll result in a walk.. Gizzy is off in the huff because I wouldn't give her her dinner at 3.30 this afternoon)

Boxing Day, we've

well we all survived Christmas 2008 - Murphy even got 2 walks! He was very busy in the morning chasing Magpies, then ripping wrapping paper. Luckily he got a break from his responsibilities while we were playing computer games in the evening.

Gizzy refused to countenance her new "radiator bed" but we caught her curled up on it this morning. Murphy isn't sure about his luxurious new bed though, but hopefully he'll get used to it soon.

He and Gizzy are totally stuffed on turkey - they've had more than me! Although I skipped main course and went straight for trifle and chocolates for lunch today so that's not hard.

New challenge - make all the chocolate and sweets last a bit longer than normal. Merry Christmas!

christmas

well murphy survived his trip to Glasgow on Saturday and was very well behaved (apart from sneaking up on the sofa for a kip while Ian was snoozing on his sofa). He wasn't too happy today when the dogwalker went off on holiday; he never gets the same walks when it's us responsible for them!

anyway he's in for a treat tomorrow - they sent us a huge turkey so there'll be plenty of extra for the hooverdog! In the meantime Gizzy is inhabiting the bed so I can't make it yet - she's been there all day!

Well, Merry Christmas!!!!

caught in the act

Gizzy was found balanced on the arm of the sofa, her claws well into my little Norwegian girl tree decoration as she pulled it towards her...

luckily she was caught, before she got onto the tree itself and created absolute havoc! She's never bothered with the tree before, I don't know why she's suddenly taken an interest. Murphy meanwhile has been goodness itself (as far as the tree's concerned anyway)

christmas

is coming and I'm pretty organised this year - all I've got to do now is wrap the presents for Richard's side of things (ie him and the kids). Got everything else got, wrapped and posted where necessary (that last did involve a 45 minute sojourn in the local store with the Post Office - 5 minutes to work out what packaging to buy for my parcels, 5 minutes to wait in the shop queue to pay for it, 10 minutes to wrap, address and seal it all, then another 25 minutes to wait in the PO queue to post it! (including a quick dash out into the rain half way through to put the windows down for Murphy in the car). And whit a driech day it all was - it poured for 48 hours (you in the west will pooh pooh this as standard but believe me people are looking at boat prices here!) For the first time ever Murphy got one of his weekend walks cut short (and didn't let me forget it either)

oh well, I've got the christmas music on (again), the tree's up and Richard's off on the obligatory trip to B & Q for new tree lights and electric tape. My second attempt at mince pies is in the offing, plus I intend to ice the christmas cake tonight. If I can fit it in between dinner and Wallander on the TV.

PS I've taken pity on Murphy and thrown his hated reindeer antlers out - they were broken. But there's always room for something else instead, Murphy! A Santa hat?

gizzy keeps an eye on things

..quite literally - check out the picture! Imagine walking past the gate and happening to glance in - to see the steely gaze of our new police-cat following you....

It's got to the stage where she goes in the huff if we close the curtains and she can't look out. Maybe she just likes to see the snow outside, and know she's nice and cosy. Unlike the dog, our snow-hero, who leaves no snowflake unturned in his search for....well, whatever he's searching for....

the year

is just flying by! I can't believe it's the end of november already! kathy's putting her Christmas tree up on Sunday..gulp. She has it up for the whole of December. Well I've beaten her to it - I put up the new Advent calendar tonight! Murphy contributed by eating one of Emily's socks (well most of it).

It was -1.5 degrees this morning when I got in the car at 7.40 so must have been colder when we went out for our run. It was -1.5 degrees when I got in tonight at about 8.30 - that's almost nicely balanced, isn't it?

And cold!

sparkly dog

Murphy's getting all ready for Christmas.. I got him another flashy thing for the dark - a movement & dark activated flashy attachment for his collar. So with his 4 reflective paw cuffs (he lost one but I found it a week or so later up at the track) and his new reflective high-viz coat and his usual flashy collar hopefully he'll be safe! (no guarantees as to anyone else in his immediate surroundings though!)

lazybones

that cat is getting sooooooooooooooooooooooo lazy! now she just stands at the foot of the cupboard and stares at us, not til we feed her, but til we lift her up onto it to eat the food that's already there!!

We had a gorgeous day today - mid November but the sun's still shining! murphy had a couple of nice walks..well I thought they were nice

and for my next trick....

well wouldn't you know he'd not behave himself for long...

I forgot the lead yesterday morning and he knew it! Got to the top of the road, crossed like a good boy when I said he could then took off - there's a house that has a cat and if he's off the lead he always nips in and does a circuit of the grass (with me hissing at him) well this particular morning as I say he took off and, not content with doing that, raced into the garden, sat on the doorstep and "woo-ooo-oo-oof!" OMG!

Of course the kids go to Robert Gordon's so were up and dressed and ready to go at 7.30am and came and looked out the door - what could I do? Waved an apologetic hand at them from the gate and growled at Murphy sotto voce to get the heck out of there!

Thank you Murphy, my standing in the local community grows ever higher! He certainly doesn't aim to blend in the way he does in this photo!

murphy's day out

well did our boy have a big day out yesterday! Lou phoned at about 3.15 to say he'd disappeared and she'd been all round the woods again, been waiting for him in the car park for ages... and no sign. So I left work early (with the phone numbers of all the clients I was expecting phonecalls from), headed home to change and found myself, pockets stuffed full of batteries, phone, gloves, lipsalve, whistle.. you name it, I had it!

So, off I went..... and paid my dues - I spent 3 hours traipsing through the woods in the rain and the mud in the dark, calling, calling.... but no sign of him. Richard got the bus home, the kids were out looking, but no sign. I had been through mud up to my knees, walked along the edges of the roads to make sure he wasn't there (I nearly got run over myself a few times)

I had to go back home as I had Guides and just as I was changing, with Richard trying to find out which police station to phone, the doorbell rang.... and there he was! One of the women who walks her two retrievers had come across him and as he was clearly on his own so she took him home where he had a great time, had dinner with her two, played with them and finally arrived back with us, all excited about his doings. It's a small world - she didn't know where Murphy stayed but her grand-daughter is at school with the daughter of the owner of Sam (another retriever who Murphy mostly doesn't play with but used to) who apparently knows where Murphy stays! So he arrived safely back.. and won't be off the lead for a while!

winter has arrived

it snowed today! I couldn't go running, it looked too slippy so I did the ironing instead. Murphy was NOT impressed!

ongoing

I had a great blog entry for this but Gizzy managed to sabotage it (at least I'm blaming her, it might have been me, who knows?) she came and sat on my lap(top) and promptly fell down the side of my leg when she curled up. i was just writing about it when suddenly the computer switvhed itself off...hmmm

So I'll forget about telling you how everything is now settling down again and my morning runs with Murphy in the dark.. and go before she switches anything else off! She stretched out beside me now with a paw hanging off the edge of the sofa..

btw I bought my first Christmas present on Friday!

and hello murphy!

forgot I hadn't expressed our delight at seeing our bold hero again after the holidays - he was off course DELIGHTED to see us when we pitched up for him. back and forward, back and forward, circling us, incredibly excited, then straight to the car, let me in!

I'd packed him off with his bed, blanket, bucket and toys and new lead. I got him back with the blanket...

he shredded the bed on the first night (always a danger) and god knows what happened to the rest of the stuff. But as he's chewed off the handle to the toy bucket on a previous incarceration it wasn't much loss. But I'll have to get him another new lead now! cheers darlin'

thanks Gizzy

she's still refusing any food not to her liking; I think we've narrowed it down now... but I happened to go into Nick's room this evening and she's on the windowsill checking out the goings-on outside (none) - but horror of horrors! what's this? she's puked on the windowsill and down onto the floor behind the TV.. yeurgh! - and not today either - sigh, get the rubber gloves out..

tears before bedtime

I just hate taking him to the kennels - and it always ends up my job. Although I wouldn't want not to be there, but he's getting to work out pretty quick what's going on now - this time he jumped out the car, said hello to the woman and jumped back in! I had to make him go into his run, he wasn't going to go voluntarily.

I cried on the way home, I haven't done that since the first time we dropped off Eddie and Murphy and I cried all the way home! But it's been a tough week so that's my excuse...

at least we'll see him soon, that's the best bit it makes coming home from holiday much better!

guide dog

So Murphy had an exciting night tonight... I had to take him to Guides cos there was no-one home and I didn't want him home alone. They loved him!!! He was a bit scared to be honest, but was pretty well behaved really. I had to sit with him to stop him joining in dodgyball though!

Now he's a bit knackered...

running dog

apart from the negative effects of Murphy yanking my arm backwards as I ran forwards, I enjoy our runs in the mornings. But it's now dark when we leave so today I dressed him in my high-viz running string vest, anchoring it on with his running harness. he didn't seem to mind and I thought it suited him... unfortunately I hadn't taken into account it wasn't Murphy-proof. After one run inot the field he came back with bits of it torn and his leg through a hole. Afte that I had to stop every 5 minutes and tie a bit on!

So I'm going to get him a proper dog high-viz jacket-thing (to match mine) = watch this space!

pain & frustration

I am having a bad time... richard's away, I'm struggling under the weight of running the household (I know... but I have to take Emily out driving practice and she's only had one lesson!) and walking the dog on my own. My neck/shoulder are KILLING me since Murphy yanked away to sniff at a garden on Monday's run and I spent an hour and half on two computers last nigth and achieved exactly nothing! Mine wouldn't print, the big one wouldn't recognise the keyboard; then i spent 40 minutes trying to ask Ticketmaster how to get my money back... and failed. started that one agin tonight and have found out how - but want to phone the number and the phone's not working!! AARRGGHH!

Gizzy meanwhile seems to have got over last night's disappointment at my having chucked out her stash and is now safely ensconced on my (our) bed snoozing. Which is more than I'll be doing unless I give in and take some painkillers... where's that bottle?

gizzy on the weed?

See the evidence.. Gizzy is making the most of Richard's temporary absence by indulging in some possibly illegal substances... I found this ripped-open packet of herbs next to the kettle when I got home tonight. Maybe she thought it was catnip? I thought it was oregano but she knows better...

Then I caught her up on the counter again - this time drinking out of a bowl of olive oil!! Too much herbs is clearly not good for her...

apologies again

Hello world! again - I'm back! where have I been? well after the "rabbit incident"I've been traumatised and took to my bed.... yeah, like I'd be able to do that! I've just been too busy. I got recruited by a national school debating competition to judge their Aberdeen heat. It's a different kind of competition, based on content rather than style, with the judges being required to get involved and ask the speakers questions, push them on their arguments etc. To do that, of course, you are required to read all the material that the speakers read.... so I've spent the last 2 weeks on the internet reading all the arguments for and against animal experimentation.

Plus we were in Norway again for the weekend, having a wonderful time visiting our friends and eating, walking and drinking - oh yes, and spending time with Katie, their delightful 2 and a half year-old (who with an irish mother and a welsh father (although he sounds more home counties) is now coming out with a terribly posh almost BBC accent!!) I spent a lot of time and effort teaching her Scots words so she remembers she's got a Scottish almost-auntie!

see ya soon!

oooooh dear....trauma

well, he did it. finally properly broke my heart. I took Murphy and Charlie out for a run along the railway this morning and halfway back Murphy managed to get a poor rabbit who couldn't get away under the fence.. and he got him and broke his back again.

I couldn't leave this one, so while having hysterics I found a stone... then a larger one .. oh god, I'm going to have nightmares about this.. one girl came along with her dog and sympathised but couldn't help. Or watch.

After it was over 2 other girls came jogging along. I told them what I was doing and they were really nice, they understood the tears and said I'd done the right thing... but I'm having flashbacks still that reduce me to tears..... :((((((((((((((

charlie & co

this is quite funny - Emily (who, let's face it, is the only one charlie really knows) has just gone off back to the stables and I'm waiting around for the C boy to be picked up - he's a bit nervous at being left "on his own" so to speak - Andy has just come downstairs and charlie is really not happy about it! he's scared of him but keeps half barking at him - a proper bark if Andy's too near - but if Andy makes a move towards him he runs away! It's really quite funny but I have to tell him off for barking at him (can't let him behave like that to someone who lives here) and he's getting confused.

Andy's away back upstairs and Charlie's settled down at my foot, keeping a close eye on the stairs.

Murphy meanwhile is still dozing...nothin' to do wit him

visitor

last night Murphy had a visitor - 1 year old Charlie, a chocolate lab. Now Charlie is a lot less bouncy than he was when Murphy first met him, but he's still pretty hyper, compared to Murfs - after a "calm" night (not too much barking) they headed out at 6.30am (not with me for a change) with Emily to the stables - a good run for them, she went on my bike and poor old Murphy had no time to sniff around his usual haunts on the railway line cos Emily and Charlie were going so fast he would get left behind!

Now Charlie's off exploring the house again and Murphy's zonked on the floor - he's not used to all this excitement! oh - no, now Charlie's also zonked, on the sofa (he's allowed at home).

And the best bit? He's coming back for another sleepover next Friday!!!

here again

well here we are again, it's been a while but Murphy is still as hail and hearty as ever - getting a bit thinner because I'm running him for 40-45 minutes every morning as well as his normal walk - and Islay the boxer puppy has teamed up with Charlie, the 2 year old boxer and they gang up on Murphy (there's a wee bit of growling and sitting on dogs but he loves it really!). (mind you I haven't lost any weight, how did that happen? maybe cos the more exercise I do the more chocolate biscuits I eat!) I even got him a harness so I wasn't yanking on his neck - that lasted 2 weeks and he chewed through it this morning! sigh...

next

good grief, can't believe my last entry was almost 3 weeks ago! where does the time go?

Murphy has been proving his worth this week- I was off with flu for a couple of days so I got him to come and sit with me (well, stretch out on the bed and fall asleep) for company. Found he ignored the windowcleaners whom he usually tries to kill by barking so had a bright idea - what if we had him sleeping in our room - would that stop him trying to protect the house by barking the place down every time the boys come home after we've gone to bed?

worth a try - at first all went well, he settled in on his duvet at the foot of the bed (after a confused couple of minutes trying to get him to come upstairs - official invites upstairs are indelibly linked in his minds with baths). First test at midnight when Andy arrived... alas, "woof woof woof!!" our brave hero was up and bouncing around. He stopped barking at least when I gave him a hug and hissed at him to shut up, but insisted on getting out the door to check out the intruder. OK, I opened the door and off out he went, only to arrive back in a couple of minutes and settle down on his duvet with a satisfied sigh ("all checked out OK, we can go back to sleep now") - so I turfed out the cat and shut the door again.

2.30am and in comes Nick & Elle - "woof woof woof WOOF!!!". I had my hands round his muzzle clamping it shut and he still managed to bark, even with his mouth closed! that was it - open the door and exit Murf and the idea and no you're not coming back!! Door closed.

apologies

... all round, I've been falling behind a bit with this - but then as nobody reads it it doesn't really matter, does it?!

Murphy excelled himself on Tuesday, and I was too squeamish and soft to deal with it - you've guessed it, he got a rabbit.

He was running ahead of me on our morning run along the railway line and I suddenly realised he had something in his mouth - oh no! Dropped it, picked it up again - by this time I could see what it was - a poor little rabbit who hadn't managed to get out the way in time (must have been deaf, Murphy never gets them normally). I don't think he really knew what to do with it, when I yelled at him he let it go and I dragged him away ... thinking it would get up and run off. But it didn't. It tried, but couldn't move its legs - I guess he'd broken its back.

If I was better than i am I would have wrung its neck and killed it quickly. but I just couldn't bring myself to do it, and just took him away and left it there, I was hoping it might be able to crawl away by itself.

It wasn't there this morning but who knows what happened to it... no thanks to me!

in memoriam

I do seem to be falling behind in keeping this up, and I just know there are so many of you out there who wait agog for the next episode our brave hero's doings!!

But I have sad news... not about Murphy, but about our dear friend Shannon. Those of you who pay attention will remember (oh, you don't? pay attention or remember? well never mind) I spoke of her at New Year when we were in Stavangar visiting our friends. She was a Bernese Mountain Dog - huge, but oh so gentle. We looked after her one weekend before they moved to Norway about 4 years ago, almost as practice for getting used to having a dog. She was delightfulness itself, if a bit scared of the cat. Anyway, I am very sorry to say we got a sad epistle from Tina to say that they had had to say goodbye to her.. she wasn't well so it was for the best, but very very sad for them. At least their wee girl will remember her, as we all will.

So good bye and god bless, Shannon. We will miss you.

sunday

and a quiet day was had by all - I've had a good day, me and murfs went out for a run and to pick up the paper and breakfast this morning.. I've been running every day for over a week now but I still seem to get tired doing the same distance. At least I can fit into my size 10 jeans again though, which makes it all worthwhile!

Richard's out with Emily at the moment, teaching her how to drive - maybe I'd better have a glass of wine waiting for him! Murphy's sitting watching out the window, waiting patiently for daddy to come back. Probably planning his next shoe hijack... his collection continues to grow, both numerically and geographically!

naught to 90 in 3 days

well well, hello peeps! It's about a month since I last entered, sorry about that (in case anyone actually reads this stuff) been on holiday and been desperately trying to catch up with everything since we got back. Still, it's given Murphy time to make up for lost, and get into his stride again..

first of all, he's still hoarse from his incarceration in "doggie prison" as Richard insists on calling it. (I prefer the term "holiday home") so barking is limited (whew, break us in gently)

however it was Nick's birthday this week and we had the mother's birthday cookie cake as she's away on holiday - it got brought out and adorned with candles before we went out for dinner, to have when we got back. Have you guessed yet? - yes, when we got back - horrors! Murphy had eaten THREE QUARTERS of it!!!! It was over 12 inches in diameter so he had quite a field day.. amazingly he was only sick once . I found a candle in the garden this morning.

As if that wasn't enough (and to prove that dogs learn but we don't), we had a box of chocolates and discovered an unsuspected second layer - so we left it on the coffee table. Some were eaten (legally) but when we got in last night guess what? the same thing had happened!!! he'd managed to sook all of them out the box without touching the sides or upsetting the box. Well done him... (2-0 to the canine, sigh) And yes, he was sick again..

We were away sailing in Greece and check out the photo - a dog we saw at one of the ports from another yacht - an idea for the future? He'd need it I think, can't see him NOT going in the water!

also father's day

obviously turning 40 has addled my brain already - spot the deliberate mistake in the previous few posts....

by the way I am finding it quite hard to do posts without any feedback - come on peoples, let me know what you think, any feedback out there?

fathers day

in my absence today (I was away down to Edinburgh to see an old, old friend over from Australia with her daughter, and how can it be that after 15 years people are exactly the same? What a great time I had!)... Murphy excelled and reaped the consequences. Emily, back from work and putting together a sandwich to keep body and soul together before she went off to the stables, made the mistake of leaving it on the table while she went off to get changed. Richard says the scream she let out when she came back to see him (Murphy) snaffle half of it would have woken the dead!

He got thrown outside and the dogflap shut with a bang behind him!

(you'll be glad to know order has been restored and the parties have now made up)

PS prizes for the caption contest, I'll start... "did I hear the w-a-l-k word?"

morning!

happy days! beautiful morning, I was out with the dog without my coat this morning for the first time in about a year! And even then I was too hot. Murphy was having a great time - he shot off up the road, through about 3 gardens (you're in a difficult position there, you don't want to shout at him at 7.30am) then shot off into another one - I ran up the road after him and he came running back out - with a pigeon in his mouth! eeek!

But before you run away with the idea that he was having a productive morning, I must tell you that I heard the Gizzy bell in the distance - hmmm, I suspect he stole her prize. I implored him to "put it down Murphy!" - and he did!! It shook itself and zigzagged off down the road. He probably saved its life (temporarily?)

So there went dinner....

the year moveth on...

June - I can't believe it! Almost half the year gone and what happened to May? I blinked and it just disappeared! Gizzy is still moulting all over everywhere but seems to have abandoned her last month's haunts (the stair corners and sofa at the back) for beds. She's ignoring the cat contraption again. Murphy is back on his duvet - occasionally. Nick's back from Uni for the summer so he's hopeful of getting some more walks during the day (Murphy, not Nick!)

We took him down to pick up Nick and his laundry and he got a 10 minute run on the beach - it was too cold and windy for more! Richard saved him some bacon and scrambled egg from brunch and as usual he ate the paper napkin as well, I honestly don't know if he notices the difference!

home sweet home

We were off again at the weekend, so Murfs had another holiday. The dogwalker took him off to visit her brother with the 11 working dogs, so he had a great time running around and got lots of exercise - and food! They had a BBQ on the saturday night and once it cooled down he and a partner in crime (Jack by name) were discovered nicking sausages and veggie burgers off it! That's my boy...

Meanwhile we were on a beach in Cornwall watching a pair of golden retrievers play with each other in that rough-and-tumble way, straight through the middle of someone's picnic!

We went away for my birthday and check out the photo - we're all smiling for the camera but look at where Murphy's looking...

the day after my birthday

murphy's contribution - after some persuasion he came with me at 4.30am to go and see the sunrise on my momentous day - he recovered from his initial lethargy enough to make me scared he was going to start barking up a tree as normal, he was so bouncy. There's rabbits EVERYWHERE at that time in the morning!

He didn't quite get the idea of the whole "commune with nature and reflect on your life" thing about it though - it's quite hard to do with a large dog sitting on you and trying to lick your face! It knackered him so much though that he missed breakfast. we went back to bed and he slept through Richard getting up and I assumed he'd been fed. Och well, it'll do him no harm.

We have picture of domestic bliss tonight - Richard watching the Champion's League Final on TV, Emily writing her report for college, me blogging and Murphy stretched out on the sofa next to Emily, fast asleep with his head on the cat's cushion - his only chance at revenge

PS he didn't get to give his real contribution - as you can see from the photo he only had eyes for the cake!

an exciting night

what a time Murphy had last night! I had the girls round to see the wedding photos and (the real reason) have a drink and a catchup. Lynn & Julia came (sans dogs) and Murphy was just SO delighted to see them! He tried to sit on Lynn twice during the evening and had to be dragged off. It was a bit of a shame really, all the nibbles were on the coffee table which is just at shoulder height for him, but to give him his due he only licked one plate! - and that was after we'd had pizza slices and the plate was finished with...

Gizzy stayed very aloof most of the time, asleep in the sun room. She came and gave us the once over, walked over Karen and Julia then retired to the turn in the stairs - another favourite corner

NYC - a different breed

If anyone's out there, sorry I haven't posted for a wee while. I've no idea what date it is but we're off on our travels again, without the monsters. We're in New York, city that never sleeps etc etc - and aving a whale of a time, I have to say! you really can eat any sort of food - we've been reliving past enjoyments and been to a cajun place, last night was greek and we've of course had italian too.

We had fantastic weather (spent the first afternoon drinking wine in Central park laughing (or wondering) at the odd sort of rowing there was going on on the boating pond) and wondered why wellies,albeit highly pattered/decorated - were so big for the fashionable NY ladees - we found out yesterday! It poured all day and the puddles were immense...

Only heard of one doing of the Murfs in our absence - a 6.30am call from Emily saying he had a tick - so altogether seems like all going well. Richard wouldn't let me buy a doggy raincoat for him though, so he's going to be very disappointed, I'm afraid....

wednesday morning

Gizzy brought in a mouse on Wednesday morning - a live one, then dropped it when Murphy came and stood over her and looked down - she went outside, the mouse ran under the shelves and Murphy thought his job was done and came over for praise... but got bundled out of the way so Gizzy would come back in and remove the mouse. She did - one paw under and into the mouth and off she went - unfortunately she ran upstairs with it and under our bed! Richard had a day off and was trying to have a lie-in - not possible when I'm running round screaming at the cat...

business as usual

just the normal stuff going on - gizzy caught a mouse the other morning - in the bathroom as I was about to get down and do my situps. Of course I couldn't see anything without my lenses in but there was no mistaking the sudden pounce and the way she purposefully sat by the door waiting for me to open it - when I got my glasses on, right enough she had a mouse in her mouth. It was too early for me to create so I just ordered her downstairs and haven't seen the mouse since...

Meanwhile I went back on the rope swing and regretted it - Murphy did exactly the same thing only this time I overbalanced and he got his paw up to my neck in his effort to sit on me while In was on the swing - now I've got a row of red marks down my neck, great...

we got a new trampoline and he's very keen to get up and play with anyone who's on it - for some reason he'll play with Emily but keeps jumping up on me when I'm on it! which is pretty good when you think about it as we're bouncing at the time!

the highs and the lows

of a dog's life - I took him for a walk this afternoon and came across a rope swing in the woods (obviously fixed up by/for the local kids). Being me, I had a go, and as I hopped on Murphy appeared. He went mental!!! there I was, hanging about a foot off the forest floor and he launched himself at me, jumping up and whining and barking - of course that set the swing moving and that sent him even more frantic! I had to wrap my legs round him to stop him scrabbling at my thighs for a better grip (he was jumping up and trying to hold onto me), we were dancing together, him on his back legs, walking back and forward to keep up with me. I haven't laughed so much since Dara O'Briain! Once or twice he got hold of the piece of wood that served as a seat and tried to bite it.

Eventually I had to come off - he was pulling me off anyway - in case the rope broke, don't think it was meant to carry adult and dog weight! Then he attacked the swing itself. It was just too high for him to be able to hold it in his mouth with his paws on the ground but he kept trying - whining and growling; then he worked out that if he got the end in his mouth he could get his paws down - so there he was, the end of the seat in his mouth, trying to tug at it and bark at the same time.. I finally remembered I had my phone on me so got a quick video before he gave up and came bounding towards me, very pleased with himself! What a racket, with his noises and my shrieks of laughter, and in such a nice neighbourhood too!

And now the low - he's looking forward to a walk now (11.30pm) as Richard has got into the habit of taking him out last thing to try to stop him barking overnight... but Richard's now watching Match of the Day and enjoying his wine, so poor Murphy is going to be disappointed....

finally

it seems she just needed time to get used to it. Now she's happily ensconced on a part of it half the time - we left this morning and she was curled up on the second top bit (her favourite spot) in the sun (yes, we had sun!) with her chin on the lowest rung of the ladder up. We've tied ribbon onto the ladder bits and hung Richard's holey golfballs on them, she loves playing with them! Murphy is still unkeen to see her enjoying herself though - he came and watched her and growled at her when it looked like she might start playing with them again... what a dog in the manger!

mu-u-u-u-rphy!!!!!!!

well what can I say he's been quietly creating havoc in the way he knows best.... he nabbed Nick & Elle's carrot cake last weekend despite them stashing it at the back of the kitchen counter.. then I was sitting on Wednesday night watching TV and suddenly realised there was a tub in the middle of the floor.. - this turned out to be the remains of Gizzy's new tub of treats which I'd left on the top of the Gizzy tree (remember the contraption we bought for her?). Turns out although she didn't like them he did!!

This morning he disappeared half way through the morning walk (Archie's only doing half a walk at the moment as the crop guns are scaring him - Murphy on the other hand has nerves of lead, he doesn't even hear them!) and after much shouting at hometime he finally turned up - MANKY!! He was a totally different colour - dark brown! Think he'd visited the sinkhole in the woods. The forecast is rain for the next five days so I foresee lots of towel washing....

o - m - g - !!!

MURPHY GOT A SQUIRREL!

That was the text we got as we rested our weary limbs in a pub in Dublin last night, enjoying the atmosphere and singing along with the local musicians (American folk songs)

Now don't get me wrong, Nick doesn't know if it was dead when our bold hero found it, or if his years of barking up trees finally paid off. Anyway, he proudly brought it back and was probably not impressed with Nick's reaction...suffice to say he only got part of it to eat...

We had to buy Guinness Tshirts all round to make up for it..

adventures without murphy

we're venturing further afield this time - Dublin in sunny Ireland! At least you would think so looking at what some of the girls here are wearing round the bars.. Really it's quite cold.. and as we're doing a 10k run in Pheonix Park tomorrow and it's been forecast sleet we're really looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch we hear Murphy is digging up the grass... well it's about time, he's been very forebearing all winter which has been at least 6 months. Now spring has sprung he can get down to his gardening (pity I can't persuade him to dig up the borders instead...)

never work with animals or children

or mostly animals in my case - I had to shut Murphy inside last night as he was bouncing around the back garden at midnight, announcing his presence to the world. (He woke us at 3am on Monday night by deciding Nick arriving home was a fierce intruder and needed to be scared off), then took his revenge at 12.30 by taking issue with something or other and giving it laldy in the living room (under our bedroom), finally subsiding to quieter and quieter growls and the odd strangled bark when nothing further happened. From my experience of these matters he probably didn't even get off the floor to produce this commotion!

Gizzy meantime was outside our bedroom door announcing that she wanted in and surely it was time for some more food?!

On Wednesday evening we went in past the stables (I say that - it's actually a 20 minute detour) to get Emily and Otis took a shine to one of the buttons on my new (first day on!) raincoat and I had a struggle to get him to give it back. It'll never be the same again...

gratitude

that cat doesn't know the meaning of the word! Look at this great contraption we bought for her entertainment, and she's not interested at all!

maybe she'll get more used to it...

sins

have a way of finding you out - especially Murphy's! the hot cross bun wrapper was discovered in the garden this morning .... sans hot cross buns!

"Muuuurphyyyy!!"

Murphy's shoe collection

.. is expanding. Well, in radius if not in amount. I found one of Richard's (better) shoes in the flower border yesterday! Goodness knows how long it'd been out there for but it was soaked, and very cold..

who's bugging who?

Murphy has a strict rule - "all toys are Murphy's toys". This means that if Gizzy ever gets a toy (always a screwed up piece of paper, usually a receipt) and starts chasing it round the place - or even if she just darts about the house! - Murphy will get up and growl at, and chase, her.

But last night he got his some-uppance - she was curled up on his duvet behind the sofa and he was sleeping on the floor. She got up to run after Richard into the kitchen and Murphy snuck onto (HIS) duvet.

But she came back.

And she wasn't happy! She sat 2 feet away and glared at him. He paid no attention (having his eyes closed) so she got up and walked over... got onto the duvet and walked towards him..

when she got to his head he jumped and sat up, nervously. She kept on coming and as she reached his chest he leapt up and shot off the duvet, leaving it all to her again.

She curled up where she had been and dozed off.

(I felt so sorry for him I let him up on the sofa with me)

..and gizzy too...

made the most of our prolonged evening at rest (given that tomorrow is a holiday) and settled down for a snooze on Richard's book (he claims she came to see him and curled up as you see her here in 2 seconds flat - she knows how to make the most of a good spot when she gets the chance!)

Happy Easter!

As you can see Murphy made the most of the day...

and we've had a white Easter - snow on and off all weekend and it's lying now - so he's had lots of exercise and been bouncy all day with the cold, to work up an appetite for that HUGE egg!

(to all dog lovers watching - the only thing he got was the box!)

murphy's got his knack back!

hurray! I was worried for a wee while - he's always been so good at snapping at the dropped bits of poppadoms, grabbing them out of midair like a frog. It's instinctive, he's so fast. But he was missing them and scurrying all over the floor to get them, he either missed them completely or they bounced off his nose... but a bit of practice soon got him back into the swing of it.

I thought it might've been me - I've been good for almost 5 years and not had any major accidents (if you overlook the murphy - lead incident 18 months ago and the recent umbrella occurrence), but managed to smash a pint glass and the one remaining measuring jug within an hour tonight - come to think of it I think it was me broke the other one too, hmm...

Murfs then spent a pleasant hour on the sofa with Emily watching Stardust with us, his head in her lap(see the evidence!) Happy Easter everyone!

madhouse

I was about the only thing that didn't get any exercise last night - we were upstairs changing after work yesterday and suddenly something rattled against the door, then again. I thought it was Andy as he went past to his room, but when I heard a panting outside the door realised it was Murphy. He shot in, paused long enough to grab my slipper and leapt onto Richard - clearly upset about something!

I heard Andy downstairs calling him and back down he went (still with my slipper) - after some odd bouncing noises he came rushing back up and releapt all over Richard. "Hmm, some investigation required" I thought, and looked over the banisters - and the mystery was solved - Andy was chasing him round the hall with my exercise ball! He's a bit scared of it, you see.

Poor Murphy, he didn't want to exercise with that ball!

I remembered!

I was off on Friday (Tina and Katie were coming, remember? Come on, keep up!)

So I decided, once I had finished cleaning as much of the house as we hadn't done in the previous evenings (I drew the line at cleaning the fridges for overnight visitors!), to reward Murphy for keeping me company round the house while I pottered by taking him for a quick walk round the reservoir. So off we went.

I didn't have the right shoes or enough time to let him swim in the river (or towels with us!) - but that was OK as he was going to have his walk when we got back. But alas! We got back at 1.10 and I got a cup of tea and a chocolate chip cookie (or two) and settled down to watch a DVD, ready to let our patient boy out when Lou came for him. But she never came!

Poor Murphy.... Lou had come for him before we got back so he missed his walk and had to put up with snoozing on my feet all afternoon instead. Fair exchange? hmm...

poor murphy

I was going to write something here but it's completely gone. Maybe it'll come back soon.

murphy & gizzy have a visitor

.. one of our youngest aquaintances, Katie - came over from Norway with her mum Tina to stay over on Friday night and we'll see them again for lunch tomorrow. Steve should've been over too but had a bit of surgery and wasn't discharged quite in time to make it over.. the lengths some people will go to to get a quiet afternoon watching the rugby and their team winning the Grand Slam!!

young Katie was quite delighted with Murphy and just entranced with Gizzy - or "mee-ow" as she called her most of the time - and spent half of this morning in the garden trying to throw things for Murphy to play with (plus she likes the trampoline). she amazed us all by (a) telling us her doll was sleeping upstairs - and then taking us up to show the said doll on our bed! (nobody had noticed her away for more than 3 seconds and we didn't think she could manage the stairs) and (b) appearing at the foot of the stairs in her PJ's to find out what was going on after she was put to bed an hour previously and we all thought she was asleep!

I think Gizzy at least was glad to see her go, life is more predictable without a 2 year old wanting to know what you're doing all the time!

useful!

at last - we've found a use for Murphy! I was MSN'ing Emily to get her to come and put her glasses in the dishwasher and she found a more traditional method of communication - dogpost!

Our hero put the St Bernard breed to shame with his tireless trotting back and forth between the living room and Emily's bedroom, notes tucked into his collar; fighting his way past the fearsome cat creature (although to be fair she was asleep) and through deadly territory brimming with threats to his safety (like my yoga mat leaning up against the wall, waiting to fall on the unsuspecting canine passerby).. well done our brave and trusty friend!

mind you, I'm not sure the St Bernards need quite as much bribery and encouragement from the rescuees to actually get there! The only drawback of Dogpost - you can only use it where the receiver of the post is close enough to be heard by the dogpostman !

As an idea for worldwide domination it may need some improvement, I think

all quiet on the Murphy front

hello everyone.... it continues to be quite uneventful here chez murphy. Who knows how long it will last? I took him for a run this morning and he was goodness itself. Wow. Spends his morning walks with me happily chewing sticks and turning up for treats whenever anyone else looks like they might be getting one... Archie the Airedale is very direct about such things, he just sticks his head in your pocket to get the bag of treats (assuming he hasn't battered his head into the back of your legs and brought you down first), whereas Murphy's chosen method is the constant hovering around and getting in your way with his head poised round about pocket level, looking at you expectantly.

Our recent additions in the morning, Holly and Mischa the spoodles (that's not the name but I forget) - crosses of spaniels and poodles - are much better behaved and don't beg the way the boys do. But when Mischa has been (literally) run over by Archie and gets a bit scared, Holly goes and bullies him back, it's really funny, she keeps running up and barking right at him then running away again, til Archie moves off sheepishly (well, as sheepish as Archie can be, he has a great line in barefaced cheek!) Last week Lynn was heading off early and Archie didn't want to go so simply lay down and refused to move!

The photo shows our great morning walk earlier in the week with a snow blizzard - the snow lasted about 3 hours and 2 days later it was 12 degrees but we were briefly hopeful for a decent bit of the white stuff that morning.

correction - the photo will show it once I find the camera to download it!

hello from the west

Here we are in sunny Glasgow - well sunny at the moment - it was pouring when we arrived yesterday and particularly when we met up with Susan and Ian to take Murphy a walk round the country park! Not that it hampered the Murf's enjoyment of the mud, water and bushes to explore!

He's been very good - we left him with Mum & Dad while we went out socialising last night and he was apparently very good. We took his new toy, the Cookie Monster with us (an old soft toy of Emily's) and before we left him he had ripped the eyes off it (we rescued the plastic bits from his mouth before he swallowed them) and sooked all the stuffing out the head. He doesn't try to eat that, he spits it out and returns to the fray. Apparently as soon as we left he lost all interest in it (well he'd sooked the head dry by then). That's my boy!

In the meantime back at home Emily is looking after a friend's lab puppy... but Gizzy has apparently taken excpetion to the intruder and is defending Murphy's territory. She keeps following poor Charlie round the house and smacking him on the nose! Poor Charlie doesn't know what to do. So we've had to suggest quarantining Gizzy into the utility room where her food is.. she's probably stretched out on the clean towels as I write this, plotting her revenge. Welcome home Murphy!

hot news!

Just off the press - Murphy has turned veggy!

Totally forgot to say earlier, but yesterday when I went home at lunchtime it was a nice, sunny, blustery day and I went into the garden to play with him. There, in the middle of the grass, was something I'd been looking for for over a week - my beetroot!!

I was sure I'd bought some last weekend but couldn't find it when I went to look for it - now I know why.. the question remains whether he snuck into the fridge and purloined it or whether it'd been left on the counter and he took it from there. We will never know. (although the former is quite a worrying thought

Luckily (for all sorts of reasons!) it was vacuum packed and he hadn't been able to get into it...

-but good on him for going straight for the superfood! There's nothing gets past my Murphy..

poor gizzy!

she has a hard life of it sometimes. Murphy battered out the catflap this morning just before I went to work and shot across the lawn, barking - Gizzy just had time to get onto the garden wall, from where she sat and looked down at him enigmatically, while he bounced around in the bushes underneath, barking enthusiastically. Now she's getting her own back, doing her best to sit on me and the laptop while I do this, while Murphy can only lie at (on) my feet at ground level.

wednesday

after reading that Marley book, we really appreciate Murphy more. Not that he's behaving hugely better - he chased a spaniel round and through the brambles yesterday morning; he/she was squealing the whole time, it was very embarassing! Poor dog... I had to apologise to the owner and put him on the lead when she came round again

but Murphy, despite your sometimes awkward (for us) social niceties, we love you!

Marley or Murphy

Have you read that book, "Marley and me" by John Grogan? I got it for Richard for Christmas and since he finished it last week I've been reading it.. it's hilarious! Marley is a much worse version of Murphy, and the story's about him and his family. I've got the last chapter to go tonight and I know I'll be howling... the story is very warm and true to life, and extremely well written; the best thing I can say about it is that it has made me look at Murphy with new eyes and really appreciate him more while we have him. I'll be devastasted to say goodbye to Marley

mud, mud, glorious..

mud! How he loves it! We took him out to a different forest for a wee change on Sunday. Don't think he liked it so much, the first half of the walk was on vehicle tracks - he likes to be nearer nature than that! Once we got onto the foot tracks with the trees close in about us he was much happier, and bounded off amongst them, to reappear every now and then to make sure we were still around. Til, of course, he disappeared completely off down a hill and was eventually found by a group of 3 or 4 girls who heard me calling for him and called too (don't worry, he had been introduced earlier).. then he went and found the deepest, most deadly mud puddle - the type that doesn't come off when you dry him - we had to hose him down when we got home - take a look! (how happy does he look now?)

like cat and dog.....

it's impossible to work out the relationship between a cat and a dog, or at least the ones who reside with us! You think it's simple. Dog chases cat. Right? But what about the one everyone who has both will tell you - the cat rules the roost?

Gizzy once followed Murphy and Richard - in the pitch black and at a distance of 10 feet - right through the woods one night. Every time R stopped she stopped, so he couldn't hear her bell til they got moving again. He was quite unnerved. Right at the end of the walk Murphy chased her - so far into the woods I had to go up 3 hours later and call her til she came out. (the cheeky beggar came with me and every time I called sat and listened carefully for her with his head on one side, then looked at me as if to say "nope, I can't hear her, shall we move on a bit?" - like it was nothing to do with him!)

So out of doors he rules, then - but wait, that's not always true either. I've watched him rolling around on the lawn and Gizzy creep up, gather herself (the way cats do) and suddenly leap on him, front paws raised, land on him with both paws and then streak away, ears flattened - leaving him a bit dazed, looking round giving it "who? wha'?"

- or there's the times she waits behind gateposts for him on the return leg of his walk and then leaps out and smacks him one and runs away...

But other times he'll suddenly decide it's time to assert his man/doghood and will chase her over the garden, or under the car.

And if she comes screaming in the catflap with her tail all abush, he always gets up to stick his head out and see what's bothering her. If it's another cat he leaves them in no doubt as to whose garden this is! (the hedgehog episode is for another day)

- and she has been known to wash his face for him if he's daft enough (or brave enough) not to move it from her vicinity when she's in a good mood.

and sometimes they ignore each other and sometimes they compete for our attention - if one's getting it the other one pops up - "I'm here too!"

maybe they're just human after all...

midweek

I've finally managed to calm down after the hectic pre christmas rush of October, November and December, or maybe it's just because for the first time in months and months I've had 3 weekday evenings in with nothing to do and nowhere to go (apart from choir on Monday which I skived off of).. so here I am ensconced on the sofa watching the football - well til 9 when the Brits come on. Richard has to go and pick Emily up so I'll be safe to turn over!

Murphy appears to be getting tips off the cat - he's gone to bed in the huf cos we won't feed him any more food - particularly, I think, cos nobody would feed him any pizza! Oh, he's back now, with a heavy sigh. If he's not careful he'll get his teeth brushed and his ears cleaned again... he doesn't mind the teeth (poultry flavoured toothpaste, it's a race as to whether I can get the stuff on his teeth before he licks it all off the brush)

he managed to make off with a chocolate muffin that was accidentally left on the coffee table on sunday night - Richard found the case in the garden the next morning... of course it could have been the cat but somehow I doubt it

normal?

not much happening today.. couldn't top yesterday anyway, he had an hour's run with me, then immediately went out with Richard to take Emily to the yard and got a run with him too.. didn't take him out today although i did mean to. Went to church for Lent instead (for all the good that does Murphy). we did take him round one of the local forests though, which he likes. There are various sculptures throughout the forest one of bison which is actually really spooky, they're a wee bit in from the path and look really real from a distance. They confused Murphy too the first time - it took some persudaing for him to go and sniff them.. then of course he attacked one (I think I told this story), pulling me over and I cracked my head on it - it turned out there was a squirrel nesting in it! Exit squirrel at speed!

he went and had another sniff today but the squirrel's obviously decided that wasn't too safe a home as no sign now.

Gizzy got a mouse again - we knew cos Murphy growled at her and chased her up the stairs - not sure if he wants to rescue the mouse or just take it off her!

neat 'n clean

Murphy is all spruced up and ready to impress! I decided to give him a good brush last night (having run home from work, done my "meditation", thrown down a couple of bits of pizza, gone to Pilates and (on my return) brushed Murphy's teeth. Next?) Having done that I took the opportunity to trim his paws and moved on to his tail - unfortunately he doesn't really recognise the command to stand. He sat and when I tried to get him to come forward (and therefore stand and walk) he just shuffled towards me on his bum! So I had to get him to lie down so I could attack his tail.

Got more done today while he was standing in the kitchen trying to impress on Richard the need to feed him some of our dinner - I was able to retake the scissors to his backside and snip off the shaggy bits and a bit more of his tail.. luckily I had to go out to Guides before I got too carried away! It's still there, just!

Richard tried to move his bed a couple of days ago, to prevent his barking in the middle of the night at things he sees or hears outside - he wasn't too happy about it (his bed was moved to the hall) and padded round upstairs for a while before going downstairs to the lounge and (you've guessed it - barking in the middle of the night!). After he lay in the place his bed used to be in the kitchen and watched Richard with a reproachful look all during breakfast, richard relented and moved it back.

So of course he thanked us by barking at 5.30am this morning and when I went rushing down to tell him to wheesht, there he was lying very comfortably in his bed and just stopped barking long enough to say hello.. how helpful! Grrr!

easy cos it's sunday morning?

I have to apologise to the members of the golf club, and surrounding residents... I took the bold hero for another run along the railway line this morning and all was going well - no sheep in the vicinity, he hadn't scared the 3 little girls in pink anoraks who were out frogspawning (in fact I think they wanted to say hello but he ignored them). All that had happened was he'd out-manoeuvred me and back tracked and hoovered up a stray dog treat that was lying on the ground (I thought he hadn't noticed on the way out - huh!)

but what did he do at the back of the first tee but chase a cat up a tree and announce this, at great length and the top of his voice, to everyone in the vinicinity for at least 3 full minutes! I couldn't get through the barbed wire to get at him. The cat was unmoved and unmoving - "come up here and say that, buster!" and though he tried, luckily dogs are not built for tree climbing. Eventually, as we were starting to gather a crowd, he stopped for breath and noticed me yelling at him and came bouncing over. Excitement over...

that ****in' dog!

He comes back from his holidays, all bouncin' around and pleased to see us .. Nick said he was better but not entirely, so we decided 24 hours starvation to let his tummy settle down. Unfortunately he had other ideas and managed to find the truffles Sue (my sister) gave me for Christmas, which I've been saving in the fridge - not that he got into the fridge, he's not that smart! - eejit me left them on the coffee table ............ need I say more? (we managed to save the last two but who'd eat them after that?)

So much for the 24 hours! Still, it didn't stop him hoovering down the chicken and rice we gave him for dinner (have you noticed this dog eats better when he's sick?)

Roll on tomorrow. Who knows what it will bring?

PS on the cat front Gizzy helped us get out to work on time on Thursday morning - just as I was heading to the door she flashed past me up the stairs with something suspicious in her mouth.. yes, you've guessed it, it was a bird... (RIP bird, by the way)

empty nest syndrome

Oh dear, I don't know how I am going to cope! What will we do? - Murphy has left home! He's gone off with Nick and g-friend & parents for a stay by the seaside. He'll have a wonderful time, he'll be the centre of attention (they're leaving Baxter behind) which is always his idea of a good time, and Nick has been warned to look after him - and he will, Nick's good for that kind of thing.

But we're left without our baby! Nobody to "purr" at us when we've finished eating or having a biscuit (translation - "my turn, give me attention/pizza/biscuit"), nobody to follow us round the house - with his eyes if not actually - and park himself in the most awkward places when we're rushing round the kitchen. Nobody to bounce round the garden barking, or to sleep on our feet in the evenings, or to distribute his shoe collection round the house, or to greet us at the door with a furiously wagging tail... nobody to make us get up and go for a walk, then to have a towel wrestle with, nobody to rest his head on our knee and fix us with those big eyes, to laugh at when he plays or talk to as we go about the place (or is that just me?) ... nobody to hug, to dress up (Emily) or to swear at (Andy).. we are truly bereft.....

... just as well it's only 2 nights and he'll be back on Friday!

a visitor

we have a visitor tonight - Busby is a black lab-cross who has come to see us with Rebecca, Emily's pal. He is quite hyper and does the paw thing same as Murphy (when you stop petting him the paw comes up to rest on your arm, urgently - "I'm still here"). He seems to have developed an amazing trick - he can open the front door and disappear into the night... he's done it twice tonight so we've had to lock the door to be safe. Murphy is not impressed!

Busby also wants desperately to play with Gizzy - it was so funny I've never seen such an obvious double take as he did when he was passing the duvet (Gizzy curled up asleep) and I pointed her out and introduced them - he stuck around, shiveringly keen to play with her but too scared to go near - she stood up, tail all bushy and gave him the eye til his nerve failed and he ran away..

Luckily for us all (as he's exhausting us all with his energy) he's being fetched home now.. Murphy will be very pleased as he's finding it difficult to cope and has gone to his bed!

Mind you poor Murphy has been having a hard time of it - check out what Emily made him wear today!

past history

I've received a request to show a picture of Murphy as a puppy in relation to something else - apparently the one that's on the first entry doesn't really show how wee he was - so see this one with Emily. The other one is Murphy and Eddie "playing" on the trampoline, as they used to.

You forget how wee Murphy was! (it was 3 years ago though, even Emily looks young. -er)

competition

..Murphy has competition in the "picking on Anne" stakes - I was minding my own business last night, making a cup of tea for meself and "him indoors" when suddenly I heard the cat mieowing from the top of the stairs - she NEVER mieows so I ran up to see what was wrong. She ran off under our bed and when I lay down to see underneath, she pounced on me from behind the duvet! - this went on for a while until she got bored and wandered off to force her way into the wardrobe to check out future hidey-holes...

... and then I got moaned at because I forgot about the tea!

swans galore

had a nice day today, unlike poor Richard who had to get a tooth extracted - ouch! While he was undergoing torture Murphy and I went down to the river for a "stroll" (or a mad dash to the bank followed by tearing up and down it, in his case). It was really high and running fast so at least he had the sense not to go in (although he would have if I'd thrown a stick in) and contented himself with splashing about at the edge. The swans were in, so he was able to go and harass them - he kept running up and into the water (they were in the sheltered bit) and barking at them then running away.. on the way back along the bank people were throwing bread to the ducks - Murphy was trotting up and down at the edge of the water eating it all! Nobody seemed to mind, luckily

here's a photo of Gizzy and Murphy temporarily holding a truce and sharing the duvet after we sprang them from doggy prison on our return from honeymoon (it's technically Murphy's but usually Gizzy commandeers it and Murphy's too scared to argue)

Burns Night

hey, couldn't resist - just got the photos from Hallowe'en through to Christmas and had to show the main photo of Murphy on Christmas Day - all frosty as remembered.. hey how handsome is he? That's his Christmas tinsel collar he has on there

btw happy Burns Night, hope you enjoyed your haggis, neeps and tatties, we did

not much going on...

..at the moment. Murphy's ears got almost a clean bill of health on Monday. He stole my bit of Christmas cake tonight - I'd put the plate down on the sofa and he snuck up commando style, belly to the ground (he's obviously been watching too many war films) and waited til I was distracted. Then, faster than the speed of light, the head popped up and - gulp! - it was gone! All that was left was a few crumbs and a munching noise at ground level....

saturday,

well here I am on a Saturday night, sitting on the sofa listening to the washing machine and not watching the football which Richard has on... what an exciting life we lead! I wouldn't mind only we went to the pictures last night (I wanted to go tonight) cos richard wanted to be in tonight for the kids.. and both are out at parties! Still, at least I saw The Golden Compass twice on consecutive days instead of twice on the same day (went to see it today with the girl I take out every couple of weeks after having seen it last night). It's actually better the second time. And I got to spend an hour and a half curling Emily's hair, only burnt us both a couple of times with her curling tongs - it was just a shame that it started to fall out (the curls, not the hair!) quite quickly so she ended up tying it up.. oh well, we got to see Madagascar while we did it so time not entirely wasted, and I know how I'd do it better next time, if she ever lets me near her head again...

Murphy's ears are better and he's definitely back to his old self - out barking at midnight last night, forcing me to get up, stand on the bidet in the ensuite and shout out the window to him to go to his bed. It does work. Then of course Andy tried to sneak in at 1am to pick up his work stuff for today (not actually sleeping here last night) so woke him up and more barking... then Gizzy took advantage of me forgetting to shut the bedroom door after the last dog-admonishment and strolled in to stand on Richard and purr in his ear - not happily received at 2am, I can't imagine why...

by the way here's Gizzy's impression of Murphy...

repercussions

oh dear...

we've just come in after a bite to eat and thought we'd been stink-bombed! how can I put it nicely? - Murphy sure had something fairly wrong with his tummy!

richard's birthday

Happy birthday Richard! here is the official birthday photo to you from us -(I know it's supposed to be of you but we thought we looked better yesterday)

As a present specially for today, and in case we were planning on assuming Murphy was fine now that his latest paw crisis has passed, he combined continued head-shaking with completely refusing his breakfast this morning! Argh - he's NEVER done that! what could be the matter? Have I poisoned him by insisting he let me clean out his ears with the latest ear-stuff? Or has he picked up some lurgy on a walk, or from eating some rubbish from the track (previously a quarry so who knows what may one day come to the surface... not a thought to carry with you if you're dog-walking in the dark)

Perhaps he got a piece of richard's birthday chocolate log that I made yesterday - I don't know what it's going to taste like, I never read the instructions very well before I started so had to go back a step a couple of times, oops! By the time I'd finished I was practically head to toe in chocolate, just as well I wasn't trying to surprise richard (I suspect that'll come when he tastes it).

Anyway, back to murfs - I was so worried I came home at lunchtime, and was rewarded with the munster almost swicking a slice of bread and butter that was on a plate clearly too near the edge of the table... Whew! Appetites are never gone long in this household..

back to normal

well we're all settling in again. Gizzy's back to ambushing me in the bathroom in the mornings, Murphy's back to the vet with his latest ailment. Andy (No. 2 stepson) is back to being out and Emily is being very helpful as I try to get going on MSN'ing - more difficult (and fun!) than you would think

I had one of those random encounters in the vets yesterday morning (after having to run out a partner's meeting half way through to make the appointment). After calming Murphy down after half strangling him with his collar to stop him retaliating to the previous patient's "come on and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" growls (it was an alsation!) I glanced over at another woman there - and she was peering at me too .... and lo and behold ! It was Nicola Gunn from school in Glasgow! All married and with her son (looked about 8) with her and the dog..I couldn't believe it! I haven't seen her for over 20 years and there she was, looking all fab and trendy - and still talking nighteen to the dozen.. (people don't change, do they?) and she's married to a guy who was in my year at Uni and they live pretty close. . . spooky!

Anyway, I digress . . . Murphy is now on more antibiotics for his ear (which now reacting to the drops we were giving him to clear the infection he had in it last week) - as ever it's no problem getting him to take them, he thinks they're sweeties

and we've really confused him by letting him up on the sofa last night and the night before.. I think we'll have to stop it he doesn't know if he's coming or going and lies there looking terribly guilty before it finally gets too much for him and he slinks off to a doggy haunt at ground level...

home again.... (sigh)

oh dear..we're back and sitting here listening to the rain just CHUCKING it down! welcome home...

Murphy had the time of his life while we were away - the dogwalker took him, her 3 dogs and the other 2 dogs she was looking after to stay with her brother who's a gamekeeper on an estate and has 11 working dogs... Murphy was apparently the boss of all 17 of them - pottered around doing his own thing except if someone put a paw wrong or behaved inappropriately, in which case he turned up to sort them out!

Needless to say he's mooching about being a bit down now he's back with boring old us..and Gizzy's not too happy to have him back either, she ran out last night when Richard and Emily took Murfs out for a quick walk, hid behind a gatepost and leapt out at him, got both paws round his neck and smacked him one (then ran away)

welcome home!

2008 so far

God almighty, what a way to start a New Year... from the house you can almost see round the whole bay and from about 6pm there were regular intermittent bangs..from 11.30 it was constant and you could see (and hear) fireworks all round the bay, behind us up the hills and everywhere!
We had our own as well we set off at midnight (along with the rest of the world).. it was very moving really, although I'd say if you lived through the Blitz in London you'd be terrified! Then we were visited by three very glamorous early twenties Norwegians who popped in for a toast, a drink, a dance and then disappeared again into the darkness (we were in the garden at this time)

And today we went for a walk to get a bit of fresh air into everyone - the weather was cold, very still and bright - have a look at the photos, will you? It was beautiful! The last one is three swords (modern) commemorating something or other - I suspect the unification of Norway round about 872AD.