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!