end of the year

was my last post really the 19 December? How time flies! Well we've survived Christmas - Maddie (or "mad-dog" as Nick calls her) decided to do the marathon (30 times round the living room at top speed) while we tried to watch Doctor Who. She only stopped to draw breath and do a pee and a poo...!!!

However today was her first day out so hopefully she'll start to calm down - she's pretty cool today (apart from leaping off the back of the couch instead of going round the other way like Murphy does)

She wasn't sure about going out with Richard tonight - she sat down and wouldn't move - Murphy got fed up waiting and took her lead in his mouth and started to pull her out the door! She started going then!

chaos continued

well, since the introduction of Maddie to the mix things are going fairly well. She and Murphy seem to get along pretty well (except when she bites his tail) and her housetraining is also coming along. One issue is that as I get up round about 6am to let her out (only marginally earlier than when I was getting up before) she and Murphy then go out to play in the garden and if she comes back in when Murphy still wants to play, he stands outside and barks til she comes back out - not good at 7.30 on a Saturday morning!

better?

well the morning started badly - she'd obviously needed to go during the night! But as the day went on things got better - she knows what I want when I take her outside (and what she wants too - is she really doing anything or just assuming the position to get a treat?) - and Murphy gets one too for supervising. She even asked to go out a couple of times (if you were watching carefully).

She's pretty smart - she's worked out how the petflap works. She and Murphy had a bit of a play in the garden yesterday - she was tearing round and bugging Murphy, they had a tussle over one of his toys. Then she sat in a bush and Murphy took an eppy and started tearing round instead! He raced round the garden, stopped at the bush and growled at her; did it again, and again. She was quite scared at what she'd started, I think! Still, all good fun; and part of the learning curve.

I've got so many photos but they're all on my phone so I'll have to either work out to put them on the computer or take more with my camera! watch this space...

sigh

not content with all my toys she has - and all her own toys - she wanted the ones left of mine in my toy bucket - but as she couldn't reach in far enough to ge them she just tipped it over with her paw! - but it gave her an awful fright and she's hiding under the table now - ha! serves her right!

oh - my - god!!!

What have they done to me? They've gone and got a puppy - am I not enough fun? enough trouble? at least i dont' poo and pee everywhere, I know when to come and when to go, when to have fun and when not. But no - they go and get this annoying wee monster and are suprised when she creates absolute havoc!!! Now me and Gizzy are shut out of the kitchen so can't go outside when we want; Gizzy can't eat when she wants (like she's used to, but then maybe it'll help her waistline); she tries to eat my food (but i drink her water) takes all my toys and jumps up at me and chews my feet all the time! But I put my foot down yesterday - she was battering round the garden and I'd had enough. That sort of behaviour is not befitting a lady (puppy or not) and is very annoying when you're trying to sit in the middle and enjoy the afternoon drizzle... so i jumped on her and told her off. "No more running round mad!!" that'll sort her out. I hope.

following me about like a bad smell...

oh, wait - he IS a bad smell following me about! The rotten dog went and rolled in something fox-like in the woods again today - yyeeurch! He REEKS! We bathed him after tea, it was so bad but the smell's still there, lurking...

He actually climbed into the bath himself this time - unbelievable! Richard was there; he's never bathed him before so maybe that had something to do with it. (he climbed back out again pretty quickly and had to be ordered back in though!)

Now he's curled up in the kitchen refusing to share the living room with us)

St frances?

I've discovered why Murphy wouldn't come and sit near me when I'm studying in the back room - the cat curls up on the sofa (well, on Murphy's blankey which is there to stop her shedding all over it) but he dozed in the living room.

Last week I relented and let him curl up on the other end of the sofa - so from then on he's been inseparable and now when I'm here there's the two of them at each end, fast asleep! I would take a picture but the battery's run out. Watch this space! At least it's company...

woosh, bang, bark!

yes, you've guessed it - Guy Fawkes night finally caught up with us (or we with it) and we had our fireworks and curry night last night. Poor Murphy - doesn't mind bangs normally but the back garden is a bit too near. He was hyper, jumping up, running back and forth and barking. We shut him in the living room to be as far away as possible and eventually I went in to look for him and there he was, ensconsed on the (newly hoovered!) sofa! He got very cheeky and when Nick told him to get off just shuffled along a bit. Told again and he got off and went on the other one. Told again and he moved back to the original one! It took Elle to get him off and stayed off.

Meanwhile Gizzy had shot off upstairs and went to ground under our bed (very sensible). When I went to look for her later she had moved to under Richard's chair next to the radiator so was perfectly happy and cozy - I brought her down to say hello and she promptly went and curled up on the two least cat-loving people in the room. They say cats can tell, you know, and you have to wonder...

omg

geeze, it's been a while! I'm attracting all sorts of technical problems - for a start facebook doesn't seem to accept me anymore - I've changed my password 4 times now and every time I go in with the new one it refuses and i have to change it AGAIN! I'm thinking of giving it up - nothing's worth this much hassle.

Anyway, double trouble are fine. Gizzy's taken to sitting on my laptop or papers at the most inconvenient times - either to say she wants fed or just to say hello. Nice, but irritating! She's in mouse-kill mode - 3 last week. About time too - the garage cupboard is infested and I even saw one running away the last time I was in.

Murphy has chewed the wing off his new toy duck and it's no longer its pristine cream self - looking a bit chewed and mucky now - still he seems to like it so it's all good. I'll find a decent recent photo... oh yes, as you can see he's taking this sofa promotion thing seriously - here are my boys!

tune in

blimey, where has the time gone? October is flying by and I'm only just settling into student life. Which, this time round, involves a lot of writing, reading, computer work, cycling, cooking and supermarket shopping (oh, and dog walking and getting wet)

The partners in crime (Gizzy and Murphy) are doing OK. Murphy was sick on Saturday - luckily outside in the garden, how good is that? I'd shut him in on Friday night (as he'd taken to going outside and barking 3 times a night) and he duly barked in the wee small hours - but inside this time so Richard got up and he wanted out. Clearly that was why. Must've been the rubbish he was being fed when I wasn't looking.

Gizzy is also fine although we think there's a nother cat prowling round - she's been shooting in the carflap and haring away upstairs or somewhere, with Murphy instantly shooting out and bounding round barking at all the corners of the garden. She's dashing madly round the house as I write, with her tail all bushy and Murphy went out to have a look but didn't bark so not sure what's going on now. So what's new?

I've now got a blog on my student profile online at RGU and alos we're doing e-Profiles (including CV's and PDP's) so got a blog there too - I'm rapidly going off the idea. Even motormouth me can't keep that lot up! Besides, I have too much work to do.

Gotta go - it's 9.45pm and I've just sat down to study (having been making and eating dinner and been to supermarket).. toodle oo!

busy

very busy now the days are flying in! and the weeks.. Murphy showed his cool in an emergency on Sunday, I was hurrying to hang the washing out before we took him down to the beach for a walk (it was a glorious sunny, blustery day) and missed the step down to the grass. So the pegs went flying (I really must get a proper pegbag, anyone for Christmas?) and a went head over heels with a squeal.

Even Richard came to find out if I was OK, but had to find a way to remove the dog first - he'd been on the grass and immediately rushed over and stood over me as I lay there - I mean right over, front paws on one side of me and back paws on the other.

I'm not sure what in the doggy world it's meant to achieve, but he's very good at it! At least he didn't actually sit ON me, which he is prone to do when I sit or lie on the ground (for my exercises, I should add).

gizzy again

I had a panic the other day, thought I'd lost Gizzy. By 10.30 she still hadn't come for her breakfast - for a cat who is usually breaking the door down at 6.30am and refuses to leave me alone in the bathroom for my shower (presumably acting under the suspicion that I'll escape - naked - from the window before feeding her, this was unheard of!

By about 11 I'd been out in the garden calling her, searched the whole house - nothing. Sudenly I noticed the garage door was closed -hmm, I wonder?

Opened it and a silent blur shot past - straight to the food bowl (well, why waste time and energy miaowing that would be better used in getting to the food?). Mystery solved....

hectic

I'm back again after a hectic time - survived Sardinia but have a rotten cough thanks to Richard insisting the A/C went on every night. Started university - well had the inductions etc - had to leave the talk on the library as couldn't stop coughing - oops!

Gizzy has forgone Emily's bed again and we discovered on Friday night her latest penchant - shut the door to keep her out but in the early hours of the morning she appeared and insisted on sleeping with me. No idea where she came from - was she hiding in the wardrobe?

Found the truth last night -lying in bed I heard a strange wee sound which I thought was the cat snoring (she's done it before). Sure enough we put on the light and there she was, curled up under the bed against the wall next to Richard's bedside table, fast asleep! Waiting for her chance to wake me up in the middle of the night (which she duly did). Sigh - note to self - be more hardhearted and kick her out the room!

holidays

well what can I say? murphy has been pretty good lately - I told you about the snaffling of the leftover chocolates, didn't I? and the chasing of the cat when she followed us up to the track? And the assistance with the painting (resulting in minor paint splashes on his tail and ear)... well now we've ledt the two of them to the tender mercies of Nick and Andy (better than a diet!) while we swan off to sunny Sardinia. Well, I say sunny.... I'm sitting here in the coffee area (so we can get wifi) looking out at the beautiful blue swimming pool and the hills beyond (down which we could hear the tinkling of goat/sheep bells yesterday as they made their way down the said mountain) ..and the pouring rain.

Briefly our holiday so far - day 1 (the journey) R bought a new satnav in Duty Free as stepson no. 2 borrowed ours months ago and despite numerous requests we only got it back the day before we left (one of his friends had it) and they didn't give us the all-inportant cradle. Day 2 am - upon getting back in the car for some orientation we discover the new satnav is broken - when I took it off the windscreen the previous night it flew off and must have hit the bar under the seat. Cue major loss of sense of humour from husband for most of the day.

Day 3 (day 2 here) we head off pronto to the beach after brakfast - as it was beautiful when we found it but we didn't have our swimmies so decided to come back today and try again. Just as we arrived - literally - I saw a jag of lightning above us and there was the loudest crack of thunder I have ever heard - not only directly above us but truly the loudest I have ever heard (and there were some awesome ones in Lebanon). Cue an immediate exodus of the 40-odd folk in the sea! So we sat under towels and beach umbrellas for 2 or 3 hours til lunchtime (I finished my second book of the trip) and then headed back to the hotel to change (it was monsoon-like by this time, I sat in the car for 10 minutes to let it subside before braving the run from the carpark to our room)

And now we've had a lovely lunch (not exactly boosted by the waiter's assertion that today is the end of the Sardinian summer but it's lovely and sunny in London!) and it's 3 hours til dinner. I guess I'll have to start book no 3 now, Richard's gone back to the room for a snooze.

Happy holidays!!

little monster!

Gizzy is getting very brave - she followed me and Murfs all the way up to the track on Friday - then got a chock as she was waiting for us to come back - Julia was walking for a change so there were two extra dogs to say hello to! She wasn't impressed, but stood her ground (on the wall - and they're only poodle/spaniel size so not big enough to reach her) and followed us all down the road as normal.

Today however, she followed us up then as soon as we went up the track to the track (as it were) - which is where even nutter Gizzy knows not to go - it's all dogs - she sat on the walll and miaowed VERY loudly and CONSTANTLY til I came back. I made sure she was ok then headed off again - same thing happened! I was not having this - I picked her up and marched back down the road with her (she wasn't too happy about this) and deposited her in the house to wait for us there. But I now have fairly well scratched arms to show for it!

what's a cat got to do...

...to get some appreciation round here?!!

Poor Gizzy! Richard emailed me yesterday morning to say Emily had texted to say Gizzy had proudly left us a present under our bed. "OK", says I, "I'll remove it when I get home and make a fuss of her". Only I forgot, what with getting soaked on the way home and having to dry, take the dog out and then go back out for my bike locker key.

So when I finally got back, about 5, she had obviously decided to take no chances and had retrieved the (poor wee dead bird) present from under the bed and brought it downstairs. It was positioned bang in the middle of the kitchen doorway and just to make doubly sure I didn't miss it she was sitting beside it to point it out.

Awww.... thank you killer kitty!

(PS we subsequently found another poor wee dead bird upstairs in Richard's wardrobe so maybe she didn't bring it down but went and got another one) The question has to be asked whether she'd have felt the need to do so if I'd paid proper attention the first time!

killer kitty

well she got the poor baby rabbit after all - knew we should've moved it somewhere other than the bak garden. It only took her 24 hours...

so here she is in her usual pose - "I'm not coming off this table til you feed me!"

Meantime Murphy had a lovely afternoon chasing deer in the woods while I settled down and spent half an hour on the phone to bro working out how to paint the house walls.. it quite tired him out!

not always the dog!

Man, who'd have cats? Just had to rescue a baby rabbit from Gizzy, half way up the stairs. We shut her in the bathroom while Richard took it out into the garden and we've shut the cat flap to give it a chance to get away. Now she's stalking around, probably looking for it. It's only nature but not in the house, please, we're squeamish!

back again..again

once again I've fallen off my digital world. There's been several times when I thought "I must put this into the blog" - usually about Murphy's doings (but not always).. but haven't managed to get around to it. It's like the ironing, fine once I start but getting started is the problem. I only iron once every few months so you get the idea...

And as suspected now I've started I can't actually think of anything he's been doing! Been pretty good, really. well, I say good - he's finally managed to scratch a (tiny) hole in the carpet (I say hole, really it's a bare patch). We were at Archie's birthday barbecue (Archie the Airedale, remember?) a few weeks ago and they were all terribly well behaved. Apart from wee Sydney who worked out how to get onto the table outside and snaffled enough sausages to let everyone else get the rest (I mean the other dogs!)

Murphy's latest trick involves the cat too - she s=gollops her food down so fast it's not unknown for her to then throw up shortly afterwards. I've discovered that she prefers to do this over in the neighbours' garden. how did I find this out? It wasn't me, it was the dog - and I'm not going to tell you what he does with it...

gotta go and bring other things up to date. Will try to be better this time. You might even get a picture as a sook-up !

result?

well believe it or not he was very well behaved.. not that he settled down and snoozed as I hoped he would - too much food around at first and then (like a toddler) too much going on, but didn't eat anyone's sandwiches and once I gave up on my chair and sat on his blankey with him he did lie down and allow me to rub his tummy..

PS the opera was amazing, I cried! (so what's new, says richard)

summer activities

apologies to my non-existent readers for the recent lack of communication.. been pretty busy, me the dog and cat. This afternoon I have to go to the supermarket to pur-chase the ingredients for a smooth evening.. we're taking the dog to see the opera! - no, I'm not buying tranquilisers, for me, the dog or the performers!

It's on the big screen in the park so we're (well I'm) getting a picnic together (must remember to get wine with a screwtop this time!!)..I'll rum Murphy down to the park and Richard'll take all the food, his bowl and water, (and blankey and food and a treat and a toy), chairs etc down in the car. Hopefully the dog will have enoiugh of the fidgets shaken out of him that he'll snooze without trying to (a) eat anyone else's picnic or (b) rumble around and sniff everythin/one else... watch this space!

back again

OK you'd be forgiven for thinking I've fallen off the end of the world, but no I've just been busy.. and anyone who reads this has been told all Murphy's latest doings anyway so no loss..

He's promoted himself is the most obvious one - he now lives on the sofa except when I'm actually in the room! And a stern look no longer works to get him off...

gotta go, getting hair done (mine, not Murphy's although sometimes you'd be hard put to tell the difference)

the obedient hound

had to take the dog to the garage this afternoon - no it's not what you think he didn't need his undercarriage seen to - it's just Murphy's law - once I got home and made him wait while I ate lunch I couldn't just leave him in the house while I took the car to the garage, it wouldn't have been fair on him.. so I got his blankey out and laid it carefully on the back seat and in he shot. I tried to fasten him in with the seatbelt harness I bought but yet again it bamboozled me so I had to leave it. He was very good til I got to the garage and as it was sunny thought I'd better not leave him in the car while I found someone to look at the dog. Unfortunately I had forgotten his lead so off he bounded, sniffing his way round all the cars and the resident dog - the garage is on the edge of the country so there's lots of grass around. He showed us all up though when I found a garage man to come and look at the car, I then spent what felt like 10 minutes chasing Murphy round the cars (in high heels - me not the dog) while he had a good old explore and completely ignored me.

The mannie got it right with his comment as I finally returned with murphy by the collar - "he's an obedient one, that yin." Hm!

Still, he only left one dusty pawprint on Richard's pristine leather back seat so I'll forgive him (but Richard doesn't know so keep it under your hats!)

dogs for courses

football just ain't Murphy's thing, really! He doesn't chase them (unless they're so saggy he can bite into them to lift them up) and doesn't like it when Richard watches it. Probably partly cos Richard goes mental while watching England games.

But he spent the whole Arsenal/Man U game fast asleep on the kitchen floor and now it's finished he's dragged himself through to his bed behind the sofa.

Whereas this afternoon he spent a most enjoyable hour in the rain going through the woods and finding every mud puddle he could - I managed to get him to dunk himself in a relatively clean burn to wash off the worst but he then started digging under a tree root and got even muddier! funnily enough he wasn't at all keen on the hosing down he had to get in the back garden after all that - he prefers his water to be more of the countrified variety! (ie in the ground)

fight!

well we missed all the excitement this morning.. got back from our walk and all the back doors were open, there was grit, dirt and fur all over the kitchen floor... wha'???

turned out some random cat took advantage of Murphy's temporary absence and sidled in the cat flap - met Gizzy who took exception and the fur began to fly...

when Richard came flying downstairs (well, I never let truth get in the way of a good story) the door into the utility room (where the catflap is) had shut so the poor thing coldn't get out if he'd wanted to. They had levitated to the windowsill and the plants were suffering... Richard opened the door and the intruder promptly ran into the window!

things were settling down when we returned so Murphy did the round of the boundaries (barking at each one) and Gizzy skulked in the garden for a while to make sure the coast was clear. Then we all went to work. (welcome to the week!)

Funnily enough, she spent the day upstairs on our bed with Murphy on guard at the bottom of the stairs...

murphy disgraces himself again

oh dear! I had him out yesterday and we had a lovely walk along the side of a burn for about 40 minutes or so, he was very well behaved... til we were almost back at the car, which was parked on a side street. He wandered casually over onto the road, all innocent-like. I warned him to come away from the road, equally casually. Then he sauntered over the road, and into someone's garden. I stepped out smartly to get him out of there - by this time he was on the front lawn, staring fixedly into a bush.

As I stepped into the garden to put a (loving yet) restraining hand on the hound's collar, he pounced on the bush. A cat shot out and - I swear - he got it in his mouth! My heart was in mine! cats are cats though - it wriggled round and lay on its back and got the claws out, hissing and spitting, then wriggled back and shot off over the garden wall - and bounded over the next 3 gardens, closely followed by Murphy... I can still see his backside and tail disappearing over that first wall!

Over they went, me following on the pavement, doing my usual sotto voce "Murphy! come here!!" (while trying to pretend he was nothing to do with me) The cat shot up a handy tree in garden 3 and Murphy, realising the game was up, turned round to (finally) do as he was told. I thought he would come out but no - (well the gardens were all gated) he jumped back over all the walls and sauntered out to see me.

As we left the poor cat was still up the tree trying to figure how to get down. I wanted to stop and help but thought we'd maybe done enough damage...

rise and shine!

we discovered on our walk this morning that some people had decided to camp in the corner of the track, amongst the trees. Isla and Archie had already been investigating when Murphy & I arrived, so of course Murphy was right over there, sniffing around. Needless to say, he took exception to the 3 tents and started barking at them! Luckily I managed to call him away before an irate camper emerged. However as he ran towards me I realised he had left his calling card at the campsite - a wet sock.

So when we ran into Lynn and Archie this afternoon we headed off to retrieve the sock, which we did, as the tents were gone - but what a mess they'd left behind! I had to wrestle a tube of Pringles off Murphy - Archie spent 10 minutes barking at him but he wouldn't give him a sniff. I went back up later with a couple of bin bags and collected 4 sleeping mats, a pillow (nice pillowcase), 2 tent poles, 4x 2 litre unopened bottles of fizz, half a bottle of Peach Schnapps, 2 empty half bottles of vodka, a bottle of green something, a half full barrel of heineken, umpteen full and empty packets of crisps, chewy sweets, cigarette packets, wrappings, boxes, bottles of beer etc etc. richard came and helped me carry them to the bin - he wouldn't let me bring them home to put in recycling; but at least the neighbourhood dogs won't be stuffing themselves for the next couple of weeks.

I'm not sorry now Murphy woke them all with their hangovers at 7.30am!!

paw-tastic

And our hero continues his recuperation.. we've given up on the sock-bag-sock combo and just sticking to one sock now (with a spare one for when he takes the first one off) and it's healing at a good rate, like we said before - and happy to be getting a bit of a run at last!

much improved

the paw is much improved. It's starting to heal over - you can see it - although we still have to have the sock-freezer bag-sock combo every time he goes out. Since it's wet today tit doesn't all stay on very long...sigh

still fighting

we had a great workout yesterday, holding Murphy down while his bandage was - finally - removed! a bit of snipping to remove some hair, some cleaning to remove the gunk buildup, lots of panting and flailing around to put on a new, lighter pad-thing (held on with micropore - that'll never last) and more holding-down while his new doggy boot was added on top. Phew! A good job well done.

Progress - the new pad and doggy boot were swiftly despatched when richard took him out and let him off the lead. He disappeared for 25 minutes while I waited at home, juggling dinner on a timescale til I got the good news that he was back (and the bad news that the paw was now free to the air - and the mud)

So we're now on standby doggy boot and have given up on the pad thing. He seems to be surviving!

the dog with the sore paw...

seems to be much improved. He bounced round the track this afternoon and disappeared off into the woods... to return eventually, tearing round the corner, sans sock and plastic bag, bandage literally black!

eek!

back to the vets

as you can see I've now found the wire! so here's poor old Murphs in his latest injury incarnation. His painkillers have worn off at the moment he's on a downer and has retired to bed now.. more pills in the morning!

Life according to gizzy

My "free" afternoons have started - free from paying work, that is! now I can tackle all the non-paying things that need to be done (hmm)

Gizzy's take on it all is, typically enough, to see it as a great opportunity to get fed more often! but I'm holding out - she's sitting on the table as I do this, staring me into submission. It ain't going to happen, sister!

updates

well we've been back to the vets and the good news is his ears are now tickety-boo so we can get rid of the eardrops.

The bad news is he's got a fresh bandage on his paw - I had to hold him down as she slit the old one off and he was flailing around - he got free just as she was unwinding the padding underneath and ripped it off with his teeth - I bet he's been dreaming of that all week! It's very clean so all good but had to put another one on - boo! Now he's got to last til Monday with this one. And of course keep taking the tablets...

more battles

..and that's two - hoping there won't be a third. It was like Animal Hospital round our place on Sunday - poor old Murfs managed to slice part of the pad of his paw completely off! We don't know how, there was no glass or anything around but he was away in the woods so it could have been anything.

We were at one of Emily's horse shows so we stopped at the burger bar for lunch before we ended up taking him home to the emergency vet cos it wouldn't stop bleeding - I think we were getting a reputation for cruel and heartless owners given that we were standing enjoying a burger while Murphy at our feet was bleeding. To be fair we didn't realise it was so bad til it was still bleeding when we got home.

45 minutes at the vets later we arrived home laden down with disgruntled dog (head in lampshade again), MORE painkillers and MORE antibiotics!

I was going to post a photo of him, head in (badly beaten) lampshade and yellow-and-green bandage on foot, looking VERY sorry for himself.. but I've lost the cable to get it off the camera.

Then the cat decided to get in on the act that evening and threw up everywhere - out of sympathy I presume (or a desire to put a spanner in the works of me serving dinner, one of the two)

a visitor

Murphy had a visitor yesterday, a lovely, laid back black lab called Robbie. Apparently when he came round Murphy realised he had backup and started barking at Gizzy!

I took Murphy for a run and offered to take Robbie too - but his owner ( a friend of Andy's) said he thought it would probably kill him - he's not as fit as Murphy! And right enough, he is a wee bit rotunder, but a such a lovely soft dog!

Meanwhile Murphy's ears are slowly improving - to the stage where they're good enough start putting ear drops in. We're still on the antibiotics and painkillers as well so a wee bit to go.

in the wars again

Poor old murphs - he started shaking his head last week so after a couple of days of it not going away we decided to reuse the eardrops that were left over from December..but 4 days in it seemed to be getting worse and worse so we stopped and got him into the vets pronto - turns out we were probably making it worse as the drops were out of date (they only last a month once opened - take note any users of left-over medicine out there!).

So our hero is now on antibiotics and painkillers.... at least we don't have to put anything else in his ears, the whimpering would break your heart!

(meanwhile Gizzy is her usual manic self, she was doing her mad dashes round the house yesterday and literally ran slap bang into the dog! I dont' know who was more suprised, but it didn't stop her for long)

reminded...

Took Murphy for a long run tonight - trying to work off the chocolate lunch I had (never go to M & S when you're hungry), and I was reminded of an occasion from about 3 years ago, when I was training for the half marathon - there's a house which is above the railway line on your left with the garden fence at the top of the bank (not very far from where you walk along). Murphy had taken a detour off the line and through their garden as he did every now and then. He leapt over the fence to get back onto the line (I guess it's lower on the other side) - all well and good except for the poor girl who was walking towards me and got the fright of her life when a huge hairy bundle of teeth came raining out of the sky, heading straight at her!

quiet

as you'll have guessed things have been quiet on the Murphy front recently... well, quiet metaphorically speaking - someone rang the doorbell tonight just as he started into his dinner. What's a dog to do? Our hero managed an acceptable compromise, though - he barked WHILE scoffing his dinner! A bit muffled, granted, but I'm sure the visitor was suitably scared! Well done our Murfs!

(well, he had to make up for me having discovered yet another empty chocolate wrapper in the garden!!!)

pavlov response

poor richard - or poor Murphy? because richard is Mr Taxi to Emily and comes and goes when she phones for lifts, usually he's taking/picking her up from the stables so richard's got into the habit of taking the dog with him for a quick walk...

result?

...every time the phone rings Murphy thinks he's getting a walk!

spring?

how weird, now all the snow's gone suddenly it's, like, gone up 15 degrees! It was 12C today, Richard's baring his forearms (settle down girls!)

And I've decided it's now the time to go running in the evenings again, as I have too much other stuff to do in the mornings at the moment. Just about light enough and a particularly good time for chasing deer, as Murphy pointed out tonight (by dint of haring off at top speed after one through a field and not coming back for ages).

Spring is in the air... so I'd better get me diet going again before I have to go down to just 2 layers, eek!

another weekend

well that's another one over. Murphy had a bit of a change, he went with Emily and had a sleepover at her mum's house with Charlie the hyperactive brown lab (who was his partner in crime on our last disastrous outing when he made me kill that poor rabbit). Quite good timing really as we were out for a posh dinner for St Valentine's Day. Apparently he was very well behaved and poor Smokey (their cat at their mum's, quite old) wasn't TOO put out. Mind you that was partly because Ems forgot to take with her the small dog's jumper she bought for him. Fern followed Gizzy round the house with it yesterday but Gizzy was determined she wasn't putting it on... funny that!

pilates assistance?

I started Pilates about 5 years ago after I hurt my back - regular practice apparently reduces the risk of re-occurrence, and did it once in class and twice other times - but gave that up mainly cos it was quite difficult lying on your back on the floor doing "controlled" leg lifts with a cat hanging off one leg and a dog sitting on your chest!

So of course my back re-occurred and I'm back to exercises for that and doing pilates in the morning (well it's too snowy to run just now anyway) - Gizzy (unlike her predecessor) doesn't try to join in (she prefers to curl up on my back when I'm doing the Plank) but watches with interest from on high - paws tucked neatly in and peering down over the edge of her ledge at me. Murphy was far more interested in trying to join in, with the paw on the chest as before. It took me several firm (but whispered) "no!" and "lie down"'s before he got the message and slouched on the floor, dejectedly waiting til I stopped being silly and took him out for his walk.

Hoomans, eh?

winter walk

what a lovely day - it snowed overnight again so he came down the road with me - cos of my back I couldn't have him on the lead so he had a great time investigating everyone's gardens! He did try to race a Land Rover to try to cut across the front after a cat (with me bellowing at him but the car was going slowly cos of the snow anyway) but saw sense and let it pass.

Then he had a wonderful walk with the three of us (Emily with almost-broken fingers after the horse mistook them for goodness-knows-what!) as you can see from the photo he's off at the run!)

mo-snow-ho-ho!

well he struck again we have discovered, but not sure when.. the trouble with having a teenager(s) in the house is that very quickly Murphy's dog instincts have told him that those are the rooms to inhabit - particularly if you're a four footed hoover machine! The evidence this time nearly got buried in the snow but is just visible - the remains of a chocolate digestive packet...

Once the snow and ice goes we'll have to go and retrieve the retriever's cast-offs! Still, at least they're both enjoying the snow (perhaps Murphy more than Gizzy although she was out in the garden this afternoon chasing her tail in the snow, in between licking her paws)

snow -ho-ho

I picked today of all days to have a long lie and not go running - poor Murphy! I got a surprise when I looked out the window and realised it was snowing, and if I'd known I'd've been out in a flash - I love running in the snow, especially that early in the morning when we're the only ones out and it's so silent, leaving our foot/pawprints behind us. And Murphy loves the snow too! He had to make do with his walk with his buddies instead.

phew

in case you're worried, no need this time. He was up and bouncing about as normal this morning, none the worse for his little "adventure"!

I was wrong

.... following the last entry we just discovered he not only enjoyed the chicken but made off with the whole bloomin chicken carcase and polished it off in the garden! not the legs and wings, thank god but the rest is bad enough, I had to phone the emergency vet to see what if anything we ought to do. They said it should be ok, so we've got our fingers crossed..

weekend again

It's the end of the weekend again - where do they go? Murphy had quite a good day, we took him a long walk - not where we wanted to go as I forgot the map and we didn't know exactly where we were going, but the usual hill, still a good walk and a good view. Tried to get a good picture of Richard and Murphy but Murphy was far more interested in something else in the background! (as you can see it was a bit breezy at the top) Then he had lots of roast chicken (well not lots but a fair bit) left over from dinner...

and the karaseks voted with their feet...

this year Burns night was Sunday, so instead of just me and Richard having our annual haggis neeps 'n tatties, everyone was going ot have it for Sunday dinner. hmm....

I had to reluctantly put my head together with richard to get alternatives sorted out for the two younger and pickier members of the group (some sort of M & S veggie pie for emily and a steak for Andy, not that I've ever cooked steak before that's Richard's responsibility); however in the event they solved the problem themselves. Enily went off to her mother's and Andy headed out with friends to some gig or other.

I don't know how much of it was cicumstantial and how much of it was haggis-avoidance, but at least it made my life easier! And very nice it was too... even though richard will insist on having tomato ketchup with his!

and now..

well here we are, another weekend, packed full of Murphy chances and walks, adventures and tastes!

I took Murphy out for a walk with Veronica and the girls - the first thing he did was get through a barbed wire fence and chase a flock of sheep which stampeded across a field eeek! I took off over the same fence with alacrity amd ran across the field, screaming at him in my sternest voice to come back NOW! Luckily he did, before the farmer hoved into view with shotgun at the ready..

I had to explain to a confused but interested 3 and a half year old why dogs chase sheep (in Murphy's case, mainly because they run away) and why that is a bad thing - without actually saying that the farmer can shoot him. In the long run she was more interested in the whole "dogs say hello by sniffing each other's bottoms" thing, which came up later in the walk!

old habits

...die hard...

Richard and I were out, all dressed to the nines (well I was in a backless dress with my hair up and my best perfume, Richard forewent the backless dress and opted for some dark trousers); we'd left Emily having made and iced a carrot cake but not liking the look of it. I of course, never averse to a bit of experimentation where cake is concerned, took a teaspoon to it and can confirm it tasted delicious - I told her I'd have a proper bit when we got back -

So there we were in the restaurant, revelling in the high life and conversing on a judicious choice of wine, when in comes a text from Emily. And what do you think...?

- "just went in the kitchen the dog has eaten all my cake!"

Typical! That dog recognises a good thing when he sees it.. unfortunately.

PS - next text

"he is lookin very suspicious think he is feelin ill lol"

- serves him right!!!

weekend away

I'll be upfront and tell you I have no idea how our brave hero is faring this weekend. I'm sure he is enjoying his usual round of walks, food, love, walks, love, walks, food, snoozes and more walks, interspersed with the odd confrontation with the cat..

I, meanwhile, am enjoying a weekend of economic action in rainy Glasgow, combined with family & friend interaction. Not all that successfully either. The economic action went very well (a brief but satisfying sprint through Ikea on the way down on Friday and a full day of non stop shopping on Saturday. Don't tell my husband.) I am down for a birthday party last night and found out there was a family 70th also on last night that I hadn't been invited to as I wasn't here. So I went to both, had a large piece of cake at the 70th, showed my face (and my new shoes) briefly then headed off to the original birthday party, arriving about 8.30.

I did think it strange that there were people milling around and some with children appeared to be leaving; the carpet in the party room was COVERED in crumbs and general detritus and they must have started in on the food as soon as they all arrived, I was only an hour late but there was little left.

After an hour of general chitchat (I was also slightly surprised at the speed at which clearly the partygoers must have been drinking they were all at a stage of general bonhomie) I discovered that I had been far more socially inept than I thought. THE PARTY STARTED AT 2PM!!

oops

welcome 2009

..and Murphy starts as he means to go on! I fell asleep on the sofa after the Hogmanay celebrations and woke up at 3.15am to struggle to bed.. on the way I noticed that our bold hero had munched his way through the end of a box of chocolates (left carelessly on the coffee table by yours truly, oops) - including the box! - and also one of the cat's boxes of treats. Hmmm, perhaps he didn't like being left home alone for the bells?