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I love the woods. There's something so calming about them, particularly when it's sunny, with the sunshine making it to the ground in bits, broken up by the branches and leaves. I love the way that the trees seem to be so removed from us, with our petty troubles and short lives. They, on the other hand, are moved by the wind, but unmoved by my worries. The sun shines through them when it can, the rain patters through their leaves - I used to live in a second floor tenement flat, whose living room window opened onto a big sycamore tree. When it rained (as it did a lot that summer) I opened the windows and sat listening to the rain dripping down onto the leaves - I found it almost mesmerising. I'd torn a ligament in my ankle that spring so couldn't do anything for some months and my memories of that summer (the only one I spent in that flat) revolve around the rain and that tree. Wistful, quiet, calming, steady - a solid presence

Of course the recent high winds we had have ended up with scenes of devastation in many woods, with trees uprooted and huge branches torn off and scattered as if they were mere twigs. The trunks are left denuded, bereft and almost naked... so sad.
sigh. 
But it's nature, a force we don't understand and can't control. We must simply accept.

woodland walk

we had a lovely walk today, found a big wood a wee bit away and took a walk along a riverbank - as usual the terrible twosome had a wonderful time splashing around and chasing sticks... it was beautiful scenery

thereafter having gone to the seaside and decided it was too blowy for ice cream we found a decent beer garden and had a late lunch/early tea (about 3.30!) while the dogs behaved impeccably (for them). It's funny weather - I put a washing out about 7pm and fully expect it to be pretty dry by the time the sun goes - amazing!

the clean-up squad

"Who opened the cream?" - I stood there with cream dripping off the counter, my front, legs, skirt and feet...

I had shaken it before opening it - to find out the hard way that it was already open!

Luckily the clean-up squad were soon on hand and licked the place clean - very tickly on the feet!

they think we're stoopid!

I happened to nip back downstairs last night after I'd gone up to bed - about 2 minutes after - and found the dogs in flagrante. When I left them Maddie was in her crate in the kitchen (looking all cosy and sleepy) and Murphy was stretched out on the living room floor next to the sofa (again looking pretty ensconced). 2 minutes later there they were - each happily settled in on a sofa each. Caught!

Maddie News!

We've had a few hectic days with the munsters, particularly Maddie. I've upped the teethbrushing, much to Murphy's delight - he loves it! It's a case of trying to get the (poultry-flavoured) toothpaste onto his teeth before he eats it.

Maddie is another matter entirely. It's not that she hates it (she's not hugely keen but likes the taste) it's just that she's got this idea into her wee head that every time I call her in the house I'm going to do something unspeakable to her - like clean her ears, groom her, brush her teeth, take something off her she shouldn't have (usually someone's slipper) etc. So as soon as I call her she heads off at great speed into her crate and refuses to come out - sigh. I've tried dragging her but that's apparently not a good thing, they need to feel safe in their den (as long as you can enter it with them which I can, well I can stick my head and shoulders in) safely.

So great frustration all round! When you actually catch her she doesn't really mind that stuff, it's all in the anticipation...

On the up side we had our test for the KC Good Citizen Dog (Bronze Award) and she passed! Yippeee! Well done Maddie!!! (and well done me too) She's very proud of her rosette - well she keeps trying to eat it anyway.

made it!

Well all you imaginary friends out there (except for one real one who I know reads this blog - hello!) will be relieved to hear that I completed this morning's 10k race in under an hour - 58.31 minutes in fact, although I'll get my proper time when the chips are processed, there was a slight delay in my button-pushing (although it's exactly the same watch I use every time I go running so why I had a momentary brain lapse as to how to start the stopwatch as I crossed the start line I don't know) so it may be a couple of seconds faster but I'm not nit-picking!

And why are you relieved, I hear you ask? Well, because I'm relieved! I've never done it in more than the 60 minutes and that's a big black line in my head that I REALLY don't want to cross - the territory of old fogies and unfit half-triers! (all opinions expressed in this blog are entirely personal and in no way represent the views of any sane or reasonable person, by the way) - so the thought of straying into this territory, due entirely to the fact that I didn't get off my bahoukie soon enough to get training, was preying on my mind.

Anyway, in the event I needn't have worried. Thanks to pleasant running weather - bit windy but overcast and with rain constantly threatening but not appearing - I managed to stagger round in the due time. Apart from despair at 5K when I realised I'd gone over the required time per k to make it, which was alleviated when the 6k marker came up very shortly thereafter (someone was 'avin' a larf, guvnor!) and I was on track after all...

By the way, if you have any close friend or member of your family doing something like this, I would recommend you go and cheer them on - it makes an incredible difference to see a friendly face cheering you personally as you stagger round, purple in the face and trying not to breathe too loudly! Richard was supposed to be running too but didn't feel well so brought the dogs and they all stood and cheered me on at 4k (OK, telling me to hurry up wasn't too encouraging but I took it in the spirit it was - no doubt - intended). And Maddie was fine with all the crowds and in fact looked quite mesmerised at all the legs going past.

I made it to the end, dragging out the last of my reserves for a wee sprint to the finish (nearly bringing on my asthma once I was over the line) and duly collected my 25th Anniversary medal - I really felt I'd earned it this time!

So - which one next?!!!

No offence intended

Upon second thoughts (which came to me last night in bed) I'm not sure I did the right thing by adding the link to that post that was my last entry - it's a bit more serious than my previous posts all put together! I'm a Research Assistant at the moment, working on a project on police blogs and that's how I came across it - but it moved me when I read it and I wanted to put it up. I hasten to add while I've seen terrible scenes on TV (always a programme about the problem in English towns at the weekends, which isn't to say it doesn't happen in Scotland), I've never seen it that bad myself.. of course I'm never out when the clubs empty these days so not really a valuable witness on that front!

Anyway - I'm sorry if anyone read it and was offended, or surprised etc. I'll put a warning next time I jump off the heights of flippancy.

You want to be a hero?: It's not always a happy ending.........

I worry about all the kids out there who get legless on a Friday or a Saturday night in our towns and cities, the girls especially who think they should be able to do as they like without repercussions... well so they should but life's not like that, not at the moment. Read this - a police blog - anonymous but it sure rings true...


You want to be a hero?: It's not always a happy ending.........

She would've passed

What a good girl Maddie was at obedience class last night! She even did her "down-stay" for the required one minute TWICE without getting up! All those times practising it on their walks has paid off. Unfortunately the test itself isn't til next week, as it turns out, so I only hope we haven't peaked too soon...

If Murphy could talk...

This would totally be him...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

Maddie glams up?

I THINK it's Maddie's Bronze Award test tonight (it might be next week - I've got confused - but we'll see) so I decided I really should try to get out the tangles in her ears. She wasnae happy about it so I had to do one ear yesterday and one today - but finally! She has lovely tangle-free ears! Let's hope it lasts, it wouldn't surprise me if she comes back from her lunchtime walk having dragged herself through a hedge backwards, forwards and upside down...

poor Richard?

so on a non dog and cat subject, we move to the long suffering hubby (well he thinks he's long suffering, I think he's grumpy, we'll agree to disagree on that). Sometimes he does have a hard time though and funnily enough always seems to not kick up a fuss just when I think he will...

Anyway, the poor soul had to fend for himself all weekend while I was killing myself at Guide camp - which meant he had to walk the dogs two or three times a day as well as feed and amuse himself. So I arrived back at 5.30pm on Sunday, hoping he won't expect me to either walk them or cook the meal - and he came up trumps! Had a meal all planned and had walked the terrible two. Nice husband!

So what thanks did he get? On Monday, when I should've been soothing his fevered brow (or at least feeding him with something cooked by my own fair hand), I discovered I had made an arrangement to meet a couple of friends, so Richard got back with the dogs after their evening walk and was handed a frozen pizza as I went out the door. Oops, bad wife!

No improvement today - I was out at a friend's this afternoon (I did work in the morning) so stopped in at Tescos to grab something microwaveable for tea tonight. Worse wife! Still he's had cooked meals every night for the last several months (I've been working my way through various cookbooks) so he can't really complain. I'm braced though...

thoughts

It's interesting - I'm a Research Assistant on a project looking at police blogging and I've been doing some preparatory reading before starting a literature review of the subject. I had no idea there could be so many different reasons for and types of blogging! It's really made me think why I do it and if I could do it better or differently.

I started the blog in 2007 as a way to share my Murphy stories, rather than trying to remember who I've told what, so I try to keep the posts strictly to dog and cat stories, but maybe that's really boring for people? I don't know as I never get any feedback - on the other hand that probably just means nobody's reading it. Clearly I'm doing something wrong! I would like to think I'm connecting with someone out there.

So I'm going to a) try to remember to add labels and b) try to add a bit more variety to the subject matter. Move over Murphy!

new look

hey, d'you like the new look? I'm setting up a blog for a research project I'm assisting and was surprised to find that in the 4 and a half years since I started Murphy's Log they've got more templates.. good-oh! So here's the new one. I hoped I'd be able to add a photo behind of the terrible twosome as the background but might have to do more research on that...

Have to remember to be serious on the new blog, be in work mode. Concentrate!

did she miss me?

I've been at Guide camp all weekend and got back last night - expecting an ecstatic welcome despite the dirt and the woodsmoke smell. Unfortunately Richard'd taken them for a walk so the only person to greet me was the cat - and she only wanted her dinner!

Still, they made up for it when they got back and we'd all eaten - Murphy sat with his head on my knee all night and Maddie was just delighted I was actually there when she came upstairs this morning - Richards says she would go up and look for me, then sit downstairs while he had breakfast with her paws crossed (her "waiting" pose) where she could see him andkeep an eye on the bottom of the stairs -awww... she does love me after all!

WHAT is she eating now?

sigh - well it serves me right, I'm trying to have a new regime vis a vis their teeth, so I left the toothpaste on the coffee table (poultry-flavoured, for those of you interested).. today got back from work to find her under her tree (the relaxed equivalent of her bush, and near enough to dash under it at first sign of an approach when she's feeling guilty), chewing something white.

It's an indication of her habits that I thought it was a clothes peg and resigned myself to it. However when Murphy took it off her and started chewing it I thought this was my chance to rescue whatever it was... imagine my chagrin to find it was the remains opf the toothpaste! Entirely my own fault. Then Richard gave me the remains of the toothbrush and suggested I ought not to leave the firelighters (for guide camp in case of emergecnies) on the table too.... good point

Maddie's Motivation

We were at Agility on Tuesday (standing in a midgy-ridden field when I should have been at the launch of a research centre, something I completely forgot about til Thursday, but that's another story) - and she did really well til I ran out of treats. Then she got bored and chased a beagle round the field instead- oops! She behaved herself again when I borrowed some spare treats from someone else, just to show up my shortcomings as a dog handler!

She's going to sit her Bronze Good Citizen Award in a couple of weeks so wish me luck - and lots of treats!!

...but they're here too

I've about given up keeping them off the sofas. Even Murphy just looks at me now and doesn't automatically get off. So I've dug out a couple of throws to try at least to keep the cushions clean - the problem has therefore changed. Now it's not getting the dogs off the sofas, it's getting Richard to remember to put the throw back on after he's moved it to sit on the sofa -he forgets to put it back on when he goes to bed, which is when the four legged comfort-seekers settle down for some zz's in our place.

sigh - life is never easy!

me this time, not the dogs

lord, I can't believe it's May already! It always happens, you stagger through January and expect things to slowly crank up to the summer... and before you know it February and March have spun by, April was a complete rush and May is here! I should be doing things! Planning things, making my way calmly and smoothly through the year and enjoying the trip. Instead I end up bouncing from thing to thing, fighting a bit of a losing battle to keep on top of things until suddenly Christmas is looming again and I'm once more determining not to start Christmas shopping until after Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes...

well so here we are. I'm now trying to juggle three jobs and the house and find the time (and the energy) to improve my running so I'll be able to finish the Baker Hughes (10k run) in under an hour - so far I've always been in the 50s but I wouldn't put it past my legs & lungs to give up this year. Still, lots of hill training so far might just make it easier, it is a very flat course. Shame I can't take the dogs on the actual race Murphy'd love it although suspect Maddie might not.