weather...

makes it very difficult at times... all this snow - again - then the rain, and more rain. but it hasn't got rid of the snow! Not up at the track or in the woods anyway, yesterdy and today it was the weirdest thing - like walking through a slush puppy! The ground is still frozen, you see, and although it's too warm to snow it's too cold for the snow to melt so you get about 3-3 inches of water sitting on top of the snow and when you walk on it it mushes down into slush. With hard-packed, frozen snow underneath in many areas! It just makes it all that slightly bit harder... poor Murpy's walks have been a bit on the perfunctory side.

Maddie loves it though, the only differenceis that she races through all these HUGE puddles and then jumps on you. Her paws seem to be very sponge-like, they certainly leave lots of water all over you! (and mud when she's been under the tree in the garden terrorising the cat (three times tonight - I had to carry her in each time before she annoyed the neighbours with her constant barking at her)

progress report

well Mrs T does seem to be getting a bit better - a concerted effort to go back to taking her out every hour seems to be working, more or less. Of course, there's always a drawback and it seems to be her continued fascination with the poor cat - despite Gizzy's swipes at her she doesn't seem to have been dissuaded from tormenting her, sigh.

..I've just realised she's chewing the top off the bottle of champagne in the winerack - guess we'll have to drink it now! (well, after easter once Lent's over)

ON a different note had a surfeit of church today - the usual 9am mass at which I was cantoring (and forgot the words to the allulujah) then immediately onto the Guide Thinking Day service at the bottom of the road. At least we got coffee and biscuits after that one! Amazing how many people I meet at these things I know from dogwalking...

As you can see the weather continues to be clement. Luckily the dogs love it!

CRAZY!

she's driving me NUTS! Has started having "accidents" indoors again - accidents my backside! She's doing it on purpose, every time she doesn't get to go out with Murphy or doesn't get her own way somehow. Rarely does anything while we're out, only when we're in. Richard had barely left tonight (in fact he was still in the vestibule putting on his many layers, preparatory to taking Murphy out) and after a blameless day and within a timescale of about 3 minutes she wee'd on Murphy's bed, attacked the cat and spilt the treat tub, eating the lot. Add her uncanny ability to levitate over the babygate at the bottom of the stairs and she is Mrs T alright!!

oops

I've let it slip again... and that's not the only thing I've let slip! dropped the puppy treat tub last night - you've never seen two dogs move so fast! Richard said Murphy was just helping but that's would only have been true if he'd been hoovering up the spilt treats. It was the tub itself I couldnt get him out of!!

training trials

oh dear.. as I have Guides on a Thursday Richard has to take the puppy to her classes. But it's me who trains her all week and she knows I'm really the boss. So poor old Richard gets terribly embarrassed as she refuses to do what he tells her. We'd worked hard on "paw" and "roll over" all week and she had them down pat (in fact she doesn't even wait for the command, she sits and waves alternate paws at you til you give her a treat!) but she wouldn't do it for Richard. In fact, for the off-lead training she instantly ran to the door and stayed there...

Richard is used to Murphy having been top of his class for his puppy training (not that he pays any attention now).. so it's a hard pill to swallow. More work required!

housework hell...

Poor wee Maddie - I was hoovering the living room and found her curled up at the back door, shaking. She really doesn't like the hoover. Possibly my fault as that's the first time I've had the time or inclination to hoover since we got her (3 weeks before Christmas!) - I know - very bad housewife but when it's me against 2 teenagers, one man, 2 dogs and a cat there's no real motivation to be cleaning the house every week, you're back to square one two days later!

When I opened the door to her crate (which I'd shut while cleaning the kitchen floor) she went in there and seemed to be happier - Murphy was between her and the hoover by then so maybe she felt safer.

we thought we'd lost her...

truly - the worst afternoon of my life

we took the two of them down to the beach, we thought they'd like it. I turned out it was blowing a gale and freezing, the waves were HUGE! and the tide was going out...

Richard went down to the water's edge by a groyne and the dogs went with him; I walked away across to the other groyne, it must have taken about 20 seconds, but when I turned back she had gone...

Richard wasn't looking and didn't see her go, where was she?

we spent about half an hour going up and down, calling her, I nearly drowned Murphy walking along the top of the groyne to into the sea, he followed me on the beach til he was having to swim and the sea was so rough..... Richard went up the top and looked on the road and the other sections of the beach.. nothing

we had to assume she had been caught up and swept out to sea.. I broke my heart (cue wading into the sea, kneeling on the beach, tears) ... how could this happen? how could we do this?

eventually we went back home, just frozen, in shock. the 3 of us - me, richard and murphy.

When we got home Richard looked at his mobile (which had been charging at home) -

- and there was a phonecall! From someone called Matthew! Who had found her! (alive and well, if very tired and cold)

What had happened?

It turned out in that 20 seconds we weren't watching she had taken off and followed two joggers - about 2 miles all the way down the beach to the other end.

They didn't know what to do with her but this Matthew has 2 spaniels of his own (although not currnetly staying with him as he's renting) so took her in, watered her and dried her ... and when we got there she was asleep on the sofa, cosy as you like.

We're not going anywhere near the beach, ever again!