weather, weather everywhere (& washing!)

Oh, I very nearly cried on Monday - the weather's been so cold & wet recently I hadn't got a washing done the week before last at all so was sitting by the weekend with 2 weeks' worth to do. Despite England proclaiming heatwaves and the hottest day of the year on Sunday, as usual it didn't reach us and we had warm but very humid conditions, resulting in no washing drying outside but the heating not coming on so no drying inside either!

So Monday dawned with wet clothes hanging everywhere. Richard assured me it was to be nice (dunno where he gets his weather info from) so I hung out some of it and carried on with my work. Unfortunately I looked up at about 12 and noticed it was p'ing it down - aaaaargh! Toon late - it was all soaked again (what little had dried).

That was it! The last straw - everything possible into the tumbledryer. Defeated by the weather....

PS I'd like to add that it was good drying weather yesterday (typical) so I got the big stuff done - bed linen, more towels and the sofa throws. Today - same but due apparently to rain later - this time I'm not leaving the house without taking everything in. Call me paranoid...

Tell me, are we getting a summer this year?

break-out

Whoopee! Just waiting for Emily to come over then we're off to break M & M out of doggy prison. Can't wait - it's almost the best bit of a holiday, coming back and collecting them. Murphy leaps on you and then heads straight for the car.. Maddie just leaps on you - the place we leave them now hand them over on the lead so she's never had the chance to run free - thank goodness! Lord knows where she'd end up.

Downloading the photos from yesterday, some goodies.. well done Nick! Everyone dressed up and I managed to get a new dress out of it - assumed everyone would be wearing the same thing from day to evening, should have known better.. So a mad dash to Monsoon and got a very nice dress just as they were closing. silver linings...

Here are the best - Andy & Emily, Nick & Elle, me and Richard (who was very proud...)

glam queen

Had Maddie groomed recently, she's all neat and tidy again. Got into trouble for her ears and back leg feathers being such a mess though, but what cann you do when she runs away as soon as she sees a brush? Can't spend her entire life dragging her out of her den, that'd be cruel. I'll have to creep up on her more I suppose, it works for the teethbrushing - I wait til she's happily ensconced on a sofa then cuddle up and bring out the toothbrush - she  associates it with yummy poultry-flavoured toothpaste now so doesn't run.

Nick's graduation today, main problem - what to get him? I was all for a graduation teddy-bear of some kind but Richard thought that a very bad idea so I've ended up getting him a (very minimal, masculine-looking) photoframe. Bo-o-oring! och well, what ever I get will probably be abandoned in a corner somewhere anyway so I won't take it personally. It's the thought that counts, right?

and back to two

..but we miss Charlie! He and Maddie would run around upstairs and down together; Murphy always stays at the bottom, he's much better trained! They get on fine and it was quite fun seeing them all together...

On a separate note, I took Maddie to her first Highland Games to see how she'd cope with the crowds and the noise. I am proud to report she's a proper Scottish dog - not at all fazed by the pipes or drums - indeed more interested in dropped chips than anything else (should've known) although she did look at the practising pipe bands in some interest for a while before deciding I needed dragged off somewhere where there was more food!

and then there were three...

So we have Charlie staying with us for the next few days. He's a lovely chocolate lab, very even tempered and calm - turns out he's not even afraid of the hoover! Although he's a bit scared of men. However we've had him visiting before so he's used to Richard - he settled down on the sofa last night cuddled up to him - to the annoyance of Maddie who kept getting up and shoving him off whichever sofa he was on! Even Charlie was getting fed up with it and grumpy-growled at her.

Can't say Gizzy's too impressed with the appearance of a THIRD canine companion!

Breaking news...

...spaniel foiled by fence!

Numpty-heid ran head first into one this morning. She was quite surprised to find it there, she clearly hadn't seen it at all and was planning on going through to stand on a wall and stare at the field on the other side (as she had been doing all along the path this morning).

To be fair to her it was relatively fine chicken wire and her eyesight's not the best, but it made me laugh!

hope

I have cautious hopes for the Silver Award for Maddie, we did 1.50 minute sitstay in the forest today and could probably have done more but I didn't want to push it. She has to do 2 minutes for the test so that's OK. And we practised her getting in and out of the car in a controlled fashion today - tick! As long as you keep saying "waaaiit!" in a stern voice, guess what? She does!

Not sure how she'll do on the "under control walking on the lead without pulling" for this one, you have to do it outside and she's good inside but pulls all the time outside. More work required I think. Still, there's hope....