Today I nipped out and bought Henry yet another new bed. This is the fourth new bed in two months that I've invested in. I say invested because the last time I bought dog beds was 1994, a very sound investment indeed as they lasted until 2010, right up until Henry decided to embark on his dog bed chewing phase at the age of about three or possibly four. The first one was chewed not long after we lost Badger, I put that one down to poor Henry missing his friend. The second one went not long after, I put that down to the same problem.
Then we had a lull, no chewing, nothing. Then he started chewing his cage - yes poor Henry in a cage, in a rented house we had no option. So the cage has somebent bits on it, but he does seem to have stopped that now after we realised the cage was right next to the cupboard containing the dog food......not sure how we didn't spot that sooner.
So, we needed new dog beds, off to Pets At Home we went and promply fell on the floor at the price of dog beds. Thinking back, I spent about £45 on the 1994 dog beds so in reality they have stabilised in price still being on average £45, the trouble is that £45 back then was considerably less to me than it is now. Then other half had a brain wave. The dog bed covers were less than £20 each, why didn't we buy two of those (less than the price of one dog bed) and then trip over to Asda and buy two Smart Price duvets to fill them with. Total price £50 for two spanking new very country life type dog beds. Henry and Molly love them, they hardly gave other half the time to make them up before they were laying upside down on them. Good dog bed investment.
So, the new dog beds weren't going to go in Henrys cage, no way. So I bought a dog cage pad type of bed, total £18. He loved it, he snuggle in it, laid on it,Molly went in the cage and laid on it, refusing to get out, it matched the carpet so lessening the impact of a giant dog cage in the living room, it was great.
Five days on he chewed it.
Two months on from that I have bought a new one, I dog bed watched for a couple of weeks and there has been no chewing at all, lets hope this time Henry's cage stays nice and smart from now on.
Next I suppose we should get new coats for them, the current ones also survive from 1994...
Saturday 11 December 2010
Monday 6 December 2010
I've Missed This
Hello Everyone,
I've missed blogging so much. Having said that I only realised after the blogs I follow and have negelcted over the last few months and felt how great it was to follow the lives of other people who I don't know but love to see on the web. Gosh that sounds a bit stalky dosen't it? I mean it in the nicest possible way though.
So, what has happened since I last blogged? Quite allot. After almost recovering from dislocating my knee I found myself moving house to a fab pad halfway up a mountain, the reasons for the move weren't very nice and I'll not go into it here but I found myself in absolutely lovely house, super modern and open plan - all things I thought I hated but after three weeks I loved it, super modern is super easy to clean. The dogs loved it, we were right on the doorstep to the most amazing walks at high altitude and I was out with them every night after work. Our routine had changed considerably, from being self employed for 7 years I was suddenly working for someone else - scary but quite cool, no supplies needed just turn up, do what you're told and go home. You get your pay and don't really need to worry about the tax man.
Then after a couple of months I was offered another, better job and decided to take it, we also decided to move over towards Edinburgh as we;'d both be able to get to work without spending hundreds of pounds on fuel every month, so no sooner had we unpacked than we were packing up again and moving on. This was when Badger stopped eating. We thought it was due to the move, so we didn't worry too much. Two weeks into the new house he was still bouncing between being the wonderful mad Badge and a quiet sleepy boy that we weren't used to. We wondered if it was a growing phase, he was only 18 months at this point, but after he was sick several times in one day we took him to the vets. They ran some tests, but couldnt' work out what was wrong. They kept him in, we all stayed quite positive. Until I got a call at work fromt eh vet to say his kidneys were in a bad way. I had no idea what this meant but had a fabulous explanation from David the vet. Basically, he had to undergo another test with twom possible results, one meant medication for the rest of Badgers life and the other basically meant no hope. What an awful situation! Poor Badge was on a drip in a cage and the vets told us we could visit him as ofen as we wanted to so we did. It would take a while for the results to come through so I decided to visit Badge in the early afternoon, he was very ill and wouldn't eat, I sat on the floor stroking him and trying to tempt him to eat but he just wouldn't, all he wanted to do was sleep. I started to cry and he lifted his head and licked away my tears, you couldn't have made that up, even though he was very ill he still cared, as you must have worked out by now the results weren't good, basically the vets were keeping Badge alive, there was no hope and it was the end of the road. Really there was no desicion to be made, so we lost him....
And so we continue. Henry suffered awfully after Badge died. He ended up on doogie valium, I think i needed it too as I had moved house, started a new job and lost a member of the family all in a week! Molly was fine, she seemed to have accepted that Badge wasn't coming back and just got on with the new house, she is so cool!
It took about a month for Hen to settle down and in that time Molly went from being the serious matriarch ton a playful nutcase of a greyhound who now shoots around the house like a mad thing and seems very happy, maybe the responsibility of being above a mad saluki and a border collie had got to her? Anyway life has calmed and we are looking forward to blogging again and following everybody else. x
I've missed blogging so much. Having said that I only realised after the blogs I follow and have negelcted over the last few months and felt how great it was to follow the lives of other people who I don't know but love to see on the web. Gosh that sounds a bit stalky dosen't it? I mean it in the nicest possible way though.
So, what has happened since I last blogged? Quite allot. After almost recovering from dislocating my knee I found myself moving house to a fab pad halfway up a mountain, the reasons for the move weren't very nice and I'll not go into it here but I found myself in absolutely lovely house, super modern and open plan - all things I thought I hated but after three weeks I loved it, super modern is super easy to clean. The dogs loved it, we were right on the doorstep to the most amazing walks at high altitude and I was out with them every night after work. Our routine had changed considerably, from being self employed for 7 years I was suddenly working for someone else - scary but quite cool, no supplies needed just turn up, do what you're told and go home. You get your pay and don't really need to worry about the tax man.
Then after a couple of months I was offered another, better job and decided to take it, we also decided to move over towards Edinburgh as we;'d both be able to get to work without spending hundreds of pounds on fuel every month, so no sooner had we unpacked than we were packing up again and moving on. This was when Badger stopped eating. We thought it was due to the move, so we didn't worry too much. Two weeks into the new house he was still bouncing between being the wonderful mad Badge and a quiet sleepy boy that we weren't used to. We wondered if it was a growing phase, he was only 18 months at this point, but after he was sick several times in one day we took him to the vets. They ran some tests, but couldnt' work out what was wrong. They kept him in, we all stayed quite positive. Until I got a call at work fromt eh vet to say his kidneys were in a bad way. I had no idea what this meant but had a fabulous explanation from David the vet. Basically, he had to undergo another test with twom possible results, one meant medication for the rest of Badgers life and the other basically meant no hope. What an awful situation! Poor Badge was on a drip in a cage and the vets told us we could visit him as ofen as we wanted to so we did. It would take a while for the results to come through so I decided to visit Badge in the early afternoon, he was very ill and wouldn't eat, I sat on the floor stroking him and trying to tempt him to eat but he just wouldn't, all he wanted to do was sleep. I started to cry and he lifted his head and licked away my tears, you couldn't have made that up, even though he was very ill he still cared, as you must have worked out by now the results weren't good, basically the vets were keeping Badge alive, there was no hope and it was the end of the road. Really there was no desicion to be made, so we lost him....
And so we continue. Henry suffered awfully after Badge died. He ended up on doogie valium, I think i needed it too as I had moved house, started a new job and lost a member of the family all in a week! Molly was fine, she seemed to have accepted that Badge wasn't coming back and just got on with the new house, she is so cool!
It took about a month for Hen to settle down and in that time Molly went from being the serious matriarch ton a playful nutcase of a greyhound who now shoots around the house like a mad thing and seems very happy, maybe the responsibility of being above a mad saluki and a border collie had got to her? Anyway life has calmed and we are looking forward to blogging again and following everybody else. x
Monday 8 March 2010
Spring Has Sprung
Just to prove that Spring has sprung Henry decided to do a bit of springing himself.... 
Sunday 21 February 2010
Busy Time
Goodness it's been mad here. First off I thought I could dance. Oh dear, despite having attended and won several awards and medals at Len Goodmans Dance School in my far off youth I seem to have lost the touch as I managed to dislocate my kneecap in the process of trying to jump and twist at the same time. Not only did my kneecap end up round the wrong side of my leg but I managed to break a bit off the bottom of my thigh bone in the landing part of the move. Absolute agony but I still managed to put the kneecap back myself without passing out.
Being super cool I decided to wait until morning to go to casualty, after all it's 30 odd miles away and it was getting on for 10pm so I'd not have arrived home until the early hours so Other Half and me splinted it up and off to bed I went. This was a completely mental set of things to do as by the morning my leg was incredibly painful, very very scarily swollen and just basically agony. So off we went to the infirmary and got it sorted. By sorted I mean I have some fabulous painkillers which send me off on a trip, a massive leg brace, a pair of crutches, a tubi grip and regular two week appointments with the bone man. I'm not sure what's going to happen about the odd bit of bone that's floating about but for now I'm concentrating on getting the rest of the knee fixed.
So, in theory I have lots and lots of time to myself while I lounge on the sofa, lay in every morning drinking tea, be pampered by Other Half.........ha! Not a chance! Within four days I was taken to England for the day to do a felting course with two friends, a great day and some fantastic results, this is something I definately want to do again. Then I came down with that dreadful Scottish Winter sickness bug, I felt so ill I wondered if I was having a stroke as my head was pounding. I also had a million phone calls to make and return, this is the kind of stress that you don't really need but no-one else could do this for me.
Then, when things started to settle down, I decided one afternoon this week to play on the Wii, a very underused piece of kit that Other Half bought for Christmas that I love but forget is there. Badger is very concerned about the Wii. He is worried as we appear to be throwing things but not actually letting them go, this frustrates him beyond belief so he spends the time we are on it trying to round us up and get us to sit down and stop playing it. This particular day I was attempting to play bowling whilst laying on the sofa, a bit odd I know but I needed to rest my leg. Badger was doing his normal stressing and decided to take matters into his own hands, or should I say teeth and tried to grab the controller out of my hand sinking a large canine into one of my fingers in the process.
He didn't mean to do it! Not the biting bit, but boy it was sore, right on the tendons and a very deep albeit small hole. So off to the surgery for a tetnus jab. Thankfully the doctor was very sympathetic and placed it in my arm as it would have been cruel to put it in the usual place. The only trouble was I had a very sore finger on the end of the sore arm and it was really not helping with using my crutches. I did laugh throughout the whole thing though as looking in from outside I'd have found it really funny if it had happened to any one else.
Then a day or so after that my washing machine broke down again. This was dog related. Other Half took the ash tray from the log burner out to be emptied and trod in a dog poo in his slippers. I put said slippers in the washing machine where they promptly fell apart and I discovered they were mostly made from cardboard. Oh dear.
Being the eternal optomist I decided I could fix the machine myself, and despite having my leg in a brace I managed to get it out of it's compartment, turn it round tip it over and take the panel off. I then removed so pipes and discovered I couldn't actually physically get to the pipe I needed to get to as I couldn't bend down because of the brace on my leg. I actually stood and cried. This was no good, I need a washing machine and I couldn't fix it. I also had no money to call an engineer and in any case no engineer will come out this far into the wilderness to fix anything which was my dishwasher was still broken a year after as noone will come. What was I going to do?
I decided to text a friend who is married to a shepherd further up the track, she has a washing machine so some one must fix it for her if it breaks down.. It turned out that someone did, her husband. Brilliant! So she sent him down and he fixed the washing machine within ten minutes, what a bloody hero! I could have cried with joy. But it gets better, not only did he fix the washing machine but he fixed the dishwaher too - mega, bloody, fantastic, brilliant! I'm so happy!
Being super cool I decided to wait until morning to go to casualty, after all it's 30 odd miles away and it was getting on for 10pm so I'd not have arrived home until the early hours so Other Half and me splinted it up and off to bed I went. This was a completely mental set of things to do as by the morning my leg was incredibly painful, very very scarily swollen and just basically agony. So off we went to the infirmary and got it sorted. By sorted I mean I have some fabulous painkillers which send me off on a trip, a massive leg brace, a pair of crutches, a tubi grip and regular two week appointments with the bone man. I'm not sure what's going to happen about the odd bit of bone that's floating about but for now I'm concentrating on getting the rest of the knee fixed.
So, in theory I have lots and lots of time to myself while I lounge on the sofa, lay in every morning drinking tea, be pampered by Other Half.........ha! Not a chance! Within four days I was taken to England for the day to do a felting course with two friends, a great day and some fantastic results, this is something I definately want to do again. Then I came down with that dreadful Scottish Winter sickness bug, I felt so ill I wondered if I was having a stroke as my head was pounding. I also had a million phone calls to make and return, this is the kind of stress that you don't really need but no-one else could do this for me.
Then, when things started to settle down, I decided one afternoon this week to play on the Wii, a very underused piece of kit that Other Half bought for Christmas that I love but forget is there. Badger is very concerned about the Wii. He is worried as we appear to be throwing things but not actually letting them go, this frustrates him beyond belief so he spends the time we are on it trying to round us up and get us to sit down and stop playing it. This particular day I was attempting to play bowling whilst laying on the sofa, a bit odd I know but I needed to rest my leg. Badger was doing his normal stressing and decided to take matters into his own hands, or should I say teeth and tried to grab the controller out of my hand sinking a large canine into one of my fingers in the process.
He didn't mean to do it! Not the biting bit, but boy it was sore, right on the tendons and a very deep albeit small hole. So off to the surgery for a tetnus jab. Thankfully the doctor was very sympathetic and placed it in my arm as it would have been cruel to put it in the usual place. The only trouble was I had a very sore finger on the end of the sore arm and it was really not helping with using my crutches. I did laugh throughout the whole thing though as looking in from outside I'd have found it really funny if it had happened to any one else.
Then a day or so after that my washing machine broke down again. This was dog related. Other Half took the ash tray from the log burner out to be emptied and trod in a dog poo in his slippers. I put said slippers in the washing machine where they promptly fell apart and I discovered they were mostly made from cardboard. Oh dear.
Being the eternal optomist I decided I could fix the machine myself, and despite having my leg in a brace I managed to get it out of it's compartment, turn it round tip it over and take the panel off. I then removed so pipes and discovered I couldn't actually physically get to the pipe I needed to get to as I couldn't bend down because of the brace on my leg. I actually stood and cried. This was no good, I need a washing machine and I couldn't fix it. I also had no money to call an engineer and in any case no engineer will come out this far into the wilderness to fix anything which was my dishwasher was still broken a year after as noone will come. What was I going to do?
I decided to text a friend who is married to a shepherd further up the track, she has a washing machine so some one must fix it for her if it breaks down.. It turned out that someone did, her husband. Brilliant! So she sent him down and he fixed the washing machine within ten minutes, what a bloody hero! I could have cried with joy. But it gets better, not only did he fix the washing machine but he fixed the dishwaher too - mega, bloody, fantastic, brilliant! I'm so happy!
Friday 29 January 2010
Badger the Hoover
Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen catching up on blogs and emails and having a nice cup of breakfast tea. This is my morning routine, it would possibly be better without my lovely wee netbook as company but that's a habit I just can't break and it is pretty much the only time I go online these days.
Badger also has a morning routine. He leaps from his bed as soon as I come downstairs, runs out the back door for a wee, runs back in for his breakfast, bombs around the living room with Henry and then joins me in the kitchen while I have my porridge. This is the bit I never realised was happening until I actually watched him this morning. He walks around the kitchen floor with his nose almost on the floor, as he does this is is audibly sniffing for anything vaguely edible. When he finds that vaguely edible thing he either licks the floor or gobbles it up and goes on his way step by step. It's one of those things that you don't really notice as it's a pace here and a pace there and he's very quiet while he's doing it, today I only realised as he was licking a patch of sticky sauce that had gone on the floor for ages. It's really quite disgusting but there is an upside to it, there is never a reason to ever sweep the kitchen floor, Badger eats every crumb that lands on it so I only ever have to mop it - Badger the self cleaning dog in more ways than one!
Badger also has a morning routine. He leaps from his bed as soon as I come downstairs, runs out the back door for a wee, runs back in for his breakfast, bombs around the living room with Henry and then joins me in the kitchen while I have my porridge. This is the bit I never realised was happening until I actually watched him this morning. He walks around the kitchen floor with his nose almost on the floor, as he does this is is audibly sniffing for anything vaguely edible. When he finds that vaguely edible thing he either licks the floor or gobbles it up and goes on his way step by step. It's one of those things that you don't really notice as it's a pace here and a pace there and he's very quiet while he's doing it, today I only realised as he was licking a patch of sticky sauce that had gone on the floor for ages. It's really quite disgusting but there is an upside to it, there is never a reason to ever sweep the kitchen floor, Badger eats every crumb that lands on it so I only ever have to mop it - Badger the self cleaning dog in more ways than one!
Saturday 23 January 2010
Badger the Chicken
I've been sitting here eating my breakfast and reading blogs for half an hour or so, enjoying the peace and stillness of the early morning. Well maybe not so still, after a while I became aware of constant movment from accross the kitchen. It was one of those vague movments and sounds that is constant and your brain cancels out until it begins to irritate you. So I looked up to see Badger with his head in the chicken feed sack tucking in to mouthfuls of organic mixed corn!
Why?
First Henry and now Badger. At least Henry had the sense to stop immediately and close his mouth and pretend he hadn't been raiding the food, Badger just carried on regardless trying to scoff as much as he could.
I'm sure mixed corn is not the sort of food dogs would naturally eat so I can only assume this is a case of dog in a manger as all the dogs know the chicken feed is for the chickens and follow me out every morning to feed them so I think they are on a mission to eat all the chickens food just so the chickens can't eat it.
Dogs eh?
Completely mad.
Why?
First Henry and now Badger. At least Henry had the sense to stop immediately and close his mouth and pretend he hadn't been raiding the food, Badger just carried on regardless trying to scoff as much as he could.
I'm sure mixed corn is not the sort of food dogs would naturally eat so I can only assume this is a case of dog in a manger as all the dogs know the chicken feed is for the chickens and follow me out every morning to feed them so I think they are on a mission to eat all the chickens food just so the chickens can't eat it.
Dogs eh?
Completely mad.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Free and Simple Pleasures
Inspired (stolen) from MBNAD's blog here are my top ten free and simple pleasures.
1. Laying in bed first thing in the morning or last thing at night and listening to the sheer and utter silence here. It reminds me of when I used to wake up on my first morning on holiday in Scotland and feeling that exquisite peacefulness and total escape that only this place can have.
2. Lounging on a comfy sofa reading a book, magazine or watching telly with a dog curled into you, bliss.
3. Laughing at and with your dogs, especially when they know they are being funny and they are grinning at you.
4. Radio 4. All of it, except the comedy in the evenings with the exception of Count Arthur Strong.
5. The expectation and running around getting the house ready and making up rooms for people to come and stay.
6.Realising how much I love my collie dog, even though I never expected to have a third dog.
7. Spending an afternoon in the garden doing non back breaking stuff with Radio 4 on and hearing the birds.
8. Sitting outside in the balminess of a summer evening.
9. Absolutlely loving my car when I've spent half a day cleaning and polishing it and realising how great it is depsite it's age.
10. Being happy with me.
There you go, that lot made me feel good just typing it. I think I could go on and on though as there are more than 10 free and simple pleasures to life, like getting all the laundry washed and ironed, espeically if it's been hanging on the line, going for long walks with the dogs, going for a trip back south to see my folks, growing plants, making compost, sweeping paths in the garden, listening to my chickens clucking when they are happy, basking in the sunshine, being warm and toasty indoors when its blowing and rainy outside, and probably one of the very best, looking at dogs layig about exhausted after they've had a long happy walk.
1. Laying in bed first thing in the morning or last thing at night and listening to the sheer and utter silence here. It reminds me of when I used to wake up on my first morning on holiday in Scotland and feeling that exquisite peacefulness and total escape that only this place can have.
2. Lounging on a comfy sofa reading a book, magazine or watching telly with a dog curled into you, bliss.
3. Laughing at and with your dogs, especially when they know they are being funny and they are grinning at you.
4. Radio 4. All of it, except the comedy in the evenings with the exception of Count Arthur Strong.
5. The expectation and running around getting the house ready and making up rooms for people to come and stay.
6.Realising how much I love my collie dog, even though I never expected to have a third dog.
7. Spending an afternoon in the garden doing non back breaking stuff with Radio 4 on and hearing the birds.
8. Sitting outside in the balminess of a summer evening.
9. Absolutlely loving my car when I've spent half a day cleaning and polishing it and realising how great it is depsite it's age.
10. Being happy with me.
There you go, that lot made me feel good just typing it. I think I could go on and on though as there are more than 10 free and simple pleasures to life, like getting all the laundry washed and ironed, espeically if it's been hanging on the line, going for long walks with the dogs, going for a trip back south to see my folks, growing plants, making compost, sweeping paths in the garden, listening to my chickens clucking when they are happy, basking in the sunshine, being warm and toasty indoors when its blowing and rainy outside, and probably one of the very best, looking at dogs layig about exhausted after they've had a long happy walk.
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