The Butcher, the Baker and the Dog Ramp Maker

Golleee… First time at a new groomer and what does he do – well,  he pees on her!! Goodness me, I didn’t know where to look. I was so embarrassed. Still, she took it in good part, put him in the play-pen and mopped the floor, then washed her hands and arms. He was crying a little when I left him but that was an hour ago and she hasn’t called  so everything must be ok. I go and collect him at 11am.  He is sleeping a lot at the moment and last night he slept with me. Heck he must be unwell because generally he is an independent little character and wont sleep on the bed with me, preferring instead to be in his own bed. Just been up to collect him and he is looking good. I asked the girls and they said that he had been good and he wandered around with the other dogs until his legs started giving away so they put him back in the play-pen. Overall, however – apart from the accident this morning- he was very good and they would love to have him back again. So I am quite happy and a bit more relaxed now. For the first time in forever, he came to bed with me. We slept  until 4am when a noise woke me up and I discovered he was missing. Put the light on and had a look but couldn’t find him. He had, I discovered, fallen out of the back of the bed at the wall side and got stuck under the bed. Once I got him out, we went back to bed and he slept in my arm with his head on my shoulder. Pretty cool, yes!!

Well!!! That didn’t last long! Took him through to the room again last night and did he set up a ruckus. He lay there  for all of two minutes before barking and demanding to be returned to his own bed – so that’s what I did.   Oh well, at least it was one night. Chienne, on the other hand, decided to take advantage of the situation and curled up at the bottom of the bed. I was going to move her, then decided not to, so that’s where she slept all night.

In a post I read recently the question was asked “Why do you Blog?” In my case I started a number of years ago in the old MySpace. There were no followers and in essence it was really written for one person. That changed in two ways,  the person moved away and we lost contact and MySpace changed to a  complete music site and I left. I did have an account here but I never used it, then one day I thought I would give it a whirl and here we are, three years later and we haven’t really changed all that much. Having said that, I also have to say that I have met some lovely people, who have made me laugh, who have made me cry, who have made me think, who have offered advice and who have made me feel that this is all worthwhile. In another recent post there was talk about camping as a young girl and it made me think when we used to go on family camping holidays in the Highlands of Scotland;  the big ex-army Bell Tent that dad got from the Army Surplus store,  for mum and the girls and the  divided  tent for me, dad and generally my cousin . My uncle Stirling and his family sometimes came up with us and stayed for a few days. I nearly drowned one time and my cousin swam out to save me. She was always my favourite cousin after that. We didn’t use gas, everything was cooked on an open fire –  my dad, me, David, my cousin and my Uncle Stirling all went out on  wood collecting trips. There was a forest close by so we went there but my dad made us aware of the rules – we only collect fallen or dead wood – never touch anything that’s green. When we had collected all we needed

for a couple of days we selected two large branches and made a  stretcher , tied it all together and  David and I had the great pleasure of carrying everything  back to the campsite. And the fishing –  the fishing was just out of this world. We didn’t own a boat but fishing by the side of the loch was  good and the rainbow trout were plentiful. We were seven miles from Lochearnhead and nine miles from St. Fillians, and the butcher, the grocer and the  baker vans all  stopped each day,  and each day we went to the farm and bought the milk from the farmer AND it was unpasteurized AND I am still alive. We also bought out eggs from the farm.

Been kind of busy. As you know the Man has arthritis and Herself and I decided that it must be  a bit painful for him to jump up and down the steps when he wants to go out – so – I built him a ramp. It wouldn’t win any prizes but is strong enough for the two dogs to use and to ensure that he does not slip on the hardboard, I have  covered the structure in the remains of an old carpet that I cut down to size. He is using it so I think he likes it.