Monday 27 October 2008

.....Busy, Busy, Busy



Ian has had a couple of days off this past week, so we have been flat out on getting the brick work finished and the roofs on the sheds.
Last December in the storms, the roofs blew up and forward knocking out the top brickwork and causing big structural cracks, they couldn’t just be bodged up! And the barn had so much woodworm, that it fell down one night!
So this years goal where, to get the sheds sorted before winter so we could use them and Ian could have his own workshop that was dry.

Basically what we have done is reduced the number of individual sheds, from six down to three big ones and the barn, reducing the height of one of them so they are all one size, height, depth and width – looks nicer! I’ve been the “workers mate, mixing the cement/concrete with help of the trusty cement mixer, chief tea maker and fetch this and that!”
When it has been dry enough I’ve been doing lots of painting, the walls inside and out, this is the type of painting I can do! Slap it on, doesn’t matter if everything gets covered as long as most of it is on the walls and not my knickers or the dogs!
Unfortunately Harry and Mindy seemed to have changed colour slightly, Harry is now four tone and Mindy well, I’m hoping I can get it off her before any of you guys see her – you should see her ears, she has so much paint on them she looks like she is flat eared!

Agility wise: - haven’t done much at home with my dogs, all the contact equipment is down ready to be painted and to stop Mindy climbing around on it on her own!
I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of lesson for others, in between the rain.
Still been doing lots of play/tricks with them all, Harry’s “pork” trick is coming on – I couldn’t think of what name to call it and I needed something that was easy to remember, as I need to have another name for the other side too so that side is called “Pie”, so it’s Pork and Pie! He has to lift a back leg in the air, he is doing “Pork” but not “Pie” on Command, Ian said it sounds rude! I think I will teach Mindy this one too, as it is rather funny to watch them do.
Red is learning the Elephant trick – so you can teach an old dog, new tricks.
Buzz is learning to get all four feet in a cardboard box, we are struggling, he is rather large, may be I should have a larger box to start of with! And he is walking backwards up the four steps in to the kitchen from the sunroom, that is the only place we have steps in our bungalow!

It’s that time of year again, the nights are drawing in, and the central heating has been on for a couple of nights now! To think that, this time last year we had just put the central heating in or rather Ian had! The wood burner has also been use for a couple of weeks now, it really isn’t big enough, but takes the chill off and makes you feel “all warm and cosy!” The slow cooker will be out soon! Yes I do occasionally cook, well if you want to call it that, just chuck it in the pot and leave it on all day.

I did manage to drag Ian away from the “sheds” to come for a lovely walk on the beach though, videos below!
And here they are again, this time in amongst the rocks, looking for crabs!

Wednesday 22 October 2008

Poppy!


I've always wanted a scruffy small dog!

A Parson was top of the list, followed by a JR, but Ian said "No" ......so that is how we ended up with Harry! ..........and I certainly wouldn't change him for a Parson or JR.
We now get to have fun with Poppy on a Wednesday whilst her Mum goes to the market in Truro and runs a stall, she is 4 months old, Scruffy JR and what fun we are all having, she's spends most of her time running around with the "smalls" .......Oh Happy Days.

Bet that got you going !!!!! and you thought she was here to stay!

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Mum's photos

..............Mindy at nearly 6 months.
...and here is this years Christmas Card!
...and look who Buzz is looking at, fancy that!

Monday 13 October 2008

Three wise Monkeys!

...We have been so busy!

The Sun has appeared, which means it has been dry!!!! So we have been trying to get the sheds finished before the rain starts again.........

I think ,I'm eating and sleeping sheds!

I have been able to take the dogs on some really nice long walks, well not that long as Mindy is not 6 months yet, but we have managed to do 45 Min's in what I call "real" woods, in other wards woods, that you have to make your own paths through, which is great for their "body" awareness and mine!

Ian came dog walking at the weekend, which was great, we walked on Goss Moor, glad he came with us as on the way home we saw a Rotavator for sale on the side of the road, so we did a swap with the lawn mower that didn't work (we did tell him, but as he was a lawn mower repair man, he felt he could fix it - good luck!) and gave him £30.

Here's Roger the Rotavator!

....and Ian in the back ground doing what he loves best "Welding" - working with Metal.

Ian is making a bin, to burn all our rubbish, branches/twigs and paperwork, we did have an old 45 gallon drum but that collapsed last weekend - too much use.

Went to Mums for a couple of days in the week, which was great and I think she enjoyed our visit, I was a little bit worried, as the last time I went naughty Red cornered her 17 year old cat and gave her a bit of a hammering, although I heard the commotion and yelled, Red did stop straight away, the cat ran off and wasn't seen for a week! ..........we wont be having a cat whilst Red is alive, about a month ago I had to retrieve one that she had chased up one of our trees, I noticed it up the tree, kept the dogs out of that area of the garden, but by the afternoon it was still there, so I had to climb up and bring it back down to the ground, and off it went, funny how I don't see the same cat twice!

Anyway Mum took some lovely photos of the dogs, for this years Christmas card (she is very clever with computers and cameras, my Mum!) and I took a few whilst on a walk around her woods. This is mine! ......I'll show you Mums, when she emails them to me.

Buzz just has to watch Red.

Anyway better go, it's not raining and the old shed needs to be dismantled!

Wednesday 1 October 2008

another group "Ahhh" photo....


Mindy is now learning to wait!

Gosh Harry's ears do look big!

Mindy was 5 months yesterday!


Well I gave my 50th pint of blood, which personally is an achievement, as I don’t like needles! I got a badge and a nice pen thou! For my 75th pint (if I make it that far) they take you and your partner out for a meal.

The washing machine decided after 18 month of use and out of its warranty to shear a few bolts and send the concert block thingy through the side of the machine! So we bought another one, after which, one of my dearly beloved friends tells me of a very good site to get them from and she had just bought one delivered to her house for £80 Check it out www.clearance-comet.co.uk she says, decide what you want, don’t bid on the first few pages and work your way back a few pages and find what your after and put a bid in. Anyway it was too late for us, we bought it from John Lewis on line. Luckily we’ve had a few days of lovely sun to catch up on all the washing and drying.

Agility wise

Well we’ve won some and lost some!
Harry did some amazing runs and then the sun came out and he just plodded around! Well I assuming it was because it was so hot, I have taken him to the chiropractor and been given the all clear. Yes I know he is breed as a “Lap Dog” and not a working breed, so you can’t just go out and train…train. I am used to that with big Buzz. So anyway he is having two weeks off, from agility and just focus on playing together and learning some new tricks. Lifting diagonal legs!

Buzz, we are still waiting for our fourth clear round of the year.

Red seems okay if I get her warmed up before hand, but on the evening time she doesn’t look so good, mind you it doesn’t matter if she has done some agility or been for a long walk, she still struggles to get up from the floor/her bed.

Mindy has just had her 5th month birthday! and has been attending obedience classes on a Thursday, ummmmmm she struggles with dogs looking at her, especially Boxers and barks at them, but if I can keep her focused on me, then she is great! She also goes up to Roseland for a social on a Saturday and gets to walk around the field with various dogs of all ages, which is fab. Here she is showing of her skateboarding skills, still needs improvement, but this is only her second attempt.