Grump!

 Now as you all know I’m a happy go lucky, carefree dog really.  Well perhaps those aren’t the words everyone would everyone would associate with me, but I would say I’m generally quite contented! 

 

Well not this week, this week I was a grump.  👿 You see it was Frontline day and boy do I hate Frontline (for the purpose of balance I should say other spot on formulations do exist – and I hate them all!!)  So Wednesday was going well, we’d done the usual stuff breakfast, dinner, walks and runs etc etc and then without a by your leave I get cornered, bribed by dad (very suspicious) and the dabbed on the back of the neck by mum!  I was NOT impressed!  To demonstrate this I headed off round the house and placed myself just where I could give the humans the evil eye!  

My first grump position - top of the stairs where I can make my displeasure felt!

 

I deigned to come into the lounge - but only just - that blob at the end is me!

 

OK I'm getting a bit closer

 

Dad trying to curry favour with me (to no avail!!)

By Thursday morning I was a little more amenable but they needn’t think I can be bought by a bowl of kibble (two bowls perhaps…).  Anyway, time is a great healer and I did finally forgive them! 

By Friday things were looking up.  We went for a run in Pope’s Meadow.  I went off after my tennis ball and lo and behold I emerged from the long grass carrying a totally different ball!  Result.  Made my day anyway.

The weekend was quiet, no boating this weekend.  Instead we stayed at home to do some chores – well I say WE did some chores, thankfully I didn’t have to get my paws dirty with the washing and ironing etc.  I did supervise some of the gardening but I also had a nice smokey bone to concentrate on so I didn’t feel the need to get my paws dirty with that either.

I should report that I am working hard for my KCGC Gold award.  We go to the woods and I’m trotting along (usually looking for a nice stick) when mum unexpectedly shots STOP!  Most odd but it amuses her if I do stop and lie down at that point.  At first I was a little unsure but now I know she’s pleased with me I feel I can lie down and wag my tail at the same time (that’s quite a feat – you try it!!)

Sooo that was the week.  Not much to report really.  Before I go I’m going to say hello to my Dad because he has gone off to Canada for the week.  But I know he will check in to read my blog even though he’s on a different continent.  So ‘Hello Dad – see you Friday 🙂 ‘ 

That’s it for the week – hope you had a good one reader.

Love Tex

I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts!

Well just the one really.  Mum and me were out on Saturday having a nice long walk along the Thames path when I found an oversized tennis ball.  It was a bit odd as it had been stripped of all its furry covering but that’s not unusual with a ‘foundling’.  All in all it didn’t seem quite right, quite hard, no bounce and three suspicious holes at the top, not unlike a bowling ball.  Of course on closer inspection mum informed me it was in fact a coconut!  Not that I was much the wiser, I don’t actually know what a coconut is!  Anyway, I persisted and tried to carry it along for a bit but in the end I gave up and went back to my trusty tennis ball!

That was the start of the weekend really.  We went to the boat on Saturday afternoon and mum and me walked whilst dad cleaned Juneau.  It seems having a dog on board whilst spraying a large boat with water is not a good combo so it was best if I was ‘elsewhere’ 😕

All the spraying and cleaning was in aid of our first visitors of the season.  Dad’s aunts and uncle joined us for a cruise.  It was lovely to welcome visitors on board my boat and very welcome they were too.  I was as ever a hit.  I got lots of fuss and nice comments.  The only problem was that it was a bit cold and showery so we did need to be inside a bit more than usual.  Believe me by the time there are 6 people inside there’s not much room, even for a small dog like me 🙂  But it’s OK, not wishing to miss out on anything I managed to find a location or two to squirm my way into.  I did get banished to my spot under the table when required (it’s OK, don’t phone the RSPCA, under the table is one of my favourite places – it’s even better if there are some legs to get in amongst!)

Coldness aside we did have a lovely day out.  By the time we got home we were all shattered.  As my boat bed came home with me I had a little kip in it under the stairs (see I do like to be under things!)

Here’s some pictures of our guests

Mum with Lynn, Audrey, Jean & Mike

 

Me with dad & Lynn

Earlier in the week mum and I went to a local school to do a couple of Guide Dogs talks.  It was an all girls school and the young ladies were very nice, polite and asked some great questions.  The best thing about the visit was that one of the classes did a sponsored silence for Guide Dogs.  Their teacher said some did find it a bit of a challenge to complete but they were successful.  In total they raised over £200 for guide dogs so that was really great – Go Luckley-Oakfield girls – that’s what I say.  I tried to be at my cutest and their teacher said they may do something for Guide dogs in the future so I hope the fact they all got to tickle my ears will influence them in that direction.

So that’s a rundown of the week.  Oh except that unfortunately I have to report the sad loss of one of my tennis ball family.  Whilst walking on the tow path at Cliveden I forgot the role of gravity in life (again). I dropped the ball on a slope on the river bank and of course it fell in the Thames :(. The size of the drop, the fact it was in amongst lots of branches and trees and the presence of guests meant that mum wasn’t prepared to carry out a rescue along similar lines to last week!  I however, was mortified and it took A LOT of bribery to get me away from the location of the loss and back to the boat I can tell you.  Hey ho – I’m sure I’ll find another one soon – otherwise I’ll just have to start collecting coconuts!

Hope you had a good one reader

Love

Tex

A daring rescue and a freaky feline!

Well it’s all back to normal after my holiday last week.  Mum has had a few meeting this week so dad and I had a boy’s day at home.  I reminded dad how good I was at sleeping in various locations around the house and of my unending skill in the ability to eat sticks whilst we’re out on walks.  He was very impressed!

However I will fill you in on our rather exciting endeavour on my weekend walk with mum.  We’d gone to the Blackwater Valley for our walk and I had taken my favourite pink tennis ball.  Now I will admit that mum issued many a warning about not dropping the ball in the water because the river flows (not fast but it flows) and the bank is quite steep.  But did I heed the warnings (well no).  Not long after we’d reached the river bank I let go of the ball and it fell into the river.  This caused me much consternation and I most vexed as we both stood and stared at my precious pink ball now bobbing along against the river bank.

Having resolved to sort the issue, mum set about various plans to retrieve the ball (note she’s doing the RETRIEVING!)  We were not well equipped for the rescue.  There were no sticks about the only vegetation available were nettles, brambles and some non-stingy, non-prickly plant which had about as much substance as a wet lettuce!

So besides a bunch of useless vegetation what did we have?

• A flexi lead
• A poo bag
• A large black RETRIEVER!
• An unwilling human

Equipped with these tools how to get the ball back?

We spent a fair amount of time with mum trying to encourage me (the large RETRIEVER) to go and get the ball.  The words ‘you’re a Labrador and I KNOW you can swim’ were uttered many a time.  However I couldn’t pluck up the courage to enter the 12 inches of water where the ball resided!  And mum couldn’t  bring herself to give my bum a quick shove by way of forcing the issue.

The poo bag proved almost as useful as me in the process.  It did at least go into the water which is one up on me!  However lack of substance (cheap poo bag) led to a swift abandonment of the poo bag strategy.

Basically there were limited options and I soon came to the conclusion that mum would have to get the ball.  However, as I was still ‘stressing’ over my favourite ball I had to be secured first so i didn’t inadvertantly push HER in.  In the absence of any nearby tree trunks a handy horizontal branch did the trick so with me attached to it via the flexi lead (vertically) I actually became quite useful ballast! 

In the end the solution came when mum got on her hands and knees in the mud (muttering the words ‘your dad will not be impressed with me for attempting this’).  Having anchored herself to a sitting Labrador she reached into the water to rescue the offending object!  Success!!!  Mum managed not to fall in, I managed not to have to go in myself and the ball was recovered.  Oddly enough, once recovered, it disappeared again pretty swiftly, this time into mum’s bag where it was to stay until we were well away from the water’s edge. 😕

And here it is – my prized, treasured (recently laundered) lovely pink tennis ball. 

Pretty in pink!

 

So that’s the tale of the great ball rescue. 

The rest of the weekend was spent boating.  It was mum and dad’s wedding anniversary on Sunday so we went out for a meal.  Well I only got to go so far, sadly nowhere near the food!  We moored at a restaurant in Maidenhead on their pontoons.  As soon as we arrived I spotted an alien object on the pontoon.  It was a cat but it sat VERY still.  Indeed when it came to a staring exercise it was pretty good at out-staring me. 

Dad and me got off the boat for a bit of a trot and this cat was STILL staring at me.  It was very spooky and I was really not very keen on it.  Having resisted passing it for a while I finally gave it a very wide berth and scooted past it (much to the amusement of the watching diners in the restaurant).  Even having been approached by a large dog it stood its ground and it didn’t move.  The cat was still there on our way back and by this time I was fairly sure it was an abnormal feline!  I just wish I knew what dad meant when he kept saying ‘it’s concrete you fool!’.  Here it is

The Freaky Feline

So that was the week dear readers.  I hope you had a good one.  We’re all praying for rain here – just at night though!

Love

Tex

Tales of the River Bank

Firstly an apology to those of you waiting for last week’s blog.  I was on my holidays and whilst, being a fully technofriendly dog, I do have internet access at all times I was just too busy to sit down and write my blog I’m afraid.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy this week’s efforts.

So as I say I was on my holiday last week and we were away on the boat heading upstream on the Thames.  Not many people go to Wallingford for their holiday but that was our destination. 😕

We set off on Easter Sunday Henley bound.  I was a bit concerned as lots of bags got packed and put in the car.  Maybe there wasn’t going to be space for me!  But it seems mum and dad saved me a little slot so I got to go too.

We stopped at Cookham for lunch and for once in my life I actually got to partake in a midday meal.  It wasn’t my midday meal I should add.  No, mum and I went for a walk when we parked up and I spotted an interesting looking tent in the field.  The people in it really didn’t seem to notice when I popped inside and started to clean out the bowl of food they had left for their dog!  I left with not much grace and mum left with many apologies.  Oh well dad thought it was funny! 😆

After a bit more cruising we made it to Henley for the evening.  Henley is good place to be because there are lots of nice walks to be done and that’s what we did on Monday morning.  A good healthy trek before we set off cruising again.

Our destination that day was Reading.  Now this is where I get a bit confused.  I’m sure Reading is only just down the road because mum goes shopping there.  When she goes she’s there and back in an afternoon.  When dad drives there (albeit in a boat) it takes 2 days to get to Reading!  Most odd.

Anyway, I gave up worrying about how close we were to home as we set off for the next leg of our journey to Pangbourne.  Again a very pleasent destination.  We got there nice and early in good time to have some lunch (sadly there were no kindly campers nearby for me!).  Then we went for a major walk, we were all flagging by the end of it, including me.  However, even though I was rather tired I was still up for a trip to the pub in the evening for dinner (mum and dad’s dinner, they don’t serve kibble it seems )  Anyway, it was a nice evening out and it’s fair to say we all slept well that night!

So onwards and upwards (up the river that is!) and we were Wallingford bound.  We arrived just before lunch so there was time for a pre lunch walk before we decamped to the pub for burger and chips (and I even got to try a bit – very tiny bit –of burger , notch that up as a first and mum says a last).  We liked Wallingford, mum decided she’s going to move there, not sure dad is going with her, or me for that matter 😕 but it was a really nice place.

So having made it to tropical Wallingford it was time to make our way home again.  We had another quick stop off at Pangbourne for lunch and tennis balls 🙂  In fact I found a brand new tennis ball on Pangbourne Meadow so I was extra happy.  Then we headed back to Reading.

Of course Friday was Royal Wedding day so I slept while mum and dad watched history in the making.  I really wasn’t that interested!  After the wedding of the year we were on our way again.  This time to Sonning.  We had a reason to be here because we were due to meet members of the Bray Cruiser Club on Saturday for a social gathering. 

As I’ve said before holidaying on a boat brings you lots of new back gardens and Sonning was no different.  A nice tow path to trot up and down on a regular basis.  As we were based in Sonning for a couple of days we did some nice walks, pub lunches and just relaxing on board.

Now as you know I’m a good boy and I’m very well behaved but I did take a bit of advantage whilst we were away.  Dad kindly (and rather surprisingly) extended an invite to settle down on the bed for a bit of a snooze one afternoon.  So when mum and dad went out that evening to the theatre I assumed the bed was the best place to wait for them.  When they got back I was very pleased with myself and welcomed them home by standing on their bed sporting a pair of mum’s socks and her hairbrush in my mouth for a greeting.  After they had stopped giggling (see I knew they wouldn’t mind) mum investigated the extent of my occupation of their bed.  It’s fair to say I had made the most of it the opportunity.  There really wasn’t much duvet that was missing a coating of dog hair – result  . I expect new rules will be imposed regarding beds next time we’re on Juneau.

So after Sonning we made our way back to Cookham for the night (the meal tent had gone by now  😦 ) and then we headed back to Bray, parked Juneau and headed home.  That readers was my holiday.  I like holidays because I get mum and dad all to myself and get lots and lots of fuss.  My only complaint is that I missed the woods – there just aren’t enough sticks to eat on riverbanks (so I’m planning to catch up now I’m home).

If you’d like to see my holiday snaps click here – there are lots I warn you!

I hope you had a lovely bank holiday fest readers

Love

Tex