Things done: a rambling update
Yesterday it rained. I had planned to garden, but the sudden downpours were too much. Instead we went wandering around Tavistock for several hours with the hounds (and took them to our favorite dog-friendly cafe for lunch). I managed to get some more titanium white acrylic paint and then since the shop had an offer, I bought some silver, buff titanium, and Naples Yellow (which at least in the Windsor and Newton range seems to be quite a muted pinkish shade). Foster Ruggie was quite tired out by town life, and fell fast asleep in the cafe, so Brythen and Rosie got to split a home-made burger and chips between them. Brythen ate all the chips. Chips are not refined enough for Rosie Roo.
When we got back, I had intended to write, but instead I went to sleep and caught up with some of my golden-retriever-related sleep deprivation. It is remarkable how much it affects me, waking at 5am, even though I get to go back to sleep on the sofa. Sofa sleep is just not as effective, although this may be partly because attempts to sleep on the sofa tend to be interrupted by a giant cat, who wants to not just sit on my chest, but put his nose one millimeter in front of mine. I find this distracting.
Anyway, today I actually did get some writing done! And I walked the hounds in the woods, a walk that turned out to be rather longer than planned when Rosie chose her own super-special route which went down a very steep hill and up an old mining trackway that I'm fairly sure is not supposed to be open to the public. I saw what she was after too : a very stout and respectable-looking fox, trotting off about his own affairs, having bamboozled Rosie quite thoroughly and sent her running all the wrong way. I saw a woodpecker while I was peering through the woods wondering where she had got to, as well.
Although the walk was a good two and a half hours, over some pretty rough terrain, Foster Ruggie managed to keep up despite it all, and even jumped over a raised log, all four feet in the air! I'm so pleased with him. He has gone from being a dog who I would have guessed at at least 13 years, to one where if I didn't know he was ten, I would happily believe he was 9 or maybe even 8. His back legs really feel like proper legs now. Well, not legs like Brythen and Rosie - both of them have just enough greyhound in their mix to have huge muscular greyhound-like arses. But if you feel through the hair, Ruggie now has actual proper hard muscly muscles on both his back legs, even if they are only weeny by sighthound standards.
When I got back, Pp's parents had popped by, making me feel rather guilty that we weren't offering them lunch. Now I think of it, we did have the makings. Oh well, last time they came around I had made a cake and they didn't eat any of it, so maybe they would not want lunch anyway. More lunch for me!
And finally I fought with the garden, particularly the lawn. I am sure I have resolved in the past never again to let that back lawn get so long, and yet, here we are again, bunn v lawn, a fight to the death, or at least, to a relatively flat green surface. I think it probably took me at least an hour to cut the damn thing, and it is not a large area, it was just overgrown and soaking wet with dew so I was constantly unclogging the mower. The grass never gets quite dry here in October.
Other achievements included finally planting my second actinidia arguta - one of the two that I bought after discovering that my original plant I had been nurturing for ages is a boy, so absolutely useless from the point of view of producing delicious actinidia fruits. Oh, I am still annoyed with Thomson and Morgan about that. Stop selling useless boy plants without telling me, T&M. Anyway, it's a good feeling that Lady Arguta II is finally in the ground, as I was a bit worried I had kept it sitting in the pot too long. One day, tiny sweet bald actinidia fruits will be MINE.
In the meanwhile, although I have really not done anything to encourage her, one of the big apple trees is still holding onto a generous crop of fruit, so I went out there with a shrimping net and filled a trug. The fig tree is still fruiting too, although there has been a bit too much rain and not quite enough sun to get the fruits really good and sweet.
When we got back, I had intended to write, but instead I went to sleep and caught up with some of my golden-retriever-related sleep deprivation. It is remarkable how much it affects me, waking at 5am, even though I get to go back to sleep on the sofa. Sofa sleep is just not as effective, although this may be partly because attempts to sleep on the sofa tend to be interrupted by a giant cat, who wants to not just sit on my chest, but put his nose one millimeter in front of mine. I find this distracting.
Anyway, today I actually did get some writing done! And I walked the hounds in the woods, a walk that turned out to be rather longer than planned when Rosie chose her own super-special route which went down a very steep hill and up an old mining trackway that I'm fairly sure is not supposed to be open to the public. I saw what she was after too : a very stout and respectable-looking fox, trotting off about his own affairs, having bamboozled Rosie quite thoroughly and sent her running all the wrong way. I saw a woodpecker while I was peering through the woods wondering where she had got to, as well.
Although the walk was a good two and a half hours, over some pretty rough terrain, Foster Ruggie managed to keep up despite it all, and even jumped over a raised log, all four feet in the air! I'm so pleased with him. He has gone from being a dog who I would have guessed at at least 13 years, to one where if I didn't know he was ten, I would happily believe he was 9 or maybe even 8. His back legs really feel like proper legs now. Well, not legs like Brythen and Rosie - both of them have just enough greyhound in their mix to have huge muscular greyhound-like arses. But if you feel through the hair, Ruggie now has actual proper hard muscly muscles on both his back legs, even if they are only weeny by sighthound standards.
When I got back, Pp's parents had popped by, making me feel rather guilty that we weren't offering them lunch. Now I think of it, we did have the makings. Oh well, last time they came around I had made a cake and they didn't eat any of it, so maybe they would not want lunch anyway. More lunch for me!
And finally I fought with the garden, particularly the lawn. I am sure I have resolved in the past never again to let that back lawn get so long, and yet, here we are again, bunn v lawn, a fight to the death, or at least, to a relatively flat green surface. I think it probably took me at least an hour to cut the damn thing, and it is not a large area, it was just overgrown and soaking wet with dew so I was constantly unclogging the mower. The grass never gets quite dry here in October.
Other achievements included finally planting my second actinidia arguta - one of the two that I bought after discovering that my original plant I had been nurturing for ages is a boy, so absolutely useless from the point of view of producing delicious actinidia fruits. Oh, I am still annoyed with Thomson and Morgan about that. Stop selling useless boy plants without telling me, T&M. Anyway, it's a good feeling that Lady Arguta II is finally in the ground, as I was a bit worried I had kept it sitting in the pot too long. One day, tiny sweet bald actinidia fruits will be MINE.
In the meanwhile, although I have really not done anything to encourage her, one of the big apple trees is still holding onto a generous crop of fruit, so I went out there with a shrimping net and filled a trug. The fig tree is still fruiting too, although there has been a bit too much rain and not quite enough sun to get the fruits really good and sweet.