Tag: dog

A little break away Part two..

We’ve finished our small break away in the Devon countryside and taken a long and protracted drive across the south of England to the garden of England. Kent.

Devon to Kent

We are here to attend a surprise 50th birthday celebration, and thank god we are not doing anything tonight as I’m absolutely cream crackered (Slang for Knackered). Britains highways are crumbling away and to be honest they are not fit for purpose. An allegedly “fast route” of 250 miles should have taken 4hrs and 55 mins, so we finally arrived at our destination 7hrs and 30 mins later. Awful, and a bloody embarrassment to this island as are all forms of transport we operate in this country. It really is a pathetic state of affairs.

Anyway that aside the last couple of days in Devon were beautiful. I saved a baby rabbit from the attention of a wild cat, our beautiful best friend (our dog Alf) even though extremely ill loved the time with his mate Herbie, they played together and brought smiles to our faces, tears to our eyes and love to our hearts, as anyone who knows Alf, knows this is not expected with his illness, it was lovely to see the old Alf. if only temporarily. He’s a beautiful soul, not an angry bone in his body. Just a gorgeous little dog.

Baby Rabbit

We’ve headed off to Kent now whilst Alf has headed back to the East Midlands in the company of my Brother and Sister in law who know how to look after him and how to treat his illness. We will be back with him in a couple of days.

Alf and Herbie.

Now in Kent we’ve booked in at our hotel that is a lot less luxurious than the farmhouse in Devon, but comfortable all the same. A quick visit to my Sisters for a Coffee and whilst sitting in her back garden we get dive bombed by a juvenile Seagull on its first flight. But he seems unable to get airborne so his parents start to dive bomb us in the garden, protecting their young I suspect.

Baby Seagull

So what with all the chaos that has prevailed, with all the noise and aerial activity we have decided to retreat indoors to leave them to it. Hopefully they’ll be able to get junior airborne once again.

Back to the hotel as tiredness has silenced me and I need some rest. Tomorrow we are off to the dog racing in Sittingbourne for a meal and some light entertainment. Hopefully there will be no further animal shenanigans.

Peace to you all.

A little break away

Not been answering the standard sometimes mind numbing questions that WP throws out on a daily basis as I’m currently enjoying some time away in and around the coast of Devon. Family time, good food and drink and company and a few nice little walks away from it all on my own some.

Beer – Seaton – Beer. Lovely walk
A little east Devon walk

I’ve been swimming and taken loads of photos, here are a selection below.

Rose and Crown Bath
Rose and Crown Bath
Alf having some icecream
Our accommodation in Devon
Our dining room in Devon
View of our accommodation in Devon
Our pool
A selection of local beers
The orchard and the dog
Beer
Beer high street
Beer high street
Dogs more welcome than humans
Beer beach
Beer high street
Poetry post
View in to Beer
Marshmallows and chocolate digestives

We’ve brought our dog Alf with us as it’s probably the last holiday he’ll have with us due to his illness. He’s thoroughly enjoying it and tiring him self out constantly. It’s lovely and we are all enjoying our time with him. Time is precious.

I’ll return to normal operation when we get back if I can be arsed. Having too much of a good time.

Have a pleasant day everyone.

Thoughts 7/6/24

Who do you spend the most time with?

I spend most of the time with my work colleagues to be honest. Well. Truthfully it’s probably even Steven’s between them and my wife and dog, though it does sometimes feel that I’m more at work than home.

As I can’t show any work pictures on here, please enjoy this delectable little YouTube short of my dog wishing you a happy day.

Our Alf wishing you a happy day

Enjoy.

Thoughts 2/6/24

Those things that put a smile on your face

I’ve deviated from the usual WordPress daily prompt, as today just like many other days they seem very much the same.

Alf in his favourite look out position

Today I have decided to write about things that put a smile on your face, and today at just before 6am this morning I had an incident that made me smile. For the reader you will probably be thinking what the heck is he getting all excited about, however for me it means a lot more, there is a story behind it all so let me bring you up to speed.

I have owned dogs pretty much all my life, in our 33 years of marriage we have had 3 dogs all of the same breed a Bichon Frise.

Our latest incarnation, the little fellah that has been with us for 11 years so far is Alfie, a right little sweetheart who I can honestly say has never growled at anyone in all the time we have had him, I don’t think he knows how to.

Anyway Alf has an autoimmune disease that means his skin is trying to kill him, it’s an affliction called Sebaceous Addenitis, He is on tablets that do the same as organ rejection tablets do for humans, quite nasty little packages that have to be handled with care. He also has tumours around his rear end that need daily dressing and cleansing. He’s not well bless him, but he still shows us a wagging tail, and that really pleases me.

Anyway Alf has deteriorated quite swiftly over the last couple of years, he’s gone from a dog that loved to walk miles to one that just goes out the door to do his business, we are lucky if a walk now stretches to ten minutes when we used to be out hours.

I do shift work and when I’m on a night shift I’m usually arriving home sometime just after 05:30 in the morning. I used to love to come home, I’d know Alf would be waiting at the door and we’d go out for a lovely early morning walk, i absolutely loved these walks as they formed part of my routine and it was precious good time out with my companion.

However as Alf’s illness has progressed he’s no longer waiting at the door when I come in, he tends to be so tired and to be honest he rarely gets out of bed before 10am as he seems to sleep for the biggest portion of the day. I really miss our little early morning walks. I miss my lively little lad.

In fact both my wife and I have noticed we are not getting the exercise we used to but that’s another story.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I roll up onto the drive to see Alf sitting in his favourite place on top of the settee looking out the window. My immediate thought was “What’s wrong?” but my wife then puts my mind at ease by saying she got up early to put some washing out and Alf got up with her. I said that was strange as it’s far too early for him but he seemed so bright for a moment, so I asked him if he wanted a walk, so he went straight to the front door I put his lead on him and we did something we haven’t done for best part of a year. We had that early morning walk.

We didn’t go far, we probably managed 10 minutes, but do you know what, I felt like I’d won the lottery, I actually thanked him for the walk gave him a cuddle and told him how much I’d enjoyed it. For that brief moment I was the happiest man alive, strange isn’t it. The sad part is that this will probably be the last time we do this, but for me, for a brief moment early this morning I felt like the happiest man on the planet. Its made my day and made me appreciate all that I have. It’s those little things that matter.

Sorry to go on about it, it’s probably going to mean nothing to you the reader, but for me this is everything, and I had to write about it.

Have a wonderful day in whatever you are doing, and just rejoice in those small nuggets of happiness we all too often ignore and let them pass us by.

Thoughts 12/4/24

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Alfie Bichon Frise

That’s easy, waking up in the morning, looking at my wife and thinking how lucky I am, seeing my dog wagging his tail and coming at me as if he’s not seen me for ages when in fact he’s been asleep at the side of me all night, being able to go to work even though it’s not always the best of places to be, and being grateful for what I’ve got and not envious of what anyone else has.

Simple.

Next question please….

Have a good day everyone

Thoughts 9/4/24

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

Fun and exercise, two words I wouldn’t personally use followed by the word fun. But hey that’s my opinion only. I know a lot of people get off on the exercise buzz, but in my job I easily clear 15000 steps a day so to be honest I do a lot of exercise at work and that’s not fun.

Old boat, Latchi harbour – Cyprus

On the rare days I do get some time off I find no better way to exercise than taking the dog out on a nice walk, however as his illness is taking over these walks are now very rare and not too long in duration, both myself and my wife are coming to the reality that these journeys out aren’t going to last much longer, and this saddens us both.

I don’t knock it, if you love exercise, then you keep it up, whatever floats your boat and keeps you happy and healthy. My boats sailed though and I’ve now berthed in port to maintain a slower if sometimes more sedentary lifestyle from now onwards.

Have a great day all.

Thoughts 01/04/23

What makes you laugh?

What makes me laugh? Really, I try to laugh at most of what I see and do partly because it cheers me up and partly because if I can’t see a sensible logic to something, laughing helps me get through the situation. Not perfect or suitable in many a situation and to some people I guess I might come across as quite inappropriate however it’s a coping mechanism for me. My dog Alf makes me laugh, he’s been a comfort to me throughout his short life and now as he’s starting to slow down and enter senior life he can still do it, he’s a beautiful soul.

My dog – Alfie

Humour has allowed me 32 wonderful years of marriage with my lovely wife who also has a wonderful sense of humour, it’s gotten us through some really tough times, and it works for us.

My sense of humour was inherited from my father, one of the good things he gave me. It’s kind of very low rate humour at times laughing at some quite crass things but hey, you’ve just gotta laugh. I’m laughing as I write this piece because a rude text has just popped up on my phone from a friend 🤦‍♂️. And that’s it I guess, you can use it as a measure to how someone is feeling, he’s told me without saying anything that he’s fine because I know his sense of humour, if he’d been more serious I’d be asking myself and him questions.

There is a time and a place I guess, but laughing makes you feel good and happy, and I believe the world needs a lot more of that.