What makes you happy ?

A friend of D’s asked if she could look after his dogs while he is away for a night. She said Yes. They arrived yesterday (and thankfully are going today). They epitomise everything I dislike about dogs.
They are constantly pleased to see me, their tails never stop wagging, they seem to want to be under my feet, they scamper around, they sit and look all forlorn at me. I had to come downstairs in the early hours and as I opened the door to the lounge they were both sat there wagging their tails so hard they were actually wobbling. It’s that ‘Dogs worship you while cats expect you to worship them’ thing. Annoys me intensely.
The reason why Winston is cool is that first he’s huge. If you are going to have a dog, have a dog. He does none of this fawning rubbish. Get back after being out and he’ll say hello and that’s about it. Play Hide and Seek while out and he’ll be momentarily pleased then he’ll charge off. He doesn’t scamper - though at at least 13/14st that would be tricky - and he doesn’t fawn and look forlorn. Sure he’s got that droopy look but that’s because his skin is too heavy for his face (”No J, he is not sad, he is not asking, he doesn’t look hard done to - it’s just how he always looks so no he can’t have it - he’s a dog” “Yes, I am harsh :) “). But Winston isn’t a wuss. He’s a great big dog and 99% of the time he acts like one. The two little wretches from the friend’s house (who our cat isn’t fazed by at all and who is bigger than one of them) are just so…pointless.

People who have normal dogs and who find remote controls crunched and chewed generally only have themselves to blame - after all, they left it where the dog could get it.
People who have Great Danes and who left their remote control in the middle of the dining table before finding it crunched and chewed just sigh….. remotesrus will be getting more business.

A couple of years ago at a post-race F1 interview one of the drivers was asked what they thought of the Ferrari backend as that is all they had seen all race. It’s like that with Winston - I am as familiar with how his backend looks because I’m always following and he’s a big dog (90kg?). So yesterday I can’t miss the fact that his nuts were swollen and very red. A long walk in the cold failed to change things so today we go to the vet. Winston never stands still at the vet but he needed them examining. She’s a very attractive vet and he didn’t move a muscle. He just stood there letting her have her way. As you would :) Before we went, J looked it up on the net just to see what could be up. I asked her if she’d found anything. “You should go to the vet if the bog’s testicles are swollen or broken”. I crossed my legs when I heard that last word. As you would…

You’ll have to forgive the blurriness - it wasn’t posed :)
(He was running toward me……)

Does anyone else own a dog who can see it pouring with rain out in the back garden, who has seen it like this all day and who does not want to go out in it, yet it quite obviously believes that at the front of the house it is sunny and warm? It must think this because it repeatedly asks to go out the front for a walk.
In the end I got all togged up, put his lead on and we headed out. We got halfway down the drive before he stopped, looked me with a “Why have you brought me out in this?” expression and headed back in.
Cats rule.

Winston had his first ‘Bambi’ moment as he trotted onto was has been up until now a stream.
He also saw his first rabbit and took off without any hesitation. A full speed 180lb dog is a sight to behold - and of course the rabbit got away.
We went out earlier. We came back a couple of hours later to no water pressure. After checking various things I went to go to the garage. A pipe 8ft from the floor had burst at a joint and we had mains pressure water cascading all over the place. Stopcock couldn’t be shifted. Landlord called. 2 hours later help arrived and the pipe is now sealed. The stopcock will be dealt with at a later date. So….. insurance will cover us, many pictures are wanted and tonight it’s going to freeze. So I’ll be the one skating around my garage tomorrow doing my best to point and click :) Damage? Looks close to £1000 at least.

8:30pm. Me, P and Winston go out for his evening walk. We take him off the lead where the blue dot is at the bottom. It’s a path/cyclepath with grasses and bushes/trees either side. As it’s dark we play hide and seek with the dog to help wear him out a bit. All this happens on the orange part on the left. We are on/off and over that path constantly and it’s only 7 feet wide. We can see everything that might pass. Nothing did. We played for about 20 minutes.

As is normal we then headed over the roundabout. There are no houses here, no buses, it’s just a series of road intersections and crossings. We get to the other side and about where the orange line stops are some barriers we pass through.This is a daily walk and I always let Winston off the lead. So I did. Me and P started walking and I get to the point where I can see round that slight curve (it’s where I saw a stoat a few weeks ago). I’m looking downhill. I see a person where the red dot is. You can tell when someone is walking to you or away can’t you? This person was coming toward. Winston was ahead of me and I wanted hom closer and on the lead so I turned and told P to hide. She ducked behind a huge rock that is there (there are several to prevent “travellers”) and I called to Winston that P was gone. I’d looked away for a matter of a few seconds. And the person had gone.
To get from where they were out of my sight they would have had to run. Or hopped straight into the undergrowth. They were not moving away from me, of that I am absolutely certain. We always walk down to the bottom curve - there’s a gate there - and tonight we did the same. Both me and P had seen this person, we both thought they were coming at us and we both knew there was no way they could realistically have got out of our sight. But we didn’t see them. It was one of those “Someone is watching me” moments. I talked loudly. I kept a good grip on the dog lead and worked out the arc of my swing. I walked confidently. I wished I’d remembered my mobile. I watched every move Winston made - but then Great Danes aren’t known for their sleuthing noses. And I constantly looked behind us on the way back. Really odd. Spooky.

Went for a slow long plod with Winston this morning. Don’t they say something along the lines of “There are hundreds of spiders per sq foot”? Well on a misty morning walking next to the fields it’s amazing just how many webs I must otherwise miss in good weather. Nature’s chandeliers they are. Best part about a sunday morning walk though is that Winston gets off the lead much sooner - even if he does go hide from me.

And getting back I find that I’ve got around 1500 images online now with several more to add. Zenphoto - which I really like - seems to put all the album cache files into one directory and when that gets big …. I wanted to change some files this morning but with over 2000 cached files I had to erase a few to find what I wanted so I could delete it to get a new thumb. So waiting in the wings - again - is Gallery. It’s just so damn ugleeee. All the bells and whistles I can ignore but ugleee….. shame zenphoto won’t cache per album. Does gallery? No idea. I suppose I should look….. job for the week then.. move it all into Gallery.

Gym was great today - 4 others there. I could do what I wanted without waiting. And I am starting to really like the cross-trainer again. The other day was 20 minutes Hill Plus level 15 and today it was Cascade same time/level. One day I’ll try Kilimanjaro.