Bouncing into 2020!

It has been a while since I last posted, so I thought I would share a few recent photographs of Polly and Betty today...

Unfortunately, Polly received an injury to her foot (a bite by a very grumpy German Shepherd, who took us by surprise when he stuck his head under a gate and by some fluke, succeeded in sinking his gnashers into poor Poll's paw, resulting in general anaesthetic, deep sutres and a huge hole in our bank account right before Christmas. The owner has duly been asked to secure her boundary so this can't happen again!) Poor Polly was out of action for about three weeks over the Christmas hols, but I am happy to report, is now back up to full steam, running around in the mud, like the proverbial puppy again.  

Note to self: always expect the unexpected!

I don't mind admitting, my energy levels are not at their best during the dark days of January, but it's not possible to hibernate with two eager goldens to entertain, so we make the most of our walks every day and by the time our walk is over and I am back home with a cuppa in my hand, I am always grateful for that walk, even on the days I think I might have preferred to stay on the couch.

Months of rain has been tiresome, but my girls never minded it. I tried to keep them clean by putting them in their raincoats now and again, but they only rolled in the mud even more when they wore them. Incidentally, in the pic above I think they were a bit confused by the fallen tree after the Storm Brendan had swept through!

We have enjoyed a rare sunshine walk and my goodness, what a boost to the energy levels the sunshine is, in fact, all three of us had a decided spring in our step on the day above.

One of our favourite walks at this time of year, is on a huge area of scrubland. Here the girls can bounce their way across tussocks of grass and brambles, stick their noses down rabbit holes and generally indulge in a jolly good blast together!

It's a great area for recall practice - both Polly and Betty love a good game or chasing back for sausage as soon as Mum blows her whistle. That said, my husband took them out here this morning and reported that the surprise distraction of a cat at the far end of the field had them racing in the opposite direction for a moment ... tut tut girls!!!

It has been a joy to see my big girl Polly back up to full speed after her miserable Christmas nursing that poorly paw. The vet did a great job and even though she is now almost seven, it seems no-one has mentioned this to Polly yet ... she really couldn't care less and was just delighted to be declared fit enough to bounce on this field again!

Recently we were walking on this field and I lost my mobile phone here. I heard a dog barking frantically on the other side of a railway track, so went hacking through brambles to see what the trouble was. I eventually spotted the little dog and it was clear he needed assistance, but sadly, I couldn't help as I was on the wrong side of the tracks ... somehow, in the process, I lost track of my phone and despite several walks in the area, failed to find it among the brambles, bracken and long grass... it really was a needle in a haystack situation! As for the little dog, after making local enquiries, I had to assume he was part of a group that live on the traveller's site beyond the railway track and he had probably escaped, then made his way back to them again. I do hope he's okay.

I hope you have enjoyed these photographs, they are a few of my recent favourites of the girls, taken on my new mobile phone camera (a Samsung Galaxy S10+). I am very pleased with the results so far and am taking great care to remember to zip this one safely into my coat pocket on walks!!!

I notice there are tiny hints of Spring now beginning to show on our walks. Snowdrops, little buds and occasional bursts of warmer sunshine are hinting of better days to come, so my fingers are well and truly crossed that the worst of the wet Winter weather is at last nearing an end. We are so looking forward to brighter days and drier walks in 2020!

:-)