Maddie......,Evening stroll and new plans

Chris is working in London today, and won't be home until late, so seeing it was a nice night, Maddie and I took some cooked pizza and went for a walk. I always think that Maddie is often regarded as the poor relation of our dog pack. She is the eldest, the most moody and the least "cuddly" of our four. She is quick to bark at strangers, hates being stroked by ANYONE and is quite happy sitting on the periphery of any event, whist George, William and Meg bounce along happily in the centre of it. At seven the tell tale signs of late middle age have started to show, she has the faint rings of white hair around her eyes, she is always the last one out of the car on the way to our walks and is definitely the last dog to return breathless and panting afterwards. She is often heavy footed, grumbles when approached by anyone wanting her place on the couch and more often than not becomes constipated at the drop of a hat.
So, a walk with me, alone, is a rarity and a real treat for Maddie. We walked to the village Pond in the sunshine (below) and there shared our pizza by the fence overlooking the small green. Afterwards she sat at my feet, the position she usually adopts and gently touched my shoe with her chin,
There was no performance in her behaviour, no juvenile demanding as William would show, none of the comic howling that George would employ to gain attention...just the quiet old fashioned loyalty of an quiet old fashioned breed, and I know it may sound a bit foolish, but I was almost moved to tears by this tiny moment of closeness.

We ambled together around the village and bumped into a couple of people pottering about , after the usual hellos, the conversation centred onto the lacklustre performance from the Community council at last night's open meeting....news of the event seems to have spread!

As dusk approached we ambled home to set the animals up for bed. I have cleared a strip of land adjacent to the pig pen, and later this week I will start to set up the extra fence posts for a new pig enclosure. I have an idea to buy a couple of weaner piglets and fatten them up for the freezer, several people around the village are now doing so and the possible idea of sharing slaughter costs may be an excellent way of saving money.

Aunt Judy ,her sister and animal mad Niece and boyfriend called in earlier for a guided tour of the field.....I didn't bother telling them about my new pig plans! or perhaps I did.......gawd....I am more middled aged than Maddie me thinks