Domestic trials

Because of the fox threat, I usually don't let the birds out until 8am, but this morning as it was warm, sunny and I had been awake, off and on since 4.30am, I got up early and did all the morning jobs by 7.30.
Chris is to blame for my ungodly morning shenanigans. He was up early, making tea and and probably planning research adventures in his brain ( which is the size of a planet)....unfortunately he has the flat feet of a middle aged dancer (he used to be a dancer in a previous life)...so clomps around the bare floorboards of the cottage like a penguin with clogs on.

As I sit here with the first coffee of the day, warmed by the sun in the window of the living room, I am quietly joined by Maddie. The other dogs and Albert have all retired upstairs to bed, so in the peace and quiet we can enjoy each others company for a short time.

I was thinking about Maddie yesterday. The signs of old age are beginning to show on her just a little now. Her eye sight is failing ( she has a tendency to trip over curbs), there are small rings of white hair around each eye and her tolerance for silly behaviour from the other dogs has diminished considerably, to the extent that she will stop dead any tomfoolery with a bark and a robust chest barge. She has effectively turned into a sort of maiden aunt, who dresses in black and who reads the daily obituary

It seems only yesterday that we brought the tiny ball of hysteria back from Nottinghamshire to our home in Sheffield. She constantly barked, covered every inch of the house with copious amounts of urine and refused point blank to be walked on a lead. Yet from day one of her arrival, Maddie was and remains consistantly loyal. She comes when called, sits when told and never causes us any concerns save for the occasional bout of constipation, to which she is prone .

She will sit within a centimetre of you, yet hates to be cuddled. She loves her food more than any dog we have ever had and loves to relieve herself in a deep cold puddle.......in short she "asks" for very little and gives so very much and is no trouble at all, I just find it a little sad when I remember (as I was reminded by my previously posted Kipling poem), that you never really own a dog for very long..do you?....sigh.............

Anyhow...enough of all this, I am at risk of getting maudlin. Today I am getting stuck in with the clearing of the back garden, tonight we are having our usual Friday night fish and chips and then will be going to theatre Clwyd to see ME AND ORSON WELLES, a film I missed on its first run