The Family Came Visiting

I had visitors today, Owner's Daughter, Diesel Dog Daughter and Small Boy! I liked being with my family.

The Sore Bottom!

Yesterday we went on patrol and today, as the result of an ever so little incident, I am still feeling a little.... uncomfortable! The Owner had been working from home again yesterday, when I say working it was more of a very long snooze as far as I could see, interspersed by small periods of great activity. It was approaching tea time and he suddenly put his shoes on and grabbed his crusty old Barbour jacket and told me to get my butt off my comfy cushion. Never one to turn down an opportunity to do anything, I leapt energetically from my cushion and down to the gate. A quick shuffle down the road and we arrived at the farm, now this could have gone three ways and I was unsure which to anticipate. We could have been going for a patrol through the farm and up on the hill (good, there will be more badger poo up there by now!). We could have been going to the studio and that would have been another hour or so before tea. Third option.... yes it is Saturday.... we are going to the pub!! I like pubs, they are my favourite! It was about then that my discomfort began. I like to behave myself when wandering up the road with The Owner, I don't do leads, except at the pub (pub rules) so when a car comes along I go to The Owner and sit by his foot. It's what I do. We hadn't been on our way long when a car approached so I go and sit with The Owner, another car from the other direction as well, so The Owner stepped up on the grass bank, so did I and sat down beside him. There are only certain parts of me which are not protected by a layer of fur. We are enjoying the first flush of spring here and certain plants are just poking their noses through, determined to wreak havoc in my world. Where I sat, a stinging nettle was just emerging with a particularly vengeful frame of mind and the only bit round the back there which is unprotected was its point of contact. Stinging nettles on the bum is a sensation which I am not happy with and am in no hurry to repeat! I got absolutely no sympathy at all from The Owner! It seems that sitting in a pub with a K9 which was constantly licking his bum was not many peoples idea of a good Saturday evening out and so The Owner was soon asked to take me home. Serves him right! I think he smells like a camel anyway!

Rat and The Heap of Dirt

We had a lazy start to the day today, The Owner and me and to be honest, as he has been working from home today I have spent much of it curled up on MY settee with my chin rested on his leg. No, he has genuinely been working! There was a bit of an upset earlier in the day when we went on patrol, and I am blaming certain factions on Facebook for this, who have encouraged me to believe that maybe fox poo might be more acceptable to The Owner's delicate nostrils and sensibilities than my poo of choice, badger, for rolling in. I have to report, having found a small dollop over by the cricket pitch this morning, that it is not. The Owner took particular exception to my rolling activities involving the said fox poo, so I won't be trying that again any time soon. Well, maybe. Come lunchtime, The Owner was sitting on MY settee, munching absent mindedly on a stale crust and I was sat beside him, dribbling a lot, when I noticed something move by the Ruddy Dyson cupboard. Perhaps I should explain at this point that there have been a lot of scratchings going on when the house has been quiet in recent weeks which The Owner put down to "Just the odd mouse, and it is a cottage so what can we expect?". Well, I am guessing that when he noticed it himself that wasn't quite what he had in mind! As I watched, there was more and more dirt being pushed out under the door and I did notice a rather large pair of whiskers at one point. Well when The Owner finally noticed it, the heap of dirt and rocks which I felt even Small Boy would have been proud of, was edging across towards the carpet. He jumped up with such a start that his mug of tea was sent flying although not so much as a crumb of his sandwich came my way and he nervously opened the cupboard door and instructed me to go in! Well I wasn't going in there!!!!! That is a job for Terrier!!!! Not a noble K9 with breeding such as I! I kept guard from the settee which was well off the floor as he nervously moved boxes and bags armed with a broom handle and his twelve bore. Presumable he was unaware of the rat the size of a small badger that was sat on the shelf watching him and I was not about to tell him in case I was sent in to retrieve it or something. Eventually he looked up and we had another of those beautiful moments when two species look into each other's eyes before Rat dived down the hole he had been so busy digging under the floors. The Owner has filled the hole with cement and piled some very large boxes over it. I just wonder whether that was the right thing to do really. I reckon in a few days time there could be a particularly ripe smell wafting around here for which I, for once, am not responsible.

The Badger Poo Virgin!

Oh man was I in trouble last night! I know you hoomun's have a saying about a problem being better when shared, well I now can see the merit in the argument. Yesterday afternoon I was pleasantly surprised to see Lady Chocolate Lab and Lady Chocolate Lab Owner turn up at the cottage. As, presumably, was The Owner given that he was still wandering around in his boxer shorts and little else. That situation under control and his legs covered by some trousers, which he had only put in the tumble dryer five minutes before. He looked a comical sight as he wandered around for the next few minutes with steam coming from his legs and bum. We all four of us went for a walk across the hill. I was particularly pleased about this as I knew that up the top of the hill there is a badger sett and I have noticed there is evidence of badgers having been about over night when on patrol in the mornings. Now you're ahead of me here aren't you? Badgers out of hibernation means...........badger poo!!! So, whilst The Owner and Lady Chocolate Lab Owner wandered along the edge of the field at the top of the hill holding hands and other disgusting hoomun stuff I took Lady Chocolate Lab up to introduce her to a particularly gooey dollop of badger poo. Now it would seem that she is something of a badger poo virgin, but it must be a genetic thing with K9's as she took to it like a...... well, like a lab to badger poo really! We got really down and dirty in it, until I heard The Owner whistling for me to come back. The two of us ran flat out down the hill towards our Owners. Lady Chocolate Lab put her arms out to great her K9 as we bounded faster and faster towards them. I remember thinking at the time she isn't going to be happy any time now. The Owner, not wishing to appear at all grumpy did likewise, so I obliged and we all four of us tumbled over and over and down the hill, a combination of twelve legs, four arms and two tails. It was about half way through the tumbling that I became aware of a change in the tone of the shrieks, from those of delight to those of disgust. Another hoomun who has no appreciation of the finer points of badger poo! It was a long and silent walk back to the cottage and we were both subjected to a dose of the yard broom and hosepipe when we got back. Followed by a spell in the boot room! I am thinking that the boot room is not so bad when shared! I can't help but feel that I am somehow being held responsible by all three.....

The Dunking of The Bonio!

In recent days I have been rather spoiled for the supply of Bonio's from visitors (various) and it has given me an unusual feeling of wealth if I am honest. Until today!!! The Owner was wandering around in the kitchen looking particularly menacing with a cleaning cloth in one hand and a squirty bottle of something in the other. I only find it menacing because it always follows the cleaning cloth with the ruddy Dyson being taken out of hibernation and used as a means of K9 torture again. It was what followed which caused most ire for me. The Owner appeared from the cupboard (he refers to it in very grand terms as "The Pantry" although I have been told with some authority that that room was once the toilet for hoomuns! Need I say more? He was carrying my tin where he keeps my Bonios. I got quite excited at the prospect and started waving my paws around in the air to secure one for me, when he picks up the tin and throws the entire contents in the bin!!!!! He tried to justify it by telling me that they were stale ones and they had gone mouldy. Well I would have liked some input here! I feel the same procedure as The Owner deploys when he has had his socks on for several days may have made them edible again. Bang them several times over the arm of the settee and then shake them a bit before putting them on. Leave the putting them on bit to one side but a quick chomp afterwards would have been nice to try. I was traumatised and still smarting from the experience when we wandered to the studio. Come elevenses time and he has a ritual cup of coffee which I thoroughly enjoy. Not the coffee, you understand, can't stand the stuff, but I always get a Bonio and two Markies whilst he sits and slurps his coffee and dunks his Rich Tea's. 'Twas then it happened! He picked up my Bonio, so I got excited, but instead of it coming in my general direction he dunked it in his coffee and stuffed it in his own mouth!!!!!!! Realising his mistake he threw it to the floor and then indicated I should eat it!!! Soaked in coffee!!! And it's been in The Owner's mouth!!!!! I do have standards you know!!!!! I am going to wear out the "!" key in a minute and it will be all his fault. I left the coffee Bonio to dry in the sun for a while and then chomped it quietly out of sight. I think I will be mostly having a lie down this evening! I wonder if he has lit that fire yet?

The Owner is Brought Home

Yesterday morning's patrol was an unusually early affair as The Owner strode purposefully across the fields which I thought was unusual on so many levels. But never one to turn down a good patrol, and more particularly the Bonio which I always get upon our return, I was eager to comply. When we were still about a mile from home some rotten bugger turned the taps on in the sky and I had water running out of my nose and out of my tail and one or two other places I won't mention in polite company. There was little consolation from the rub down with the warm towel but I managed to derive some little comfort from sucking thoughtfully on a Chicken Bonio and curling up on The Owners velvet cushions. That was until he caught me and evicted me from the settee and announced to the world that as the sun was now out we ought to take advantage of it and go for another patrol. Perhaps predictably for a Sunday lunchtime the patrol was in the general direction of the pub and with little surprise the heavens opened when we were closer to the pub than we were to the cottage. The pub won and we went for a warm and a bit of a dry out by their wood burner. The visit was a resounding success! I was warm, I was dry and to round it all off nicely I had a belly full of roast potatoes and The Owner hadn't noticed me sneak one of them. Then came the worst part of the day and one for which I won't be able to hold my head up in noble circles again. The Owner and Pub Landlord bundled me in to the cage in the back of Pub Landlords truck. Me, with breeding, and put in a cage! It got worse! I was shoved, without ceremony, through the front door to the cottage and a handful of food was thrown into my dish, this is usually a sign he intends to not be back until late. After he had gone I noticed he had left the boot room door open so I was at least going to get some freedom for the afternoon. I had a couple of little wanders around the manor gardens, just to check whether Lady Manor Gardening Hoomun was keeping on top of things or not and then I heard a car pull up outside. I thought he has being brought back again by Pub Landlord Hoomun at first but it wasn't his truck and so I thought it must be a taxi, but I was wrong!! Oh the humiliation! Please, no-one witness this! Oh no! two cars coming and both of which I recognise..... to witness....... The Owner...... being helped..... out of.......a....... No, I can't bring myself to say it! No, I must say. He was brought home by a policecar!!!! And he was seen!!!!! By people I know!!!!!! I have absolutely no idea what he has been up to and judging by the state of him neither did he. Oh the shame! The shame!

Kicked off The Cushions

Look! He wasn't using the cushions, so it seems perfectly reasonable to me that I can! Ok?