What have you been doing today?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Sorry to hear this news Harry. Hope you and Avril are holding up ok.

Thanks, and yes, gradually coming to terms with the loss. I'm still, in absent-minded times, habitually wondering why the house is so quiet, still looking where I put my feet, so I don't step on her, looking back, every time I rise from a seat, to see if she is following me. Avril is already asking if I want to get another - I'm not sure yet, whether she's suggesting she wants one, but for now - we've given all the dog food away, and gradually clearing the rest.

I would love another one, apart from my years away from home, I have never ever been without one, but they are so very tieing. If I ever go out leaving a dog home alone, I always want to race back home, despite never, ever having found a problem after getting back home.

Great, would be an animal whose need for care, you could just switch on and off.

 

[Mottie]

Thanks, and yes, gradually coming to terms with the loss. I'm still, in absent-minded times, habitually wondering why the house is so quiet, still looking where I put my feet, so I don't step on her, looking back, every time I rise from a seat, to see if she is following me. Avril is already asking if I want to get another - I'm not sure yet, whether she's suggesting she wants one, but for now - we've given all the dog food away, and gradually clearing the rest.

I would love another one, apart from my years away from home, I have never ever been without one, but they are so very tieing. If I ever go out leaving a dog home alone, I always want to race back home, despite never, ever having found a problem after getting back home.

Yeah, we feel the same but just after a month, we are feeling a bit better now. Only the other day Mrs Mottie told me about a new café she had found and I automatically asked "Do they allow dogs in"? That set us both off again! We haven’t discussed getting another yet and as you say, they are a tie so at the moment we are just doing things, going places and staying out longer without having to worry about the dog - our jobs and social lives for the past 12 years were all planned around the dog so there’s no doubt our lives have changed although given the choice, we'd have her back in a flash.

 

[Mottie]

After reading up and watching a few online YouTube videos, I’d decided to fit a new loft ladder and hatch. Looked so easy - I even went through the procedure when I was trying to go to sleep last night! Existing one is 600x600 with a pull down aluminium ladder and the new one will be 1100x600 with concertina wooden steps fixed to the hatch. I went out and bought it today along with some timber and trimmings, came home, took the architrave off…….and left it at that for now! Not going to sod about with it tonight - I’ll make a fresh start on it tomorrow. Hopefully.

 

[fillyboy]

Harry, Mottie. FFS get another dog, not for you, but for the dogs and the great life you can both offer them.

 

[fillyboy]

After reading up and watching a few online YouTube videos, I’d decided to fit a new loft ladder and hatch. Looked so easy - I even went through the procedure when I was trying to go to sleep last night! Existing one is 600x600 with a pull down aluminium ladder and the new one will be 1100x600 with concertina wooden steps fixed to the hatch. I went out and bought it today along with some timber and trimmings, came home, took the architrave off…….and left it at that for now! Not going to sod about with it tonight - I’ll make a fresh start on it tomorrow. Hopefully.

I've only ever been knocked out twice, once when I was 18 by a girl at a disco, obviously it was a misunderstanding. The second time was by a loft hatch falling open as I walked past, that was in the days when a lot of loft hatches had these spring loaded catches which I haven't seen for years now, I suspect they've been banned.

 

[Mottie]

Harry, Mottie. FFS get another dog, not for you, but for the dogs and the great life you can both offer them.

A couple of our friends occasionally breed working cocker spaniels (to keep their own line going - it's who we got Susie from) and maybe, just maybe if they decide to breed another litter, we may have our heads turned but that’s some way off in the future at the moment.

 

[Highway Man]

I know that when the time comes and our dogs go, we are dreading it. We have both agreed to get a rescue dog as they need a home and a pedigree will always get a home where as a rescue dog really needs one. We will get the most ugly one and love it to bits. We both love animals and hate to think of animals being mis treat in any way. A mate of mine in the army was a dog handler, he was absolutely besides himself when unfortunately it lost its life, there is no shame in mourning for your pet.

 

[kingandy2nd]

You guys should consider fostering dogs if you’re not sure about a full time commitment at the moment.

Quite often the people that foster end up keeping the animal anyway, but it is a valuable resource for the animal shelters to have people that can take an animal for a few weeks or months.

 

[Mottie]

Coming home today I have to cross a narrow bridge - there's often door mirrors in the road when cars have just kissed each other and it’s made worse as one side has no pavement next to the road. Locals often stop halfway up if they see a bus waiting to cross as they need to go into the other lane. Two busses or a van and a lorry have no chance.



Anyway, traffic was slow and I had just come to the brow with a skip lorry opposite me and all of a sudden there was a huge bang, the Golf rocked on its axles and there was a cloud of dust. Made me jump out of my skin. Initially I thought I’d been hit and as I looked in the mirror, I saw the nearside rear outer tyre of the skip lorry in shreds. Turned out it had clipped the pavement, pinched the tyre and it had burst. It must have had some force behind it because it had literally blown the asphalt off of the pavement. It’s a good job nobody was on the pavement at the time.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It must have had some force behind it because it had literally blown the asphalt off of the pavement. It’s a good job nobody was on the pavement at the time.

That asphalting was a bit thin, and looked like no foundation, no wonder it lifted...

We have a similar narrow bridge local to us. A tight right going on, a tight left coming off it, single track, and limited vision on the approach for both sides - so it's essential to keep well to the left, on the approach, if you have any sense, to be able to see. I often use it, in both the car, and on the scooter, and used it today on the scooter, doing my usual trick, to help make sure I am seen early. I start close to the left, then once on the bridge, I go well over to the right - then lets anyone coming the opposite way, see me as early as possible, and dissuades any following, from even considering trying to overtake. Two thirds the way across, with two cars following me, a car appears ahead of me, way over to her right on the approach, and blocks my exit, with more cars piling up behind her. That took a while to sort out. It happens far too often, when careless or inexperienced drivers, attempt to go that way. You just cannot see any, but HGV's already on the bridge, unless you start well over to the left on the approach, because the bridge has high, solid sides.

 

[fillyboy]

We have both agreed to get a rescue dog as they need a home and a pedigree will always get a home where as a rescue dog really needs one. We will get the most ugly one and love it to bits.

For the last few years the opposite appears to be true, Battersea dogs home is choc a bloc with French Bulldogs and the like, the gentry are taking rescue dogs, mongrels, from Spain, Portugal, Romania. They parade them in the parks as their little 'refugee dogs'.

It's a little weird.

 

[Highway Man]

For the last few years the opposite appears to be true, Battersea dogs home is choc a bloc with French Bulldogs and the like, the gentry are taking rescue dogs, mongrels, from Spain, Portugal, Romania. They parade them in the parks as their little 'refugee dogs'.

It's a little weird.

I would prefer to see a rescue dog lovingly cared for as a trophy dog than for it to suffer a cruel life elsewhere though.

 

[Koolpc]

My owner leaves the toilet seat up for me so that i can have a drink....

If i had another owner, i would make sure that they have been fully trained to pee outside and not in the house!!!

 

[fillyboy]

My owner leaves the toilet seat up for me so that i can have a drink....

If i had another owner, i would make sure that they have been fully trained to pee outside and not in the house!!!

Have a word with Harry, you wouldn't even need to walk up stairs. He's a star.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

We've both been busy this morning, trying to make a better job of the many yards of 2m high, green plastic mesh, along the back garden fence. We put it up, to hide the mountain of soil, piled there to clear the land, by the railway, so they could build their new compound. Our back fence, is actually four layers thick - the recent plastic mesh, then behind that, some rough chain link which I put there 40 years ago, then the original rail fence, of concrete posts, with four wire strands threaded through the posts, then beyond that, the most recent rail fence, which is a proper job - vertical steel slats, with very sharp points on the top, and 2m high.

The problem has been, the mesh can only be properly fixed along the top, via a wire strung along the top. The lower edge, had to be just pinned, with tent pegs, which pull out when ever it's windy. We got some curly steel ground anchors delivered the other day - today, we've been screwing those in the soil, and reinforcing the mesh by adding rope, across the inside face of the mesh, in a series of big V's, along the full length of mesh.

Even better, would be being able to thread something through the four layers of fence, including the mesh, but I cannot fathom how, without trespassing over the fence, to thread it back through.