What have you been doing today?

[Mottie]

The dog is restless - I think she has a bellyache so I’m walking her round the town at 2.30 am in case she craps on the carpet. Currently sitting by a war memorial listening to an owl, watching the stars and the odd passing satellite.

Edited from the safety of our holiday rental.

Not a soul about down here, dead quiet. I stopped again and sat on another bench along the main road and a Merc comes along with the registration number RU55 BOX. The bloke stops and stares at me for a good 20 seconds. I notice along the bottom of the doors some advertising blurb that says "Russ Williams, Kickboxing'. Now I’m pooping myself. All I had weapon wise was a tactical torch and a poorly Spaniel but I don’t think I’d have stood much chance against a professional kick-boxer. Anyway, after staring me out, he drove off. I hot-footed it back to our holiday rental pretty sharpish! The dogs curled up and gone to sleep so I think I’ll go up to bed now too.

 

[Mottie]

That sleep didn’t last long. Been out twice more with her. 4.00 - 5.00 and 5.30 - 6.10. I’m knackered!

 

[Mottie]

Ended up taking her to a local vets this morning. Consultation and examination, anti-sickness jab, doggie paracetamol and a tube of Promax probiotic paste. £111.83 She came back to the holiday rental and promptly shat all over the tiled kitchen floor - good job she didn’t go upstairs where it is carpeted throughout in beige! Cant really go home today in case she has another loose episode in the car on the motorway and we can’t take her out like that either so we'll be spending the last day of our holiday watching telly. Hopefully she'll be 'firm' enough to travel tomorrow.

Of course, I’m getting the blame for it all! Yesterday Mrs Mottie expressly warned me not to give her any of my pastie as she has a delicate tummy. I ignored the 'advice' and gave in to those brown begging eyes. On the way back from the vets, Mrs Mottie had to comment "That was an expensive pastie, wasn’t it?"

 

[gant]

, Mrs Mottie had to comment "That was an expensive pastie, wasn’t it?"

More like city dog swallows countryside turd swimming in grassmere stream.

 

[Mottie]

More like city dog swallows countryside turd swimming in grassmere stream.

Lol. She's not really a city dog. She has had a minimum of one hour free running in a countryside setting every single day of her life and is worked on shoots. Trouble is, she truly is a turd gobbler and I often have to keep her on the lead when we are in a particularly heavy dog shîtting area. She'll also drink a 50/50 solution of mud/cow pîss when out but indoors she'll refuse to drink from her bowl if there’s so much as a hair in it! What she can’t take is any meat that has been roasted as gives her tummy trouble. I suspect it was the oils/fat in the pastry and meat in the pastie she had, even so, it wasn’t more than an egg-cupful. Anyway, she seems to have settled down now and we're feeding her on a mixture of boiled chicken and rice, little and often.

 

[gant]

Just throwing one in the mix to get you out of the doghouse, in the event it could mean you ' get lucky' with Mrs Mottie tonight.

 

[Mottie]

Just throwing one in the mix to get you out of the doghouse, in the event it could mean you ' get lucky' with Mrs Mottie tonight.

I get lucky with Mrs Mottie every night. We go to bed at different times!





Only joking!

 

[Mottie]

Travelled home from the Lake District today. Had a great time there but it’s always good to get home.

Noticed a patch of feathers on my lawn and assumed that next doors cat had had a pigeon. I ran the CCTV back and saw some kind of hawk swoop down at the speed of light and …pow! It had a pigeon that was on top of my beer barrel/water butt having a drink. Even in slo-mo it’s hard to see the strike, it happened that fast!

Had time to nip over the allotment to see what had grown in my absence. I Harvested my Butternut Squash's and dug up a few carrots and parsnips for Sunday lunch. The carrots had gone a bit wonky but the parsnips looked fine. The carrots although looking a bit weird are SO full of flavour you wouldn’t believe it. Absolutely nothing like shop bought ones.

Oh, I got a corker of a carrot too - I do like it when they turn out like this:

Found a few visitors in the squash patch so I relocated them over the fence onto the river bank. Don’t like them on my plot but I can’t bring myself to kill them.

 

[noseall]

Had a minor procedure On my hooter to remove a carcinoma.

 

[Mottie]

Had a minor procedure On my hooter to remove a carcinoma.

Too much working outside with no sun protection?

 

[noseall]

Too much working outside with no sun protection?

Correct. Thought it was my specs rubbing.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The dog is restless - I think she has a bellyache so I’m walking her round the town at 2.30 am in case she craps on the carpet.

Snap, so was I, except she just fancied a gentle stroll in the dark and the quiet streets. She doesn't really need me to go with her, she leads the way and knows exactly where she is going, she just has me tag along for some company

 

[securespark]

Went to see "Marvellous" at the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme tonight.

Met Neil Baldwin himself, nice guy.

He lives near where Mrs Secure and her folks used to live and they know him quite well.

He's had an amazing life: done some mad things and met many famous people.

How Neil Baldwin became Keele University's mascot

As a boy, he walked into Keele University – and never left. And he counts bishops, sportsmen and politicians among his friends. So just who is Neil Baldwin?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Mottie]

Had the MIL round today and I made her a nice roast chicken dinner. After a spell in hospital she has been on dementia medication while we are waiting to get formal confirmation. She’s had carers in three times a day warming up ready meals but she really enjoyed "My first proper meal for weeks”. She said she actually felt "nourished from within". I plated up a spare dinner for her to take home with her - she says she's going to have the same tomorrow! Our son and grandson came round to see her and our daughter face-timed her for a chat. It was definitely one of her better days today so Mrs Mottie was happy too. I think I’ve earned a love token or two.

 

[Mottie]

Up early chasing a sodding fox out of the garden - it'd somehow known that there was a chicken carcass in the bin liner on top of the bin store and had ripped through the bag at the exact place that the carcass was. How do they know exactly where the tasty bits are in a bag? I get a picture in my head of a fox feeling all over the bag and going "Aha! It’s right here!". Anyway, I’ve picked that up and put that bag in the shed and calmed the dog down as it was going potty at the patio doors to get out there and see the fox off.