A full on 4 days!

I cant believe its been four days since I’ve posted. My humblest apologies, readers.

It’s been busy, busy in this house. I’m not making excuses, but everyone’s been coming & going since Friday, its been chaotic On Friday the 21st, my youngest turned 14. I still can’t get over how my cute, chubby wee baby has grown into the intelligent, athletic & beautiful young woman that is our Niamh.

Alas, we had no time to celebrate, as the kids were heading to Uist to visit family with their Dad. As he lives in Glasgow, he had a major amount of driving to do over the last weekend. But he was outside our house at 9 on the dot & off the adventurers went. I had an hour of quality puppy time and then headed down to pick up Poppy.

If you follow me on instagram, you’ll know that the dogs did cuddle up on the sofa. Once. What really happened was that Poppy fell asleep and Jax sneaked up & snuggled in inch by inch so he wouldn’t wake her! Also, he moved before she woke up, so she may be completely unaware he sneaked a cuddle. I’m glad I got a photo, as I might not have believed it myself.

 

The rest of the time they were playing, chasing each other, hitting each other with toys (I didn’t know dogs did that!) As Poppy is a, shall we say, lady of a certain age, our walking schedule was tweaked to include a lot more breaks to sniff. We still had a wander round the golf course & our favourite saunter along Cow Road, it just took a little longer.

Although Pop normally sleeps in mums livingrooom, she didn’t settle in ours, crying & crying til we took here upstairs with us.
DID YOU KNOW- a Labrador & a Jack Russell breathing in their sleep sounds EXACTLY like an axe welding serial killer. Neither did I, til 3am Saturday morning 😦

We had a lovely 2 days, just my other half & I, with a big dog & a little dog, having nice relaxing walks in the sun.

Needless to say, I’ve been too busy playing taking care of the dogs to do any crocheting.

Poppy went home teatime Sunday. I suspect both dogs were happy to have time alone by this point, she was asleep soon after getting home & Jax was out like a light for a change, even sleeping through the kids walking in the door. He’s a really rubbish guard dog, lol.

The kids got back late Sunday night, full of stories of the Islands. They had an amazing time and were exhausted. It was over 400 miles 🙂 I’m full of admiration for their uncle & his family. I found it hard leaving a city to live in a small town like Berwick, so I can’t imagine adapting to Uist, although both girls did say they could understand how people could live that far from the mainland. Lots & lots of photos were taken!!

It was really late by the time I chased them to bed, they were knackered. So much so that we all slept in this morning & they ended up with an extra day off school(oops!)

Now everyone’s back where they should be, we’ll be back in our normal routine tomorrow. Fingers crossed x

Dog Days

 

We’ve been having a great time over the last few days, so I haven’t managed to do my blog. The weathers been great, bright with a slight breeze. Perfect beach weather for Northumberland.

Yesterday the girls & I took Jax to Spittal beach, to walk along the promenade & let Jax run off his energy on the sand. The tide was going out & there was tonnes of drift wood, some already chopped up. We have a few businesses here that recycle drift wood into fuel, with I’ve always found pretty cool.
Tomorrow the kids are heading north with their dad, while we have the pleasures of dog sitting Poppy for a few nights. I’m not sure how it’s going to go. Jax sleeps in our room, supposedly in his bed on the floor but in reality at the end of our bed. Poppy has a lovely padded bed & is used to sleeping in the living room. Fingers crossed it works out.
When we decided it was time to get a puppy, how Poppy would react was part of the discussion. I had visions of my hairy wee sister cuddling up with my puppy, teaching him dog stuff & generally mothering him.
In reality, by twelve weeks he was too boisterous for her & their time together was supervised. I dreaded Jax jumping in his gangly, goofy way & damaging her.

All these months later, it’s gotten a lot better. For the first ten minutes or so, Jax is hyper to see pop. He runs in circles, barks like a wee puppy & licks her face. For her part, Poppy had a nosey round for any treats he may have left lying around & then proceeds to get comfy on the sofa. Once he realises she wants a nap, he lies on the floor at her feet, gazing up lovingly at her. He’s besotted.
Occasionally, she lets him in the sofa. I wish she’d tell me how she gets him to behave!

A springtime Sunday

This morning we took the dog to Cheswick beach, just my boyfriend and I, no teenagers along for a change. It’s well known locally as a great place to walk your dog, especially since the wide expanse of beach means the pooches can be off lead, frolicking in the sand. However, word must have gotten around because as we drove up, there were no less than a dozen cars parked up, as their owners and their dogs headed for the sand dunes. We decided to walk along the path to Cocklerburn, towards the ponds and back along the beach. This kept Jax from getting too distracted by other dogs (translation = being too much of nuisance)

There’s always a lot of photographers out around Northumberland, whatever the weather. I could see them, dotted along the top of the sand dunes, like merecats watching for predators. Along the shoreline you can find all kinds of things that when we have kids with us is counted as treasure. But when we have the dog with us they’re just more things to stop him eating. I managed to save what I thought was razor shell from his chewy chops, only to realise it was cuttlefish! The beach was littered with them, all very small, little cuttlefish skeletons lying in the sand.

There was something really sad too.

On our way off the beach, there was a sign and a bucket. The bucket had tennis balls in it and the sign read (paraphrasing) Our dog smudge loved this beach, please take a ball and play with your dog today in his memory. There was a photo of the most beautiful retriever above the bucket. I choked back tears all the way to the car.  How heartbreaking must it have been for that family to put the sign up, but what a wonderful tribute to their beloved dog. I think I’ll take tennis balls with us the next time we’re going past, and top up the bucket.

Being in the sunshine was fantastic, but the wind was still quite nippy, I’m so glad I wore my fleecy & jacket. Jax is at the awkward stage now where,unless we tell people hes a puppy, they assume he’s an adult dog. Walking is what I love most about living in Northumberland, every day I seem to find a new footpath or route. The scenery is never the same two day in a row. Having Jax means I’ve extended my walking a lot. I’ve always been a walker but now I seem to find every muddy walk in the neighbourhood. If it’s got a puddle in it, chances are I’ve chased my Labrador through it at some point.

This is DAY 21 of my 100 day blog challenge and if I’m honest I’m only just getting into the swing of it now. I’ve forgotten one day, not really got a routine yet but I’m finding it much easier to write. I still don’t think that anyone will really want to read what my life is like but you never know, one day the grand kids might find it and have a laugh. I’m reading more blogs now , so that’s a good thing. I’m working on a plan for the next 20 days, and I’ll compare them to the first 20 and see how I do.

If you have read the blog to this point, I thank you kindly 🙂

Back to Blogging.

Its been nearly two months since I last updated my blog, its shameful :-\

Things have been great here in north Northumberland. Jax the lab puppy is nearly five months old and is teething.  We joined a local puppy class and he seems to enjoy it. At least, he doesn’t bark too much & he hasn’t peed in class…….yet. Growing up with terriers, its strange having a young dog that doesn’t automatically run for the hills when off the lead.

A family friend donated a fish tank to me and inadvertently reactivated my obsessive goldfish owner genes. Many, many years ago, I kept goldfish. Not just any goldfish but oriental goldfish (as we called them in the ’80’s) I had fish that won prizes. I was really, really into goldfish, and now, in my house stands a stunning, curved front 250 litre fish tank!  Just a few weeks into having it & I’m already choosing my fancy finned pets, ordering gel food and setting up a fish list on amazon. It’s all coming back to me!
Crochet wise, the hooks’ been busy. I’m taking part in my first CAL (crochet a long). Its run by stylecraft and is for a carousel blanket. As you can see from the photo below, its a fantastic visual pattern and I’m really enjoying working through, knowing there’s lots of others doing the same thing 😁

This one is being packed away for mums Christmas. The pixel blanket is coming along nicely, hopefully it looks like iron man, its meant to!

Off to cook Sunday dinner now, but I’ll be back soon,
promise xxx

Quick check in!

I’ve sorely neglected my blog over the last few weeks. It’s the school holidays and there’s been so much going on. Firstly, some over enthusiastic gardening meant that my hands were useless for a while – too many scratches and scuffed knuckles. Then, as mentioned in a previous blog, we have a new addition to the family, an 11 week old Labrador called Jax. We had a few days altogether before the girls headed off on holiday to Ireland. Normal crochet service has resumed today and puppy training is going well, slowly, but well. All my yarn stashes’ are being moved well out puppy reach and I’ve turned my hand to designing my own amigurumi so stay tuned for details! In the meantime, here’s a pic of Jax with my hairy wee sister (of the Jack Russel variety) Poppy.

Happy Holiday!

Well, it’s been all go here! No sooner had the schools finished when it was time for camp and my youngest is off being a cadet. I’ve still got my eldest at home, although at 19 he’s rarely seen outside his room. That’s not really fair on him, as he is an illustrator and I know he’s sitting up there drawing comics, but subtle hints that he might want to spend more time downstairs with the family are politely ignored.My eldest daughter has been a great help in the last fortnight, there’s a lot of organising to do because………………….WE’RE GETTING A PUPPY!

I’m definitely the most excited, and it took a while to decide between puppy or rescue dog. It wasn’t an easy choice but in the end we decided a puppy would be best for our family, and after searching found a breeder with a great reputation and a litter available.  Our new arrival is coming home tomorrow. Today is really dragging. It’s such a strange experience, akin to waiting on a baby’s arrival. I keep finding things in the house that could be dangerous, suddenly I feel like we’ve been living in a death trap (we don’t, honestly 🙂 ) Puppy proofing the house takes a lot longer than I thought it would. I’m considering de-snailing the garden, as my sister Chihuahua keeps finding them and bringing them into house to ‘play’ with. There’s wires and spaces and houseplants and…hundreds of stuff

There’s also been quite a few mermaid blankets made, wrapped in plastic and put away safely so they don’t get dog hair on them! I’d never thought about it before but dog hair is sneaky.

I was raised in a family of rescue dogs. All our dogs ‘chose’ us, and we had mongrels of one sort or another. I always said when I got a dog of my own I’d get a staffy. I grew up with one and know what loving and comical dogs they are. But my other half hasn’t ever lived with a staffy, let alone a rescue dog. Between us we have 5 teenagers, which I thought would be perfect for a robust, energetic dog, especially now the kids are getting into Pokemon go! With one away, there’s still ongoing talk about who is coming with us to pick up the pup*

After lots (& lots &lots&lots) of discussions I realised it would be cruel to bring a dog into the house that wasn’t wanted 110% by everyone in the house. We decided to get a Labrador puppy instead (my kids haven’t shared a home with a dog for longer than a few days).  Until the day I can give a staffy a home, I’ll keep crocheting blankets for shelters.

This is the first pic of our newest agent, Jax  He’ll be 9 weeks on friday 🙂

*cadet daughter knows all about the puppy and knows he will be here when she gets home, I’m not going to ‘surprise’ her with him. I don’t think that’s a good idea, and have been brought up to know that Pets aren’t Presents. (am I the only one that remembers that campaign in the 80’s?) She has even left a sleep t-shirt for him to smell until she returns so he recognises her scent! Good thinking for a 13 year old.