Bank Holiday weekend

This weekend was a Bank Holiday. Saturday was fairly uneventful, consisting mainly of avoiding housework and walking the dogs.

Sunday I met up with a friend and her 2 children aged 1 and 3 yrs. I don't get to see them very often as they live about 4 hours away, but they were staying with relatives only 2 1/2 hours away so we did a half way meet. Our meeting place was Frome in Somerset. We had a nice lunch then went to a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' day at the nearby East Somerset Railway. We had a really lovely day and I think the children enjoyed themselves!

Today was May bank holiday, so we went to the local May Fayre. For the first time in years the weather was kind, I even got a little bit of sunburn! The May Fayre was traditional and fun. I don't think it has changed in all the years I've been going. After that we went for a dog walk and Tarka played with her new ball that I bought at the May Fayre. The it was back to Mum and Dad's for tea.

All in all, a lovely weekend!!

Sad news...

Little Dove died today.

He'd been doing really well, learnt to feed himself and seemed OK, but died while I was at work today. Poor little scrap.

My latest houseguest

I have a houseguest at the moment......He/she's a collared dove!

He was found in the riding school where I train for agility. Whilst it's usually best to leave birds alone, this guy had obviously fallen from his nest which is about 30ft above in the rafters. The riding school has a large population of rats - there's no way this little fella would have survived the night. If by some miracle he had survived the parents still would not have been able to feed him as the arena is busy with people all day. I then didn't want any of the kids to find him in the morning....Anyway, the upshot is that he's now living with me.

After a quick call to the local bird expert (Mrs Wren - honest, that's her real name!!), I put him on a diet of weetabix and water and he seems to be doing OK, well he's still alive anyway which is always a good sign with birds!I have been hand feeding him, its not an easy job as he doesn't gape so I've had to physically open his beak and shove food in, then stand back because he shakes his head and sends weetabix everywhere! However today he's started to peck at seed, it took him about an hour and a half to get the hang of picking up a seed, turning it the right way round and swallowing it without dropping it, but I think he's got the hang of it now!

I'm hoping that this one will make it but my past experience of birds is that just when you think they're doing well, they die. So, we'll see.

A mini safari.

Our Sunday walk turned into a mini safari, thanks to the enthusiasm of my 7 yr old nephew. Even ants and woodlice were exciting for him. In total, we heard a cuckoo and a woodpecker, and we saw deer, rabbits, ants, woodlice, a centipede and even found a slow worm who seemed to have run out of steam half way across the path! I'm not sure he appreciated me moving him into the bracken though!

My evening out the night before was an Indian meal which was very nice. Driving home I saw a fox and a badger, and as it was gone midnight I can count them in my mini safari too as it was all the same day. Well, it's my blog so I'll apply my own logic to it!

What shall we do?

I'm catching up with a friend this weekend but we can't decide what to do. We wanted to pamper ourselves at a local salon but it's too late to get an appointment, so we're going to have to find anther way to enjoy ourselves. It'll be tough, but we're up to the challenge!!

So far so good...

... for Bella, at any rate! She's doing well with her new owner and all is going to plan so far. Fingers crossed she will continue to do well for the rest of the training course!

Tim and Alfie (rabbit) are still here, they go home on Saturday so then it will just be me and mine for a while, until the next 'lodger' comes along anyway! Alfie seems to be a bit better so fingers crossed for him too!

My nephew liked his birthday present (phew!) although as with most 7 yr olds, he seemed to get more fun out of the box than the toy. Still, Dad seemed to enjoy road testing the mask...

Time flies.....

.....when you're having fun!!

Work is going well at the moment. One of the two dogs I've been following through advanced training at work is now in training with her Guide Dog Owner. This is week one and so far all is going well. This is Bella.

This week, my brother and his family have gone to Hong Kong and China for 2 weeks on holiday. I have got their dog 'Tim' staying, he's a sweetie and is behaving himself so far. He goes home on the 18th April. I've also got their poorly rabbit staying too! He seems to be doing OK though, and is taking his anti-biotics like a good boy! I think I got the rough end of the deal here, but there was a hint that there might be a bottle of duty free brandy in it for me...

Oh yeah, one more thing......
.................DR WHO IS BACK!!! YIPEE!!!!

Back to work

Well last week seemed to pass in a flash! I think I might have been asleep for most of it...

Anyway, I'm back to work now and back to a more normal routine, much to Tarka's relief. She does like to have a routine!

I did manage to get a bargain for my nephew's 7th birthday present on Friday, he wanted a Dalek Sec voice changer mask for Christmas but they were £30 which was too expensive. I found one in Waterstones for £7.50 - I hope he still likes it!!

Sadly, little Winnie guinea pig died on Saturday night. She'd been poorly for a few days and the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her on Friday, but she was definately worse by Saturday, and she died in the night. It's horrible every time I lose one of my small furries, but I was glad she went in her sleep, it's so distressing for them to have to go to the vets to be PTS. Winnie was a piggie I 'inherited' from a friend when she was unable to keep her. She was with us for about 2 yrs and must have been about 6 yrs old when she died. She was the noisiest piggy I've ever heard! Here she when she first came to live with us. Winnie is the ginger pig on the far left, in the middle is Olive who is still with me, and on the right is Tansy who sadly died not long after Winnie arrived.



And some of Winnie on her own.

A week off work!

We're on Holiday!!

Well, I have a week off work at any rate. Not going anywhere, I have plently to do at home to keep me occupied, although I seem to be doing a pretty good job of avoiding the housework that has stacked up over the last few weeks....

It seems to be lunch time already, then I'm going to walk the dogs, then I'm sure it will be too late in the day to start anything else!

Dog dies in the name of 'art' - and it will happen again.

In 2007, an 'artist' called Guillermo Vargas Habacuc caught a stray dog on the street, tied it up on a short leash to the wall of an art gallery and left it there to die slowly of hunger and thirst. Over the next few days, the artist himself and visitors to the gallery watched impassively as this happened. Now the prestigious Central American Biennial of Art has decided that this was art and has asked Vargas Habacuc to repeat his actions in the Biennial of 2008. If you don't believe it, Google the artist's name. I have not included the link because it contains distressing pictures which I would not like anyone to accidentally see. Please sign the petition and circulate to as many people as possible.

There are two threads running on dog pages if anyone wants more info, it begins in Oct 07 after the original act of cruelty and has been resurrected in light of the new one that is planned.

The links for the petition and dog pages won't publish in this blog, I will add them to my 'links' section on the sidebar on the right.

There are other cruelty items discussed too in the dog pages threads, please be very aware before clicking any of the links, that you know what you are going to be looking at, as it seems they are very distressing. I have not watched them.

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This blog belongs to me (Jackie) and my pets, Pippa, Tarka, Molly and Woody, and a few others who might pop in from time to time.

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