Silent through the snowpocalyse
3 Comments Published by Gussie on Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 1/17/2010 09:22:00 PM.
All quiet here for a while. Before Christmas I was spending most weekends travelling to help my aunt, who lives about 100 miles away. I bailed out of a couple of agility shows because of that. And then just before Xmas we had heavy snowfall. It was the coldest snap in 30 years, and the most snow I’ve seen since I was a kid (when we had proper weather – listen to me, young’uns!). After four weeks we were thoroughly fed up – we’re not geared up to protracted snow; our street didn’t get gritted until 3 weeks in, for example. On the plus side, we had a very quiet snowed-in stay-at-home Christmas. Then I slipped on the ice, landed on my head and am only just getting back to rights.
At first Jake loved the snow. New snow is like sand you can eat, and short of it snowing actual ice cream I can’t imagine he’d have been any happier. There were crazy puppy antics, catching snowballs in mid-air, finding snowman’s noses (carrots) and blissfully sinking into soft snow to eat, eyes shut ...
With the temperature dropping to -10 C for a while, the canal and even the Water of Leith (usually a fast flowing river) froze. For a while Jake was simply fascinated, staring at the place that’s usually water. Then he realised that well-meaning people were throwing bread on for the birds – and he wandered onto the ice for a snack. He wasn’t the first - there were plenty of footprints of all species. Even so, after that, he was on the lead near water.
By the end of the freeze, Jake was just very fed up with
• the compacted ice – it’s nippy on the paws
• semi-frozen melting snow in the park - uneven to run on
• paw washes after every walk to remove grit & salt
• more frequent pedicures - it's pavement pounding that usually keeps his claws down.
Almost all the ice has melted now. I don’t know which of us is more relieved!
Autumn walk canalside
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 10/21/2009 07:00:00 AM.
Labels: Scotland, Wordless Wednesday
A gude cause
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 10/10/2009 04:09:00 PM.
100 years ago, the Women's Suffrage Movement marched along Princes Street in Edinburgh. Today several thousand people (and Jake) marched through Edinburgh to celebrate this centenary.
For most of the procession we were near the Greens, the Auld Reekie Roller Girls & a banner that read "Emancipation not emaciation." A pretty good spot to be in.
Here are some resources about women's suffrage in Scotland.
Labels: Scotland
Tantallon Castle
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 9/24/2009 09:09:00 PM.
Summer's over! And we realised that we hadn't been to any castles for ages. So we drove down the coast to Tantallon Castle.
Jake has to stay on lead in the castle, for various obvious reasons, but not least when there are people picnicking. There were several other dogs visiting the castle when we were there. Once I was sure everyone else had come down from the ramparts, Jake and I went for our customary look around. He loves climbing the stairs, he loves sticking his nose through any windows he can, he loves sniffing in corners and looking up chimneys.
The views from the top are amazing. Jake is unfazed by heights, though he doesn't like crossing wooden slatted bridges in castles any more than he does over running water. But he's had plenty of practice at the Water of Leith, and he handled it dogfully.
Afterwards we headed into North Berwick to give Jake a run on the beach. There was everything Little Lord Fauntledog could want - sand, seaweed, a Luca's icecream van, even a food fair with quality scraps dropped by careless humans...
Labels: Scotland
Intense concentration.
Excuse me. I'm waiting.
Pounce!
The exhausted bon viveur enjoys a joke.
Excuse me. I'm waiting.
Pounce!
The exhausted bon viveur enjoys a joke.
Labels: Scotland
We went to Stanley Mills, which is one of Arkwright's Mills just north of Perth. There's a great visitor centre which unfortunately Jake wasn't allowed into. Next time we'll head for a castle where Jake can scamper up and down the steps!
Labels: Scotland
Spring day by the seaside
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Sunday, April 05, 2009 at 4/05/2009 10:46:00 PM.
Canine communication - practical
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Friday, October 31, 2008 at 10/31/2008 11:55:00 AM.
What is Jake trying to tell us?
And without reference to Turid Rugaas, I deduce:
Get on with it! It's perishing up here! My ears are blowing off! etc etc
(Taken on Blackford Hill, view over Edinburgh towards Arthur's Seat).
And without reference to Turid Rugaas, I deduce:
Get on with it! It's perishing up here! My ears are blowing off! etc etc
(Taken on Blackford Hill, view over Edinburgh towards Arthur's Seat).
Lack of camera sorted
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 10/12/2008 09:03:00 PM.
What a relief to have a camera again!
This pic's from Saturday's walk up our "local" hill. (Edinburgh has seven hills). In the background the clouds gather over the Pentlands ...
This pic's from Saturday's walk up our "local" hill. (Edinburgh has seven hills). In the background the clouds gather over the Pentlands ...
Labels: Scotland
Auchindoir: romanesque arch. Dog: whatever.
2 Comments Published by Gussie on Wednesday, August 06, 2008 at 8/06/2008 11:34:00 PM.
Beware the jabberwock tree, my son
5 Comments Published by Gussie on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 at 7/30/2008 08:12:00 PM.
57 degrees north, 28 degrees celsius
2 Comments Published by Gussie on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 7/27/2008 08:27:00 PM.
Drive for three and a half hours north of Edinburgh and one of the places you end up in might be Aberdeenshire, home of Rod's ancestors. We sooo needed a holiday. This one was a great mix of agility shows, family history research and stone circles. It was also outrageously hot. We're not used to it!
We stayed in the very dog friendly Drumdelgie holiday cottages - every morning and evening I walked Jake off-lead through the forest on our doorstep. Dogs were allowed off lead as long as they were under control. Fortunately on the morning we saw deer, I had put Jake on lead in good time because I thought that the shapes in the distance were two large dogs. Where is their owner? I thought, waiting for someone to follow them out of the trees. H'm, those dogs walk a bit funny. Then I realised that dogs don't step quite so daintily, and I was very glad of the lead. Chasing deer is a shooting offence.
Did I mention we found a lot of stone circles?
Of course there were castles too - this is Huntly Castle, note the headless deerhound on the crest over the door...
We stayed in the very dog friendly Drumdelgie holiday cottages - every morning and evening I walked Jake off-lead through the forest on our doorstep. Dogs were allowed off lead as long as they were under control. Fortunately on the morning we saw deer, I had put Jake on lead in good time because I thought that the shapes in the distance were two large dogs. Where is their owner? I thought, waiting for someone to follow them out of the trees. H'm, those dogs walk a bit funny. Then I realised that dogs don't step quite so daintily, and I was very glad of the lead. Chasing deer is a shooting offence.
Did I mention we found a lot of stone circles?
Of course there were castles too - this is Huntly Castle, note the headless deerhound on the crest over the door...
Labels: Scotland
Kelso - the day out
0 Comments Published by Gussie on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 6/24/2008 02:15:00 PM.
We like the Borders. So we decided that even though the Tweedbank agility show is reachable from Edinburgh with an early start, we would splash out on a B&B near Kelso. Instead of the usual frenzied start to the day, we drove down on Friday afternoon, had a picnic looking at the rather lovely Leaderfoot Viaduct ; pottered round the ruins of Kelso Abbey, and found our B&B, the Garden House B&B in Whitmuir. It was as dog friendly as you could hope for - having been found on Dog Friendly Britain. We were in the garden flat, and I think Jake was non-plussed to see pheasants strolling past his bedroom window. But he loved the garden and particularly the walk round the loch. Unfortunately my camera phone didn't cope very well with the twilight in the woods - what should have been a lovely pic of Jake on a stile hasn't come out very well at all. ;-(
Three hearty cheers for the Buccleuch Arms, which allowed dogs in the bar as well as the garden with absolutely no fuss - and we can see why they won Scottish Inn of the Year 2008! One of the best cooked steaks any of us has had in a very long time, which provoked an outbreak of Crufts quality sits and pointed re-sits from Jake.
So come Saturday morning, we were rested and only had a 20 minute drive to the agility show - thanks to our hosts, who kindly gave us coffee and toast ahead of the other guests so we could get to the Borders showground in time to walk the courses.
King of (Crichton) Castle
6 Comments Published by Gussie on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 5/28/2008 08:31:00 PM.
We visited Crichton Castle on Saturday.
Who would have thought Jake would have so much fun in a ruined castle? He liked it more than we did! Scrambling up and down the spiral staircases ...
... sticking his head thru the gun loops ...
... until we reached the very top, where Jake came over all fearty on the wooden slatted bridge. I thought his dislike of bridges was down to rushing water underneath but it turns out it's the slats, or to be more precise, the gaps between the slats.
All in all, it was a very dog friendly spot - the custodian refilled the water bowl specially for Jake, and said (without us having to ask) Jake could go off lead as he was the only dog. Though the lead went on PDQ when a grey-muzzled Patterdale Terrier poked its nose round the entrance a little later.
He looks very pleased with himself. I suppose greyhounds would have lived there when it was inhabited in the 1500s, no doubt being surreptitiously bred with the locals' sheepdogs. The original lurchers!
Who would have thought Jake would have so much fun in a ruined castle? He liked it more than we did! Scrambling up and down the spiral staircases ...
... sticking his head thru the gun loops ...
... until we reached the very top, where Jake came over all fearty on the wooden slatted bridge. I thought his dislike of bridges was down to rushing water underneath but it turns out it's the slats, or to be more precise, the gaps between the slats.
All in all, it was a very dog friendly spot - the custodian refilled the water bowl specially for Jake, and said (without us having to ask) Jake could go off lead as he was the only dog. Though the lead went on PDQ when a grey-muzzled Patterdale Terrier poked its nose round the entrance a little later.
He looks very pleased with himself. I suppose greyhounds would have lived there when it was inhabited in the 1500s, no doubt being surreptitiously bred with the locals' sheepdogs. The original lurchers!
We are back from a holiday in Skye! In which we met hardly any other dogs at all. Perhaps it is because in the Highlands dog owners are expected to intercept dog crap before it hits the ground.
It was so beautiful! And so full of sheep and lambs. Even so we had a some great walks without incident, and Jake made the best of the one properly sandy beach we found. (Thanks to a tip from work chum to head to Glen Brittle). There were some fine shingle beaches and some fine seaweed-sludge traps (on day one, walk one, both Gus and Jake arrived back in the holiday cottage plastered in stinky BLACK oom-ska).
However there's a lot to be said for Portree -
The cute harbour ...
... the fine dining ...
... the opportunities to practice recall in heart-stopping situations, er scenery ...
And with one exception, every pub we went into was happy to have Jake in, even where food was being served, making the smooth transfer of left-overs to dog much easier. Particular kudos to the Stein Inn, the oldest pub on Skye to allow Jake to sit at our feet.
It was so beautiful! And so full of sheep and lambs. Even so we had a some great walks without incident, and Jake made the best of the one properly sandy beach we found. (Thanks to a tip from work chum to head to Glen Brittle). There were some fine shingle beaches and some fine seaweed-sludge traps (on day one, walk one, both Gus and Jake arrived back in the holiday cottage plastered in stinky BLACK oom-ska).
However there's a lot to be said for Portree -
The cute harbour ...
... the fine dining ...
... the opportunities to practice recall in heart-stopping situations, er scenery ...
And with one exception, every pub we went into was happy to have Jake in, even where food was being served, making the smooth transfer of left-overs to dog much easier. Particular kudos to the Stein Inn, the oldest pub on Skye to allow Jake to sit at our feet.
We left Jakey at home while we popped out to vote. Other dogs in our neighbourhood did trot to the polling station with their people: Oscar the shih tzu, collie father-&-son Blue and Fram (sp?). Who would the dogs vote for? The Collie Borg party? (Because all collies would vote alike – with great accuracy). Scottish Shih-Tzus for Independence?
Meanwhile the hot topic at agility (apart from trauma because a fellow human has injured herself quite badly, but we’ll not dwell on that) is – choosing a suitably three-part name for the assorted mutts and rescues to register on the Kennel Club Activity Register. This allows us to engage in displacement activity – why fret that our teacher thinks we’re nearly ready to compete when we can be having a laugh choosing poncy names? We have to submit three options in case some other hound already has snaffled the first or second choice.
I quite like Jake’s the King of the Castle, or Little Lord Fauntledog, or [Our suburb name]’s Fawnface.
Meanwhile the hot topic at agility (apart from trauma because a fellow human has injured herself quite badly, but we’ll not dwell on that) is – choosing a suitably three-part name for the assorted mutts and rescues to register on the Kennel Club Activity Register. This allows us to engage in displacement activity – why fret that our teacher thinks we’re nearly ready to compete when we can be having a laugh choosing poncy names? We have to submit three options in case some other hound already has snaffled the first or second choice.
I quite like Jake’s the King of the Castle, or Little Lord Fauntledog, or [Our suburb name]’s Fawnface.
Back from a relaxing weekend in Catterline. Or as Jake probably saw it, PreyWorld. Rabbits, pheasants (one morning, 16 pheasants flitted past the caravan window…) Lots of lounging, eating. Getting back to Roderick’s roots in Inverurie. Walks in the pine forest at Creeth Castle. A pint in Stonehaven Harbour. A smattering of stone circles and Restenneth Priory. Where we happened on 4 guinea fowl. So plump! So chase-able! So frustrating to be on the lead.
Labels: Scotland
Jake loved Wester Ross. We stayed on a croft in Inverasdale, on the edge of Loch Ewe. His early morning stroll was on the pebbled beach five minutes from the croft. Best of all was a daily visit to one of the many nearby beaches, so well appointed with seaweed to shake and run around with. Plus sea and sand ... we've all come back rather fitter than before.
None of us were very amused by the storms, however, which led to some sharp contrasts in human/canine outerwear...
