An Unexpected Visitor…

The last person I expected to see yesterday was my friend Angela (a vicar). She has one of my dogs from the last litter… Charlie, a red and white collie. She does Obedience and Flyball with him.

The first thing she said when she walked in was that my dogs had put weight on since her last visit a month ago! I hate over-weight dogs… You often don’t notice as you see your own dogs every day.  So, from today, they are all on a diet… Not just mummy dog Jade, who always seems to be a little fatter than I like… Though my vet says she’s fine! I’d rather have them on the lean side than on the fat side.

So new rules around here:

1. A lot less titbits please.
2. No left-over food to be given unless I add it to their normal meals and adjust the complete food accordingly!
3. No falling for soft brown eyes looking at you pleadingly to be fed.
4. No cheating when I’m not looking.
5. More exercise for the dogs.

For the last seven years, Angela has been living up the road running a different parish and has now got a job in Scotland. She moved up there at the end of last month. Her and all 10 of her dogs.

One of her dogs – Flite, a lovely bitch – was entered in Breed at Crufts, so she had come back for the show and has been sorting out the old vicarage. 

Flite picked up a third place at Crufts.

Here she is chewing on a bone in my house.

Angela had taken yesterday off to go to her friend Sarah’s to work her two young dogs on sheep. Then popped in to visit me on her way back to where she was staying. She’ll be travelling back up to Scotland next week.

This morning… I woke with a bad tummy (as so often happens these days), and took some tablets to bind me. We were expecting Pete to turn up after ten to fix a small leak we had on a join in a pipe leading up to the shower which he put in a while ago. I did not need to have to kick him out of the bathroom because I needed it!

I enjoy a visit from Pete as he was born and bred in Long Sutton and he knows about everything that is going on around the area. So we get all the latest gossip!

Apparently, there has been a spate of thefts from cars lately. Silly people leaving sat navs and laptops visible in their cars!  More than normal have been broken into. We have a very small police force in this area. I doubt anyone will get their articles returned.

Anyway, Pete fixed the leak and tightened a screw or two. Had a cup of tea, a couple of fags, then arranged when he could come and help get our swimming pool sorted for us.

I managed to dissuade Dave from having a Hot Tub and that re-vamping the swimming pool would be a better idea. Luckily, I won that discussion and we are now putting some heating in the pool. And we are re-lining it as there was a small hole we had to fix each year!  By the time we have done everything, it will have cost nearly as much as a hot tub would have cost!!!

One good thing is that Dearly Beloved did manage – eventually - to get his £500.00 deposit on the hot tub back. That really was pure luck. Normally, a deposit is non-refundable. I think my nagging and teasing was worse to bare than the wroth of the man who took Dave’s deposit! Poor man reluctantly returned the deposit as I think he was sick of Dave nagging him and threatening him with the Small Claims Court!

Pete is off for a short break. He has been very busy lately. Then, if we have everything we need, he’s coming back early next month to sort the pool out.

So I’ve sent dearly beloved on a mission: To get all the things we need to get the pool finished. He hasn’t got the liner or new skin yet. We already have the expensive heater and other odds and sods we need.

I’ve got an article I’ve been asked to write for a magazine, so I must get started.

Have a good weekend Folks… Stay safe.