..of bones and bar--b-q's

Well, they must have called in to that big special dog-treat-place when they went shopping.  You know the one, its got a rabbits in the middle of the floor (in a glass thingie so I can see them but not touch - how not-fair is that?), because they came home with a bone for me.

At first I was not quite sure what to do with it.  I carried it round, hid it under the cushions on the settee, and then got it out again 10 mins later ... then I dropped it on the stairs.  Dad said it was as good as a landmine for anyone coming downstairs in the dark.  Unreasonable Mum wouldn't let me chew at it on the bed, so I left it hidden on Dad's side, just where he would have stepped on it as he got up in the night ....

Finally I had it out in the garden ...

... but then I saw Dad taking the cover off the bar-b-q ...

... so the bone needed to be put somewhere safe while I helped Dad out.  I looked all around ...

....this looks like a reasonable place ...






..... but this looks better ......




... especially if I dig a bit of a hole, put the bone in and then cover it up ..... no-one will look under here ... should be quite safe ......

...bone?  what bone? 

(all I have to do is remember where I buried it!)



.... coming Dad .... I'm coming ....

..... so what can I do to help?

(oh my goodness, he's got beefburgers, sausages and STEAK ... I haven't had steak for simply AGES ..)



.... you dropped a bit ....

dont worry, I got it ... no mess ....


... and I know there is some on there specially for me, there always is ....

I LOVE bar-b-q's.

My special friend ...

ZUMA!

His garden backs onto our field, and Dad often walks me past. If Zuma is out in the garden he comes running up to the wire fence.  We always say hello, but have not had the chance to play together because the fence is in the way .... until this evening.



Zuma's Mum was just bringing him back from his walk, and they go past our house.  That was my chance to say hello.

He is a real chunkie chappie, and very handsome..  I've got the legs, Zuma has the weight....... but we are both totally gorgeous.

One day, maybe, we could get to play over the field.  We would need plenty of room so we dont knock anyone over because we both get a bit boisterous.

Here are Zuma's family.  I got to give his Mum a kiss.  Dominik had hold of my lead.  Now I know they go past, I shall watch out the window for them.

A picture is worth a thousand words .

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

She's got that dratted camara again!

BIG yawn..

Look, go away.  Cant you see I'm really busy.

You can go play in the rain if you want, I'm staying here.

Now go away!

Hide'n'Seek

Thought I would show you the game I play when I'm over our field - its called Find Cally.

If you can find me in that one you have sharper eyes than Mum.

Look close, right in the middle, and you will just see my tail and flapping ear as I jump. I have to bounce through the field now cos the crop is so high I cant see over it, so I go through like a rubber ball bouncing ...

BOO!  Now you see me ... but if you blink I'll be gone again.!

... and while you are scanning the horizon, blowing the whistle and calling me to come back, I'll come from the direction you least expect, sneak up behind you and POUNCE!


Oh its a good game.

Heatwave

What was that, Dad?  A run over the fields?  I really dont think so.  Just click the fan up a notch before you go, please and thank you. ...

....

oh yes, and while you're at it, a few more ice cubes in my water bowl wouldn't go amiss ...

Visitor brings a Gift

Well the rain came back again - and it lasted for days.  I dont go out in the rain if I can help it.  Its sneaky, you know, I get Mum up in the night to take me out to wee - and when we get to the back door its jolly raining!  Then we have a bit of a stand-off.  Mum is trying to give me a shove to get me out - and I am bracing all four legs and saying NO.  Sometimes, she wins, sometimes I win and we just have to sit and watch latenight tv until it stops.




But it wasn't raining when Carolyn came to visit. I like Carolyn lots.  She brought me a massive chewy thingie with chicken breast strips wrapped around it.

We all went out in the garden in the nice sunshine, and I took my big chewy.  It needed a lot of dedicated chewing that did.


Every now and then I needed to rest my jaws for a bit, so I had to find a good place to bury it.

 ... but it wasn't long before I dug it up again.

Mum and Carolyn were laughing at me because I buried it, dug it up and chewed for a while, then reburied .... and repeat.... and repeat ....

..course it did accumulate a bit of debris along the way, and a good coating of dirt, but hey ho who cares!

I even went back to say thank you nicely a couple of times.  Who knows, if I'm polite enough she might bring me another next time.

... course it did give me a extraordinaryly dodgy tummy, but heck small price to pay, I reckon.  I'll do it all over again if I can persuade Carolyn not to listen to Mum saying not to bring another!







I mean, I NEED something new to chew as there is not a lot left of the brush.  I've demolished the handle completely - mind the little blue bits on the lawn Dad, better remove them before the grass gets much longer as I dont think they will do the mower much good.!










No, I'm not snarling, I'm just trying to shift the bristles that have got stuck in my teeth ....

It HAS stopped raining!

Good gracious, its stopped raining!  The sun came out!  Time to take them out for a long walk again, besides they need bread so its into Membury we go.

I'm ready and waiting!  People take so long.  They have to change their shoes, find a shopping bag, decide whether to take a coat or not.... and then she cant remember where she put the camera, honestly its almost never ending!  Why they cant just get up and go, like me,  I will never understand.

Really all they have to do is get their priorities right, grab my lead and a bag of treats .....

People just  make things complicated!

 This is the road to Membury.  Its just wide enough for the car.  Mum keeps her eyes shut .. Dad has to drive.  Good job we walked this time cos there was a pony and trap coming down!

There is a little stream running alongside the road which must make it even more interesting to drive down.

In fact, if you look close you will see where one of these stripey posts thingies has been knocked over the stream into th house.

This is where I have my paddle and get a drink.  The water is cold and it tickles my toes cos its running downhill rather fast.

I was a bit nervous first time, cos its a jump down off the wall to the water, but it was hot and I was thirsty so I jumped ... once I got the hang of it I had to go in every time we went past.

Well, it was a lovely walk and I even had half Mum's ice-cream ... and the lady from the shop always comes out with a biscuit ....


We had a lovely holiday, rain or no rain, and we are going to come back again.  I shall look forward to that.

Escaping Neighbours!

There are the neighbours.  There are a lot of baby lambs in there.  They dont have a lot of sense, you know, lambs, but their mum's are quite crafty.  There was one who just would not stay in the field.  It escaped - and its two babies followed it - and we found it half way down our drive.  Me and my Dad soon sorted them out.  Chased them back into their field and shut the gate.

Would you believe they did it again!  But we showed 'em .... back they went.  That sheep-mum got quite annoyed with us and came back and head-butted the gate a few time!

Its Not Stopped Raining!

Its been raining all week, but we really dont mind all that much.  The folks have their boots and macs so its not stopped us going out.  Yesterday we went to Lyme Regis.  I didn't like it much as it was raining hard and there were just too many people about.  Mind you, the pasties were nice.

In fact, I saw a bit of a lady's pasty drop onto the ground.  I nearly toppled Mum over in an attempt to grab it, but one of those dratted seagulls got there first.  Snatched it from right in front of my nose!  The cheek of it.  Mum said they are pirates.  In fact there was a large sign which said 'Please dont feed the seagulls'.  Huh, they are quite capable of feeding themselves, if you ask me.

We didn't stop long cos it was raining very hard and I dont like hard rain, so we went back to our cottage.

Sunny Sunday

Sunday was warm and sunny, so the first thing I did was to take Mum out to find the nearest footpath.  We didn't have far to go, just about 100 yards from Woodpecker Cottage, is a lovely place for me to stretch my legs.  Bet you can hardly see me in this pic as I was off so fast the camera click just couldn't keep up.

Did you spot me?  That dot in the distance is me.  This one is easier - its me nearly back again!

Mum was wittering on about wild flowers, but I was more intested in an intriguing smell....... its not often that I cant identify a smell right away.  Dad says my nose will never go rusty.

Devon grass tastes different, so I have to sample a bit here and there.

I was happily grazing away, giving Mum time to catch up to me (she's terrible slow going uphill, you know, and I have to hang around until she makes it!).  So there I was minding my own business when there was this noise ....

... from the field behind me ...

Baaaaaa Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa


I looked over my shoulder    ...........................

... and shot four foot back in a bit of a hurry.

I honestly dont mind watching them from respectable distance ....

... but, really, it was time for her to take me home - when she managed to stop laughing, of course, honestly some people need to get their sense of humour in order .....

... and later I walked them all the way into Membury along the lane - they call them 'roads' , you know, but Mum says they are more like footpaths with a bit of tarmac thrown down as Dad has had to flip the side mirrors flat to the sides to the car to get through without taking half the hedge along too.  Now that was a long walk and quite tired them out - I, of course, was ready to go again!  Still it was a two-poo-and-a-paddle walk, and therefore quite satisfactory for one day.

Off to the Country ..

They turfed me off the bed at 7.30 on Friday, which I thought was a bit over-enthusiastic of them until I realised that the time had come - we were going on holiday!  Thank goodness for the new wheels - there was room for two of my beds, plus their boots, which meant I could stretch out, roll over, and generally make myself comfortable for the long trip.

We stopped just about every hour so I could have a stroll.  They wanted me to wee, but I wasn't about to do that - a Lady does NOT wee in public.  Mum got a bit anxious, but Dad said "Callie will wee when she is ready".  Right on, Dad.

In one of the places we stopped there was a wonderful smell coming out of a van with a window.  There was a man inside cooking sausages - big long fat sausages.  Mum got one in a bread roll - with ketchup.  I just love sausages in a roll with ketchup so I helped Mum eat her's.  After all, it was much too big for her to eat all by herself.  Dad had a massive beefburger in a roll, so I helped him out too.  Good stop that, will watch out for that place on the way back.

This is the front of the cottage we are staying in.  Its called Woodpecker Cottage.  This morning, from the bedroom window (which goes all the way down to the floor so we have lots of view) we watched a Greater Spotted Woodpecker tapping his way up and down the fence posts of the field next door.  Its real country here.

In the next cottage there are four dogs.  They will have to walk past our back gate to get to the field behind or the little car park, so I thought I would sit here and wait for them.

Its only neighbourly, after all, to say hello.

Its been such a busy day.  I'll just sit here until Dad gets my dinner up, and after that its definitely time for bed.  Tomorrow promises to be most interesting so I will need some sleep if I am to stay on top of the game - and make sure the folks get enough exercise.

Busy day.

Good morning, so nice to meet you.  What good manners you have.  (Mum, what IS it?  Ahhh, a sausage dog, that stands to reason, it looks sort of sausage-y and doesn't seem to have any legs!. )

Dont you go in the river, youngster, you'll drown!

Ya-heee, Dad's mowing the grass.  I help him by running around him in circles until he yells for Mum to come get me.

That's better, they have both gone inside.  Now is my chance to get the brush.  She thought it was out of my reach on the window sill ... she really ought to know better.  I mean, its just asking for me to chew out the bristles isn't it, giving me an interesting challenge to get to it.

Drat! She's seen me.  Brush?? Wot brush? 

The perfect end to the day .

Dad's bar-b-q-ing.  I will sit here and make sure that he doesn't forget my sausages.

Remember I like them well done, Dad, with just a little touch of sauce. 

A Pointer's work is never done.

First things first.  Food.  Mopping up around the bird table is a must.  Those doves are just such messy eaters, and I am a very tidy Pointer (when it comes to anything edible, that is).  Anything dropped on the ground is mine - if I can get to it before Mum.  She picks it up and puts it back on top.  I just dont understand her reasoning, I can clean it up quicker than she can and the doves dont get to throw it off all over again.

Ha! She missed that bit.   There is just something delicious about soggy bread when its meant for the birds and not for me.

Blackbird!  ~~~~Dashing down the garden is hopeless, I never catch him.  Maybe a bit of sneaking will work better ~~~~

Drat!

Oh well, there are other things to do .... like making off with the wood she's put by the side of the little fire thingie ....

... or a bit of digging .... when no-one is watching, of course.  You know, I really can't understand why they dont let me stay out here on my own, there is so much to do ...










.....oops ...

Hey Mum, its dead.