A Weekend
Posted: Tue 8 November, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Travel 3 Comments »So, yes, that weekend away. What did we do?
To be honest, in some ways it can probably be summed up using the phrase “Not a great deal, really”.
Friday was mainly taken up with the drive down to Somerset – which I’m pleased to say I did the majority of. Two-ish hours of motorway fun on the M4, and then through Bristol (a minor navigational hitch which we’ve learned a lot from – primarily “Never go this route again”). Having got down to the place we were staying, Hound then got a run on the beach, which was much needed. Then some shopping for food etc., and a “Bloody hell, we’ve stopped” moment which led to complete exhaustion.
Saturday we were determined to exhaust Hound before any fireworks started. First off a quick walk round the park, then off to Lake Wimbleball for another hours-ish walk, then to Combe Sydenham, down to Dunster beach for another one, and then back to the beach at the park for another hour. So all told about four, four and a half hours of walking the Hound in order for her to be knackered. But it worked – she slept for the entire evening, and didn’t even twitch at most of the fireworks that went off. Mission accomplished.
Overnight it absolutely slashed it down, so Sunday didn’t involve much at all – a couple of walks when the weather allowed, and a relaxed day of reading papers, organising mailing lists, and similar.
And then Monday was just the drive back – now all we need is a rest after the holiday…
Ooooh, Aaaaah, Pretty
Posted: Sun 6 November, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Thoughts 2 Comments »Despite the fact I was born on November 5th, and thus kind of see fireworks as something special, I have to also admit that every year I like them less and less. I still don’t feel I’ve had a birthday until I’ve seen a proper fireworks display – on one memorable occasion that didn’t actually happen ’til December – but with every year I believe less and less that fireworks should be sold to the public.
The season for fireworks now seems untenable long – particularly when, as we do, you have pets who seriously don’t like fireworks. It appears to start at the beginning of October, and really go on, admittedly slightly sporadically, ’til mid January. And that’s too long.
As I’ve said in previous years, I believe that fireworks should be withdrawn from public sale. They simply shouldn’t be on sale in shops – simple as that. The only people allowed to purchase fireworks should be qualified people, and instead fireworks displays should be public events, organised and done safely.
Yes, there’s still the potential for accidents, but I’d rather that that potential for accidents happened in an environment where there are already people from St John Ambulance, first-aiders, or whatever, along with all the proper extinguishing equipment in easy reach, rather than the current events where accidental injuries (and not-so-accidental ones) happen in suburban gardens, or on streets where some dopey little fucker has thought it’ll be a good idea to throw a lit firework through a letterbox, or at someone on the street, or to chuck them into pubs.
In fact, I believe that the public displays should be funded at least partially by local authorities, who would be able to get money from national government. Where would the money come from? Well, all of a sudden there wouldn’t need to be any firework safety adverts on TV – I’d guess that there’s a fair amount of money spent there, for instance.
So yes – much as I love them (and much as Herself hates them) I’d like to see them utterly banned from sale to the public, along with suitable fines/punishments for any unlicensed person in possession of a firework.
I think it’d make a lot more sense, and allow everyone to celebrate Guy Fawkes (and just how fucked up is it to celebrate a terrorist, let alone a failed one?), Diwali, or whatever, safely, in public, without the nightly risks of walking the streets and coming across some stupid little bastard with an explosive device and a lighter…
Bucking Farmy
Posted: Wed 2 November, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Thoughts Leave a comment »As some regular readers probably recall, this week is one of the worst in the year for Hound. She’s absolutely petrified of fireworks, and the run up to November 5th is a nightmare for her. Admittedly she’s a lot better this year than last year, when she pretty much had a total mental/nervous breakdown. We’ve been seeing a homeopathic vet who has prescribed her lycopodium, which has had an amazing effect on bringing down her anxiety and stress levels in general, but still this time of year isn’t a good one. In fact, for this week we actually have her on sedatives in the evening – it’s not something I like doing, but it’s far preferable (both for her and for us) than the effects we saw this time last year.
However, it doesn’t mean we’re any less barmy. This week I’ve been leaving the office at about 2.30pm, so I can get home and give her a decent long walk/run round the local park, so that we can then be home and she can be doped up in plenty of time before night comes, and along with it the legions of bangs, whizzes and whees that seem to make up the majority of small-scale fireworks.
Today was the final straw in that concept – it’s absolutely chucked it down with rain, and I don’t feel it would be far from accurate to call it torrential. Hound is now soaked – well, she’s been dried off a bit, but the poor sod was absolutely dripping – and with luck it also means that we won’t have any fireworks tonight.
But yes, I still feel decidedly crackers, knowing that I’m leaving work early in order to come home and walk the dog so she’s had some exercise and can hopefully sleep a bit through any fireworks that do happen. So really it’ll just be me and Herself who worry about the fireworks this time…
Trick or Tr-bzzzzzzzzzt
Posted: Mon 31 October, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Sweary, Thoughts 3 Comments »Ah joy, for tonight is
- All Hallows Eve, when darling little munchkins wander the streets done up in fancy dress, knocking on people’s door to chorus the jolly inhabitants with the traditional cry of “Trick or Treat!”
- bloody Halloween, when snot-gobbling little chavvy tosspots stalk the streets done up in cheap tat masquerading as fancy dress, bashing on doors to yell “Trick or Treat” when people open them, in the method known to all and sundry since the late 80s when ET made the fucking festival popular across the Atlantic
- Hallowe’en, when all (in)decent witches and pagans go out and sacrifice goat/child/dog to the gods of all that is unholy
I tend to be of the attitude that b) is the way to go. It’s not enough that Hound is currently stressed by fuckwit arseholes setting off fireworks at all hours of the day/evening/night, and is currently making use of vet-prescribed sedatives. No, we’ve now got to have the fucking doorbell going off to stress her out even more, closely followed by shit-for-brains hellspawn in sheets demanding sweets. Well, bollocks to them.
I’m considering linking the doorbell to the mains for the night. That should be an ample Trick to see the little sods off crying into their goody bags…
Conflict
Posted: Wed 5 October, 2005 Filed under: Animals 6 Comments »I don’t know quite what’s caused it, but at the moment Psycho Cat and Hound seem to be at war. It kicked off over the weekend, while we were out. I think that Hound had been trying to sleep on the same bed as Psycho Cat, or had been annoying him in some way, but I don’t honestly know.
Anyway, Sunday evening Psycho Cat stalked into the room where Hound was wandering out about, walked up to her and slashed across the back of Hound’s legs. Vicious little git. Hound was obviously unimpressed by this, and barked at Psycho Cat. And that was the end of it.
Until 3am. Again, neither of us knows what happened exactly, as we were both asleep, but all we heard was Psycho Cat hissing, then a yelp and a bark from Hound, who then jumped on the bed. And by the time we’d got her off the bed and downstairs, Cat was fast asleep on the bed, looking smug. I suspect that Hound had been sleeping in the doorway, and the Cat wanted IN to sleep on the bed. And of course rather than stepping round Hound, or anything simple, the psychotic little twat belted Hound.
Monday night was quiet – a state of truce existed…
This morning (we’re talking 5.30am) that truce apparently died. I’m not sure what got into Psycho Cat, but he was bouncing off the walls, scratching carpets, jumping around, the lot. Normally this means his food’s not down (or not in the right place – I kid ye not) so I got up, sorted that out, and went back to bed. That didn’t stop Psycho Cat though, who kept on bouncing round the place. All went quiet, and then Hound started barking.
I suspect that Cat got bored, went downstairs to where Hound was sleeping at the bottom of the stairs, whacked her again, then stalked out the back door. Probably stopping just outside the cat-flap so that Hound could see him. That’s about the norm.
Hopefully at some point peace will again reign. In the meantime, I suspect at least a couple more disturbed nights will be heading our way…
Coastal
Posted: Fri 9 September, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Travel 1 Comment »We’ve spent a fantastic day out on the north Norfolk coast, at Wells-next-the-Sea. We didn’t spend much time in the town itself, instead taking the two Hounds that we’re housesitting to the beach. And oh boy, did they enjoy it. An hour of playing in the sea – it’s amazing how many time you can chuck a Kong into the waves for two idiot Black Labs to retrieve – as well as a good long walk along the side of the beach – and they’re now knackered.
In fact, at half seven, both Chunky and Monkey were fast asleep, with Chunky actually having gone to her bed voluntarily. Most shocking, but fantastically fun.
Muzzled
Posted: Sun 28 August, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Thoughts 1 Comment »Every so often I get accused of being far too derogatory about my fellow human beings – primarily because I apparently decide that they’re “all” (for which read “the great majority”) effing stupid, and normally with more feet than IQ points. On a charitable day I might allege that they’ve more digits than IQ points. But that’s about as far as it goes.
On the other hand, I sometimes believe that I still actually over-estimate the intelligence, common sense, and general willingness to continue living. Or at least living with a full complement of those aforementioned digits.
Today’s example…
If you were to see a bloody huge German Shepherd dog tied up outside a supermarket, with no owner in sight, would you approach it, saying “Oh, what a cute dog?” Possibly.
If the same dog were visibly pissed off and growling, would you still go up to it? Probably not.
If the same dog, as well as being pissed off and growling, was wearing a very solid muzzle – and let’s bear in mind, here, that German Shep’s aren’t listed under the Dangerous Dogs Act, and so don’t have to be muzzled in public – then would you go near it? Almost certainly a resounding “fucking hell, no” is the reaction here.
But no, as I came out of the supermarket, two stupid twats were trying to stroke it. Despite growling, hackles, and barking through the muzzle. Fortunately the owner came out just after me, and suggested that perhaps the twats should fuck off out of it before he decided to just take the muzzle off, and let the dog have some fresh meat. If you’d seen the owner, you’d have believed him too.
The point of this is that I was actually considering taking Hound down, and doing the same thing – she gets anxious and snappy when strangers come up to her, so I’d definitely have muzzled her, but I did think that having the muzzle on would suggest to people that she shouldn’t be approached. See what I mean about over-estimating now?