Clipped and Shampoo'd

Clipped at the weekend and now shampoo'd we are allegedly sparkly white, sweet, fragrant, silky and cute. We are certainly full of beans and Haggis in particular, rescued from his thick shaggy and presumably over-heating coat has taken on a new lease of life in willingness to play rough and tumble with me.

Mother of Ben (black collie cross, frequent Rec-walker, him of the peepy-toed black-with-white-toes feet) is not so sure and chides Dad for clipping us "in this weather". Amusingly mother of Luca (brown lurcher) jokingly gives out to Bens' Mum that she's only cold because she stands around in one place on the Rec chatting instead of walking! We are, in fact, now only as short-haired as both Ben and Luca always are.

Luca is great fun. His Mum comes equipped with a long-arm ball-throwing "spoon" and hardish-foam balls in two bright colours. He is happy to chase one while I chase the other, and we have a great game together. We move to up behind the bowls pavilion where Luca's Mum plays "tennis" which involves lobbing the balls against the walls of the pavilion and Luca trying to catch the rebounds. Dad wonders that the bowling fraternity don't get upset by the smack of balls against their nice new walls, but the lady says "Oh, you can only do it when there's no-one in there!". That's alright then!

Meanwhile, Diamond is about to go back into hospital for the next burst of medical treatment. Good luck Diamond - we are rooting for you. We know this is not going to be an easy one.

Deefski