Oooowooo - OW OW OW!

I'm in pain, and nobody cares! The humans just keep looking at me all sad, and gently picking me up and feeding me treats and uttering sympathetic noises but nobody REALLY cares. I have had to go to the vets for my annual jabs, which made me squeak, but Dad just told the vet not to worry as I'm a known drama queen.

I was then OK in the car on the way home via some obscure farm cottages in Eastling (something to do with allotments), bouncing around the car and shouting at any passing dogs, and I was OK while Dad trimmed our bums and eyes.

But when the humans decided to go buy a Christmas tree I suddenly realised I was in pain, and I've been woosing around ever since, stiff shouldered and stiff necked, whimpering with pain at every opportunity. It Hurts me so! It's not fair. Dad says we'll rest it and lift me everywhere and see how we are in the morning.

Make it go away! OWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Deefski (Poor wounded soldier)

A little bit of what you fancy

Over the last 2 days, it's been something for everyone. Yesterday Mum and Dad abandon us for a day trip to France, leaving us to the tender mercies of the Angel B and Uncle Jim. They head for a favourite restaurant (La Restaurant du Cygne) in St Omer

http://www.restaurantlecygne.fr/

which is only about 50 kms inland from Calais. It's very posh, they say, and you find it hard pushed not to sit back with a smug glow thinking "aren't we the badgers nadgers?". There is also time for a bit of shopping for the Christmas Calavados and treats. Yet again they manage to swing a clear skied day with little wind, so the channel is pretty close to mill pond smoothe, and Dad still hasn't seen Mum be sea-sick.

Mum warned Dad about 15 years ago that she was a terrible traveller and prone to turning green as soon as she left port, but in those 15 years, every sea crossing has somehow happened on a reasonable day, so Dad is half expecting Mum to finally admit "Ha ha! Only kidding!".

Because we get left behind on these trips, not having the required rabies jabs and paperwork, Haggis and I get a compensatory nice long walk at Reculver. Here you see us close to, on the beach, then far away on a distant mussel-bedecked mud bank with the towers in the distance, and also some of the hundreds of brent geese over-wintering at Reculver. A girl can put up quite a honking clamour of geese if she runs at a flock fast enough, and none of them turn on me as did those domestic geese up by the narrow boating canal!

Finally, Mum takes Meggie off for a quiet stroll in the Rec, smuggling her out the front of the house while dad distracts us with a bout of greenhouse cleaning. 2 times round the tennis couts apparently and not a blade of grass un-sniffed. So - everyone's happy, and now it's the start of the weekend.

Look after yourselves

Deefski

Winter

It's that time of year again when we are allowed real fires. This pic's a bit of a cheat, being a couple of years back but it gives a nice warm idea of what I'm on about. Meg, needless to say.

Nice walk this morning, down through town while Dad looks around for inspiration on a quiz he has to "quizmaster" for the local Horticultural Society. In the purpose of that we get to meet a load of dogs on the Rec including brown and white Staffie, Frank, plus chihuahuas Trigger and Simba, long haired and short haired respectively. Trigger is a mad fast black guy who will chase around with anything that will chase around with him (I'm up for a bit of that). Simba is a very nervous rescue dog who is convinced he's gonna get mullered by every dog he meets. We help out with a bit of socialisation therapy there!

Meanwhile, it's all change in the Panini Room, with the new fridge freezer now fired up and filled, so the old fridge and freezer go variously to the shed and the dump. This computer gets a new screen.

All the best

Deefski.

Do I come here often?

Time for a bargee update, I feel. Here is a photo in through the front entrance of the lighter / polytunnel, which gives you an immediate idea of how the restoration is coming on. Visit the Cambria Trust website www.cambriatrust.org.uk and one of the first pics you'll see on the home page is the tired old bow and the splintering, rotten wood of the stem as the old girl languishes in the lighter and is brought back to Faversham for her restoration.

Contrast that with the smart new white-painted (for the moment) stem post which is clearly visible in the pic, and the crisp smart curves of the (also white) "wale" planks (top of the sides of the hull) and you'll be queueing to get on trains down here to gape, mesmerised at the brilliant progress. OK maybe not.

Dad blags another "poets" so we (the "H" and myself) get another good vigorous daylight walk, down past the water works to the creek, east along the levee and then back in land from Nagden, to the allotments, where we stop off to admire the broad bean plants but also to be appalled by the shaggy wet grass. Dad has not been able to get on the plot for a month, it seems like - continuous tilting rain.

All the other plot holders seem to be out there , too, walking around morosely with their dogs, frustrated by the inability to get on the site and dig. Nobody does "morose" quite like an allotment holder in the rain.

Meanwhile, Dad is getting all "togg"-ish on us, swearing he has read a specific bargee article in a mag, but then being unable to find the article again. Silly old git.

Rumour has it both Mum and Dad are off work all week next week. Have a great weekend.

Deefski

Poets

With Dad having blagged a "poets" he's finally home in the dry daylight, and we are all treated to a walk down at Conyer Creek. We love this logo on the gated community at North Quay, which is cut out of sheet metal and painted white.

Conyer is, as ever, alive with bunnies and there is much fun to be had hunting in amongst the bushes, but it also seems to be THE PLACE to take your dogs at that time of day, presumably squeezed in between the end of work and it getting dark.

Quite sociable it all was. Have a good weekend

Deefer

PS - we seem to have swept straight through the third birthday of this blog, which was the 18th November. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun.

Going Backwards

At the risk of going backwards on this blog, having finished the building works, I attache, courtesy of the Angel B, this striking pic of the house with a big hole in it, prior to the Panini Boys installing the new French Windows.

It seems a while back now - all the work finished and our visit from the Silverwoods come and gone. Dad dropped them back to Gatwick this afternoon. They had a great time and did a lot of the stuff they had on their lists including this morning a good old play around the "toys" in the Rec and a drive in the 2CV out to see the old Mmle car. We also fitted in a couple of trips to Diamond's place, where little J-M (9) has now fallen in love with most of Diamond's wardrobe and doll collection. Look out Diamond - count the dolls before we leave!

But now it's nice to have the house back - no builders, no guests, just us lot chilling out and watching a bit of Antiques Roadshow

Look after yourselves

Deefer

Them Jonasses again

Well - you'll be pleased to know the girls thoroughly enjoyed their Jonas concert, coming back very tired at 02:00 but saying words like "brilliant" and "cool". Mum reported that it was very loud and at one stage asked if you could die from the screams of tens of thousands of pre-teen girls, plus reporting that she was pleased she'd taken her ear plugs but was sad she'd forgotten to take a book to read, and some Bach to play through the earphones. Mrs S was more "up for it" and has J-M balanced on one chair seat while Em-J was boogie-ing on the next chair.

Dad was meanwhile, chilling out back here with us to Terry Wogan and the "Children in Need" thing and "Autumn Watch". With all this stoppin' out, nobody was up very early for breakfast, so we got a walk through the soggy grass of the Cemetery, and were very dirty by the time we joined spanking-white westies Jasper and AN Other in the Rec.

Today's main entertainment for the humans was a trip down to see the Pud-Lady in Hastings, but with the car already full of people, there was no room for us. We got to sleep all day in the house. Panini-boss John called round to collect his money, so he's happy too.

Now Em-J and J-M have been practising their frog catching skills down at the pond, with torches and rain coats against the rain. Mad, the lot of them. Indoors we have a coal fire going in the Panini Room, so when they come back in at least they can get warm and dry.

Have a great weekend

Deefski