Rigg the Pig

Today it is my Boneday and I am 7 years old and waiting patiently for Whitevanwoman to give me the bone which she brought home a couple of days ago and which has been “hidden” in the kitchen ever since (Ha! I sussed out straightaway where it was). I’m really hoping Whitevanwoman will let me have it now but I have a sneaky suspicion that I will have to wait until after I’ve had my dinner tonight.

Whitevanwoman said to me that as you get older, birthdays get less exciting, and that you reach a point where you really don’t want to celebrate the fact that you have got a year older. She says that usually happens when you become middle-aged. I think Whitevanwoman must have become middle-aged a long time ago, because as far as I can remember, she has never really got that excited about her birthday, apart from when she had a birthday nearly 2 years ago when she said it was a “Big One”. I think that means that its an age with a “0″ at the end. She said to me that humans have quite a few birthdays like that but most dogs only have one birthday with an “0″ at the end. Somehow that doesn’t really seem fair to me.

Apparently now I am on the verge of becoming middle-aged. I don’t feel middle-aged and I try hard not to act middle-aged. The only real difference in me now from when I was a youngster is that I like to have a good long sleep after a long walk instead of just a quick nap, and I have to admit somewhat reluctantly that I think my white goatee is getting more obvious and I’m getting a white moustache now as well as a white goatee. But I can live with both of those without any real problems, so I can’t see how being middle-aged is that much of a big deal.

So long as my birthday bones keep coming, I’m quite happy to have as many birthdays as possible

Later…

my birthday bone

Happy Boneday to me

Happy Boneday to me

I’m as happy as a dog can be

Happy Boneday to me

Saying "Please"

Happy Boneday to me, I'm as happy as a dog can be

When me and Whitevanwoman went to bed last night, it had started snowing and there was a thin layer of snow in the back yard. When we woke up this morning, there was several inches of snow and it was snowing heavily.

Whitevanwoman was pleased as because it means we can go sledging and I can try my husky harness and the sledge out in the snow.

Whitevanwoman told me today that the search dogs have all gone up to Aviemore for a week to find some snow to do some avalanche training. I must admit to having a little snigger – he he he – they’ve gone all that way for some snow and now we’ve got loads here – he he he!

I remember when me and Whitevanwoman went up to Aviemore with the search dogs to do avalanche training in the snow 4 years ago. It was great and I had a lovely week, finding people hidden in the snow, and the cold didn’t bother me in the slightest. My thick double layered coat and robust constitution (as a result of regular dietary supplements from the compost bin, and the odd loaf of bread left carelessly on the kitchen work bench by Whitevanwoman) means that I perform well in the cold, although I do struggle a bit in hot weather.

Whitevanwoman told me later that she had been told that I was the best trainee search dog that week. We were both really pleased about that, which makes it so sad that it was only a couple of months later that we stopped search dog training as Whitevanwoman didn’t think we were very good at it and there was lots of other things that she needed to do but which she wasn’t doing because of spending so much time training with the search dogs. It was so disappointing for both of us and I think we both wish things could have been different but I probably wouldn’t have become a sledge dog if I had become a search dog as we wouldn’t have had the time (or energy) to do all the other exciting things we do now. I remember being so tired when we got home from Aviemore and slept for about 2 days solid – although it was one of the best weeks of my life, it was definitely the most tiring week I’ve ever had.

I think I’d better start bugging Whitevanwoman to take me out to play in the snow, just in case it doesn’t last. It always seems to take her ages to get her boots and hat and gloves on and to find her keys, whilst I’m jumping round the place in excitement. If I start pestering her now, perhaps she’ll be ready to go out in about half an hour…

Several hours later…

Whitevanwoman eventually got her boots and coat on and we went outside to dig the white van out of the snow and clear the road. She had taken the wheels off the sledge and she filled it with snow which she had cleared off the road and then she dragged the sledge full of snow over to the garden and dumped the snow out of the way of the white van. I didn’t pull the sledge today (Whitevanwoman said it wasn’t worth the bother and I’d end up getting myself all tangled up) and I was pleased that Whitevanwoman is a good pack leader who believes that a leader should not expect others to do things they wouldn’t do themselves

After that she picked up the tennisball throwing stick and we went off for a snowy walk. We just did our usual short walk but we spent ages playing fetch the tennisball on the way – here’s some photos of me having fun in the snow this afternoon…

Why do tennisballs always roll downhill?

Just having a quick breather...

My white goatee has suddenly got bigger!

The sun was just setting as we got back from our walk and Whitevanwoman said that because the sky was quite red, it meant that it was going to be a cold night and hopefully a sunny day tomorrow. I don’t know how she knows that but I just accept, as ever, that Whitevanwoman is always right (even when she is wrong).

Red sky at night, Rigg's delight...

After a yummy dinner which included egg and chips (Whitevanwoman’s favourite dinner – ok, so the chips were the leftovers from last night as she is on a diet, and the egg wasn’t cooked and was so old that Whitevanwoman wouldn’t eat it), I am now stretched out in front of the stove (only because Miss Tibby has suddenly decided she likes my bed and she has started sleeping in it and I’m a bit scared of kicking her off it in case I get a scratched nose) and I’m just having 40 winks, thinking about tennisballs and snow…

Me and Whitevanwoman have been having lots of fun today.

modelling my new husky harness

She has got me a husky harness so that I can pull the sledge and today was the first time we have tried it out properly. She has put wheels onto the sledge which make it easier to pull on the road or on grass. After chopping up some old chairs with the axe, Whitevanwoman loaded the bits of wood onto the sledge and then I pulled it along the back lane to our back yard. It was easy peasy for a muscular athlete like me, so I can’t understand why people think huskies are so clever.

Here’s a photo of me in the sunshine in the backyard with the loaded up sledge…

If huskies can do it so can mongrels

After unloading the sledge, Whitevanwoman decided that as it was such a lovely sunny day, it would be a good day for having a walk on the fell so I was over joyed when she got my tennisball throwing stick and we set off along the fell side behind our kennel. I chased that tennisball up and down the fell at least a hundred times.

We walked along the fell side to the old quarry where I like a game of squash – Whitevanwoman throws the tennis ball at the rocks in the quarry and it bounces round off lots of different rocks and I chase after it trying to catch it before it hits the ground. Heres a photo of me waiting at the quarry for Whitevanwoman to catch up…

 

Today Whitevanwoman kept throwing the tennisball too high and instead of bouncing off the rocks, it kept getting lost at the top of the rocks so I had to scramble up and search for it. Heights don’t bother me, although I am careful where I put my feet when I’m up at the top of a rocky crag. It reminded me of my search dog training days and I put all my training to good use to find the tennis ball. Here’s some photos of me searching at the top of the rock face…

It's up here somewhere, I can smell it...

not here....

is it down there...?

Go on then, give us a clue...

Whitevanwoman was laughing her head off whilst I was searching and I wasn’t sure why – I thought she was just enjoying the sunshine but it turned out that she was laughing at me. I kept catching a whiff of tennisball at the top of the crag but despite searching and searching I couldn’t find it. I couldn’t understand why I could smell it but couldn’t find it.

Eventually Whitevanwoman called me down into the bottom of the quarry and suggested I look round the bottom of the crag. By this time I was so desperate to find the tennisball I was concentrating on sniffing it out rather than looking for it, and so I am a little ashamed to say that I missed it several times, coming within a few inches of it

It's behind you...

But eventually I saw it, nestled right at the bottom of the crag – the smell must have been rising in the heat of the sunshine up the crag and that’s why I could smell it at the top but not at the bottom. So that was a lesson learned and I think I need to practice my searching skills a bit more, although without being a search dog, there’s not much need for them. But I know Whitevanwoman is always pleased when I find her glove or something else which she has dropped accidently on our walks, so at least I do get to use my skills every now and then.

Then we went down from the quarry to the river and instead of going to our usual swimming area we explored somewhere new and found another excellent swimming area. I had a lovely game of swim fetch with the tennisball, doing some serious swimming as it was quite deep, and it was good to wash all the salt and grit from the winter out of my hair.

My usual swimming spot - you have to climb down the other side of the bridge, then scramble through the left hand tunnel to get to it

the other side of the bridge, where we climb down and then scramble through the little tunnel

my new swimming pool in the river - it's nice to have a change

Whitevanwoman was quite pleased to see me so wet as she’d been a bit worried that I was putting on as much weight as she has, but as you can see from the photos, I’m still lean and slim – Whitevanwoman thinks that perhaps people think I’m fatter than I am because I have very broad shoulders and my hair is quite fluffy. Phew! I hope that means that she is not going to cut my rations.

See, I'm still slim and athletic - I just have broad shoulders and a shaggy coat

Although I thoroughly enjoyed my swim, the water was very cold and my teeth started chattering so we had a brisk walk home and then I curled up happily tired in front of the stove, and dreamed of tennis balls, quarries and swimming

Whitevanwoman has been teaching me a new trick called “Legs”. It’s quite an easy trick now that I’ve figured out what “Legs” means – when Whitevanwoman says “Legs” and stands still with her legs apart, I have to walk through her legs. I can’t really see the point of it, but I like learning new tricks and enjoy having some attention from Whitevanwoman so I am a willing student. I have nearly got it sussed all the time now, but sometimes I get a bit mixed up and lie down “dead” instead of doing “legs” because the commands sound similar. Somehow I find I am able to concentrate better and get it right if Whitevanwoman has got a dog biscuit in her hand when she says “Legs”

I can’t help wondering if Whitevanwoman has an ulterior motive for teaching me some new tricks. I have a sinking feeling that maybe this is leading up to me becoming a dancing dog like the ones you see on Crufts on the TV – I do enjoy a little waltz round on my back legs with Whitevanwoman but I really can’t see myself doing all that doggy dancing to music stuff. To be honest, I don’t think I have the build for it – I’m a strong sturdy packhorse kind of dog, not a lean agile athlete.

I don’t know many other dogs who can do as many tricks as me. I’ve listed my best tricks below with an explanation :

• “Bang! You’re dead!” – when Whitevanwoman points her finger at me like a gun, and says this, I lie down and roll over on to my side, and pretend to be dead (although sometimes I’m not able to stop my tail from wagging). This trick is especially popular with children.
• “Give me five” – when Whitevanwoman says this and puts out her hand with the palm facing me, I put my paw on it. We like to do this when one of us has done something good.
• “High five” – similar to the above but Whitevanwoman puts her hand up high and I have to stretch up and touch my paw on her hand.
• “Tunnel” – this means I have to go through a tunnel or hoop
• “Speak” (and “Quiet”) – this was one of the first tricks I learned when I was only about 3 months old, and it means I have to bark loudly – I learned this because I was going to be a trainee Mountain Rescue Search Dog and Search Dogs have to “speak” when they find someone who is lost in the fells. Once I had mastered the “Speak” command, Whitevanwoman soon taught me the “Quiet” command, as I was very enthusiastic about speaking (and still am!)
• “Give me a hug” – Whitevanwoman only says this when she is sitting on the floor because I tend to knock her over otherwise. I sit up and put my front paws on her shoulders and lean my head against her chest, and we have a special moment together
• “Kiss” – I guess you will all know what this means, but instead of giving Whitevanwoman a juicy smacker on the lips, I give her a quick lick on the end of her nose. I don’t think she particularly likes getting dog slobber on her mouth
• “Dance” – Whitevanwoman puts her arm out and I stand up on my back legs and rest my front legs on her arm and we waltz around
• “Turn round” – whichever way I am facing when I am standing up, I have to turn round and face the other way – I learned this whilst being brushed by Whitevanwoman, so that she can brush both sides of me
• “Get back” – this means either walk backwards or go back to where I was depending on the circumstances – usually when I have been told to “stay” but I sneak off and Whitevanwoman tells me to “Get back”. Sometimes she says it when I am standing in front of her and stopping her from moving forward, so then it means that I have to walk backwards in front of her. It can be very confusing but I can usually tell from Whitevanwoman’s body language what she wants me to do.
• “Get up” – this is another command that means different things in different situations – if the back door of the white van is open, it means that I have to jump in the back and lie in my bed in the white van, but if we are out on a walk and there is a fence or stone wall we have to get over, it means that I have to jump over it.
• “Find it!” – one of my favourite commands and tricks, I have to go and find something. Again it depends on the circumstances – when I was learning how to be a Search Dog, “Find it” meant that I had to run off up the fell and sniff the wind to look for people who were lost (or pretending to be lost), but when we are at home, it means I have to find my toys. When we are out for a walk, and Whitevanwoman has thrown the tennis ball or dropped her glove or something else, it means I have to find it.
• “Fetch” – this is another command which means different things in different situations – when Whitevanwoman holds something next to my mouth and tells me to “Fetch”, I have to take hold of it in my mouth and carry it. Sometimes she points at something (like a stick or ball) and then “Fetch” means go and pick it up and bring it back to Whitevanwoman.
• “Give” – this means to let go of whatever I’ve got in my mouth
• “Push” – this means opening the door by pushing it with my nose – Whitevanwoman often gets me to do this when she is carrying things
• “Pleased to meet you” – this means offering my paw to someone to shake, I also have to say “Please” by doing the same thing before I’m allowed to eat my dinner
• “Manners” – When Whitevanwoman says this it means that I have to walk behind her and let her go in front – she usually says it when I’m on the lead and we are walking somewhere narrow or going through a gate.
• “Are you hungry?” – my favourite trick – I dash over to my dinner bowl, grab it in my mouth and take it to Whitevanwoman, often throwing it at her, although I think she prefers it when I put it nicely in her hand. Then Whitevanwoman fills it with dog food and I have to say “Please” and then I can tuck in.

 Of course, there are also the usual every day commands that most dogs know such as Sit, Lie down, Stand, Come here, Heel, Move out of the way, - these commands are second nature to me now, and so I don’t think of them as special tricks.

But I can’t help wondering if perhaps Whitevanwoman is thinking of putting all my tricks together one after the other, like the dogs which dance to music do. I’m not sure if I really fancy that as it will mean alot of learning and alot of practice, although so long as the training involves plenty of dog treats, I wouldn’t mind And now that I think about it, it would be quite good fun and I would get plenty of attention from people so I might just give it a go. I’ll keep you posted about our progress.

I’m very chuffed at the moment as I have just received my first fan mail from a lady called Sue who is also a whitevanwoman. It was a lovely surprise and WhitevanwomanSue said it was ok for me to share it with you all so this is what she said:

She sounds very like my Whitevanwoman so I wonder if it is a genetic thing, and that all Whitevanwomen are dog owners and like Robbie Williams and arty stuff and Facebook and being a bit gobby.

Whitevanwoman sent a message back to WhitevanwomanSue to say thank you for the lovely message and that she is glad she likes to read about my adventures. I’m very glad to see that WhitevanwomanSue has joined my Facebook Group “I’m mates with Rigg the pig” and that her little terrier dog, who is called Patch, has posted on my wall Although I like Border Collies (especially female ones) I think terriers are ok although they are often a bit gobby too. On the whole I tend to ignore gobby terriers unless they want to play with me, as they just get under my feet and I end up tripping up over them.

But Patch sounds ok as he likes chasing snowballs like me. I wonder if he is any better at finding them than I am. I must admit that I do feel like I have let myself down by not finding all those snowballs that Whitevanwoman has been throwing for me over the past few snowy weeks. I wonder if perhaps I need my eyes testing, as I can smell them where they’ve landed, but I just can’t seem to see them.

On the subject of my Facebook group, I must admit to being a little proud of the fact that I now have 27 Facebook mates Whitevanwoman said that she is getting a little concerned that I am going to end up having more Facebook mates than she does

Waggy New Year to all my four legged and two legged friends!

I had a lovely New Year’s Day – me and Whitevanwoman went for a long walk on the snowy fells I started to get excited when I saw Whitevanwoman get her walking boots and rucksack out of the white van. And then after she’d rummaged around in the cupboard under the stairs for a while and emerged triumphantly with her walking poles and crampons, I knew that a serious walk was on the cards. I scampered round the house in excitement whilst she spent ages packing all sorts of stuff in her rucksack – sleeping bag, snow goggles, map, compass, a massive chunk of Christmas cake and a flask of coffee – until she finally put her jacket on and off we went

We went along our usual path down to the river and along the lane to Roundthwaite but then instead of carrying along the lane, we turned off up the track up the hill to the common. I could hardly believe my luck! This was turning out to be a very good walk, almost an adventure

We stopped by the little wood which you can see from our kennel and Whitevanwoman took some photos of Balamory – our kennel is the white one in between the yellow one (where neighbours Emma and Alan live) and the blue one. You can even see the white van in the photos…

Then we headed on up onto the common and suddenly a herd of about 20 fell ponies came to investigate us. I think they thought my tennisball was an apple, and that maybe Whitevanwoman had some hay in her rucksack for them. I’ve met ponies before (like Velvet, the Ladthwaite pony – see my blog posts about being at Ladthwaite) but I’ve never met more than one of them at a time, so I was a little concerned to be surrounded by so many.

Whitevanwoman didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest – I remember her telling me stories about the naughty little Welsh Mountain pony called Revel who used to live with her when she was a girl – and she gave them all a pat. Personally, I just wanted to get on with our walk; I wasn’t exactly scared but having so many of them surrounding me, and sniffing at my bum and ears was making me distinctly uncomfortable and I was a little bit worried that they might try to eat me.

Help! It's trying to eat me!

After about 10 minutes, Whitevanwoman said good-bye to the ponies and we set off up the track which you could hardly see because it was buried in snow. Whitevanwoman had put her crampons on by now as she was finding it a bit slippery – that’s the problem when you only have 2 legs; having 4 legs makes it much easier to keep your balance.

Here’s a photo of where we were going – up the track which bears round to the right across Roundthwaite Common and then up onto the ridge at the right hand side, and along the ridge from right to left to Jeffrey’s Mount and then down to the road. This is the ridge and Jeffrey’s Mount is the big hill which you can see from our kennel.

The track continues up hill and then bears round to the right before bearing left again up to the ridge. Our walk took us along the top of the ridge from the right hand side to Jeffrey's Mount on the left, which you can't see in this photo.

Because the snow was so deep in places, Whitevanwoman was walking much slower than usual, but the deep snow didn’t stop me from galloping round. Once we got on top of the ridge, the wind was very strong and it was bitterly cold so we only stopped very briefly to take some photos but because it was so cold and the wind was so strong, Whitevanwoman couldn’t keep her camera still so they are a bit blurred.  

Looking south from Jeffrey's Mount with M6 and River Lune in background

Looking north from Jeffrey's Mount, with the lights of Tebay and the M6 and Orton Scar in the background

It was lovely to be up high and looking down on the world, and we had a spectacular view. By the time we had walked along the top of the ridge to Jeffrey’s Mount, it was beginning to get dark and it was almost completely dark by the time we got back to the road at the bottom.

It looked really pretty with the snow and the houses lit up with Christmas lights…

but we didn’t stop for long as we were both pretty tired by now and just wanted to get home to our kennel for some dinner and a rest. When we got home, we were both really really hungry so we both wolfed down our respective dinners and I put myself to bed and slept soundly, dreaming of tennisballs and snowdrifts

After a nice walk with Poppy, Molly, their owner Jules and Whitevanwoman this afternoon, I was settling down for the evening, waiting for my dinner, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Whitevanwoman went to open it and it was Farmer Richard with my mate Penny Penny used to live with Whitevanwoman and Lanky before I was born and Whitevanwoman had trained her to play fetch with the sheep, running round the field and bringing all the sheep to her. When I was a puppy, Penny used to look after me but she was always very bossy and I soon learned not to make her cross, otherwise she would give me a nip.

When Whitevanwoman moved to Balamory, Penny went back to live with Farmer Richard on the farm where she had been born, because Whitevanwoman didn’t have any sheep for Penny to fetch (Whitevanwoman just used to borrow the sheep at Newton Rigg when she was training Penny), and Penny is the kind of dog who needs to run round fields after sheep, otherwise she gets naughty and into all kinds of trouble.

This evening Penny knew where she was straightaway even though she has never lived here and has only visited a couple of times in the past 6 years, and she definitely remembered me and Whitevanwoman. It was lovely to see her again, and to see her looking so well (but a bit smelly from living outside on the farm), although she still hasn’t grown at all and is still very little, especially compared to me. But what she lacks in size, she makes up for in attitude, and she had soon settled herself in my bed and discovered my stash of old bones, and then wouldn’t let me anywhere near. I know from experience that Penny doesn’t like sharing things, so I kept my distance so as to avoid getting a nip from her.

Farmer Richard says that Penny is working very well as a sheepdog. She is beginning to settle down a bit now that she is 8 years old, but she can still be very giddy and a bit naughty sometimes. He says that whilst it can be exasperating when she doesn’t listen to his commands and sets off in the wrong direction, he does like her spirit. He thinks that she could do very well at the National and International Sheepdog trials over the next couple of years. She is already a National Trial Champion which makes her a very special sheepdog.  

Penny has got a boyfriend called Gus, who is just a young 2 year old sheepdog at Farmer Richard’s farm. Penny might be having puppies in a couple of months time and I am really hoping that one of her puppies will come to live with us next spring. Whitevanwoman is thinking about it and said “We”ll see”. I’m not sure what that means – sometimes “we’ll see” means “yes” and sometimes it means “no”. But Whitevanwoman said that she has already decided on a name (Lune – named after the river near where we live) so it is definitely looking hopeful. I do have to admit that it is nice having another dog around the place.

I did try to play with Penny but I think that because she is now a proper Championship sheepdog and not a pet dog anymore, she thinks she is too good to play with mongrels and she just curled her lip at me so I backed off. So having a young pup around the place to play with would be great. I feel that I am mature enough now to cope with the responsibility of being in charge of a pup’s education, teaching it manners and tricks the way that Lanky and Penny taught me

It’s still snowy and very frosty and icy outside and although I do love the snow, I’ve been slipping and skidding all over the place (most undignified), and the salt on the road makes my paws sting, so I thought I would spend the day in front of the stove catching up with the events of the past few days since my last blog post. 

Whitevanwoman and me woke up on Christmas Eve morning to discover it had snowed again, another 3 inches on top of the foot of snow we already had. We were a bit worried that we might not be able to get to the Madhouse because of the snow but Whitevanwoman was determined that we would get there and so we spent the morning packing the white van full of goodies and survival kit to take with us (I supervised and made sure that my red toy bag was put in the white van, together with extra rations of dog food in case we got stuck in a snowdrift). After digging the white van out of the snow again, we set off, Whitevanwoman driving very slowly and carefully along Balamory as it was very icy and slippery. Luckily the hill up to the main road had been cleared of the fresh snow and soon we were well on our way. Here’s a photo of our kennel and the white van on Christmas Eve morning – look at all the snow on the roof…

Christmas Eve morning - more snow overnight

There were no problems on the way and everyone was really pleased to see us when we got to the Madhouse. That evening, I took Whitevanwoman and my mate Ryan for a walk on the Arran Trail and we spent a lovely half an hour playing fetch with snowballs (it had snowed there too). I’m not sure if I’m losing my touch, but there must be a load of snowballs hiding somewhere on the Arran Trail, which I couldn’t find – I don’t know where they went, but I searched and searched and couldn’t find them when they landed.

That night Whitevanwoman tucked me up in the white van (it’s very warm in the Madhouse, much warmer than in my kennel, and I find it too warm, being a hot blooded creature, so it’s better for me if I sleep in the white van, also even though it was Christmas, I still had a job to do – to look after the white van and protect it from intruders) and because it was very very cold, she put my fleecy coat on me – its blue with lots of little sheep on it – Whitevanwoman says I’m a wolf in sheeps clothing I went straight to sleep as I was quite tired and also because I knew that the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner Santa would come. I kept one ear open, listening out for sleigh bells, during the night, but I think Santa must be magic, because I didn’t hear anything.

Next morning it was Christmas  Day  and it really was a mad house in the Madhouse. I was thrilled to bits to see what Santa had brought me, a new toy – you can see it in the picture below – I carried it round all day and spent a lovely 10 minutes playing fetch with Mel and Larraine and Declan from next door, as my new toy bounces around all over the place.

Me with my new toy from Santa

That evening I couldn’t believe it – my Christmas wish had come true and I had a massive dinner bowl, much bigger than my usual dinner bowl and it was full of leftovers from Christmas Dinner. Thank you Santa, you made a hungry dog very happy. Needless to say, I tucked in and demolished the lot, licking the bowl clean afterwards. What a lovely Christmas Day

Next day me and Whitevanwoman went for a lovely long walk along Haslingden Old Road and then along to Guide and back past the reservoirs. Whitevanwoman said that it was where she used to walk with Lanky when he was a youngster, about twelve years ago, long before I was even a gleam in my sheepdog dad’s eye. It was a lovely winter’s day and Whitevanwoman pointed out Darwen Tower which is where she went to watch the eclipse in August 1999 with Lanky. Whitevanwoman took some photos just as the sun was setting…

I was very hungry that evening, and was really really hoping that I was going to get the massive dinner bowl full up with leftovers again… and guess what?! I did!  I think there was even more leftovers for dinner on Boxing Day than there had been on Christmas Day.

Here’s a pic of my Boxing Day dinner bowl and one of me tucking into it.

My Boxing Day dinner

Tucking into my Boxing Day dinner in the massive dinner bowl

I must admit that even I struggled to finish my dinner that night, and had to have a little break half-way through for a drink and a burp. But I managed to fit it all in, and especially enjoyed the pork crackling which I saved till last (I made sure I ate the leftover bits of meat first – I always eat the best bit first in case someone takes it off me half-way through). Then after dinner, I had a good sleep in the living room – tired out from our walk and strangely lethargic after my dinner. After a late night wee, I happily put myself to bed in the white van, and had a good night’s sleep, dreaming of snowballs and leftovers.

We had to leave the Madhouse the next day and go home to see Miss Tibby who had been left home alone all over Christmas. Whitevanwoman had left her a big dinner bowl of cat biscuits so she wouldn’t go hungry, but I think she was very glad to see us when we got back and the first thing she did after I’d curled up in my bed in the kitchen was to sit on my head and lick my eyes and nose.

Unfortunately, once we got back home, I was back onto normal rations in my normal dinner bowl – I knew it was too good to last, but I am very grateful to Santa for my special extra large Christmas Day and Boxing Day dinners. Thinking about it, I suspect that my normal dinner bowl isn’t actually quite as full as usual, and I can’t help wondering if Whitevanwoman is being a bit mean with my rations

And so that was the very waggy tale (tail) of my Christmas 2009. I hope you all had a very waggy Christmas, and that you all had a big dinner bowl on Christmas Day and Boxing Day too. I’ve been too busy in the snow to finish editing Volume 2 of Memoirs of a Mongrel – I had hoped to get it done for Christmas, but I’m a bit behind schedule but hope to get it finished in the next few weeks and will let you all know when it is available to download.

And as the year draws to a close, I would like to wish you all a very Waggy New Year

It’s been snowing almost every day for the past week and there is loads of snow now and I am loving it. The white van is half buried in the stuff and today I helped Whitevanwoman dig it out and pack some survival kit in the back ready for our trip down to the Madhouse for Christmas. Because it has been so snowy, Whitevanwoman said that we had to put a shovel, some rope, a sleeping bag and some spare food in the back of the van in case we get stuck in a snowdrift on the journey to the Madhouse. I’m very excited at the moment – what with the snow, and Christmas, and a trip to the Madhouse, but I am a little worried that Santa might not know that we are going to be away at the Madhouse for Christmas. But Whitevanwoman has reassured me that Santa knows everything so there shouldn’t be any problems.

Here’s a selection of snowy photos from over the past few days…

Me with my new mate, I wonder if he can throw snowballs?

Is there anybody in there? Just checking, old habits die hard...

And here are some more photos from today…

The back yard when we woke up this morning

And see if you can spot what is written in the snow in the pictures below – me and Whitevanwoman did it whilst we were out on our walk today. I had to walk next to Whitevanwoman close to heel  and follow her footsteps exactly (she says her writing is neater than mine)…