bunn

For some reason I haven't posted here in ages, but I don't really want to drop out of the habit, so here's an attempt to catch up. 

Itching things
( Read more... )I am now feeding Theo the new insect-based dog food pellets, which he seems to like a lot, as much as almost anything apart from cheese.  Cheese is his absolute favorite thing. 

Nenya cat remains competent and untroubled by Woes. 

Not even going to try to post about World Events.  Times too interesting. 

I read a copy of Neil Gaiman's M is for Magic which had been hanging around, to try to decide if I wanted to keep any of my Neil Gaiman books, now that it turns out he's a creepy sexual predator. Haven't decided, but did conclude the end of M is for Magic seemed oddly cold and depressing, so I will probably get rid at least of that one. 

The number of orders arriving at the Shop on the Borderlands is up considerably on last year, but the value of orders is not: we are mooching along sending out about 20% more stuff, but with about the same money coming in as last year.  Unsure if this is down to what we've got in stock, macroeconomic trends, or just... randomness.  We have reduced the enormous backlog of RPGs in the house but not in the Shop, however, which has to be a good thing. We might even have slain the backlog by the New Year at this rate. 




We took the canoe out a couple of days ago, just a gentle paddle for half an hour.  I wanted to check that she was still in good condition, thinking of probably selling her in the Spring. She's not really best adapted for the amount of wind we get here, and we haven't used her much since we got the kayaks and the boat.  I will miss her but hopefully we can find a more up-river home for her where she will get further moderately-sedate adventures. 

I feel like I've fallen enough behind posting that I'm just going to type random things that come to mind.

It poured with rain today, but I walked to Pembroke with Theo anyway, and went to a coffee shop.

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What else have I been doing? I've kayaked across the Cleddau river to swim on the other side a few times, though this summer is cooler and wetter than last, so there's been less kayaking in general.

I took Pp and Theo for a wander along Lindsway Bay to peer at the lighthouse we briefly considered buying when we were moving to Pembrokeshire, and concluded that as we had suspected, buying it would have been a terrible mistake. Another mistake was that days' assumption that the forecast cloud would keep Pp cool enough to go walking: it was waaaay too hot for him.

I went down to Devon to visit my mother at the end of July: I've not been able to go for a while because Rosie wasn't up to the journey and I was worried about leaving her.

It was a good visit, even though it rained a lot there too. We drove over to Widemouth Bay on the North coast and wandered around on a Cornish beach for a change, pottered around Tavistock, and I took Theo up for a walk on the moors. Baked a banana bread with bonus kiwi fruit in it.

I voted in the election, despite my polling card arriving about a week too late.

Oh, and we did take the Celtic Longboat rowers for a Long Row, though not for the planned Fishguard to Pwllheli row, since they weren't able to get a support yacht, which was required for that race. Instead they rowed from Gelliswick to Saundersfoot, which is still a respectable distance and further than we'd been before in the RIB.

It was a bit stressful in the harbour in Saundersfoot, which is a drying harbour with a lot of mud at low tide and not a lot of room to manoever a very long and fragile thing that is the Celtic Longboat. We got our propeller caught on a buoy rope. But it was fine, and probably a good experience of things going a bit wrong.

We'd completely forgotten that Mondays come after Sundays, which was important, because the Castlemartin Firing range is closed on Sundays, but not on Mondays, and we had to come home in the RIB on Monday. So we ended up going a couple miles out to sea to avoid it, which was the furthest we've been out to sea. We probably need a better radio with more range to do that again.

( Things don't get simpler...  )

Oh, while I am doing a dog-related post, here's an article about dogs in the middle of controlling relationships. Nothing to do with Bob, but made me go :-o. The world has some very odd people in it.

Mollydog's back bad leg (the one that had the operation) was badly swollen this morning, so we've just been to the vet.  The hope is that she has just twisted and bruised it somehow, as the bone still seems solid where it was fused.  The swelling is considerable, and obviously painful, so she has antibiotics and is on complete rest till Monday, when she will see her surgeon (Rude Craig).  She's already on painkillers for her other bad leg, so not much more to add there, though I am wondering whether to break out the spare bottle of Metacam instead of Previcox tomorrow, as Rude Craig reckons it's better for fleshy type pains.

When the duty vet gave her an injection she warned me Mollydog might scream.  'Oh, she is usually quite brave about that sort of thing', I airily said.  Which normally, is true.  

But not this time.  She did her best Violet Elizabeth Bott act and screamed and screamed and screamed for about a minute...  Thankfully, she was not sick, but when we came out into the waiting room afterwards, all the waiting dog owners were strangely pale and silent. 

 Az is in a bit of a state. I'm not quite sure why but there were people breaking up sticks by the river this evening (to throw in for their dogs). I'm not sure if it was the fact that there were a group of them, or that they were holding sticks or the snapping noise, but he went all weird and shaky and every time we met anyone on our way back he ran into the woods and hid. He's been following me round all evening. I just tripped over him and he ran off tail between his legs as though I'd kicked him deliberately. Now he's sitting there rolling his eyes and looking woeful. I wonder if this means there is a thunderstorm on the way?

In other news, the first pea pod has formed!