IT'S A DOG EAT DOG WORLD...

Food.  We have so much choice these days, we really are spoilt ... for choice.  Our beloved pets get in
on the act too.  Witch (the DNBtD dog) is herself partial to a spot of Casserole with Peas and Pasta (courtesy of the good people at Winalot), which is a tad more exotic than the food I present to my children sometimes.

OVERHEARD ...

I was in the local branch of my bank (as in the bank I use - not the bank I own, obviously) and I was kept waiting 20 minutes past my appointment time.  Now I can't help feeling I should have telephoned them, or perhaps sent a letter saying they had gone over the agreed time and maybe even charged them for it.  But that would be petty (not to mention pointless) and besides, if they'd have been on time I would have missed this exchange:

A Couple had come into the bank and sat in the Waiting Area (where I was...waiting...) and they had brought their large Collie dog in with them.

MIXED MESSAGES...

...Or, I think I know what you mean.

Q: What two things will guarantee dark skies and rain storms?
A:  Me hanging out my washing and/or deciding to write a post related to sunshine and warm days.

So I am abandoning my intended post about warmness and brightness and general sun-ness and will instead share something from this (early) morning's walk with M'Faithful Hound.

It was not raining and The Dog was in fairly fine fettle - having just finished a course of steroids to deal with her IMPA  -  see The Dog (Don't Break It).  (Which reminds me, I really must update Witch's story). (Enough with the brackets).

SPRING - STILL SPRINGING!

Especially for Alan and My Husband's Cousins*... because I could tell how much they all enjoyed my earlier post

Yep, still Springing in our garden (and elsewhere too, no doubt).

Quick update on this, posted only a short while ago ...

.....????? .....

 

 

Now, either Witch has grown a beard ....

 

 

.... or she's been wrassling with the sheepskin rug again.

 

 

Yooooooou decide ....

.... because she's maintaining a dignified silence.

Did I just say 'dignified'?!

SCHOOL SPORTS DAYS ...

...Or, It's not whether you Win or Lose but how you Play the Game.  But it's nice to get recognition when you do win :o)

Where do we stand these days on competition?  Is it still a bad word?
Me, I've always enjoyed it.  Not that I'm one of the world's Shiny People who always seem to win everything ... although if I could get paid for Enjoying Pictionary and Being Quite Good at Quizzes that would certainly solve a few cash-flow problems right now.  (Yes Dog, I am talking about the enormous drain on the family coffers you are proving to be with your expensive drug habit.  But that's another story.  Aaah, bless her).

Any excuse to put a poochy pic up.  Aint she adorabubble?

MY DIET STARTS TODAY!

Or ... There's Always Tomorrow...

Very early start this morning.

Had to take Witch (the 'Do Not Break The' Dog) to her specialist vets which is an hour and a half's drive away and needed to a) get up earlier than I did, b) get kids' lunches ready, and c) get No.3 child delivered to dear friend who would forward my Precious Parcel to school at the designated time.

So - no time to eat. 
(Also I wanted to show solidarity with Witchy who was on a starvation diet. Bless.)

The night before as I sat in bed - Kindle switched on and braced for being unceremoniously dropped as I inevitably fell asleep almost instantaneously - I pledged that, starting today, I would re-embrace my Healthy Eating Plan. 

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ...

... My Kids

Could it be the fast-approaching St Valentine's Day that has got me talking about love?  It could.  But not necessarily.

Here is the first installment in a New Series of  'Things I Love' ..er.. things.

This time on the subject of my kids.

Oh yes, here I go a'sharing...

SNOW IS FALLING...ALL AROUND US...CHILDREN PLAYING...HAVING FUN...

Or...as in the case of Child No.3 - Smashing their Hands in Iron Gates and Spending the Rest of the Day with a Cold Compress and a Calpol Drip 

It is snowing.

Quite a lot.

We had some snowfall on Monday too.  Enough to excite The Dog beyond all reason.  She was bouncing around in the couple of inches of snow like a spring lamb - then she'd bundle in the house and bounce around some more, stopping every once in a while to fix me with her 'have you not seen what is out there?! Bounce woman!!' look.

There was sufficient white stuff around to warrant leaving the car behind and walking No.3 to school.  It's quite a stretch (half an hour each way at a good pace) but I feel sooo virtuous when I get home.
Right up until I stuff my silly face with Dairy Milk.

It's for energy, you understand

IT MAY BE NOVEMBER...BUT REMEMBER, REMEMBER...

 

...Or, Well Hallo(we'en) Again!

 

I know, Hallowe'en has been and gone - and, in England at least, most people have moved on to Bonfire Night preparations - but I can't resist dragging it out a little longer.

It's been a busy week with all The Family home, and certainly our most Time-Consuming Project was the Haunted Gingerbread House. 

DECORATING...

...Or, The Sometimes Interesting Effects of Paint Fumes

Yep, recently I have been 'decorating'.  I use the inverted commas purely to highlight the fact that it might not be everyone's idea of decorating.  No carefully selected ornaments, accent colours or wall art here.  Just everything out of the room, a couple of coats of paint on walls and woodwork, and everything back in the room. Sometimes even before the paint's dry.

It works for us.  Luckily our house is old and rustic and so can take this wanton approach.

The reasons for this re-decoration spurt ... (I say 'spurt' -  again, might not be everyone's idea of a spurt.  But two rooms in the space of a couple of months is a spurt as far as I'm concerned) ... Yes, the reasons for this spurt are manyfold.
And here (in No Particular Order, as the lovely Dermot O'Leary would have you believe) they are...

THE DOG WITH IMPA...

Or...the continuing tale of the DoNotBreakTheDog dog

I finally got round to updating Witch's story on The Dog(Don't Break It) page.   So now we are fully up to date, up to speed and the dog is probably up to no good as I type.

This instalment starts at the sub-heading 'Get it on film..' - to save you the trauma of re-reading the first bit :)

**I'm almost entirely sure there must be a way to add a link to a heading, but I'm darned if I can work it out.  Any advice would be greeted with an almost embarrassing display of gratitude**

DOG DAY AFTERNOON (must look up what that means...)

A post about the Dog after whom this Blog is named. 
I know.  Wild.

The casual passer-by might well wonder why the blazes this blog is called 'Do Not Break the Dog' -  since it doesn't seem to be about dogs at all, apart from my shamefully neglected 'The Dog' page. 

Well today all that changes. 
For one day, at least.

Just a brief bit of background to get you up to speed:

Our dog, Witch,  was diagnosed with IMPA (Immune-Mediated Poly-Arthritis) when she was just about 1 year old.  She has been having treatment ever since - LOADS of drugs - and is so far not responding as well as we all might have hoped.  She is a lot better than she was, thankfully, but she certainly doesn't move in the way you'd expect for a dog of her age, and she tends to react badly when her drug dosage is decreased. 
Her condition, and the treatment for it, have led to muscle wastage - and exercise can cause her pain and discomfort.

A-n-y-w-a-y...that's enough background, on to the . . . front ground?

RANDOM

Well it's been a funny old week, all a bit random.  So, rather than try to ravel each thread into something a bit more cohesive, I am Embracing the Random and posting it all here.

Not strictly speaking a bush, but hedge. 

Bush Feeding Lady
Okay, that could go in all sorts of directions - but here is what happened. 
Walking The Dog the other day , we lingered a-while on the bridge over the river.  We do this a lot as Dog likes to look at the ducks (and I like to look out for any scary looking hounds I may need to hide from).   Only on this particular occasion there was not a single duck to be seen. 
And yet, on the other side of the bridge (the Cyclists side, for shame!) was a lady throwing copious amounts of bread with an impressive over-arm action.
As subtly as I could (turning up the collar of my mac, whistling casually and inwardly cursing that I couldn't remember the theme tune to The Third Man) I sidled over to see what she had found to feed.
Perhaps some early ducklings? I do so love a duckling. 
But no...

The Dog . . . the next instalment

Witch the Cockerpoo
In Bed with Mrs Cow Toy

Just in case anyone's interested, I have updated 'The Dog - Don't Break it' page.

The next thrilling instalment is entitled...'After the Operation'. 

I must warn you - it's not exactly dripping with laughs :)

The Unkindest Cut . . ?

It's been haircuts all round in our house.  Well almost all round .  The dog was done on Monday, and the Daughter and the No.1 Son were done yesterday.  (I hardly need mention - I hope! - that the cuts took place in different establishments). 
The kids are happy with theirs, and the Dog is happy with everything, especially if it comes with cheese.

Before
(Which one's the rug?)

After
(What happened to the other rug?)

I, on the other hand, had my hair cut on my birthday, and it is only now - some 8 weeks later -  that I am able to talk about it without weeping uncontrollably.

(I'm kidding.  Well...kind of). 

It was not, as you've probably gathered, a good cut. 

The Dog

The Dog

Yes, The Dog !    At last, I got around to writing something about the hound for whom this Blog is named.

'Don't Break the Dog!' is a cry often heard in our homestead.  With three children, a relatively small space

Oh, It's such a Perfect Day

Ready to go...

Just got back from walking the dog (the dog as in DoNotBreakThe...)

A crisp, bright and sunny day - really very, very, VERY cold but scarves and gloves put up a sterling defence.  Clomped along in my boots on the hard ground that was so solid I didn't even need to change into my designated dog-walking boots.
Daffodils were bursting up through the ground (presumably they'd done their bursting when the ground was a tad more yielding).
Dog obeyed all commands and we both returned home apple-cheeked and happy.
At least I assume the dog is apple-cheeked, beneath all that black fluff. 

Sometimes there is just nothing finer.