Stuff

Presley has arrived and he's a babe! A very big whippet, standing at almost 23" compared to the maximum for the breed standard of 20". Strong too. Had me off my feet and on my arse when he decided to launch himself at an entire black lab. Not keen on entire male dogs is our Presley.





















My BT hub appears to have given up the ghost following the storms last Friday. I have no idea if the storms caused the problem or it's just coincidence. It's telling me it has broadband but can't seem to transfer data. What's concerning me is that when I plugged in my old router, it wouldn't recognise the ethernet cable - and I have no idea what to do if it's a computer problem. Hey ho.

And I can't access Stu's blog. Anyone else have a problem or is it just me?

Just like buses.....

....nothing to blog about for ages and then two come along at once. So here they are:

1. Hornets - nasty things. One flew in the kitchen the other night and it was like a scene from a scary movie. I was loading the dishwasher and heard this noise, something between a growl and a buzz, behind me. Looked round, nothing. Turned back to the dishwasher, the noise came again. Looked around, nothing. And on it went until this bloody great big one flew into view. OH was sitting outside last night and realised there were a lot more of the buggers flying in and out of the chimney. Pest control called and they should be out tomorrow.

2. I almost dare not tell you this in case it goes pear-shaped again but my next foster is arriving on Sunday. Another entire Whippet boy, 9 years old, whose owner has had to move from the country to the town. The dog is finding it difficult to adjust to town life and is starting to get depressed and snappy. I can understand that. He's used to running around on a Common - hence why he's coming to me seeing as how I live in the middle of one. We might have a problem with his name though. I can imagine I will become the butt of many jokes by the regular dog-walkers when I start shouting for "Presley".
   

No blog.

Not really been in the mood. Sorry 'bout that.

Change of plan. Again

I really should remember not to blog about things that are going to happen, because in the world of dog rescue, things never quite go according to plan.

Lily is still going off to her new home but Bruno is no longer coming into Greyhound Gap's care. It's a long story but his owner doesn't want to part with him without trying everything so he's booked him in to be castrated next week and will take it from there.

Finger's crossed it all works out for them.

One out. One in.

Lily our Foster-Lurcher is definitely off to her new family on Satuday morning. I'll be dropping her off and seeing her settled in and then I'm off to Dover to pick up my next foster.

Meet Bruno
















Bruno is a 6 year old whippet whose owner can no longer keep him. Apparently he can be quite assertive (in the way only itty-bitty Whippets can) and dominant.

Soon sort that out when we get his balls chopped off next week.

The world has gone mad

Go have a read of this blog Cold Wet Nose (start at the bottom to get the full story) and tell me that this isn't a complete waste of police time, energy and resources?

I'm not saying that the alleged crime isn't serious because it is but this really is just mental.

Two down........

Lily the Foster Lurcher and Lurcher No.1 both have kennel cough.

That leaves Lurcher No.2. We don't want him to get kennel cough because he will have man-kennel cough. And that won't be good.

OK girls......

...and boys too if you wish! For no reason other than I'm bored and fancy being a bit mindless let's find out which celebrity sets your spine a-tingling and your knees a-weakening.

So, apart from my lawyer, here's my selection

Mark Harmon (Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, NCIS). Oh yes. Have him stripped and sent to my room.



























Anthony LaPaglia (Jack Malone, Without a Trace) Go figure, I haven't quite worked out why either.



























Sean Connery. What can I say. Just class.





















And for sheer boyish good looks, George Eads (Nick Stokes, CSI)



























So off you go, consider yourselves tagged!

FREE Photo Booklet worth £5.99

Used this kind of offer before & booklets are very good. Just needs an email address to get an unique promotion code.

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No I haven't been spammed, this is a special offer being well...offered by the peeps over at Pixalo and a very good offer it is too! Full details here.

Change of plans

Well, there's been a slight change in plan.

Lily started a cough last week and we got her checked out by the vet who felt it wasn't kennel cough, no heart murmur and her lungs were clear. He thought that it likely she just had a scratch on her throat that was irritating her. Friday she was absolutely fine so we made all the arrangements and then, with the impeccable timing of a Greyhound Gap hound, she started coughing again on Saturday morning.

As her new housemate isn't in 100% health, it's been agreed with her new family that she will stay here for this week so we can keep an eye on her in case it is a mild case of kennel cough as we don't want to put him at any risk.

Hopefully she will be fighting fit again and off to her new home next weekend.

That's dogs for you!

I will not cry.

Lily, my foster-Lurcher, is off to her forever home on Sunday.

I know she is going to be very happy with her new family, she's met them and made herself right at home when we went for the home visit and she got on really well with their lovely old lurcher boy, Mungo.

The first foster is always the hardest to let go, so I'm told. I have to remember that it's right for her. She relaxed more with them in an hour than she's ever done here. She's never been entirely comfortable around The Lurchers.

I shall miss her terribly.

Croak

I wandered into the kitchen without putting the light on.

In my stockinged feet* I almost stood on something.

Fortunately I stopped before putting my full weight on it.

I bent to pick it up.

It moved.

It was a toad**

Why is there a toad in my kitchen?


*What a lovely old-fashioned phrase that is!
** Stockinged feet. Toad. There has to be a joke in there.

I am fed up

I have tried to post an epic photo-blog of The Lurchers and have failed miserably because Blogger keeps messing with my layout and leaving gaping holes all through the blog or puts text in the wrong place.

So I have thrown my toys out of my pram and stormed off in a fit of pique.

You'll just have to make do with this small blog instead:

Blogs from the Dogs posted a thread about Lurcher talons and laid down a challenge to beat the length of theirs. Well, you be the judge, but I rather think Lurcher No.2 can ably meet the challenge!

Trudi Canavan up-date

Especially for Dakota and Sarah......

I've started reading the Age of The Five and it's not gripping me quite as much as the Black Magician - but then Black Magician is a lot to live up to so don't take that as a negative comment. It's still a very good read and I am enjoying it but it's taking me a little longer to warm to the main characters than it did Sonea. Alngside the main plot there is an undercurrent of devotion to gods warring with "alternative" healers (putting it into a modern context) which is going to be interesting as it plays out.

I think this might be a slightly darker series - there's a war looming with some nasty sounding characters - but I don't think you'll be sorry if you buy it!

Reading matter

It's not very often that I feel compelled to recommend an author or a particular set of books. Books are such a personal thing and what one person thinks is a book that should be read by the entire world population, another person thinks is fire fodder. And people read for many different reasons. Some to learn more of a subject or to better themselves intellectually, others for sheer escapism. Those that fall into the latter category will also be split into the different types of fiction.

That said, there is one book that should be read by the entire population and that is The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Possibly THE best book ever written.

But I digress as that's not the one I want to tell you about . I read for escapism so my taste lies in Science Fantasy, something I read almost exclusively, so if that's not a genre (what an up-your-backside word that is) that interests you, you might want to stop reading now!

I can frequently be found trawling through the virtual shelves that are Amazon looking for the latest by the authors that make it to my preferred list and, occasionally, I venture into the collection of books that Amazon recommends I might enjoy, given my previous purchases. Which, thinking about it, is a bit scary really. A bit of computer software is learning my tastes and preferences. But I'm digressing again.

One of the recommendations was Trudi Canavan and her Black Magician Trilogy. I bought the first, started reading and very quickly ordered the other two. It's classic Science Fantasy with magicians and and a young heroine from the slums made good in the world of magic. But there's something about the way Ms Canavan writes that grips you in from the first page and keeps you held there by the throat until you've finished. Much as I love reading, it takes something very special to make wake up early in the morning so I can pick up the book because I so desperately want to know what happens next.

So if Science Fantasy floats your boat, go buy them now!

My Daemon

Let's get another bandwagon on the roll!

HNT #1

Here's a question....

...should lawyers be considered sexy? And if not, why do I think mine is?

Do I need therapy?

(I'm speaking of the male variety on this occasion but feel free to consider the female variety as well if you're male.....or not, as the case may be. )

I am.....

...still alive and in one piece but very very busy, hence lack of recent bloggage. However, as I have now reached my target weight I am considering, just considering mind you, my first ever HNT featuring....drum roll please....the Playboy knickers!

Just don't hold your breath.

Oh, and Lurcher No.2 is broken again. He caught his first rabbit last night and as he twisted to catch it he hurt his leg. He opened his mouth to squeal and said bunny made a hasty departure quite unbelieving at his luck in being caught by the wimpiest lurcher around.

And for those of you easily offended, I don't usually allow The Lurchers to chase and terrorise small cute furry little bunnies but this one took the kamikaze decision to run out right in front of Lurcher No.2's nose as we cycled home. Game on I'm afraid.

It rained. Lots

So, Sunday was Greyhound Gap's Annual Fun Dog Show in Walsall.

It's our biggest fund-raising event of the year and Gap's supporters come from all over the country.

At 7am, the weather as we left London was atrocious. And it got worse as we headed up country.

At 9am Lisa, Gap's founder, called me and said we had to make a decision. Do we go ahead or do we cancel. I arrived there at 9.30am and, as most of the stalls had already set up, we decided to take a chance and go ahead.

At 11am, there was hardly anyone there and, with class registration about to start, things were looking dire.

At mid-day, the hundreds of complete and utter nutters wonderful people that support Gap had turned up in force and the day was in full swing! It did not stop raining all day and the occasional gusts of wind that blew across the ground resulted in several gazeebos being destroyed. And no-one seemed to care! Once everyone was wet, they couldn't get any wetter so just resigned themselves to it and got on and enjoyed themselves!

Gap could not do the work it does without the support of these people and we take our hats off to all of them for turning up regardless of the elements and helping us raise a staggering £3,000. Almost a £1,000 more than last year when the weather was reasonable!

We're thinking of ordering some "I was there" t-shirts!