Driving Home

I hate school holidays. There i said it. Its like all drivers suddenly lose the ability to drive normally. Yes i live in a very picturesque part of the country, but people please stop abandoning your car by the side of the road to snap a picture. Please don't jump out of the passenger seat to get that bottle of water from the boot (and having to go through several bags of luggage) just back the traffic light is on red. It turns green quickly trust me!

Last night a journey home from work  that normally takes 55 mins max took me 2 HOURS !! This is because it is half term and every conceivable car decided that rush hour was the perfect time to be on the road.

Marco was very excited at first, he got to see all these cars and people and people on bikes. and lets not forget the shadows thrown by other cars headlights that he got to bark at. Didnt take him long to be flat out on the back seat. whilst I sat , very uncomfortably in the front waiting, and waiting. I was very jealous of his ability to sleep in the back.

 
 


 

Picture Tuesday

This is Marcos mum (Inka, liver) and Auntie (Ira, black).

Can you tell what they are waiting for ? :) 

Keamarola

Marcos Nemisis

This is Ginger. He positively hates Marco. From the day we brought him home. At first the cat would leg it through the living room not stopping to pass go, right up the stairs. As Marco got older and way bigger than the cat, we figured he might be a little less hostile. NOPE.

As Marco got older the cat realised in order to get something he wanted he had to tolerate the dog, so in order to get the lovely warm spot of the windowsill to stretch out on, he had to tolerate the odd sniffing from the dog under the curtain edge at him.

Just the other night he had been let out the front door, done his business came back in and with his usual meow at the door separating the kitchen and living room he was let back into the living room. Clearly not wanting to take any chances he scampered right under the dog whilst he was stood eating. to the other door and off upstairs. We were flabbergasted. and Marco just carried on eating.

We know that Marco is quite inquisitive which does worry the cat. But he never does it with any malice.

We hold onto hope that the cat will mellow more with age and the next step up from a tummy rub !!! would be to stay in the same room as the dog. :)

Picture Tuesday

Bedtime Interuptions

My cats newest trick is to sneak downstairs once we are asleep then push open the living room door. He quiet happily jumps up onto the windowsill. The dog however being mischievous waits it out then will come upstairs to nosh on the cat food. This is usually what wakes us up, as he is quite a bit louder than the cat!! Once he came in to the bedroom and was licking hubbies face before we even noticed. Now usually we grapple with sleepiness and usher him downstairs and the cat upstairs and hope to go back to sleep.

But the other night we thought why not, lets see if he will sleep on the bed or even just upstairs. So we had him hop up and get all comfy like. Then the lights went out. First we were stroking him, or moreover  my hubbie was, me i tried to sleep. Which was ok until i realised my giant ball of fur was wiggling.. a LOT. Then the pushing, his butt pushing me across the bed to the edge.

We quickly realised tonight was not the best night To let him have a trial sleep upstairs.

So off we went to do the swap over.

So for now this will be his bed.

Picture Tuesday (ish)

What Marco Does Most

Sleeping..

..sleeping...

and more sleeping.

xx

Walk and a Swim in the Lake

We are often looking to go places with Marco that he may not have been to or its been awhile. The day was a beautifully sunny day but not to hot luckily. So we decided to take him to a lovely cove called cockshott point in Bowness. he can usually run around quite freely with out to many people walking through at this time of year. we did encounter quite a few tiny dogs. but as usual he was perfect by lying down and waiting for them to approach (its usually the owners that have the issue). When we arrived we were waiting on David's parents to arrive as we had also decided to go to lunch after to celebrate the hubbies birthday.

Whilst we waited we had a very spirited game of throw, and yes i throw like a girl so David does all the throwing. we went up  into a wooded section and Marco had great fun, when suddenly he was off down a banking towards a tent !!! luckily he swerved around it and headed to the bushes, ahh a spot of business we thought. Nope a green ball, one we couldn't see was retrieved to us and promptly dropped so we could throw for him. We were speechless! So now he had another toy to fetch and retrieve for us. about 20 Min's later the parents turned up and we headed for the shore line.

We have been encouraging Marco to swim since before the summer. We had been intending to go and use our local river, however there was a green algae scare, (which turned out to be water over consumption for the poor dog involved) so we had been hesitant to take him into large bodies of water after that. However this day he was eager to be off the lead and with a few throws of a twig, he was in there looking quite chuffed with himself. Well... we were too, cheering him on (regardless of the man sleeping on the grass :) ).

It was about this point i noticed the shore line was looking a bit green, and me being the worrier tried to get Marco out of the water.. well that did not happen as i thought it would. But between the four of us and a towel we managed to entice him out and put his lead back on. Luckily for us he wears a harness.

We walked around the cove and came back on ourselves via a very lovely path and field. We went without our usual ice cream as we were going to have lunch. We both set off from bowness and ended up at the very sublime Wild Boar Inn, Grill and Smoke House. Lunch was promptly ordered and whilst we waited we had one of many issues we are currently having and that is, if ANYONE approaches us he will take to barking at them. We have tried being stern, we have tried distraction techniques. He can be quite select with whom he barks at, mostly tall men or anyone in high vis jackets. This is a definite recent thing and hopefully a short term one!