Happy Birthday Bailey!

Today is my beloved Bailey's 9th birthday. Bailey is Hernwood Dream Mirage of Kilnrae JW, RCC. He is nine years old today - although he acts about two!

Bailey is a wonderful ambasador for the Gordon Setter breed. Not only is he a pretty good physical example of the breed, his temperament is expemplary. He came to me from Karen Marsh (who still co-owns him) when he was four years old due to personal problems she was having at home. I'd just lost Bronty (Hernwood Roman Goddess of Billingham) tragically young due to cancer and didnt know where I was going in the dog world. I knew I wanted to change to dogs (I'd had bitches all my life) but partly due to the pain that Bronty's early demise had caused me I was considering changing breeds - in fact literally days before Karen called me I was arranging to go and see a litter of pointers!

As soon as Karen and I had exchanged emails I knew it was the right thing to do. I had known Bailey since he was a few days old when I used to look after the Hernwood boarding kennels - its weird but I can even remember Karen, Neil and her then young family coming to pick Bailey up from the Hernwood kennel - spooky huh? Little did I know that he would spend his latter days with me!

Bailey is also if little used, a prolific sire and even though he has only sired about five litters two of his offspring have been made into champions - a UK champ and a Dutch champ. He now has many successful grandchildren who all seem to have mostly inherited his laid back attitude (not always that common in Gordons) - Harvey in fact is one of his grandchildren and he has this laid back attitude and of course his good looks!

I gave the old man a squeaky toy and a chewy and he's been happy all day - almost as if he knows today is special - but there again Bailey IS special - a wonderful dog, a wonderful companion and a true ambasador for this wonderful breed.

Happy Birthday Bailey - lets hope there are many more.....love yer man!

Beerex 2007 - Farnham

I have no idea how this all started but for the past five or so years Alan and I have been visiting the Farnham Beerex at the Maltings. This is a beer festival for local beers and ciders. You buy your beer glass and tokens at the start of the show and go round trying and if you like it filling your glass with some of the best local beer you could taste. it's also an incredibly good place for people watching, you simply dont get this type of people in say Tesco's - I'm not too sure they are a good advert for beer but my God they enjoy the ale and the socialising!

This year the band was a West Country folk outfit - a bit like the Worzels. In my opinion this is what should be played at true British events like beer festivals - not funk or R&B as they had last year, drinking songs, folk songs, Irish, Scottish, English songs - this is what it's all about!

We met as usual a lot of ex-colleagues and the newbys this year were Barry's wife Yvonne and Paul 'Chumley' Warner (see above picture of me and Chumley) who seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself....for a light drinker!

it's hot, hot, hot!

Another incredibly beautiful day! This cant keep up for the rest of summer - it just cant!! It was about 23 degrees which is madness for April. It's incredible how in just four weeks my garden has gone from bare patches of earth to a fully stocked, blooming garden that (apart from the awful condition of the lawn) could be put on exhibition :)

We continued to build the chicken run after having lunch at the Princess Royal in Tongham. It's slow as the concrete is taking a while to set but at least we could let Souffle out while we were out there and throw he any worm we happen to find in the sod.

We also found out how she escapes (which she did at least four times today). She jumps up on the Eglu, lines herself up and then takes a leap of faith over the fence to the outside world where worms are plentiful - I should have called her Hendini!!!

I didnt take the dogs out until past 7pm due to the heat but at least that now means the dogs are tired, satified and not itching - I think that's it for this summer, to stop the perennial itching I will have to walk them early in the morning and last thing at night.

is it April or June?

The weather is incredible! It's more like July than April. The temperature was up in the early 20's - amazing!

We started building the new chicken run after going into town and buying my sisters birthday present and taking it round there.

After that it was onto Southampton to see our mates Pete and Jules play in their band. The pub was quite unusual compared with what you find in Guildford these days - still the pool table, darts board and.....well, local weirdos!

The band, Mahoosive are however brilliant - they are all covers but who cares the music is incredible, Jules has a very poweful voice.

Spring has Sprung!

Not as warm as it has been but typical eh? We decided to take a picnic to Wisley to see how the new glass house is getting on. I've never been to Wisley at this time of year and although its not the blaze of colour you see in mid summer there is a kind of energy, a quietness and rejuvenation with all the beautiful spring bulbs and woodland flowers just looking beautiful. It's also a lot less crowded.

I then had to take Harvey to the vet - the parennial itching has started early this year!! So minus £100 later I realised I had left my mobile there - ARGHHH!!!!!

We then met up with an old friend and ex-colleague Liz at our old haunt, Pizza Express - it was so good to see her again, had a great evening....and now its back to work tommorow but at least I'm feeling totally refreshed.

Easter Monday

Another beautiful day, gardening, lounging and professional 'pottering' - I feel so chilled out for the first time a long, long time

Not Even Work Could P**s me off today!

The weather felt more like July than April. It was beautiful! It's amazing what a decent break and a some sunshine can do to your pshyche. When I came home I took the dogs out the back and for the first time this year sat in the field and contemplated the world. Harvey is such a wonderful young man that although he is a high spirited, energetic setter, if I sit down in the field he will always sit down with me - what a soulmate :) it was then that I had the second feeling of true happiness this week - the downer is that when I lay down in the field he thinks it's a queue for doggy wrestling and he's not small nor light!!! He always wins - but that's usually because I cant stop giggling.

Easter Sunday

Spent a beautifully sunny day in the garden doing all the things that need doing to make the garden look good for this year as well as plant seeds for the vegetable patch. Already the cabbage, caluliflower, sweetcorn and cauliflower has come up it's so warm!

Apart from my annual holiday that we usually take in September/October the breaks I look forward to the most are Christmas and Easter - not because of any religious reasons but because I need the break. At Christmas it's the middle of winter and I'm exhausted due to taking dogs out in my lunch hour etc and at Easter it's because I havent had a break since Christmas....so much needs doing in the garden, so much needs planting, so many seeds need sowing! I am now off until the 11th of April and an totally looking forward to it - I am so looking forward to my lay in tommorow!!

Books I have Read

This is a retropective post but I am going to try to list all the books I've read as reading and the thoughts and lessons you learn from reading are so important to me.

Love in the Present Tense.

A beautifully executed story of love 'forever love' as the hero of this book calls it. It's about a commitment phobe IT geek finds that he is looking after a little boy who has been abandoned by his young mother. It's quite romatic for me and even has quite a happy ending.....very unusual for me!

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” --Mark Twain