Scottish Kennel Association

This is Hernwood Teledaga Racer - known as Dave to his freinds. He is just 18 months old and has shocked the dog showing world by winning the gundog group. It's pretty rare for a Gordon to win or even be placed in the Gundog group but for it to win the gundog group at such a tender age is quite amazing.

Congratulations to my friends Pete and Chris Sandiford for breeding such a good looking Gordon and to Claire Lewis for grooming and handling Dave to this amazing height if fame!

Harveys son still winning in Europe

Harvey's gorgeous son Beejay (Chartan Brooklyn) is making his mark still in Europe by winning the puppy class in Hanover, Germany this weekend.

Also, Bailey's son Pelle won Best of Breed with a cup larger than the F A Cup!!!










Pelle winning BOB. This was a setter and pointer show and an Irish won BIS.

Two Bronze Medals for the British Equestrian Team

Well done to the British Equestrian Eventing team who won the bronze team and Tina Cook taking the individual bronze at the Bejing olympics.

The Olympic Games 2008 begins.

The date today is very important to Buddhists and other East Asians as the number 8 is lucky so 08/08/08 is exceptionally lucky! With that in mind the 2008 olympics open in China amid stories of human rights violations, polution fears for our highly trained athletes and all round cheating and corruption.

The opening ceremony was reported as being spectacular and from what I saw it was certainly well coreographed and beautifully performed but you just cant help wondering.......

One part I did watch was the lighting of the torch and I have to say that it was very good.

The flag carrier for Great Britain was Mark Foster who still holds for the 50 metre freestyle record.

Another Awful British Summer......

.......and people wonder why I spend 12 hours on a plane each year to go to California!

Today was the last day of my week off work. As usual it's rained virtually every day and apart from a half an hour break yesterday I've not done any sunbathing. It's been hot, yes but also because of the rain and storms its been unbearably humid which makes me feel limp and lifeless anyway but with the stress of Harvey it's just about sapped every ounce of energy out of my body.

Because of the problem with Harvey I've not really done anything this week apart from cleared out a load of crap from the house and garden and sent it away to some landfill site by way of a skip. Not something I like doing but it had to be done.

Apart from that all I've done is worried, slept, cried and fretted. Oh, and got wet!!! What a great week off!

Random Acts Of Heroic Love

My latest book. This was a stunner. I'm not a lovey dovey love story fan but this was analysing what love really is and what it means to us all.

It tells the tale of Leo who lost his love when it was at its best and youngest and Moritz who a century before had walked across the whole of Siberia to reach the one he loved.

Amazing story telling. I understand that Dan is currently researching his next book.

A roller coaster of emotions

I went to collect my new car at the same time as Harvey was being operated on having these lumps removed from his shoulder and his neck.

There was no happiness or excitement in this purchase until the phone rang and the vet confirmed that yet again the lump simply looked like a foreign body (possibly grass seeds) have entered Harvey's skin and the body has tried to reject it by producing cells to surround what is foreign to the body. The lumps still have to be sent away for analysis but the vet is pretty confident that there is nothing sinister in the tissue.

Harvey is home now, looking like a patchwork quilt, grumpy, drugged up, in pain and not very lucid but none the less recovering and hopefully when he fully recovers I will enjoy many more years of his company and companionship.

I can now enjoy my new car - which is heaven to a gadget freak like myself :) and I hope Harvey and Bailey appreciate their new Gordon Carrier with their own personal air con vent!!

Mixed Emotions

Tomorrow I take delivery of the best and newest car I've even owned. A two year old, Nissan Pathfinder Aventura and I should be the happiest person in the world.....I'm not.

Harvey, just about the most wonderful dog I've owned in nearly 30 years is going under the knife to have two very sinister lumps removed from his body. One seriously near his lymph glands and could be cancerous.

I would give up that car and my relatively comfortable bank balance in this age of recession and credit crunch for the health of my dog. It's times like this you realise that there are things that money honestly cant buy!

Lets Make Hay!

It's here, mid-summer and with it the hay making. It's wonderful living on the back of a working, orgnanic farm where cattle roam all winter and hay is cut for them in the summer. It takes me right back to my time at the riding school where we collected hay until the sun set over the field.

It makes me appreciate even more the fact that I live in a rural area instead of an over-looked, built up estate.

Last night my neighbour saw four badgers, two fixes and one deer outside our back gardens - eat your heart out Bill Oddie!