Lots of cousins!

Yesterday Murphy and I met up with our cousins - both human and doggy - when we spent the afternoon with our Nana as it was her birthday.

It was the first time we have visited our newest cousin Tigger at home and he was a little bit nervous of us as we charged into the house to say hello to everyone else.  It didn't take him long though to make friends and I think he would have liked a bounce or two, but there were some men building an extension to the patio in the garden (perhaps because Tigger has been digging where he shouldn't be digging?) and it was raining so we had to stay in the house and not bounce.

We did manage to go out for a walk with Tigger and Victoria later in the day which was fun as it was all new to us and lots of great smells.  After that we had an early dinner before Hannah and Chris arrived (they had been to work poor things!) as the humans were all going out for dinner. 

After dinner we went to see Hannah and Chris' new house which was really nice with very steep stairs.  The humans all then had some birthday cake (note: non for us doggies) and we drove home to a very belated biscuit before heading off to bed.

Foggy walk

We set off this morning to meet friends for a walk in thick fog - and we came home this evening still in fog but not quite as bad.

In between the foggy journeys (and Mum getting lost, although in her defense we were going somewhere completely new) we had a lovely day out with Jennifer and Sue and their girls.  We did get a photo - well done Jennifer as it wasn't easy to get us all to sit still (this was the best shot of the lot!).  I should also point out that none of us look our best - wet and muddy was the fashion for the day.

Left to right: Murphy, Me, Milly and her sister Poppy with Google front and center

Grassmoor Country Park leads onto the Five Pit Trail which we've done a little bit of when we stayed at Teversal last year.  I'm looking forward to when we can go back on a nicer day and do the full 5 miles.

We all send get well wishes to Harris who lives with my sister Plover and her Mum.  Sadly they weren't able to join us today as Harris is quite poorly, so we hope he gets well soon.

Update

Dad's been away all week, so Murphy and I have been kept very busy looking after Mum.  We've taken her for some nice walks, went to work with her on Friday morning and on Saturday went Christmas shopping! And the good news there is that the things she bought were for us!!  I know that for a fact because I got a good sniff of the carrier bag as she hid it in what she thinks is a secret Christmas draw under the spare bed.

Tomorrow we are going out for the day to somewhere we've never been before - Grassmoor Country Park.  I think it's near where Google lives (that's Google the Welshie and her Mum Jennifer not any other Google you may have heard of) and we are meeting her along with, hopefully, my sister and some of her gang and Milly with her sister.  It should be a good day out, so watch this space for all the news.

Sadly Auntie Debbie and all of her boys and girls can't come tomorrow as they are now a working pack and are too busy.  I'm sure we'll get to see them when they have a day off soon.

Rain

We've had lots of rain lately, so when we went for our walk around the village today, the fields and lanes were really wet and muddy.  We have a little beck that runs through the fields that usually has a low level and runs quite slowly - it's lovely to have a cooling paddle in it on a hot summer day.

Today, the beck looks really angry - it is very high and running very fast.  We even have our very own rapids!

A day out .. and an exciting evening

Yesterday, Mum took Murphy and I out for the day to meet Auntie Debbie and all her boys and girls for a walk near where they live.  It was great fun running around in the woods  with Fergus and Dougal ... until I was a bit naughty and didn't come back to Mum when she called me.  I had gone into some trees to have an investigate and she couldn't see me, so I think she was a bit worried what I might be up to.  Cheek!
Anyway, I had to go back on my flexi lead for the rest of the walk which wasn't too bad as I was quite puffed out by that point.

Later on after dinner we all settled down to watch the GB Bake Off final.  I wanted the nice man from Scotland with the two big dogs to win - Murphy just wanted to see all the cake!  He is a bit of a 'cake fiend', so when he realised there was none coming his way he wandered out to the kitchen and alerted us all to a stranger in the garden - it was another hedgehog!  We've had three now in the last few weeks, and this one was the largest.

Murphy and I both woofed through the window and Mr Hedgehog hid behind the water butt.

Once again, Dad came to the rescue, put on some big gloves, rolled him into a bucket and took him down to the churchyard to be released.  It was only at this point that I was allowed out of the house to inspect the garden for anymore, but found none. 

Coffee and ice cream for the humans and our nightly biscuit chew helped us all to calm down after the excitement whilst we watched the end of the competition on the telly.  (Mum was pleased as her favourite chap won!).

A day out with friends

On Saturday, Mum had another day out on her own WITHOUT ME!!  She went to see some more of those archive thingys - though why she needed too, I don't know.  I would have thought when you've seen one ....
Anyway, Murphy and I had a boys day with Dad which was great.

On Sunday, Mum made up for going out on Saturday and took us to meet up with Holly, Milly and Percy along with Kim and Fi.  It was lovely to see them all.   have missed the last couple of training lessons as we have been on holiday, so I hadn't seen them for ages.  It was also nice to see Milly restate her affection for Murphy b giving him lots of kisses.  Sadly, he wasn't too impressed with that!

We had a great walk through the woods and across the fields.  It was actually quite eventful - we started to cross one field which we thought was empty and suddenly a herd of rather large (and rather handsome) bullocks appeared out of nowhere.  They seemed very interested in us, trotting behind us across the field for ages.  Unfortunately, the humans amongst us were busy concentrating on reaching the stile at the far side of the field and so we didn't get any nice photos of our new friends!

We did get this photo of us all together though .. 

We all look a bit dirty, so I should add here that this was taken before we went for a swim, although Mum said the swim didn't really make me look any cleaner!

Murphy and I had a lovely day, even if it did end with us having a bath when we got home!

Visitors

What a lovely surprise Murphy and I had yesterday. 

About mid morning, just when I was beginning to wonder when we would be going out for our walk, Auntie Debbie arrived at the front door.  We hadn't seen her for ages, so gave her a big and noisy welcome and got lots of fuss in return.  After she had a cup of tea we got an even bigger surprise when we went outside and out of her car popped Fergus, Duggie and Dougal!  They had all come to go for a walk with us.

We took them on the walk we did on Saturday across the fields which they all seemed to enjoy.  Dougal flushed a bird and did some hunting in the hedges - he'll be going to his first proper shooting day soon, so it was all good experience for him.

At the end of our walk we headed home back through the village for a big drink, a biscuit and a lie down.  Never ones to miss an opportunity for lunch and an ice cream, Mum and Auntie Debbie then headed off to a favourite place near us to satisfy their appetites!

We had a lovely day - sunshine and the best of friends for company.  What more could I ask for??