Plumdog and bear dog

There's a lot going on here, and none of it is photogenic. In fact some of it is downright ugly. My latest technological difficulties for example. A whole email disaster that has taken hours of red level fury and hammering away at the laptop and more fury at the wasted hours and the impossibility of it all. It always amazes me how technology can push me to the absolute edge.

I had the luxury of a whole mud-free day on Sunday. I was the teeniest bit tired of trudging around the locale with the dog and looking at endless brown. Which is unusual for me, I do love the winter, I'm not sure why it happened. Anyway, I went to (indoor) cricket training in the morning (littlest boy, not me) and then I took him to the mall in the afternoon to buy a copy of the Beano and to have a drink and a piece of cake. It's not something we do often, but I thought it would be a nice non-mud treat; he's been very good with the winter dog walking. Anyway, I'm happy to report that a couple of hours of looking at the bright plastic things from China and the endless rubbish for sale I was completely cured of mud ennui. My settings were reset. The next day the walk by the stream was quite blissful.

The biggest boy has just finished a week of exams. He was walking to school one morning and a bird pooped all down his coat. He asked me if I could clean it. 'It's alright though, I got most of it off. I used a revision worksheet.'  He said it was okay, he knew most of it already. So long as he's taking it all properly seriously.

In other news, I found someone had got the nailbrush out in the bathroom the other day and used it without being asked. For one heady moment I thought, my work here is done.

The littlest boy, and the others and me as well in fact, have all been enjoying Plumdog by Emma Chichester Clark. It was a gift from Father Christmas and is absolutely brilliant. Our very own Plumdog is off to the dog barber on Monday for a deep trim. I have tried to capture his very hairiness for posterity in the meantime. He is scruffy little hippy at the moment. People often tell me he looks like a bear. From Monday he will be more rat than bear I fear.

At least he'll be able to see where he's going though.

Wishing all a good weekend. I have no end of mud lined up and I am very happy about it, as is the little brown dog. I shall be back anon with before and after photos. Brace yourselves.