Sally had us in a flap!

Decided to meet up with hubby this morning to go on a dog walk before hitting town to find a new bath. The second part never happened!

We took Sally off lead as soon as we got by the river. Other dog owners were doing the same, their dogs running alongside them. Sally did the same ... for about 1 minute then she spotted pheasants at one end of the field and made a bee-line. Then she spotted an open gate leading to a wooded area full of birds - and made a run for that too. We called, bellowed and whistled to no avail. We tried the reverse psychology card shouting 'Bye then Sally, we're going.' and walked ahead hoping she would run back to us. We walked for about half an hour then returned, cutting our walk short to find Sally. Sure enough we saw her in the area we had left her but she would not come to us. She just carried on running after birds. Eventually we walked back to the car park and bought hot bacon and egg sandwiches from a stand there before heading back to the woods to get Sally back. By this time she had run into the next woodland area, we saw her plainly several times but she just kept running away from us. Eventually it dawned on us that we had no time to shop for a new bath; we would have to leave her and go to our jobs for the afternoon.

We explained our predicament to the sandwich seller who took our phone number and the dog lead then off we went - albeit very reluctantly with nerves jangling.
I work about 11 miles from this place and don't visit the area often so it was a huge coincidence that I had a one off work meeting with over 100 people in the very place later that afternoon. At 5ish a colleague nudged me to tell me she'd seen my husband outside the doorway. He had come to tell me our son had had a message to say someone in the village had found Sally and wanted us to collect her. That was a relief. The only porblem was that our son had taken down the wrong phone number. I had to wait for another call to tell me the number. Eventually all was well. I met up with an old friend in the meeting who lived in the village and who let me use her phone and took me to the right place in the village where the woman was waiting. This friend even had a bunch of roses in her car that she gave me to give this person. How cool a coincidence was all of that? The poor woman had been waiting in the pitch black in a pub car park for over an hour with our naughty dog! She was very relieved when we eventually appeared to take Sally off her hands! I managed to get lost walking back to the car and thought the car had been stolen before I got my bearings - it was pitch black with no street lights and I don't know this place very well!!

When I got to my car I found the heater and fan had stopped working so had to drive home with my window wound down and was shattered and frozen by the time I reached home. Oh Sally!!!!

Sally's Early Christmas Treat

I'm hopping mad, spitting feathers and steam must surely be coming out of my ears! Why? Well you might ask! Sally is the culprit!

About a month ago I went to the shops armed with a very special list. A list of ingredients for our family Christmas cake. I chose only the finest ingredients, you understand. Fruit soaked in rum, only the best butter and off I went home to put the thing together. I worked away with a glass of port at hand, dreaming of a white Christmas. All was well in my world. I slaved for about an hour, forsaking my food processor and chose hand mixing instead. I was a little alarmed to discover I would need to bake it for 5 and a half hours, meaning that I would have to stay up till gone 1am just to turn the oven off. But never mind this was a labour of love, a little sacrifice that would hopefully reap the reward of seeing friends and family enjoying a seasonal treat in a couple of month's time.

Of course that's not quite how things turned out! The cake has been sitting, double wrapped with foil and encased in silicone paper on our kitchen work surface since it came out of the oven... until tonight! Sally left my side and went downstairs while we were waiting for Tony to finish his conversation on the phone. I heard the rustle of something and really should have gone downstairs straight away but never would have guessed what she had gotten up to - literally!

The first I heard was when Tony got off the phone, walked into the kitchen and shouted: 'What are you doing? Get down, what have you got? You have eaten half of the Christmas cake!' I was down like a shot and reeled at the total decimation I saw and half marvelled at the fact that Sally had actually managed to scoff half of the huge cake.

It looks like I'll be back at the shops this weekend and this time I'll start baking a little earlier - oh yes and I'll store the next Christmas cake somewhere well out of reach!!

Sally's One Year Anniversary

Well there hasn't been much time for blogging recently but it feels right to mark Sally's first year of Bower life with a little message. Funny really, none of us had much faith that this day would actually come. There have been so many times when we have thought 'today is the day we go home without finding Sally.' Somehow, though, we have managed to find her every single time. Talk about cats and nine lives. Sally seems to have had many more than that already!

Take the other Sunday afternoon for example. I took her into our local woods and felt she needed letting off lead. (Usually my downfall). Sure enough she went AWOL again. I waited, I shouted, I whistled and time marched on. I had a phone call from someone wanting to know the size of a tool box, of all things mid Sally hunt and then I realised I needed to be in town to pick up my son and husband from a weekend's camp. What was I to do? In the end I had to dash home, get the car, pick up the guys and then we returned, fretful to the woods. The daylight was fading fast. We got to the area where I had lost her and shouted her name. Sure enough she appeared like a dot on the horizon, bounding towards us. Oh boy!!! Here's to Sally and to another chapter of adventures as we begin year 2 together.

Everything in tatters

Sally has been a little bit demanding today!

I just went downstairs to find Sally sitting on top of the couch looking a little manic. Then I looked around the lounge floor. What did I find? A cardboard box holding some of Tony's drama books in tatters, little pieces of cardboard scattered all around. I looked a little further, what did I see? I saw one of Joseph's old favourite videos - A Veggie Tale classic, bitten into and pulled apart. Maybe its time for walkies!

Dog Dayz

We've had no serious incidents recently, just the usual Sally moments.

We drove to Arnside for fish and chips last night with the idea of taking Sally for a walk along the coast afterwards. The fish and chips were great, as usual! Once we'd polished them off we got out of the car to discover that we'd forgotten Sally's lead. What were we to do? Drive home and deprive her of a walk or risk it and hope she stuck with us? We decided to risk it. Within minutes she was nowhere in sight. Then there she was again. It went like this the whole walk until we got back to the car. The only problem was that Sally had no intention of giving up freedom so lightly. She zoomed off - towards the railway line. I couldn't get to her because the area was sealed off (to people) by a high wall and a padlocked gate! We decided to play the car card again. Tony and Joseph got in the car and drove off leaving me to watch out for Sally. Sure enough she recognised the engine and bounded towards the gate as soon as Tony passed by. I managed to grab her collar from my side of the gate and the only way I could get her back was to lift her by the collar right over the gate. It nearly wrenched my shoulder from its socket but I did it and Sally made it safely back home once again.

Today I was sat outside Cafe Nero with Sally waiting for Tony to bring out our drinks when a butcher appeared, as if by magic (like the shop keeper in Mr Benn) in front of me. He said 'I know this is a bit random but I've got a bit of turkey in the shop and I wondered if your dog would like it?' Very random but very kind. Just for a second I hesitated remembering what my mother taught me about strangers. I soon snapped out of that train of thought and followed the butcher to his shop. Sally thought all her dreams had come true as she tucked into turkey breast while me and Tony enjoyed our drinks. We finished the afternoon by walking up to Kendal Castle. The view over the town and towards the fells was stunning today. We sat taking in all the glorious autumn colours while Sally leaped about chasing magpies. I'd kept a little of the turkey back to entice her back to us. It worked like a charm.

This is a little different from my usual rant about Sally.

Here's an excellent site that offers inspirational starting points for teachers to motivate young writers in exciting ways. I would have loved to have done something like this when I was at school so I'm putting it on my blog hoping that it might catch the eye of a few teachers who might go for it in their schools! Worth a try.

Everybody Writes - Exploring writing beyond the classroom

Everybody Writes - Exploring writing beyond the classroom

Shared via AddThis