"It was lovely to have walkies in the sunshine for a change."

That was Neachdainn speaking, but I agree. 😉


My wildflower photo assistant.

He is investigating a Bird's-foot Trefoil, I believe.

Man's best friend?

On yesterday's we encountered 4 dogs in outside kennels with small pens. There were two Border Terriers sharing one pen and a Border Collie & Bearded Collie sharing the other.

The 4 seemed delighted to have something to distract them from their monotony. wagged his tail at them, but otherwise he was happy to continue his walk.

It is a common occurrence to see working dogs kept like this, but still I always feel sad.


I think we have enough to make another

It has been incredibly warm for the last week or so and Neachdainn was overdue to get a stripping. Rather than cutting his hair we use special tools, and our hands, to strip the old hair from Neachdainn's coat. After the job was done there was more than enough to fill a shoe box.

Neachdainn now feels much cooler, even though it was 25°C during the middle of the day.


Here is a photo of on a recent long walk. It was hot that day, and I could see he was contemplating a dip in the cool river. In the end he decided that discretion was the better part of valour.

He did what a smart pooch would do and went downstream to a shallower stretch of river and cooled his paws.

His human companions did the same, and we all enjoyed the view.

Today there are local authority & mayoral elections in England and N.Ireland.

One of the election day traditions I enjoy most is people posting photos of dogs at polling places. If you see any please post the photos.

Here is one from a previous election:


loves playing games with cardboard boxes. The game play is always the same: he rips the boxes into shreds. He doesn't get to play the game often.

Last week he spotted a box on the table and decided to get it himself. The wee rascal. 😃

Happy Wednesday

What do hairy dogs do on a hot day?

cools his paws whenever he finds a nice pool of water (even if it is completely muddy).

"Ahh, that's better."

Glorious. Glorious. Glorious.

Fantastic weather for today's . Another best-of-the-year-so-far. Around 20°C, and virtually no clouds. We had an extra long 3½ hour walk. = hot & tired.

Came across an old abandoned house, which the forest had grown around. Lovely stonework. Felt rather poignant.

Lots of wood anomones in blossom everywhere: Lus na gaoithe - Anemone nemorosa

Nothing says Easter more than a Scottish Terrier wearing floppy bunny ears.

My OH took Neachdainn for his morning walkies today. On the way back they went to visit his big pal Ice. Neachdainn discovered that Ice had a Border Collie for a neighbour, he stuck his nose through the fence to say hello. The collie tried to bite him. Neachdainn withrew his muzzle, but got a very slight graze near his nose.

Needless to say wanted to finish what the collie had started. Much barking & growling ensued.

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