Skip to main content

It's all about Betty

Bertie gets the short straw
on the beds again
I'm wondering whether I should start a new blog given the kids are generally off doing their own thing now and normally hate for me to take a photo of them, so it gets harder and harder to write about their antics. The dogs on the other hand love being with me, never complain if I take a photo and with Betty having settled in, there is never a dull moment. 

She has become a fully blown member of the family very quickly - accepted by all, even if she has no clue yet about house training and we seem to spend a lot of the day wiping up puddles. How she can go 8 hours over night without a mishap when it seems 8 minutes is a push during the day I do not know. She does understand that when we take her outside (about every 30 mins at the moment, plus when she wakes up and when she has just eaten), its time to pee, but that doesn't stop her from coming in and doing it again. I guess it takes a bit more time for her to realise that doing this outside gets praise and inside gets sighs and yet another piece of kitchen roll.

Shoes sorted by Betty
when we popped out for an hour

Bertie has taken to his responsibilities very well and both plays with her and puts her in her place in equal 
measures. He loves to run around the lawn (not so great given it is a bit of a quagmire at the moment with all the rain we have had) at a lolloping pace so she can just about keep up with him. I'm sure I read that at this age she should only have a max of 10 mins exercise twice a day but if she were in the wild it wouldn't be rationed so I'm assuming as long as its not too over the top its fine. We spent an hour outside this afternoon in between rain showers where I raked leaves and they 'helped' while also running around and getting into the hedges. At the end she came into the house, peed (of course after all being outside for an hour who doesn't need to then come into the house and have a wee?!) and then collapsed into an exhausted heap for an hour. This is probably a good thing - Bertie needs a break from her every so often!

Other than Bertie we all love her too - it's hard not too with a face that cute. She is at the bouncy stage of jumping on everything that moves and gets distracted very easily unless it's food - she loves her food! We've moved her onto the same sort of mix as Bertie (people food as far as they are concerned) and she hoovers it down. She's gained a third of her body weight in the 2 weeks she's been with us so we are definitely doing something right. If she grows into her paws then she's going to be as big as Bertie I suspect. 

It's now half term and so the kids are free to do what they like, Abi goes to Angie's tomorrow where she has now been promoted to Assistant Yard Supervisor (aka Chief Yard Slave). She is now going every other weekend plus some of the holidays and I think the arrangement is working well. she is getting paid for her time there and gets a whole heap of responsibilities which she thrives on and loves. When I turned up to collect her last Sunday the yard was looking spotless and she was tired but happy and looking forward to going again. Its just a shame the weather is a bit rubbish this week - the rain and wind will mean she's unlikely to get out hunting as per planned. 

Izzy on the other hand will be heading off on Wednesday with Glenn to an Enduro training day on her motorbike. It's a 6 hour course which should take her through basic skills and help her to go faster - perfect - just what I want!! I hope the focus is going safely faster rather than just faster! She's really looking forward to it and Glenn enjoys seeing her riding so its a win-win. I will be mainly working while trying to anticipate the puddles - I feel like a potty training parent again!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...
Post a Comment
Read more