Much to write about. Last weekend, Hilary (fave auntie) came up for our annual sashay around a craft show. This year, the annual event at the CIA had been cancelled due to the Ryder Cup golf tournament, but we had found an alternative event over in Bristol. Hil came up on the Thursday afternoon train and I met her from the station, with woofs as I took them for a walk down at Hamadryad Park before collecting her. Then on the Friday it was over to Bristol in the most appalling weather - driving rain that fell heavily all day. The craft show was held at the University of the West of England campus, in one of their exhibition halls and was a good venue, being easy to reach, with plenty of parking. The show was good - not as extensive as the Cardiff one, but we were able to buy some lovely things, including some beautiful rubber stamps which I am looking forward to playing with. We came home, as usual, absolutely exhausted, but very happy, and then spread out our stash to re-examine and stroke it and plan our campaigns. We also do what we've done on previous years, if one of us buys a paper pack the other likes - we each take half the pack and split it then swap, giving more variety and fun in our papercrafting.
On Saturday we made a lengthy trip to Ikea as Hil wanted to test/look at/sit on a variety of items for her new kitchen and conservatory. This was great - I love any excuse to wander round there and they had lots of new room sets and had recently changed the layout of a number of departments so we had a great time. They had their Christmas shop open near the tills so I stocked up on paper and tags - I'm hoping to get a head start soon on Christmas gift wrapping as the rest of this month is going to fly by.
On Sunday we made a leisurely jaunt over to Hobbycraft near the new Cardiff Stadium. It's a very pleasant retail park and I really like the look of the new stadium, shared between the Bluebirds and Cardiff Blues rugby team. Back home for home made soup then off to the station so Hil could catch her train home - all in all, a busy and very successful weekend.
After Hil had gone, Andrew took Andy out for one of their usual runs together (which they both really love) and we think that it was during this that Andy pulled his shoulder. Anyway by Monday morning he was limping quite severely. I examined his paws and legs for any heat, blood, swelling or tenderness but nothing so we waited. If I took the dogs to the vet every time they had a little strain our vet would be a millionaire and we would be broke, so we just decided to give him a day off with plenty of rest and TLC. On Tuesday night Boola and I went to our Kennel Club class which was great. I really feel I am learning so much, and in particular am gaining confidence in my relationship with Boola, which is lovely. I find it particularly fascinating to see the huge variance in the other dogs in the class and their owners, and the particular variety in learning styles. Some are motivated by food, some by toys, some by affection seeking or play and our tutor is sufficiently flexible to encourage us to find the learning style that works for us.
By Wednesday the invalid had not improved and I was quite concerned about him, although he had taken pleasure in digging a hole in the garden when he and Boola had gone out there together on Boola's return from class, late on Tuesday evening. So it was off to the vet, his least favourite place. As usual, he tried to hide behind my leg and the vet diagnosed a poorly shoulder, probably likely to recover well in a few days. Some anti-inflammatories were prescribed and the wounded warrior was sent home with a strict limit on exercise and definately no running for a while. Unfortunately this has not been easy to enforce as although he has been walking on the lead, whenever he sees a squirrel he often does his vertical take off and attempts to climb a tree if he can see a squirrel in it. He is also doing his favourite zoomies in the house, when he rushes at very high speed between all the beds upstairs, bouncing on each one before leaping off and then skidding sideways on to the next one - one of his trademark pursuits.
Anyway, he is now recovering slowly and I'm hopeful that in another week or so he should be improved completely, fingers crossed.
On Sunday we made a leisurely jaunt over to Hobbycraft near the new Cardiff Stadium. It's a very pleasant retail park and I really like the look of the new stadium, shared between the Bluebirds and Cardiff Blues rugby team. Back home for home made soup then off to the station so Hil could catch her train home - all in all, a busy and very successful weekend.
After Hil had gone, Andrew took Andy out for one of their usual runs together (which they both really love) and we think that it was during this that Andy pulled his shoulder. Anyway by Monday morning he was limping quite severely. I examined his paws and legs for any heat, blood, swelling or tenderness but nothing so we waited. If I took the dogs to the vet every time they had a little strain our vet would be a millionaire and we would be broke, so we just decided to give him a day off with plenty of rest and TLC. On Tuesday night Boola and I went to our Kennel Club class which was great. I really feel I am learning so much, and in particular am gaining confidence in my relationship with Boola, which is lovely. I find it particularly fascinating to see the huge variance in the other dogs in the class and their owners, and the particular variety in learning styles. Some are motivated by food, some by toys, some by affection seeking or play and our tutor is sufficiently flexible to encourage us to find the learning style that works for us.
By Wednesday the invalid had not improved and I was quite concerned about him, although he had taken pleasure in digging a hole in the garden when he and Boola had gone out there together on Boola's return from class, late on Tuesday evening. So it was off to the vet, his least favourite place. As usual, he tried to hide behind my leg and the vet diagnosed a poorly shoulder, probably likely to recover well in a few days. Some anti-inflammatories were prescribed and the wounded warrior was sent home with a strict limit on exercise and definately no running for a while. Unfortunately this has not been easy to enforce as although he has been walking on the lead, whenever he sees a squirrel he often does his vertical take off and attempts to climb a tree if he can see a squirrel in it. He is also doing his favourite zoomies in the house, when he rushes at very high speed between all the beds upstairs, bouncing on each one before leaping off and then skidding sideways on to the next one - one of his trademark pursuits.
Anyway, he is now recovering slowly and I'm hopeful that in another week or so he should be improved completely, fingers crossed.
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