The Walk

Mid-morning I left mum snoozing on the chair and took the girls out. Meerah was really full on, she seemed to love bouncing in the long grass. Beti lacked some "Beti Fizz" and I started overthinking, as I do! It's so awful when you constantly put two and two together and come up with five, isn't it. In this period after a season I'm always so scared of pyometra, so in this case this is my five!  

Tremadog And Bath Ch. Show

Another morning in Tremadog, it went ok, really. I don't mind the fetch me, get me and carry at all, knowing I've done what I can to help this morning leaves me feeling a little satisfied. I made her lunch before getting ready to leave, but that is where there was a little tension. "Can't you stay for lunch?" Well no, I need to spend some time with my husband too. "I'm going to be on my own now for the rest of the day, you see lots of people and get lots of your dog friends visiting." Actually, no, we don't. We NEVER get visitors; Ian is the only person who ever comes here, and due to current circumstances I haven't seen him for weeks. 

Tomorrow is Bath Ch show, no chance of a wobble and considering turning back tomorrow as I'm picking Jackie up in Bryncir. It'll be great to share some time with her and put the GSD world to rights, as I hardly see her either. Well, we do see each other ringside and in passing at club, but we don't get chance to talk. I think it was September last year when we last shared travelling to a show. It's funny how people walk different paths isn't it, but when we do get together, nothing has changed. 

As I was leaving Mum's I saw Edwina and Cath and both were going to call on mum this afternoon. Edwina had already phoned her this morning. Her phone is certainly "hotter" than mine, the only people I regularly talk to on the phone are Jane, Linda and Katrina. I really appreciated their regular check-ins and I do worry that I'm boring them with my ranting and moaning, hell sometimes I bore myself! Still, honestly, it is nice to just get the "You OK?" messages. Mostly to be honest I'm not, but they always manage to cheer me up! 

Aled is on Tremadog duty tomorrow, until we can get carers in, we have a rota ... and I'm not back on shift till Tuesday!!! 

Walking And Stressing

My dogs are keeping me sane, but life right now is so stressful. My Mum has had another morphine overdose, simply because the patches have been increased to 1 x 20ies, when they were previously 2 x 10es  - so basically she put on two 20ies and ended up as high as a kite. But the current doctor is now reducing all her pain relief because "the guidelines for prescribing gabapentin and strong opioids like morphine patches for chronic non-cancer pain have shifted significantly. Recent evidence suggests there is often limited benefit for long-term pain while the risks of side effects, dependence, and overdose, especially when combined, are quite high. Most guidelines now emphasize multimodal approaches, including physical therapy, psychological support, and non-opioid medications, reserving these stronger drugs for specific cases under careful specialist monitoring." She has been told the way forward is physio, physio and more physio ... but bare in mind that so far she's done nothing, I don't consider there will be much success.

A Social worker should have turned up at 11am today - she didn't. Long stressful story short, she rang at 2pm and apologised because she "Forgot!" Forgot? Fecking hell, it would have come over better had she lied and said she'd been delayed or called to a meeting! All very odd in my opinion. 

My walk are generally really good for de-stressing and clearing my head, but after the calls and messages today, I came home with a banging headache and burst into tears as soon as I saw Steve. I'm trying my best, but I just can't be pulled into two halves! 

I watched Orin on the walk today; God, he's handsome. I know his faults, and as always, I'm happy with constructive criticism of Orin, the show dog, but my mate Orin fills my eyes with his beauty and my heart with love. 

Where we shouldn't be, but we didn't care!

Making Meerah stand in a hole, as without her coat her legs look even longer and I'm careful which photos I share of her on Facebook. After Shonagh's comments recently, I try not to put pics on that show off her supermodel legs too much! LOL. 

Thinking Ahead

With a few days of hot weather forecast for next week, I'm trying to think of places we can go for short walks. A woodland, preferably with a stream, would be best for them and me. 

This short section of the Lon Goed would be great, a sheltered place to park and leave two dogs, a canopy of trees to a stream and back again would be lovely.

Gyrn Coch - again for the same reasons, ideal.

Dorothea, no river or stream, and no "cool place" to park but a lovely canopy of thick woodland. 

Coed Elernion in Trefor, not a great parking place, so just two or three dogs on one walk, but woodland and a lovely stream to play in. 

Of course there is the nursery in Tremadog, but I don't think I'd take them that far in the heat. 

The Same Walk

I rarely do exactly the same walk three times, but with cattle on the alternate route, that's what I did today. I parked at the bottom of the donkey field, walked the footpath to the top, zigzagged on the common and then went back down the track behind the slate mound, finishing with a short road walk back to the van. Happy dogs, with a satisfaction for me that everyone had 45 - 50 mins out.

My lovelies – Orin and Siska

The loonies Ross and Beti 

We never did find a suitable word for this group of three. 

Sammi, Zeus and Meerah

Meerah starting to look pretty rough as her coat is falling out, and I'm sure she's brewing for her season as the boys are definitely starting to pick up on something, and I can't think it's Siska! 

Handling

I'm feeling a little let down, but really I shouldn't be surprised, I'm quite the nobody and have never had the strength of character to push myself forward. With Sarah prefering to take another female in limit than Beti I had to make other plans and I really thought I had it sorted! I'd gone though a list of shows and I honestly thought it was all agreed, but last night I was told that the handler I'd lined up for her could only take her in at Bath, that left me with numerous shows entered, and no handler. Again, this handler has preferd to take in another female at these shows ....  it's left me confused and emoional. Is it me or Beti or both of us that's not good enough for them? I'd love to say feck it, but I can't do it without them! 

Plans Changed

The plans in my head for the day had to change again. I was meeting Nicola in Treborth for tea and cake, but she got there early due to the phone shop being closed in Bangor. Lucky really, I had hoped to walk in Parc Menai, but this morning Steve decided he was coming with me, he wanted to go to Stermart. Great! LOL Oh hell, I didn't mind, as it's nice to do things together, but I missed out on my walks. Anyway, we had lunch out and the guys had fun in the fields! 

Shame - Now it's in my head!

 Just great lyrics - During the feud I was always team Robbie, but I have to admit, I love them both. 

Friends

Last night a friend had me in tears, before you go knocking on her door and smashing her face in, 😆let me tell you about it. We were chatting about last weekend, and why I was almost a no - show at the National. She said "On no, I would have really missed you had you not turned up, and since we are being soppy," she said " I want to thank you for your friendship and for always having my back." WOW, I  could feel myself getting emotional, but she continued, " you are such a great friend, a nice, kind person and you never judge me for all my faults and regular mistakes. " Well hell, that is how it should be between friends, isn't it? I feel blessed to have her, and many others in my life too ... sometimes I've no idea how I'd function without being able to rant to my mates. 

Recently there has been unrest between two of my friends, and though they are both still getting on at the shows, the tension is sadly obvious. I've heard both sides of the story, and they speak as they found it and as it affected them. According to Robbie and Gary there are always three versions of a story, "Yours and mine and then the truth." The truth is somewhere in between both versions, but no one is lying; they are simply relaying it as they experienced it. Anyway I've listened to both, and all I can say to them is to keep themselves safe from further hurt by building that barrier just a little bit higher. It's not worth losing the friends, but self preservation is paramount. 

Disclaimer (LOL) The recent photos taken at shows may have nothing to do with the post! 

Minffordd Mooches

Having been to Mum's for 9.30am and made sure she was Ok, I set off for a walk with Beti and Meerah. It's surprising how much time you can spend walking in an industrial estate. I suppose they enjoyed it far more than me, but there were some pretty little places; apart from the lake, there were meadows of wildflowers. 

No, Beti, you are not going in. Thank God Ross was at home!

I did see other dog walkers, but not many. One man, who I had a quick chat with was walking one of the oddest GSD's I've ever seen. The tan was so pale it was almost black and white. Bless him, he was no show dog, but as long as he was loved and happy, who cares! I also saw a man with a collie, but he turned tail and went the other way, LOL. Just as I was leaving, I saw another man with a L/C GSD. Another slightly odd-looking dog, the first had been tall and narrow, this guy was smaller and squat with a head that reminded me more of a Eurasier than a GSD. (Google it)