A flyin post

Have been busy getting ready for my visitors, cooking, tidying, cleaning etc.  Plus taking Holly out.  She is doing well, met I today but sat on her bed and looked at him, wasn’t friendly but wasn’t wary either.

I startede to take her down Capel Iwan road this afternoon but we got a little way and she took fright and turned and ran.  I chased and called her and got her to stay and we turned around and tried again but she still ran back so somnething upset her.  There was only a For Sale sign, nothing else.  Perhaops it was because it was new to her.

Small might be a little ‘it’ but he seems to be eating for two.  Tonight he had his supper, then caught a large mouse and an hour later was munching on the tacos shell that I burnt. He burns up a lot of energy and is now out jumping around catching and eating moths.

John has been up to look at the grass in the top fields.  It still looks good for hay, there is a lot of yellow rattle in it which the animals love in hay but it is not good for the grass as it tends to take over.

We had hail stones this morning.  Let us hope the weather in August is better…

Heavy showers

here…. making us bad tempered.  In retrospect it was better yesterday.  I hope it’s better than this when my brothers and sister in law come next week.

Robert lives in Essex where it is much drier.  John mutters about moving to Italy but I just want to go where it’sdrier, in the south/southeast of England. 

Holly ran all the way back from the village yesterday, about half a mile.  We were doing well, then she saw a teenager in camouflage gear, although she’s used to John’s coat.  Anyway she turned tail and ran back.  I followed at speed and stopped at the top of the drive and called her.  She came up and we went the other way so she had a good walk one way or the other.  I obviously need to keep her on the lead through the houses, just in case.

As long as the door is open and I get up early we have a clean kitchen and utility but I wouldn’t say she’s house trained yet.

Getting on well

Holly is getting on v well.  She looks so much happier, and today there are lots of wags, probably because there’s food around.  But she’s so good out for a walk.  Waits behind me at the side when cars go by and his afternoon, her first tractor, very loud and rumbly but she was ok.

With the back door open as much as poss, she is going outside.  We say ‘Holly do wees or ‘Holly do poos.’  It’s a bit like having a toddler again with profuse praise when there is action.

The sky is bright but cloudy, it could be a lot warmer.  The weather is supposed to improve from the 27th, I hope it does, for the hay and my brothers and sister in law coming.

Rain again…

and catching up on things.  I have just deleted  101 emails from the Historical Novel Society, most without looking at them.  They are very US orientated although the boss is British. 

It’s a steady, light rain and I took Holly out this morning, her longest walk yet.  After breakfast she starts looking for it.  All done now without a lead. 

After her terrible panic with the vacuum cleaner last week she is settling down well.  She does a ‘loony’ round the bungalow in the morning and her eyes are bright.  She still spooks herself but is slowl;y realising that things don’t jump up and hurt her.

She is using the puppy pee pads although the first night John put it on the floor upside down so there was a puddle on it in the morning.  The back door is open all the time unless the rain is driving in and we get no accidents then. 

We’ve only had her two weeks and she is doing well, considering her previous life.

Catching moths

Small is outside catching moths.  He had a small mouse tonight as well, and yes, we do feed him.  He’s a born killer and chief mole catcher.

It’s been a better day, weather wise, John had been down the neighbour at FF to help with shearing.  Holly would have liked another walk but there wasn’t time.

She spent nearly all her walk this morning off the lead and was v good and well behaved.  After last Wed when she was so upset we have tried to be as quiet and calm as possible with her but she seems to spook herself.  If she was a human she’d be  described as ‘nervy’ but she has spent most of the day outside and comes when called so we are making progress. 

I have ordered some puppy pee pads from Amazon.  Had a look last night at dog house training sites and neve knew these things existed.  We need to do something to get her to wee outside all the time.  I’ve also changed her meal pattern to alter her bowel habits. 

Chris the cleaner comes tomorrow so John might have to take her up the road while she vacuums.  Small often seems to be in the wrong place and he likes to bounce her, and off she goes again with her ears up. 

A mixed week, weather wise, so no hay…

What a day…

It started off well this morning.  We are slowly changing Jolly to Holly, she answers to both but at the moment she is too upset for anything.

We went out for her walk this morning and she is now out without the lead, once past the neighbours.  She is v good, keeps with me and on the way back I tell her to ’stay’ which means stay by me and she does.  We did find she would run back from along the road, to home and I’ve stopped that.

When we got back I wanted to defrost the freezer and usually use the vacuum cleaner for it, sucking up all the ice and water as it melts.  She was outside but the noise absolutely terrified her.  This was at 1.00 and John has only now got her in.   She wouldn’t come in the door. 

We thought she’d run off but she was just sitting by the front of the house.  Unfortunately a Western Powr man came as well and shouted down to John, Small ambushed her and when John shouted at Small Holly thought he was shouting at her…  Then neighbour I came down for a chat, so she is completely freaked out.  I’ve given her some Rescue Remedy to soothe her and she can have a very quiet evening.

John wants to cut the grass whilst it is dry but goodness knows how she’ll react to the noise.  We’ve obviously got to be very careful what we do.  It’s a shame because she was doing so well and she has to learn that noises happen but nothing will hurt her .

We don’t know how she was treated at the place she was reared but we suspect she was shouted at.  We knew she’d need time and patience and it will be gradual, to build up her confidence.

Meanwhile John is fed up because his old Brushcutter will not start and he cannot get a screw out, he even took it up John the mechanics this morning and their combined talents didn’t work so he’ll have to go over Mansel’s and have it drilled out. 

What with one thing and another I’ve done no writing work today and I don’t feel like it now.  I’ve been watching Torchwood on BBC1. and got into it.  I get the BBC Writersroom newsletters and the writer, Russell T Davies sometimes posts on there  talking about writing for Dr Who and Casualty etc. 

We will see if Holly will have some food now.

Progress

Jolly has just been outside with John without  the lead and she stayed fairly close to him, having a look around but not doing a wee or poo which is what we want to get her used to.  

If we know she is safe with us, then we can let her out any time.  Considering everything is different and strange she is doing very well.  It’s showery and cooler here today and I got wet taking her out this morning – but  it’s only rain.  She seems to like the security of her bed, she still does circling which is probably behaviour from the kennels when she was shut up for long periods. 

I’m working on a letter to the MS Research Matters editor as they have done an article about Naltrexone, which is the drug that keeps me, and many others well and in their usual negative way dismiss it in a few words without having done any proper research and backgound on it.  It’s the MS Society that  talks about Tysabri that is the drug for MS that kills people. 

I know they cannot sanction anything that a person would buy themselves because people would then complain if it didn’t work but Naltrexone has no side effects & although not a cure, seems to stop me getting worse which is a plus. 

So I’m having a ‘rant’ day…I’ve put a post on the MSRC site to see what others think.

Jolly is here now…

our new Border Collie.  I will put up a picture tomorrow,  this has been her first full day and unfortunately it was not a calm one.

John had to take a dead ewe over to Llanwni and Western Power withLampeter Tree Services turned up at 2.30.  There were six Land Rover type vehicles in the yard and drive, including one with a cherry picker down in the field.  The electric line was arcing out on the birch trees and conifers. It was good that Mark noticed it the other day. 

Quite a lot of the conifers have been cut off, I wish they could do the ones at the side of the drive like that.  They have a chipper machine and throw the branches straight in. 

All that noise of chain saws and grinding worried Jolly but she is much calmer now and is sitting on her chair (that was Kim’s).  It has her manky old blanket from Ty Agored on it but she seems to have got the hang of climbing up on the chair. 

She is not used to human company all the time.  We are getting wags and can stroke her.  Her food goes in seconds, not like Kim who used to try and bury, look at it and finally decide to eat it.

Catty and Small seem ok, Small more so, he ran up to her and greeted her last night, I don’t know if he thought it was Kim come back.

Jolly has been up the road twice today, in the rain tonight, she walks well on the lead but this might be because she is rather subdued. 

Small is in our good books at he has killed two moles, that’s what have been seen, hopefully there are more.  It’s a shame to kill God’s little creatures but they do so much damage with their heaps on the lawn.