We have had a nice weekend, busy but relaxing! We are still getting our heads round having no shows and missing seeing everyone but the nice weather is helping to take our minds of it and in the grand scheme of things agility isn't that important really! The virus is not spreading as rapidly as it was but the death toll yesterday was still over 300 people. Although the lockdown needs to be eased it is worrying that the scientific advisers to the government think its too soon. We can now meet outside in groups of up the six from different households as long as we maintain social distancing.
I saw this posted by a wise friend on Facebook and wanted to share it. This strange situation has caused a lot of worry and anxiety and many of us are craving to be 'normal' again.
Over the weekend we have walked, BBQ'd and gardened! Here are a few photos I took 😁
Since going back to work I have really missed baking! Matt is currently out braving the shops so I decided to make molasses cookies (well they are black treacle and ginger!) I made them a while back and they were so good that I thought I'd blow the rest of my flour on making some more!
We have had a nice couple of days, on Wednesday we had a lesson with Dan and the doglets worked so hard. I think we did as well! Bru did cracking contacts and jump skills, he just had a brain fart about one tunnel and Spark struggled with the start as I was trying to get ahead for the push round!
On Wednesday evening we had a takeaway and met up with Wendy, it was the first take away we had had for over two months! The shelties walked to the chip shop and Spark got to sit with us while we ate.
Share please?!
Yesterday we had a leisurely morning starting with poached eggs on waffles done in the toaster! Then we went for a nice long walk, we discovered a couple of new fields that were huge and had a path round the edge of them. To get there we only need to cross one road so its a lovely long off lead walk with some big hills...good for all of our fitness!
Lots of happy faces! They were on lead as the road was behind me but we walked round the fields behind the doglets as far as you can see to the tree line. It was very warm though! And it was fields all the way home, Spark still had the energy to go crop surfing 😂 Brodie stays on lead a lot now as he gets sniffing things and left behind and we have to go back and get him!
Thirsty work!
Yesterday evening we did the last clap for carers (week 10) and did a Zoom quiz with my Mum, Amy and Wendy which was fun despite a few technical hitches!
And a few garden pics! We have pulled up the spinach beet in the last pic and sowed some more. Our rose is looking lovely!
So we are off work this week as we would have been at Quadpaws which is a bit sad as its one of our favourite shows. Luckily the weather is on our side and we have had glorious sunshine! It has been great for Matt to have time to train his doglets, we have done a couple of short sessions on the dog walk down plank to practise his turns. To be honest all the mat and plank work in the garden has paid off so much as he definitely understands the game without loads of reps on a dog walk! No video of Bru but Brooke had a go and really enjoyed her play in the field 💚
The rest of the day has been spent in the garden pottering around. Matt tried to trim our little bushes...supervised by Mr Toad!
Our shrub above the pond (no clue what it is!) has got pretty blossom on it now!
Harvesting the old beetroots
We finished today off with a BBQ! It was still really hot!
I rarely get very wound up by things in the news but over the past couple of days its come to light that Dominic Cummings (aide to PM Boris Johnson) travelled up to Durham during lockdown despite his wife having symptoms of Covid-19 as they were worried about who would care for their child! The government have defended him and said he hasn't broken any rules and was going on instinct...imagine if we had all ignore the stay and home and self isolate rule and gone driving round the country?! Understandably a lot of people are furious about it! I try not to be political on my blog but it shows such a lack of respect for all the people who have obeyed the lockdown and stayed put 😠
I needed to get that off my chest! Today has been a lazy day mostly spent walking and in the garden doing odd jobs. The weather has been nicer but still windy! Fence panels hanging in there so far...fingers crossed!
The pond is manky but the flowers are so pretty!
Sparkle in her fav spot!
Bean taking the chance to have a roll around in the grass and Toad always on standby to help!
First green courgette! And today we worked out that Runner Beans prefer to grow anticlockwise!
Chilled shelties!
Bean got to wear the rainbow harness on our walks today!
The last couple of days have passed in a bit of a whirlwind and wind seems appropriate as it has been so gusty over the last 48 hours! Luckily our fence posts have stayed upright but its been a bit of a worry as we have no spares now! We also had the first bit of rain for over a week which saved some watering.
We had a great time on Thursday evening doing Jays virtual pub quiz via Zoom with my Mum and Amy...see you next week ladies (and Pudding! 😂) On Friday night we had a Zoom chat with Amy, my Dad and Lesley and it was lovely to catch up. This evening we had our weekly quiz with friends so ours brains feel well limbered up haha!
Matt managed to mow the grass on Thursday evening while I did some weeding...with my cheeky helpers!
Friday morning I decided to bake some cookies before going to work, the recipe made an enormous batch and I didn't expect them to be so huge!
Cuddle time!
Friday night has turned into long walk evening as the weather always seems really nice
Today we went for a very windy walk to the common with Wendy for a coffee, the shelties almost blew away!
On the way home we went to my field to do some training, unfortunately it was a bit windy to do full dog walks with Bru but we did some turns training. He was a good puppy!
Spark did some full dog walks, I haven't edited her video yet but I'm thrilled with her turns 💜
Our little bushes from the front are looking really sad :-( They aren't pot bound and we have watered them a fair bit but they aren't happy. I have given them a trim to see if that helps!
Our rose is so pretty now, I can't resist taking more photos of it!
The one thing that so many of my clients have said is that its great to be back doing lessons as it feels really nice to be doing something normal! I'm really lucky that I only teach 1-1 lessons anyway so its not that different for me apart from I can't do workshops at other venues like I usually do. The difference in the dogs post lockdown is really interesting as well! I thought they would be all over me having not seen their 'Auntie' for a couple of months but they have all been really good at not jumping up! I think they have got used to social distancing as well!
It was very hot again today and after working for a few hours this morning I headed into town to pick up at coffee and visit my Mum in Law to have a chat and pick up a parcel. It was nice to sit in the shade and have a chat! I managed to go back and work this afternoon despite no chance to go to the loo (we can't go into other peoples houses and public toilets are closed) so I must have sweated out everything I drank haha!! Looking forward to doing Jays Virtual Pub quiz tonight with my Mum and Amy after we clap for carers. We have a nice chat with the neighbours each week and the lady from next door has been managing to come out (she is in her late 80's) so its great to see how she is doing.
Brodies new harness arrived, we thought we'd follow the rainbow NHS theme 🌈
Spark got a rainbow collar as well!
A selection of todays flowers, I never realised before how our garden changes so much in 24 hours!
Daft boys in the sun!
The yellow Iris in our pond has come out. 'The Yellow Iris' is also one of my favourite episodes of Poirot so I'm pleased we have one!
The rose have come out overnight!
And a very cool Petunia!
I dug out the cool mat for the dogs yesterday and Bru is the one using it the most!
