Let It Snow

Elgin is covered in a blanket of the fluffy stuff.  For something that looks totally beautiful, it's causing complete chaos.

The schools are closed, roads are treacherous and I didn't dare risk Jack going into respite tonight!  It's not that I wouldn't have gotten him there but getting him back would be a huge problem cos the paths which my lovely dad already cleared, would be knee deep again by morning.  So literally Jack is trapped in the house until the snow shifts or it at least flattens enough to accommodate a wheelchair.

January this year, we were housebound for 3 weeks, as the snow was that bad!  People were saying, just clear your path and it will be fine.  That's all well and good but then what about the pavements?  For those of you that have had the pleasure of  pushing a child's buggy in the snow, then you know how hard that is, well a wheelchair is a whole new ball game.  You can push it from now til doomsday and the bloody thing just won't move!  It just aint happening people. :-)

Luckily for me, I have a carer (Marion) coming in twice a week for 3 and a half hours and that's when I can escape with Holly and fill up on supplies without having to put Jack through the trauma of being pushed and shoved on pavements that are impassible.

But I do so love the snow, especially the soft fluffy kind. So even though it causes me hassle I can't help but feel that it is a wee bit magical and transports me back to my childhood.  I think I am still very much in touch with my inner child cos last year, over Christmas, while we were walking our dog Shiloh, Holly asked me if I would like to make snow angels.

Well, hello? I was on my back in the snow in seconds, flapping my arms like a mad thing and she couldn't stop laughing cos none of her mates were willing to do it and here was her mum making a total arse of herself without any kind of persuasion!

Two seconds later and she'd whipped out her phone and was taking a photo of me.....bitch!!! lol  Then she was on her back on the snow joining me and the dog was looking at us like we had gone nuts.  If she could speak I am sure she would have said "what the fuck?"

After about 10 minutes and much giggling, we were caked in snow and the cold had set in but it was so much fun that to be honest we didn't really care.  When we stood up, the two of us looked like abominable snowmen, a rare sight at the best of times but never before seen in Elgin.  Thank god it was dark and luckily for me, the photo that Holly Dolz took was too dark so no photographic evidence!

Never mind though I did manage to nip out and take some photos yesterday so you'll get the drift!

So my lovely back garden takes on a whole new persona when covered in snow and the new patio looks unrecognisable.

And walking the dogs is now a barrel of laughs cos the puppy, Loki hasn't had a lot of experience of snow, so she keeps sticking her face in it and then sneezing.  She really is a numpty.  Mind you, they both are.  Holly took them both for a walk yesterday. They were running about like mad chasing the snowballs that Holly was throwing for them and they both jumped for it at the same time.  They met head on, in mid air and then there was an almighty crack and blood everywhere.  Shiloh, the blonde one (numpty 1) had broke a tooth on Loki's head (numpty 2) and it had snapped in half.

Holly was panic stricken and poor Shiloh was feeling very sorry for herself so Holly took them home pronto.  She was quite upset when telling me the story and all I could think was "oh fuck, it's gonna cost a fortune at the vet if it needs to come out!"  God I am so sympathetic.............NOT!!! Quick call to vet and OMG it was like phoning NHS 24! I was put through to this call centre and was asked 20 questions and told I would be called by an on call vet in the next 10 mins.

Ten mins later, I was chatting to said vet who told me as it was her top middle tooth, it was nothing to worry about and to just give her paracetamol if she was in pain.  Well you can imagine Shiloh aka Numpty 1, milked it for all she was worth and Holly, who was feeling very guilty, fawned all over her as per the photo below.

She may be a numpty, but she has got Holly well sussed!

And twenty four hours later, as Holly wasn't around to fawn, she had forgotten all about it.  I have the evidence!  She isn't fooling me!

But then Holly came home and she is doing her dying duck routine again!  If you are a reader of this blog, you will know who she learnt that from.....chancer!

A Leap Into The Unknown

I was walking the dogs as usual today which is totally an everyday event. Not much happens, not so today.

I take them on the same walk every day. We walk around the cathedral, into the park then in by the mini golf course where the River Lossie runs and they spend a good half an hour leaping into the water, fetching sticks I have thrown in for them. Then we cross a small bridge, onto the other side of the river bank and they spend a a mad 10 minutes running around chasing each other, then along the river bank, over another bridge, back around the cathedral and home. Simples!

All was going well until we reached the second bridge. It's pedestrianised but even so it is quite a busy bridge so I normally keep them to heel until I see there are no kids or cyclists on the go then I tell them to run off.

So there I was, keeping them back, saw no one was there so off they ran, very excited. Loki, the puppy was in the lead and she was so excited that I don't think she realised where she was going and the next thing I see is her taking a leap over the side of the bridge and just disappearing! It was like one of those cartoon leaps, like Pepé le Pew. Jesus Christ my heart nearly stopped and I started running in panic to where she had jumped, only to see no dog in the water but could hear a rustling in the trees and shrubs on the river bank.

I was convinced she was hurt cos she had to have fallen about 10ft so I started calling her name and running up and down the bridge frantically searching for her. Eventually I saw her in a clearing just at the bottom of the wall and she tried to jump up and I tried to grab her but to no avail. She tried this a few times and I could see that she was beginning to panic and was making noises of distress.

So there I was hanging over the wall trying to grab her when I suddenly see this blur of golden fur fly past me on the left hand side and suddenly Shiloh is right beside her and I am thinking AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH For Fuck's Sake!!!!!!

You are probably wondering why she didn't just climb up the bank but it is blocked by a huge building and you can't get around that side without going the long way around, which is the route we had already taken.

Shiloh, bless her, then tries to jump back up and fails dismally so then she starts running around and Loki is following suit thinking this is quite a good game. Meanwhile, I am having a moment of insanity thinking "I am gonna have to climb down there and get them!" before the sensible part of my brain kicks in and says "wtf, ya stupid girl, then you'd all be stuck!" After a fleeting image of me and said dogs being rescued by Firemen, I was tempted to throw myself over the wall after them but then had another fleeting image of us making front page headlines and decided it was definitely a no no!

I then started to frantically look around me for help, but sods law, not a soul going about so I take off, running, back over the bridge, all the while shouting their names, back along the river bank until I found a clearing where they could see me.

I am standing there, waving my hands like a total nutter, yelling their names til I am hoarse and the stupid dogs are looking up at the bridge, where I was originally standing, crying! Eventually Shiloh, who is usually a total blonde, spots me so I started shouting on her to come and she takes a belly flop into the water and starts making her way across the river to me, thankfully with Loki in hot pursuit.

When they got back over, I was all over them, giving them hugs and Shiloh was kinda wondering what all the fuss was about whereas Loki was a bit more subdued, which is rare cos she is such a happy dog, so much so that I am sure she is on uppers!

After I checked them both for injuries, my heart finally started to calm down so I made them sit until I pulled myself together! Two minutes later we were back over the bridge, this time, no leaps into the unknown, thank god!

Later on, I was telling Marion, Jack's carer the whole saga and she couldn't stop laughing and saying that "there wasn't a day that goes by without something eventful happening to me!".

Hey, it's not my fault, honest! I can't help it if I have two psycho dogs, who are both a sandwich short of a picnic.

The irony here is that I bought the dogs as a means to help me DE-STRESS!!!

I think I need a refund!