Baggy's daily state!
Depression (Black = really bad/Grey = not great/Blue = okay/Yellow = sunny day): Big bright shiny happy Yellow.
Anxiety (From 1 = barely any to 10 = gibbering wreck standard): 2.
Tears: Noooooo.
Pancakes (Yes/No): Nope!!
Weight in her terrifying naked state (Stones and pounds): And saggy bits.
The rain has gone - the sun is out. Spring is trying to sprung. Baggy woke up in a good mood - well eventually! She was initially woken up by number one furry accidentally dialling her mobile phone at stupid-o-clock, but went straight back to sleep. Then she was woken at 6.30 by Pepper batting her on the nose with his paw - a little trick he has learned from Hinge cat! Furry Mama can take a hint, so she got up and fed everyone, and let the pooch out. It was still 6.45, so Baggy went back to bed. Pepper joined her. He woke her again with a little whimper at 9.00!
As Baggy and the pooch had a long day yesterday, driving over to the holiday cottage to pay bills, replace pillows, drop off welcome cards, and take the cottage's wonderful caretaker out to lunch, Furry Mama had promised the pooch a treat today. He deserved it, he was such a poppet yesterday. He was so calm in the pub that the owner didn't even realise he was there. He had hopped onto the bench seat next to Baggy, and gone to sleep! Baggy absolutely loves driving Billy Bob Jalopy, but he's quite hard work, and three hours driving took it out of her. So the lie-in was welcome, but she and the pooch still arrived at Dunwich Heath by 10.15. The joys of living so close to the sea!
Hormonal Hannah used her new tactic, of plastering a smile on Baggy's face as she drove along - funny how many people smile back. Pepper did his new favourite thing, of checking out the route and working out where he was going. Not by just looking, but by sticking his nose to the air vent on the dashboard and sniffing, then matching the smell to the location. Clever pooch. Not that he really needs to stick his nose so close, having an air-cooled campervan means that it has a free flow of air!! That and the forty-year old gappy windows and the vents that won't close mean that even Baggy can smell the various pig cities en route. It hadn't occurred to her that there was anything odd about this, until her sister had pointed out that there was no sign of a piggy smell when passing the cities in Fred Volvo car.
Pepper has clearly now got the route to Dunwich Heath down pat, as when he realised that Baggy had taken the road through the forest, he started squeaking with excitement. By the time they were driving across the heath, he was beside himself with enthusiasm, charging round the van and woofing at the windows. He decided he wanted to go to the beach, but Baggy had other plans - take Furry Mama and the pooch round the heath first, then go in the sea to wash off all the muddy water. He charged ahead waiting for his ball to be thrown. But a National Trust chap came over and said he had to be on his lead through the heath from March until August because of the nesting dicky-birds. The pooch doesn't walk well on the lead in the big wide world, so they headed to the beach instead. There is still deadly palm oil on it, but the Trust have been doing their best to get rid of it. Clever Bird kept her eyes peeled and took the pooch right down to the clear shoreline. There's one advantage to the current situation, they pretty much had the place to themselves!
The only other dogs they saw were also as under control as the pooch, who had a wonderful time, while Creative Clara did yet more pebble collecting.
On the way back to Billy Bob, the pooch demonstrated his other side! He took off!! Clever Bird knew exactly where he was going to, and also that Furry Mama would not be able to stop him, and Baggy would not be able to catch up with him! Sure enough, she watched him disappear down the bridle path back towards the sea, then take a right, straight into the stinky, muddy pond. In the distance (some two hundred yards away), she could just see him lying down in the pond and having a drink, watched by some bemused dog owners, who were probably thinking all kinds of bad thoughts about Furry Mama. Satisfied with himself, he then came trotting back up the paths to Baggy, straight past three National Trust officials, who fortunately didn't seem too annoyed. But Furry Mama can't complain really - at least he comes back, unlike Minty Mutt who would have disappeared without trace, even when he was considerably older than the pooch is.
On the way home, Pepper went back to his sniffing and it occurred to Clever Bird that he was probably wasted with her. He would have made an excellent search-and-rescue, or sniffer dog, although with all his issues, he'd probably have been deemed unfit for purpose. So to use his various skills and very large brain, Furry Mama is going to enrol him in some fun agility classes in April. Meanwhile, his main role in life is to look after Baggy, which he is superb at........
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