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I was pleased in a way to hear about your wellie as I feared for poppy's feet as you were telling the story.

I'm sure there's a two left feet gag in there somewhere but it hasn't come to me yet.

I've been piling on the pounds too Tom, I blame the seasonal port and stilton amongst other things - not playing enough golf either.

A couple of months before Christmas I was 13st 8lb so I went on a simple diet. Breakfast of eggs on toast at 8am, packet soup around 2pm and whatever Mrs cooked for dinner. (Or tea, as normal people call it.)

By Christmas I was 12st 10lb, which is fine for me. Any fitter and I'm a serious fanny magnet.

When I got back on the scales in the new year I wasn't surprised to find I had gone back up to 13sr 6lb.

"No problem" I though, "I'll just jump back on the two meals and a soup thing again.

It hasn't happened.

I almost became a shoplifter when I bought those Wellies BTW.

They came from a local garden centre "Palmers" a vast emporium with like, 100+ cars in the car park on a Wednesday morning.

Click to see full-size image.

I walked through the door and asked the first sales person I saw where the Wellies were kept.

"Oh I couldn't tell you, this section is The Works. You want the garden centre section."

I continued on and asked another person in a more gardeny looking section but apparently that was Pet's Corner, nothing to do with the garden centre.

I eventually got to what HAD to be the garden centre bit, (I say bit, it was bigger than Meadowhall and there wasn't a staff member to be found.

After an hour or so of aimless wandering I stumbled upon the welly section, found the pair I wanted and tried them on. Then I took them off again, tucked them under my arm and set off to find the till.

I found some tills but they were the ones for Pet's Corner. Then I found some more but they were for The Works. Both refused to take my money.

Then I went through some double doors and found myself outside in the car park.

I was soo tempted to just get into my car and drive away but I went back inside and spent another 20 mins looking for the tills or a staff member.

What a ridiculous experience

Ordinary Wellington boots aren't really suitable or comfortable on long (ish) walks, but 4 or 5 years ago I discovered these.

Neoprene Wellies.

Basically a sturdy well made rubber boot with a tough, grippy sole and a waterproof Neoprene upper that hugs your leg instead of flapping around.

Bliss.

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Now part of the bottleneck section has a blackthorn hedge running alongside it but to give him his due, the farmer is very conscientious and cuts it every year, usually just before the quagmire season.

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The thorn that gives the blackthorn its name is a phenomenal weapon. Up to 4 inches long and as hard as iron, it can really inflict some serious damage. The saving grace is, it's a defence weapon. Leave it alone and it will leave you alone.

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Unfortunately the leave it alone method doesn't work when the farmer's flail cuts the thorns off and sprinkles them into the mud on the path.

The thorns retaliated by piercing the tough sole of my right Welly, causing a leak.

I put up with the leak for the rest of the quagmire season but when the next one arrived I decided to buy another pair.
"If I get another puncture" I rationased, at least I have a spare left welly in good condition.

I managed to get through the next couple of years without incident, but this year the blackthorn struck again.

Now I am on my third pair of Neoprene Wellies and I have two spares, both left.

Surely the odds of puncturing a left one next time are getting shorter.

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Warning. I read a blog called, and written by Dull Men. The following post could easily qualify.




Almost every day, and usually first thing in the morning, I walk my dog Poppy on a three-and-a-bit mile route (there and back) through Fosse Meadows.

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It's an amazing country walk with acres of open meadows and miles of woodland paths, and because I walk it every day I get to see the trees, fields and landscape in all seasons. I love it.


Fosse Meadows Country Park https://share.google/nXmTL2Nm66AS5UYMx


This time of year brings a particular problem though, there is one section of the route that is restricted to a narrow path between two fences and, because everyone from my village who wants to go to FM has to pass through this constriction it very quickly gets churned into a quagmire.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Solution? Wellington boots. Simples.
Or so you might think...

To be continued.

Egyptian tennis star update. 
https://x.com/i/status/2010369519911608742

Other dogs are generally a far better judge of dog behaviour than we are.

That's true. My dog Poppy can tell if an approaching dog is likely to be aggressive from 50 yards away, even if it isn't exhibiting any signs that I can see.

Sorry to hear about your old girl passing.

I'm efinitely not in the egg sucking education business here Mr Nut, especially if you've been rescuing dogs for years, but I'm hugely interested in how you get on with a young, lead reactive, male GSD. Please keep us updated.

A couple of questions if l may.

How old is he, and do you know anything about his life before he came to you?

He's about 3, we were told, although his teeth and general demeanour seems to suggest that he's younger than that. We have no idea about his previous life unfortunately. My other half wants him to settle in here for a few months before she starts to try and train him seriously but he is definitely improving on lead and his recall is getting better although it's non existent if there's something else really exciting, like someone going down the track next to our land - then it's all bets off. The woodland tracks and lane around us mean that when you interact with other dogs it's generally head on and in a confined space so that's problematic, he's just way too over the top. I didn't see it but apparently he was running up and down chasing a dog the other side of the fence today and the other dog was play bowing and interacting with him, suggesting that his chasing and barking isn't threatening behaviour but more likely excitement and exuberance. Other dogs are generally a far better judge of dog behaviour than we are.

Ironically my retirement deal fell out of bed yesterday, it turns out the company I was selling to had kept things from me (essentially that they were also selling out and would no longer offer independent financial advice). To say I am angry would be a huge understatement, I have been jumping through hoops for the last 6 months and all the time they knew they were going to sell and simply wanted to include my client base in the deal. I will lose a lot of money but it's no longer in the best interests of my clients so it looks like I'm carrying on for the time being.

You are so right about the stages of life, at this rate it feels like I am going to go straight from working life to the final chapter.

The animals at Chez Enut are fine. We have rescued German Shepherd dogs for decades and sadly the best one we have ever had died a few months ago, she was an absolute character, highly intelligent and absolutely bullet proof, a complete softy. I miss her terribly. My other half has immediately replaced her with a young male GSD who is a real handful (OK with people but lead reactive with other dogs), so he is a work in progress. Still have one other GSD, a couple of horses, 4 cats, a few ducks and a visiting heron.

Give my regards to Paul Jackson next time you see him he beats you at golf.

Sad & bad news about the Business. Hope you get something sorted.

Love to hear about your animals, & it seems you understand & have an affinity with dogs. FWIW, Tom, aka Red-Dog is something of a "dog (& horse) whisperer" too.

PS - Herons are close to being my favourite bird, but a lot of folk dislike them as they steal their "pet" fish. I often spot a Heron when golfing, & it makes my day.
 

I'm going to take a while to think about the business. I'm considering taking on a PA or paraplanner as that would take the pressure off me (I do everything atm) and maybe let me work 3 days a week instead of retiring fully, we'll see. I do know from the last few months that most firms buying retiring IFA businesses are just out for what they can make out it (I genuinely thought that the firm I had picked were diffferent....but they've shown themselves to be even worse than the others.)

We probably know a  bit more about dogs than most but we're certainly not experts, we do have a few acres though so he can run around like an idiot off the lead without bothering other dogs until we get him sorted out. I think it's just excitement and probably just needs him off lead (or on a long lead) but muzzled so we can actually see what he's like without others worrying that he's going to do damage to their dogs.

Heron's are great and luckily we have enough small fish that he can take a few when he wants to. The bigger fish are too big for him.

Sorry to hear about your old girl passing.

I'm efinitely not in the egg sucking education business here Mr Nut, especially if you've been rescuing dogs for years, but I'm hugely interested in how you get on with a young, lead reactive, male GSD. Please keep us updated.

A couple of questions if l may.

How old is he, and do you know anything about his life before he came to you?