Lose weight without dieting?
How is that possible?
Get yourself a puppy!
Sweet, cuddly, adorable? Absolutely!
My little tyke is all of those things, but he is also hell-bent on trying to kill himself.
He snatches at daisies, lavender, buttercups and, generally, any flowers he can reach. He is also rather partial to munching on big chunks of moss, snatching up twigs, sticks, large pebbles, small pebbles, pheasant droppings, hedgehog poop and tiny fallen apples, cat litter...to name but a few forbidden delights.
The cats have been very clever. They spent the first few days steering clear of him at all times, however, they simply observed. Then they took action, deliberately taunting him, secure in the knowledge that they can simply turn around and hiss angrily at him, or jump out of reach. This stops him in his tracks and he romps back to me.
Everything Winston does is done at pace, of course! So I have spent much of the last couple of weeks charging around in hot pursuit, ready to scoop him up to remove him from danger.
I have begun training him and he is very receptive, except when he is not!
He takes several naps throughout the day - for which I am truly thankful, for young Winston has turned our peaceful lives upside down. The gardens and the house have all been zoned into accessible/safe-ish areas. Thank goodness we have internal stable doors for when the cats require feeding, but Winston is awake and on the prowl.
'See it, eat it!' is his motto.
Organised chaos. Long days and short nights. My house and garden are constantly evolving as we strive to make them reasonably puppy-safe. Luckily, he is easily distracted by a squeaky toy, or a thrown ball. But, he doesn't forget, he goes back for more fun later.
I adore the little chap, but I am worn out.
Most of it is down to Winston, but there have been other things going on at the same time - our dear DiL, MingMing, was in hospital in Shanghai for a week. Thankfully, all is well, but it was a worrying time. At the same time, our oldest grandson has been/is doing his GCSE exams, which means that often a lift to/from school is necessary. The school bus is generally pretty good, but it doesn't always arrive on time and no one needs the extra stress of that before an examination.
As for the title of this post - well, Winston has been with us a little under three weeks and I have shed half a stone. An unexpected benefit, but I'll take that.
His latest bit of mischief? The safest area of the garden (newly fenced, especially for him) also happens to contain the old hurdy-gurdy washing line, a horrible contraption, but useful. This morning just after I had pegged out a wash load, young Mr Winston came along and pulled one or two of the longer articles off the line.
Another job to add to the 'To Do' list. Buy a new washing line and site it in another area of the garden, out of Winston's reach. Meanwhile, the vegetable beds have now all been enclosed in new fencing because Winston has show a great desire to get stuck into them. The polytunnel has some old fly-screen doors pressed back into use to act like stable doors and prevent him from getting in and poisoning himself with the tomato plants, etc.
He keeps us on our toes!
I haven't had any time to read your blog posts or do any of my usual internet reading. This post has been typed up over several days, so apologies if it is a complete mess. No time to correct anything. Winston is finally asleep and I need to get some food organised for when the school bus brings the grandchildren home.
Bye for now.
