of hormones and comestibles . . .

wednesday 26th september
mostly morning in between doing other bits and pieces

a shroud of mist envelopes ben lawers in a matter of minutes. moments ago the vast white swathe was framed, clearly defined, against a luminescent blue sky illuminated by broad beams of soft cadmium yellow reaching out from the east. the sharp outline of that summit giving false prospect, as it invariably does, of a clear day. in the few moments it takes us to travel halfway along our brief morning stroll, this once opaque blanket has dissipated into an almost translucent gossamer-thin wisp that obscures all but the very edges of the western sky though the sun is still free, for the moment at least, to spread its sparkling autumn rays.













a doggie interlude . . .

it has come to my notice that leeloo has been paying more attention to cleaning herself of late. her transition to womanhood is starting and I will pay more attention to their protection for the next few weeks as they will be more vulnerable to infection. I suspect that meea is also coming into season though she is not displaying any obvious signs. as they are litter sisters I am assuming their hormone cycles will coincide, at least, approximately. sometime soon I will have to test for pinking around her vulva, not a very blokey task to have to undertake but needs must.

they are now each consuming the equivalent of between four and five cans of wet food every day and have not, as yet, reached the end of their ninth month. their appearance belies their actual size because of their perfect proportions and it is not until seen next to bogey, himself an impressive beast, that their true size can be appreciated. how fast they will continue to grow is not certain but I have read that they will not reach full physical maturity until they are two and a half years old.

keeping slim? . . . fat chance!

in the meantime, I, who have allegedly reached at least physical maturity, am constantly in the grip of extreme hunger now that the chill is in the air, and consumption of foodstuffs, beneficial and otherwise, is well on the increase. during the summer months I would, typically, intake a total of one yogurt and up to five pieces of fruit before dinner. today, for example, I have eaten an extremely thick cheese sandwich albeit between two pieces of ryvita, three pieces of toast and butter, a tin of vegetable soup, about a dozen pieces of licorice (the sweetie variety), a yogurt and two pieces of fruit; and it is only half-past two. this constant cycle of shoving food down my neck and the resulting size increase in the gut department is threatening to weaken my defences against the lethargic offensive that I am still determined to neutralise. thank the gods there are no choccies in this fortress. of course, even mild fluctuations of temperature can have the same unwanted relaxing effect so I find myself between a cold and a fat place.