of toilet habits and their consequences . . .

monday 17th september

'crazy man michael' (fairport convention) softly finds its way into the aether. the bird-table and window-sills have been topped up with seed and I take a sip from my fresh cup of delicious havana blend coffee, second roll-up ready to spark and all is, once again, unified and looking good . . .

tom has just delivered the mail; this time no fearsome bogey the lovely but insecure bouvier to greet the wary postman, just the friendly curiosity of my calm and untroubled new menagerie. he's bearing the lens hood I ordered and, as is not that infrequent, an envelope addressed to one of the other properties on our track. it will be a pleasant little stroll to 'pine cottage', especially with my new little family; any excuse for a little bit of exploring for my inquisitive duo.

yesterday morning's promise wasn't quite so encouraging: until I pick up the baby-gate on friday, teea and tasha will be sleeping with me upstairs; I just couldn't leave them out what with the incessant whining and desperate scratching on the bedroom door on that first night. one of my two lovelies had helpfully evacuated a full bladder on the bed, soaking the quilt, duvet, sheets, mattress cover and the 'body-form' foam layer. there is also the now soaking wet doggie-duvet which I had unsuccessfully attempted to convince them was their sleeping quarters; one of the girls had thoughtfully taken this to be their upstairs toilet. by mid-afternoon all the misused bedwear is clean and safely airing above the hot water cistern; but there's always some advantage to be gained in, seemingly, negative circumstances. washing the duvets and quilt in the old days would have meant taking a trip to the village to get them dry-cleaned but, with the assistance of this wonderful new virtual world of communication and knowledge, I learned how to cope this arduous task with my humble domestic laundering facilities: a 'delicates' wash at 30º followed by a cool tumble-dry with a couple of tennis balls in the drum kept the down from clumping and they turn out as good as new.

today I'll get their registration papers sent off to the kennel club and make an appointment for the vets to get them checked over and micro-chipped; I'll also arrange to have them spayed. then I'll be hunting through my files to find the marriage certificate and property disposition as the house(s) are in both our names. then there's much hoovering to be done picking up the sticky remains of their doggie snacks which are distributed throughout the house. when I go to drop my post off I'll get some shopping, including some fabreze for those lovely doggie smells that have wafted their way into every corner . . .
oh the joy of it all!