Weimaranering on Stanton Moor

Well, what do you know. First you cannot drag the STAFF off the sofa for love nor money and then THEY make us go into complete overdrive.

So, I found myself on this beautiful Sunday morning in the middle of the Peak District on top of Stanton Moor with the world just full of beautiful opportunities for any Weimy out there willing to seize them.

And willing I was. It was just tricky to decide on where to go first. Left? Right? Straight on? Ah, sod it. Just go everywhere.

If only STAFF were faster walkers and there wouldn't always be these hours of downtime. I sooooo loathe waiting.

Apparently there was a nice view for STAFF. Not as nice as the smells were for this little Weimy. Very fragrant, full of notes of delicious wildlife. If only I could get some!

With such slow coaches on board there is always a lot of herding that needs doing. What do THEY take me for - a border collie? Honestly, a Weimy's work is just never done!

Good that I managed to hunt down and kill this stick. That made me feel a lot better and released quite a bit of tension.

And then when I saw this stone circle I got the idea for a very cunning plan. If I say so myself. I decided to sit down and blend in with the stones and then just remain still, completely still like a Ninja Weimy, until some unsuspecting wildlife would walk straight into my open chops and BAM! Dead. Dinner. But alas, after sitting still for days. Or perhaps hours. Well minutes. Ok, well, seconds. Anyway, I lost patience and wandered off. A good plan in principle, but you probably need the patience of anything a lot more patient than me to execute it.

All in all a very good trip out. I cannot help but smile. But now I must sleep. When STAFF are in this kinda mood, you just never know what adventure awaits you next. Good that I am a practised power napper. Night night.

walking through clouds

So, you look at the weather forecast, it says "rain", what do you do? Well, any sensible person might get a paper and some nice food (!) and plan for a nice relaxing day on the sofa. The STAFF, as you know, do not fall into this wonderful category and in THEIR wisdom planned a 6 mile hike through the Goyt Valley in the Peak District. And I had no choice but to tag along.
At first, I was having fun. The sun was sort of shining and I could scamp about to my heart's content. STAFF were looking at some ruins. How dull. I was looking for food - how exciting!
I am smiling away in the sunshine. At this point no one had taken the trouble to apprise me of the length of this jaunt. I am smiling the smile of all innocent dogs anywhere who can't read maps...
And you see so many great things out in the country. Like walking snacks! Yum! I was going for a sort of Wild West impression.... This path is too small for all of us. Leave now and I shall hunt you. Stay there and I shall hunt you! A clear win-win situation, apart from the fact that STAFF had clipped me into a harness which makes running at speed quite difficult. THEY always do that when there are nice big wooly snacks around. It is most frustrating!

Still, I enjoyed scampering through the long grass. Long grass has the advantage that it hides from view all exciting things, but not from the nostrils. In other words, I can find things that STAFF don't even dream about. And what THEY don't know about, THEY cannot stop you from snacking on.

As you can see, I am rather pleased with my efforts. I had me a good number of interesting things. Trouble with scampering through long grass is that you get grass seeds in your ears. Those are particularly tricky to remove when you lack a small finger and the kind of elbows that allow you to put the little finger in your ear and wiggle. That, and the ability to open cupboards and food containers, has to be the only advantage of bi-ped anatomy.Teehee! STAFF were trying to take a picture - pretty annoying. And there is always that point where THEY are not entirely sure where you are and the lens is going all over the place. So, I kept low, snuck up and at the right moment BOO! Haha. STAFF nearly dropped that camera. I was chuckling to myself for ages after that.

And I seized the opportunity to clamber up some hills to show STAFF who is King of these hills! It was also so windy. STAFF, who don't have 4PawDrive, nearly got blown off the path a couple of times. It was very funny. THEY looked like THEY walked when THEY have partaken in the imbibing of a whole half pint of weak ale.
With hindsight I should have been more worried about the pretty clouds building up in the background. And then with the wind and whatnot and all, suddenly the clouds were not above us, or behind us or anything but all around us and we were walking through the driving rain inside a cloud. I hate getting wet. Unless I am swimming. There's no pictures of the torrential downpour, because we don't have an underwater camera.But here you can see the path we've just come up and the white stuff lying on it, which is a rain cloud. Eeeugh!

I was trying to encourage STAFF to hurry. I could see the clouds were closing in on us again! Thankfully, I had packed my Kagool, otherwise I should have been drenched. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I am sure when I was a puppy the summers were warmer and longer, well, you know, more than just one day.

Back in the car, I crashed down on my blanket immediately. As you can see my accommodation is very basic. The STAFF totally make me rough it. After 6 miles up and down hills and through torrential rain and all I slept quite nicely on the way back.

And you know, I actually enjoyed myself. I wonder where we are going next weekend? I'd say adventures are totally back on the menu!

rubber sticks are great!

I got myself a new toy. I am so full of energy now and no niggly aches and pains. Nothing! And it is all down to this wonderful hydrotherapy I get. Hydrotherapy = joie de vivre! Anyway, last time we were at hydrotherapy I spotted these cool new toys. Sticks, but made from rubber by ruff dawgs. Totally safe! I indicated to the STAFF that I wanted one, and, naturally, THEY bought it. THEY are soft as anything when I go swimming. Well, most of the time really. And one day, THEY will get me a pig's ear in the tuck shop, I just know it. But, yes, my new toy.

So, this morning we took it to the Best Wood, handed it to the STAFF who can throw slightly better than the other one, and offffffffff I went!
Overshot it a little bit on the first go. After all, I had been totally out of practice with the whole playing thing. 
So, we're having another go.
And - PERFECT! Got it in one. 
I also scooped up quite a lot of grass with that one. 
But I quickly got rid off that, so that I could pose with my kill! Hah!
But being in the Best woods is not all fun and games! There is also quite a lot of wee-mail that needs reading and replying to. Even though I wish the STAFF would have the grace not to take pictures during these private, er, conversations. 

And there's always quite a lot of exploring to do. But the key is to look non-chalant, whatever you are up to. That way I landed me a little rabbit the other week. The STAFF will claim that it was already dead when I found it. Pah! I caught it fair and square. Maybe it wasn't moving very fast, but still. Well, not moving very fast, in a not at all sort of way. I still chalked it up as my kill. So, there. And it was very tasty. Both the first and the second time I ate it. If you get my meaning. Although, I could have done with some Schnapps to ease it through the system a bit more...

Anyway, all in all, I am having a great time! Would you know it - I am a totally happy kinda guy right now!

All the activity has left me slightly tired. I am resting on my timeshare. A splendid arrangement I have with the STAFF: I get it during the day and THEY get it at night. Unless there are fireworks or thunderstorms. Then we all share. 

Night, night. See you later for evening patrol. Until then, be off! 

Across the Windy Moors on Christmas Day - or A Reality Check

Hmm, I am not sure whether I spoke too soon when I praised Christmas. Perhaps my enthusiasm was too much based on cozy and romantic images I saw in the media and not enough adjusted for those masters of crazy and stupid, aka the STAFF. I thought we'd wake up late, go downstairs, find presents, pork pies and sherry. Unwrap stuff, eat. Eat some more. And basically continue eating until luncheon time, when we'd eat until it was time for dinner.

I should have known the STAFF would have other ideas. The alarm goes off before sunrise (who, I asks you, sets an alarm on Christmas day?), and then they start packing our hiking gear. Uh oh, I thought. What about a lie-in? Pork pies? Presents?

See what I got instead! A day out on Stanton moor in the Peak District! That's not what I anticipated - and there were certainly no pork pies.

And then the STAFF made me pose in the Nine Ladies Stone circle. Oooh, Nine Ladies and One Weimy, they crooned. The feeble fools. They are not funny! Gosh, this is sooo embarrassing.

As always, they managed to entice me along the route by hypnotising me with biscuits. As you can see I am totally spellbound. I am sure it is not legal. I will find out about that.

I feel a little better now that we are home and I have been issued with luncheon. Very nice stuff from a tin. Now, if I get some dinner in addition to that, it could be a great Christmas day after all!

Let's keep our paws crossed and hope for the best as we relax in front of the radiator.

Grizedale Forest... It's worse than Fanghorn!

We arrived in the Lakes and all was fine. Weather didn't look too good, so the STAFF suggested that we go to Grisefale Forrest. Great, I thought. Nice easy walking, squirrels, sticks, a bit of rain cover and maybe evern a rabbit or a fox. What's not to look forward to? Pah, I should've known the STAFF cannot be trusted!

You should've seen the scary things in that forrest! Massive sheep and spiders and the largest fox I ever have seen! I tried to look non-chalant. And it seems to have worked, becasuse I lived to type the tale.

But honestly, it was worse than the Fanghorn forrest in Lord of the Rings (I watched that with the STAFF).

And, there wasn't any raincover. So we all got soaked. And there was no towels left for the STAFF after I was dried off. That should teach them to bring more along next time!