The missing gene

I have been busy doing all sorts of things, the dog sitting has started again. It started with a one day sit with the St Bernard, he really is no trouble at all. I think I mentioned he did not like walking, well on the walk I did with him, after a typical slow start, he met a dog and owner he knew, and he then charged along. On the field he played with the dog, named Blue as the lady did not feel comfortable naming him after his colour, black. If I had a black dog, I might name him Mavro, after the black dog in Greece.  The St Bernard likes drinking out of a tap or hose, like the chocolate lab I know. 

The next dog to be looked after is the chocolate lab, I mentioned before. Blackberries are starting to appear at home, and in the hedgerows. She only eats the ripe ones. There is a theory about the missing gene and why the just don’t stop eating! The  chocolate lab I know, you could give her a bowl of caviar, then take her for a walk and despite the treat, she would eat something unspeakable on the walk. We go for three walks, the longest at lunchtime. Here she is helping herself to our berries at home.

At home we have had some sanitary ware replaced,  the wardrobes in the main bedroom have had new doors fitted. We picked the green to go on the doors a while ago, our carpenter calls it Tiffany green, after the green coloured bags, that your purchases go in from that shop. He also made a little cabinet for our internet router so that’s tidied away.

I helped a new friend, level off the soil area around the stables where her horses are, this area was getting muddy pools, where depressions in the surface were. The area is covered with rubber mats, these are thick and heavy and had to be lifted to do the levelling process. To get to the stables, you go down the single track road called Loddon drive. You go over the Loddon twice as it snakes left and right over the area. It’s very pretty and unspoilt.

We have had our first beetroot  off the allotment, and whatever variety of beans we grew this year. I made another Guinness cake, and have just made a lemon meringue pie, mainly for a friend and her husband who are having a tough time of it at the moment. I wanted to create a spiral effect with the meringue topping, that did not work out as the piping bag wasn’t really big enough. The next release of the TRHA website is live, I have also been tidying the garden, and before the new doors went on the wardrobes, I painted the insides. One last photo is of a Porsche tractor, taken at a nearby garage.