And, as if that wasn\u2019t enough, on Thursday evening I had to do two launches to parents to introduce them to their school\u2019s Learning Platform and demonstrate the benefits it would bring to them as well as their children.<\/p>\n
I tell you \u2013 it\u2019s been exhausting! Especially when one is used to working for the occasional twenty minutes one or two afternoons a week.<\/p>\n
Not only have I been so \u201cbusy\u201d all week, but I\u2019ve also had a cold which started developing last week and which emerged into a full-blown sore throat and snotty nose on Monday. The cold precluded me from visiting Annabelle on Monday to wish Lucy a happy birthday but I suppose the one good thing to come out of the week: I now have lots of American football matches recorded so that we can continue Annabelle\u2019s essential sports education when she next visits.<\/p>\n
I ran across the following cartoon on Saturday morning \u2013 it\u2019s from \u201cThe Other Coast\u201d by Adrian Raeside. Naturally, it reminded me of our Molly and her propensity to bark more or less continuously.<\/p>\n
Molly has always been a bit of a barker. She barks when the doorbell rings (which is actually quite handy on the occasions when we don\u2019t hear the bell) and she barks in greeting to any and all dogs she meets when out on her walks.<\/p>\n Now, however, as she becomes increasingly deaf and sight-impaired, she barks at almost anything and everything. Of course, all this is just saying \u201cHello\u201d while all the time her tail is wagging. It\u2019s clearly a fraternal greeting, \u201cHey! How are you? Haven\u2019t seen you for a while. How\u2019s the wife and family? How about those Yankees? Been anywhere nice recently? Have you smelt the rotting compost at the end of the lane? It\u2019s terrific and, if you\u2019re interested, there\u2019s a dead fish on the far side of the reservoir which is perfect for rolling in. Anyway, better go. Good to see you!\u201d<\/p>\n But now that she isn\u2019t seeing as well these days, she barks at everything, particularly if it moves but sometimes she can have a lengthy conversation with an inanimate object. On Saturday morning as we made our way around the recreation ground she starting barking with vigorous enthusiasm at the man painting the chalk lines on the football pitch for the morning\u2019s matches. As she barks, tail wagging, she trots off to greet this long-lost friend only to realise, when she gets within about twenty metres or so that it is not a fellow canine she has been greeting so enthusiastically but an inanimate line-drawing machine being propelled by a completely uninterested humanoid.<\/p>\n I wonder \u2013 do dogs have the same sense of embarrassment as we do when they bound up to someone (or something) they think they know only to realise that it\u2019s someone (or thing) completely different?<\/p>\n I am beginning to get a bit concerned, however. Ms Playchute keeps making comments such as, \u201cHmmm. That\u2019s not too bad.\u201d or \u201cActually, that\u2019s looking quite nice.\u201d or, even worse, \u201cYes! That makes you look quite distinguished!\u201d<\/p>\n I have to tell you, \u201cdistinguished\u201d is not an adjective which is normally applied to me and, given that 95% of the time I wear a crappy sweater (I love it but Penny absolutely hates it) which is splattered with last week\u2019s food and several weeks\u2019 worth of dirt and grime, I\u2019m not sure that it\u2019s a particularly accurate description either.<\/p>\n Much love to you all,<\/p>\n Greg<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning to you all. It\u2019s been a busy, busy week and that\u2019s without any grand parenting duties \u2013 I actually had to do a bit of proper work. Yes, believe it or not, I actually had to go out into a couple of schools and work with teaching staff, administrative staff, headteachers and senior … <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stragnell.com\/befoulednews\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/dog_whisperer.jpg?resize=525%2C157\" "\\"The")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.stragnell.com\/befoulednews\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/goat_three_weeks.jpg?resize=300%2C342\" "\\"The")
The \u201cgoat\u201d continues to develop and I should thank again everyone who has so kindly donated to the Movember prostate cancer research charity. A couple have asked for a photo so here is the latest \u2013 there are a couple more on my Movember page<\/a>.<\/p>\n