Flash and his FSI

This morning I was woken up by being kicked in the back of the head.

For reasons known only to her (and I doubt she even knows) Freya had moved up to Mirinda’s pillow (Mirinda was at the flat) and was lying with her back legs next to my head. Just before the alarm, as if she was some sort of pre-alarm alarm, she kicked me in the head with her back legs. I’m sure it was some sort of reaction to a dream of being in a rodeo, but it was odd that it was mere seconds before the alarm went off. Bloody prescient dog!

There were a lot of dogs in the park today. I figured it was probably due to the weather being so glorious because I couldn’t think of anything else. It was just an ordinary day.

Mind you, one thing out of the ordinary was the woman with 12 dogs. She was sitting on a bench and surrounded by them. As we avoided them one of her pack tried to come over and say hello to Freya but this woman called out “Sweetie!” and the dog went straight back to her. In fact, they all answered to “Sweetie!” which is a bit odd.

The dogs were all sorts and I’m sure they can’t all be hers. Presumably she walks them for others but that doesn’t explain how they respond to “Sweetie!”

I’m fairly certain they are not all called Sweetie.

Oddly though, when she eventually stood up to leave and the dogs clustered around her like so many sheep in a flock, a group of eleven people took her place on the bench and started having some strange sort of gathering which seemed to include a game of charades. I avoided them as well.

We also met a black dog and two white poodle crosses. The black dog was called Flash. I think his name was ironic. His owner quickly warned me as Flash came closer saying how he’d rolled in something obnoxious. I immediately recognised the signs. Flash had had an FSI. It was almost like I was looking at Carmen…except that Flash didn’t look anything like Carmen apart from the streaks of fox poo.

As Flash returned to his owner who tried to keep him from rubbing against the two white dogs, his owner said over his shoulder that fox poo is “…as good as Chanel to him!”…which reminds me of a booking we have for a Maiko Experience in Kyoto.

(There are quite a few things we need to be aware of like start time and how the seating works but the one thing that’s stressed is that patrons must not wear perfume. Given my own personally weird reaction to the chemicals that some people choose to drench themselves in, I think I’m really going to enjoy the Maiko Experience in Kyoto.)

We had a lot of running and chasing of the tennis ball with Emma getting quite worn out. When she’s worn out she does one of two things. She either picks up her ball and starts for home or she lies down and rests. This lying down is usually on the grass or in a puddle but, if handy, she rather likes lying underneath benches. Sometimes we will sit on the bench for a while as she recovers.

In the garden I planted three Solomon seal plants which we bought from the RHS on the weekend. They arrived this morning and I dug them holes in the Garden of One Thousand Yaps specifically where Mirinda had indicated…obviously. I say ‘plants’ but they’re actually little more than nubs which is why there’s no photographs.

I also cut up and removed some dogwood cuttings from where someone had left them on the grass that is not a lawn.

The very red tulips have started to open up in Carmen’s Sweet Escape:

In other dog news…Emma had a bath today and then was given a Gaz Hack for good measure.

Post Gaz Hack

The reason I cut her hair was because Kate is still on maternity leave and when I called the dog place down the road they didn’t have an appointment until April 11! I decided she needed a jolly good hack so hack I did.

POSTSCRIPT
My leg was a little better today. Even so, I took it easy with long rests between everything I did. I even took advantage of the enforced rest to write some of my book.