Please join me for breakfast.........

Hello everyone; I have missed you all this week! Unfortunately my assistant and typist has been a bit under the weather and so I haven't been able to get to my laptop very much.

We haven't got a post prepared for today, but I have persuaded Mum to let me pop along just to say hello, so I thought you might all like to join me for breakfast.... or brunch or dinner depending on where you are in the world!

I am still enjoying a part raw diet, so here is what's on the menu today....

Today we have canned pumpkin, broccoli, apple, carrot, tinned sardines and beef.

Mum whizzed it all up in the processor for me.

Please Mum....we are all waiting!

Come on everyone; tuck in!....nom nom nom.......

Last weekend my Aunty Lou came to stay with us (she's not really my aunty; she's Mum's very best friend, so she counts as one...)  On Monday, Mum took us to Kilnsey Park.... some of you will remember that we went there in the summer and had a lovely time....

After Kilnsey Park we went to a beautiful little village called Kettlewell and had lunch at the Bluebell pub. I particularly liked it as they let dogs in and the landlord gave me a gravy bone!

Mum (who has been terribly vague all week.....) forgot that she had her camera until we were half way home...

We thought these beech trees we beautiful in their autumn colours. 

Whilst we we at Kilnsey Park, Mum couldn't resist buying some of their lovely smoked trout.

So that's dinner sorted then.....Mum, can I have the tails......?!

I wish you all a happy weekend and I hope to be back with you shortly... once I can get my staff sorted. I think I still have some more things to tell you about my holiday....bet you can't wait?!! I might just spare you the castles this time though! See you soon (I hope).

With love,

Deccy xxx

The Yorkshire Dales

Mum came back from Ganny's to spoil our fun last Thursday so her and Other Mum decided to take me on a trip on Friday as the weather was surprisingly good. It's always surprising when the weather is good in the UK; it's considered nothing short of a miracle in Yorkshire!

We went a little way north from where we live into the Yorkshire Dales National Park  The National Park was established in 1954 and covers 680 square miles covering the central Pennines, North Yorkshire and Cumbria. We went to Kilnsey Park which is a fishing, trails and nature park set in a beautiful location.

We went for a walk around the lakes. They are stocked with trout and you can see people fishing in some of the photos.

I was a bit hot and tired after that, so we found a nice shady place for a picnic.

...And no more comments about pistols and holsters please...ahemm...

We fed the ducks. Bottoms Up!!

And said hello to a passing Goose

Mum... either you're holding the camera at a funny angle, or I'm about to slide into the lake!

It's great here isn't it Mums?! Hehe!

Before we left Mums went into the farm shop and bought some oak smoked trout. We brought it home and all three of us had it for dinner! (I did offer KC some but she said she preferred canned tuna..)

What a lovely day. I'm not sure it gets much better than this!!

On a sad note, I just wanted to mention that my mate Kai had to be put to sleep yesterday. He was quite old and hadn't been well for a while but we were still very sad to hear the news and our thoughts are with his Mum, my Aunty Lou who will miss him more than words can say.

Run free little fella. I bet that right now you're running around like a young pup with your Dada and Flynny!

Check If Your Mum Is A Grumpy Old Woman Like Mine!

As some of you will know, Mum's friend Aunty Lou came to visit recently. As Mum & Aunty Lou were talking (and boy, can they talk!) I lay on the sofa and listened. We had the inevitable "You realise we were only 19 when we met; it seems like only yesterday" and quite a lot of looking horrified when realising that an eminent professor, President or Prime Minister was younger than them. No one younger than them could have achieved so much, right? Wrong! They finished on the depressing thought that rock stars and actors they had been in love with as teenagers were now drawing their Old Age Pension.

All of this got me thinking. I know, I know. I can hear you all now saying " Be careful Deccy, you will tire yourself out" but fear not; I lay down to do it and power-napped at intervals.

What I thought was, my Mum meets pretty much all the criteria for being a Grumpy Old Woman! You will understand, I'm sure, that GOW is a state of mind rather than a specific age, and anyway I would not be so un - gallant as to reveal Mum's age.

Here is a short quiz for your amusement:

• In what year was The Beatles Album " Sgt Peppr's Lonely Hearts Club Band" released?
• Three quarters of an hour is how many minutes?
• When did Elvis Presley marry Priscilla?
• 46 minus 1 equals what?

 You may want to use this handy check list to see if you too have a GOW in the house....

She Shouts at Other Drivers

 " Don't feel the need to signal; you go ahead and pull right in front of me. No really, I LIKE being cut up. Moron"

Teenage Boys' Jeans

"What possesses their parents to allow them out with the waistband 1" above their genitals, the back pockets behind their knees and displaying a good 6" of their underpants? And why don't their trousers fall off when they move?"

Teenage Girls

"It's the middle of winter and they are wearing 6" heels, a miniskirt and no coat. They'll catch their death...."

Children in general

"I don't mind them at all... as long as they are kept in an hermetically sealed box until they are 25".

The Supermarket

When asked by the spotty teenager at check out if she can confirm she is old enough to buy alcohol. She listens to the sniggers in the queue behind and then replys: " Take the legal age, double it and add 9. Oh I forgot. Your generation can't do mental arithmetic.."

Automated Call Centres

She talks to them. " My call is important to you? Well you would have answered by now if it was. What do you mean I'm 5th in the queue?! I've been on hold for 40 minutes. This is costing me a bl**dy fortune you know..."

Current Music

" It all sounds like a cat on Mogodon, possibly after someone has stood on its tail. Blondie, The Police, The Pretenders - now that's proper music"

Parking

When waiting for another driver to park. "Oh for God's sake, how difficult can it be? You could fit the QE2 in that space" Apparently this is a saying she picked up from my human Grandad. I assume he was a Grumpy Old Man!

So how many points does your Mum score? Grumpy Old Woman, or not quite there yet? I think the same test can probably be used on your Dads. Let me know how you all get along. Hehe!

My mate Kai.....

Last week, Mum's best friend, my Aunty Lou and her dog Kai came to visit us. Mum and Aunty Lou have been friends for years. In fact, every time they meet up one of them is bound to say, "Oh God, do you realise we've known each other for 26 years now?" And then they look really surprised. Why is that? It's not like they are not both distinctly middle aged.... hehe!!

Anyway, I digress. Kai was the best mate of my Uncle Flynn. When I say best mate, they had a unusual relationship in that Flynn would sit on Kai and steal his bed and Kai resigned himself to that fact many many years ago. Kai is not a very big chap, being a Border Terrier, but Flynn, being the saint that he apparently was (yeah ok, I get the message Mum....) never chased him or tried to hurt him. Flynn would go and stay with Aunty Lou when Mums went on holiday & Kai would stop with them too. The boys would happily share the back of an estate car, though Kai would moan that he couldn't breathe when Flynn sat on his head......

However, I am, as you may know, a slightly different kettle of fish..... Fairly small furry things are to be chased. Period. I'm fine with other Greyhounds, obviously. I've had polite sniffs with a Border Collie & a Retriever. I got a bit spooked when 3 dogs closely examined my bum all at the same time, but I bounced in a somewhat "go away cos I am a nutter" manner at a Pekingese that tried to make my acquaintance in the beer garden one day. Add all this to the fact that Kai is getting on a bit and isn't so steady on his paws anymore and Mum thought there might be trouble ahead.

This is Kai

This is me killing Mr Teddy. Anyone else spot the resemblance.....hmmmmm?

So it was decided that it might be best if Aunty Lou & Kai stopped in a nice dog friendly hotel not far from where we live. The hotel is opposite a lovely park called Lister Park, which won Britain's Best Park Award in 2006. It has been a public park since 1870, when the land was sold at a very cheap rate to Bradford Corporation by Samuel Lister, a member of a family of prominent industrialists who opened the first of their textile mills in the area in 1838, on the condition that it was used as a public park. 

Anyway, I'm rambling again. Mum and Aunty Lou decided it would be best if Kai and I met on neutral ground, so we met in Lister Park. The funny thing was that I totally ignored Kai; wouldn't even look at him! He's a bit too old to bother with a whippersnapper like me and his sight isn't so good, so there was no problem at all. Admittedly, I did look a bit surprised when he came back home with me & came in the house and I didn't think it was entirely right that Mum put my muzzle on and kept me on my lead! But I just lay on my sofa and pretty much ignored him apart from one little growl when he came too close. 

"Kai is NOT Mr Teddy... Kai is NOT Mr Teddy... Kai is NOT......

We've decided next time Aunty Lou visits it should be ok for her and Kai to stay with us. 

I haven't told Declan that Kai will have to sleep upstairs... bet that goes down well! - Deccy's Mum

Unfortunaely, it was raining so hard when we went to Lister Park, Mum wasn't able to take any photos, but here are some that we found on the web

Samuel Lister                        

  © Tim Green

Cartwright Hall is a purpose built civic art gallery that stands in the park

 © Tim Green

 © Tim Green

 © Tim Green

 © Tim Green