Brac counts down the hours

Brac is present mad. He cottoned on very quickly and seems to think that all presents should be his. Since I put the presents under the tree a few days ago he has been keeping watch. He wants them but knows he has to wait until they are given to him. So he sits facing the tree looking longingly at the presents, waiting. Every now and then he gets a little impatient and gives a little woof just to remind us he is still waiting... and waiting, and waiting. I wonder what thoughts are going through his head? I wonder if he hopes for anything particular to be in them? He can certainly smell which ones have come from a pet shop and which contain food but even those meant for us with cosmetics or some other non dog attractive contents are still watched longingly, while he waits. It's a hard life for a dog.

Merry Christmas

I've been a bit distracted lately with getting ready for Christmas so I've not been doing much blogging. In case I don't get the chance to blog again before hand I would just like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Turning bad energy into good

OK enough of the sulks! I attacked my study last night, it's still work in progress but as I was not in any mood to take prisoners the results are really quite evident. I am now staring at a blank wall where once my drawing board, A1 folio, cutting boards and Mount card were all stacked. My desk top will be next followed probably by files cabinet. The extra space is helping me feel better as is the sense of achievement. As I no longer do any garden design work I have finally decided that anything to do with that business can either be stored in the loft or chucked out completely. The only stuff allowed in my study now must relate to pet portraits, photography or computing. Even my genealogy stuff is under threat as most of it is on my PC so why do I need so much paper?
Turning depression into meanness brings a certain sadistic pleasure which is OK provided I focus it on inanimate objects. Oh and BTW, one of the big factors in yesterdays mood was that I am/was premenstrual but didn't realise it, the penny dropped this morning when I saw the calendar. Now all I need is some hapless telesales person to ring my by chance. Come on...I dare you!

Sometimes I just hate Mondays!

You might think that people who work for themselves don't get Monday blues but you would be wrong. If any day of the week is going to be a bad one you can bet your life Monday will be it for me. Since my shoulder injury I have not been able to get a comfortable nights sleep. I cannot find a comfortable position laying down no matter which side I lay on. So I try sleeping propped up on loads of pillows in a semi reclined position. The result is I don't sleep that well and when I finally do get off, usually in the early hours, I end up slipping down the pillows and laying on my bad shoulder so that when I wake up it hurts like hell. This morning was no exception. I have Co-codamol to take which is probably not helping my mood and I've recently been given sleeping pills which I am too scared to take for fear they will increase my chances of becoming depressed. So anyway, not a happy bunny this morning with a very stiff shoulder. At 11 am I had a physio session which only increases my sense of feeling down. The physio asks me to make some really simply insignificant movements with my elbow that no matter how much I try I can't do. She didn't seem alarmed by this but I felt extremely disappointed as even when she made the task easier for me all I could manage was a twitch and not without some discomfort. I went back to my car that was parked in amongst some trees nose in which is something I never normally do except this is one of those car parks that is laid out so that you can only park one way. As I pull out my front nearside wing collides with a yew tree. The quarter light was ripped out of the bodywork and there is a huge dent in the wing.
When I got home my mum rang to say she had just returned safely from her two month trip to Australia and to thank me for looking after things for her. I wanted to sound happy and welcoming and be all interested in what she had done but I couldn't and that has made me feel even worse. I told her what was wrong when she asked but that still isn't the kind of reception she should have got and I'm not sure I have the mental energy at present to cope with the tales she'll want to tell.
Roll on Tuesday. The sun is supposed to be shining tomorrow and there is another opportunity to try and get some sleep before hand.

Frustrated Woodpecker

Just five minutes ago I was alerted to the sound of a woodpecker creating a fuss. When I looked out of the window I saw it was a female great spotted. She was looking for a nest box probably to roost in and had mistaken my bat boxes for for nest boxes. On not finding the hole she was clearly getting quite agitated but didn't want to give up and even tried knocking her own hole through. She tried from every angle to no avail before flying off and trying out a tit box for size. The silly thing is there is a woodpecker box in the next tree if only she had looked there. Apologies for the poor quality of these shots but this is something that literally just happened outside my study window and all I had to hand was my little pocket camera with minimal zoom. Added to that the tree she was in was at such an acute angle and I could not open the window without scaring her away.

Dog from Hell

I saw this on flickr and really couldn't believe it was for real but unfortunately for the dog it is. Poor thing, I just hope no-one shows him this photo or he'll be traumatised for life!

The Eternal Optimist

I took this photo 2 days ago on the heath when Brac decided size did matter when it came to sticks. Having uploaded it to flickr one of my contacts noted what a confident dog he appears to be. She was totally right of course because thankfully Brac has tons of confidence.
Today when I got him out of the car for a walk he was instantly set upon by two abnormally objectionable poodles. He did his best to ignore them even though they kept trying to head him off. He didn't even give them a growl. He got clear of them, ran after me and on passing me a few yards rounded a corner and came face to face with two springer spaniels who also took objection to him and had a go. Poor dog, it just wasn't his day but I was so impressed that he didn't so much as curl a lip. It was third time lucky though because next he met a couple of Westies and they were as happy with him as he was with them.
One thing I don't believe in is being over protective as I think that just induces nervousness. It is true that confidence was one of the characteristics I looked for when I chose him as a puppy but that is something easily lost and I am sure that by not fussing and showing concern myself when he gets into situations I have helped him retain his outgoing nature. That's not to say I wouldn'd get involved if I had to. He has on three separate occasions now been attacked by German shepherds and each time I had to intervene to get the shepherd off but I don't them pamper Brac and fuss over him or give him any indication that I was worried about the situation. This aside it still has not put him off making friends with GSD's, he simply avoids the ones that have been nasty.