A Bad Day For Alfie

We woke this morning to discover it was exceptionally cold and icy outside. Infact, almost cold enough for snow. Alfie insisted on being let out into the garden, but at the exact time I opened the sliding patio door one of next door's cats appeared in the gap in the garden fence. Alfie flew across the garden and ran on top of the remains of the fence which was lying in the gap and would have followed the cat if I hadn't bellowed at him at the top of my voice. He came back, fortunately, with his tail between his legs and looking very crest-fallen. You can always tell when he's unhappy as his ears lay back on his head instead of being upright. He flew into the house and back onto the bed and got near to Carol. I think he was somewhat surprised that I had shouted at him, but it was either that or else he would have followed the cat out onto the Redway behind the house, and landed up goodness knows where. He isn't particularly brave and may well have come back when he realised he wasn't in familiar surroundings, when I recall the incident a few weeks ago when he got out and landed up in the garden shed. We still don't know how he got in there. Presumably there's a hole somewhere at the back which opens through the fence-side.

We haven't been out with the dogs for quite a while so this morning we decided to take them to Rushmere Country Park, where we've been with them on several occasions. No sooner as he gets an idea that we're going out with both our dogs, Alfie becomes really excited and it's quite a job to get him into his harness, his lead on and safely ensconced in the cage in the back of the car. I had removed the cage and it was in one of the spare bedrooms so I had to retrieve it without Alfie seeing and managed to get it into the back of the car.  Poppy was put inside the car and is easy enough as she sits quite happily on the back seat. Alfie, on the other hand, becomes a sort of Tasmanian Devil. Quite amazingly schitzophrenic. I can't believe a little dog who is usually so timid and quiet can become this mad little character who can get into such a froth whenever there's a mention of being taken out for a walk. Goodness knows what our neighbours think when he starts barking and getting over-wrought. We did eventually get him into the cage, but before hand I had to de-ice the car with hot water and we drove out of Milton Keynes and onto the A5 towards Rushmere. We got to the carpark, making sure we had £2 in coins for the exit machine when we left (you get in and out through an entrance which has a barrier which lifts when you enter and you need £2 to put in the machine which lifts the barrier when you exit.) The dogs loved being let off their leads and ran around enjoying their freedom. Quite a lot of other people there and loads with dogs. We strolled through the woods and Carol had bought one of our digital camera with her, the handy Olympus which is great as you can easily put it in your pocket and it's simple to operate. She took several photographs, and a couple with each of us sitting on a couple of seats which are scattered throughout the woods, and Alfie insisted on sitting on my knee for mine! Whenever people were met during our walk both dogs have a habit of running up to them and ingratiating themselves with them. Poppy is the worst, regardless of whether the people want a small dog to stroke and pat. Alfie just rushes up and runs round and round, and there's no fear with him when there's a considerably larger dog in the group. I think his antics are too much for some large dogs such as labradors.

Me sitting on carved chair in Rushmere Country Park with Alfie sitting on my knee.

Alfie insisted in being in this photo with Carol. 

On the way back to the car we had to get the dogs back on their leads. Unfortunately Alfie's nice leather lead got left behind somewhere in the woods, what with dealing with the camera and keeping him under control. A pity as it was a really nice lead, but we decided that both dogs need new leads so it will be a good excuse to buy them new ones. No sooner did Alfie realised we were putting him back on his lead than he started barking and putting him on his lead with somewhat difficult and during this Carol unfortunately dropped the Olympus camera and the glass of the L.E.D. viewfinder got smashed. I don't think it can be repaired. Annoying, to say the least, as it's such a good little camera. We bought it a few years ago in a sale and got it for a really good discount. It looks as if we'll need to replace that, but considering how the technology of these cameras has developed, a new model will probably be an improvement on the old model. So Alfie was in disgrace and was put in the back of the car.  We drove out of the carpark and back home along the A5 back into Milton Keynes. We have two Fuji digital cameras. They have thick shoulder straps which you use to carry them around when you go out. If Alfie sees them he seems to think that they are dog leads and this sets him off yapping, barking and doing his mad act. I think when he saw Carol with the small Olympus camera with it's own carry-strap he thought it was his lead which led to him yapping and barking and then the camera getting dropped and damaged.

Easter Bank Holiday Monday: Walking The Dogs At Salcey Forest

Today was Easter Monday Bank Holiday, Carol's last day of the Easter Holiday. We had considered going for a swim at the gym this morning, but in the end we decided that the dogs would appreciate being taken for a walk. We haven't taken them out for quite a while, due mainly because of the weather. It was foggy when I looked out of the window and actually quite nippy. If we were going to take the dogs anywhere in the car we would need to take the cage for Alfie which was in the house and it was necessary to get it out without him seeing as he gets particularly overwrought (to say the least. He becomes like the Tasmanian Devil when he knows we're planning a walk.) I got the dogs in the bedroom and closed the door on them and managed to get out to the car with the cage and inside the back without Alfie knowing. But as soon as the dogs were eventually let out of the bedroom Alfie seemed to have some idea of what we were planning and started charging around the house, barking noisily. We wanted to take the digital camera and had purchased new batteries to put it it, but, during the recent cleaning, which we did prior to the house inspection, these batteries got mislaid. After some searching we found them and I managed to put them into the camera. It is absolutely no use having a digital camera with flat batteries. We have had rechargeable batteries for our three cameras, but they are not virtually useless and don't seem to hold a charge. I suppose they do have a limited life and being at least six years old I imagine they are at the end of their lives. I'm not sure how many times they have been recharged but that's not bad if that is how old they are, so buying a set of batteries that aren't rechargeable seemed rather a waste of money but we just wanted a set to allow us to use the Fuji camera. Carol suggested I keep Alfie while she got Poppy into her harness in the kitchen and it took me some effort to keep hold of him and he managed to scratch me with his claws as he was getting more and more excited, barking and making a lot of noise. Poppy is generally no problem to sort out with her harness, but Alfie . . .

We got him into the car and had next to get some change as the carpark at Salcey Forest isn't free and you need change to feed the meter there, as we discovered some while ago and this seems to be the norm at several of the places we take the dogs for walks, particularly Rushmere and the nearby     Park near Leighton Buzzard. We drove towards the A5 and went to get a coffee at the new drive-in Starbucks which meant we would have sufficient change for parking once we got to Salcey.

The sun was struggling to make an appearance and as it was now around 9 a.m. we thought that the fog would soon clear.

When we got to Salcey Forest the carpark was virtually empty. It seemed that our early start to the day had paid off. Being a Bank Holiday we had taken into consideration that everyone else would be out and about, particularly as it was a warm and sunny day.

Then we found that it was going to cost £3 to park the car for more than three hours. I went into the cafe which is near the carpark. Generally very good as we've been there in the winter months when it it open and have very nice soup on cold and frosty days. I had a £5-note and bought a packet of Polo mints and took it to the till to pay. The girl who was on the till said 'do you have anything less?' to which I replied that I hadn't and the change was for the carpark. Then another woman who worked in the cafe said 'we don't give change for the carpark.' Which seemed a rather stupid thing to say, because if they wanted customers, then they would need people to come in a car and if they couldn't provide change for parking, then people would drive off and not park and take their money elsewhere. I'm not bothered about paying for parking provided the money is used to keep the facilities maintained. The toilets at the site were closed for maintenance, and were replaced by temporary toilets, so I imagine money made from car parking went towards the cost of that, also, keeping the surface of the roads within the forest and the actual carpark in top condition. They can be very bad, and during one occasion when we went we got the car stuck in a very muddy puddle.

Anyway, we went for a very enjoyable walk with the dogs, and by the time we got back with them to the car the place had filled up with more cars and people, and lots of other dogs which our two made friends with.

Milton Keynes Spectacular Sunrise

After the storms of yesterday, the deluge and the high winds, this morning it is calm and peaceful. I opened the lounge curtains to find a really spectacular red sunrise over Milton Keynes, over the hospital and towards Woburn and the distant horizon. As a result, I decided to take my digital camera and attempt to capture this sight and then, hopefully, upload it onto this blog. The sky was changing rapidly, so I had to be quick in order to get the shots I wanted. I had to check that the batteries in the camera were fully charged. It often happens that we take the Fuji digital camera out with us whenever we go out for the day, and it is important to make sure that the batteries are kept fully charged, and it can happen that you think you are going to get a really good shot and then discover the batteries run out at the crucial moment you go to click the shutter. I got outside and then went out onto the Redway behind our house. There were children walking towards the Academy, and they must have wondered what on earth I was up to with the camera. I managed to get some of the shots  (as you will see above) over the top of the hospital complex, but in order to get something better I knew I would have to get up a good deal higher and got to the footbridge over Saxon Street (one of the Milton Keynes grid roads.) and this allowed me to get a much better view of the horizon towards the woods towards Woburn. You can see the traffic moving along the road and to the right in one, a street lamp. These photographs were taken at around 8.15 a.m. so I think I've done well to get them taken and then up-loaded  so quicky onto the iMac and then transferred onto this blog!