A Surprise Card

First a heart felt thank you for all the kind comments on my previous post.

Out of the blue I received a hand written card. A lovely thought and kind touch from Penny's vets.





Penny's last visit to the vet was made as easy to bear as such an experience can be for both of us. Simon couldn't have been more considerate to our feelings.

I have photos of all my previous four legged companions on the wall here. I couldn't choose one favourite of Penny so I made up this collage which I think is ready to print out, frame, and hang alongside the others.



I do miss her dreadfully.

R.I.P. Penny

Penny's health had been deteriorating over the past month or more but over the past week she had lost her appetite and any interest in what was going on around her. This morning I phoned the vet surgery and booked an appointment for us to meet the senior vet. We agreed that there was no chance of her quality of life being improved so I sat with her on the grass in the surgery's garden as she was given an anaesthetic and said my final goodbyes.

Rest well my beloved 40mph couch potato.

AWOL

Worried and disappointed that there have been no sightings of a Hedgehog in the garden for five nights now. We will have to make do with this:



Penny's latest soft toy.

The fox visited a couple of nights ago. First appearance for about two weeks. Trust it to pick a night where the video was almost washed out due to there being a heavy mist at the time. It seems to have been one of those weeks for achieving next to nothing on the wildlife front. I spent some time trying to photograph and video a bee fly only to achieve unusable, fuzzy, out of focus results.

To quote an old political sound bite - Things can only get better.

Exhausted

It really is exhausting being sprawled out on the back seat of the car all the way to the vets and back again. A girl needs to relax and recover.



We had been for the one hour booked slot at the vets for Penny to have her blood pressure checked. Last time she got too wound up for them to obtain an accurate reading. This longer slot was to give her time to calm down. As it happened she had a different vet and was as 'good as gold'. All done in less than a quarter of an hour. Her BP is still a little raised but much better than it was before she started her medication. The next check-up will be towards the end of the month.

Of Incontinence and a Sunset

Can't remember whether I mentioned this before now. Last February (how time flies) I took Penny to the vets as she was becoming incontinent. A urine sample showed she had no infection and the vet said it was a common problem with bitches as they age. Recently she has been getting worse. I have had to change and wash her bedding every morning and evening. Also her skin has been getting very sensitive, ticklish, itchy. On Thursday I phoned the vets and was lucky to get an appointment for Friday (yesterday) as they are reserved for urgent cases. We drove over in the afternoon. Owners are not allowed inside the surgery these days so I had to phone to let them know we were there and wait for a vet to come out and collect her. She had  a blood test - waiting for the results which are due by Monday.. Penny had the honour of being the first animal to have her blood tested by a spanking new machine they have installed. She also has some tablets to stop the itching. Even the first one had a miraculous effect and Penny got her first really restful night for some time. Apart from that Penny has a healthy appetite and is enjoying her walks as always.

On the weather front we had heavy rain twice yesterday. When? While I drove there and again on the way back.Not that it wasn't raining the rest of the day, just not as heavy. Great swathes of water on the roads and lots streaming off the adjacent fields. Today has been dry, so far, with some Sunshine. I just caught a glimpse of the Sunset a short while ago.



I noticed some ice had formed in the water pools on the old pond waterfall. Sign of things to come?

Grumpy Cat

Penny's Christmas present



She wasn't too impressed with it to start with

 


but is now a firm favourite for throwing about while I get ready to take her out.

New Lens

Looked at the available EF-M lenses to fit the Canon M5 and after reading reviews went for the EF-M 18-150mm. Here it is next to the Canon EF-S 17-85mm with adaptor which I used recently. Doesn't seem to be a lot of difference at first glance. The main one is the weight. The EF-S weighs in at 63g and the EF-M at 33g.



Also the weight balance is better when on the M5 body. The adaptor has no lenses in it so all the EF-S lens weight is moved further from the camera body. Much easier to handle the EF-M lens. In fact it felt very comfortable.



Within half an hour of it arriving we went on our usual mid afternoon walkabout.
The idea being to find a variety of subjects.
Nice and Sunny after a morning of heavy showers.

First a couple of 18mm / 150mm views









Seeing there were sheep about we wandered across for a closer look.



I though they would be ideal to try out the video. Wrong.
After looking us over they decided to move as far away as possible.



Oh well. There's always the Poplar trees ...



... and the new seating area in front of the cricket club.



Ash Tree from East and West views.

     

This crop looks about ready for harvesting.



Where do you park the heavy roller when not in use?
In the hedge of course.



The closest I could get to an Hibiscus flower.
A fairly good macro facility at 18mm.



A photo of Penny to finish off



All M5 photos taken in RAW, converted to virtually lossless jpgs.
No cropping or tweaking so this is how they came out of the camera.
Very pleased with everything so far.
There was a very strong, gusty wind blowing so some vegetation may be blurred.

Feeling Hard Done By

Penny spent yesterday at the vets. It was time, again, to have her teeth cleaned, polished and checked for any which needed to be taken out. This seems to be a general problem with greyhounds. Last time she managed to get away with just a scrape and polish. Penny was last on the list for surgery as it can be a messy job. That meant it was 7.30 p.m. before she was recovered enough to come home. Unfortunately this time she had to lose five teeth. Needless to say she is feeling sorry for herself today.



She had a good night's sleep and is recovering far faster than I expected. After all Penny is eleven years old. A good age for a greyhound. After a careful start she has scoffed a couple of boiled cod steaks and some boiled chicken. Then she persuading me she wanted a walk and set out at a good stride despite the biting cold wind.

The only small problem is she hates the pain killer tablets she has been given though I have found that breaking them up and hiding them in small pieces of ham sandwich gets past any objections.

Grub Up

On Monday I had to visit our nearest village Post office and general store.
I always have a good look at the chilled area where produce from local butchers can be found.
The packaging not only gives a use by date but also the date it was packed.
A reassurance of how fresh the produce is.
Along with my favourite chicken and steak pies I spotted a pack of lamb steaks which I couldn't resist.

Today was the day to do something with them.
Out with my old, heavyweight deep frying pan.
Fry briefly in Olive Oil to seal them.
Then cover with with a 'gravy' made with chicken Oxo and Bisto beef gravy granules.
Cover the frying pan with a perforated lid.
Simmer while potato chunks and mixed veg are cooking in the steamer.
Sliced carrot, green beans, peas, cauliflower, etc..

The enticing, mouth watering odour was making us both drool while we impatiently waited.

I am getting a share, aren't I?
 

Not to worry. Plenty for both of us.

My share


Penny's share


Needless to say her share disappeared in no time


I finished off with a Sainsbury's individual strawberry trifle


As Dell Boy would say - lovely jublby.

What Does a Dog Have To Do ....

.... to get its share of that jam tart he's scoffing?

I'll try my 'have pity on a hard done by dog' look

Birthday Girl

Yesterday, or thereabouts was Penny's 10th birthday.
Can't be sure about the day as I only know which month and year she was born.

Some years ago when I had Bobby the Lurcher I put a birthday meal on a low table along with a musical candle. He tucked in immediately. Penny wasn't at all happy with a similar set up. She found the high pitched 'Happy Birthday' music from the candle irritating and wasn't amused at having her food in a different place:



Once I moved her treat of Sainsbury's beef steak burger to her normal feeding station she soon make short work of that:


10 years is a grand old age for a greyhound as their average life span is 12 - 14 years.

How time flies past. Hard to appreciate she has been with me for 6 yrs.

I'll Just ....

.... rest my paw on this biscuit while I have a nap:



to make sure no one can steal it without me knowing.

Black Beauty

No, not a horse.
While talking to my neighbour I happened to spot something black on a metal pole:



The tiniest, blackest, shiniest ladybird I have ever seen.
At 5mm across it must be one of the smallest in the UK:



It was in the most awkward position to get a camera near.
I had to guess when it was in focus as I couldn't see the camera's screen.

At first I though it may have been a Pine Ladybird but discovered the spots were wrong for that.
 In the end I came to the conclusion it was a Kidney-spot Ladybird.

To finish off, a larger black creature.
Penny, catching up on her beauty sleep after another hard day supervising:



I did manage to trim the back lawn so that was one more task off the Round Tuit pile.

I Dare You ......

Nothing captures Penny's attention faster that a squirrel making a dash for a tree:

Dazzling Penny

In this case the Penny is my retired greyhound. This year I bought her a new reflective harness for our  Winter early morning walkabouts. Here are her coat, old harness and bright orange reflective harness:



This piece of video, captured as we went out yesterday morning, shows how well it works. Though it is mainly lit by the infra red LEDs on the camera it is just as dazzling when lit by street lamps or vehicle headlights.



I have a fully reflective coat I wear on dark rainy or misty mornings. Though padded it is not quite as warm as the one I have on in the video and at least it has a couple of reflective strips.

Both harnesses are from CosyDogs in the UK. 

That Look

Looking

Penny was probably hoping for something more interesting. The day before a cock pheasant had dashed across in front of us at this very spot. That really caught her interest!

It's a Weary Life .....

.... being a pampered pooch:

Catching Up

Nice to see a Song Thrush visiting the garden this morning:

 

In fact, not just one but two together.
I don't think I have ever seen two together before now. Hopefully a breeding pair.

Thanks to Adrian of Adrian's Images for the suggestion that the field with two apparent crops has brassicas along side Ley Grass to reduce leatherjacket damage. Sounds reasonable to me. A closer view:



Now what can Penny have possibly found to be of such interest?


Oh, just a dead one of these:

The End of the Lane

On our walkabouts down our lane this is where we have to stop:



Years ago there was a path straight ahead going past the tree in the distance.
There was an attempt to have it recognised as a right of way but as you can see that failed.
I don't blame the farmer as that strip of land means more money crops and some antisocial dog walkers would let their dogs loose to rampage through the crops.

Looking at the field I showed being ploughed a while ago I am trying to see what has been planted. At the moment it looks like two crops in one field alternately spaced in strips. One pale yellow. The other green with very different leaf shapes:



I must remember to take some closer shots.

Just before reaching the end of the lane there is a a gap in the hedge allowing good views for cloud watching. This is three auto-stitched photos: