Easter update

Just thought I would bring you all up to date with what has been going on since Toques et Clochers (see my last blog). Last weekend it was the Antugnac Easter Egg hunt which involved shipping cart loads of kids off to the field to hunt for the 300 bags of chocolates secreted amongst the vines whilst the adults got down to some serious omelette and grillade food eating and of course loads of bottle stuff - well it was held in a wine cave. Now I did not get personally involved in either the egg hunt or the meal but I did a fair bit of socialising both before and after the lunch, meeting up with loads of old friends like Uncle Martin and Auntie Val and even my lovely vet, Marie Christine. I also met lots of new people and a horse too!





Other than that it has been a quiet week but at least the weather seems to be finally getting a bit summery. The mud is going fast and I can now get back in the vineyards for my walks.


I've had a bit of a dodgey ear too. The other week when Lily came over she tried towing me round the garden by my ear which resulted in a small chunk of my ear parting company with the rest. This week the scab fell off and I started bleeding all over the place. At one point our kitchen looked like it had hosted the Texas chain saw massacre! However, all is now well as mum is applying liberal doses of Savlon on a regular basis.

All this good weather recently has resulted in a burst of garden activity and I just love to help with that. Dad had dug a big hole and planted a new plant so I dug it up again just to show how good I am. He was not impressed.

These long warm early summer days spent lounging around the garden fair take it out of a young dog so now I am off to my bed for a good night's kip.

Toques et Clochers

This past weekend was the 2010 Toques et Clochers, an annual event organised by a bunch of local towns and villages ostensibly to raise funds to repair their church towers (Toques) and bells (Clochers) but in reality an opportunity for tens of thousands of people to sample the local wines or bottle stuff as I prefer to call it. This year it was the turn of our local town of Couiza to host it, and as us dogs do not touch the stuff, I sent two experts (my mum and dad) to report on the event.




There was the usual big parade with noisy bands, banners, and men carrying model churches (!) all followed up by what seemed like thousands of local dignitaries all wanting to get in on the act. Then, around the town, there were also a load of people dressed up in funny outfits for some reason.






At the end of the parade they all gathered in the park for speeches, and mum used the occassion to get up close and personal with our local vigneron (and the man who prunes our single vine) Francois.

However, the real reason for this event appears to be the consumption of enormous quantities of the very high class bottle stuff produced for the occassion and needless to say mum and dad did their bit towards it.

As for me, I just dozed the afternoon away and awaited their return and my dinner, which fortunately (given the circumstances) appeared reasonably on time.

Now apparently summer is officially here and for me this means two things - the doors to the outside world stay open all day, and my favourite garden chair has reappeared. All we need now is a nice hot summer so I can top up my tan.

I'm back from hibernation

Hello again all. I'm back from my self imposed hibernation. To be frank, January and February are normally pretty boring months where not much happens, but this year it has been so cold and miserable that I decided to hibernate for a while. Now I know dogs don't normally hibernate but if you have a nice warm house, a thick duvet, and regular meals, it is perfectly possible to almost do it.

However, the sun is back out and things are warming up so my bed is back out in the garden so I can bag some rays and come to slowly.


Whilst I was being dormant mum and dad celebrated Christmas for the second time at the beginning of Feb. Apparently, because we were in the UK for the real Xmas, we missed having a nice fun day with all our good friends and so they decided to do it all over again complete with decorations, crackers, turkey, Xmas pudding, and, of course, loads of that bottle stuff. Fortunately it was a nice day as me and my new mate Fig were banished to the garden for the duration of the meal which went on for hours. We did get let back in as evenig approached and Fig and I did a bit of socialising with everyone.


The other great thing about the sun coming out is that work on the garden starts up. Now I like nothing better than helping with the gardening, as you can see, but strangely it is not always appreciated.


The very thought of all that work has made me really tired so excuse me if I snuggle down under the duvet for another kip. Speak to you all again soon.

Another new mate

This weekend we went over to Auntie Mary and Uncle Tim's. I thought it was to be just one of the normal social visits but Oh No! - they now have a dog! He is a lovely 4 year old Golden Retriever called Fig (Figaro in full) and he and I are already best mates.


We had a great charge around the local countryside together and I think I got him a bit puffed out as he is not as used to it as me. Mind you, when we first met we did as us dogs do and spent an hour or so "discussing" who was to be top dog. It came out pretty even but being the gentleman he is I think Fig let me think I came out tops. In return I let him raid my dinner bowl that evening so I went a bit short on rations.


We were both quite sad to part having just set up this friendship, but he is coming over to us in a counple of weeks so I can show him around my patch. Will report on our next meeting then.

Hi there....remember me? It's been so long (over a month) since I last wrote a blog entry that I would not be surprised if you had forgotten who I am! It's just that it has been so hectic of late what with my international travelling (more later) and things that I just have had not had the time. However, here we go on the big catchup.

This year mum and dad decided to go to England for Christmas so obviously I had to go too! Now, never having been anywhere further than our local seaside, this was to be a big adventure for me. Not only did it involve hours and hours in the car (and I wasn't sick once) but also an overnight stay in a hotel. I've never been in a hotel but it was great and I got to sit on the beds (see photo below) which is something I'm never allowed to do at home.


When we got there the very next day it snowed. I have seen snow before as a youngster but this was big snow - 12 cms or 5 inches as they say in those parts. I had great fun running around in that and even found some new mates to chase around with.


Grandad John (my mum's dad) has a dog of his own - a border collie called Badger. Now Badger is 11 and can be a bit of a grumpy old man at times so he was initially none to pleased at the arrival of a lively young whippersnapper like me in his house. However, I worked hard at establishing good relations and by the end of the stay he tolerated me! In fact I would like to think that he even missed me a bit when we left.


Christmas day was a new experience for me and I really loved the opening pressies bit. It is a great opportunity to rip up loads of paper without being told off. Also, I got a new toy and some bikkies.


After Christmas I was told it was time to go to school for a bit of training! We went to see this nice man called Peter who used to be a police dog handler and now trains dogs. He had a walk up and down with me and quickly realised (very astutely) that it was not me that needed training but my mum and dad! An hour later and he had them doing all the right things and successfully walking up and down with me without a pull in sight. Mind you, I have found that since we got back, life is a bit stricter than before and I cannot get away with some of the things that I used to.



Just before we left there was a ring at the doorbell and who should it be but Auntie Mary and Uncle Tim. Well, I was beside myself as I never expected to see them there. They were there to (very kindly) take some sacks of my food back home in their car together with some other bits and pieces. Apparently because me and my bed were in our car there was not much room for things like that!

Then it was back in the car for many more hours, another hotel stopover, and finally we arrived back home.

So that was the big international adventure! It is nice to be back amongst my vineyards and to see some of my old mates again, but overall I did enjoy the experience.

The social whirl continues

On Thursday I got a chance to put my new found social skills into practice once more as Auntie Jo and Uncle Roy came round to dinner. Now they understand all about the calm assertive approach to us dogs (more Cesar Millan fans), so when that was combined with the new, more mature me, it appears that everyone was most impressed by how well behaved I was. That was until the food arrived of course, although even then I was not as bad as I have been previously. In fact Auntie Jo was so pleased that she actually got down on the floor and played ball with me, which was great fun. All in all a pleasant evening was had by all, including me. I find that I'm beginning to actually enjoy this "being sociable" lark. Roll on Christmas!



Then the very next day I get back from my afternoon walk to find Auntie Jane had brought my best mate Lilly round again. Well we just had to have a good old run around for a while before Uncle Martin arrived to take them home. I tell you what, after all that socialising and running about I was totally shattered.

False alarm on the swine flu

Following on from my last blog I am now pleased to report that I do not appear to have swine flu after all. The sneezing has stopped (must have been dust) and I seem to be behaving better. However, having browsed the internet for a possible cause for my condition, I now think that I may have a vitamin D deficiency. As a result, I am spending as much time as possible relaxing in the sunshine, as I believe this helps with the vitamin D bit.



Mum and dad had a bit of an apero evening (nibbles and bottle stuff) for a few friends on Monday night. Auntie Jane and Uncle Martin came, as did our new friends Auntie Jo and Uncle Stuart. This was my first full blown social occassion of this ilk and, on the hole, I think I behaved reasonably well. Although apparently a bit too active and "participative" in the early stages, I soon settled down and finished up sharing my time around various guest's laps. I even managed a bit of a kip on Uncle Martin's lap! Uncle Stuart and I had a bit of a game with my plastic bottle so he now rates as an OK person.