It's a Three Walk Adventure Day

Yo Ho Woofers!

Daisy & Holly back again!

What a busy day we have had today, first of all we were up good and early for our run along The Sea Wall, loads of sniffs both on and off the beach!

Old Two Legs was messing about with the camera trying to catch the Dragon Fly in Mid Air shot and failing miserably!

ZZZZZoom!                 MMMMMooz!

The Dragon Fly kept flying past OTL shouting out Zoom! Zoom! You know, it was moving so fast that the Zoom came out backwards when it went the other way!

We had a visitor this morning, it was Auntie Angela! She had come to play at 'Glue Pot Splashing' with The Missus. You know it's dangerous when those two get going, glue, glitter and inks everywhere! You know, a doggy could change colour in a blink of an eye if you got too close to those two in full flight!

Mind you, she brought some Jam Doughnuts and shared them out, I helped OTL finish off his share!

Mind you, I left the jam bit alone but he rest with a little sprinkling of sugar went down a treat!


Lunchtime walk was fun, to start off with, Holly was not feeling too much like a run around 'cos she says she is not feeling well, must be some thing she has eaten, she does eat some strange stuff!

So, I had to keep waiting for her, I mean, it's not the done thing to go rushing ahead when your sister is not well!

Waiting for Sis!

We tried to cheer her up by telling a couple of jokes and it wasn't until I nipped her tail that she seemed to snap out of her mood!

We had a great time chasing each other and trying to grab each others tail!

Pretend Fight!

 We also enjoyed having our 'Pretend Fight' which is great fun!

Here I come!

 It was a 'Mad Five Minutes' and in the end we were both puffed out!

When we got back home, we were just about to settle down for a snooze when OTL started to head for the front door, without us!

No Way was he getting out on his own!

So, off we went, down to the Bank and then to one of his customers!

Afterwards, OTL said we could go for another walk if we wanted, so, off we went and I started singing our 'New Park' song which is a little bit rude but very funny and OTL got the message!

Get off the Path!

We started off towards the Swimming Hole and OTL and I were on the grass looking for my ball when we heard Holly giving off a load of woofing. Turning around we saw she was telling the Park Warden to 'Get Off The Path' and then told them what to do with their car as well!

We carried on down towards the Swimming Hole with OTL throwing the ball for me. I love having a ball chase along the path 'cos I can do my famous 'Hand Brake Turn' to grab the ball.

Hand Break Turn!

 Then I end up in a big cloud of dust, which is a really good 'Show Off' way of stopping, it makes all the other dogs think I was going very fast you see!

Showing Off my Speed!

 I had a great time splashing about fetching the ball and OTL did his normal trick of throwing it just a little bit too far!

Too deep for me!

 The wind was blowing in the right direction, so, all I had to do was to wait until the ball came back to me!

I got a bit brave a couple of times and stepped off the edge and found myself swimming with all my paws off the bottom!

I got soaking wet all over!

So, back I came to OTL and decided to share the water with him by having a good shake in front of him!

Catch the water!

 We then went off for a good run in the cut hay and Holly says that she has been reading all about camouflage and then showed me how she can disappear from view in the middle of a field!

Bet you can't see me now!

I was getting a bit shivery 'cos I was still wet from the swim, so, Holly and I had a good run and a roll in the hay so I got dry and warm pretty quickly!

Drying Off!

The only problem was, when we rolled in the hay, we picked up all the prickles and burrs, so that means OTL had to spend some time taking it all out while sitting on the bench! Still, it gave him an excuse for sitting down for a while!

Off Again!

 Back home we both fell asleep after a bit of dinner, Holly spend all evening asleep on the sofa, me, I was up in OTL's office, snoozing!

I reckon that it won't be long before we go to bed, so I must get back to snoozing in case I miss out on my sleep!

See you tomorrow.

Luv,

Daisy & Holly

Let's go Hunting Squirrel!

Hello Woofers!

Daisy & Holly back again!

We have come up with an absolutely brilliant idea that will save Old Two Legs getting up so early in the morning and give Holly and me freedom to go out for a walk when ever we want!

OTL should teach us to drive!

We were waiting to be let out for our run this morning and Holly was looking at the controls. There's stick thing he wiggles and this round thing he hangs onto when the car goes around the corner!

Come on, it can't be that Difficult!

 The only problem we may have is getting the key out of his pocket!

 We went down to collect the Big Car and OTL was reduced to tears again! As Holly says, if you drive big cars then you expect bigger bills!

That didn't help OTL at all, he still carried on crying!

To help get him get cheered up again, we took him down to The Forest for a fun time Hunting Squirrels!

Hunting Indian Fashion!

We started off trotting along the path, sniffin the sniffs and trying to spot the new ones!

We did some serious hunting but the squirrels were all hiding high in the trees and some were even throwing Chestnuts down at us!

They are up there!

We carried on, creeping around the trees and bushes looking for these sneaky squirrels.

Did you hear that?

We were listening hard and on several occasions we were sure they were blowing raspberries at us!


I even spotted a couple jumping from tree to tree, but they were just too far up to chase, so I let them alone, but I will remember their faces for next time!

I can see you!

 Holly and I kept on and towards the end of the walk I saw some thing on the ground, throwing up leaves!

Very slowly I crept around the side of the tree and stood there watching!

Guess what I see!

 There, on the ground, with it's tail stuck up in the air and it's head buried under a pile of leaves was a Squirrel!

I slowly crept towards it, crouched down, my tail level with my back and my ears tucked in close to my head.

Closer and closer I got, the squirrel still had not seen me. I was just about to take a deep breath and ready myself for the charge when...........................Yarrrrroooooooh!

Holly came flying past me woofing and howling in a full Doggy Charge!

With that, the squirrel did a quick jump and a hop and shot up the tree like it was running down hill!

Saw Ya!

 I was furious! I woofed at Holly for spoiling my charge and told her off!

Not that she took any notice 'cos she was off after another squirrel she said she spotted, I didn't see it so I think she was telling porkies!

Back home and a snooze before dinner, not sure what we got but I think I heard OTL being told that we had liver!

See you tomorrow!

Luv,

Daisy & Holly

No Ticks Today!

Hi Woofers!

Daisy & Holly here again!

You can tell Summer is coming to an end, the temperature is dropping and the nights are getting colder. I am finding I either get under my blanket in bed or jump up and snuggle next to Old Two Legs in the early hours of the morning! Even Holly has taken to sleeping curled up in a ball instead of flat on her back with her legs pointing out like a Star Fish!

The wind has picked up and although the sun is shining, there are more clouds in the sky than normal!

Our run along The Sea Wall was OK, the sun was shining and Holly had got rid of her Tick and was feeling a lot better!

Happy Holly!

 I was considering a Deep Paddle but after dipping my foot in the water, I decided that a run along the beach was a better idea!

Well, maybe Not!

Back we came to The Sea Wall at lunch time, after our morning snooze and a woof at the birds in the back garden.

This time Holly had the pickle in her! First of all she tried to get me into trouble by pinching a Fisherman's lunch.

She said that she would distract him by being all Friendly and Tail Waggly while I had a rummage around in his shopping bag for anything edible.

Trouble was, OTL was right behind me!

Go on! Have a Rummage Around!

So, having failed at that we got into a game of 'Chase', I chased Holly and did the old 'Tail Grab and Twist' trick but this time I lost my grip and we both nearly went flying into the sea!

Gotcha!

It was only when I let go at the last moment did I realise what sort of speed we were doing!

Watch out for the Sea!

It was a bit later that Holly tried to get me going again, she ran ahead and pretended she had this big juicy chew and was eating it all before I got there!

But I could see it was really a bit of wood!

Look at this Chew!

I called out 'You can't fool me, I can see it's made of wood and I pee'd on it this morning!

Yuk! Puppy Pee!

Yuk! Says Holly, I wondered what that taste was!

While she was spitting it out and going Yuk Yuk and Spit Spit, I was chasing after OTL to tell him the joke!

Hey! You Gotta hear This!

 Back home we had a lazy afternoon snoozing and woofing at the birds, there seems to be a lot of them now the feeders are back hanging up after OTL had finished with that bit of the garden.

He is still only half way through the back bit but can't do any more 'cos the garden waste bins are all full up and the Bin Men don't call until Friday!

Let's hope it doesn't rain this weekend or OTL will miss out on some gardening and will have to sit indoors watching the F1 Racing, poor thing!

Off to mug OTL for some food, see you tomorrow!

Luv,

Daisy & Holly (Tick Free)

A Seriously Yucky Post today!

Hi Woofers!

Daisy & Holly here!

Now, I don't want you to read any further if you get all 'Wobbly' about spiders and creepy crawlies, like wot Old Two Legs does!

This is not a very nice blog today, but, it shows one of the many hazards us dogs have to put up with, just to stay as wonderful as we are for you Two Legs!



Ready?






Are you sure?





Are you really sure?







If you are really, really sure?






OK, I'll begin!











Don't say I didn't warn you!







Well, yesterday Holly and OTL and me went on a longer than normal walk, being it was Sunday morning and we went all the way up to the Power Station and I got muddy, (Holly's fault) and Holly and me had a good time chasing things in the hedgerows and in the bushes and stuff, remember?

Well, unknown to Holly OTL and me, she managed to pick up a Tick. Now this Tick must have been real sneaky 'cos OTL didn't find it when he gave Holly a brush, so we reckon it was small and hiding in Holly's muzzle and hanging on with all it's eight legs, well, it is a spider!

It must have been chewing away at |Holly all night long!

This morning we went out for our normal run along The Sea Wall and Holly was saying how she had felt a twitch on the side of her muzzle but couldn't shift it. It didn't cause her any pain but was just 'irritating'.

I said that sounded like a Tick, ('cos I've had several of them before and I know what they feel like!)

Wanna look at my Tick?

Holly said that they must have followed us down from Scotland!

Now that's scary!

We were having a bit of a laugh about it but I'm a bit 'twitchy' where Ticks are concerned, I don't like them and I don't like OTL digging them out!

When we got back to the car Holly jumped up on the back shelf and said that she could see loads of them running up the path after us!

Quick! They're following us!

That was it, I jumped up and woofed for OTL to 'get the woofing car outta here!'

Quick! Get going NOW!

Holly was laughing all the way home, but I was keeping well away from her and wondering what OTL would find later!

Well, I got a brush first, I wasn't going to have the brush after her, not without the brush getting a good inspection and sterilisation first!

Then it was Holly's turn and sure enough, there on the side of her muzzle was this spider called a Tick, or to give it the correct name 'Ixodes ricinus' or Castor Bean Tick...........YUK!!!!!!!!

That was it, OTL called for his 'Tick Removal Tools' and set to work removing it!

Really, it is a simple operation, you just slide the tool under the ticks head and next to your skin and 'Unscrew' the tick!

Out it comes, all in one bit and leaves a little bit of a hole where it has chomped away at your skin to suck your blood!

The hole left is about the size of gnat bite when you knock the top off!

Well, that's what it does, so it has enough food to reproduce more ticks!

It is small to begin with but as it feeds the abdomen gets bigger and bigger until it is the size of a small pea!

This time OTL was allowed to keep the tick as he wanted to take some photographs of it.







SO.........................Here is your last warning.............Yucky Tick Pic's to Follow!







I'm warning you!






Sure?






OK then, here we go!











This was the first attempt to photograph the tick using some extension tubes and a 35mm lens. Depth of Field was not too good so we switched to a 105mm lens, set up two flash heads and removed the tubes!


Now we have just found out that the Tick doesn't have any eyes and if you can visualise it, when it first lands on you and before it starts to feed, that big grey abdomen is in fact the same size as the dark circle above its head!

First Shot of the Tick

You know, as OTL unscrewed the Tick, it hung onto a bit of Holly it had been chomping!

Cheeky Tick!

Well, now OTL was well into this 'Bug from Hell'

The Bug from Hell!

This shot head on was to find it's eyes, but we found out later, it has none!

Coming for you!

This shot looks like it was heading for OTL but we had stood it on the back of a sticky label, so it was dragging it's butt on a gluey surface, that slowed it down!

More observations!

Now as the tick couldn't run away, OTL started to study the abdomen and what it was doing. OTL said it was 'Breathing' and could see the abdomen contracting as it breathed out, so just to prove it he took a photo as the body contracted. Next was to find out where it was breathing in!

Air goes in here!

So, here is where we reckon the air goes in and there are other holes around the other side.

While OTL was in the mood, he rolled to tick over onto it's back and took another photo and this showed some interesting 'Bits'!

A Ticks 'Bits'

At first we thought the top hole was it's mouth where, like a crab it shoved the food but pretty quickly, with the aid of Google and Wikipedia we soon found out it was in fact the Genital Aperture!

So, following down the abdomen, the remaining hole must be it's Anus!

Holly said that it looked even more horrible upside down because the legs were waving around trying to turn its body over!

Making a run for it!

OTL turned it back the right way and you know that the cheeky Tick tried to make a run for it but it had forgotten about the sticky surface and soon skidded to a halt!

Just for the record, OTL took one more shot, from above, so you can get the general layout of the tick!

Next stop the loo!

Then, finished with his photography, he did what The Missus had instructed, wrapped it up in loo paper and flushed it away!

So, somewhere, halfway down the sewage pipe heading for the coast, sitting on top of a ball of paper, floating along, is a Tick, going on a cruise on the North Sea!

We had a late walk this afternoon but that was OK 'cos we spent most of the time asleep on OTL's bed!

The tide was in and there were Two Legs all over the place having a restful afternoon on the beach.

First of all, we crept up on this one who was watching the boats go by, it was ages before he realized that Holly was standing next to him!

He doesn't know I'm here!

 Holly was grinning all over her face!

We came across a couple that were having a picnic on the beach but no matter what we did, they wouldn't give us a nibble!

Oi! Gissa Nibble!

When we got to the fishermen, even they told us there was no food for us!

Sorry, All Gone!

That was it, I was showing off, no nibbles, no food, late walks, ticks on the march.

I decided to sulk and sit on the concrete 'cos ticks don't like concrete!

Right Fed Up!

It was only when Holly came walking past, she reminded me that we can mug OTL for some diner and make up for all those greedy Two Legs who wouldn't feed us!

See you tomorrow!

Luv,

Daisy & Holly

(I wonder if the Tick has reached the sea yet?)

What happened to the sun?

Hi Woofers!

Daisy & Holly here again!

We were up early this morning, we heard a cat outside messing about in the bushes, so we crept up to the window and let out a BIG WOOF!

You know, we even managed to wake Old Two Legs up as well, but he went back to sleep!

Our morning run was good, we went all the way along to the Power Station and on the way I managed to jump into the mud a little bit.

It was Holly's fault, you see she just turned too quickly as I was chasing her and I sort of overshot, a little bit and got just a little bit muddy!

Look Muddy Paws!

Holly was having loads of fun on the beach bit, tearing up and down and digging holes as well!

Holly doing a Sprint!

I tried to muscle in on a sniff and we had a 'Pretend Fight' over possession of the sniff!

MY Sniff!

Then Holly started to show off good and proper, she ran down the beach and kept jumping into the air shouting out that she was 'Flying'!

I'm Flying!

It was then that we heard a terrible noise over the top of the banking, we hadn't heard this sound before, so we went to investigate.

What do you Reckon?

There were some strange looking cows in the field, they looked all odd looking and their horns were pointing in the wrong direction, sort of like the handles on a wheelbarrow!

Strange looking Cows!

OTL said they were Water Buffalo and you could make mozzarella cheese from their milk. OTL is a clever Two Legs, sometimes, 'cos we reckon these were Bulls!

Well we woofed a couple of times and left them alone!

We got to a bit that stuck out into the river and Holly said that as I was muddy already, I ought to take a running dive and land in the mud, just for fun!

Go on, you jump first!

I declined the offer!

Lunchtime the tide was in and everyone was out with their fishing rods. The first family we saw looked like they had loads of food, so I woofed and said 'Hello' to everyone while Holly checked out the food stock.

Any Food?

 All the food was gone! We must have been a bit late 'cos the next one we tried also didn't have anything either!

Got any Nibbles Mr?

 It just wasn't our day!

Never mind, we can always mug OTL tonight!

See you tomorrow!

Luv,

Daisy & Holly