Shropshire for the weekend

Hi all,

Hope you are all feeling well and enjoying the lovely afternoon sunshine we have today!

On Saturday (after going to feed the horses) mummy took me to Shropshire. Mouse wanted to come too but Chris wanted to take her to work, she was needed for a job.

The journey down was very long, a section of the A14 was closed with a long diversion, mummy cursed lots (she hates waiting in traffic). The funny box attached to windscreen was sworn at too, apparently it took mummy a long way round to avoid the traffic. I didn't mind, I was fed sandwich crusts all the way and given a reassuring pat every now and then. We made one stop for coffee where I was allowed to have a sniff round, it wasn't a very interesting place for sniffing and mummy seemed really stressed about me wondering very far, something to do with fast cars.

We arrived in Shropshire in the afternoon, the house was really cold. I had forgotten how cold it feels with no carpet and where possible tried to keep on the rugs or on the sofa. Mummy's friend Helen came over, she is the cat lady (who has been converted to dogs since meeting me), I have been to her house having spent an evening with her son and his friends while they all went out without me. I hope that she hasn't come to take mummy out and leave me behind again! Better stick close just incase they go to the car together.

Helen is a very pretty lady who always dresses really creatively and wears lots of green, mummy always says nice things about her and her boyfriend. Boyfriend is an artist with a really slinky dog, he is a proper Lurcher (we have talked about them before), I have seen his work on the printer at mummy's old office, he is really good at animal paintings. I hope mummy gets him to paint one of me and Mouse, oh not forgetting Lordy of course. No doubt he would want his own portrait as we are mere cross breeds!

The idea of Helen coming to visit is to help mummy get the house ready for a viewing, mummy is really rubbish at housework, its not that she's lazy, she just never knows where to start and always finds more interesting things to do and get distracted. Having enlisted Helen's help in the past, they set to, moving stuff and generally rushing about. In no time at all mummy is getting organised (I find this really funny that she needs to be told what to do!)

In the process of moving things around I found an old ball, I ragged it and tossed it around pretending it was a rabbit (although I have never killed a rabbit) I pounced, snarled and leapt in a frenzy trying to control the wriggling 'bunny,' he escaped several times, I repeatedly recaptured him and shook him ferociously from side to side, this was great fun until I realised mummy and Helen had been watching and were laughing hysterically, at that point I went for a little sleep in the 'arse hole' basket (with the remaining strip of sheep skin from Mouse and my tug of war game last year)....slightly embarrassed.

Later that evening we went to see Chris down the village, Chris, Billy the horse (who is in love with her) and her two cats. 'Ginger Nut' the so named black cat and 'Wispe' the largest cat I have ever seen.
'Ginger Nut' snarled at me from the safety of the work tops (not that I would have done anything) and 'Wispe' just glared at me, when Chris turned her back he whispered 'touch my food, or steal my seat and I'll ave yer' I gave him a very wide berth and left him to continue his snooze infront of the Rayburn. He is such a confident fat git, even Mouse is scared of him, he swaggers around like an overfed lion and takes a swipe at you when the mood takes him, usually when you least expect it.

Mummy and Chris did lots of talking over dinner, which they shared with me. Mummy often jokes that Chris is a 'ping' dinner gal but tonight the stopps had been pulled out and a a slow cooked beef stew was served followed by banana cake! When it was time to go home I stuck very close to mummy to avoid Wispe, I was worried about an ambush on the way home (his favourite and what sealed his realtionship with Mouse). Half way to the house while I was confidently trotting ahead, I was sure I saw something, I ran back to mummy and barked. I couldnt see anything after that, not even in the torch light but kept as close as I could just incase it was the sneaky fat grey git Wispe. Mummy mattered something which sounded like'a terrier scared of the dark is unheard of', I ignored her, I have my reasons!