A walk in the woods- a bit alarming !

  It hasn't rained for more than a month and the daytime temperatures have been high this last week, real canicule or heatwave conditions. We have had to adapt  our lifestyle to the conditions, closing down doors and windows once the morning cool has passed. Luckily, our double glazed doors and windows serve very well to keep out the heat, so we are relatively cool and comfortable inside. As it is too hot to walk the dogs during the day, I take them out first thing at about 7.30 just after sunrise. It's not a problem for me to do, as I like getting up early but Kim is not in any condition to come at that time! It's cool and pleasant to walk up the wooded track just at the end of our road and, as I shared in my last blog, Laika is so much easier to walk with the training collar attached.
  I usually walk ' the square ' a distance of about three kilometres. This morning, as I was half way through,traversing a thickly wooded section, Rufus galloped on ahead, obviously in chase of something, possibly a deer. However, a large creature rushed out of the woods on the right of the track,and dived into the left hand woods. It was the size of a large Labrador but lower on its legs and ran nose down,unlike a dog. With some horror I recognised a wild sanglier or pig. Both dogs set off in chase and for the first time, Laika ignored the recall on her collar. I called both dogs as loudly as l could and after a minute Rufus pushed his way out of the trees. I praised him and leaded him up then took the left hand track at the junction in the direction of the chase. I was pleased and relieved when Laika too came out of the forest, neither dog was hurt, thank Goodness. It's the first time I've seen a wild boar in our woods, though I've seen traces of their digging sometimes.
   I was very pleased to get back home,safe and sound with no damage to the dogs! Phew!
    Bye for now, going to close up the house to keep cool!

The conversion of Ste Laika.

     I have spoken before of the entirely false air of innocence on the face of this deceptive hound. Though very lovable and affectionate, she is strong-willed and disobedient while being walked. Her chief delight is in hunting, she sets up a desperate howling and will chase anything that runs over the horizon. She will then depart on its trail and not return for hours, causing great worry. To avoid the anxiety of the wait, plus the questions over what she might be up to in the interim, we had the custom of only walking her on a long lead.
  We had thought of buying a remote-control training device, but they are quite expensive. However, while at the Hope shop at Lezay, we saw one on sale for a fiver or so, so we snapped it up. This consists of a collar with a couple of electrical contacts to strap on the dog's neck, plus the remote unit to be carried. This allows you to choose between an electric shock, a buzzer or a bleep and has a range of about 200 yards. The idea is that if  Laika bolts and fails to respond to a recall shout, she can be given a reminder of the appropriate intensity.
  However, we had a pleasant surprise, when we got around to trying it out. As soon as the collar was buckled on, Laika's behaviour changed miraculously for the better! She walked quietly to heel, came back instantly when called and in fact behaved so perfectly that I had very little opportunity of trying out our hi-tech purchase. We can only suppose that this is not her first experience of a training collar. Be that as it may, I can now take her out without the bulky long lead reel with confidence in retaining control. It's far less stressful and I think even Laika can enjoy her sniff about, without being tied by the neck. At worst, a bleep on the collar brings her trotting straight back. A most worth-while purchase!

    Bye for now, feeding time for the animals...

Have you got the bottle for it?

   For some time now we have been considering reroofing one of our row of outbuildings on the far side of our courtyard. This building was described as the sheep shed on its meticulously labelled keys, when we bought the house and did contain a manger and two stalls. The roof was insulated by the ingenious method of an extra layer of planks,the gap between filled with straw. However, this held any leaks, and rot has established itself in the beams, causing partial collapse.
  We asked our neighbour, Ian, to help us with the roof, but he was understandably reluctant until the bottles were removed. Shelves had been added by previous owners and filled with an assortment of wine and champagne bottles! its not that they were great drinkers, you understand, but they did collect the grapes from the vine growing along the building and ferment and bottle their own wine, and a few hundred bottles might come in handy... the bottles were empty, or they would never have been left behind after the house sale, of course!
   We have already taken a trailer-load of empties to the tip, but I have half filled the trailer again and there are plenty left, as you can see. Never mind, they will be shifted, bit by bit.

 Bye for now, going to load some bottles...

Chase the Wind

  Yesterday, we decided to visit the Wind Fair near Villefagnan. We had done so several years ago and enjoyed it. It celebrates the restored windmill, which is set going for the day, you can take a tour of the tower and see grain being ground and sieved ready to bake bread.

  Besides the usual stalls, there was a
 demonstration of horse-pulled ploughing,several single and double teams pulling the old-fashioned ploughshares, besides the horses there was a pair of Poitou donkeys, though these seemed to be living up to their reputation for obstinacy.

  It was extremely hot in the sun and after a look round, we bought a couple of cans of drink and sat in the marquee, watching the world going round enjoying the fun. Thre was a smartly-dressed man on high stilts and he and his ground-based friend were showing off their juggling skills. Once we had cooled off, we were glad to return home to a cool, thick-walled house for the evening. Still, it was an interesting and entertaining day.

    Bye for now, nearly time to feed the animals.

The water of Life

It's a strange quirk of human nature that you don't appreciate something until it's in short supply, look at diamonds, for example, if they were as common as glass no one would pay vast sums for relatively small stones. I was reminded of  this rather banal thought this morning, when, after a misty start, it came on to rain in earnest and has been tipping down ever since. Kim and I have been looking at the downpour with great approval, as it's the first rain for several weeks and the countryside and garden are absolutely parched . Normally, we would have been disapproving, even feeling hard-done-by if it rained all morning in high summer. Now we approve heartily of this good watering. Mind you, if it carries on more than a few hours we may well revert to our former dislike of rainy weather...

Bye for now, going to check where I've put my raincoat!