Dogs and stuff

There have been a couple of dogs dumped in our village. It happens from time to time, noticeable because most, if not all, the dogs in the village belong to someone. These two appeared at the end of our lane and have taken up residence in an empty house. It is unlikely they will be around too long as one is aggressive and that will not be tolerated. Dave has had to stop taking the dogs down the lane as they go into attack, possibly to defend their new territory and the communal bin which will be a food source.

It is very sad that people will do this, and can be worse at this time of the year when ex-pats return to their country for the winter but don't want to take the dogs or cats they 'rescued' while they were here in summer. Rather like what happens when people kick them out in the UK before they go on holiday. It saddens us so much. Dave was feeling so fed up one day he mentioned these dogs on his facebook page. Sometimes you just need to rant. This caused one person to launch a nasty attack on Dave for not 'doing something about it', like taking the dogs to be castrated which a) would mean exposing our dogs to them and b) there is no point in putting them and us through that to let them back onto the street where as I have said before, they will not be tolerated. This person knows nothing about us or our lives, what we do and don't do. We certainly can't take them in even if we could afford to, it would not be fair to our own animals, especially Bonnie, and not fair on the dogs themselves if we had to suddenly leave and have to find yet another home (or worse) for them.. We understand all too well that numbers of puppies and kittens need controlling and the best way of doing that is to have everything castrated/speyed. This is how we got Splash, and even Bella in the UK. We do our bit in trying to gently show others that neutering is not cruel, (look at our happy neutered girls) and that dogs can be companions as well as an alarm dog chained all it's life and fed bread. The neighbours are fascinated with our dogs and cats, and how much pleasure we get from having them share our lives while still being guards.

If we could afford it we would have loads of animals who need homes, to join our rescues and ex-battery chickens already here. But it would be irresponsible when we couldn't afford to care for them properly and take them back if we had to go home. Moan over....move on.

We have also had a dog in the garden. It's unfortunate that once they find their way in it is hard to keep them out and we are hoping to get the wall between us and the neighbous re-built this winter. Last time it was in it got temporarily entangled in the chicken mesh and panicked so hopefully that will stop it trying again. It's a worry when we have chickens everywhere and a kitten, never mind our two dogs.

The chutney pans have been on again. They keep being taken down to the cellar only to be brought up again. A friend asked us to make some to see them over the winter and so some of the excess peppers and tomatoes have been used, as well as onions and chillis. So they took 20 jars. I have also made some chilli jelly with a bag of the donated apples and some more of our chillis, as well as getting some stewed down to have in the bulging freezer, so just one bag to sort. The rest of the pears have been bottled and put away for winter, just in time, they were getting very juicy.

We went out the other day, to a friend who lives half an hour away. It made a lovely change to sit and chat and do nothing while someone else cooks lunch! And what a lovely lunch it was, a vegetable bake but not like any I have had before, it was gorgeous and I watched carefully so that  can do it myself...and soon. Once again, I had a moment of view envy. It was a misty, murky day but I can't wait to see it on a nice day. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy with our home, but however happy I would love a view across a valley to forests instead of the back of someone else's barn. I wouldn't change our home, views are one thing, a nice village and solid gold Bulgarian neighbours are what count.

What happened to our sun, all this drab weather means the beautiful autumn colours are just....grey!

Splash had a busy day yesterday. Dave took him down to the vet for his jabs, chip and passport. he was a very good boy, no squeals or scratches and admiration from the vet, even a little chat with their own kitten. So in three months he will have his second rabies jab and be castrated and he will be good to go if an emergency arises and he has to travel. He is growing so fast now, but still has mad moments when he is titally uncontrollable but as long as the weather holds he can go outside and let off steam, climbing trees and chasing mice in the barns.

Exhausting for a small boy

And finally...there are not that many bugs about at the moment, but this was very large. Oooo-er.