Long Sunny Days...

I don't know about you but I couldn't be happier that summer has finally arrived. The Boy breaks up from school for summer holidays this week and a couple of months of lazy days stretch happily ahead of us. The Boy, being the boy he most definitely is, has already got Monday training sessions with Sarah Miles very firmly in his diary. Weeks of cuddles with Sarah's happy band of four legged wonders is heaven to The Boy.

I love sunny days. I am not designed to live in cold and grey and I feel like I come alive in the sun so, as you can imagine, the last week and the promised forecast ahead is music to my ears.

But this year, I have a whole new consideration - Storm. Black dogs just aren't designed for soaring temperatures and  I have a different agenda now on sunny days. To keep Storm cool and happy.

So, my alarm is now set for 5.30am. This means I can get her out, walked on a four mile walk and be back in time for breakfasts & school runs. But, most importantly, it means we get home before the heat really starts kicking in.

And I am loving these early morning walks. I don't love them when the alarm goes off to be honest but I love being out and about as the world is waking up around us. We have the fields, lakes and woods where we walk all to ourselves. Storm leaps through the long grass, snuffling happily, detonating pollen bombs and emerging covered in a coating of grass and flowers. I laugh at her as she kangaroo leaps so she can keep an eye on me and when I duck and hide, she hunts me out, pleased with the cuddle she gets for being so clever.

At home, she gets wiped down, brushed and checked for any unwanted remnants then, she breakfasts like a Princess and retires for a well earned nap.

I watch her, envying the deep sleep she falls into on my office floor while I get back to my laptop.

Storm smiles in her sleep , stretches and cracks an eye open as I step over her on my way to the kitchen. Coffee has become a staple of these long long sunny days. I might love the heat but I'd enjoy a lay-in a little more.

Honestly, there's just no pleasing some people.

Storm & I, ready for our early morning exercise...

A Very Patient Patient...

So, it's almost a week since Storm was spayed which partly accounts for the radio silence since - not that she's been hard work but rather because I don't feel I have a huge amount to say. Which is, for me, a rarity.

But today I have a few moments so a small update seems in order. Storm has been an absolute star since her op. Honestly, I couldn't have wished for an easier-to-cope-with dog. She's been so patient and so good - no  attempted licking of her stomach (thus, no need for the cone of shame), no whining or moaning, no bothering because of lack of exercise. In short, she's been her usual, marvellous self. I did sleep downstairs with her on   her first night home but she seems to have stayed up to keep an eye on me. Whenever I woke in the night, she was sat next to me, watching me as if to say 'but Mum, you're sleeping on the floor, something must be really wrong with you'.

Our vets (Nine Mile in Wokingham) are fabulous and Storm was so well looked after. As you might know, it's thanks to our vet in some ways that we were lucky enough to get Storm and they are great. We have our second check-up on Saturday and hopefully Storm will be signed off and we can get back to walking, training and loving our life together.

I have missed gundog training with Sarah Miles a lot. Those few hours of 'me' time are more precious than I imagined. I literally cannot wait for next week and a gentle session with Storm, Sarah and her dogs out in the countryside again. This realisation, this noticing of just how much I love the training and the learning and the 'difference' of this part of my life from my workaday world is another gentle reminder of how much things have changed since Storm arrived and it is another thing I thank her for.

Storm is currently laid happily on her bed in my office - we had our first little road walk since her op this morning and she seemed absolutely fine. Not far, not fast, just a gentle stroll in the morning sunshine, like two old women slowly shuffling to the shops.

We ambled along, side by side, both relishing the leg stretch and exercise after our enforced incarceration.
"You're a good girl Stormy." I said as she sat neatly by the pavement edge, waiting to cross. She looked up at me with happy eyes and her half panting/half smiling open mouth and leaned onto my hand as I rubbed her ears.

I think I'm forgiven for the upset of the last week.

Four Months & Counting...

Today seems like a particularly perfect point for a little review. Storm has been with us now for four months and today, she also went to the vets to be spayed. She's home now and sleeping off the drugs in her basket just next to me but the feeling of dropping her off and the relief at picking her up has made me think about how my life has changed since she arrived.

So, here are some of the things I've learned about Storm and myself over the last four months...

* When Boy was small, I'd always find baby wipes in every handbag. Now I find poop scoops everywhere.
* Thanks to Storm, I met some wonderful people (and dogs) and done things I'd never imagined trying.
* Watching a dog eat ice cubes on hot days is brilliant & guaranteed to make you laugh. We just need more hot days...
* I know the difference between 'marked' and 'blind'.
* Storm's happiness at seeing me every morning completely makes up for the lack of a lay-in.
* We need bigger sofas.
* We must always hide tennis balls.
* My ability to spot pigeons/cats/foxes in the garden is nowhere near good enough.
* I am more able to cope with poo and puke than I thought.
* I can carry a 15kg bag of food from the pet shop to the car with only a slight loss of feeling to my arms.
* Having the inside of your car redecorated in 'Shaken Dog' is actually fine and not worth worrying about.
* Dog people like a good chat when they're out walking. Extra time for talking must always be factored in to any schedule.
* A regular size Bonio lasts approximately 10 seconds.
* Storm is a great office assistant, especially on cold days when she likes to lay on my feet.
* Years of watching my Mum look after her dogs so wonderfully was great training.
* The thought of anything happening to her makes me feel sick inside.
* Storm makes me laugh every day. At least once. Without fail.
* Too many children are scared of dogs. This makes me really sad.
* She just 'gets' me & thinks I'm great.
* The last piece of poppadom in the curry takeaway bag is reserved for Storm.
* Being the 'Girl' of Gundog & Girl rocks. But the Gundog herself is off the scale of fabulousness.

Walk Five - Sallows & Sour Howes

Our last walk in the Lake District was the sunniest of the week - was the weather trying to dissuade us from going home? Were we finally being rewarded for persevering through all the rain and cloud of the week? Whatever the reason, the day was beautiful and absolutely perfect for walking. The brightest blues and the freshest greens were providing us the the most amazing memories to take home with us.

For this walk, the start point was just a little way up the road from our cottage, in Troutbeck and as soon as we climbed out of the car (as early as usual), we were already shedding a layer or two as the sun smiled down.

After a quick walk through a holiday park, we were out onto the fellside and following a track upwards. Not horribly sharply upwards today - this was a path you just kept walking along, talking happily, watching the lambs alongside and admiring the views unfurling in front of you. The valley here is stunning and it was wonderful to walk, the cottages and cars below getting smaller with every step while the landscape beyond seemed to get bigger and bigger.

Up and up the path we went until a sharp right turn in the dip at the top bought us to a stile where Storm had to be unceremoniously hoisted over. She took the indignity very well to be honest and we thought she'd not held it against us. Well, until we reached to top of Sour Howes that is because there she jumped rebelliously into the fetid peat bogs and shook herself, in the manner of a teenager flouncing out of a room, before sprinting off to her next watering hole.

On we walked to Sallows, staying on top of the ridge and admiring the views that swept downwards toWindermere, glinting like a silvery blue ribbon in the distance.

It was desserted up there that day. These aren't famous Wainwright fells, the ones with names that everyone knows and are desperate to bag but they are lovely, squeezing onto the far end of much bigger and more impressive ranges, clinging on like a child holding the hand of a larger, more confident, sibling.

These two petite fells were a perfect ending to our holiday. We had achieved without exhaustion, we enjoyed views under spotlessly clean skies without chaperoning clouds to hide the beauty beneath and we had, for this little snippet of time, the whole Lake District to ourselves.

A Dog Day Out - A D-Day Beach

Let me make it very clear at the start of this post that I absolutely didn't take Storm to Normandy today (insert your own 'Storming Norman-dy' joke here). No, instead we piled into the car and headed down to the New Forest for what I think might have been Storm's first look at the seaside.

And, in honour of this occasion, this British seaside responded in true holiday fashion with grey skies and rain that came in off the sea sideways. But we weren't to be deterred, not at all.

We'd come to Lepe Country Park and headed down the dog friendly part of the beach where Storm, all bravado, ran straight into the water. Then she ran straight out again when the waves were bigger than anticipated and the water tasted weird. So we played, Storm danced in and out of the surf and we enjoyed our time on the beach, despite the weather. She ran in the bushes behind  the beach, she chased, she sprinted and zoomed. She had a great time.

Then, as my military history geekness kicked in, we walked around the cliff path and down onto Lepe's very own D-Day beach. It was from here, almost exactly 69 years ago that the coast was carved up to play a part in the invasion of Normandy. Barges were filled with soldiers, equipment was loaded, the 'Mulberry Harbours' were assembled and floated towards France and the all important PLUTO, the pipeline under the ocean, pumped fuel to the beaches to power the Allied advance.

After all of the D-Day programming, tweets and news features of the last week, Lepe came alive for me today. As we walked along the concrete path, laid to get men and machines to the sea here, you could feel it. I'm not a believer in ghosts and spooky stories but something got to me today. The years fell away and despite the broken up remnants of D-Day littering the beach, it was there. And I could have cried and let the rain wash away my tears - for the men that didn't come back, for all the men, on all sides, who fought on those beaches.

Storm knew too. As she sat in the boot of the car, wrapped in a towel, I sat next to her and, as she so often does when I need her, she leaned on me.

Then she stood up and shook herself all over me and looked happily at me as I laughed into the rain.

These 'dolphins' were part of the pier used to load ships heading to Normandy

Ships tied up on these bollards whilst being loaded and the broken concrete allowed vehicles etc to drive to the waiting barges

The Mulberry Harbours were launched from these slipways

Storm investigates the site that held the floating harbours in place

Drying off!

Walk Four - High Street & Beyond

Right, I should come clean at the very start of this post and admit that this wasn't actually walk four of our Lake District holiday. It was really walk five. However, walk four was a horrid experience, a day of grey, that was loathed by me from start to finish. We walked from Glenridding up to Raise and White Side but it was hideous. The cloud was so low there was nothing to see, the wind blew until I thought it would drive me mad  and I would have given anything to be transported from that fellside back to our lovely warm cottage. Anyway, it's not a walk I care to relive, here or anywhere. But I guess you'd got that already.

So, it was amazing in a way that on the Thursday of our trip, I was togged up and ready to go from the Brothers Water car park by 9am again. I've always been keen to walk High Street and today was the day.

We walked into Hartsop and began the climb to Hayeswater. This was a lovely stretch of walking and we made good progress. However, as we crossed the stream that flows downhill from Hayeswater, the cloud descended, the wind whipped up and the hail started. I have a very clear memory of standing, balancing on one leg, trying to get into my over-trousers whilst being smacked in the face by hail stones that were coming horizontally at me across the hillside. British holidaying at its very best!

Thankfully, the hail stopped as we made our way up to the ridge and turned to quickly nip up to the peak of The Knott. This was great - literally a 100m walk from the main path and boom, you've bagged another Wainwright. Excellent. And, for a little moment, High Street's flat back was visible in the distance.

From here, we walked across the wide High Street ridge and made our way to the trig point on the top. Hunkering down behind the wall, devouring a well earned bar of chocolate, my phone suddenly decided to get a 3G signal and our strides towards our next peak were accompanied by the pinging and ringing of endless messages arriving. It was, in an odd way, quite reassuring because by this point, the cloud was so low and so thick that it seemed like nothing lived beyond 5 metres ahead. At least my phone was proving there was civilisation out there. We just couldn't see it.

Thornthwaite Crag was our next stop and the beacon here is a very welcome sight as it appeared out of the pea-soup fog. From here, we dropped steeply off the fell and finally, there was light again and the beginnings of a view appeared again to us. We stopped for another snack and contemplated whether we should just head down and back (along the wonderfully named Pasture Bottom - which makes me snigger a little every time!) or head up what looked like quite a steep scramble toward Stony Cove Pike. The scramble won and up we went again. Storm was clearly channeling her inner mountain goat as she nimbly hopped upwards while I made my way up with all the grace and co-ordination of Anne Widdecombe on Strictly. At least I wasn't dressed in bright purple lycra so we should be grateful for small mercies.

From Stony Cove Pike, the adrenaline clearly kicked in and we positively skipped our way gently down along the ridge to Hartsop Dodd, our last peak of the day. And this was a wonderful spot. The cloud had lifted slightly, the sun was started to peak out and from the cairn here, we had absolutely stunning views over Ullswater. On this walk, we'd really felt all the Lakes have to offer.

Desending back to Hartsop, we returned to the car park and Storm was rewarded with a swim in the stream. She had already been gently bathed by the mist and fog that clung to her eyebrows and whiskers and gave her the look of a dog ten times her age but now she immersed herself in the clearest of Lake District water. And, with just one day of walking left, her Lake District baptism was almost complete.

The Boy Speaks! On Getting A Dog...

As you might know, as well as having me, the Girl of the story, Storm also has a Boy. Storm's Boy is my boy, my beautiful, special and adorable son. The Boy is animal mad, desperate to be a vet and a natural with animals of all kinds but particularly dogs. Unsurprisingly, the Boy simply adores Storm.

The Boy also struggles a bit sometimes with writing but, thanks to his wonderful school and amazing English teacher, he's getting better every week. He knows about the blog and often suggests things to write about so when he suggested he write pieces for me giving his side of life with Storm, I thought that it was a great idea so, without further ado, here is Boy's first blog...

"I love dogs. They always seem happy and I like making them happy too. I like their nature. They're very calming and they know how you feel. I especially like playing with them and loving them is very easy.

When I knew we were going to get Storm, I hoped that everything would go well. I was so happy and really looked forward to playing with her and doing things with her. She came to live with us on the day before my birthday and was the best birthday present ever. I just wanted her to like me.

My first impressions of Storm were that she was very big and very soft. I was so happy to see her and the first night she was with us, I lay on the floor with her and she lay on my arm and went to sleep. That was brilliant.

So far, my favourite thing about having Storm is taking her gundog training. I think because she fits around us all so well all the time, it's really nice for her to have some time that's all about her. I also really like Sarah [our trainer - Girl!] and her dogs are all beautiful. We have also been on a walk for Hounds For Heroes and I got to meet Allen and EJ which was very special.

Now we've got Storm I know that I love animals more than ever. I love seeing her when I come out of school and I love playing with her in the garden. I'm also learning new things and it's such a nice feeling when she does what I ask.

If another child was getting a dog, I would tell them not to be scared because dogs sense that. You should do things for them as much as you can like walking them, brushing them and feeding them so they bond with you. I don't even mind picking up Storm's poo!!

Having Storm has made my life better. Having her makes me think more about others because I have to think about her and notice what she's doing and how she's feeling so I can help her.

Storm is brilliant and I love her a lot."