This & That

We had a busy weekend with BATS and then on Sunday Al came for the day to help us start dismantling some stuff ready to move. We have six weeks until the big day but with all the dog shows we have booked that time will fly!

Al and Andy had a good day and replaced all the lights with standard fittings; dismantled Andy's complex wiring systems for the surround sound; took apart my lovely armchair that wouldn't come down the stairs and removed the wood burner which proved a big task and a back-breaking one. Andy could barely walk after they carried it out to the garage, it weighs around 150 kgs! Andy also dismantled the spare bed so we can use that room to store stuff. All this effort finally brought home to me that we really are moving. It's scary!

We will need two new mowers for our new garden. In the walled garden I have stipulated that I want stripes on the lawn so we had to find a cylinder mower. Al's work had one for sale so we bought that and he brought it with him on Sunday. It's massive! I can't believe it. Anyway, Andy loves it (sad; man thing). For the other part of the garden we need to have a tractor mower so we're scouring the local papers for a second hand one. They are very expensive to buy new so we won't be going down that route. Andy also has a new project, my sister has given us a little trailer that she doesn't want and it will be very useful for us taking some stuff over to the new house and once we get there for collecting the grass and taking stuff to the dump. It's in rather a sad state though so we have to get new wheels for it and it needs a good clean.

Andy's new love interests:


One of our first jobs at the new house is to demolish the existing garage and build a new one together with a utility room. We were searching for garage doors and Andy went into a local supplier and had a bit of luck. The chap said he had just the thing for us in his warehouse, a pair of doors which had been mis-measured and were useless to him. We got them for a bargain price! They're now sitting in our current garage which is beginning to fill up with all sorts of stuff related to the move!

Andy had a lesson with Bernadette yesterday. The weather wasn't very nice and Kizzy arrived home rather frizzy and damp! Andy has lots to work on! His main challenge at the moment is to improve her sits, downs and comes. Sometimes she does them really well but other times she gets distracted and just won't do them at all. He started work on them this morning and is going to concentrate on those three things for the next few days.

Last night we did a training evening for the Dartford Agility Club. This is the second one we've done so we knew most of the people and their dogs. They're a great bunch and the evening was good fun and certainly seemed to go well.

Mum is now installed in the Kent & Sussex hospital but is not at all well. She has the C.Diff bug again and also a chest infection. She seems to have more awareness of her condition and is getting very distressed by it. It's heartbreaking as there is so little you can do for her.

Up until now her demeanour has been happy; this has changed since moving from London back to Kent. She has no awareness of the move between hospitals but it certainly seems to have had an adverse affect on her but I guess the two infections are also a big factor.

This week we're off to Supa Dogs. We haven't camped at this show before. Andy is coming for the weekend and then going home on Sunday evening as he has work that needs to be finished. I'll get the caravan ready to roll on Thursday evening and then Andy will come back Friday morning and we'll hitch up and set off to Hinckley for the weekend. Andy's judging the championship class there on the Saturday. I love the Hinckley show. They're a great crowd and the venue is one of my favourites. Let's hope for better weather than we had at Tunbridge Wells!