2007 finished fine. A short walk along the riverbank, a leisurely pub lunch, forty winks in front of a log fire, then Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean; a nice quiet night in to celebrate New Year. So what’s this got to do with gardening? Because our disastrous start to 2008 began in the garden. Halfway through Jool’s Hogmanay, we went out to bring in the New Year, letting the dogs out as well for a ‘comfort’ break. At the stroke of midnight, next door (over the other side of the river) staged an impressive firework display. Given that Megan is supposed to be a gundog, we weren’t expecting her to bolt in terror; it took us ten minutes to realise that she had escaped the confines of the garden. We then spent the best part of the first two hours of 2008 searching the adjoining field and road fruitlessly searching for our missing pup. So we reluctantly went to bed leaving the porch open in case she returned. Up again at first light, after a sleepless night, we resumed our search wondering how the hell she had managed to disappear so quickly. Stopping only to inform the police, PetLog, and eat a couple of pieces of toast, we continued to knock on doors, distribute leaflets etc. – we covered parts of the valley that only sheep normally tread. At three o’clock, I went out to make my last search before darkness fell. Fortunately, Jon stayed behind to man the phone as we resigned ourselves to another night in without Megan. At twenty past I got the call on my mobile to say she had been found, in the opposite direction that I was looking in. She was limping a little and seemed distressed (the walkers who initially spotted her thought she was dead as she was curled up in a ball) but she was alive. Food – and the sight of Jon when he picked her up as I was still trekking my way back home – improved her disposition greatly and less than an hour later, we were all back home in front of a roaring fire, glass of bubbly in hand, ready to start the New Year proper.
January 2, 2008...12:44 pm
A Winter’s Tail
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January 2, 2008 at 2:03 pm
[...] Here’s another interesting post I read today by thereluctantgardener [...]