I (Blimey) Oh (Riley) I (Blimey) Oh (Riley) It's Off to Work I Go!

I've been remiss this week. I've hardly got off the ground with my posts. Apologies for this. In my defence its been a very busy time. I actually went out to work for 3 days... invited to work as an artist in a primary school which I loved. The children produced some very good artwork in a variety if mediums over the week including silk paintings which I worked on with them. Meanwhile the dogs have been well cared for by a dear friend who pulled the short straw. It's been raining heavily all week and its taken Lynne Mills a few hours at the end of each day to dry out after long dog walks by the Ings! Thank you sooo much Lynne!

this is the last blog for a while as Riley is homeward bound. Daniel has returned to no. 5 and wants his dog back! Its been lovely having Riley over. Hope you've enjoyed reading these little snippets. Here's one last report.

Riley has been busy with one of his all time favourite pastimes in the evenings too - gardening; digging to be more precise. I have collected photographic evidence to share with you.  Tony has also passed on a little light ditty on the matter.

Here it is:-
The big digger. He digs he digs he digs. He's not a gardner, he's not a council worker, he's not been paid 4 his labour. He digs he digs he digs. Is he working 2 a plan? Is he on a secret mission? is he going 4 a world record as he digs? He digs he digs: our garden slowly disappears! Our neighbours watch nervously. Our village is on tenterhooks because he digs he digs he digs. Riley's bear sized paws dig!

Riley's Gone Puddled!

Since we have been hosts to Riley it may be evident from my blogs that most days we have had lots of rain! We Brits are renowned for going on and on and on about the weather - but not without reason! While parts of our country are suffering droughts and preparing stand pipes others of us are deluged in more water than is fun. I talked to one lady today who lives near the river Ouse just a couple of miles away from our house. She is having to live upstairs because her house has been flooded... again. I am always amazed by the resilience of such people...carrying on regardless - another national characteristic! My thoughts and prayers are with her and her neighbours right now, some of whom live in bungalows with no upstairs to escape to.

As for Riley - he's loving the extra deep puddles we come across on our daily walks. Funny how dogs revert to breed traits without being taught a thing! Riley is definitely a water baby.

My husband, Tony, has written a poem for the blog today that describes this attribute of 'our' lovable Riley. Here it is:-

Rainy Days
He loves,
Yes he loves
Puddles.
Rivers, streams
And oceans
Are Riley's dreams.
He needs no Olympic event
To dive full length
Into a pool of muddy water.
He needs no invitation from the Queen
To celebrate
With a mighty SPLASH!
He loves
Yes he loves puddles.
Rivers streams and oceans
Are the perfect playground
In Riley's dreams.

Riley Tiptoes Through the Bluebells

Had a very civilised walk today. My mum came visiting and we all took an amble around the land belonging to Beningbrough Park; one of the most beautiful stately homes around the outskirts of York which is now managed by our wonderful National Trust. Although the sun failed to shine the bluebells graced us with a delightful spectacle and shared their sweet aroma making us all happy to be alive. 

Mud Mud Not So Glorious Mud!

Had a little Riley moment today! It was all my fault! Here's the low down:

I have taken to feeding the dogs separately. It cuts down on meal time confrontation and is a whole lot less messy. This evening I fed Sally in the kitchen and took Riley out to his dish. I left him for a few minutes to gobble down his food. I miss timed it! I went to bring Riley in but alas no Riley!! Now Riley is a good boy and unlike Sally he's no run away!! I went all round the house, looked up the street - no sign of Riley!!! I called his name and sure enough I saw him emerging from our next door neighbours' back garden... wet through and filthy! he'd obviously been for a quick roll in their very very sludgy pond! He ran straight for me, wagging his tail behind him then jumped right into my princess pretty pink and very clean kitchen... not for long. No sooner had he stepped in to the house than he began to shake with all his might. Within a twinkling of an eye my immaculate kitchen became covered in mud - not so glorious mud. It covered every unit, cupboard door and pink wall up to 2 metres high. Argh!!!

I spent about an hour cleaning up. Bless him! I rubbed him down and a little later took both dogs out for a walk. What did Riley do as soon as I let him off lead? You guessed it - he headed for the nearest muddy puddle and rolled. Oh boy!! No pictures today - I was too busy scrubbing walls and a dog!!

Riley the Braveheart

Our walk today took on a twist all of his own. It couldn't have been in greater contrast to our walk yesterday! The day had taken shape, moulded round the jobs I needed to do which included me painting the seasons names onto tiles for a primary school display. I had taken my time as painting letters on bumpy tiles with a acylic paint is not to be rushed! To keep the dogs happy I had painted in our dining room which opens out onto our back lawn, flung the patio doors open and let Riley & Sally loose out there. They had a ball, play fighting and making ferocious sounds on and off for an hour or more. The sun was shining and everyone was happy. Later, after Joseph was home from school we decided to take the dogs out for a walk around the village together. What could be more pleasant? As we cornered our drive I glanced skyward... Oh my! The biggest, blackest and most ominous looking clouds were gathering with haste above our unprotected heads. Another few steps and the heavens opened. Bulletsof rain attacked us as we picked up speed. Hang on what's this? Hail, huge boulders of ice descended from the heavens bouncing off fur and everything else. To top it off as we entered the orchard thunder claps roared like sea billows rolling across the leadened skyscape We didn't hang around for long after that. We legged it all the way home! Joseph rubbed down the dogs and I headed for the shower. Riley handled the whole thing very bravely and then tucked into his evening meal as if he hadn't even noticed. Bless him.

this video clip is not the most exciting but its about me and Riley legging it home in the hail... even though you can hardly see the hail, trust me... it was there!!

Riley Takes a Hike

What a great day we've had today. The birds were singing, the sun was shining in a cloud dappled sky and we were on the road. Don't you just love days when demands are low and when you have time to play with? I do. It's been one of those deliciously freeing kind of days for the dogs & me.

We set out on an average kind of walk then just kept on walking... right out of the village, up to the golf course, followed a country footpath that led to a farm and then found civilization again as we headed into the village of Wigington where we dilly dallied on a bench by the duck pond. Finally at around lunch time we made it to the centre of the adjoining village of Haxby. I was hungry but alas I hadn't thought of bringing my purse... just a bag with dog treats, my trusted phone and doggy bags! Joy of joys (I love it when this happens) I rummaged around the recesses of my bag and pulled out the total of £3! A quick nip into the bakery produced a sausage roll, coffee and a Big Scamp!* leaving me with change to spare. I sat on a bench with dogs at my feet right on the busy high street and munched my way through the lot only pausing occasionally to lip my lips and knock the flaking wayward crumbs of pastry off my clothes. Riley & Sally looked on longingly and offered me their paws but to no avail... they did get a dog treat - I'm not that cruel!

Refreshed and rested we ambled home the way we'd come arriving feeling at one with the world. Only one minor incident when Riley decided to playfully grab Sally's neck and Sally managed to pull off her Houdini act by freeing herself from Halti, collar and lead by the main road... I somehow managed to keep hold of Riley whilst diving, rugby tackle style on top of my escape artist dog like some crazed madwoman for lots of passers by to behold!!! It was all worth it. Enjoy some of the snapshots I took along our way.

* Big Scamp = huge butter and vine fruit enriched scones with a scampish face made with glaze cherries for eyes and a slice of candied orange for a smile - delicious!

Riley's Return

Guess who's back for a vacation... you got it; Riley!
While Daniel is visiting family in America we have the pleasure of Riley's company for a couple of weeks and the fun has already begun. Check in to Blimey Oh Riley if you want to catch up with Riley and share some of our antics.
So what did we do to mark our visitor's arrival? We went to watch Shakespeare, that's what. To be more precise we went to Rowntree Park in York where Tony was practising Act 5 his part of Master Page in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' for the York Shakespeare Project 2012. We did hang around for a while to listen to the actors' first outdoor performance 'off book' and to be honest it was pretty good. After that it was serious Riley time. We walked around the park, across the Ouse river along the impressive designer bridge and far away. Riley even had an impromptu dip in the river. After bounding up to other dogs and chasing a skate boarder we were back in the park, did a sojourn around the duck pond then rounded the afternoon off with a visit to the stationary icecream van parked at the head of the park by the basket ball courts. A great day was had by all.
Hope to catch you tomorrow.