Anally retentive individuals and wind-up merchants ... oh boy!

Fish don’t carry poop bags ... nor do dolphins, or whales ... or even the birds .... and yet, according to one beach user .... a swimmer .... our hounds make the beach and the waves unhygienic.

ONE of the logs she found on the beach yesterday

I wonder if she’s ever considered what’s actually IN the water she swims in.

Dressing herself in it.

Should we ban all fish in the sea, all birds in the sky.... all children on the beach .... in order to maintain a certain standard of hygiene on the beach?  I’ve had birds poop on my head whilst I’m walking in the waves .... I’m fairly certain they often poop on the beach too.

I’ve seen toddlers squat in the sand and wee .... should we ban them too?

What about all the litter that other beach users leave.  Despite the abundance of bins on the boardwalk there is often litter on the beach after a good weekend.  Doesn’t the litter make the beach unhygienic too?

This morning's beautiful blue skies!

I am SO tired of these anally retentive individuals who harbour such resentment to hounds. The beach is a public space and as long as we adhere to the rules and regulations drafted by council, we have as much right as each and every one of them to make use of the beach .... WITH our hounds.

The individual concerned is VERY fortunate that she DIDN’T voice her disapproval to me.

On a lighter note .....

Brian had double-trouble on the beach today ... Niko and a mate who they're looking after for two weeks.

There’s safety in numbers .... from a male’s perspective that is

 .... particularly when mischief is involved. 

If I had some BIG wooden spoons yesterday I know exactly which wind-up merchants I’d have given them too.  Pete would have been TOP of the list closely followed by my other half!  They made me blush .... and that’s NOT an easy thing to do. They egg each other on and make a girl wonder where to put herself.  

Charlie ... a Retriever we met at the reserve .... he's beautiful, for a boy!

Those gorgeous girls at the Co-op have to deal with Pete’s mischievous sense of humour on a daily basis. Pete had Solita believing that he HADN’T understood her on Thursday when she’d asked him if he could put the blue bins out on Friday morning for refuse collection. They’re the recycling bins and they’re only emptied every second week. The ones at the Co-op were full to over-flowing and the Recycling Truck had already done it’s run past Maheke Street.  Solita was left wondering what on earth she was going to do with their recycling waste this week.

Even I fell for Pete’s story.  He was SO believable.

A Song Thrush that nearly got trampled on by the hounds before racing off into the trees

It was only after we’d got our coffee and I was about to head off to the beach that he said he should maybe let Solita know that he HAD actually put the bins out, and they HAD been emptied.  If I’d been in Solita’s shoes, I think I’d have smacked him!

I should be used to this though.  I have THREE wind-up merchants who live in the same house as me, as well as several friends of the male persuasion who take great delight in trying to wind me up.

Thank goodness for girlfriends!

Gorgeous reflections at Waiatarua yesterday.

Shaking when you're STILL in the water doesn't really serve much purpose.

Another pic of Charlie

Ruby, the pet shop cat!