Mischief and mayhem ... a daily dose!

“Mischievous” ... my mood of the day.

Mis-chie-vous adj.   pronounciation:  MIS-chi-vus

1. Playful in a naughty or teasing way. 2. Troublesome, irritating, a mischievous prank.

It's rising later and later at the moment.

Yes, I think jumping in puddles and splashing contents of said puddles over unsuspecting fellow ramblers COULD be construed as mischievous.  Teaching hounds how to shake off excess water on command could ALSO be construed as mischievous ... but only if you happen to be the person standing NEXT to said hound when they’re instructed to shake.

One such person thinks we have a cardboard cut-out of him at home

 and that we use it for teaching the hounds exactly that!  

I wonder how he knew ....

There we are .... 12 minutes past 7!

It’s funny how most of the mischief I supposedly get up to involves water.  Removing raindrops from banners by shaking banners over people is deemed to be mischievous too

 .... or so I’ve been told.

North Head bathed in sunshine.

Giving Sam a taste for caffeine could also be perceived as mischievous I guess.  Sam’s added his own brand of mischief to what WE’VE taught him though.  We only showed him how delicious the left-over froth in our coffee-to-go could be ... we never taught him to take the froth off the top of Pete’s homemade coffee.  Silly Pete for putting his coffee where Sam’s tongue could reach it.

Caffeine addict.

Despite the occasional appearance to the contrary, Sam’s DEFINITELY no dumb Aussie.  He just has ‘BLONDE moments’.

Mischievous blonde moments.

He’s fast learning that if he gets Carol UP early enough, he can spend time on the beach with the hound and I before I have to head off to work.  We’re onto winter times at the shop so I only have to be there by 9.30 ..... that’s an extra half hour on the beach .... big yay!  Sam’s method of getting Carol up early though involves retrieving as much clothing as he can from the dressing room.  There’s bound to be something in what he’s found that she can wear to come rambling.

Carol could of course join us on our hike to the view-site at 6.30 but I don’t think Sam would sit as patiently as the hound and Indy do whilst we wait for the sun to appear over the horizon.  There comes a moment in time when even my hound has had enough of waiting and I get a look like this.

Sam’s the hyperactive child of the hound world.  He doesn’t KNOW how to sit still unless he’s tired.  Carol bought him down to the shop this morning and left him with me for a short while whilst she collected some dry cleaning.  He was so tired form the weekend and morning activities that he lay quietly on the floor until she returned.

Trying to cross the road back to the beach after getting our first fix of the day is comical.  

I’m sure we leave the early morning Bistro patrons chuckling into their breakfast as they watch our antics.  My hound’s always in a hurry to get back to the beach and Sam’s in a hurry to get what he perceives to be, HIS coffee!  

He insists on trying to carry the hound’s lead too.  

Between Carol and I AND the two hounds AND 2 rugby balls AND 2 cups of coffee, it’s quite an achievement getting to the beach WITHOUT becoming entangled in either of the hounds leads and WITHOUT spilling our coffee!  

It’s a chuckle a moment with these hounds of ours and an epic start to a day.

Not a photo from today but one I took on Sunday at Waiatarua ... love these swans.

Puddles .... great BIG deep ones!

Puddles .... great BIG deep ones!  I love them ... and so does the hound.

I cannot believe that I ever wanted to grow up.  Jumping in puddles brings back so many memories ... not just of MY childhood but also of my children’s childhood.  I have so many vivid images in my mind of us walking in the rain .... raincoats on, gumboots on .... ALL of us JUMPING in the puddles!

Who said jumping in puddles was only for kids!

It’s probably a good thing there weren’t too many souls out this morning as the hound and I hiked to the view-site. They might have questioned my sanity. 

 I think the hound did.

The heavy storm clouds that appeared out of literally nowhere dumped their contents on us. Thank goodness I always carry a raincoat in my backpack AND that the backpack has a waterproof cover.  It wasn’t JUST the hound that was drenched  today. 

There were rivers of rainwater everywhere!  All those gorgeous autumn leaves that we’d seen swirling and dancing in the early morning breeze were carried away. Off they went, twisting and turning down the drain to goodness knows where.

The rivers of rainwater gurgled and burbled as we made our soggy way back down to the beach.

No wonder we hadn’t heard our usual bird choir serenade .... they’d all taken cover when they sensed the storm coming.  No soggy wings for them.

They weren’t the only ones who’d taken cover from the storm.  Indy and Julia had too.  That storm has a lot to answer for .... it kept a lot of my fellow humans with hounds off the beach. 

Not Sam thank goodness.  He was leaping out of his skin trying to drag Carol down to the beach.  Bringing the Chiefs ball to the beach is the signal for Sam that the hound and I are going to be there .... and he can’t wait.  He can’t get there soon enough. 

Aussie he might be, but dumb he is not.

Mondo's found his water legs and races into the water with the two of them.

These two hounds have this morning routine down pat.  They know they’ll get to fling themselves in the waves first chasing balls and logs and then dig their tenches in the sand whilst we satisfy our caffeine addiction.  

Well ....my hound knows that .... Sam’s still learning.  He wanted MORE than just the dregs of my caffeine fix today and tried to help himself as we sat down.  He knows I put my coffee down whilst I take off the backpack and camera.  Quick as a flash he was there ... but I was quicker!  Cheeky Aussie!

The rain’s been persistent today.  Our interlude on the beach was bought to an abrupt end by ANOTHER heavy downpour and we had to seek shelter across the road.  Sam’s never ready to go home though and despite the inclement weather, wanted to go BACK to the beach.

I reckon, with all this rain, we'll have MORE puddles to jump in tomorrow!

"Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."

~ Roald Dahl

Maggie, the 5 month old Boxer

Racing down at full tilt to intimidate a fellow hound ...

She stops abruptly and showers sand over the terrified hound.

No bridge, no city, no Sky Tower .... all hidden by the approaching rain

He's a WANNABEE Saffer!

Carol ... (Sam’s Carol) ... can deny it no more.  Not only does Sam have ANOTHER girlfriend .... oh yes, a little Bichon Frise he’s met at the park .... but he’s a WANNABEE Saffer.  Undeniably so!

Given the choice of three balls at Waiatarua this morning ... yes, three DIFFERENT rugby balls .... he CHOSE the Saffer one.  His allegiance is irrefutable.  Just like my hound LOVES Sam’s Chiefs ball and Hurricanes ball, Sam LOVES her Saffer ball.

Sam’s Hurricanes ball has met the same fate as the rugby ball my hound took to the farm with her. It’s been chewed to death and disemboweled by the wannabee Saffer.  That puts the Hurricanes out of the picture for Super Rugby Glory ..... Sam has decreed it.  Could it be another win for the Chiefs this year?

Just a thought .... maybe the time is right for my hound to be carrying a SHARKS rugby ball!

We had a puddle of Labradors at the dog pond this morning.  Anthony had already texted me, at Ebony’s request, to ensure that Sam and Chocolat were going to be there.  Ebony was delighted to see them and came dashing over with the longest of logs in her mouth.  How she didn’t take out the legs of all and sundry in front of us is beyond me as this log was LONG ... VERY long!

The LONG log!

The log was soon forgotten as the rugby balls hit the water. Labrador after Labrador after Labrador leapt in and the chase for the balls was on. We acquired an EXTRA chocolate Labrador who took great delight in racing our hounds for the balls ... beating one or other of them on several occasions.

He ... or maybe it was a she .... didn’t know how the game worked though.  It ran away with the ball and wanted the other hounds to chase it.  They don’t DO chase .... of other hounds that is .... only of balls.

When I look back at the photos I often wonder if the water level in the pond drops when our hounds are there.  They leap in the pond with such gusto that water splashes EVERYWHERE! They create their very own puddles on the side whilst they’re waiting .... impatiently .... for the balls to be flung back in.

Ebony leaping over Sam and Chocolat .... look at ALL that water!

  They NEVER tire of this game!

Mornings like this are a wonderful diversion from the reality of life. There’s no rush, no place to be at any specific time ... just the hounds and their balls and the wet stuff.  

Labrador heaven.

Reality beckons soon enough.  Market mania has begun again as February swings into gear and we’re booked into several markets this month, one of which is brand new.  It’s exciting and challenging but with all the extra hours I’ve been putting in at the shop,
 it’s exhausting too .... but I love it!

The middle lemming has been joining me on my early morning rambles .... I love it!

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” 
~ Jim Rohn

Early morning cloud cover

Reflections everywhere!

An appreciative audience at the dog pond.